Coming Soon: Formula Drift Singapore '10

Formula Drift Singapore 2010 will be happening next month on 24 and 25 April 2010 at the F1 Pit Building!

No more long drives to Changi Exhibition Centre like the two previous events, the action is now right smack in the middle of town. More importantly, having the event on the Singapore GP track is symbolic of drifting's ascendancy as a respected motorsports in Singapore and the region.

The cars will accelerate down the main straight, then smoke their tyres through turns 1 to 3 - a great spectacle for the 8,000 fans expected to show up.

45 drivers from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Japan and New Zealand will compete. The only celebrity driver confirmed so far is Ryuji Miki (according to the media release), though I think its pretty likely the other top competitors Mad Mike, Kiki and Djan will show up as well.

Ticketing info can be found at http://www.formuladrift.com.sg/

Formula Drift Malaysia: Full Coverage

My coverage on Formula Drift Malaysia is out. Sorry for the delay people as I was rushing to clear my work before going on annual leave :)

Anyhow, the Speedhunters article is here.

Drift Garage Tears Up Kallang II

Attended the Drift Garage/MPT carnival event on Sunday and there were the usual suspects ...


Demo cars.


Drift performances by Drift Garage's members.


Some of the other cars performing drift runs and carpark rallies (though I didn't see any rallying!)


A cool F1 driving simulator by Bridgestone, which I didn't try for fear of revealing how bad a wheelman I am..


Its always fun attending grass-roots style events, catching up with fellow enthusiasts with our JDM machines parked all around. I could think of worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon than this!

Rockstar vs Pornstar

Cool drifting by the Hankook/Rockstar drift team (Robbie, Eric and Ryuji) as well as three hot chicks posing...

But 4'44" is the show stealer, hands down.

Saturday Night Fever

Drift Garage holds an awesome Saturday night drift session which they named "Driftxotic Night" every week.



For more details, check out their forum thread here.

Contact Dninja in the forum and he'll hook you up!

Survivor Drift

The second season of "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" is airing right now and this episode has some great JDM car content. Drifting and car styling!

Format67 Silvia

We first highlighted Format67 back when they did a BMW.

So how can I pass it up when their new Silvia video is out?

I LIKE their stylized treatment. I would have LOVE it if there's a wee bit more drifting action.

Touge Monster

Interesting repost I see on the hachijyu to 81 blog

Rob of Roadsterdrift.com showing us how to drift a S15 on his local touge while getting acquainted in passing with local wildlife.

6 Great Videos From FD Singapore Live!

Saturday's practice session



Sunday's practice session



Sunday's drift demo session before commencement of the Top 16 tandem battles



Irish freestyle biker Mattie Griffin shows off his crazy skills in several demo sessions throughout the two days, keeping the crowd entertained in between intervals



Top 16



Elite 8, Final 4 and Final Battle with Tenku Djan emerging victorious

FD Singapore Hot Off The Press

Julian and I are still sorting out the photos. We will post a full review tomorrow or so.

Here are key excerpts from the official press release and some pictures to whet your appetite.

"In front of more than 4,000 ardent drift fans... 37 drift drivers from Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand came out to put their pedal to the metal in the two-day event this year where the spotlight shone on the top amateur drivers in the region. The Formula DRIFT USA official judges Andy Yen and Tony Angelo focused on the action as they watched out not for the drivers’ finishing time but rather their skill and showmanship of executing swift car manoeuvres that entertain crowds.

After the qualifying rounds which determined the top 16 drivers based on scores by the official judges, the competitors went head-to-head in pairs in the tandem battles. From the round of 16, the field was cut down to eight before the last four drivers headed to the semi-finals.



The Malaysians came out strong today to take all three podium positions with Tengku Djan leading the pack and improving on his performance here last year. Tengku Djan came in second place in 2008 amongst some of the big boys from the Formula DRIFT USA at the event here last year. He faced competition from another Malaysian Joham Morman Azam in the final round but Tengku Djan showed his experience by performing a tight round while Azam struggled to keep up with him."



Oh, did I mention there are some non-drifting pictures from the event as well? :)

Picture credits: Ashley Mak, Julian Poon

Formula Drift Sneak Peeks

I was at Changi Exhibition Centre today for the Formula Drift media briefing, during which Ivan mentioned he is looking to place in the top 5. Here's hoping all 6 Singapore drifters put up a strong showing!

After the briefing, it was photo op time before Ivan Lim and other members of Team Goodyear commence scaring the shit out of the other poor journalists during the joy rides.





After splitting from the media briefing, I went looking for the Ford GT I saw on my way in...



550 bhp of American muscle, I think it belongs to Goodyear. Test drive please?



