I thought of many ways to formulate this opt-ed piece today but I decided to cover all the issues I see going on in one blanket statement. OctaneReport listed the falling of D1GP the #9 biggest motorsport event of the year. The real question for me is, is D1GP even relevant to the American Drifting scene anymore?

I understand that the series has some cult fans and the drifting is damn entertaining to watch through Option DVD’s and now on the SPEED channel. The thing that has me stumped is how irrelevant the D1GP drivers have quickly become on the Formula Drift circuit. On top of rumors that Ryuji Miki won’t be returning next year in the Lexus SC430 I have been told that Yoshioka moved here full time and cannot secure a ride for the 2011 Formula Drift season.

The thing is nobody seemingly wants to fund/back his program or sign him up as a driver. Yoshioka has a leg up on everybody else from D1GP because he has won a Formula Drift event already in his AE86. I am not sure if the sponsors don’t want to deal with the language barrier or if the allure of a D1GP champion/driver/rodeo clown just has lost it’s appeal to the mass drifting market before us today.

I know some of your readers have been drifting fans before Formula Drift even came to be and I respect your cult like die-hard love for the series. However, the need drifting fan and the fan coming to the sport as it has grown doesn’t seem to be interested in the overseas onslaught of drifting. The lack of access to the sport really put it behind over the last few years.

A DVD distributor told me that Option DVD’s last year just stopped selling completely. Nobody was purchasing them and seemingly nobody still is picking them up. D’s Club America has packed up and returned to Japan from what I understand these days as well. They came and threw a horrible B-rate series in 2009 and then flaked completely in 2010 with promises and nothing to ever back it up.

Daigo Saito even drove at an international Formula Drift event (which I feel like is a sign of things to come stateside) who has been held captive by D1GP in pervious years from coming to participate in Formula Drift. Maybe threats from D1GP just aren’t holding the water that they use to be with Daigo that he came to participate in the American backed series this month?

The bigger question I guess I want everyone to weigh in on in the comments section is does anyone on a big picture scale care about D1GP anymore? Yokohama is pulling out as the rumors go, Daigo is driving in FD, Yoshioka moved to America, Inada and the Drift King have split ways with the series all within the last few months. Can a series like MSC make up for the slack in drifting in Japan or what does the future look like? Does this make Formula Drift the world power in drifting officially?

Rumor we have gotten from several sources this week is that D1GP USA will already be moving there Round1/2 double round weekend at Texas Motor Speedway back to September. The original date was set for August 14th/15th which is about three weeks out from now. The series has produced no rulebook, no information on judges or structure, and no word on what (if any) Japanese drivers will be coming to participate in the series.

I have heard a rumor that they are working with some all new spiffy “drift box” as part of their judging structure but no real word on what makes it better than the old ones that never seemed to quite work at D1GP USA’s last go around. We will keep an eye out for the official event date change but as for now, don’t buy your bus tickets to Texas in August just yet!

The proposal isn’t to bad until Page 16 where you get to a D1GP Vs. Formula D comparison page. Sadly they have been sending this packet to potential sponsors and companies trying to bash Formula D and spread blatant lies about the series. The comparison chart is located below and if your having trouble reading it, you can pull up a full size image with a link just below the comparison chart. In my post below all of the

D1GP vs. Formula Drift – Full Size Image

Organizational Footprint

D1GP – “Worldwide”  This statement is a stretch but I guess we can even give them this one. They did have D1GB (D1 Great Britain) but after the 2006 D1 Vs. World event in Irwindale they ticked off the guys helping them over in that area. By the next year they split ties with D1GP and started EDC. I know Team Orange has done a few demos worldwide but all of the events have been in Japan/USA in past few years otherwise.

Formula D – “US/North America” All of this information is correct but they did leave out quite a bit of information. They threw an event in Panama (It is also the fastest growing economy and the largest per capita consumer in Central America) which covers them for Central America. For the past four years they have been throwing events in Southeast Asia adding that to the group. “US/North America/Central America/Southeast Asia”

Years in Operation

D1GP – “Japan 11 years / US 7 years” – They have not thrown events for 7 straight years in the USA. In 2008 they announced things and never threw an event on US soil. So far to date they have thrown events in 6 years since coming to the USA. 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009. This season coming up would make the 7th season for them.

Formula D – “US 6 years” For starters they have been in the USA throwing events for 7 years. 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 , 2009, and 2010. They have thrown events for four years in Southeast Asia. Also 2 years in Panama (Central America).

Live Events

D1GP – “Japan, USA, Malaysia, UAE, China”  I cannot find a record of D1GP throwing a live event in Malaysia since 2006. To this date they have never thrown an event in the UAE or China. I have been told this winter they are throwing an event in Abu Dhabi (UAE) but no date was given to me.

