[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/66400150[/vimeo]
Author: FormulaD
Golden Gate Drift Round 2 – May 19, 2013
Sunday May 19th Round 2 Competition
Gates Open teams/drivers/media only- 6:30am
(Tech inspections in pits for new drivers and re-tech)
Clear pits Gate check in – 7:30am
Drivers meeting – 8:00am
Practice starts – 8:30am
Gates open to the public 10:00am
Practice ends – 1:00pm
Qualifying starts – 1:30pm
Drivers meeting/top 16 announcement
Immediately following qualifying
Top 16 Competition – Short break straight into Top 16 Competition
[ARTICLE] The unstoppable run of Formula Drift’s mighty underdog Danny George
He’s a Las Vegan. He’s a dad. He’s a guy who isn’t afraid to rock pink-spandex pants (and lipstick). He’s Danny George, the lone Miata driver in Formula Drift. And just like his car, he’s small but powerful.
Photo: Steve Marcus
The car goes from zero to hauling ass before I can suck in a breath, engine whining hard and hot like an animal bearing down. Front wheels cranked and rear wheels spinning, we get sideways. Then it’s gas pedal, knifing into position and sliding through the next corner with creamy white smoke pouring off the tires like dry ice. Rubber shrapnel coats the air. Seconds stretch inside the chaos, so I can see Danny George’s hands and feet and sheer will methodically making this Mazda Miata do things that should be impossible.
“Isn’t it so awesome?” he asks when we stop, and it might be the only time I use the word the way it was intended. Not for a taco shell made of Doritos—for an emotion described in the dictionary as a mix of dread, veneration and wonder.
This is drifting, where a driver breaks the back wheels out of traction while maintaining control through a gracefully violent slide. This is the second time I’ve experienced it inside “the beast,” car No. 7 on the pro circuit known as Formula Drift.
FD is one of the rare competitions on the track where speed isn’t king; in fact, it’s only worth 10 points. A 100-point run is about the perfect line (25 points) and mad style (40 points), kissing the wall with maximum angle (25 points) and showing your personality without ever showing your face. In the qualifying round drivers run solo, followed by tandem eliminations where two cars drift side by side.
MotoIQ – The Rest of the Story: Tony Angelo’s Scion FR-S Feature
CLICK HERE for more images and the full story.
[ARTICLE] Drift: Formula Drift Round 2 at Road Atlanta | Pt 1 by What Monsters Do
Most of us who follow Formula Drift around the country would agree, if you only had one round you could attend in the season, round 2 at Road Atlanta would be the one. One of, if not the most energetic Formula Drift crowd in the series combined with an awesome track with a crazy fast entry, can only make for an exciting event. Formula Drift’s first ever event took place here at Road Atlanta. Road Atlanta also built horse shoe part of the track specifically for Formula Drift. It’s one thing to convince a professional race track to host a drift event (specially in 2004), it takes exceptional foresight to make an addition to the course specifically for it. Anyway, Friday’s qualifying session gave a good feeling of what was to come for the weekend! Coming off an exceptional performance in Long Beach, Fredric Assbo came out swinging during qualifying to take the number one spot with a score of 90.5.
Michael Essa, known for his backwards entries at this track, did not disappoint with one of the most exciting qualifying runs of the day.
Justin Pawlak had a great qualifying run and ended up qualifying in the number three spot.
Another driver with a great showing in Long Beach was Chelsea DeNofa who finished round 1 in 4th place. Always an exciting “all out” driver and ended up qualifying 4th. He had power issues during his tandem run and was knocked out during Top 32.
After some disappointing rear end issues in Long Beach, Nate was eager to get back on track to give his fans some exciting runs. After a spin out and a visit to the gravel during practice, Nate came through when it counted most and qualified 27th. Nate looked awesome in both of his qualifying runs but those rear end issues came back to haunt him during Top 32 the following day. Nate was put against McNamara for his first Top 32 tandem battle but was not able to get to the line handing DMac the win.