(PREDICTION CONTEST) "$50 STORE CREDIT" - FORMULA DRIFT Long Beach, April 8-9th, 2011

[INFO]

(PREDICTION CONTEST) "$50 STORE CREDIT" - FORMULA DRIFT Long Beach, April 8-9th, 2011

TERMS: You must be the FIRST one to post the closest top 16 results. Please review the point system.

Points System
1st Place-16 Points
2-15 Points
3-14 Points
4-13 Points
5-12 Points
6-11 Points
7-10 Points
8-9 Points
9-8 Points
10-7 Points
11-6 Points
12-5 Points
13-4 Points
14-3 Points
15-2 Points
16-1 Points

FORMULA DRIFT Long Beach 2011 Tentative Drivers List

Fredric Aasbo
Jeff Abbott
Taka Aono
Odi Bachis
Tony Brakohiapa
Michael Essa
Mike Feiock
Matt Field
Chris Forsberg
Roland Gallagher
Danny George
Vaughn Jr. Gittin
Otto Graven
Conrad Grunewald
Josh Guild
Ken Gushi
Jim Guthrie
Brad Hettinger
Samuel Hubinette
Jeff Jones
Ryan Kado
Dean Kearney
Alex Lee
Chris Licup
Luke Lonberger
Joon Maeng
Cyrus Martinez
Darren McNamara
Tyler McQuarrie
Dennis Mertzanis
Rhys Millen
Kenneth Moen
Kyle Mohan
Patrick Mordaunt
Charles Ng
Robbie Nishida
Justin Pawlak
Ross Petty
Alex Pfeiffer
Matt Powers
John Russakoff
Mike Skudlarek
Ryan Tuerck
Matt Waldin
Forrest Wang
Walker Wilkerson
Daijiro Yoshihara
Toshiki Yoshioka

Prize = $50 in store Credit @ DRIFTING.com













2010/2009 TENTATIVE DRIVERS List for reference

2010 (Tentative list that was released on 3/24/2010)
(WARNING; THIS MAY NOT BE THE FINAL LIST)

1 Chris Forsberg 1
2 Ryan Tuerck 44
3 Tyler McQuarrie 17
4 Samuel Hubinette 77
5 Vaughn Gittin Jr. 25
6 Tanner Foust 34
7 Darren McNamara 8
8 Robbie Nishida 31
9 Justin Pawlak 13
10 Ken Gushi 33
11 Dai Yoshihara 9
12 Tony Brakohiapa 18
13 Ross Petty 808
14 Taka Aono 86
15 Stephan Verdier 12
16 Ryuji Miki 26
17 Joon Maeng 51
18 Eric O'Sullivan 35
19 Rhys Millen 6
20 Patrick Mordaunt 90
21 Kyle Mohan 99
22 Mike Essa 101
23 Yasu Kondo 52
24 Michihiro Takatori 5
25 Matt Powers 665
26 Alex Pfeiffer 88
27 Jeff Jones 29
28 Ron Ewerth 27
29 Jodin LeJeune 333
30 Bill Sherman 22
31 Chris Kregorian 14
32 Cody Parkhouse 562
33 Conrad Grunewald 79
34 Fredric Aasbo 151
35 Dean Kearney 43
36 Dennis Mertzanis 323
37 Mike Whiddet 111
38 David Blunt 59
39 Victor Moore 7
40 Andrew Picard 20
41 Charles Ng 55
42 Cyrus Martinez 951
43 Ian Fournier 11
44 Keith Wong 310
45 Matt Field 777
46 Roland Gallagher 425
47 Russell Walker 121
48 Tommy Roberts 2
49 Forrest Wang 30
50 James Dean 16
51 Kelvin Arreola 818
52 Jeff Abbott 518
53 John Russakoff 87


