NICO goes to Formula Drift event at Road Atlanta

[EZcheese15]

We arrived Saturday morning to the event. I have been to many events at Road Atlanta, but nothing would compare to what I was about to see.

The weekend had many events, not just the Drifting competion. The other events during the weekend included a Formula Ford spec race, Mazda Miata Cup race, Speed World Challange race, and an SCCA Pro IT race. No competition took place on Saturday, as it practice and qualifying only.

I was used to seeing the various SCCA class qualifying runs. What I was anxious to see was the Drifting practice. Being a hardcore road racing fan, I have never been a fan of drifting. However, the events of this past weekend have changed my perspective on things.

By mid afternoon, the drifting practice had begun. I was expecting to see mostly amatures practicing. I figured I'd see a few riced out 240SX's, maybe a few junker AE86's. Boy was I suprised when Sam Hubinette took his Mopar Sponsored Viper for a test run...smoking his tires through the entire course at a PERFECT drift angle. Next I see Rhys Millen due the same in a GTO. A few 240SX's tried to follow suit, but lack of power wouldn't let them smoke the tires through the straights. However, they did a VERY good job at attempting it.

Sunday morning came and we started the day out by watching the last few runs of the first qualifying round. It was obvious from Saturday's practice and Sunday's first qualifying round that Sam Hubinette would be the winner of the competition.

By the time the second qualifying runs were starting, I figured I had the top 3 drifters guessed. Sam Hubinette in the Viper, Rhys Millen in the GTO, and a 17 year old kid driving a Falken sponsored 240SX would be third. However, finding out that Rhys was not competing altered my guesses.

During the second drifting qualifier, Sam Hubinette was paired up with Da Yoshihara in an AE86 to do a tandum run. I figured there was no way that a 20 year old car that had little sponsorship would even be compariable to a factory sponsored Mopar Viper. To everyone's suprise, Da Yoshihara held his own. This guy was unanimously the best driver there. Although he lacked the power to smoke tires through the entire course like Sam in the Viper, he was getting gutsy and drifting side by side with Sam, inches away from each other. On the 2nd run, Da led the run and Sam got gutsy. Sam pulled off the same manuevors as Da did in the previous run, and was inches away while sliding sideways. It was so close that everyone chanted "One More Time" to the judges. To the crowd's enjoyment, the judges granted two more runs for these guys. On the last run, Da spun his AE86 out in the last corner while trying to overtake Sam. He continued to do burnouts to show off until he bumped the wall. This move caused him to loose the round, and let Sam Hubinette proceed to the semi finals. The crowd boo'd the judges decisions, but rules are rules.

More great drifting continued throughout the day, leading up to the finals. During the finals, Sam Hubinette took his Viper to 1st, while Chris Forsberg drove his SR20DET powered 350Z to 2nd place, and Hiro Sumido finished in 3rd with his AE86.

The real excitement though was not the competitors, but the judges. The judges (Tarzan Yamada, Ucchi Utsumi, and Seigou Yamamoto) came from Japan just to judge this competition. The also brought their cars. In between finals runs, they performed an exhibition demonstration. These guys were the real deal...pulling 3 car-wide drifts through every corner. Add to that Rhys Millen, and it became a 4 car-wide drift session. I had never seen any drifting performed to that level. It was truly phenomenal. Other drifters tried difficult stunts as well. One guy drifted his AE86 while sitting on the door seam. One leg outside, one leg in. One hand on the wheel, the other waving. The coordination of these guys is amazing.

Overall, it was an excellent weekend. It has turned me into someone who likes drifting as a sanctioned sporting event. That is words I never thought I'd say being the road-racing nut that I am. But it has made me a follower, and I will definitely try to hit up more drifting events in the future. Starting with the next Formula Drift event, in Houston, TX.

[SmithSR]

Excellent reading!!! PICS!!!

[EZcheese15]

I didn't take any I'll see if I can grab some from my brother tommorrow.

[Exar-Kun]

we have 120+ pics from that event, chad(camel) and myself were there with tm_kickz and other atlanta 240/NICO guys..

we'll post them up if someone will give us the web space.-chet

[AZhitman]

I had already talked to tm kickz and asked him to email the pics to [email protected] for FTP transferring and posting...

[szh]

Hey, Torry, you gotta take a video camera with you to these events!!! As I am not likely to go to one (time and location constrained), it would be cool to see some clips from them.

Z

[EZcheese15]

I got the still pics emailed to me tonight. I'll post them tommorrow....when I'm less inhebriated

[Mr1der]

way to drop the ball on that one torry...