In the weeks before Formula Drift Long Beach you probably heard a lot of talk about a dude named Daigo Saito. If you don’t know who he is then you were probably puzzled over why this guy is such a big deal. Well, let me tell you why. This guy is one of the best Japanese drifters since N.O.B. Taniguchi (maybe better), he is a D1 champion, and he does stuff like this. This year hes come across the ocean to compete in Formula Drift and despite getting into a new car, driving for a new team, on new tracks hes ever even seen before, this guy made the podium in his very first outing!
The team from Keep Drifting Fun, Will Roegge and Josh Herron turned their highly expensive cameras on Saito-san during the weekend of Formula Drift Long Beach in an effort to capture his awesome-ness on film. If you really want to know who Daigo Saito is, this flick is a good introduction so scroll down below and watch children!
The past weekend marked the official kick-off of the 2012 Formula Drift season. Once again the roar of drift cars echoed off the high rise condominium and office buildings of downtown Long Beach and layers upon layers of scorched tire rubber were laid down on turns 9, 10, and 11 of the Long Beach Grand Prix street course. Round 1 of the Formula Drift season is always the most anticipated because this is the time when the fans get to see the debut of new cars, new drivers, and in same cases new teams.
Speaking of new cars one of the biggest stories of this year’s first round was the debut of Ken Gushi’s new Scion Racing FR-S drift car built by GReddy. Scion is banking on the FR-S so much that they actually flew out the first 86 people to drop a deposit on one out to the event all expenses paid and built a special VIP viewing area for the group to cheer on Gushi and the other Scion Racing drivers. “The Gush” as he is called had a pretty good first outing in the new FR-S as he made it all the way to the Great 8. Unfortunately he had to face 2011 Formula Drift Champion Dai Yoshihara. During the battle Gushi gave the FR-S its first official introduction to the walls of Long Beach, effectively handing the win over to Yoshihara.
Another major talking point of the weekend revolved around the track itself as the surface was repaved just weeks before the event. A special test session was held with one driver from each tire sponsor to see how their rubber would hold up to the new asphalt surface. The feedback was resoundingly positive and it showed in the tandem battles as many drivers who historically had lackluster performances were throwing down lines that were straight gangsta! To help measure just how “gansta” each run was Formula Drift actually had proximity sensors installed at the three main clipping points of the track that would light up every time a car came within a foot of said point. It really helped to show who was really hanging it out there and who was being conservative; it really was a great addition for the hardcore fans who love to technically break down each run to the minute details.
In the end the final battle was a re-enactment of the 2011 points battle as it came down to 2011 champion Dai Yoshihara against 2011 runner up Justin “JTP” Pawlak while the battle for third place came down to fan-favorite Matt Powers against living legend Daigo Saito who was killing it all weekend. Saito, with his Toyota 2JZ powered soarer proved that V8s are not needed The final battle between JTP and Dai was close but this time Justin Pawlak came out on top claiming the victory and marking his second year in a row winning in Long Beach.
With round 1 officially in the books it is onto round 2 at Road Atlanta which is a favorite among the drivers due to its super fast downhill entry. Stay tuned to MotorworldHype.com as we will have the live feed from the event at the top of our page!
For a full gallery of all the action from the weekend hit the links below to our Facebook photo albums.
If you love drifting then I am sure you already have tickets to round one of Formula Drift this weekend in Long Beach so I am writing this for those of you out there who might still be on the fence about drifting or who like it but have never been to an event before. Formula Drift’s show on the Streets Of Long Beach is one of their best, most anticipated, and most attended rounds of the entire year! Long Beach is when the teams debut new cars and in some cases new drivers. Then there is the fun of watching these guys attempt to slide their very expensive machines sideways at high speeds between two very unforgiving concrite walls! If you want your first taste of drifting this event is definitely the place to get it.
The only catch is most of the seating is reserved for this event so you have to move fast before they sell out! Hit up the official event page for info and tickets.
I just came back from the Formula Drift media/preview event and I was puzzled to see what looked like the Gardella Camaro but wearing a new wrap sporting GoPro and Mobil 1 as primary sponsors. Just when I was getting ready to do some journalistic digging I saw none other than Tyler McQuarrie step out of the car and it all made sense! A while back there were rumors that Tyler went to go see Gary Gardella over on the east coast and many thought they would be discussing a deal for Tyler to replace Ryan Tuerck as the Gardella Racing’s driver. However, after a few minutes of speaking with Tyler I learned that what actually happend is that Tyler bought a controlling stake in Gardella’s team, effectively turning it into his own program.
The exact details of the deal are being held close to the chest but the way Tyler explained it was that as of now he does not own the team 100% but rather it is a partnership with Gardella but Tyler is still in charge and calls the shots. “Gardella was looking for a way out and I was trying to stay in” said McQuarrie. Well it looks like the two were able to work out a solution which kept Tyler drifting and let Gardella take a much deserved vacation from the hectic life that is drift team ownership. Replacing the Red Bull money that was previously on the Camaro is GoPro and Mobil 1.
When I asked Tyler what it was like driving the Camaro versus his previous NASCAR powered 350Z. Tyler says that the Camaro is “down on power” from the Z (his Camaro makes about 750HP while the 350Z had 800+) but he says that the decrease in power and torque actually makes the Camaro easier to drive and more forgiving than the 350Z. His Camaro will also run on Yokohama Advan tires which “hold up really well” says Tyler.
All in all Tyler is happy to be back in Formula Drift and I know there are tons of fans that will be happy to see him back as well. We wish you luck in the first round Tyler!
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