Category: Behind The Scenes

Behind the Scenes – Life of FD Staff

Formula DRIFT Evergreen Speedway 2016 by Super Street Magazine

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Event victor Odi Bakchis in the ARK Performance Genesis and third placer Ken Gushi in the Greddy 86 shake up the points chase

370Z Genesis Coupe Final

You won’t be blamed for thinking the race for points in the 2016 Formula DRIFT Championship was over after Round 5 at Autodrome Saint-Eustache in Canada last month. Going into Round 6 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash., just outside of Seattle, a total of nine drivers bogarted the 15 podium spots up to that point, the three drivers at the top of the standings taking the lion’s share of wins, places and shows – with 2010 series champion Vaughn Gittin, Jr. in the Monster Energy Ford Mustang RTR earning two wins (at Road Atlanta and Wall Speedway), 2015 champ Fredric Aasbo in the Rockstar Energy Scion tC claiming two wins (at Orlando Speed World and Saint-Eustache) and a runner up (at Long Beach), and 2009 and 2014 champ Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Nissan 370Z picking up two second-place finishes (at Wall and Saint Eustache) as well as two third-place finishes (in Atlanta and Orlando).

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Reflecting On True North By Speedhunters

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My recent visit to Autodrome St-Eustache in Montreal, Canada, for Formula Drift was a little different in that it was not an exhibition event. That’s right, for the first time ever a Formula Drift Pro round was held outside of the United States.

While not everyone on the grid made it up to Québec for the event, the majority of the Pro field – and especially those teams chasing championship points – were there. Here is a collection of my favorite images from the round with a little bit of commentary littered throughout. Enjoy!

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I get non-stop requests to post more photos of Mad Mike, but as you guys probably know, the past two events have not been so kind to the Kiwi drifter. Mike blew a motor in Jersey, and it seems he just can’t catch a break this year. I love the Miata that he built, but I think it’s time to bring out the TCP Magic-built FD3S RX-7 from Japan. What do you guys think?

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FD New Jersey: The Smoke Has Cleared

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Never has a single Formula Drift event caused such a reaction or garnered so much hate on social media than the 2016 New Jersey round a couple of weekends back. While I expected to see some backlash from all the drama of Forrest Wang quitting and then coming back again, I had no idea that it would fundamentally change the sport from here on out.

My take? I say bring it on. The amount of comments good and bad were immeasurable, which in turn means that these people care in some sense. They are passionate about the sport that myself and so many others have invested their lives into. The outcry after Formula Drift New Jersey can only better the sport as a whole; professional drifting in general is still young compared to most other forms of motorsport, so each year it’s evolving at a very fast rate.

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So what do you guys think Formula Drift and professional drifting in general needs to change immediately? How can this very complicated motorsport be improved?

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Formula DRIFT Wall, N.J. 2016 By Super Street Magazine

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Vaughn Gittin, Jr., picks up 2nd win of the year in Monster Energy Mustang, making history by equaling record for most event victories

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In the wake of what some have now come to regard as one of the best Formula DRIFT rounds in a while, we’re gonna veer for a moment from recapping Round 4 of the Formula D 2016 Championship, staged at Wall Speedway in New Jersey, to join the chorus of drivers, media, fans, and others asking driver Forrest Wang’s supporters to lay off of fellow pilot Chris Forsberg. The anger being directed at the twice champion stems from a heavy-contact incident during the event’s Top 16 tandem elimination round, wherein Forsberg on the chase in his NOS Energy Nissan 370Z ran into Wang’s Get Nuts Lab S15 Silvia as the pair flew by the course’s first inner clipping point. It seems like a lot of people were surprised when the judges gave the match to Forsberg (including us, admittedly), but upon further review and explanation we now understand why Wang lost the round.

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