Back Where it All Started
May 15th, 2013
Who could have guessed that Road Atlanta would hold such a prestigious place in American drifting history? For sure the South is a hotbed of car culture and racing activity, but most Japanese influence is in Los Angeles and the rest of the West Coast. Eventual FD founders Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage were involved with D1 coming to Irwindale in 2003 so when it came time to start the US’s own professional drifting series in 2004, where would it make sense to hold the first event?
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Fredric Aasbø put an end to Daijiro Yoshihara’s perfect season by claiming the #1 qualifying spot. He qualified third and finished second here last year so we know he’s got it in him to perform well at this track.
Road Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks to shoot. It was built in 1969 in the forested hills of rural Hall County so it has lots of natural elevation changes and even more trees. The neatly manicured lawns, sand traps, and white and forest green berms add to the beauty as well. The humid Georgia weather produces amazing clouds that don’t hurt either. When you come to the track the first thing you see is cars coming down the hill from Turn 11 under the bridge and into the final turn, Turn 12. If that scene doesn’t impress you on your first visit, you must not be a race fan.
It’s been a year now since Alex and I started shooting rally. It was right here in the foothills of Mt. Hood where our adventure began and it felt great to be back to do it again. I’d been wanting to shoot Rally America for years, ever since I was doing vinyl work for Works Motorsports’s driver Lars Wolfe. Finally I had the chance so I grabbed it with both hands. By this time last year I already had tons of experience as a motorsports photographer: I’d been shooting Formula D for years and I’d been to countless local drift events, autocrosses, and trackdays, plus the occasional big race like Indycar, ALMS and the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. I’d shot at big prestigious tracks, street courses, ovals, and club racing tracks, and all of that experience combined barely prepared me for the chaos-fest that is rally.
The Long Beach Grand Prix is a race weekend I look forward to every year, though it’s easily one of the most exhausting events from a photographer’s standpoint. The 24/25 hour races certainly take their toll, especially if you can manage to stay awake through the whole thing, but the LBGP’s wacky schedule and sheer number of races, qualifying sessions, and practice sessions crammed into three days is enough to make even the toughest photographer want to go puke in the bushes.
Street courses have always intrigued me. The sheer amount of planning and labor involved is absolutely mind-boggling. I took a trip down to Long Beach today to get a few shots of the in-between stages of the GP course. Like most street courses, they configure it in such a way that it can be opened to most regular traffic on days when there’s no racing.
That’s right, folks, the 10th anniversary season of Formula DRIFT is now underway! Round 1 is in the books, and Life Blasters is here for you with the play-by-play, but before we get into the details we would like to extend a huge thanks to Formula DRIFT for signing us on as an official Media Affiliate. We are proud to be recognized for our previous media coverage efforts, and look forward to bringing you a whole season of killer stories as they happen.
Formula Drift implemented a new qualifying method for 2013. Before, each driver would get two nonconsecutive runs, starting with the lowest ranked driver and working up the list. Now they start with the highest ranked driver and work their way down, and after the first run the top 16 drivers are locked in and don’t get another run. The remaining drivers then take their second run and try to claim one of the remaining 16 spots. The implications of the change aren’t small, either. Many drivers formerly used the strategy of a safe first run to make sure they qualify, and an aggressive second run to get a high of spot as they can. But if they failed on aggressive run, the first run was there to fall back on. Now they drivers have to be aggressive from the start, but still careful enough to make it through the course in one piece. A mistake on the first run means the best they can hope for on the second run is 17th place.
The verdict is in, folks! Taka Aono’s 2013 Formula DRIFT AE86 will be producing 599.5 horsepower! The two people who guessed closest will be receiving a free pair of general admission tickets to Formula DRIFT Round 1 – Streets of Long Beach. Thanks to everyone who submitted a guess! We’ll be having another contest next month for Formula DRIFT Round 2 – Road Atlanta!
As if spending 15 hours in the desert shooting the Mint 400 wasn’t enough, Alex and I decided to wake up early the next morning and leave LA to go shoot the first round of Norcal’s new ProAm series, Golden Gate Drift. We were exhausted but it was sunny so away we went.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to announce to you all that Life Blasters is now an official 
Source Interlink Media held their 2nd Formula Drift Tech Day/Car Meet today in Irvine. FD Drivers from all over the Southern California area came down to get their cars inspected and approved to compete at Long Beach in a few weeks. The turnout was probably 3 or 4 times larger than last year’s event. I don’t have an exact number, but the entire parking lot was packed with any tuner car you can think of. The event went from around 9am to 5pm.
The racers were ready before dawn. Very tense. In some circles the Mint 400 is a far, far better thing than the Superbowl, the Kentucky Derby, and the Lower Oakland Roller Derby finals all rolled into one.
I was editing photos one day, and Larry Chen called me and asked, “Hey, since you have a baby now are you not going to be traveling as much?” and I replied, “Heck no, traveling is how I make money!” So then he asked if I’d want to go shoot the Mint 400 with him. Of course my answer was, “Mmm, really? Yeah, why not? Yeah.”
