(TODAY) RED BULL Drifting World Championship LONG BEACH Nov 15-16

[INFO]

The Red Bull Drifting World Championships Announces Preliminary International Invitees


Long Beach, Calif. – September 8, 2008 – The Red Bull Drifting World Championships has invited the top drivers in the world to compete for the largest prize purse in drifting history. 32 drivers from 12 nations will battle to become the first ever World Champion on November 15-16.

Invitations have been sent to the top drifting organizations in the world including Pro Drift European Series, Drift Australia, European Drift Championship, Drift Mania Canadian Championship, Nordic Drifting Championship, Formula DRIFT Singapore, and D1 Grand Prix. The top 16 in Formula DRIFT Championship points at the end of the season will also receive an invitation to participate.

“We have invited the best drifters in the world to compete at the Red Bull Drifting World Championships,” says Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “Current and past champions from the top series in the world will have the chance to show who is the world’s best drifter.

The list of invited drivers as of September 8, 2008. The list may change as confirmations and standings will change leading up to the event. A list of alternates have also been created.


1. Hubinette
2. Foust
3. Yoshihara
4. Millen
5. Forsberg
6. Takatori
7. Tuerck
8. McNamara
9. Grunewald
10. Nishida
11. Miki
12. Gittin, Jr.
13. Verdier
14. Gushi
15. Mohan
16. Hayashida
17. D1 New Zealand 2008 Champion
18. Drift Mania Canadian Championship 2008 Champion
19. Drift Australia 2008 Champion
20. Drift Australia 2008 Runner-up
21. European Drifting Championship 2008 Champion
22. Tengku Djan 2008 Podium
23. Mike Whiddet 2008 Podium
24. Pro Drift Winner 2008 Champion
25. Pro Drift Runner-up 2008 Runner-up
26. Fredric Aasbo
27. D1GP Past Champion
28. D1GP Past Champion
29. D1GP Past Champion
30. D1GP Past Champion
31. D1GP Past Champion
32. D1GP 2008 Champion



The Red Bull Drifting World Championship will take place on November 15 -16 in Long Beach, CA. More information to follow including the official announcement of the unique venue, ticket availability, and the official drivers list.

[Bebop]

This is pretty stupid, D1 passed champions... cant name the names.... we already got one of them lol.

And whats up with the MSC series, I much rather see some of those guys then a lot of these "D1GP Past Champions".

Bring out Magician!!!!

And I hope there isn't a set field... lets have some real quality drifting.

Random privateers ftw.

[deadpirate]

i agree with the MSC people...

last i heard MSC was aligned with formula D


so why not bring them in also?

[Formula D]

Hence, "Preliminary". MSC is a good partner of ours and many D1 past champs do run in MSC. Lots more to come. So many people speculated about us not involving D1 so here is a show that we have.

[stedriftward]

16 Drivers from one country huh??? How is this fair considering the other 16 are split up between other countries? I guess since it's held in the U.S we should be the ones with the better odds

This is preliminary I understand but maybe rethinking the fairness of this "WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP" should be acknowledged.

Or should this be called "FD drivers vs. the rest of the world championships"

Note: Don't compare this to D1 world championship.....We should stand out and make it an even playing field.

My 2 cents...Love it or hate it!!! I could care less

[MonkeySlide]

Originally Posted by stedriftward

16 Drivers from one country huh???

16?

I'm only counting 6 American born drivers. 7 if you want to count Sam as he is a full fledged American citizen now.

Yao Ming is in the NBA but during the olympics he played for China.

This championship is about as "worldly" as you can get you got drivers born in all parts of the planet.

And yeah unless they're really good lets leave the random priviteers out of this.

This isn't about which random bare bones team guy can beat the best in the world. Its about who is the best OF THE BEST. That's why its invite only.

EDIT: Dude! my post cout is at 666...creepy

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by MonkeySlide

16?



And yeah unless they're really good lets leave the random priviteers out of this.

This isn't about which random bare bones team guy can beat the best in the world. Its about who is the best OF THE BEST. That's why its invite only.

You think dudes like John Russakoff, Tommy Suell, Yasu Kondo, and Henry Schelley are not some of the best.

Those are all guys except for Tommy and Kondo that qualified for previous years USAvsJPN and D1 world championship events.

Tanner foust was a lesser known unknown driver who earned a licence and qualified for a event like this at one time also.

So was Forsburg and JR

So was hubinette and rutherford (who shared a basicly stock 350z.).

Random privateers that are good are the reason why I show up lol.

[Slapshotnerd]

Part of the issue of putting something like this together is figuring out how to invite drivers. Doing it based on merit is the easiest way. As it stands now, 1 of the former D1 champions is going to be driving under the FD top 16 (Miki)... while another driver who I don't think has ever finished top 5 in D1 standings is ahead of him in the rankings (Takatori). Since FD is the "home" series, it's only fair that they invite a majority of their drivers. It's also pretty well known that drivers from around the world try and find a way to come compete in FD. See Wharerau, McNamara, Miki, Takatori, Haraguchi, Yamamoto, etc etc. FD has also done all the footwork to make the event as fair as possible for everybody, and has secured the sponsors to make this happen. In the past, drivers have been invited arbitrarily. Formula D made a formal announcement in July and alluded that they would be inviting champions past and present to this competition. Here we are 2 months in advance of the event and we have a list of invites, with many of the series standings still in contention.

