Category: Featured
Formula DRIFT Enacts Pre-Seeding Format Due to Inclement Weather
Long Beach, Calif. – April 8, 2016 – In a rare move today, Formula DRIFT was forced to enact a never been used before provision of the Sporting Regulations that allows Formula DRIFT to forgo Qualifying in the face of inclement weather or the inability to start or finish Qualifying.
Formula DRIFT is not unfamiliar with rainy conditions as six of seven rounds were completed in such conditions in 2015. However, given the volume of rain, the variable surface conditions of the street course, combined with being a public street, made for treacherous conditions in general. Adding that walls surround the course added another level of risk, in which the Series did not want to take in light of making sure that all 32 drivers were ready for competition tomorrow, whatever the conditions may be. The decision was made shortly after Top 32 Practice started when as many as seven consecutive drivers wrecked into the walls of outside zone two. This rare occurrence caused Formula DRIFT to go on Rain Delay and call a drivers meeting with teams to discuss the options that would best suite the drivers and fans.
“We spoke to the teams and the large majority felt it was better to have a full field of 32 drivers tomorrow than risk wrecks that would not be fixable due to the damage cause by the walls or have drivers with double zero’s that would disallow them to be placed in the bracket”, says Kevin Wells, Competition Director of Formula DRIFT. “Being that we had exactly 32 cars in competition, no one would be left out and so that seemed to be the prudent thing to do. We want the drivers to have a voice. The majority spoke and we answered.”
The show did not end there, however. Formula DRIFT opened up the track for open practice and under much less stressed conditions; fans at the event and watching the live stream were treated to an open tandem practice ahead of tomorrow’s event. All 32 drivers are set to go and ready to kick off Round 1 of 8 tomorrow on the streets of Long Beach.
For more information visit: www.formuladrift.com, www.NetworkA.com, and www.Sportsrocket.com. Find Formula DRIFT on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Tune into Formula DRIFT on CBS Sports and check your local listings for airtimes.
Formula D Long Beach ’16 Media Day By Super Street
The wait is almost over. The start of season 13 of the Formula DRIFT Professional Championship is nearly upon us, Round 1 of 8 for ’16 on turns 9, 10, and 11 of the famous Grand Prix of Long Beach, Calif., street circuit. And we couldn’t be more stoked.
As per usual, the series held a Media Day a few days ahead of the event to reveal any late-breaking announcements, make some of the drivers available for interviews, and even get some of the assembled journalists a ride-along in a pro drift car – basically empowering the press to generate some buzz on FD’s behalf. At the top of the order was news that Formula D and championship title sponsor BlackVue had come up with bonus prize money – to the tune of $25,000 – for the driver that can win three specific events, Round 1, Round 4 at Wall Stadium in New Jersey, and Round 5 at Evergreen Speedway in Washington.
Everyone also got see a handful of returning cars with fresh liveries and new entries for the first time. Chris Forsberg’s NOS Energy Nissan 370Z, Fredric Aasbo’s Rockstar Energy Scion tC, Ken Gushi’s Greddy Performance Toyota 86, Ryan Tuerck’s Gumout 86, and others rocked new skins, while hot shoes like Vaughn Gittin, with his 2016 Monster Energy Ford Mustang RTR, and Mad Mike Whiddett, with the Red Bull “RADBUL” Mazda ND MX-5 Miata, sported new (or newish in the case of Mad Mike) machines.
We will be covering all angles of the event this weekend, with reports (including live video) on our social media channels as well as results and recaps here on the website. However, if you can’t be in Long Beach and want to watch the crazy sideways action blow by blow, make sure to check out the Formula D Livestream.
Ride-Along In Car With Blackvue This Weekend At Long Beach
Watch Formula Drift Live Free with BlackVue Over the Cloud – Anywhere in the World
Formula Drift Championship Starter in Long Beach
As many of you know, BlackVue is the presenting sponsor and official dashcam of Formula Drift Championship. The first event in this year’s series will be held at Long Beach GP Course, April 8-9.
Enjoy Live feeds with BlackVue Over the Cloud
But don’t worry if you’re unable to attend! You can still watch your favorite drivers LIVE thanks to BLACKVUE OVER THE CLOUD’s Live View feature. Follow the event from the BlackVue dashcams installed inside of the cars and around the track!
To do so, download the BlackVue C app for Android (HERE) or iOS (HERE). It’s completely free, and you don’t need to be a BlackVue dashcam owner to participate. All you need to do is register an account and you’re good to go! For a detailed tutorial on how to access Live View from the App, check out our video here:
You can check the detailed schedule for the Formula Drift Long Beach event here on the Formula Drift website.
See you on the Long Beach track!
BONUS: April 8 to 10: Unlimited Live View Weekend for Everyone!
For the whole event weekend, from Friday to Sunday (PST), Live View will be accessible without limitation of time to all BlackVue Over the Cloud users. Enjoy Live View to your heart’s content!
Note: if your account does not show the additional Live View time during that period, log out and log in again to your BlackVue Over the Cloud account.
Disclaimer: this is a brand new endeavor for BlackVue Over the Cloud, and it will ultimately benefit all users as we learn from this experiment. We are doing our utmost to deliver you the smoothest experience. However, should the service reach overcapacity due to a sudden large influx of users, we cannot guarantee 100% stability. In advance, we thank you for your understanding.
Formula DRIFT Round 1 – Streets of Long Beach Livestream Schedule
*ALL TIMES ARE IN PACIFIC STANDARD TIME
