Formula Drift



Formula DRIFT or Formula D is the premier United States drifting series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to the now defunct Slipstream Global Marketing. The same partnership that introduced D1 Grand Prix to the United States. The new entity would solely own, operate and launch the first official drifting series in North America. 2012 will be Formula Drift's ninth year of competition.

With more than 60+ drivers competing in 2012, Formula Drift is recognized as the premier North American professional drifting championship series. The series consists of a seven round championship played out at race tracks across the United States. Judged on execution and style, rather than who finishes the course in the fastest time, Formula Drift brings together traditional racing and extreme sports.

Formula Drift works closely with a huge variety of endemic and non-endemic business partners from energy drinks to the military. Most notably Formula Drift works with the largest amount of tire suppliers to a single series. Achilles, BFGoodrich, Cooper, Falken, Hankook, Maxxis, Kenda, Nexen, Nitto, and Toyo all work together to supply teams and develop test their products.

List of competing drivers in Formula Drift

 * Please refer to Category:Formula D drivers

Home
Formula Drift is home to 60+ professional drift drivers. The competition for Formula Drift licenses is intense. Drivers in the U.S. can compete in a number of regionally sanctioned Pro-Am series for licensing.
 * Evergreen Drift – Pacific Northwest
 * Hold the Line - Northeast (2011)
 * USDrift - Northeast (2013) Mid-Atlantic (2006-2008)
 * Just Drift – Southern California
 * Lone Star Drift - Texas
 * Midwest Drift Union – Midwest
 * Streetwise Drift – Southeast
 * Thunder Drift – Northern California
 * Vegas Drift- Southwest

Winners and high finishers of these feeders series either earn their license for the following year or earn the right to compete at a Formula Drift sanctioned National Pro-Am event. These National events have been held in Laughlin, NV and Irwindale, CA.

Abroad
Drivers from around the world have set their sights on Formula Drift as the series of choice world wide in which to compete. This also includes the legions of talented drivers from Japan, who have competed previously in the D1 Grand Prix. Other drivers who crossed over to Formula Drift from foreign series are the Irish drivers Darren McNamara, James Deane, Eric O'Sullivan, and Dean Kearney. These drivers rose to acclaim in their European home series before making the move stateside.

Current Tracks

 * Rd.1 Long Beach GP street course, Long Beach, CA. Season 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
 * Rd.2 Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA. Season 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
 * Rd.3 Palm Beach International Raceway – Palm Beach, FL. Season 2011, 2012
 * Rd.4 Wall Speedway in Wall, NJ. Season 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
 * Rd.5 Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, WA. Season 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
 * Rd.6 Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas NV. Season 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
 * Rd.7 Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Irwindale, CA.  Season 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

Former Tracks

 * Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. Season 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
 * Summit Point Motorsports Park in Summit Point, WV. Season 2007
 * Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ. Season 2008
 * Reliant Center in Houston, TX. Season 2004, 2005
 * Soldier Field in Chicago, IL. Season 2005, 2006

International Presence
Formula Drift has increased its international presence every year since 2008 with the addition of demonstration and sister series in other countries. "Taking the Formula Drift brand internationally is a huge milestone. Our priority is to continue to build the Series here while growing the sport of drifting as a whole," said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula Drift. "We are very careful in choosing our event partners and take careful consideration of the boundaries of our international affiliates such as Drift Australia, MSC, and Pro Drift."

Sister Series
Formula Drift Asia. Formula Drift Asia was created in 2008 with the inaugural FD Singapore competition. The first real international competition of its in Asia, held at the Changi Air Show Grounds. This historic event was sold out before the gates opened. Since then, Formula Drift Asia became its own championship series, the first Pan-Asian professional drifting championship. In 2009 and 2010, the Championship made stops in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. For the 2011/2012 Championship tour, Formula Drift Asia added an additional stop in Indonesia.