This is a neutral track, with drivers from around the world who will be given 2 full months of planning time in most cases to get their cars here. I'd expect that there will probably be a few practices during the week leading up to the event. It's about as fair as it gets.

[Bebop]

I say who ever qualifies top 32 let em in

if they don't, no matter who they are, thanks for coming out.

Better yet, let the top 4 FD guys be seeded

that leaves 12 straight up open spots

let the games begin

[OldSkool510]

Who are the judges going to be? Won't FD judges be biased towards FD drivers? hmmmmmmm

[Drift Allstars]

Originally Posted by blaze1

I say who ever qualifies top 32 let em in

if they don't, no matter who they are, thanks for coming out.

Better yet, let the top 4 FD guys be seeded

that leaves 12 straight up open spots

let the games begin

do not leave the top 4 seeded- FD i think will be surprized
I think alot of people are gonna be surprized by the likes of the europeans /NZ coming over,
Alot of things have changed since the last proper Exhibition match 2 years ago

[MonkeySlide]

Originally Posted by blaze1

You think dudes like John Russakoff, Tommy Suell, Yasu Kondo, and Henry Schelley are not some of the best.

Those are all guys except for Tommy and Kondo that qualified for previous years USAvsJPN and D1 world championship events.

Tanner foust was a lesser known unknown driver who earned a licence and qualified for a event like this at one time also.

So was Forsburg and JR

So was hubinette and rutherford (who shared a basicly stock 350z.).

Random privateers that are good are the reason why I show up lol.

I see your point but you gotta remember that back when JR, Hubinette, and Rutherford were random privateers...EVERYONE who wasn't from Japan was basically a privateer!

Drifting was still new then and no one really knew which "Americans" would be stand out stars.

Things are a little different now. We know who the big dogs are so its only right that those are the guys who go up against the best from the rest of the world.

T. Suell, Russakoff and the like are good yes but the best?

Most of the people on the list from Formula D are people who have made the podium or at least great 8. Although there are some exceptions.

If you wanted to make a case that one of these guys should be there rather than say, Verdier then I could see that.

However Verdier was probably chosen because hes another international driver to add to the mix and perhaps he as a little more money in his team than the other guys. But that's just my speculation there could be another reason which would better explain things.

[Slapshotnerd]

Originally Posted by MonkeySlide

I see your point but you gotta remember that back when JR, Hubinette, and Rutherford were random privateers...EVERYONE who wasn't from Japan was basically a privateer!

Drifting was still new then and no one really knew which "Americans" would be stand out stars.

Things are a little different now. We know who the big dogs are so its only right that those are the guys who go up against the best from the rest of the world.

T. Suell, Russakoff and the like are good yes but the best?

Most of the people on the list from Formula D are people who have made the podium or at least great 8. Although there are some exceptions.

If you wanted to make a case that one of these guys should be there rather than say, Verdier then I could see that.

However Verdier was probably chosen because hes another international driver to add to the mix and perhaps he as a little more money in his team than the other guys. But that's just my speculation there could be another reason which would better explain things.

Verdier is on the list because he's in the top 16 in points. Again, no playing favorites here... if other drivers earn enough points in the final 2 rounds, Verdier will be out. The line has been drawn in the sand, and the drivers will have to battle on their own.

Tony Angelo is currently tied for 17th with Justin Pawlak. Will FD let either driver in because they're crowd favorites? Nope. McQuarrie is 21st with the Porsche. Will FD let him in because a Porsche is a cool drift car and would make for good TV (assuming they get a TV deal for this)? Nope. It's top 16 or bust, that's it. That's the easiest way not to play favorites!

[Formula D]

(assuming they get a TV deal for this)

Yup, there is a deal for this and production will be done by Red Bull

And Blaze, to clarify past champions for D1 are drivers not currently competing in Formula Drift. These would be drivers competing in the current Japanese D1 Series.

Again, this event is as much of an Champions theme as we can. Of course we want the best drivers. As for the 16 FD Drivers.... US is the host country. Like China in the Olympics, the host country gets more invites. This is also the most realistic way to operate this type of event. It gives a race for our current guys to make top 16 and the other series also are drifting to the proverbial finish line. It is a competition to get to a competition for the most part, not a random selection.

[RAM GARAGE]

the top 16 guys in fd earned their spots they should have it

[rtype16]

Just a quick question....

Can all the other teams out there with Energy Drink Sponsors still run the stickers???

Can we still rock the Roackstar on the side of the car?

Haven't heard anything about the rules, but I bet that would be one question.

