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Formula D

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Formula D is both the name of the United States' drifting series, and the name of the G4 television program that covers it. It is the American equivalent of drifting's premier championship in Japan, the D1 Grand Prix.

The series is sponsored by the popular video game series, Need for Speed. Its official name is Need for Speed Formula Drift Presented by Circuit City. It was inaugurated in 2004, and is a division of the Sports Car Club of America.

The 2006 series schedule has seven rounds, all at a different track. These are the locations Formula D is expected to visit next year:

The asterisk next to the Long Beach and Evergreen venues denote that they are new venues. The Long Beach round took place on a Sunday, as will the Evergreen round, while the Road Atlanta, Chicago, Infineon, Wall and Irwindale rounds will take place on a Saturday.

Formula D has somewhat of a partnership with the Champ Car World Series, holding demonstration events at Champ Car race weekends, most prominently, the Long Beach Grand Prix.

There is also a Formula D in Australia, which was announced in June 2005. The three tracks Formula D Australia visited in 2005 are Mallala Motorsport Park in South Australia, Oran Park Raceway in New South Wales, and Winton Raceway in Victoria. The series is held in conjunction with the DRIFT AUSTRALIA Championship.

The American Formula D series has more tire manufacturers than any other motor racing series in the world, with seven manufacturers (Nitto Tires, Toyo Tires, Yokohama Tires, Falken Tires, Cooper Tires, Dunlop Tires, and Kumho Tires).

Contents

Formula D television coverage

Former Fox Soccer USA host Brandon Johnson began hosting the Formula D show for G4 in 2006. Rossi Morreale was the show's host in 2005. Johnson is joined by newly hired Attack of the Show co-host Olivia Munn who covers the pits and drivers during the events and drifting expert Adam Matthews who provides commentary and insight on the tandem battles. G4 airs each round on a tape-delayed basis. Jarod DeAnda is the public address announcer at each event, earning him the moniker, "The Voice of Formula D." In 2005, G4 used DeAnda's event commentary track, but for 2006, used Johnson and Matthews calling each battle like a typical play-by-play/color commentator combination.

In the 2005 season, there were two people working the pits — driver interviewer Mayleen Ramey, who was a roving reporter for the half-hour episodes, and a second anchor, who patroled around the car show at each event. In 2005, G4 used three reporters for this job. From the round in Wall to the round in Houston, actor Emeka held the job. At the Infineon round, Attack of the Show co-host Kevin Pereira took the duties, while Street Fury host Big C finished things out in Chicago and Irwindale. Also, G4 showed half-hour episodes in-between rounds, most of which focused on the network having its own drift ricer built from scratch, with other segements focusing on the aspects of drifting. One of the first half-hour episodes in 2005 had one Formula D competitor, Chris Forsberg go to Japan, and meet up with another competitor, Daijiro Yoshihara, to explore the country and get more perspective on the birth of drifting. Episodes that featured event coverage lasted an hour-and-a-half, and featured every tandem battle, including those that needed to be run again, because the judges deemed them too close to call. These episodes aired the night after the next round in the series had already taken place.

In 2006, however, coverage was dramatically different. The half-hour episodes were gone, and event coverage was reduced to an hour, and their scheduling was quite random. The Long Beach and Atlanta rounds premiered on June 18, with the Chicago round airing on July 2, and the Sonoma round airing a week after it takes place. These episodes features more interviews and driver profiles, many of which would've been placed in a half-hour show last year, and many of the tandem battles have been cut out, and any battle that needed to be run again has not had its second run shown. This has led to some criticism from those in the drifting community, including fans and some Formula D drivers.

List of competing drivers in Formula D

Tony Angelo (Falken/DA FD3S Mazda RX-7)
Taka Aono (Falken AE86 Corolla)
Ernie Fixmer
Chris Forsberg (Sears 350z Roadster)
Vaughn Gittin, Jr. (Falken/DA Ford Mustang)
Ken Gushi 具志健士郎(Toyo Tires Ford Mustang)
Ryan Hampton (Falken/DA 1969 Chevrolet Camaro)
Samuel Hubinette (Mopar Dodge Viper)
Benson Hsu (privateer Nissan Sileighty)
Tyler Mcquarrie Toyota Supra
Rhys Millen (Rhys Millen Racing Pontiac Solstice)
Bryan Norris
Stephan Papadakis (AEM Honda S2000)
Ross Petty (180sx(RB powered))
Tyler Mcquarrie (RS*R Honda S2000)
Hiro Sumida (Falken s15)
Rob Fleming (Enjuku Racing Nissan 240SX S13.5)
John Yim (Enjuku Racing Nissan 240SX S13.4)
Calvin Wan (Falken Infiniti G35)
Daijiro Yoshihara (Rockstar/Nitto Nissan S13)
Tanner Foust (AEM 350z)
Todd Ho (FC3S)

Formula D Champions

US

Australia

All-time Formula D event winners list

  1. Samuel Hubinette — 7 wins (2004 at Road Atlanta, Houston, and Infineon; 2005 at Road Atlanta and Chicago; 2006 at Long Beach and Chicago)
  2. Rhys Millen — 3 wins (2004 at Irwindale; 2005 at Wall; 2006 at Infineon)
  3. one win each for Chris Forsberg (2005 at Irwindale); Ken Gushi (2005 at Houston); Calvin Wan (2005 at Infineon); and Tanner Foust (2006 at Road Atlanta)

External links

 

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