Whether you are a drifting novice or a hardcore hand-brake pulling machine or even someone who watches it on TV, you may want to perk up your ears. Bosch, a leading global supplier of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology, is celebrating 125 years of success on the market, as well as the launch of the Bosch Iridium Spark Plug with a giveaway like no other. Not only do we have the opportunity to offer exclusive access at the 2011 Monster Energy Drink Super Cross Cup with 2010 Formula D Drift Champion, Vaughn Gittin Jr., but we’re following it up with a Bosch Shotgun Drift ride along with Gitten himself!
Here’s how the giveaway is going to work. Every person that “likes” us on Facebook from now until September 15, 2011 will get their name added to the drawing (Entrant must reside within the 48 contiguous states, sorry Alaska and Hawaii!). At the end of the contest, we’ll draw one name and that person will win a 2 day/1 night trip to a racetrack to participate in a meet-and-greet and ride-along with Vaughn Gittin, Jr. on October 15-16, 2011.
The prize will also include a GoPro HD Motorsports HERO camera, a set of Bosch Iridium Spark Plugs, and Bosch branded apparel (collared-shirt and cap). To top it off, your private drift session with Vaughn Gittin, Jr. in his custom Ford Mustang will be captured by in-car video and posted on Facebook!
Strap on your safety harnesses and get your handbrake ready, the 2011 Formula Drift Professional Drifting Championship Series is about to begin and you could be there, cheering from the sidelines for your favorite professional drifter! That’s right, we have six tickets to give away to the first round of the 2011 Formula Drift at Long Beach, CA and all you have to do is tell us why you deserve to be part of the action. It’s that easy!
“Formula DRIFT consistently pushes to grow the sport of drifting and entering our eighth year as a professional series we are proud of where we have been able to take the sport,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “We are fortunate to work with the top venues for motorsports in the nation and provide quality entertainment to fans across the country.”
Prize Courtesy of Formula Drift
Check out all of the details after the jump, including rules, details on how to enter, and the full Formula Drift schedule.
Formula Drift and Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management are joining forces to bring Formula D to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in what will be an inaugural invitational event. Eight of the series’ top drivers and their cars will be transported to the UAE for what will be the first world-class drift event in the Persian Gulf region.
“The partnership with Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management is a perfect fit to introduce the Formula DRIFT UAE Invitational Competition,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “Even though drifting has been to the UAE before, we are excited to bring a world class combination of the world’s most advanced circuit along with the world’s leading drifting series.”
The lucky drivers include 2-time Formula DRIFT champion and 3-time X-Games Gold Medalist Tanner Foust, 2010 Formula DRIFT rookie of the year and past Scandinavian champion, Fredric Aasbo, 2009 Formula DRIFT champion, Chris Forsberg, Darren McNamara, Ryan Tuerck, and Daijiro Yoshihara. Two more spots are still up for grabs and will be announced at a later date. This is exciting for the sport and will mark a historic world first come February 25th next year.
Richard Cregan, Chief Executive Officer of the Yas Marina Circuit had this to say: “I am delighted that motorsports fans in Abu Dhabi and the UAE will get to experience the spectacle of Formula DRIFT at Yas. Drifting will add a new dimension to the range of motorsports offered here and I believe it will attract a large following, just as drag racing has.”
The inaugural event will serve as a perfect pre-season taster for the 2011 championship and provide the drivers with good practice in searing desert temperatures, which should test both man and machine to their limits.
The recently-concluded third round of the 2010 Formula DRIFT season at Wall, New Jersey had its fair share of highlight-reel moments, courtesy of some of the best drifters in the world.
As we’ve already mentioned earlier, Daijiro Yoshihara won his second event in a row after also claiming the top step of the podium at Road Atlanta a month ago. Despite his two-win streak, Yoshihara is still in second place in the Pro Championship leader standings, trailing Vaughn Gittin Jr. by 21 points - 291 to 270 . For his part, Gittin has been anything, but inconsistent, scoring podium finishes on all three races including a first place finish in Long Beach, a second place finish in Road Atlanta, and another second last weekend at The Gauntlet.
In this video, we take a look back at Gittin Jr.’s successful weekend during the third round of the Formula DRIFT series and, even if he didn’t win, his consistent placing in the podium should bode well for him this season.
The Wall Speedway at Wall Township, New Jersey recently hosted the
third round of the Formula Drift Series, which has been appropriately
titled as the "Gauntlet". Known for having one of the most challenging
drift tracks in the world, the track comes with a 16-degree banked
oval along the straightaway and 30 degrees on the turns. Of course,
that didn’t stop the best drifters in the world from putting on quite
a show.
The third round of Formula DRIFT featured some scintillating action
that was highlighted by Daijiro Yoshihara’s second victory in a row -
he also won the second round at Road Atlanta - and Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s
third straight podium finish, making him the only driver in all three
rounds to finish in the podium three times, and extend his lead on top
of the Pro Championship standings.
“I’ve got my mojo back!,” a visibly excited Daijiro Yoshihara
exclaimed. “This feels incredible to win back to back events and I
could not have done it without the help of my team and sponsors.”
Rhys Millen’s first season in Formula Drift last year went about as smoothly as a multi-plotted soap opera, so you would at least expect that he was going to make good on his promise to have a better 2010 season.
So far, so good.
Though he didn’t win at last week’s drift run in Long Beach - that honor goes to Vaughn Gittin Jr. - Millen’s second place finish in his Hyundai Genesis Coupe was better than any of his performances in all of last year.
A big reason for Millen’s resurgent start to the 2010 season can be attributed to better preparation, at least as far as his ride was concerned. "I was in sync with my Genesis Coupe during the entire campaign and step one was to qualify first," he said.
"The car had so much grip and power I was able to put it close to the walls and mirror the other competitors’ cars’ every move. Nothing compares to the pressure and thrill of the ’win it or lose it’ factor while competing against more than 50 other cars and drivers."
After going through a year of hasty preparations, that clearly had an effect on the overall result of the entire team, Millen spent an inordinate amount of time in the offseason fine-tuning his Genesis Coupe and the result has been nothing less than noticeable.
Listen in as we hear from a few of the sideways superstars competing in Formula D as to why they are running a set of Enkei rims on their drift cars. Rhys Millen, Tony Brakohiapa and Tyler McQuarrie had only good things to say about these Japanese aftermarket wheels.
Formula 1 hands out over sized gold plated saucers; the Indy 500 winner receives a bottle of cold milk and now the three drifters standing atop the podium after each round of the 2009 Formula D season will walk away with a trophy made from the lightweight, woven black stuff. The American drifting series organizers commissioned APR Performance, a well know fabricator of aerodynamically tuned carbon fiber body panels for high performance applications to create the very unique trophies. However, I’m pretty sure that the Formula D drifters would prefer that the funds invested into producing the high tech prizes would have gone into the winner’s purse instead.
Top Speed recently had the opportunity to test the Hyundai Genesis Coupe V6, the car that World Drift Champion Rhys Millen is currently campaigning in the Formula DRIFT series. Check out the video of the Kiwi dialing in his new ride.
