Here in Florida, you can tell when the weather is steadily approaching the end of summer:  it gets hot.  Damn hot.  It’s like summer becomes a beast in its death-throes and in one final attempt to survive, it beats you down with the kind of sweltering heat guaranteed to overheat oil pans and brain pans alike.  It really puts a damper on outdoor activities, like our beloved drifting.  I mean, who wants to be out there on a sun-scorched track, in a drift-missile – sans air conditioning – for hours? Well, when you’ve got the twin powers of NOS Energy and the Central Florida Racing Complex watching your back, we do.

This past Sunday was the Central Florida Racing Complex and NOS Energy’s 2^nd annual Summer Slide Fest tandem competition.  The event this year was simultaneously a salute to summer and a middle finger to the underwear-soaking-heat it always leaves us with (right before the turbo-friendly, cool winter revisits us): a water-park themed drifting event.

So here is how it went down: 40 drivers from Orlando to Tampa and Gainesville came to heat the drifting blood up of over 1,000 spectators at CFRC’s NOS Energy Drift Park.  Once the chirping waste gates, screaming engines, and shredded tires set the crowd on fire (not that they needed the help with over 100-degree weather), CFRC was ready to cool them down with a two-and-a-half-story high water slide and water-gun equipped staff.

Like the past CFRC drifting events, Summer Slide Fest attracted both novices and experienced third-gear shredders alike.  Drifting neophytes could come and cut their teeth, practice holding a line, and just rip on their rig without worry of other motorists or fear of Johnny-Law.  The more experienced participants could be found on both sides of the judging table.  Laying down the verdicts on the tandem competition were Formula D slide jockeys, Bill “Wild Bill” Sherman and Tom Barnhart, with Orlando favorite Brandon “McNasty” McDowell.

Fresh from Street Wise Drift, Floridians Jason Jiovani (Nexen Tires) and Pat Goodin (Enjuku Racing) threw their helmets in and gave us a taste of how they’ve been representing our little state in National drifting.  Goodin is currently second in the Street Wise Drift standings.  Back from the latest SWD event, Jiovani said, “I’m just here to have fun.”  Between the veteran Jiovani and Goodin and the novice drifters, there were other drivers looking to bust into competitive sliding themselves.

Kurt Durjan, owner of Kurtrox Customs said, “I’m out here to get noticed.”  Durjan and his team were out with their 1996 RHD-converted Mazda Miata.  Originally a show-car, Durjan’s roadster now handles its business sideways on the track – sporting a Garrett T-25 turbo on 14 psi using race fuel.  Durjan’s business started last April and he said he has since been determined to bust into drifting.  How determined is he? – his team and him put in 60 hours last week just to get the car’s cage in so they could compete in Summer Slide Fest.

Goodin, Durjan, and Jiovani alike were going to have to bring some judge-satisfying drift game amidst the blazing Florida heat: the judges had their minds set on what they were looking for from Sunday’s competitors.  Barnhart said he wanted to see some smoking tires and lots of nice angle.  “I want to see as much of it as possible.  Most people use angle mods but only to say they have them or get them out of a spin-out,” said Barnhart, “I want to see it used for what it’s for.”

“Wild Bill” Sherman said he’d like to see consistency from the competitors.  “Get the line, stick to it” he added.  Sherman said he wasn’t going to be looking for anything too fancy, like wall-tapping, but that didn’t stop him from getting out in his Mk.III Toyota Supra and showing driver and spectator alike how he ‘kisses’ the wall.

For seven blisteringly-hot hours, the audience and drivers alike battled the heat as the elimination round thinned the grid to the final competitors.  Ultimately, it came down to a three-way battle between Nexen’s Jiovani, Durjan, and Orlando local, Jonathan “Chino” Heinsen in his 1991 red S13 hatch.  The heat really did play a role in testing the drivers as did the other competitors.

Jiovani in particular said the heat battled both himself and his car.  “It was insanely hot out there and with the torque from our TrickFlow kit, I can keep the car in third gear on the rev-limiter,” said Jiovani, “that’s a lot of wheel speed without much flow to the radiator.”  He added that he began overheating as much as his car, needing two bottles of water to drink and a third over his head to keep himself focused and hydrated.

In the end, Jiovani took Heinsen out, putting him in third place – while Jiovani and Durjan then battled for first.  A spin out by Durjan then sealed the podium, with Durjan in second and Jiovani (Mr. “I’m just here to have fun” – nothing but love Jason) taking the win home from Summer Slide Fest 2011.

