Category: FD News

BILSTEIN Spokesperson Jessi Combs To Sign Autographs With Michael Essa at Round 1

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Jessi Combs, spokesperson for BILSTEIN’s “Lower it Right” campaign, will be on hand to meet fans, sign autographs and talk shop on Saturday, April 13 from 1:00pm to 2:30pm in the GSR Paddock Area of the Long Beach street circuit. GSR’s co-owner and Formula Drift driver, Michael Essa will also be on hand for this exciting event sponsored by BILSTEIN and GSR. Attendees will have the chance to win raffle prizes and take home free posters autographed by both Combs and Essa.

“We’re thrilled to work with GSR Autosport Racing and Jessi Combs,” said Steven Beaty, Aftermarket and Motorsport President of BILSTEIN. “Jessi’s hands-on skills, along with her genuine passion for motorsports, make her a perfect fit to represent our brand.”

Jessi Combs is co-host of Velocity’s All Girls Garage and Overhaulin’ as well as AOL’s video series The List: 1001 Car Things To Do Before You Die on Autoblog.com. Previous appearances include Mythbusters, Two Guys Garage, TruckU and co-host of Xtreme 4×4 on Spike. Her automotive skills were honed in Laramie, WY at WyoTech where she graduated with a degree in Custom Automotive Fabrication. As spokesperson for BILSTEIN, Jessi helps educate enthusiasts about the importance of lowering their ride with top-quality suspension components from the world’s leader in shock absorbers.

BILSTEIN has partnered with GSR Autosport Racing for the 2013 Formula Drift season for both sponsorship and technical assistance. The two companies have worked together to build a BILSTEIN Motorsport MDS (Modular Damping System) specifically for the GSR Formula Drift BMW E46 M3 that will be driven by GSR co-owner, Michael Essa at it’s debut at the season opener in Long Beach.

“We’re absolutely excited to be working with BILSTEIN on our drift program,” said Nick Richards, President of GSR Autosport. “We have a lot of experience with BILSTEIN products from our road racing and street tuning business. The products are really second to none when it comes to outright performance and they have a storied past of success that backs that up.”

2013 marks the 8th consecutive year that Formula DRIFT has taken over the famous street course exactly one week prior to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Utilizing turns 9, 10 and 11 of the Grand Prix course, the Formula DRIFT drivers negotiate the turns with lots of sideways action and high-speed entries resulting in non-stop action that only Formula DRIFT can deliver. Gates are open to the public starting Friday, April 12 from 12pm to 5pm and again on Saturday, April 13 from 10am to 6pm.

Formula DRIFT Announces exclusive partnership with Livestream on Driftstream property

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Long Beach, Calif. – April 4, 2013 – Formula DRIFT has announced a new partnership with Livestream to take the Driftstream property to new heights. The deal includes Livestream becoming the exclusive player on the “Live” page of the Formula DRIFT website. The player is a full-feature embed that will stream in high definition, have full connectivity applications to Facebook and Twitter, chat feature, live photo and text updates, real-time DVR and is also fully customizable. In addition, Formula DRIFT will also become a marketing partner within the Livestream.com community and benefit from a robust viewership of over 30 million unique visitors per month.

“As the premier player in the live streaming space, Livestream will be a great partner for us. The Driftstream property is one of our most popular and most cherished parts of the series and this progression is a no-brainer for us,” says Ryan Sage, Co-Founder of Formula DRIFT

“We’re excited to add Formula DRIFT to our growing list of live sporting events available on our ad-free, award-winning platform,” said Jeff Varnell, Executive Vice President, Business Development. “ By leveraging Formula DRIFT’s passionate fan base, coupled with Livestream’s vast community, we’re connecting fans worldwide to all the action in real-time.”

Livestream and Formula DRIFT will begin this relationship starting at Round 1 in Long Beach on April 12-13, 2013. .

For more information on Formula DRIFT, visit: www.formulad.com.