2009 (Tentative list that was released on 3/31/2009)
(WARNING; THIS MAY NOT BE THE FINAL LIST)
1 Calvin Wan
2 Carl Rydquist
3 Casper Canul
4 Chris Forsberg
5 Chris Kregorian
6 Cody Parkhouse
7 Colin Frost
8 Conrad Grunewald
9 Daijiro Yoshihara
10 Dan Pina
11 Darren McNamara
12 Doug VanDenBrink
13 Eric O'Sullivan
14 Gary Lang
15 Hiro Sumida
16 Ivan Lim
17 Jeff Jones
18 Jodin LeJeune
19 John Russakoff
20 Joon Maeng
21 Justin Pawlak
22 Katsuhiro Ueo
23 Kazu Hayashida
24 Ken Gushi
25 Kenji Yamanaka
26 Kyle Mohan
27 Matt Waldin
28 Matt Powers
29 Michael Essa
30 Michihiro Takatori
31 Patrick Mordaunt
32 Quoc Ly
33 Rhys Millen
34 Robbie Nishida
35 Ron Ewerth
36 Ross Petty
37 Ryan Tuerck
38 Ryuji Miki
39 Samuel Hubinette
40 Stephan Verdier
41 Taka Aono
42 Tanner Foust
43 Tommy Suell
44 Tony Brakohiapa
45 Tyler McQuarrie
46 Vaughn Gittin Jr.
47 Yasu Kondo

[Justin Banner]

I don't think we will see the true results from the new tire rule. This is a slow course that you don't see the big angles at. What we will see at Long Beach is, however, how do drivers that have switched up from what they were running in '10 to what they are running now will cope and start to see who will be the most adaptive driver.

Top five in no order:

Gitten, Forsberg, Millen, Whiddett, and Aasbo.

[wesismyhero]

Anybody know if Takatori has a ride for 2011?

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by Justin Banner

Whiddett

I heard whiddett is out of FD for 2011, and D1NZ has their final round the weekend of long beach.

My predictions

Sam H
Rhys M
Chris F

My fourth slot is a toss up between Ryan T and Vaughn, we still don't know what Ryan will be driving and ASD's success all depends on off season testing.

[Justin Banner]

Originally Posted by Bebop

I heard whiddett is out of FD for 2011, and D1NZ has their final round the weekend of long beach.

That would be disappointing if true. If so, then my alternate would have to be Joon. Got to make a pull for the nice guy

[my 1 88 u]

Dai Yoshihara

[akuma S14]

Jeff Abbott
Tommy Roberts
Matt Powers
Pat Mourdant
and anybody else that ever ran in Drift Buffet!
Of course I love all my friends but the ones who put it down years ago at a little 1/4 mile track with walls and people in the stands gots my wishes.
Tear it up R.G.R.D. - ( Real Grass Roots Drifters)
SD9K WHERE YOU AT?

[Bridges Racing]

Originally Posted by wesismyhero

Anybody know if Takatori has a ride for 2011?

Unfortunatly Takatori will not be back to the states this year.

and I also heard mad Mike isn't coming back.

[YOitzJDM]

Originally Posted by Bebop

I heard whiddett is out of FD for 2011, and D1NZ has their final round the weekend of long beach.

Mad Mike shipped his RX8 to Abu Dhabi. Any car that was shipped to Abu Dhabi will not be back in town in time for Long Beach.

[wesismyhero]

Originally Posted by YOitzJDM

Mad Mike shipped his RX8 to Abu Dhabi. Any car that was shipped to Abu Dhabi will not be back in town in time for Long Beach.

So I'm guessing that means Forsberg will have a new car for Long Beach?

[Slapshotnerd]

Originally Posted by wesismyhero

So I'm guessing that means Forsberg will have a new car for Long Beach?

Yes. So will Tuerck.

[Chris Kashi]

Watch out for the new rookies coming in!

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by Bridges Racing

Unfortunatly Takatori will not be back to the states this year.

