With a field of drivers as diverse as the one comprising the Red Bull DWC, the hardest part of the competition was adjusting to the different styles of driving from each country. All weekend I felt on-point. I was extremely comfortable and was loving the high speed entry, but wasn't sure what to expect from the other guys. My first run of Top 32 tandems was against Marcos Santos of Canada. In practice, I was having a hard time not running him over. I knew I was going to have to give him a huge gap if I was going to be able to withstand smashing into him before the end of the course. When leading, I just ran my line as fast as I normally would and was pretty flawless. When following, I gave him a six-car gap off the starting line, closed in on him by the first clipping point, and was granted the win. My next competitor was Bill Sherman, who'd been murdering it all weekend, and is a driver I knew I could look forward to a couple of no-games runs against. Our first two earned a One More Time round, so I made sure to turn it up to "awesome" for the second round. It was a good battle but he made some mistakes trying to keep up, and I moved on to the Great 8 against Rhys. I knew it was going to be a tough battle to beat his tiny car's huge weight advantage, not to mention Rhys was the number one qualifier, extremely fast, and had been on fire all weekend. We decided it was "all or nothing" time, so before I left the line I vowed to stay on his bumper all the way. We entered at 103.7 mph--unfortunately just a little too hot to slow down in time, and I got into the wall pretty good, taking the `Stang out of competition. I immediately jumped on the roof and threw my hands in the air. The crowd went crazy and gave me a standing ovation; it was incredible! I couldn't have thought of a better way to retire ol' "Besty".
I am extremely proud of how I and Team Falken performed all weekend. We were running flawless, and I have absolutely no regrets at all. I am confident entering hard was the only way to beat Rhys, but unfortunately, physics won the fight. Hats off to Rhys for an incredible accomplishment that no one can ever take away. I'll be looking forward to coming out swinging with a faster, lighter '10 Falken Tire Ford Mustang next year!
Falken Tire
www.falkentire.com
Ford Racing
www.fordracing.com
K&N Filters
www.knfilters.com
Chris Forsberg
Finishing within the Top 5 for the 2008 Formula D season is no easy task. Even less so, is winning the first event of the season, on a course of dilapidated city streets, guarded by cement walls with little or no buffer. But seeing as how our man Forsberg pulled through for the win at FD's Round 1 at Long Beach earlier this year, the Red Bull event should be a breeze... right?
The Red Bull World Championship was maybe the most challenging drift competition I have ever entered: a drivers' roster full of champions from all over the world, a very fast and difficult course, and rumors of 110-mph shakedown runs made us realize the value of coming prepared. We rebuilt our 350Z's shifter to utilize Fifth gear--since our Fourth tops out at only 104 mph--and also made a few changes to get more traction in the corners.
On Saturday's first practice lap, I blew the diff mounts right out of the car on entry. After repairs, we were heading straight into qualifying with no warm-up. I threw down the best run I could, and qualified in 12th Place.