Formula Drift launched an “Insider” weekly video podcast a la Drift Zone version 2.0 (for you old timers) this week. The first episode has Ryan Sage talking about the first 5 rounds of the series. Then Justin Pawlak visits for a minute to tell us about his broken clutch in Seattle and how he is ready for Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a few weeks. All of this bundled with a closing from a brunette named Marcella wrapped up the first episode. We will keep you posted on these if when they come out and talk about any topics they break for the sport.

Watch Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YeKSj6RDVw&feature=player_embedded

Nate Deck’s latest video from Seattle features Matt Powers paying a visit to Monroe Washington’s famous Cowgirls Espresso lingerie coffee drive-thru, car crashes, and some drifting. Titled “Mullets in Monroe”, Nate follows Matt during his stay in Seattle for Formula Drift round 5 at Evergreen Speedway. A classic soundtrack and plenty of onboard footage courtesy of RePlay XD cameras make this an awesome video.

Check it out here: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/mullets-in-monroe-matt-powers-in-seattle

Drift Mania Round 3 Webisode by Expose.tv

Watch the new Drift Mania webisode from Expose.tv. Warning it is in French but they do have a blonde host the whole thing and talk to all the drivers (in French). Victoriaville seemed like a much better event than Circuit ICAR the round before. In case you missed our gallery we have a great one shot by Jeremy Glover from Victoriaville which you can find here. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy some Canadian drifting.

Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/drift-mania-round-3-webisode-by-exposetv

Behind the Smoke Ep 10: MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship – Dai Yoshihara Formula D 2011

Dai Yoshihara drove his way to quite the victory in a Nissan Sentra. In his spare time apparently he hit on chicks he couldn’t remember who got upset in the Moto IQ paddock. Where are these girls at a Time Attack event? We have no idea…. our staff has never claimed to see girls walking around the paddock looking for love? Dai does think one of them might be the one however.

Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/behind-the-smoke-ep-10-motoiq-pacific-tuner-c

Here is Rhys Millen sliding a yellow Lexus LFA at El Toro Field around a girl in a yellow bikini. This will be run in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue that is coming out soon. Back in 2009 Sports Illustrated teamed up with the Drift Alliance in some Nissan 370z’s to promote the issue which came with video which can be seen here. The new piece looks really cool and the PR company even sent us a behind the scenes video link that shows Rhys Millen talking about the stunt and the model Rianne Ten Haken talking about how it felt to have a Lexus LFA sliding around her.

Go Behind the Scenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0rSz8r-m58

Today at the Ford Motor Company Booth (#22200) at the 2010 SEMA show a rather large group of people gathered around to see the unveiling of the Mustang RTR-X. This is a project led by Vaughn Gittin Jr. and will be heading on a huge tour to follow this weekend at SEMA. Vaughn did announce the car will be available to drive in one of the up and coming Need for Speed video games. Here are some snapshots we captured of the first look at the RTR-X. The car cover was removed by DJ Miki Taka and Vanessa James from Need for Speed.

It looks like Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is gearing up the marketing machine over in Europe and they have called on Hankook Tire driver Eric O’Sullivan to wrap his car for the new video game being released this holiday season. Unlike Gran Tursimo 5 who has pushed back a release date sometime in 2012 we know that Need for Speed will actually have a game for us to play this holiday season. The new game is a cops versus speeders style like some of the classic Need for Speed titles. Cannot wait to see if we get some footage of Eric O’Sullivan chasing cars down while sliding.

Check out Melyssa Grace on the cover of the new Import Tuner Magazine. Miss Formula Drift graces the cover with this gorgeous teal S13. The issue also features Formula Drift diaries along with other drifting content. You can see Melyssa Grace at Formula Drift Irwindale this weekend if you happen to be around the track. You can also get a free Slide America DVD by heading over to ACT’s Facebook Page and printing a coupon under the contest tab.

It looks like Youichi Imamura has taken home another win this season in the D1 Grand Prix series. The M7 Boss SGC / Dunlop Tire S15 took home it’s second victory this season. He also won Round 1 (Tokyo Drift – Odaiba) of D1GP giving him a first place position in the championship.

Results
1. Youichi Imamura
2. Ken Nomura
3. Masato Kawabata