Category: FD News

Falken Tire Cup Established To Offer Significant Contingency Program To Formula Drift Entrants

News

Posted on

March 1, 2012

FONTANA, CA – Falken Tire, a leading high performance choice for driving enthusiasts, and the winner of consecutive Formula Drift Championships, has announced an aggressive contingency program for 2012 Formula Drift privateer entrants, to be designated the Falken Tire Cup.

The Falken Tire Cup was established to give Formula D privateer drivers and teams an opportunity to earn significant contingency funds by awarding $5,000 to the highest finishing driver participating in the program.

“Falken Tire has been a proud supporter of Formula Drift since its inception, and our Azenis RT615k tire is an important part of our back-to-back championships,” noted Jonathon Bradford, Team Falken’s Drift Supervisor. “Privateer teams are the backbone of our sport and Falken Tire is fortunate to be in a position where our brand can reward their success in such a competitive series.”

Participants in the Falken Tire Cup will also be able to take advantage of a special Falken Tire discount purchase program.  Additional requirements for involvement in the Falken Tire Cup include:

  • To be eligible for the Falken Tire Cup, drivers will be required to run Falken Tires on all four positions of their vehicle at all Formula D events. The minimum signage requirements include a one 20-inch Falken Tire decal on the front bumper or hood position as well as at least one 24-inch decal on both sides of the vehicle. Falken Tire Cup drivers must also wear a Falken Tire patch (or embroidery) on their driver suit as well as a Falken Tire banner in their team’s pit space.
  • Teams must participate in at least four rounds of the 2012 Formula D championship series

Round 1 of the 2012 Formula Drift Championship begins on the streets of Long Beach as teams will again compete on the Long Beach Grand Prix course, April 6-7.  The schedule for this year’s racing events can be found at:  http://formulad.com/schedule/pro-championship/

For more information on the Falken Tire Cup, or to register, drivers and teams should contact: [email protected].

Discount Tire Takes Drift Fans for a Thrill Ride on Season 2 of “Behind The Smoke” with Formula D Champion Daijiro Yoshihara

News

Posted on

Discount Tire, America’s largest tire and wheel retailer, and sponsor of the Formula D Discount Tire/Falken Tire Nissan S13, announced Season 2 of Behind The Smoke, its hit GTChannel web video series featuring Formula D champion Daijiro Yoshihara. The first webisode of the new season will premiere April 14 on GTChannel’s YouTube Channel.

GTChannel’s cameras will follow Yoshihara throughout the 2012 season giving fans an exclusive look into the life of this world renowned Formula D driver. On track action and off track adventures will be chronicled in 21 videos with a new episode appearing each week.

“We’re very excited to work with Dai and Discount Tire to produce a follow up to our hugely popular premier season,” said Behind the Smoke producer Taro Koki. “We anticipate an even greater response from fans for Season 2 and Dai is sure to keep them hooked with his genuine brand of entertainment.”

Behind the Smoke is a weekly web video series produced by GTChannel in association with Discount Tire. First launched in 2011, Behind the Smoke is the first Drift racing reality series to cover the extreme motorsport and one of its most notable driver personalities. The premier season attracted 1.5 million unique views with an average of 50,000 views per episode. A playlist for Season 1 is available at http://tinyurl.com/3ebnfrx.

“Last year I won my first championship and Behind The Smoke captured every moment,” said Yoshihara. “This time I’m defending the trophy for my fans!”

Discount Tire, a long standing North American Drift supporter, has been the primary sponsor of Yoshihara since 2009 and the exclusive tire and wheel retailer of the Formula D Championship series for the past eight years.

Discount Tire also sponsors the tires.com Triple Crown, which is made up of three regular season Formula D events. The driver with the highest combined score from Road Atlanta, Evergreen Speedway and Irwindale Speedway receive a $10,000 cash prize. In addition to winning the Formula D championship, Yoshihara also won the tires.com Triple Crown in 2011, marking the first time in Formula D history that a driver took home both the Formula D series championship and the tires.com Triple Crown title in the same year.

Formula Drift Co-Founder Jim Liaw Interviewed on Tech House & Speed

News

Posted on

Formula Drift Co-Founder Jim Liaw recently spent some time talking to Bill Wood of Tech House & Speed. They cover the hot topic of Irwindale Speedway’s bankruptcy and cancellation of the racing season. Jim sheds a lot of light on how Formula Drift may or may not be affected by this with the information that is available thus far.

We’ll be sure to keep everyone informed on this topic as more information is released from the venue.

CLICK HERE to listen to the interview.

Formula DRIFT Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Tickets On-Sale

News

Posted on

Formula DRIFT Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Tickets On-Sale;
Ninth Season of Competition Begins on April 6-7, 2012

Long Beach, Calif. – February 15, 2012 – Formula DRIFT prepares to begin the ninth professional championship season. Round 1: Streets of Long Beach on April 6-7 tickets are now on-sale and can be purchased online via the Formula DRIFT website, www.formuladrift.com.

“We are especially excited to kick-off another season in Long Beach,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “This will be our fifth consecutive year utilizing the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Street Course, which is the only street course in the Championship. With new drivers, new competition vehicles and non-stop drifting action we are expecting another sell-out crowd.”

Round 1: Streets of Long Beach will feature the championship defense for Daijiro Yoshihara, the debut of the Scion Racing FR-S driven by Ken Gushi, and the introduction of a new judge to the Series. New drivers and vehicles will make their debut at this season opener including 2011 Formula Drift Asia Champion Daigo Saito leading the international charge of drivers from 14 nations.

Tickets are now available for Round 1: Streets of Long Beach on April 6-7, including reserved seating, 2-day ticket packages, and VIP tickets. Tickets can be purchased through http://formulad.com/schedule/tickets/, Ticketmaster outlets, and the Long Beach Convention Center box office. Ticket prices start at $28 online with reserved tickets available for Saturday’s competition day. 2-day packages are also available along with VIP ticket packages. Save on additional fees by purchasing your ticket at the Long Beach Convention Center box office directly.

Irwindale Speedway Statement

News

Posted on

“There has been recent news regarding the status of Irwindale Speedway. This situation is still very fluid and there is nothing definitive on the future of the facility or Formula DRIFT’s event there. There are rumors ranging from full closure to “business as usual” with changes only to staff and their in-house NASCAR and drag racing events, again nothing is definitive. The current issue from what we understand is between the facility operators and the property owners. Formula DRIFT will be monitoring the situation at Irwindale and will provide updates via our website and social media channels. As we have proven in the past, no matter what happens, Formula DRIFT will be prepared.”

– Jim Liaw, President and Co-founder of Formula DRIFT