Podium today....no ride/no sponsor tommorow

Good ole American Drifting

This is seriously getting out of control, only 1 confirmed Japanese driver for this year (if you don't count Taka and Dai)

[wesismyhero]

Originally Posted by Bebop

Podium today....no ride/no sponsor tommorow

Good ole American Drifting

This is seriously getting out of control, only 1 confirmed Japanese driver for this year (if you don't count Taka and Dai)

It seems like our foreign drifters are all coming from Europe now. It sucks no more Miki, but if he has a full ride in D1, I don't blame him.

I'm hoping Forsberg is going to drift his Infiniti.

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by wesismyhero

It seems like our foreign drifters are all coming from Europe now.

I don't know... I smell fish

Aasbo is cool, I cant wait to see him. Same goes for Dean but he doesn't have a confirmed ride. Dmac is unstoppable in the right car, the sky seemed a bit over engineered. But Kearney and EOS.... I think they might need to go back to their native countries and get back to the drawing boards. Everything cant be blamed on car setup....

While there are guys like Yamanaka, Ueo, Okubo, Yoshioka, Takatori, Yamamoto, and now Miki who are proven drivers with podiums being left in the dust. Nishida is like the perfect Japanese import (speaks perfect english) and he barely got a ride for this year. It seems as if talent and experience are worth even less in the series now and its darn frustrating!

[deadpirate]

i believe that EOS will prove that statement wrong bebop.

all of erics issues this year were vehicle related. that car never ran properly until long beach...then it caught fire.
yet in prodrift, first round out eos wins.


dean kearney was battling an incompent team that insisted on using hariguchi suspension settings for a driver that isnt hariguchi. once that got sorted out, the motor blew up.

kearney had a rough year, but i think once he finds his groove you will see he is a better driver than you give him credit for

[my 1 88 u]

Originally Posted by Bebop

I don't know... I smell fish

Aasbo is cool, I cant wait to see him. Same goes for Dean but he doesn't have a confirmed ride. Dmac is unstoppable in the right car, the sky seemed a bit over engineered. But Kearney and EOS.... I think they might need to go back to their native countries and get back to the drawing boards. Everything cant be blamed on car setup....

While there are guys like Yamanaka, Ueo, Okubo, Yoshioka, Takatori, Yamamoto, and now Miki who are proven drivers with podiums being left in the dust. Nishida is like the perfect Japanese import (speaks perfect english) and he barely got a ride for this year. It seems as if talent and experience are worth even less in the series now and its darn frustrating!

I wonder why it's so hard for Japanese drivers? I think the current D1 situation would make it ripe for their top guys to jump ship to FD but nobody will pick them up.

[Slapshotnerd]

Originally Posted by my 1 88 u

I wonder why it's so hard for Japanese drivers? I think the current D1 situation would make it ripe for their top guys to jump ship to FD but nobody will pick them up.

It seems pretty simple - US Sponsors don't want the hassle or cost of bringing a Japanese driver in. You have to budget at least $10k per year in airfare costs, where as that cost for a Socal driver is around $1500. That alone is likely enough to discourage a Japanese driver, on top of the fact that most of them aren't fluent enough in English to be good spokesmen for their product.

A lot of sponsors are also asking their drivers to make appearances outside of the FD schedule, which again is hard for non-US drivers. Plus there are plenty of competent American drivers to chose from for sponsorship...

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by deadpirate

i believe that EOS will prove that statement wrong bebop.

kearney had a rough year, but i think once he finds his groove you will see he is a better driver than you give him credit for

I hope they can, especially EOS. No excuses if he fails next year.

Gotta remember, I'm a statistics guy... I look at what drivers have done not what they potentially could do. Now if Mad Mike doesn't come back I will have alot of respect for him. He showed up and drove his best, gave a show for the crowd, represented his sponsors well, learned and went back home hopefully a improved driver.

