I was the first driver to run in the new Top 32 format. The 32nd-ranked qualifier was a friend of mine, Matt Waldin. He runs Import Intelligence, which sponsored my S15 back in 2005. For the head-to-head match, my qualifying rank earned me the lead run first, where I pushed as hard as I normally would. On my follow run, as we took off down the straight, I dropped back about two car lengths to allow him to get in front and get set in a drift. Once we flipped sideways, I jumped on the throttle and closed the gap to one car length. We transferred across for the left turn and I jumped on the throttle and closed the gap a little more, and got the thumbs up to move on to the next round.
Next on the ladder was Stephan Verdier. He's a long-time veteran of rally racing and has been seeded in Formula D for years, so there was no holding back. We lined up, and I lead first. I drove hard and got through the course with great speed and angle. We turned around and I chased on the second pass. I gave a small gap at the start like I did with Waldin, but Verdier's car was a little quicker out of the hole and we were a good car length or two apart for the entire run. The judges wanted to see more and called for a One More Time. So for the next pass, it was time to really lay it down. I ran through the course with much more speed than my earlier runs, but it was too much. When I flipped in for the hairpin, my car over rotated and almost slid to a stop, running over a cone in the process. There was almost no way to come back from that. During the fourth pass, I was out to try and fight for another chance. When we hit the first corner, I was right on top of his car, and as we transferred through the left corner I never backed off--we were within a car length for the entire course, as close as inches in some parts! But it was too little, too late. I lost the round.
I was still very happy with our finish, despite the stupid mistake I made in the hairpin. We finished Ninth overall and are currently Sixth in points, based off of our First Place qualifying position! I will learn from this, and will be back for more!
Chris Forsberg
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Nos Energy Drink
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Maxxis Tire
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Tanner Foust
The "Golden Boy" of drift holds the claim as the only Formula D competitor to hold back-to-back championship titles, not to mention an X Games gold for rally. In a freshly-built Scion tC converted to RWD, Tanner Foust's abilities will be pushed if he wants to take home a third championship. After all, "three-peat" does just roll right off the tongue.
By Tuesday, I was very proud of how the Rockstar/Scion team had delivered a running beast of a car in such a short time, but I was also scared shitless that I wouldn't get comfortable and competitive in the tC by the weekend. On Wednesday and Thursday, the guys at Papadakis Racing went back to the shop with my laundry list of adjustments and emerged with a totally different machine that was ready for battle. We made very minor changes throughout Friday and Saturday's festivities, mainly to learn the characteristics of the Hankook RS3 Tire.
We tried to build the car to feel like the Z, to minimize the time it would take me to get comfortable. The seating position was carefully measured with respect to the wheelbase, the spring rates and track widths were applied. All of this worked . . . to an extent, but it didn't answer the question of what set-up works best with the Scion. With some more seat time, I'll get my head around this car.
Holy crap was Saturday a long day! With five One More Times called, we did 18 tandem runs in competition! Awesome! It was great practice for me and an amazing opportunity to size the Scion up against some of the best drifters around. Ultimately, Ryan threw out some sick runs and had the consistency to put his team on top. I had a blast battling him, Robbie, Ueo, and of course, Taka.
By Carter Jung
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