Tag: Final Fight

Ford Mustang Teams Gear Up for Final Fight of 2014 Formula DRIFT Season at Irwindale Speedway

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Ford Mustang Teams Gear Up for Final Fight of 2014 Formula DRIFT Season at Irwindale Speedway

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• Ford Mustang driver Vaughn Gittin Jr. battling for podium finish in Formula DRIFT series

• Along with former champion Gittin Jr., past winner and Mustang driver Justin Pawlak also competing

• Ford will announce “Drift with Ford” sweepstakes winner of custom EcoBoost®-powered Fiesta ST after final 2014 Formula DRIFT event

Long Beach, Calif. – September 23, 2014 – With only one race left in the 2014 Formula DRIFT season, Ford Motor Company heads to Irwindale Speedway in California looking to finish strong in the season finale there. Vaughn Gittin Jr., in third place, and Justin Pawlak, in seventh, will compete in customized Ford Mustangs Oct. 10-11, in the final fight of the seven-event series.

“I’m really pumped to be heading into the final fight of 2014 at Irwindale Speedway,” said Gittin Jr. “While we are no longer battling for the championship, we plan to hold our ground and take third overall in the series.”

“This is something I’m really excited about, given the challenges we had to overcome this season,” he added. “The progression of drifting never ceases to amaze me, and this year has been insane with regard to the level of competition. Our Ford Mustang RTR has been fully up to the task and continues to be a performance bar-setting machine, round after round. We are looking forward to fighting hard and ending the season on the top step.”

Ford has supported drivers in Formula DRIFT since 2005, when the sport triggered a successful Ford Racing Performance Parts engine development program for a supercharged 4.6-liter V8 crate engine.

“This has been a thrilling season for Ford in Formula DRIFT,” said Mickey Matus, Ford Racing marketing communications manager. “Vaughn and Justin consistently had Ford in the hunt for the manufacturer’s cup and driver’s championship. We’re confident they will continue to show that Ford and Mustang are serious competitors, not only in the world of Formula DRIFT, but in all form of motorsports.”

Amidst the excitement of North America’s foremost professional drifting championship, Ford continues to give fans the opportunity to enter to win an EcoBoost®-powered Fiesta ST. The sweepstakes winner will receive personal drift lessons from Gittin Jr., a trip to Ford’s ST Octane Academy, and a visit to Hoonigan Racing headquarters. The last day to enter the contest online is Oct. 13 at 11:59 a.m. EDT. Anyone can enter at www.formuladrift.com while watching the hot action over the final weekend.

“Fiesta ST featuring the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine is a huge hit, especially among Formula DRIFT fans,” said Steve Ling, Ford car marketing manager. “We collaborated with Formula DRIFT to create an innovative way to give one to a lucky fan. We added lowering springs, an exhaust from Ford Racing Performance Parts, Rotiform 18-inch VCE wheels, Nitto NT555 ultra-high-performance tires and a K&N intake system to make this a true, one-of-one car. We had this hot new Fiesta ST at the season opener in Long Beach and will have it at the upcoming finale in California.”

The first official drifting series in North America, Formula DRIFT has taken competitive motorsports to the extreme – attracting enthusiasts from all walks of life. Highly skilled drivers maneuver high-powered cars into controlled slides at high speeds through a marked course. Judged on speed, execution and style rather than fastest time, drifting is a crowd pleaser that’s often compared to the freestyle nature of skateboarding and motocross.

The 2014 Formula DRIFT season will continue with Round 7: Final Fight at Irwindale Speedway on October 10-11. For more information visit: www.formuladrift.com and find Formula DRIFT on Instagram @formulad, Facebook www.facebook.com/formuladrift and Twitter @FormulaDrift.

Formula DRIFT Round 7: Final Fight Ticket Update

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Grandstand and other tickets are no longer available for online purchase for this weekend’s event, but we will be selling standing room GA tickets tomorrow (Friday) at the Irwindale Event Center box office for all those that are planning on coming. You may purchase a 2-Day pass at that time and guarantee your entry for Saturday as well. We will send out another notice on tomorrow night regarding Saturday’s remaining inventory. Any questions, please email [email protected]

A Deeper Look Into the 2013 Stats Leading into the Championship

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With only one event remaining in the 2013 season the competition is as fierce as ever with only 15.50 points between first and second place in the Pro Championship Standings. Introduced this year were the additional championship titles: Manufacturer Championship and Tire Championship. The Manufacturer Championship is currently lead by Ford followed by Lexus and Nissan. Totals for each championship are determined by taking the top two eligible drivers from each event and adding both their qualifying and event final points for each category. Manufacturers are eligible when the chassis of the vehicle matches the engine i.e. Ford Mustang with Ford engine. Not eligible are chassis with non-matching engine i.e. Nissan 370Z with LS1 motor. Each championship will be determined at Round 7: Final Fight on October 11-12 at Irwindale Speedway.

Tire Championship Standings Top 5
Hankook 899.5
Falken 896 -3.5
Achilles 792.25 -107.25
Nitto 744 -155.5
Yokohama 697.5 -202

Manufacturer Championship Standings Top 5
Ford 810.5
Lexus 801.5 -9
Nissan 794 -16.5
BMW 755.5 -55
Scion 742.5 -68

We will share a few interesting statistics from this season as we head into the Formula DRIFT finale.

In 2013, we have seen a total of 61 different vehicles compete in the Pro Championship Series. 42% are running Chevy engines, while Toyota engines are represented in 20% of the field and Nissan in only 13%.

However, the diversity of various engine manufacturers to see the podium with 18 podium spots through six rounds is more competitive with 22% for Nissan and Lexus, 17% for Ford, BMW and Chevy and the remaining 5% for Scion.

Breaking this down even further we found the following engine types on the podium. Naturally aspirated V8’s have lead the way with 50%, 39% have a Turbo V6, 6% with a Supercharged V8 and only 5% with a Turbo 4 cylinder.

As we look into the tire manufacturers to reach the podium it is very close between the many manufacturers in the Series. Hankook has a majority of the podiums with 28%, Achilles follows with 22%, Falken and Yokohama both have 17%, Nitto with 11% and Maxxis with 5%.

There is also a variety of ECU Manufacturers involved with AEM represented in 34% of the vehicles in the Series followed by GM and Motec with 15% each and Holley with 13%.

Interestingly, enough only three ECU manufacturers have found the podium this season with Motec having 50% of the podium finishes, AEM with 33% and Pectel with 17%.