FD Asia web site. The first Formula Drift Asia Champion was Tengku Djan.
 * Rd.1 Marina Bay Street Circuit, Marina Bay, Singapore Season 2010
 * Rd.2 🇹🇭 Bangkok Wonderworld, Bangkok, Thailand Season 2010
 * Rd.3 Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Season 2010

Formula D Australia. The series was announced in June 2005. Formula D Australia visited three tracks in 2005. The series was held in conjunction with the DRIFT Australia Championship. After the season, the series' website was no longer updated, and has since been taken down.
 * Mallala Motor Sport Park in South Australia.
 * Oran Park Raceway in New South Wales.
 * Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria.

Exhibition Events

 * 🇶🇦 Date TBD International Competition – Qatar Racing Club
 * Date TBD International Competition – Yas Marina Circuit
 * 🇵🇦 February 5, 2012 Demonstration – Figali Convention Center
 * May 27, 2012 International Competition – Location TBD
 * 🇺🇸 June 11, 2011 Formula Drift Ultimate Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, TX
 * February 25, 2011 Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE
 * 🇵🇦 February 12, 2011 Figali Convention Center, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá
 * 🇵🇦 January 17, 2010 Figali Convention Center, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá
 * 🇵🇦 March 8, 2009 Figali Convention Center, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá
 * 🇲🇽 August 23, 2008 Monterrey Autodromo, Monterrey, Mexico
 * April 27, 2008 Changi Air Show Grounds, Singapore

Regulation differences between D1 Grand Prix and Formula Drift
There are numerous differences between D1GP and Formula Drift in terms of car and competition regulations

Car eligibility
Cars and their builds are constantly under review by the Formula Drift staff. The rule book is revised every year to promote fair and exciting drifting. Some cars and practices are written out of the rule book in order to keep a realistic and level playing field. During the 2004 season, the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe was permitted to compete, whereas it was ineligible in D1 and later ineligible in Formula Drift.

Although Formula Drift does not permit front-wheel drive cars, it does allow all-wheel drive cars to be converted to rear wheel drive, such as the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi EVO. In the United States, the Scion tC is sold only in the FWD layout, but because it shares the same chassis as the AWD Toyota Avensis (sold only in the United Kingdom and Europe), it can be converted to a competition-ready RWD layout. Formula Drift does allow other manufacturers' engines to be positioned in the cars. This is more common with older cars, where normally aspirated Chevrolet engines are often used (often up to 7000 cc).

Unlike the D1 series, in which the cars are numbered according to the driver's ranking, drivers in Formula Drift are given fixed numbers for their cars.

Scoring and judging
Formula D uses a different scoring system than D1GP. In D1, points are given to drivers who compete in the tsuiso (twin run) round, known as Tandem Battle in Formula D; 20 for the winner going down to 2 for the 10th place finisher as well as 1 point for the rest of the drivers who competed in the tsuiou round.

In D1, drivers are given three runs during a tansou (solo run) round, in Formula D as Qualifying Single Runs and only the best of them will count which at the end of that round, drivers who score the perfect 100 points will be awarded one extra point to add to their championship score. In Formula D, competitors are given two non-consecutive judged runs during the Single Runs segment of the competition which both will be judged. Starting orders will consists of drivers from the lowest rank starting first with those of the highest rank starting last whereas in D1, it is the other way round as it is seen that lower ranked drivers can take advantage of the surface grip when they start last.

Formula D drivers are scored on a points-deduction system where every driver will start their judged run with a perfect score of 100 pts. For every mistake, points will be deducted. These points will vary between .25 point to the most severe mistakes (-1.75).

When there is a tie in scores during a competition, rather than in D1 which will call for a rerun until the winner can be decided, in Formula D, judges will use the driver’s entry speed of the best run from the Qualifying Round as a tie breaker.

In D1GP, during a tsuiso round, if a driver wins his round but is unable to take his place due to breakages, they must forfeit their place to the losing opponent. If neither is able to compete, the winning driver gets his place and as a result, that following round will not take place. In Formula D, should the driver be without an opponent, they will be allowed to run on his own.

The current judges are Andy Yen, Ryan Lanteigne, and Brian Eggert. Randy Hembrey is the Race Director for the series.

Overtaking
Formula D rules are structured so as not to encourage drivers to overtake their opponents; doing so incurs a penalty. Overtaking is only permitted when the lead car makes a mistake such as coming to a complete stop or going completely off course, whereas in D1, being overtaken is seen as a disadvantage to the driver, incurring a loss.