I don't know about everyone else, but I want FD to be filled with potential champions. Every weekend any driver can take it, if your not gunning for the championship give the crowd a good show(make them remember you). If your doing neither quite frankly your just taking up a slot. And if a driver is happy about that....ehhhh, I wouldn't sponsor him. The "I'm just happy to be here" line is gracious but old, not enough drivers saying "I just want to win" or "I just want to make some fans".

I wonder why it's so hard for Japanese drivers? I think the current D1 situation would make it ripe for their top guys to jump ship to FD but nobody will pick them up.

The current D1 situation isn't as bad as people are making it out to be. I could honestly say 75% of what was wrong with the series the last 2 years is now gone (KT and Dai, and Scheduling). Don't be surprised if most of the old superstars are back next year. But even with that being said, Yoshioka who speaks decent English and has a FD win under his belt has moved to So Cal.... think we will see him in FD in 2011? The biggest thing is communication and travel cost, but what can you tell a driver that does all the communication and travel logistics for you?

[ASD Team]

Originally Posted by Bebop

Dmac is unstoppable in the right car, the sky seemed a bit over engineered.

By that I guess you mean we couldn't figure out how to make the car work?

I put a C-note on D-Mac disagreeing with you.

[my 1 88 u]

Originally Posted by Slapshotnerd

It seems pretty simple - US Sponsors don't want the hassle or cost of bringing a Japanese driver in. You have to budget at least $10k per year in airfare costs, where as that cost for a Socal driver is around $1500. That alone is likely enough to discourage a Japanese driver, on top of the fact that most of them aren't fluent enough in English to be good spokesmen for their product.

A lot of sponsors are also asking their drivers to make appearances outside of the FD schedule, which again is hard for non-US drivers. Plus there are plenty of competent American drivers to chose from for sponsorship...

Competent American drivers doesn't equal best in the word. If American teams are becoming reluctant to sponser top Japanese drivers then what can Formula D do to court Japanese teams to run in the series?

[Slapshotnerd]

Originally Posted by my 1 88 u

Competent American drivers doesn't equal best in the word. If American teams are becoming reluctant to sponser top Japanese drivers then what can Formula D do to court Japanese teams to run in the series?

nothing. It's not Formula D's obligation to get ANYONE to be able to compete here. They produce the most competitive series in the world, and the proof is in the pudding. Drivers from around the world are doing whatever it takes to compete here, and sourcing their own sponsorships. Did FD help Mad Mike or Freddy Aasbo with the NFS sponsorship? nope. Did FD help D-mac land the Falken gig? Nope. Did FD help Dean Kearney with the V-leds deal? nope. Did FD help EOS with Rockstar, Hankook, or Gardella? nope. All those drivers landed those sponsorships on their own accords. FD has honored the licenses of all of these drivers to help them drive here, which is the same thing they have done for previous D1 drivers (Miki, Yamanaka, Takatori, Orido, Yoshioka, etc). That's all FD has to do is allow them to run IF they find sponsorship. Everyone else has worked hard for sponsorship, if a Japanese driver can't afford to come, that's not FD's obligation or fault.

Each driver is given equal opportunity and equal access to negotiate their own sponsorship. If Sponsors don't want to sponsor a driver because they don't like the color of their eyes, the way they do their hair, or the brand of deodorant they wear, that's their obligation. FD can't change that.

[my 1 88 u]

Just a hypothetical. If Formula D hired a Japanese speaking laison that could communicate with Japanese teams and sponsors, would that increase Japanese participation?

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by ASD Team

By that I guess you mean we couldn't figure out how to make the car work?

Nope

Saying the car worked too well. Or are you saying those random spins we saw over the pass two seasons were his fault?

[Slapshotnerd]

Originally Posted by my 1 88 u

Just a hypothetical. If Formula D hired a Japanese speaking laison that could communicate with Japanese teams and sponsors, would that increase Japanese participation?

They have 2 - Ken Gushi and Taka Aono.

All the interviews on FD TV were translated by one of those 2