Parked besides the Ford supercar are three brand new 370Zs are Tan Chong. The 370Z is the official safety car for Formula Drift though for the life of me, I can't figure out how you will need a safety car in a drift competition...



But I am loving the revised looks of the latest Z. More focus, less flab, MORE horsepower. Yeah baby, yeah. My test drive will be sometime this month. Can't wait.



Moving to the pits, I supposed this give me an idea of the kind of weekend we can look forward to. Binter is coughing up a shitload of tyres for this one. Damn, plenty of tyre sizes and widths that I can use for my S15.





Plenty of stripped out hardcore drift machines in the pit but three particular cars caught my attention.



Actually its four cars but two were visually identical Lexus Aristos fielded by Type R Club from Hong Kong. Yes the top mount HKS T04Z snail did catch my initial attention but its the overall presentation of the two cars that impress me greatly. The entire build screams professionalism and top quality parts, with the mechanics looking deadly serious while setting up the car.




What a MX-5 doing in a drift competition? I disagree at first solely on principle, then I see the stripped out interior, welded in roll cage and industrial-sized bottle of NOS mounted in the back, with driver Jatuphon grinning like a Cheshire cat saying, "I like something different.."



Then I decide this maniac Miata could be fun to watch on race day.



Decide I'll end with some shots of Ivan Lim's daily driver. White on green TE37s with crazy offset and flared fenders. Plenty of other neat details such as removal of the rear wiper, no visible FMIC which likely means a V-mount.



Possibly the most understated yet coolest S15 in Singapore.



Formula Drift Singapore is shaping out to be better than last year.

FD Singapore coverage commences tomorrow

Julian, MJ and I will be covering Formula Drift, starting from tomorrow's driver briefing and media session, all the way through the official race weekend.

Julian will shoot the cars, MJ will film (read: ogle) the girls and I'll put pen to paper.

Watch this space for extensive action from Changi Exhibition Centre!

Euro Drift Videos

The Europeans got some pretty crazy stuff going on over at their drift scene and the "definitive guide is through Prodrift's Vimeo Channel that has coverage from Ireland to the UK, Scandinavia and the European mainland". Check it out here.

Most Senseless Drift Movie Ever

Big minus: This edges out Tokyo Drift and KL Evolusi Drift as the most senseless drift movie ever. At least the characters in those movies were trying to impress chicks and not a pregnant woman.

Big plus: The HK actor featured, 錢嘉樂 does his own drifting! Unlike the pretty boys in Tokyo and Evolusi. Come to think about it, that's redeeming enough...

The Irony of It

THE TRAFFIC PEOPLE IS SPONSORING THIS YEAR'S FORMULA DRIFT IN SINGAPORE!!!

"Video games like Need For Speed and movies such as The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift have helped popularise drifting, especially among younger drivers.

This is exactly the group the Traffic Police hope to reach out to with the launch of this year's Road Safety Outreach programme at the Formula Drift Pro-Am Series event on July 4 and 5."

*Not a hoax, see Straits Times article here.

Don't Reinvent The Wheel.

Riding on the success of his first Gymkhana Practice video that grabbed the attention of over 20 million viewers worldwide, Ken Block's Gymkhana TWO video takes infomercials to the next (unwelcome) level.

To me, the sophomore effort comes across as trying too hard, with the water balloons, explosions and fluorescent lights. I was even expecting scantily clad girls a la the F&F franchise after a while.

Also, can anyone figure out in what way is it a display of driving skill, when you have a guy shooting paintballs at you while you do donuts around the poor bugger?



Nothing in version two beats Ken doing donuts around a moving Segway in the original: authentic and cool, with no 2 minute long sponsor message at the end.

A case of needless reinvention, if you ask me.

Random But Good Gumball Pics

Gumball is over but it's spirit (and rampant internet photos) live on.

Here's some of my favourites after sifting through the photo album of a Facebook friend.

How does this GTR even move??

Another Nissan flying the JDM flag proudly (and illegally)! The corner road sign showing '15mph' juxtaposed with the drifting and the guy jumping in glee is just wild.

Replete with the usual bevy of beauties to spice up this already over-the-top motoring event.

Last but not least, two cars I don't think we have over here in Singapore.

SSC Ultimate Aero, currently the fastest production car in the world, with a fastest recorded speed of 413 km/h as verified by Guinness World Records on October 9, 2007. Thanks to Koich for pointing out my mistake!

The legendary Jaguar XJ220, which held the record for the highest top speed of a production car (350 km/h) until the arrival of the McLaren F1 in 1994.

Lastly, Ford GT, the modern descendant of the legend that gave Ferrari hell at Le Mans in the late 1960s.

Any sponsors want to hook me up for next year's Gumball? :)