Formula D

Formula D is a United States' drifting series.It is not a racing formula, the name is taken for vanity's sake only.

The series is sponsored by the popular video game series, "Need for Speed". Its official name is "Need for Speed" Formula Drift Presented by Circuit City. It was inaugurated in 2004.

The 2008 series schedule has seven official rounds, each at a different track. These are the locations Formula D visits in 2008:

* Streets of Long Beach, California (held on April 12)
* Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia (held on May 10)
* Englishtown Raceway at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey (held on June 14)*
* Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada (held July 12)*
* Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington (held on August 9)
* Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California (held on September 13)
* Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California (scheduled for October 11)

The asterisk next to the Englishtown and Las Vegas rounds indicate that they are new venues. Round 3 was previously scheduled to be held at Wall Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey, but the track was closed, as expected, and the event moved to Englishtown. [ [http://formulad.com/news/FD-Round-3.html] ]

Formula D had somewhat of a partnership with the Champ Car World Series, holding demonstration events at Champ Car race weekends, most prominently, the Long Beach Grand Prix. In 2007, five demonstration events were held as team events, and counted towards a points system separate from the individual championship. Only two team events for scheduled for 2008, one at Long Beach, and the other at Portland International Raceway. [ [http://formulad.com/team-drift/] ]

There was also a Formula D in Australia, which was announced in June 2005. The three tracks Formula D Australia visited in 2005 were Mallala Motorsport Park in South Australia, Oran Park Raceway in New South Wales, and Winton Raceway in Victoria. 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 After the season, the series' website was no longer updated, and has since been taken down.

The American Formula D series advertises nine tire manufacturers (Nitto Tires, Toyo Tires, Bridgestone Tires, Maxxiss Tires, Federal Tires, Falken Tires, Cooper Tires, Dunlop Tires, Hankook Tires, and Kumho Tires).

Formula D 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; an article in the December 2006 issue of "Car and Driver" revealed that longtime motorsports announcer Rick Benjamin uses this same method when calling USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series races. Benjamin travels to Atlanta, views a tape of the most recent event, makes notes, then tapes his commentary.

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 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. [ [http://formulad.com/news/speed-press-release.html Formula DRIFT Announces SPEED Programming Block] ]

Regulation differences between D1GP and Formula D

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

Car eligibility

D1GP only allow convertible models as long as a supplied hard top roof is used, whereas Formula D permits cars to be driven with its roof down. During the 2004 season, the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe was permitted to compete, whereas it was ineligible in D1.

Although Formula D do not permit front wheel drive cars, it allows them to be converted to rear wheel drive, one example of this is Ken Gushi's Scion tC.

Scoring and judging

Formula D uses a different scoring system to D1GP. In D1, points are given to drivers who compete in the tsuiou (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. [http://formulad.com/info.php?id=judginginfo Formula Drift - Professional Drifting Championship ] ]

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 mistakes, 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 tsuiou round, if a driver wins his round but is unable to take his place up, 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,in that situation, should the driver be without an opponent, they will be allowed to run on his own.

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, whereas in D1, being overtaken is seen as a disadvantage to the driver, incurring a loss.

List of competing drivers in Formula Drift

(also includes former drivers)

Tony Angelo (Drift Alliance/Bridgestone Mazda RX-8)

Taka Aono (Falken AE86 Corolla)

Tony Brakohiapa

Nathan Brasz

Casper Canul (Cooper Tire Silvia S14.5)

John Cena (WWE Nissan GT-R)

Ryan Clemens

James Evansdn Bubba Drift GMC Caballero

Lance Feliciano

Ernie Fixmer (Fixmer Racing)

Rob Fleming (XAT Racing/Maxxis Tires Nissan 240SX S13)

Chris Forsberg (Drift Alliance/NOS Energy Drink/Maxxis Nissan 350Z Roadster)

Tanner Foust (AEM 350z)

Vaughn Gittin, Jr. (Falken/DA Ford Mustang)

Conrad Grunewald

Ken Gushi 具志健士郎(Toyo Tires Ford Mustang)

Ryan Hampton

Mitsuru Haruguchi

Kazu Hayashida [Nissan Skyline R34

Todd Ho (FC3S)

Nick Hogan(no longer licenced) Dodge Charger Mopar)

