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This coming weekend, the streets of Lengthy Seaside will come alive with all the color and pleasure of a brand new Method Drift championship.
FD has been kicking off new seasons right here since 2006, and over that point, the difficult concrete barrier-lined avenue course has seen as a lot glory because it has heartache. Ten years in the past, Larry was on the bottom in Lengthy Seaside to seize all of the motion of the 2014 Method Drift season opener, so for this week’s throwback put up, we’re revisiting that occasion protection. How a lot has skilled drifting within the USA modified over the past decade? Let’s discover out…
2014 Function
Irwindale will all the time be ‘The Home of Drift’ – the place the place essentially the most epic of occasions happen and Method Drift champions are crown. However what about Spherical 1 on the streets of Lengthy Seaside, California?
I feel Lengthy Seaside is the right venue to showcase what drifting has change into as an internationally acknowledged motorsport. It’s honest to say that it needs to be dubbed ‘The Streets of Drift.’ Yearly I stay up for seeing the highest drifters from all around the world collect within the seventh largest metropolis in California and residential to virtually half one million residents.
2014 marks the ninth season of Method Drift competitors at Lengthy Seaside, and I’ve watched it evolve into what it’s at this time from the very starting.
Despite the fact that I’m only a journalist wanting in from the surface, I really feel like I’m part of the Method Drift household. The game has advanced a lot over time, however the entire folks nonetheless behind the wheel stay the identical. Drift Alliance could also be grown up now, however they’re nonetheless better of mates.
I remembered a time when there was nonetheless room within the stands through the Prime 16 introductions. Lately there’s standing room solely, and further area for essentially the most devoted of followers to get the VIP therapy and watch the formalities from the precise observe.
I feel a part of the success of Method Drift will be attributed to town of Lengthy Seaside, and its willingness to not solely settle for, however welcome with open arms this superior type of motorsport.
Lengthy Seaside is the right place to kick off a brand new season, and the extent of dedication drivers should put in right here to do nicely, is in contrast to every other cease on the Method Drift calendar.
Drifting continues to develop, as does the variety of licensed Method Drift drivers. Nonetheless, for 2014’s inaugural occasion there have been much less drivers than final yr on account of lots of the groups not having their automobiles completed in time.
I assumed that was going to be the case for Michael Essa, as a result of lower than a month out from Lengthy Seaside his E46 M3 was sitting in his store as a naked chassis. I solely assume he completed in time as a result of he obtained a clone to assist him out.
By now you most likely heard that Chris Forsberg nabbed the win.
Final yr’s championship battle wore on him, as he was only a stone’s throw away from incomes his second title.
Chris was strolling on air when he received. There is no such thing as a higher method to begin off the season than with the highest step on the rostrum – particularly once you’re in search of a brand new title sponsor.
I assume it was a bit overwhelming, however over the course of the low season plenty of effort when into enhancing his Nissan 370Z’s setup.
Ray Shake and Brian Wilkerson from MA Motorsports pushed onerous to construct a automobile with not solely extra energy than ever earlier than, however with elevated reliability too.
I do know Chris and the group’s hearts dropped once they needed to name 5 minutes throughout competitors when the Nissan wouldn’t hearth. But it surely simply turned out to be a free battery cable. The whole lot else through the occasion appeared to run easily, and if that’s saved up throughout the remainder of the season, Chris Forsberg Racing might be in with an excellent likelihood of incomes their second championship.
Our personal Vaughn Gittin Jr. is one other top-ranked Method Drift driver working onerous to safe his second title, too.
I don’t assume there’s one other driver within the ranks of Method Drift that’s extra invested on this sport than Vaughn. I actually do not know how he juggles so many issues without delay. One week he’s in Europe and the subsequent week he’s in China – it’s countless with this man.
In the course of the driver assembly he was reunited with Nobushige Kumakubo, whom he battled with again when D1 Grand Prix nonetheless had North America on its radar.
After all, a lot has modified since then. Possibly Mr Workforce Orange will make the bounce over to compete in Method Drift, identical to Daigo Saito did in 2012.
I feel we’ll see increasingly Japanese drivers within the FD ranks, which needs to be nice for the game – and it’s largely because of this man. Nonetheless, the champion bumped into issues in Lengthy Seaside with a automobile that was affected by drivetrain points. Uncharacteristically, he was knocked out of competition within the Prime 32 because of this.
Our Scandinavian driver, Fredric Aasbø, is among the few worldwide opponents in Method Drift residing a dream. He got here to North America with nothing greater than a automobile and hopes of selecting up a serious sponsor.
He has gone from sharing a tiny lodge room mattress together with his spotter/mechanic/finest buddy and solely capable of afford to run a couple of rounds, to being sponsored by Toyota and having the chance to take his drifting skills all around the world.
He’s even changed Manabu Orido because the Workforce RS-R driver now, however the actual problem for him is to win his first Professional Championship occasion. He has come shut a number of occasions, so it’s only a matter of all his playing cards falling in the correct place.
There’s one thing about these Norwegians that preserve them pushing onerous each single time they go to battle. Possibly it’s the Viking spirit of their blood?
