We have another video hot off the avid by our friend Bill WoodAKA the Walter Cronkite of the motorsport world.  In this edition of “Tech House & Speed” He sits down with Drift Alliance member Ryan Tuerck to recap his 2009 season and his possible struggles for 2010 as well as a few insights to a particular insecurity Ryan faces at every round.  It’s interesting stuff!

The last week has been absolutely crazy!  Even though Formula D Long Beach technically only went down Friday and Saturday things really started last week Tuesday during the media day.  Ever since that day there was a ton of talk and a ton of speculation about how things would go down once the big day came.

The biggest talking point was the fact that several of the top guys were in new cars this year and a few of the top guys were not.  Former Champ Rhys Millen debuted his Hyundai Genesis coupe and defending two-time champ Tanner Foust brought out his NASCAR engine’d Scion tC. Sam Hubinette who was expected to bring out his new Dodge Challenger made a decision to return to his trusty Viper and Chris Forsberg freshend up his V8 Nissan 350Z.

Another topic of conversation was the fact that Formula D switched to a Top 32 format for 2009.  By having qualifying on Friday, Saturday would now be dedicated to tandem battles from 32 all the way down to one.  This meant doing away with “seeded” spots.  Everyone has to qualify and everyone has to fight their way into the brackets.

It also meant that more privateer and small teams had a shot at the big dogs.  Someone who took full advantage of this was Stephan Verdier.  Steph managed to take out Rhys and Chris Forsberg who was a favorite to win the round.

Another big upset was Formula D rookie Jim Jones taking out Dai Yoshihara who was suffering from new car blues all weekend.  This year Dai Yoshihara is in a new Lexus IS350 with a Hasselgren V8 engine under the hood.  However hes only had limited testing in the car and hasn’t quite warmed up to it yet.

When the dust settled over Long Beach the whole event came down to Sam in his trusty Viper against Ryan “Hampshaa” Tuerck in his re-freshed Pontiac Solstice coupe.  The battle was tight and very close but rather than call a OMT (One More Time) the judges felt that Ryan just edged out the Crazy Swede by a hair and awared the Drift Alliance member his first win.  Personally I called it…anyone who tells you different is a filthy liar!

Tanner Foust managed to fight off Robbie Nishida (several times) to earn the third spot on the podium.  With Sam’s second place finish he is the highest scoring veteran so far.

Ha haaaa…annyway this was another great Long Beach event put on by the team at Formula D.  Every year they listen to feedback and find ways to improve things.  So above all a big shout out and thanks to Formula D for putting on such a great event and allowing MotorworldHype the privlage of covering it!

Stay tuned as Round 2 in Atlanta is coming up in early may.

I got an email the other day from VIMBY (Video In My Back Yard) these guys put together a pretty cool overview video of the Red Bull World Drifting Championship which ironically had the winner Rhys Millen doing some narrating and kicking down some knowledge about what drifting is for the 5 people who still dont know yet.  Thanks for the vid VIMBY!

I know conspiracy theorists will be all over this story like white on rice but despite superficial appearances Red Bull sponsored driver Rhys Millen won the Red Bull World Drifting Championship on skill and one heck of a crew.  This event saw drivers from 12 countries battling it out for the title of the world champion.

One by one each drifter took on the specialy designed high speed course as the brackets got widdled down more and more until there was only one! (highlander reference…check).  Despite the best efforts from the international drivers no one was able to take Rhys off his game who set the fastest entry speed of day at 103.7 mph!

The whole thing was an awesome sight to behold.  Stay tuned for a small picture gallery!

Photo courtesy of Formula Drift

If you’re like me you’ve developed a severe nervous twitch because your anticipation for the Red Bull World Drifting Championship is so strong that you swear you smell tire smoke already.  Formula D is made an attempt to calm the craving by releasing this preview video.  They talked to a few of their top guys to get their thoughts on the event and how they feel about the course layout being a complete secret.

In what was shaping up to be a whirlwind weekend for Formula Drift actually turned out to be somewhat anti-climatic.  Goinginto Irwindale there were 4 drivers mathmatically alive for the series title with Tanner sitting on top of the points and Sam Hubinette was just behind him with Rhys Millen following closely in third.  The situation was smilar to last year when Tanner was locked in a tight points battle between Chris Forsberg and Dai Yoshihara.