Benson Hsu (privateer Nissan) Sileighty)

Samuel Hubinette (Mopar Dodge Viper)

James Huynh (Toyota Supra)

Kevin Huynh (Nissan 180SX)

Sean Johnson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution)

Hiromi Kajikuma

Gary Lang

Aaron Losey Bubba Drift Chevrolet El CaminoN/A conversion

Quoc Ly

Joon Maeng [Nissan S13.5]

Tyler Mcquarrie (Hankook/JIC porsche 911)

Darren McNamara Toyota AE86 (with Nissan SR20DET engine)

Verena Mei

Christopher Mendoza

Ryuji Miki

Chris Milano

Rod Millen Mazda RX-8

Rhys Millen (Rhys Millen Racing Pontiac Solstice)

Kyle Mohan [Mazda FC RX7]

Robbie Nishida [Nissan S14]

Bryan Norris

Yukinobu Okubo (Signal Japan Skyline GTR)

David Padron

Stephan Papadakis (AEM Honda S2000)

Justin Pawlak

Dan Pina (Drift Patrol Ford Mustang)

Michael Peters [Nissan S13] (V8 Chevy Powerd)

Ross Petty (Nissan 240sx (Stroked SR20DET))

Daniel Pina

Casey Quillen

John Russakaoff

Ben Reyes

Jeffary Rodriguez (Veilside Mazda RX7 FD3S)

Emily rodriguez (Nissan Silvia S13)

Derrick Rogers Bubba Drift Chevrolet El Camino

Rich Rutherford

Ben Schwartz Sears/Falken Saturn Sky

Tony Schulz

Makoto Sezaki

Bill Sherman

Gary Simmons

Tommy Suell

Steven Sueppel(AE86)

Hiro Sumida (Falken Discount Tire Lexus IS350)

Ryan TuerckDrift Alliance/Bridgestone Nissan S13

Amy Tang (Toyota Soarer)

Robbie Unser

Doug VanDenBrink

Stephan Verdier

Calvin Wan (Falken Infiniti G35)

Seigo Yamamoto (Falken/Garage-S/OS-Giken Toyota Chaser)

Kenji Yamanaka

John Yim (Enjuku Racing Nissan 240SX S13.4)

Daijiro Yoshihara (Rockstar/Nitto Nissan S13)

Hubert Young

Chris Orsini

Formula Drift Champions

US

* 2004 Samuel Hubinette - Mopar Viper Competition Coupe
* 2005 Rhys Millen - RMR Pontiac GTO
* 2006 Samuel Hubinette - Mopar Viper SRT-10
*2007 Tanner Foust - Nissan 350z

Formula Drift Triple Crown Champions

*2006 Tanner Foust - Nissan 350z
*2007 Chris Forsberg - Nissan 350z

All-time Formula Drift event winners list

# Samuel Hubinette - 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)
# Rhys Millen - 5 wins (2004 at Irwindale; 2005 at Wall; 2006 at Infineon; 2008 at Road Atlanta and Seattle)
# Chris Forsberg - 4 wins (2005 at Irwindale; 2007 at Road Atlanta and Infineon; 2008 at Long Beach)
# Tanner Foust - 4 wins (2006 at Road Atlanta; 2007 at Irwindale; 2008 at Englishtown and Sonoma)
# Daijiro Yoshihara - 3 wins (2006 at Irwindale; 2007 at Seattle and Wall)

One win each for:
# Ken Gushi (2005 at Houston)
# Calvin Wan (2005 at Infineon)
# Yukinobu Okubo (2006 at Seattle)
# Mitsuru Haraguchi (2007 at Long Beach)
# Toshiki Yoshioka (2008 at Las Vegas)

References

External links

* [http://www.formulad.com/ Formula D's official website]
* [http://www.g4tv.com/formulad/index.html G4TV.com's "Formula D" page]
* [http://www.formulad.com.au/index.asp Formula Drift Australia official site]
* [http://www.wreckedmagazine.com Wrecked Magazine - Drifting's home in the USA]
* [http://www.driftlive.com DriftLive.com - Unofficial Formula D Coverage]
* [http://www.driftcentral.com]
* [http://thedriftzone.com/ The DriftZone - Formula D's official video podcast coverage]