US

 * 2004 🇸🇪 Samuel Hübinette - Mopar Viper Competition Coupe
 * 2005 🇳🇿 Rhys Millen - RMR Pontiac GTO
 * 2006 🇸🇪 Samuel Hübinette - Mopar Viper SRT-10
 * 2007 🇺🇸 Tanner Foust - AEM/Memphis Audio Nissan 350Z
 * 2008 🇺🇸 Tanner Foust - AEM/Rockstar Nissan 350Z
 * 2009 🇺🇸 Chris Forsberg - NOS Energy Nissan 350Z
 * 2010 🇺🇸 Vaughn Gittin Jr. - Team Falken Monster Energy Ford Mustang
 * 2011 🇯🇵 Daijiro Yoshihara - Falken Tire / Discount Tire Nissan 240SX
 * 2012 🇯🇵 Daigo Saito - Achilles Radial / Bridges Racing Lexus SC430
 * 2013 🇺🇸 Michael Essa -GSR Autosport / Yokohama Tire BMW M3

ASIA

 * 2008 🇯🇵 Ryuji Miki - A'PEXi Mazda RX-7
 * 2009 Tengku Djan Ley - Bridgestone Malaysia Nissan 240SX
 * 2010 Tengku Djan Ley - Bridgestone Malaysia FXOpen Nissan 240SX
 * 2011 🇯🇵 Daigo Saito - Achilles Radial Toyota Altezza
 * 2012 🇯🇵 Daigo Saito - Achilles Radial Lexus IS C

Rookie of the Year

 * 2006 🇺🇸 Bill Sherman - Nissan 240SX
 * 2007 🇮🇪 Darren McNamara - Toyota Corolla Coupe GT/Nissan SR20
 * 2008 🇯🇵 Michihiro Takatori - Nissan Skyline ER34
 * 2009 🇮🇪 Eric O'Sullivan - Subaru Impreza WRX STI
 * 2010 🇳🇴 Fredric Aasbo - Toyota Supra JZA80
 * 2011 🇱🇹 Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis - Nissan 240SX /GM LS1
 * 2012 🇯🇵 Daigo Saito - Lexus SC430/Toyota 2JZ-GTE
 * 2013 🇨🇦 Mats Baribeau - Toyota Mark II/Toyota 1JZ-GTE

Most improved driver

 * 2007 🇺🇸 Bill Sherman - Nissan 240SX
 * 2008 🇫🇷 Stephan Verdier - Subaru Impreza WRX STI
 * 2009 🇫🇷 Stephan Verdier – Cooper Tire Subaru STi
 * 2010 🇳🇿 Mad Mike Whiddett - Mazda RX8
 * 2011 🇺🇸 Matt Powers - Nissan 240SX/GM LS7
 * 2012 🇯🇵 Robbie Nishida - Lexus SC300
 * 2013 🇮🇪 Darren McNamara - Nissan 200SX

Driver of the Year

 * 2007 🇺🇸 Chris Forsberg
 * 2008 🇺🇸 Ryan Tuerck
 * 2009 🇺🇸 Chris Forsberg
 * 2013 🇳🇴 Fredric Aasbo

Hardest Charging Driver

 * 2007 🇺🇸 Chris Forsberg
 * 2008 🇯🇵 Robbie Nishida
 * 2010 🇳🇴 Fredric Aasbø
 * 2011 🇺🇸 Matt Powers
 * 2012 🇯🇵 Daigo Saito
 * 2013 🇯🇵 Robbie Nishida

Spirit of Drifting

 * 2007 🇰🇷 Joon Maeng
 * 2008 🇺🇸 Patrick Mordaunt
 * 2009 🇯🇵 Taka Aono
 * 2011 🇺🇸 Walker Wilkerson
 * 2012 🇺🇸 Danny George
 * 2013 🇯🇵 Robbie Nishida

Superstar of the Year

 * 2008 🇺🇸 Tanner Foust

Best Drifting Style

 * 2008 🇯🇵 Daijiro Yoshihara
 * 2011 🇯🇵 Daijiro Yoshihara
 * 2012 🇳🇴 Fredric Aasbo
 * 2013 🇯🇵 Daigo Saito

