In the first 2 articles of “What It Takes”, we visited the subjects of the cars and also the behind the scenes work. So, at the FD finale, I went around and basically asked some questions that I could use to bring this series of articles to a soft landing. I feel we’ve learned a lot in the first 2 articles, and I hope that by reading these, any driver looking to enter Formula Drift can say that it helped them prepare for the big stage.
As we learned in the last article, a beast of a machine under your foot is required to run Formula Drift. Formula D isn’t a place where your 500whp car can make it, unless you have some serious skill or a beefy setup with enough grip that allows you to change the Earth’s rotation at any given time. But, it’s not just the car that makes you successful in Formula D, you have to know everything behind the scenes. It’s more than just hopping in the car and driving. As a follow up to the first “What It Takes” article, I decided to go deeper with the drivers and show a little more behind the scenes, and how dedicated you have to be in order to run a season of Formula Drift.
Like many other Pro Am series across the country, Streetwise Drift recently wrapped up their 2014 series during a two day event in late September at Metrolina Expo in Charlotte, NC. A total of three licenses were available for the newly formed Formula Drift Pro 2 Series. About half a dozen drivers were in contention for these licenses coming into this event.
The 2014 Vegas ProAm competition season is officially over. Last weekend, we hit the road to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and joined Vegas Drift for round 5, which sealed the standings and fates of drivers who competed all year long. Coming into round 5, the season champion had already been decided by points, but everything beyond that was up for grabs.
We’ve gotta admit, packing our gear to cover Top Drift round 4 was depressing, knowing it would be the last time we shot competition at Willow Springs until 2015. That being said, we were also super excited to cover some drifting on a track that’s been known to have some epic drift battles in the previous years. We were also eager to see who would kick everyone’s butt and podium, and also witness who would be moving on to Formula Drift by earning an FD license.
What’s better than being a spectator at a drift event? Right now I’d say being media, and that’s because I haven’t gotten to drive at an event. Top Drift Round 3 was my first event shooting as media, and it was awesome!