[cfrost]

Originally Posted by RAM GARAGE

the top 16 guys in fd earned their spots they should have it

agreed, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be that way

[Bebop]

OK lets get real, we are acting like the top 16 on the US side are some of the best of the best

Turek is ranked 7th in standings....with 317 points

Now Dmac on the other hand is ranked 8th with 237... that's a huge gap

Even though Dmac had missed vegas, there is still 7 other seeded drivers that that are 90+ points away from Dmac and 180pts from the championship leader... that can easily be made up with a win, but lets be real.

most of the time, its the same 7/8 drivers who make the great 8. Once again, brings back to the statement of what the Japanese drivers have been saying for ever "there is a huge gap in skill and or funding from the USAs best and the USAs decent.

All I'm saying is having the top 16 FD drivers seeded is definitely not the best of the best and IMO not entertaining at all. Best part of these end of the year events is seeing all the unfamiliar faces, styles and techniques. Yes I know, D1 comes into town with a whole fleet or drivers. And for the first few years, they were the main ones competing... but all in all we only see japan 1 or 2 times a year and this year none.

We don't see much of the other countries. And with this coming after pro am and sema, I'm not saying just randomly pic a few bums to run with the big boys, but at least have a few open spots for competition.

And lets just remember, this is the 3rd event in so cal (if you don't count vegas) and the second event in long beach. At least try to give us some variety.

[OldSkool510]

Having 16 out of 32 drivers increases the chance of someone from FORMULA D winning the event. I think that's what FORMULA D is hoping for.

There is a huge driving/drifting discrepancy between FD's Top 10 drivers and the rest. The drivers ranked 11-16 will be just taking up space. I would bet that only the Top 6 FD guys have a real shot of winning the whole event.

Maybe FD should just expand the field and invite the TOP 2 or 3 of each governing body mentioned in their post. That way it could be a true world championship, with somewhat more of an equal representation of countries. It's a 2 day event so there's plenty of time.

By the way, who is judging the event? Will there be an additional judge or judges to go along with FD's 3 amigos? That's something I think needs to be considered to prevent any unwanted drama regarding the scoring.

I like almost everything that Formula D is proposing for the event. I look forward to the TV deal, especially if it will be live or close to it. I know there are individuals on here who have a disdain for those of us who want DVD's to be a priority in the business model, but I'd like a permanent record in a high-quality format of this historical event, preferably with some commentary tracks. It's going to be awesome!

I think the overlap question is legit, however, as Darren McNamara, IIRC is possibly a champion in one of the european series. Likewise of the D1GP there have only been 7 champions in D1GP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D1GP if the wiki is correct which leaves, since Ryuji Miki is highly unlikely to lose a top 16 spot, just the 6: Kawabata (2007), Kumakubo (2006), Kazama (2005), Imamura (2003), Ueo (2002), and Taniguchi (2001) for the 5 spots, unless of course Imamura wins it in 2008. Ueo hasn't really been that competitive for a long time, if I understand aright.

Honestly I'm glad I don't have to figure it out because if I were doing the inviting I'd want to find a way to include Nomura Ken even though he's not a champion since he's as zany as anything and is a fan favorite.

Kudos to Formula D for reaching out to the professional drift associations of the world!!!

[J-Rod]

Originally Posted by Father_V

I like almost everything that Formula D is proposing for the event. I look forward to the TV deal, especially if it will be live or close to it. I know there are individuals on here who have a disdain for those of us who want DVD's to be a priority in the business model, but I'd like a permanent record in a high-quality format of this historical event, preferably with some commentary tracks. It's going to be awesome!

I think the overlap question is legit, however, as Darren McNamara, IIRC is possibly a champion in one of the european series. Likewise of the D1GP there have only been 7 champions in D1GP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D1GP if the wiki is correct which leaves, since Ryuji Miki is highly unlikely to lose a top 16 spot, just the 6: Kawabata (2007), Kumakubo (2006), Kazama (2005), Imamura (2003), Ueo (2002), and Taniguchi (2001) for the 5 spots, unless of course Imamura wins it in 2008. Ueo hasn't really been that competitive for a long time, if I understand aright.

Honestly I'm glad I don't have to figure it out because if I were doing the inviting I'd want to find a way to include Nomura Ken even though he's not a champion since he's as zany as anything and is a fan favorite.

Kudos to Formula D for reaching out to the professional drift associations of the world!!!

Great attitude, That sounds like the way people should be thinking versus blazing the MONUMENTAL EVENT up.....

Just buy a ticket, you'll be stoked!!!!!!!

[Brian]

Well if J ROD is gonna be there, I'll DEFINITLY go

[eomund240]

You guys are killing me. These need to be a lil' more spread out
Hopefully I can afford to go.

Is this gonna be the track layout as the FD Longbeach in the beggining of the year?

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by eomund240

Is this gonna be the track layout as the FD Longbeach in the beggining of the year?

No.. more high speed, no cage, I'm thinking more like vegas.

J Rod, this is your biggest event as well....stay focused the world is watching


Does anyone know the D1 standings??? All the website I know of are in Japanese

I was hoping koguchi for the championship.

[eomund240]

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2008...-2008-wip.aspx

Apperantly Saito Daigo's in the lead with a Chaser. Not sure how up to date it is though.