Best Personal Style

 * 2011 🇺🇸 Matt Powers
 * 2012 🇺🇸 Ryan Tuerck
 * 2013 🇺🇸 Matt Powers

Best Looking Car

 * 2011 🇺🇸 Matt Field's S14

Crew Member of the Year

 * 2011 🇯🇵 Mike Kojima
 * 2012 🇯🇵 Mike Kojima

Team Manager of the Year

 * 2011 🇺🇸 Chris Forsberg
 * 2012 Stephan Papadakis
 * 2013 🇺🇸 Michael Essa

Comeback of the Year

 * 2011 🇳🇿 Rhys Millen
 * 2013 🇺🇸 Michael Essa

Fan Favorite

 * 2011 🇺🇸 Walker Wilkerson
 * 2013 🇳🇴 Fredric Aasbo

All-time Formula Drift event winners list

 * 1) 🇸🇪 Samuel Hübinette - 9 wins (2004 at Road Atlanta, Houston, and Infineon; 2005 at Road Atlanta and Chicago; 2006 at Long Beach, Chicago and Wall; 2007 at Summit Point)
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Daijiro Yoshihara - 8 wins (2006 at Irwindale; 2007 at Seattle and Wall, 2010 at Road Atlanta and Wall, 2011 at Road Atlanta and Monroe; 2013 at Long Beach)
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Chris Forsberg - 7 wins (2005 at Irwindale; 2007 at Road Atlanta and Infineon; 2008 at Long Beach; 2009 at Road Atlanta and Seattle; 2013 at Seattle)
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Tanner Foust - 7 wins (2006 at Road Atlanta; 2007 at Irwindale; 2008 at Englishtown and Sonoma; 2009 at Las Vegas; 2010 at Seattle and Irwindale)
 * 5) 🇳🇿 Rhys Millen - 7 wins (2004 at Irwindale; 2005 at Wall; 2006 at Infineon; 2008 at Road Atlanta and Seattle; 2011 at Las Vegas; 2012 at Las Vegas)
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Vaughn Gittin, Jr. - 5 wins (2008 at Irwindale; 2010 at Long Beach and Sonoma; 2012 at Wall; 2012 at Seattle)
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Daigo Saito - 5 wins (2012 at Palm Beach and Irwindale; 2013 at Road Atlanta, Wall and Irwindale)
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Justin Pawlak - 4 wins (2011 at Long Beach and Palm Beach; 2012 at Long Beach and Road Atlanta)
 * 9) 🇺🇸 Ryan Tuerck - 2 wins (2009 at Long Beach and Irwindale)
 * 10) 🇺🇸 Tyler McQuarrie - 2 wins (2010 at Las Vegas; 2011 at Irwindale)
 * 11) 🇺🇸 Michael Essa - 2 wins (2013 at Palm Beach and Texas)

One win each for:
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Ken Gushi (2005 at Houston)
 * 2) 🇭🇰 Calvin Wan (2005 at Infineon)
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Yukinobu Okubo (2006 at Seattle)
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Mitsuru Haraguchi (2007 at Long Beach)
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Toshiki Yoshioka (2008 at Las Vegas)
 * 6) 🇮🇪 Darren McNamara (2009 at Wall)
 * 7) 🇫🇷 Stephan Verdier (2009 at Infineon)
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Conrad Grunewald (2011 at Wall)

To this date, only 4 drivers have won both Formula Drift and D1 Grand Prix events, they are Mitsuru Haraguchi, Toshiki Yoshioka, Vaughn Gittin, Jr., and Daigo Saito.

Formula Drift television coverage
Former Fox Soccer USA host Brandon Johnson hosted the Formula D show for G4 in 2006. Rossi Morreale was the show's host in 2005. Johnson was joined by Attack of the Show co-host Olivia Munn who covered the pits and drivers during the events and drifting expert Adam Matthews who provided commentary and insight on the tandem battles. G4 aired each round on a tape-delayed basis. Jarod DeAnda is the public address announcer at each event, earning him the moniker, "The Voice of Formula D." In 2005, G4 used DeAnda's event commentary track, but for 2006, used Johnson and Matthews calling each battle like a typical play-by-play/color commentator combination. Johnson and Matthews were on-site for each event, but it sounded as if they had taped their commentary after the event had already taken place. This practice is not uncommon in the motorsports business in post-production.

