Art of Formula D: 2009 Retrospective from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

World Drift Series 2009 from Larry Chen on Vimeo.

From the words of Larry Chen:

Once a year drivers from all over the world get paid to gather in China to drive the shit out of crappy cars. No rules. No limits. And sometimes no seatbelts.

Drifting is very new in the land of communism but every year American and Japanese drifters show the Chinese drifters what drifting is all about. In 2008 and 2009 during the main event “WDS Hang Zhou” had a sellout crowd of 45,000 people. This year along with the American and Japanese drivers we had quite a few main land Chinese drivers as well as drivers from Hong kong. We even had a Russian drifter come down for two events.

I had the pleasure of traveling with the American team. I was given $1500 to purchase 4 shitty cameras and 3 shitty on car mounts. This short film is what I ended up with. I tried to concentrate more on the drivers since I had an opportunity to live and travel with them for 2 weeks. Every part showcases a different driver and their unique personalities. Enjoy!

Olsson follow cam… from Jon Olsson Video Blog on Vimeo.

We went out to US131 Motorsports Park this past weekend for the 2nd Test & Tune of the season. Here is some photos from the past weekend:

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Here is a sneak peak at our May Issue, The Stance Issue! Will Launch May 4th!

Long Beach, Calif. – April 10, 2010 – Formula DRIFT returned to the Long Beach Grand Prix Street Course to kick off its seventh season. Vaughn Gittin Jr. takes the Round 1: Streets of Long Beach victory and the early lead in the Pro Championship Standings.

The Long Beach Grand Prix Street Course hosted the first competition of the 2010 season of Formula DRIFT. The venue was packed with reserved seating selling out before the main event opened the doors and the crowds filled the grandstands, pits, and paddock. The event also provided plenty of additional features and attractions that included the debut of the new Miss Formula DRIFT, Melyssa Grace, the One of One Car Show produced by Fatlace, and MetroPCS / Sanctioned brought out celebrity guest and world famous tattoo artist Mister Cartoon. The thousands of fans were treated to world class drifting with over 13 countries represented in the competition.

“Currently there is no true world series of drifting, but today’s event was as close as you can get,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “With drivers from 13 nations and 12 current and former drifting champions, Formula DRIFT continues to grow drifting globally with the most diverse field of competitors than any other drifting series in the world.”

Round 1: Streets of Long Beach started the 2010 season off in exciting fashion with the debut of new drivers, sponsors, and vehicles to the series joining all of the returning teams. 2-time Formula DRIFT champion Tanner Foust piloting the Rockstar Energy Scion TC met rookie Fredric Aasbo in the Japan Auto / FSR Toyota Supra in the consolation round for third place. Foust outmatched the rookie and secured his third place finish. The finals came down to veteran drifters Rhys Millen in the RMR Red Bull Hyundai Genesis Coupe and Vaughn Gittin in the Monster Energy / Falken 2011 Ford Mustang. Gittin secured the victory with aggressive driving of his brand new vehicle to earn the victory and the early lead in the Pro Championship Standings.

“What an insane event!,” said Vaughn Gittin, winner of Round 1: Streets of Long Beach. “Big thanks to Falken for providing incredible tires, Ford for the new car and engine, and my team at ASD for putting together a competitive vehicle despite being brand new. This is unbelievable.”

For the first time a Live Stream provided by YoParts.com was made available to all fans that could not be at the event in person and gave them the ability to catch a glimpse of all the live action.

“This is the first event to launch the live stream and it was very succesful,” said Tom Masiero, founder of YoParts.com. “Over the 2-days the live stream was active we had over 29,000 unique viewers. This does not even include the viewers on mobile applications, which we do not have the statistics for yet. We look forward to bringing all the 2010 Formula DRIFT live action to households across the globe.”

The action continues on May 7-8 for Round 2: Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta. Tickets are available on-line. For more information and details visit the Formula DRIFT website at: www.formuladrift.com

Full official standings available on: www.formuladrift.com