SCCA Holds Drifting Championship "Formula D"
 

Looks like SCCA is endorsing drifting now. Forumla D will be the first North Americanprofessional drifting championship.

http://www.scca.com/news/press03_146.html

"The 2004 series will be documented on ‘Formula Drift TV' by Want Media, a leading youth marketing and media production company."

It feels like this event is really going to be commercialized and exploited to hell. Does SCCA give a rat's ass about the drifting sport or are they hoping on the bandwagon?

Cool! I hope I can partake in SCCA drifting on a local level ;)

I would love to compete on a national level. Look for me there in 2005.

god, i think most of the guys which actually do get sideways think this is gonna turn drift from grassroots where anyone can compete and get good to where you need f*cking sponsers up the ass and at least $50-100k just to compete.

count me in ill be there in 2005 too ranzo.

Yes the SCCA does share more then a monetary interest in the sport of drifting. We wouldn't make it our baby if it didn't hold so much appeal, and no sanctioning racing events is not as lucrative as you think.

Cheers,

Jason
SCCA Pro Racing Field Staff Memeber
SCCA Speed World Challenge

Why is there a zealous marketing campain is my question?

This doesn't sound like a SOLO II. "NASCAR" comes to mind first. Aww well, I hope I am wrong and it turns out to be a really cool local/regional event.

NEWSRELEASE (March 15, 2004)
SCCA is teaming up with filmmaker John Singleton for Fast and the Furious 3!
...

There needs to be a "drifting" in this picture, but it gets the message across:

http://taylor-racing.com/chris/forum...e_fuck_out.jpg

Isn't one of the top guys at SCCA formerly a head NASCAR guy? Read that last yr in the SCCA mag...

Did anyone read the article in Sprotscar on the drift championship they sponsored in Irwindale Speedway? Sounds like they truly are interested in this. Why? Because it brings more members into the church of speed. More future club racers, and SCCA members.

taken from hyperrex's site "The next day, we attended the press conference by Slipstream Entertainment. They announced a new drifting series called Formula D. The twist is, they are working under the aegis of the SCCA! The SCCA will provide tech support in the form of rules and vehicle certification. The eventual goal of Formula D is to place the winners of Formula D in the next US D1 Grand Prix. What bothers me is that they claim that this is truly an opportunity for amateurs because they aren't letting anyone professional D1 drivers enter. They also claim that their judging system will eliminate politics and bias from the contest. However, they are planning a points competition, yet they are having only 4 events next year - and those 4 events are across the country! So by default, only people with lots of money and time enough to transport their car from coast to coast is going to have any reasonable shot at winning the points championship. Read bewteen the lines: only corporate sponsored drivers realistically have a shot. Way to go Slipstream."

This is all fine by me. I will transport my car wherever I can compete. There are lots of local events and so on here in Japan.......hell you can drift everyday of the year if you want. I have been in 15-20 competitions at "local" events and its boring because there is no what I call motivation......the prizes are small and so on. It is still fun and I would not stop doing it but I want to get sponsorships and make drift as large as nascar and other motorsports. Just because the SCCA wants to make a national tour or level of the competition dosen't stop the local chapters from holding events if that is what they want to do.

What I see is that drift has been going on locally and underground for years now and a lot of people want to make it something real and you cannot do that by just racing in a parking lot somewhere. The Pro D1 tour in Japan travels the country......some tracks take a day or two of travel to get to. This requires money, planning and stamina but it can be done without corporate sponsorship. To me that is the difference between someone who REALLY wants to do it and people who are just playing or is a hobby. How hard will you work to obtain your goals. As a second thought from what I have seen in the states Sponsors are paying for drivers with low abilities and I think this stems from all the hype surrounding drift at this current time. As time goes on more and more good drivers will emerge and some of the people driving now will be dropped......in my opinion of course. The whole point of what I am saying is that if you want to drift then you will and If you think you are good then you will want to show that to as many people as you can. If the SCCA goes nation wide with events then that is a good thing. I would be dissapointed if they only did it on a local level.

I'd like to organize drifting events within my own driving club.

I have done that in the past and I also co-sponsor with friends. I ususally try to get Americans from the base to enter. It is damn near impossible to get the Posers out of the parking lots to go race.