In the 2005 season, there were two people working the pits — driver interviewer Mayleen Ramey, who was a roving reporter for the half-hour episodes, and a second anchor, who patrolled around the car show at each event. In 2005, G4 used three reporters for this job. From the round in Wall to the round in Houston, actor Emeka Nnadi held the job. At the Infineon round, Attack of the Show! co-host Kevin Pereira took the duties, while Street Fury host Big C finished things out in Chicago and Irwindale. Also, G4 showed half-hour episodes in-between rounds, most of which focused on the network having its own drift car built from scratch, with other segments focusing on the aspects of drifting. One of the first half-hour episodes in 2005 had one Formula D competitor, Chris Forsberg go to Japan, and meet up with another competitor, Daijiro Yoshihara, to explore the country and get more perspective on the birth of drifting. Episodes that featured event coverage lasted an hour-and-a-half, and featured the top 16 tandem rounds, including those that needed to be run again, because the judges deemed them too close to call. These episodes aired the night after the next round in the series had already taken place.

In 2006, however, coverage was dramatically different. The half-hour episodes were gone, and event coverage was reduced to an hour, and their scheduling was quite random. The Long Beach and Atlanta rounds premiered on June 18, with the Chicago round airing on July 2, and the Sonoma round airing a week after it took place. During the Sonoma round, G4 noted that the Seattle round would premiere on September 10, but that date was changed to October 8, with the last two rounds (Wall and Irwindale) airing every other week afterward. These episodes featured more interviews and driver profiles, many of which would've been placed in a half-hour show last year, and many of the tandem battles have been cut out, and any battle that needed to be run again did not have its second run shown. This led to some criticism from those in the drifting community, including fans and some Formula D drivers.

At the 2006 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Formula D co-founders Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage announced that the series would have a new television partner in 2007. That partner was ESPN2. Each round began airing in a one-hour block on November 15 with the Long Beach round. All subsequent airings were supposed to be every Thursday afterward, but beginning with the Evergreen Speedway round on December 5, the air dates for new rounds switched to Wednesday.

The ESPN deal lasted just one season. SPEED Channel will air all rounds of the 2008 Formula D season, as well as the World Championship, scheduled for after the Irwindale round. Airings will take place on Sundays, beginning with the Long Beach round on October 26. All airings will begin at 4 PM Eastern.

For 2010 Formula Drift announces a comprehensive race programming schedule with VERSUS in which Drifting, the fastest-growing motorsport, will slide into more than 75 million U.S. homes. The seven-stop Formula DRIFT Championship Series programs will air over fourteen Sundays during the 2 PM (EST) / 11 AM (PST) time slot beginning Sunday, August 30. Each episode will showcase all the on- and off-track action as the world’s top drift drivers battle for the coveted title of Formula DRIFT Champion. The first episode, airing on August 30, will feature a comprehensive overview of the sport and drivers. Each episode will re-air the week following the initial airing. Coverage is slated to remain the same for the 2011 season.

In 2012 NBC's merger with Comcast, Comcast's sports channels were combined under the NBC Sports division, in an arrangement known as the NBC Sports Group, which also comprises Golf Channel, the Comcast SportsNet regional sports networks, and Versus, which was re-launched as the NBC Sports Network on January 2, 2012.

Internet Coverage
In 2010 Formula D joined forces with Justin.tv to bring a live stream of all 7 events. All rounds were broadcast via Justin.tv complete with practices and all rounds of competition were included. During the 2010 season over 1,000,000 viewers tuned in to watch the live action unfold over the 7 Pro Championship events.

Print Coverage
At the 2010 SEMA show, FD co-founder Jim Liaw announced the Formula Drift would begin the quarterly publication of a Formula Drift's magazine in 2011. The publication will be handled by Haymarket Media Group.