With things so tight in the standings and Dai still having an outside shot the fans were expecting some tooth and nail battles when it came time for the top 16.  The key word in that last sentence was “expecting”,  what the fans actually got was an elimination of points contenders and teammates Rhys Millen and Dai Yoshihara in the top 16 due to what I’d say were questionable calls by the judges.

Fans were shocked again when they saw two-time champ Sam Hubinette basically take himself out of contention by making a highly uncharacteristic spin against Takatori in the Great 8.  Sam’s stumble automatically handed the series title to Tanner Foust.  Once that happend a handfull of fans picked up and left since they knew it wouldn’t come down to the wire like 2007.

However most of us stayed behind to watch how the rest of this round would play out.  Especially since Drift Alliance member Justin Thomas Pawlakwas on fire and taking names all night as he brought down Taka Aono and Robbie Nishida to move onto the final four where he fell to Tanner Foust.

When all the tandem dust settled it came down to Tanner and JR Gitten (Gitten defeated Bill Sherman, Miki Ryuji, and Takatori to make it to the final two) for top spot on the podium for the last round.  Although Tanner probably still hugely excited from his championship was just slightly off point and he fell to Gitten who won his first round of Formula D competition all season.

Congrats to Tanner and to JR!  Also I want to personally give a big thanks to Formula D and the staff for bringing another year of action, fun, controversy, and another motorsport to follow all year!

Oh, and one more thing…don’t be too bummed out about the season being over yet.  There is a HUGE drift event coming up just next month on the docks of Long Beach remember?  Don’t forget to mark your calandars for the Red Bull World Drifting Championship.

Check it out.  Heres some video I shot yesterday of the Formula D practice session.  I’ll try to get some more video and pictures from tomorrow and have them up!  I’m loving the way Hiro Sumida’s Lexus IS350 drift car looks!

You have no excuse for saying in and playing Halo 3 this weekend.  There is just WAY too much going on.  First of all tomorrow over at Irwindale is the final round of the 2008 Formula D season.  It’s certain going to get dicey as there are technically at least 4 men still alive for the series title.  Right now Tanner is leading the points but two time champ Sam Hubinette and former champ Rhys Millen are not far behind.  Also while unlikely, Dai Yoshihara also has an outside chance should something catostrophic happen to the top three.   Saturday is going to get really intense!

Naturally after such a crazy Saturday night you’ll want to chill out on Sunday right?  In that case you should grab a few friends and cruise over to Irvine for the 4th Annual Japanese Classic Car Show.  This event is the Mecca of old school JDM rides.  And when I say “old school” I really mean it!  A 1986 Toyota corolla will be “modern” compared to some of the classics you’ll see parked in the grass.  It will definately be a great way to spend a Sunday.  Check out the thumbnail below for the flyer.

There I’ve officially let you guys know whats going on.  if your friends clown you on Monday because you missed out you can’t hold us responsible!  Have a great weekend!

This past Saturday at Formula D round 6 in Sonoma Tanner Foust fought his way to the top of the podium marking his second victory of the season for the Rockstar/AEM team. 

This win puts him in the points lead by 26 points going into the final round.  Sam Hubinette who was the points leader before this round lost the lead and ground in the battle for the championship when he fell to Ryan Turek in a surprizing loss during the Great 8.

Another points contender Dai Yoshihara fell against Vaughn Gitten JR during the top 16 despite a controversial call for a “one more time.”  Dai’s elimination from the Top 16 practically dashes his hopes for a shot at the title this year unless Sam or Tanner both suffer catostrophic failures in the last round.  However Dai still has a shot at third in the points against his teammate and boss Rhys Millen

Another surprize came in the form of Bill Sherman making it to the podium on his Formula D return in his former S13.5 with Team Retaks.

All in all the final battle at Irwindale is shaping up to be quite the interesting confrontation.  Will Tanner Foust be first person to earn consecutive Formula D titles?  Will Sam Hubinette capture his third title with a Dodge Viper?  Will RJ let me drive his drift car? We will just have to wait until October to find out.

Check out the results ladder via Formula D.