I don't know how it is in America on that side of the house but it is a pain in Japan because there is usually only one month out of the year to sign up and even then it is hard to get the dates that you want. So basically you sign up for the use of the track and pay a holding fee. If nobody shows up to your race then you are left owing a lot of money it can be a very scary situation. I want to charge money for spectators like D1 has begun to do since last year.

I think that is the reason Slipstream and the SCCA are hyping this up because if it flops then everyone will say it sucks and blah blah blah..... If it goes well then it can grow into something real. So they are investing lots of time and energy with advertising and presentation that appeals to the people who will come out and watch as well as participate.

Ranzo, I was thinking of organizing a drift event during an open track event. I'd have lapping groups for the grip drivers, and drifting groups for the power slide drivers. I'm not qualified to judge drifting techniques, and so my events would be non-competitive. It's just that with the drift groups, everyone in that run group is aware their fellow drivers are all sliding their cars purposefully, so they'd need to leave plenty of room between cars for drivers whose slides turn into "off-track excursions" :)

we have www.dgtrials.com over here. i know the guys that run. we use the parking lot at etown. i attempted to drift the 450hp monster.......the only time i did it i have no video of it LOL

its alot of fun as long as you don't smack into something. i still have ALOT to learn but its a very fun sport :)

Does that parking lot have parking light towers? I'd be afraid of smacking one of those. It's seems drifting in an open air field on a chalked-line course would be safest?

Don't be stupid and get near to it.

It doesn't make them stupid. Most autocrosses are closer than 25ft. to large stationary objects. If you really fuck up, like spinning out you can go farther than 25 ft. You take that risk at these types of events. Some places have a great wide open arena or stadium (Cohen in El Paso or Greyhound in Post Falls) parking lot, others use a small high school or CC parking lot (Missoula). You take what you can get and some places are more risky than others.

Don't be an ass.

Well let me explain the way it is done here in Japan.

They run different classes from Beginner to expert. Normally there are 4-5 classes of drift. There are usually one to two classes of "Grip" where you get a timer and lap times are recorded. As a general rule the Grip class is full of people who want to drift but are afraid so they drive fast and shoot for lap times and try sliding on certain corners. The rest of the classes are there so to keep lower level people who spin alot out of the way of better drivers. Normally you are allowed to pick what class you run in based on your own evaluation of yourself..... A lot of shops will not let you run in the upper classes if they don't know you or you cannot produce lap times and so on.....then again some shops don't care....LOL

A typical day would start with the Grip people out there first then start with the low level Drifters and work your way up. Every class runs normally 10-15 minutes and then called in so the next class can run. This will be repeated 5 to six times, depending on the number of cars, until the day is over. Generally there is a total of 1to 1 1/2 hours of driving time all day. Some people like HKS and others will allow you to drive for 1hour uninterupted but then you are done for the day.

None of this is normally judged it is just Free Runs for practice. Sometimes people like Koguchi and others are there and they hold a mini doricon and it will be judged and sometimes small prizes are given. Lap times are posted on a board for everyones evaluation though.

You could manage it in different ways depending on the number of cars and amount of time you have at given circuit. If in a parking lot I would not want more than one car at a time out there unless you have a great space between sides or area of driving.

Ranzo, yes your idea above is exactly what I had in mind for "enhancing" one of open track events. I think for safety's sake I will have fewer numbers of drift drivers in their run group relative to the grip drivers. This is to leave plenty of room for the drift drivers to spinout and off track if they lose control of their drifts.

speaking of which next wednesday is the last event of the year and i have a conquest tsi coming to drift :D

Meaning you'll be drifting a Conquest TSI? Cool!

i will be drifting this
http://www.vosko.net/photos/conquest...e/DSCF0005.JPG

should be fun !

Quite a collection of cars there.

Hi group,

Allow me the opportunity to present Nor Cal's first independent DRIFT event!

Registration is open, NOW, finally a NorCal event!

NCDA Inaugural Open Track Event
Drift training

Date: January 17, 2004
Location:
Thunderhill Park - Main track
5250 Hwy 162
Willows, CA 95988

Open track event focused on "Grip" driving, with an emphasis on learning the lines, and decreasing lap times,open to Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced entries on the East Loop.

On track drift lessons and practice on the West Loop, for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced entries.
Beginner training on skidpad with J-turn, U-turn and 180 degree practice areas.

Maximum Entries: 80

Registration Deadline:
December 19, 2003

Cost : $120 (pre-registration, ending 12/19/2003)

REGISTER HERE

todd@ncda.net
donaldahn@ncda.net

OOps the link does not work. goto WWW.NCDA.NET or register at WWW.MYAUTOEVENTS.COM and look under drifting.

