Hellaflush has been a big name in car shows since their introduction to the Formula DRIFT paddock in 2010.

Here’s a really clean Mazda RX-7 FC that Joe liked.

Here’s a really clean Honda S2000 repping some JimmyUp love all the way in Georgia. I think it’s looks could be vastly improved with deeper wheels, especially the fronts.

Here’s the airbag crew

…lead by a slammed vintage Mercedes-Benz.

I wonder if the previous owner died in the car? There’s obviously a whole lot of stink to cover up!

See, S2000 guy? This is what I’m talking about. The wheels on this Acura were so wide he needed 45° of negative camber just to clear the wheel wells. That’s dedication.

I really liked the race-inspired look of this Mazda Miata, but what was it doing in a car show? This car belongs on a track!

I especially like the white Work Meister S1s it’s sporting.

I understand the general theory behind show cars, but this Lexus GS puzzled me just a bit.

I like the Junction Produce VIP goodies, like the curtains and cupholders and the Gintsuna knot which is symbolic of the ancient Japanese Danjiri Matsuri… but why does it have A-pillar gauges? To me, A-pillar gauges say “race car” and all the other stuff says “high-end luxury.” Why try to mix the two?

Have you ever seen a fast car with a suede trunk and molded subwoofer boxes? Well kids, there’s a first time for everything.

In conclusion, I left the Slammed Society show more puzzled about show cars than when I entered. Some of these cars are truly works of art, but many leave me with a big question mark in my head. What do you think about show cars?

-Pitts

Photos by Pitts & Ayala

As an addition to our usual event coverage, I’ve been thinking lately about doing something a little different. We usually leave the track with tons for photos that don’t ever relate to an actual story and don’t ever get used. So I’ve decided to make this the first of my “Photo Dump” posts where I pour all my unused photos here for you guys to enjoy. Also, please leave feedback and let us know what you want to see in future Photo Dump posts, whether be it photos of the track, behind the scenes, or anything. Enjoy!

-Ayala

:: Ayala

Next up is a new show from Network A called “Off Track” which features the voice of Formula DRIFT – Jarod DeAnda goofing around with the FD drivers. In case you were wondering, Network A are the same folks who brought you the Tuerck’d series.

Enjoy!

So here we are back at Road Atlanta for the 10th time. These are arguably the best drift fans in the country, or at least the drunkest.

Chris Forsberg is one of a handful of guys who has been to every round of FD since that first Atlanta event in 2004. For a few other drivers, this was their first round of FD ever. It was time to put them all to the test.

Top 32 although dry was a bit of a wash. A great many notable drivers were unable to qualify due to mechanical issues, so the philosophy of the tandem bracket arrangement worked perfectly aside from a few battles. Field beat Ward, Gittin beat Briggs, Wang beat Ovcharik, Powers beat Parsons, yawn.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get more predictable, the first run of the Danny George & Ryan Tuerck battle happened. I had never seen Danny drift so well in the Miata! I excitedly anticipated his follow run, but after the initiation my eyes rolled back in my head, my jaw dropped, and my brain started leaking out of my ear. Total meltdown. In the end, a judgement was made that Danny George had caused the spin by tapping the left rear of Tuerck’s car. When we asked Tuerck what happened after the event, he said “When Danny tapped me, I was already at full opposite lock so I had no extra angle to save myself from the spin.” I guess those who say the FR-S has weak angle are correct…

Another highlight from Top 32 was when Conrad Grunewald beat Dai Yoshihara, thus finishing off his hopes of a perfect season. Conrad and Dai had only faced off once before, but Conrad beat him then (Sonoma ’07) and he beat him now. Very impressive considering that Dai has competed in over twice as many battles as Conrad, and has over thrice as many battle victories.

As Top 32 ended and we segued into the break, the skies opened up and gave the whole place a good soaking. To win in the wet opening runs of Top 16 one would need the technical prowess and steely resolve of a Norwegian Ice Drifter.

Fortunately, the first battle was between two drivers whose names are synonymous with Norwegian Ice Drifting: Aasbø and Moen. I wish I could’ve seen the look of disbelief on the judges faces when the two Vikings manjied down the hill into the first initiation. After Kenny Moen took a gravel nap, the judges voted unanimously that Aasbø would move on to the Great 8.

