We showed you the trailer for this a while back and now the full movie has finally hit the interwebs.  Scroll down to watch Tanner Foust rip up Mullholland drive in his 600HP NASCAR engined Scion tC drift car.

Normally drifting on public roads is frowned upon.  Unless however you some how get the cops to close off one of the country’s most famous twisty roads just for you.  Then all bets are off and anything goes!  It looks like Scion and Rockstar signed a check and let Tanner Foustplay on Mulholland Drive all on his lonesome in his NASCAR powered Scion tC.  The video below is just a trailer but the full feature should be pretty awesome.

If you’re looking for an entertaining way to kill 10 minutes in your post-lunch recovery phase I recommend checking out the latest Scion Drift Webisode.  This latest edition is pretty much a wrap up from Scion drivers Ken Gushi and Tanner Foust of their thoughts on 2009 and what their goals are for 2010.  It’s good stuff.

In what some would call a pretty big upset Ford really took it to Subaru over the weekend during the X Games Rally.  All three Ford entries made it into the semi finals and then sandwiched suby on the podium with Kenny Brack taking gold, Travis Pastrana taking silver, and Tanner Foust taking bronze.  Check out the video below for the final battle between Pastrana and Brack.  More on this story to come.

It looks like Ken Block may have a run for his youtube views.  I just found this short flim presented by Gruppe-S Engineering dubbed “Drifting Dirty”.  This video features all three Hankook backed Formula D drivers Robbie Nishida, Miki Ryuji, and Eric O’ Sullivan.  The three drivers share the spot light with a few vinyl clad ladies.  Some might say the high light is when one of them offers Eric O’ Sullivan a can of Rockstar Energy Drink.  You’ll see what I mean when you watch…

You probably already know this if you’ve been following our twitter page but this past Saturday Tanner Foust earned his first victory in his new Rockstar Scion tC drift car.  This marks the first ever victory for Scion since they entered Formula D with Ken Gushi in 2008.  This round was also the scene for a shake up in the points standing as the former points leader Darren McNamara failed to qualify due to blowing his engine in  practice and providing a lackluster performance in a borrowed car (Calvin Wan’s Nissan S15 Silvia).  Also failing to make top 32 was Rhys Millen who spun in each of his qualifying runs.

This left the points standings wide open and the benefactors of that turned out to be Chris Forsberg, Ryan Tuerck, and Sam Hubinette respectively while Darren tumbled down to 6th in the standings.  And while those three fought amongst each other for points Mr. Foust drifted past all to the top of the podium.

Congrats to Tanner and the Rockstar/Scion/AEM team.  Stay tuned as the next round of Formula D is coming on August 7-8th in Washington at Evergreen Speedway (www.formulad.com for info).

Press Release:

 July 12, 2009

Formula DRIFT Round 4: All In Results;
Tanner Foust Takes the Victory and Chris Forsberg Moves to Top Spot

Long Beach, Calif. - July 12, 2009 - Formula DRIFT returned to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Round 4: All In. Champion Tanner Foust takes the victory in his Rockstar / Hankook Scion Racing tC, while Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Drink / Maxxis Nissan 350Z moves to the top position overall in the chase for the Formula DRIFT Pro Championship.

For the 2nd consecutive year, Formula DRIFT returned to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 2-day weekend event was filled with non-stop Formula DRIFT and Pro Am action. Fans were also treated to the Jtuned Auto Gallery car show, Wicked H.P. drag competition, and Bikini Jam.

“Las Vegas continues to be one of the top destinations for the circuit despite the triple digit weather,” said Ryan Sage, vice president of marketing and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “The fans continue to come out in droves and we had another sold out event. The drivers continue to step up their level of drifting and we’re seeing a real chase for the Championship.”

Chris Forsberg took over the point lead after a close battle with Ryan Tuerck, who was ranked #2 going into the event, in the Great 8 round. Forsberg then went on to defeat Tyler McQuarrie, in the Falken Tire Nissan 350Z, in the consolation round for 3rd place. The final battle was between Hankook Tire teammates Tanner Foust and Ryuji Miki, piloting the APEXi / Hankook Mazda RX-7. Foust proved why he is the returning champion and blinded Miki in the first run with a cloud of thick smoke that caused Miki to lose his drift, while giving chase in their first tandem run giving Foust the advantage. With a solid 2nd run, Foust was able to sit on top of the podium once again.

“The Rockstar team and I went from zero to hero after failing to qualify for the main competition last event,” said Formula DRIFT champion Tanner Foust, winner of Round 4: All In. “I am so proud of my team and they worked hard to fix the issues of the Rockstar Scion tC and I now feel comfortable and feel that this car has more potential than the Nissan 350Z ever had.”