Thanks

OOps the link does not work. goto WWW.NCDA.NET or register at WWW.MYAUTOEVENTS.COM and look under drifting. Early reg. is $120, after Dec.19 it is $160, at the gate will be $190 until 8:30am

Thanks

details
 

I have spoke to Mr. Mitch Wright on 3 occations, but at this point there does not seem to be any details on how the series will be run other than similar to Solo 2. What about any plans for average Joe who can not build a mega dollar car nor travel across U.S. to run. I just hope Formula D is not going to be a big dollar promotional event for corporations to scratch eachothers' backs and if you have $ you can be there if not you buy a ticket and get to watch. I also heard that the Japanese are coming to form a new entity separate from SlipStream or any U.S. partner is this true?

FF3
 

Great cheesy main stream Hollywood BS getting involved. Hell kids will just live life by watching FF or other stereo type enforcing crap rather than go out and drive for once. I love how only white guys and black guys are top drivers in FF. I guess Asian guys who sarted all this is still driving big Chevy's into lakes just like in 16 Candles.

I used a highway as well as a narrow 2 lane road above a cliff with the ocean below to learn how to J-turn, U-turn and 180 degree turn haha :) (its really not that hard)

You nailed it right on the head bro.

Anyone want to help me rip off that Apex'I D1 car now that's obvious we'll need that level of car to compete once the rich middle-agers start dumping cash into their SCCA rides? :P

Whenever something is small and relatively "underground": the second it is made popular, or commercialized - everything that is involved with it before starts to really become way less fun then it was before. I've yet to see a sport/field/interest/etc. where this is not the case.

Spokane Raceway Park was going to hold a drifint event..

What was untill the owner /forgot/ to pay its employees... *shrug*

I think some of your speculation is correct with people dumping lots of money into thier cars and competing. However, there is the chance that you can beat those guys just from the simple fact that they suck. Running any type of motorsport from your pocket is expensive....I been doing it for years now. It costs money to maintain and transport a race vehicle and I think you will see many smaller local events spawn from this national level of excitement as you can already see from posts in this thread.
I think an all out "nascar" of drift is something to shoot for and If there is qualifying and I am allowed to compete I would definatly do it. The whole thing behind Drifting is that at this point in time money dumped into a car does not mean that he will win. I see the guy with the FD who crashed at irwindale......he mad Sport Compact Car........The story was real hollow in my opinion sounds like he cant drive at all. His car has lots of money in it so big deal he still sucks. Of course everyone will get better over time and the level will increase so I think now is the time to get in and practice.

I see what everyone is talking about with the popularization of drift......its what everyone talks about and most of them don't know what they are really talking about. I have people who have purchased cars and want to go race the mountains and all kinds of shit then they go and just sit there all night or just do a few passes. The next day its all about what parts to buy to make thier car perform better. It is annoying and worse than that is those loosers convince some other person that they are the shit and then everyone around you is saying stupid shit and trying stupid shit. Crashing into poles and guard rails or ripping tires in parking lots making the public pissed which brings cops and new laws .....I totally understand but that makes my desire to do it right and professionally even stronger and show people what it is really about. I cant hate on people because they choose to be mislead.

Anyway damn Im on my soap box again

Ranzo, I'm currently a high performance drivers education instructor for BMW CCA, PCA, SVTOA, TracQuest (all are stateside sports car clubs). How do I practice drifting? I'm a competent driver in a sense that when I start feeling the rear end's yaw angle increase, my instantaneous response is to correct with opposite lock and regain control. It's almost like I need to relearn performance driving?

How about some insight on how to drift?

Perhaps you can start a new thread on drifting techniques?

I'd like to start a "drifting" clinic with my own club (Motorsports Driving Club), and before I can teach, I need to become a proficient drifter myself LOL :)

I think that's the feeling most of us have when the rear comes out. But to take it to the drifting level, you have to calmly go with it and modulate the steering input and throttle to bring it into steady state.

Way easier said than done, of course.

maybe you should start with E-brake technique first. It's the MOST basic method. I think people start out by power sliding the corner where you get the car side ways during cornering. After getting the feel of power sliding, maybe you should think about gettting the power slide for a long time (continueing the slide). note, you may need "skip-pad" for this.

after you learn or get feel of continue-ing the slide and control of getting it back straight, work on the entry.

