Today, much like any other Vegas day in the summer, had a temperature up in the triple digits again. Normally I would stay indoors on a day like this, but I was on a mission, and that mission was known as Formula D. It has been well over three years since I attended my last Formula Drift event, which happened to be Round 1 in Long Beach in 2007. So naturally, I was very excited to be back in the states attending this venue. I figured I would dust off my old camera, brave the heat, and just get out there and have some fun. One of my good friends from Japan, who is also back in the states now, was able to drive up from Arizona to catch the event with me.

As usual we arrived entirely too early for the event. Somehow, though, we were let in by security and got to hang out with some of the drivers and pit crews before the practice session kicked off. At around 6:30pm, when the main competition began, the place was bustling with tons of race queens, a ridiculous amount of vendors, and a huge crowd. The competition itself was fantastic and it felt good to be back in a professional drifting environment. The driver’s were really on-point this round and they put on a great show for all of the fans. Late into the night the battle raged on but in the end only three were able to claim a spot on the FD podium:

1st Place – Tyler McQuarrie

2nd Place – Daijiro Yoshihara

3rd Place – Vaughn Gittin Jr.

This round was also a special event for the Formula Drift series. It was being held in conjunction with the final round of Vegas ProAm. The ProAm driver’s competed on the professional course to see who would come out victorious in this 4th and final round. Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis, who finished 1st in both Rounds 1 and 3 of the ProAm, ended up at the top of the podium after all of the series points were tallied. Being the series champ, Odi was awarded a professional Formula Drift license and he already plans to be competing in the 2011 season. Second and Third place were invited to the Formula Drift ProAm nationals to continue in their efforts to get that coveted FD license.

FD – Round 5 Photo Gallery

- Erik Elder

It was smoldering hot today but it didn’t stop the crowd from Northern Japan from attending this years D1 Festival at Motorland SP located in Nango, Aomori Prefecture. I hate to admit that this might be my last D1 Festival event for the year until I come to Japan sometime. The small track was filled with food booths, D1 Stands, Bride and a couple of local shops. I arrived late today but I was just in time for a little mini tournament judged by 4 kids and Nomuken took the win when Naoto Suenaga spun out after Sudden Death. This is the first time I get to see the new Team Orange driver Tomohiro Oshima in person… I do miss o’l crazy Tanaka, I wonder where he is right now.

Galleries:  Part 1 and Part 2

- Allan Arcega

I got my car back almost 2 weeks ago from my friend Ozawa’s shop “All Out”. After a quick discussion, I decided to go with all white instead of keeping it panda again. The car went thru body repair, addition of Origin flares, and one off front fenders. Right after I got the car back, I bought a set of SSR Reverse Mesh, 15x8J -17 and 15×8.5 -8 to go with my car’s new look. The only thing that was not painted is the bumpers since I’m going to get a new set since the stockers are not worth it to get repaired and painted.

Its been a while since I shot an event at MSP but I don’t think I did too bad. Very great turn out for MSP and a lot of good drivers showed up. Wakamatsu won Expert Class with his carbed Hachi, followed by Takashi (S14) and Shingo (AE86).

GaijinDrift MSC Gallery

A short video created by Erik Elder(E2 Films) from the last Labor Day Drift 2009.

It’s rainy season in Japan but for an event Tohoku drifters waited for a long time to come, no one was going to back down and luckily the rain stopped and the track dried up for the rest of the day. The event judges were the usual except Ryuji Miki was in attendance instead of Nob Taniguchi.  It’s kinda crazy that Miki flew all the way to Northern Japan a week after placing second in Formula D round 4 in Las Vegas.

First place on expert class was taken by Masanori Kohashi (RPS13),  D1 SL competitor and the beginner’s class winner is Shizuka Suzuki (FC3S).

Detailed results: http://www.motorsportscom.info/topics/detail.php?id=1217

GaijinDrift.com MSC Photos

- Allan Arcega

Footage from Round 2 of the Dynamite Drift Competition held at Motorland SP in Nanbu, Japan on the 21st of June.

Our friend Donnie ended up taking second in the beginner class, congrats to him! The winner of the expert class turned out to be the japanese guy driving the red S15 Silvia.

I had a great time going out there to film this event. It was actually the first Dynamite Drift event that i had ever been too. The weather forecast said we were expecting rain, but in the end i came home with a nasty sunburn and a whole lot of decent footage. I can’t wait until Round 3!

-Erik Elder

Here is some footy i got from the pits during the D1 demo at TAS back in January.

- Erik Elder