The new season has one full day in the books that was pure insanity. The 2010 champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. failed to qualify and Sam Hubinette wasn’t even able to make a qualifying pass. Another story undershadowed on the weekend was a mechanical failure with Robbie Nishida’s S-chassis eliminating him from competition as well. Ricky Cervantes was on the scene for us today with a 400+ image gallery for your entertainment.
Check out the Gallery: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=221
It looks like the championship repeat is almost out of question for Vaughn Gittin Jr. after he failed to qualify in Long Beach. With the points system it is virtually impossible (not statistically) to win a championship. Needless to say nobody has done it in history to date.
In his favor might be the retirement of Tanner Foust and Sam Hubinette’s failure to compete at Long Beach could mean he has a chance but I doubt it. One of the Falken teammates or Chris Forsberg I think is going to step to the task of running a championship points race without JR in the running.
(Vaughn Gittin qualified 33rd)
During Thursday afternoons load-in Jose Martinez caught Rhys Millen’s Hyundai Genesis being unloaded off the RMR rig. Our Wrecked Magazine team hasn’t seen the car in person just yet but it looks like Rhys has refreshed his exterior look for 2011. Hyundai is no longer present on the rear quarter panels and has been replaced by Hankook Tires.
The car has no more silver in the wrap but the guys at RMR added quite a bit of white to the layout. His Redbull Energy Drink logos have shrunk on the doors for the new year at the same time. The black wheels are another interesting choice that a few teams have made moving into Round 1 because they make it very hard to see the angle you are producing on track. Good luck to RMR and Rhys Millen in this new 2011 season.
Ross Petty testing the V8 Rasta S15 at Willow Springs
Formula Drift Long Beach qualifying starts in a few hours but check out this testing video of Ross Petty in his LS7 Nissan Silvia. The rasta S15 chassis bailed on the SR20 engine and sounds amazing with the Ls7 powerplant installed. Enjoy this little video to prepare you for the new Ross Petty arriving in 2011.
Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/ross-petty-testing-the-v8-rasta-s15-at-willow
The Long Beach, California weather is a 30% chance of precipitation during the hours of 12pm and 6pm. The weather people have a 30% chance of rain at 12:00pm and that percentage stays consistent through 6:00pm. This has been the same percent since early today. It’s going to be cold regardless of if the rain comes in Long Beach tomorrow.
Here is the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro SS from Gardella Racing. After speaking with Gary Gardella this car is now complete but will go into testing just after Long Beach up in New Jersey. The official release of the car will happen at the NY Auto Show and will have Ryan Tuerck will step into it passing the Pontiac Solstice off to Eric O’Sullivan. The car looks pretty similar to the car he smashed up at Formula Drift Media day livery wise.
Source: UrbanRacer.com
All cars in the series this year will have these weight classifications showing what size tire they can be running in the series. Back in January we made some posts highlighting the whole structure for chassis weight versus the tire sizes you can run. Read up on the different weights and what tire sizes they can run in the 2011 season. This adds a new competitive element to the season and should make Streets of Long Beach even more interesting to watch this weekend.
According to reports and Dean Kearney they also had some engine problems like his team owner and driving partner Sam Hubinette in the Dodge Challenger. Well apparently Dean had some early week engine troubles as well in the Dodge Viper that have since been all fixed up. The team at SHR had a week from hell but the cars are ready for qualifying tomorrow at Formula Drift Round 1.
