Photos: Ben Moore / Jamie Roberts
Words: Jamie Roberts
I have been attending drift events in Australia for years now, and nothing I have ever attended came close to what was on offer at the 2011 Formula Drift Final at Irwindale Speedway. I had already pre-planned dates to come over to America, and was lucky enough that the final for the season slotted perfectly into my time here. The amount of phat stanced cars, smoke pouring skids, and show stands was an overwhelming experience. Daijiro Yoshihara ended up winning the Championship and Tyler McQuarrie took the victory for the night. We can only hope that Australian drifting, one day gets up to the level that American drifting is currently at… hopefully ADGP is just a stepping stone towards it.
Sitting around the Nos Energy Drink display. This 350Z Reminded me of the days of playing Need For Speed.
They also had a Lexus LFA and a Lamborghini Murciélago sitting around the display.
Vaughn Gittin Jr’s own 1969 Ford RTR-X Mustang was sitting just outside the NFS stand.
There was plenty of entertainment to be had, most stands where giving away freebies.. there was also rc drifting and trike races.
Fatlace and Stancworks had a car display, and of course cars rocked a hard stance and perfect fiment.
Chris Forsberg who drives the NOS Energy Drink 370Z was out and about doing some media stuff.
Seemed like most teams would either give used tyres away to people, or give them to people as prizes. They where a hot commodity.
And of course there was the drifting. Battles where intense and most of the time neck to neck, sometimes seeing the drivers push their cars so hard that they would meet the wall. Sadly I hadnt got a chance to get a media pass, so had to bring the drifting from a spectators point of view.