Formula DRIFT returns to Evergreen Speedway on August 8-9. Tickets are on-sale now.

Formula DRIFT Professional Championship 2009 Point Standings

1. Forsberg, Chris NOS Energy Drink / Maxxis Nissan 350Z 307 Points
2. Tuerck, Ryan Gardella Racing / Mobil 1Pontiac Solstice 294 Points
3. Hubinette, Samuel NuFormz Dodge Viper 271 Points
4. Gittin, Vaughn Falken Tire Ford Racing Mustang GT 265.50 Points
5. McQuarrie, Tyler Falken Nissan 350Z 265 Points
6. McNamara, Darren Falken / Sears Auto Center Saturn Sky 260 Points
7. Nishida, Robbie Hankook Tires / Dynamic Autosports Nissan 350Z 259 Points
8. Foust, Tanner Rockstar / Hankook Scion Racing tC 246.50 Points
9. Pawlak, Justin Bergenholtz Racing / Nitto Mazda RX-8 245 Points
10. Maeng, Joon Maxxis / LS Auto Nissan S13.5 227.25 Points
11. Aono, Taka Technosquare Toyota AE86 Corolla 223 Points
12. Mordaunt, Patrick PM Racing Nissan S13 220 Points
13. Brakohiapa, Tony Cooper Tire Ford Mustang 219 Points
14. Verdier, Stephan Cooper Tire / Crawford Performance Subaru STI 214 Points
15. Petty, Ross Garage Boso / Falken Nissan S15 212.75 Points
16. Yoshihara, Daijiro Falken Tire / Discount Tire Lexus IS350 208 Points

Round 4: All In Event Results

1. Foust, Tanner Rockstar / Hankook Scion Racing tC
2. Miki, Ryuji APEXi / Hankook Mazda RX-7
3. Forsberg, Chris NOS Energy Drink / Maxxis Nissan 350Z

Tires.com Triple Crown Point Standings after 1 of 3 events

1. Forsberg, Chris NOS Energy Drink / Maxxis Nissan 350Z 102 Points
2. McNamara, Darren Falken / Sears Auto Center Saturn Sky 94 Points
3. Tuerck, Ryan Gardella Racing / Mobil 1 Pontiac Solstice 80 Points

Bill Wood shot this video for us during the early hours of the 2009 Formula D pre-season tech day at Universal Technical Institute in Rancho Cucamonga, CA of Team Rockstar/AEM unloading their brand new Scion tC drift car.

Thanks Bill!

Well I just got back from the Formula D Tech Day at UTI and it was certainly an interesting event!  I heard a lot of pretty juicy tidbits, some I can share and some I can’t out of journalistic respect but I’m sure you don’t care about that part so I’ll get down to the good stuff.

The biggest bit of news to come out of the event is that Drift Alliance Co-Founder Tony Angelo will be putting down his helmet for 2009 and become a Formula D judge.  So who is the odd man out you may be asking?  Tony Angelo will be replacing Ken Takahashi in the judging booth.  Don’t worry about Ken though, word has it he will remain on the Formula D team as an overseer of all of the Pro Am events.  With Ken having such strong ties and passion for the grassroots community, I think this is a great fit for him.

In other news it seems that a lot of the bigger teams were a no-show to the tech day event for various reasons.  It looks like Sam Hubinette’s Mopar Challenger wont be ready in time for Long Beach so he’ll be back in the seat of the Dodge Viper.  While this bad news for those who were looking forward to seeing the challenger in action its good news for those who want to see Sam win as he’ll definitely be a threat in his trusty Viper.

Another no-show was Rhys Millen.  I really wanted to see his Hyundai Genesis coupe up close but Rhys spent the day testing the car at a secret location.  However Rhys called in live to the “Inside Drift” radio show which was broadcasting from inside the UTI facility during the event to say hi to everyone.

Someone err..something that DID show up was Tanner Foust’s Rockstar/AEM Scion tC which was brought up to the UTI facility by Tanner’s team manager Steph Papadakis.  He showed up at the crack of dawn with the car to try and get in and out quickly as the car wasn’t totally ready for its close up yet.  However that didn’t stop a swarm of photographers from bogging down the NASCAR Truck engine’d tC on the lift as they climbed over each other like ants at a picnic to snap as many photos as possible.

I wasn’t there for this so I didn’t get any pics of the car but my good friend Bill Wood (who also co-hosted the live radio show) managed to get some video footage and will be sending it soon so look forward to that going up here soon!

For now check out some of the pics I shot while strolling around.  Remember click the thumb nails for bigger pics!

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.

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.