In the battle of Matt Field and Vaughn Gittin Jr, Vaughn straightened a few times and Matt went one wheel off on the entry. With roles reversed, Vaughn pulled a larger gap but it was only good enough to go one more time. In their OMT battle, Field went one wheel off on the entry again but had a sizable gap on Gittin, which Gittin decreased substantially by the end of the run. On the second run, Field took out the entry clipping point, and was unable to close the gap to Gittin, giving Vaughn the unanimous victory. This was Matt’s 3rd time losing a battle to Vaughn. Don’t worry Matt, you’ll get him one day!

Forrest Wang put up an excellent fight against reigning champion Daigo Saito. Wang held close proximity on his follow run, even tapping Saito slightly in the horseshoe!

On his lead run, Wang went extra hard but gave Daigo the win by spinning in the off-camber section of the horseshoe. When we asked Wang what happened afterwards, he commented “I just got too antsy man, too pumped. I tried to save the car from spinning while also keeping the revs and smoke up, but it wasn’t enough and I lost it.”

Conrad and Essa had a close battle. Essa was looking good all weekend but seemed to always throw too much angle on the entry turn, which is good for qualifying, but not on a follow run. Fortunately for Essa, Conrad has the same issue, and parked it slightly on his lead initiation, giving Essa the unanimous win.

As the rain picked up one final time, JTP and Ryan Tuerck both spun, giving them a chance to go one more time. On the OMT, Justin Pawlak touched the painted rumble strips on the outside of the track entering the horseshoe, and spun so violently he almost hit Tuerck with the rear of his car! Tuerck took the win unanimously.

Just as I had picked my brains out of the red Georgia clay and re-installed them in my head, the most spectacular thing I have ever seen at a drift event happened right before my eyes. In the opening battle of the great 8, Vaughn Gittin Jr. made a huge mistake on the initiation, causing him to slam into the Scion tC of Fredric Aasbø and basically climb the fender like a 4×4. Astonishingly, both cars began drifting again without even coming to a stop!

I was amazed to see the lack of damage on the left front of Aasbø’s car considering the impact it had taken. Bohan and I speculated that the fenders were made of magic. On the second run, Aasbø had obvious mechanical problems and scored a zero meaning that, gasp, they would be going OMT. Out went my brain again.

I think Daigo knew that all he had to do to beat Kyle Mohan was put in a consistent conservative run, and that’s exactly what happened. Daigo ran clean, and Mohan killed a clipping point, taking himself out of the final four.

Next was the battle between Mike Essa and Matt Powers. I’m sure Essa was hyped about this battle because it would be his chance for redemption after his loss to Powers at the Motegi Super Drift battle a few weeks ago at the Long Beach Grand Prix. Essa put down a solid lead, and Powers spun giving Essa the advantage. In the second run, Essa got a lot of extra angle on the initiation leaving him with a big gap to make up. He was making good progress when Matt decided to make it easy for him and leave the track in the horseshoe. Mike Essa moved on to the final four with a unanimous win-vote by the judges.

During their OMT battle, Aasbø made a mistake on his lead run, and ran a clean follow run but with less proximity than Vaughn on the previous run, giving Vaughn the unanimous win. When one disregards what happened in their first battle as the judges are supposed to, it’s easy to see why they came to the conclusion that JR won the match. However, when you consider that JR was at fault for such a serious incident it boggles the mind a bit that he could go on to win the battle.

The D-Mac & Tuerck battle was another that ended in mechanical failure after the first run. While following Darren, Ryan went two wheels off into the clay-slime, and did major suspension damage when returning to the track. So bad that his passenger-side rear wheel almost left the car by the end of the run. This solidified McNamara’s spot in the final four.

Daigo faced off with JR for the first round of the final four. Vaughn followed so closely on the first run that he hit Daigo, breaking both of his left wheels, and forcing him to call a competition time out. After his CTO, Vaughn ran a stellar lead run, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the zero he received on the first run, and Daigo won. Here’s an interesting tidbit, Judge Brian Eggert called this as a one more time, and Judges Andy Yen and Ryan Lanteigne called it as a Daigo win making this the only battle of the entire night that was not unanimously decided on.

Essa and D-Mac had a close battle, but it all came down to the entry. With Mike Essa kicking in just a little too much angle and sacrificing his speed, Darren McNamara took the win.

In the consolation battle, Essa hoped to take out JR and take his first ever Formula DRIFT podium spot. His highest previous finish was here in Atlanta back in 2010. Unfortunately it came down to the same mistake he had been making all day, an over-rotation on the entry followed by a loss of speed. JR took the final podium spot, and it was up to Daigo and D-Mac to determine the final two.

