A little while ago Top Speed brought you Ken Block and his crazy Gymkhana Subaru. Well, the boys at DC Shoes have released a few more videos giving more of a behind the scenes look as to how the shoot went down. This video is possibly even better than the original.
How do you get a Scion TC to drift? Put a TRD spec NASCAR V8 in the hands of record setting drag racer Steph Papadakis and place Formula D Champion Tanner Foust behind the wheel. This combination of Papadakis as team owner and Foust as driver will be competing in the 2009 Formula D series.
The American drifting championship, Formula DRIFT, through their Pro-Am system, has been offering amateur drifters the opportunity to ride along side the big boys over the past three years with a program similar to D1 Underground.
Taking the program to a new level, Formula D has teamed up with the most experienced regional, grassroots and amateur organizations across the U.S. in search of the future stars of the sport. Taking place during Formula D competition weekends or Hot Import Nights, together with partners like Drift Mania and Just Drift, amateur drifters will have the opportunity to rise up the ranks of Formula D.
Licenses will be automatically awarded to winners of the regional amateur events. These licensed drifters will then have the chance to qualify for the Pro-Am Nationals held near the end of the Formula D season. Drifters Justin Pawlak, “Wild” Bill Sherman, John Russakoff and Joon Maeng are just a few of the Formula DRIFT regulars that rose up through the Pro-Am circuit.
The D1GP is the championship series that legitimized drifting as a professional motor sport. The series was founded in 2001 and over the past eight years has grown into a worldwide phenomenon causing the creation of region specific spin-offs, like the D1GP USA here in America.
The FOX television network and the D1GP have reached an agreement that will bring every round of D1GP USA action to television sets across the country. As they sit right now, the FOX owned and operated stations reach about 45 million homes in America. At this time talks are being help with various cable providers and FOX affiliates to increase the coverage to 60 million broadcast, and 70 million cable households by the series premier. This will ensure the largest U.S. audience to ever witness the sport of drifting.
Drifting champion Katsuhiro Ueo caused quite a bit of controversy when he entered the Red Bull World Drift Championships last year in a red Silvia. That is because D1, the original professional drifting league, bans their drivers from competing in other drifting championships and is also the explanation for the lack of D1 professionals at the event.
Ueo was not drifting his signature white AE-86 Toyota Corolla at the competition in Long Beach, the car he won the 2002 D1GP championship with, instead Ueo was behind the wheel of an S15 Silvia, the same Nissan that won the 2005 D1GP Championship with the help of Yasuyuki Kazama.
Ueo has abandoned his hachi-roku for good. The drifter will be competing in this year’s Formula DRIFT Championship piloting the same red Driftspeed Silvia that he drove in the Red Bull WDC. Ueo is well known for getting the most out of lightweight vehicles, perhaps with a little extra power from the turbocharged SR20 Katsuhiro will become a champion once again.
Drifting is an interesting form of motor sport. The sport attracts a wide variety of competitors from around the world. Unlike most motor sports, winners are not determined by elapsed time, but rather a combination of speed, angle and crowd reaction. Drifting is a form of competition where a 1980’s Toyota Corolla with 120 HP can get the best of a factory backed 700 HP Dodge Viper.
That was the 2002 D1GP Champion, Katsuhiro Ueo, drifting his signature AE86 Toyota Corolla.
A new partnership has been forged between Formula DRIFT and Universal Technical Institute. With it the technical college will be recognized as “The Official Technical School of Formula DRIFT.”
The goal is to provide enthusiasts with the right education in order to become a hands-on member of a team and eventually work their way up to becoming a race team manager, or even the knowledge to manage their own shop.
A Pre-season Tech and Preview day has been scheduled on April 4th at UTI’s campus in Rancho Cucamonga, California. The event will give students the opportunity to witness the tech inspection for the first round of Formula D competition that will take place on April 10th at the Streets of Long Beach. The event also offers the students a unique opportunity to come face to face with Formula D teams.
Traditionally for drivers in the Formula D series the biggest hurdle, aside from keeping the car together, was to qualify in the top 16 for an event and be able to battle in that particular round of competition. The governing body of the series, the Formula Drift Association, has announced that for the 2009 season they will be accepting 32 drivers into tandem competition. This is where drivers take turns leading and following in an attempt to out-drift their opponent. For the teams this means one more round of abuse for their vehicle to endure; for the fans this means twice as much tandem action per event.
Lamborghini has just relvealed the first promotional video of their latest and most powerful Murcielago yet, the LP670-4 SuperVeloce (SV). The raging bull is powered by a 670 hp 6.5-liter V12 engine borrowed from the Murcielago LP670-4. It takes only 3.2 seconds to reach 60 MPH (100 km/h) from a standstill on its way to a top speed of 212 MPH.
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