To watch Formula DRIFT on Livestream visit: http://new.livestream.com/FormulaDrift

To watch Round 1: Streets of Long Beach visit: http://new.livestream.com/FormulaDrift/LongBeach

Life Blasters X Formula DRIFT = CONTEST!

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Life Blasters is holding a contest and this Friday (4/5/13) they’ll be giving 2 winners a pair of general admission tickets to Round 1: Streets of Long Beach.

Here’s how the contest works:

-Submit your guess of how much horsepower Taka Aono’s 2013 Formula DRIFT Championship AE86 will produce by leaving a comment in the comments section of their article.

-Be sure your first and last name is included in either the user name, or the comment text.

-This Friday 4/5/13, they will select the 2 guesses that are closest to the actual horsepower number and award each winner with a pair of General Admission tickets to Formula DRIFT Round 1: Streets of Long Beach!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO ENTER

Daijiro Yoshihara Makes Drastic Career Move To Mixed Martial Arts

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Press Release

Los Angeles – April 1, 2013

2011 Formula Drift champion Daijiro Yoshihara shocks the world to become the first champion professional drift driver to make a career move to mixed martial arts (MMA).  The Japanese native Yoshihara has been training with former MMA champion Josh Barnett for some time now.  Daijiro has competed in Formula Drift since 2004 and became the series champion in 2011.  He was turned onto MMA when he met Barnett who is an avid drifting fan.  “I was totally hooked.  Drifting is exciting and where my roots are but I think MMA is where my future is.” Yoshihara states.

After several months of training Daijiro finally made the decision to dedicate his professional career to MMA and retire from drifting.  Josh Barnett has been by his side all through the transition and he calls Daijiro “a natural”.  Daijiro also got an opportunity to spar with one of the Gracies in a jiu-jitsu match and he completely overwhelmed his opponent.  “I’ve always respected Gracie jiu-jitsu but they were no match for the speed and balance I’ve achieved through professional driving. My left foot clutch kick is pretty gnarly.” claims Daijiro.

The award winning Behind the Smoke webseries on GTChannel has followed Daijiro’s drifting career for the past 2 seasons but will continue to cover Daijiro even though GTChannel is an automotive channel on Youtube.  GTChannel’s Executive Producer Taro Koki says, “No matter where Dai goes his fans will follow him so Behind the Smoke will continue to capture Dai on and off the mat from now on.” A new episode of Behind the Smoke is scheduled to be released every Monday.

Although no opponent has been announced yet.  Yoshihara looks to train hard and dedicate himself to fighting for hereon.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX_G8OqIH-w&feature=share&list=UUQjJzFttHxRQPlqpoWnQOpw[/youtube]

Streetwise Drift – EGGZ-TREME Drift Day

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Link to the flyer for sharing Here
March 30th EGGZ-TREME Drift Day and Car Corral
Facebook events page HERE
( THIS EVENT WILL BE LIVE STREAMED ONLINE )
Drift Day Driver Reg – 75.00  
Competition Driver 125.00
Driver sign in 7:30 AM
Track Hot@ 9:30 AM -6:30

Driver Registration Link
HERE  

A Full day of Drifting and car show fun is coming up on March 30th!
@
METROLINA EXPO 
7100 Statesville RD
Charlotte NC
Spectator and Car Corral Gates open @ 10AM
Indoor VIP Car Corral Space is First come first Serve
General Admission 10.00
Kids 12 and under in free
Indoor and Secure Lot Car Corral Parking +5.00

Features
All Day Drifting

Tandem Competition
Ride Along’s
Indoor Paddock
Huge Covered Car Corral
Vendor Row
Music
Check out the Facebook Event Page for news and updates about the event.
Car Corral
Inddoor VIP Space
(First come first serve)
All car clubs and individuals welcome:
STANCED
EXOTICS
IMPORT
DOMESTIC
EURO
MINI TRUKS
CUSTOM 4×4
BIKES

If you have a large club and would like to secure space for your members please click  here to reserve space.

Gates open 10AM – 6:30PM
Spread the word!

Media Request : [email protected]
Volunteer: [email protected]