Ever since his Formula DRIFT debut, I have been told by drivers “I don’t care. If I go up against Daigo, I’m just going to hit him and take him out. F*%^ it.” It may not have been the right thing to do, but I’m glad someone finally put their money where their mouth is. Darren hit Daigo on the hill entering the horseshoe with what I can only describe as reckless abandon, and you know what? I think we all owe him a gigantic high-five. It might not have won him the event, but he will certainly go down in history as the guy who violently smashed into Daigo Saito… just because.

So where are we now? As the only driver with two podium finishes this season, Vaughn Gittin, Jr. has taken over the points lead. Daigo climbed into second with D-Mac only five points behind in third. Dai Yoshihara fell back to fifth as Mike Essa’s fourth place finish landed him fourth in the standings as well.

After the rare occurrence in Long Beach where no rookies earned points, Nate Hamilton and Will Parsons finally stepped into the tied lead in the Rookie of the Year race. The rest of the rookies still don’t have any points.

Daigo won in Florida last season, but that was back when running over clipping points was still legal. Let’s see if he can keep up his momentum.
 
 
 
-Pitts
Photos by Ayala and Bohan
 
 
 

The Oregon Trail Rally is a three-day event if you don’t count the pre-race days when the teams do their recce or the parc expose in downtown Portland. When the racing finally started on Friday night at Portland International Raceway, most of the people involved had already been in town for a week. Alex and I knew we would wear ourselves out if we tried to cover everything, so we went to PIR a few hours before the first stage.
 
I feel like most people don’t even know Rally America exists, and that’s a shame. I blame Americans’ lack of interest in racing in general. Subaru has had a factory team in Rally America since it was still SCCA Pro Rally, and its drivers (Patrick Richard, Travis Pastrana, and David Higgins) have been champions every year but one.
 
Ken Block’s popularity is bringing a lot of much-needed attention to the series, so you can’t blame Rally America’s PR crew for milking his presence for all it’s worth. Along with Antoine L’Estage (Rally America’s only non-Subaru champion) Block is keeping David Higgins on his toes, making the race for this year’s championship exciting.
 
Scion Racing is another factory team. Andrew Comrie-Picard used to drive the NOS Energy Drink Mitsubishi Evo but joined Scion Racing when they entered the series in 2011. He’s the defending 2WD Champion and in the lead again this season.
 
Most teams, however, are much more grassroots. In many cases the cars are built by the driver and co-driver and their friends, and those same friends are the crew at each round. A handful of these teams do the national tour, but most are regional competitors. Each national round is also a round of the local regional series, but from a regional driver’s point of view, one round from their series is huge and has all the national teams competing in it. To keep things fair, the scoring is kept separate.
 
Mt. Hood can be seen from almost every stage and service area of the Oregon Trail Rally. It’s about 50 miles east of Portland.
 
Matt Coffman is one of those local guys. I first met him when a bunch of us Norcal guys went to a Drift Evolution event in Medford. That exposure prompted him to start running in our Formula D ProAm series. Last year he entered the Olympus Rally as his first rally event.
 
Ken Block lost a wheel partway through Stage 3 and sparked his way through the rest of the course. Since there was no service until after the next stage, he ran all of Stage 4 in the same condition. He could have just quit and prevented damage to his brake rotor and suspension arms, but he had spares of that stuff so he kept on pushing. I’d say it was worth staying in the race since he finished 2nd overall.
 

After Stage 4 the mechanics not only had to repair or replace anything that got damaged, but many teams were running a tarmac suspension setup that needed to be swapped out. The four stages at PIR were partially on the track so it wouldn’t make sense to run an exclusively dirt and gravel setup.
 
Antoine L’Estage was debuting his newly rented WRC Lancer at Oregon Trail. Hopefully his crew got plenty of practice taking it apart and putting it back together before hand.
 
This is where shooting rally starts to get crazy. After Friday night service at PIR, all the teams packed up and moved out. On Saturday morning, they set up an entirely new service area 76 miles east at the Hood River County Fairgrounds in Odell.
 
The cars lined up for another Parc Expose for all the fans who couldn’t make it out to PIR the night before. Actually I wonder how many people are hardcore enough to go to both.
 
Unlike the PIR stages, the stages on Saturday were not at the fairgrounds. To shoot Stage 5, we had to drive 7 miles further south on Highway 35 and then hike another mile up a steep dirt road. Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally worth the effort.
 
Mt. Hood is only 15 miles south of this point.
 
