Author: FormulaD

Jim, Ryan and Jarod – Round 1 Formula Drift ASEAN Championship

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As many of you may know, Formula DRIFT is currently hosting round 1 of the Formula DRIFT ASEAN Championship in Singapore, Singapore. We introduced this new Championship last year after three successful events in Asia: SIngapore, Malaysia and Thailand. After three years of being in this market and unprecedented growth both from fans and drivers, we thought it was time to formalize and create what this area needs: a real ASEAN Champion.

Anyway, I am going to try and blog (video and pics) this week(ends) trip. It is currently Thursday morning here and we just arrived to our hotel after 20+ hours in the air.

Jarod and Jim preparing for a loooong flight
Jarod doing what he does best.
The kid sitting in front of us. He liked spitting. Great
I like how you can see the girls reflection in the monitor in front of me.
The sun was a blazin' the whole trip
Quick pit stop in Japan
Singapore, the door to South East Asia... That and 94 percent humidity
Food at 2 a.m... not hard to find.
Self portrait in front of the Elvis theme at our hotel. Hote RE!

Re!!!!!
My work station this morning

Dai Yoshihara – Long Beach Drift Report

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2010 Formula D – Long Beach Drift Report

With the trials and tribulations from the 2009 Formula D season resulting in far greater desires, Dai along with the great team at Falken Tire looked towards the 2010 season opener of Formula D hosted at the streets of Long Beach as a starving lion gazes at its prey from a distance. SPD Metal Works spent much of the off season refreshing Dai’s nostalgic S13 chassis with the many refinements required to aid in capturing that elusive Formula D championship title. In addition to all the mechanical enhancements, the project manager of Dai’s Nissan 240sx chose to outfit the vehicle with the rare and ultra stylish Rocket Bunny aero kit bathed in the red and white Discount Tire livery. With just a few short test sessions prior to engaging the course that threatens catastrophe with the smallest margin of error, anticipation and excitement levels were through completely through the roof.

The first couple runs on any street course is always unpredictable due to the amount of debris, oil, and other waste littered on the pavement by the automobiles that would normally drive on the streets. Fortunately, the practice session went over smoothly, requiring only a simple gear change prior to qualifying. Dai was able to hit a score of 78 points with his first run, placing him at a solid 12th overall. “The car felt great after the gear change and I feel confident for Top
32,” commented Dai after qualifying.

Feeling great and ready for battle, Dai was put against John Russakoff for Top 32 competition. Russakoff put up a great fight, and after a one more time, Dai went on with a victory. Dai’s Top 16 opponent, Tanner Foust, was much more formidable in his NASCAR V8 powered Scion tC. Dai followed the first run, and although Foust was not able to pull away at all, Dai made the minor mistake of coming in too shallow. He then led the second run where both men performed close to perfection. Due to the small infraction of having a slightly shallow angle in the first run, the victory was awarded to Tanner.

Immediately following the FD weekend, Dai and his team set off early in the morning for a practice day to sort out some minor mechanical problems and to fine tune the KW suspension. At the end of the test day, an exhausted but content Dai exclaimed, “The car keeps feeling better.” Although the battle of the Long Beach ended in a loss, it proved to be a great start for Dai to fulfill his revenge and be the Formula D champion of 2010.

First renderings of Rhys Millen’s Hyundai-powered Pikes Peak challenger

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Autoblog has published the first renderings of Formula DRIFT champion Rhys Millen’s Pikes Peak vehicle.

Last week, we learned that Rhys Millen has been busy preparing a new unlimited class challenger to try to recapture the overall Pikes Peak Hill Climb record that his father held for over a decade. At the time, all we knew was that it would be Hyundai powered, and we assumed that it would bear at least a vague resemblance to a Genesis Coupe.

Instead, these first official renderings suggest that the Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Genesis PM580 looks more like a Le Mans prototype than some of the cartoonish looking Suzuki or Toyota racersdriven by Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima or Rod Millen – let alone one of the more traditional open-wheel buggies that long dominated the Peak.

The PM580 uses a steel tube frame chassis wrapped in a carbon fiber skin. A turbocharged 4.1-liter Hyundai V6 producing up to 750 horsepower will put power down through an active all-wheel-drive system. The rear wing also has active trimming out on the straights to reduce drag, and it can tip up to generate additional downforce in the corners. Millen’s goal is to set the first ever sub-10 minute time for the 12.42 mile “Run to the Clouds.” Since you’ve got until June 27 until the green flag drops, why not check out the high-res gallery of renderings below and the official press release after the jump?

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