I see FDs and S15s (high HP rating cars use these methods, moded FD is pretty damn high powered car so sleep r1 shouldn't have any problems.)pumping the side-brake during the straight creating an angle initially and pop the clutch to enter the corner side ways, from the apex point i see drivers going back and forth on counter steering. More counter steering (while on the thottle) creates more side way action and drivers lessin the counter steering to gain control (but while under un-control) and counter more to continue the drift longer.

But it's not the steering that's doing the drifting it's also footwork. I viewed alot of clutch pop method to help continue the drift.

Also on car setups...Tyre choice is weird, Ranzo can give you the know how but i see ovalized tyre setup, where one would use less wider tyre for the wheels, it's like the treads doesn't hit the ground flat but more like how bike tyre would sit.

Aggressive camber at the front and light on the rear would help the driver to initial the drift while entering.

But it's funny because you would want the car to gain control like a circuit car.

MAN....I hope Ranzo doesn't burn me on this....Ranzo don't bash on me! hahaha.

I hope this helps Sleep R1

Ok describe the e-brake method of drifting?

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I think people start out by power sliding the corner where you get the car side ways during cornering. After getting the feel of power sliding, maybe you should think about gettting the power slide for a long time (continueing the slide). note, you may need "skip-pad" for this.

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What do you mean by power sliding, and holding for a long time?

Quote:

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after you learn or get feel of continue-ing the slide and control of getting it back straight, work on the entry. I see FDs and S15s (high HP rating cars use these methods, moded FD is pretty damn high powered car so sleep r1 shouldn't have any problems.)pumping the side-brake during the straight creating an angle initially and pop the clutch to enter the corner side ways, from the apex point i see drivers going back and forth on counter steering.

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I don't follow this at all?

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More counter steering (while on the thottle) creates more side way action and drivers lessin the counter steering to gain control (but while under un-control) and counter more to continue the drift longer.

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Huh?

Quote:

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But it's not the steering that's doing the drifting it's also footwork. I viewed alot of clutch pop method to help continue the drift.

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What's clutch popping? When do you pop the clutch?

Quote:

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Also on car setups...Tyre choice is weird, Ranzo can give you the know how but i see ovalized tyre setup, where one would use less wider tyre for the wheels, it's like the treads doesn't hit the ground flat but more like how bike tyre would sit.

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So you run really narrow tires on wide wheel rims? Is that it?

Quote:

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Aggressive camber at the front and light on the rear would help the driver to initial the drift while entering.

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Negative or positive?

Quote:

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I hope this helps Sleep R1

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I'm not clear on much of the drifting jargon. More clarity please :)

It seems to me, the simplest way to learn drifting is to go to a "skidpad", and drive around in a circle and creat enough yaw angle such that you're in opposite lock or perhaps straight, but the car is turning, and you're modulating the gas to keep the car turning while sawing at the wheel?

I'm not going to hijack this thread away from xplikt, so I'm starting a new thread on "Drifting Basics". Here's the thread, See you there :)

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hreadid=248843

Since you alread have good car control it should be pretty easy to get going. What i recommend to people is to find a skidpad, parking lot or somewhere and put one cone in the middle and then start doing donuts around the cone. Find a point on the fender and try to keep the cone at that pont while going in circles around it. This will give you feel for the steer counter steer and some throttle control because if you give to much gas it will spin and so on..... When you get good at that start going wider and wider and that will be the beginning of a drift. Then try changing directions going the opposite way you were going. After that put up two cones a good distance apart and do figure eights around the cones keeping the back wheels spinning with a good angle through the hole process. This will force you to learn the throttle on and off response for changing directions while in motion.

If this is easy for you find a small corner and try getting the drift going around the corner. You can star it with a clutch kick or the side brake but the best way is to quickly turn the wheel in to the turn while applying ever increasing throttle unitil the ass end comes out and then just work with the throttle and steering wheel to maintain the line. The line and for Grip is not that different Kind of think of the nose of the car is the point of the line and the back of the car is outside the line...because you are sideways. The line will be further to the outside due to the fact that that trying to keep it sideways and the tires spinning will kind of cause the car to drive to the bottom of the track. This is where the footwork comes in and the approprite speed for each corner....if you go to fast it will go way to the outside or spin if too slow it will want to drive to the inside.

There is much more detailed things that people use but this is a good start.