There was no service until after Stage 7, so we had to carefully plan out what we wanted to shoot and figure out if we had time to shoot everything. When a team finished Stage 5 they would go straight to Stage 6, which meant the fast cars already finishing 6 and going to Stage 7 while we were still shooting Stage 5. If we wanted to shoot Stage 7 at all, we could have only stayed at Stage 5 for the first five or so cars, then run back down the road (which was now an active stage and way too dangerous to be on) then drive 11 miles back up Highway 35 and up the side of Fir Mountain. We elected to stay a little longer at Stage 5 and then just go back to Odell for service.
 
We checked out what everyone was doing. I had no idea John Reed’s AE86 had a Beams motor in it.
 
The teams don’t refuel in their own pit space. Instead there’s a fueling area with a tarp protecting the grass. When they’re done with service they all line up and fuel in order, five at a time.
 
It’s the perfect opportunity to shove your camera in a driver’s face.
 
Stages 8, 9, and 10 were the same as 5, 6, and 7, so our plan was to catch the transit between 8 and 9 and then make the long drive to Stage 10. It’s so awesome to see race cars on public roads.
 
We made it to Stage 10 just in time. It’s always good to see a crowd cheering and yelling and generally going nuts.
 
Block was doing a good job keeping up with Higgins. After his problems at Sno*Drift and 100 Acre Wood he needed a solid finish.
 
L’Estage didn’t come around this turn but we didn’t know why. Later we learned that he had crashed pretty hard on Stage 9, but luckily he and Nathalie Richard are both okay.
 
I kept noticing a car toward the front of a pack I’d never seen before. It turns out it was Rifat Sungkar of Indonesia, and not only was he killing it in the rally, he’s also been on the podium in Formula D Asia.
 
Victor Bartosek’s ’83 Audi is one of my favorite cars to watch and is one of the reasons I like to stay on stage for the entire field instead of just moving on after the fast guys go by.
 
After Stage 10 we went back to Odell for drinks and snacks while the cars were in service again, and then went down to shoot Stage 11, which was on the same road as Stages 6 and 9 but now being run in the opposite direction.
 
We were hanging out at the hairpin right at the finish line and kept getting showered with dust and gravel. Luckily there was sort of a trench to hide in.
 
This is why you need dust-resistant gear. The lens now looks as good as new and still works perfectly, in case you’re wondering.
 
While we were finishing up Stage 11, the fast cars were finishing up Stage 12, so after that we made the 13 mile drive to Hood River for the block party at Double Mountain Brewery and Taproom. What a cool place!
 
We met plenty of interesting characters.
 
They were talking a big pizza game at Double Mountain. 700º coal oven? Rivaling the pizza in New Haven, the self-proclaimed pizza capital? We put those claims to the test, and I must say this is the closest thing to authentic New York Pizza I’ve had outside of Lombardi’s in Little Italy.
 
The next parc expose and service area was in the Wild West town of Dufur, 37 miles east of Hood River. I’m really glad I’m not one of the guys who has to set up and tear down pit spaces constantly.
 
Block’s wheels were showing some signs of wear.
 
We drove 14 miles from Dufur to the spectator area at Stage 14 and then hiked most of another mile to the jump.
 
Block had the best jump of the day, which I can’t say I was surprised about.
 
ACP’s xD got pretty decent air as well, and it only has half the drive wheels!
 
A year ago, Alex and I were the only full-time Formula D photo or video guys at the rally. I’m happy to see guys like Loren Haleston and Sully coming out now.
 
We made a 14 mile drive to a different part of the same stage and waited for it to become Stage 16. A jump and a water crossing on the same stage! It’s almost like they plan this stuff.
 
While Higgins plowed right through the middle, Block went way to the inside to avoid as much water as possible. Look how close he is to the GoPro!
 
Evan Cline hit the water just right to completely soak Alex, who was up close getting wide shots.
 
Brenten Kelley sucked water into his intake and almost ruined his car. Rally is fun but not when you almost have problems like that!
 
There wasn’t enough time to hit Stage 17, which was the last stage of the rally, so we made the 42 mile drive back to Odell for the podium. The top cars had to get weighed to make sure they hadn’t been cheating.
 
Higgins came out on top again, but Block, in his first completed rally of the season, was only two minutes slower. Rifat Sungkar had a hell of a debut, finishing third, seven minutes behind Block.
 
Evan Cline made it all the way back to Odell with only three wheels.
 
Higgins is still leading the series overall, with L’Estage still in second even after his crash. Evan Cline slid into third and Block is way down in 11th. Though if he can keep up this momentum we should see Block climbing the leaderboard rapidly!
 
 
 
.:Bohan