Formula D – The proposal lists nothing for this section. Here is where Formula D has been doing live events “USA, Mexico, Panama, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia.”

Domestic or US Television

D1GP – “Speed/Fox Sports Net” The SPEED schedule for D1GP changes days and times through the broadcast. Some episodes are broadcast on Saturday and then some are moved to Sunday. The times range from 2:00pm to 6:30pm across those day changes. Link to D1GP Speed TV Post

Formula D – “Canceled” This is just blatant bullshit. This year they have a program on VERSUS like last season. The show starts airing on 8/15/2010 in the 4:00pm time slot on Sunday for 13 straight weeks with no changes. They also have a re-air of each broadcast which is at 5:30pm the Tuesday after it’s original air date. Formula Drift has never been canceled off a network and offered consistent television since 2005:

2005- G4TV
2006- G4TV
2007- ESPN2
2008- SPEED
2009- Versus
2010- Versus

Link to Formula D VERSUS Post

International Television

D1GP – “Tokyo TV, BS Fuji” No comments here due to lack of information/knowledge.

Formula D – “None” Another bold faced lie listed by D1GP. Formula Drift has posted before it’s syndication to over 300,000,000+ homes internationally that broadcast Formula D on television. They have posted that before on channel/country so if your eager to tune in, locate that sheet. It’s possible Formula D could post some of those slots here in the comments as well. In addition, Formula Drift Asia events are broadcast locally on Star Sports which is owned by ESPN. They have a reach including India, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and more spreading to 200,000,000 homes. These events air on Star Sports quite often and know people who see them frequently. For those of you who know Jason Small his father travels to China on business frequently and tells us about watching Formula D there. Just to provide solid proof, we have posted a whole episode of Star Sports coverage on our site before: Formula D Singapore on Star Sports Part 1

DVD/Blu-Ray

D1GP – “100+ Titles” This is an actual fact they listed in the proposal. D1 under the Option banner has released tons of DVDs which you can buy here.

Formula D – “2 Only Through Drift Alliance” Chalk up another lie. Want to buy Formula D DVD’s? 2005 Season DVD is here and No Limits DVD is here on our store. So now we have established that they released DVDs before. Currently you can access the Formula Drift All Access portion of the website and watch all the old television episodes from the series. New events are also now broadcast on the live stream and archived for viewing. None of these options are things D1GP does offer.

Yearly Estimated Unit Sales (for DVD)

D1GP – “3 Million” This is just not true. Assuming that a DVD costs about $1.00 to press (which is pretty correct) and they sell for an average net profit of $10.00 (low estimate) they would be bringing in $30,000,000 NET PROFIT a year just from DVD sales. The reality is then D1GP wouldn’t be having these financial issues everyone in the Japan drifting scene whispers about. Also speaking with US distributors of the DVD they just don’t move that many units, nothing even close. Less than 10,000 unit sales a year in US sales is a number I was told. So where are these other 2,900,000 DVDs being sold?

Formula D – “0″ I am sure someone buys the DVD units they have made but I guess you cannot list a number D1 Grand Prix when you lied about them making DVDs in the first place.

Video Games

D1GP – “Yes” This is correct. In 2004 they released a D1GP game for Japanese PS2. It wasn’t very good. Then in 2005 they launched D1GP 2005 for the Japanese PS2 which was awesome. It had the three judges very animated in the bottom left corner of the screen as you drifted. In 2006 they brought that same D1GP 2005 game to the United States and released it as NTSC game so it could be playable on a US Playstation 2. They also have had Ryuji Miki’s Top Secret D1GP car featured in Forza 2 and Forza 3. On Japanese arcade systems you can drift as several D1GP cars in Battle Gear 4 as well.

Formula D - “No” Well guess who got it wrong again? They have been featured in two EA Game productions with Formula Drift. The most recent in Need for Speed SHIFT you have Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s 2010 Mustang (PROOF). It is unlocked at Level 10 driver level and you can use it to compete in various drift events. Rhys Millen’s Hyundai Genesis was also featured in Forza 3 in a free Hyundai DLC pack that came out just after SEMA 2009 to all Xbox Live players (PROOF).

Online MMORPG

D1GP – “Yes” Ummm really? Since when did D1 Grand Prix release a MMORPG which stands for “Massively multiplayer online role-playing game.” Per wikipedia “It is a genre of computer role-playing games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual gaming world.” Anybody know about this one and I am just in the dark? The best I could find is “Drift City” which they called a MMORPG and didn’t look much like one by definition. It also appeared to have no affiliation with D1GP I could find. Perhaps they are working on a Dungeons and D1GP dragons for 2010?