After a few years of heartbreak and up-close-and-personal encounters with the wall, Kenny Moen lastly earned his very first Method Drift podium at Spherical 1.
He’s in an excellent place to win the championship this yr, however he simply has to stay constant sufficient all through the remainder of the season.
I’ve talked about a couple of worldwide drivers, however we will’t neglect about our mates to the North both. Method Drift’s 2013 Rookie of the 12 months, Mats Baribeau, continues to impress me everytime he hits the observe. He certified excessive at Lengthy Seaside and made it into the Prime 16, which is fairly superb when you think about it was his very first time competing on the road course.
There at the moment are three Canadian drivers competing within the Professional ranks, together with Dave Briggs and Marc Landreville. It most likely helps that FD is planning an exhibition spherical in Canada later this yr too.
Discuss of Method Drift holding worldwide championship has been out for some time, however it didn’t actually hit me till I bit into an FD cookie over the weekend.
Method Drift’s president and co-founder, Jim Liaw, is placing every little thing into the game to assist take it to the subsequent degree. A world competitors is a big step.
Co-founder Ryan Sage and a small crew from North America has been serving to plan occasions in South-East Asia for years, and extra lately in Australia. So it solely is smart to increase to Europe and past.
A part of that worldwide crew is Jarod DeAnda – the person who has introduced each single FD competitors since day one. When he’s not on the mic, he works very onerous behind-the-scenes to accumulate extra sponsors, which after all advantages everybody in the long term. He helped to debut the REV’D award this spherical, which will probably be granted to essentially the most deserving driver of the 2014 season.
It wouldn’t be Lengthy Seaside and not using a few nasty wrecks. In my first put up from the occasion I touched on Joon Maeng’s crash, which was one of many worst I’ve seen shortly.
Essentially the most notable incident throughout competitors although, was positively the one involving Kyle Mohan throughout a battle with Robbie Nishida.
The Lengthy Seaside native hit the clipping level wall onerous, shattering considered one of his wheels within the course of. You possibly can really see components of the damaged middle and spokes overtake the automobile because of the huge influence.
It didn’t look good, and I assumed the automobile was carried out for certain. Then they introduced that Kyle had received as a result of Robbie spun independently to Kyle’s wreck. How loopy is that? Solely in drifting I assume…
So the group spent the entire half time break borrowing components off different RX-8s within the paddock to get the Mazda again collectively in time for the Prime 16.
Though it appeared somewhat worse for put on, the automobile was largely collectively for Kyle’s tandem with Kenny Moen. The body was tweaked nevertheless, so the Mazda didn’t drive the best way it ought to.
It was unlucky for Kyle, however he put up an actual good struggle within the circumstances.
Contemplating he misplaced his tire sponsor simply days out from Lengthy Seaside as nicely, I don’t assume he’ll be forgetting this spherical in hurry. Fortunately for him, GT Radial got here to the rescue within the eleventh hour, leaving simply sufficient time for a couple of laps of testing earlier than heading into competitors.
It takes a lot ability to have the ability to drive the course and never stuff your automobile right into a concrete wall. Forest Wang demonstrates this completely.
Lengthy Seaside may be very robust for the rookies. It’s the harshest observe within the sequence.
Matt Coffman got here in charging onerous and ended up within the tire limitations throughout qualifying. The model new group will probably be again to struggle one other day at Spherical 2 at Highway Atlanta subsequent month.
Kyle Mohan’s teammate, Tyler Wolfson, can be driving for GT Radial this yr in one other rotary-powered Mazda.
He’s additionally a rookie, and working the least quantity of horsepower out of the whole grid. It’s going to be a troublesome street forward for him to earn Rookie of the 12 months, however truthfully, a couple of good qualifying runs and he’d be in with an opportunity on the coveted title.
The drifting fan base on the whole has change into so big. I’ve by no means seen so many individuals on the autograph session as I did this spherical.
It’s superb {that a} driver like Danny George can run a program that’s totally funded by followers. They only love being part of one thing superb.
That is because of the absolute dedication that every particular person within the sequence provides to the game.
Every employees member; whether or not it’s the starter, the judges, or the groups, wholeheartedly consider on this sport with each fiber of their existence. They like it simply as a lot as I do.
The drivers like it too, after all. That’s why they preserve coming again year-after-year, wreck-after-wreck. A number of encounters with a concrete Ok-rail by no means stopped anybody.
Subsequent time you guys come to Method Drift, strike up a dialog with one of many drivers – you’ll see how a lot they love what they do.
Chris Forsberg could have gone to the darkish aspect with a blacked out automobile and matching race swimsuit, however he’s nonetheless one of many nicest and most devoted drivers within the sport. On numerous events I’ve seen him cease no matter he was doing simply to say whats up to his followers.
It’s going to be enjoyable to observe him push onerous for the remainder of the season.
Congratulations to Chris Forsberg for such an ideal begin of the season. I simply can’t wait to see what’s going to unfold for the remainder of the eleventh yr of Method Drift.
Larry Chen
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