Formula D – “No” This is correct. On the bright side you can play Fantasy Drift for the Formula Drift series here at Wrecked Magazine.

Mobile Games

D1GP – “Yes” They do have in the proposal information about an iPhone drifting game coming out. Don’t think it is on market currently.

Formula D – “No” You cannot get games from Formula Drift but they do have a LiveStream application and you can access Fantasy Drift on mobile phones.

Magazine

D1GP – “Option Magazine (Japan)” This is correct.

Formula D - “No” Formula Drift doesn’t own a magazine but you cannot deny the exposure Formula Drift gets from various media outlets in the United States. An independent study done by Meltwater News showed that Formula Drift has a 90% market share with magazine editorial coverage worldwide.

Professional Judges

D1GP – “All” I agree with this statement.

Formula D – “1 of 3″ Alright so who is the one professional judge? I mean all three drivers have competed on a professional level in Formula Drift. Pretty sure all of them participated in the old D1GP events as well. This is just an absurd statement thrown in here to discredit Formula Drift.

Driftbox Technology

D1GP – “Yes” This is a correct statement. Due to malfunctions of this system back in the 2009 USA series, they made a few drivers run multiple qualifying runs since the box didn’t log any information.

Formula D – “No” I chalked up a debate with a professional driver on this topic and he ended it before it started with “who cares?” I think that somehow put it better than I ever could.

Professional Street Legal Series

D1GP – “Yes” The way they worded the category is just pure trickery. Sure, you guys named your Pro Am series “Street Legal” and nobody else has a “Street Legal” series but it’s just a fancy word for “Am.”

Formula D – “No”  They call their series the Formula Drift Pro Am and we mostly reference it as “Am” series. They have a network in the Am series of over 10 series I know of and did some in Southeast Asia as well.

Car and Driver Entries

D1GP – “100+” I have attended several D1GP events in Japan along with the United States in the past 6 years. Never have I seen an entry list of 100+ cars. Even if they met that number, it’s a very irrelevant number. The issue here is quality over quantity any day.

Formula D – “50+” Correct.

Live Event Countries

D1GP – “Japan, U.S., Dubai, China” The big sore thumb here…. Dubai is not a country. It isn’t even the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (proper country name). Dubai is a city and also an emirate of the UAE (think of in America as a state) which they have seven of in the whole country. They didn’t even put enough thought/proof reading into this proposal to verify that fact. Also from Live Events to Live Event Countries Malaysia magically vanished.

Formula D - This section had no entry for Formula Drift. We covered this back in live events but I will bring the same list down. “USA, Mexico, Panama, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia.”

Number of Yearly Events

D1GP – “15-20″ This is correct fact.

Formula D – “5 to 7″ With international reach Formula Drift will throw 12 events in 2010. The American championship points series consists of 7 rounds. Never in history have they had 5 championship point rounds in one year. 2004 they had 4 (inaugural season) and in 2005 they jumped to 6 rounds. By 2006 they went to 7 rounds for America and have not changed to this day.

Average Attendance Per Event

D1GP – “10,000″ If you went to D1GP USA in 2009 you would know that number was not the case. I won’t really dispute that for Japan numbers because of a lack of direct first hand knowledge. It’s been a good minute since D1GP packed in 10,000 here in the USA.

Formula D – “6,000″ That is another joke. All three events this season have been well clear of 10,000 fans. Irwindale last year broke an attendance record and sold out.

Editor Side Note: It upsets me to see D1GP using these false pretenses and malice practices to try and win sponsorship. While I know some of you might care I think it was worth getting out in the open. Over the last few days they have had reps posting on our site talking about how they are here for the good and growth of the sport. Sure doesn’t seem like it after reading over this. The document’s authenticity was verified by me with proper contact information in the back of this packet along with talking to people who had seen the same packet in presentations/meetings with D1GP. The packet came from a very trustworthy source in the industry who I thank and owe drinks too soon.

It appears the D1GP series is at it again trying to get on television in the United States. Before everyone goes out and gets excited let’s remember they promised the “Biggest Television Package” in drifting history (self-proclaimed by D1GP) with a FOX Affiliate deal that never aired a single episode. Pardon my skepticism just a little bit before changing my cable provider to get Speed HD. Not really sure why the scheduling is so inconsistent with days and real no information on times. I imagine with a Tivo box it is going to be hard to keep with the show due to the Saturday and Sunday rotation.  If the show does in fact air on SPEED channel here are the dates D1GP USA has issued for air dates with no times:

Saturday, Sep 4 – 6:30pm (Tokyo)
Sunday, Sep 12 – 6:00pm (Otia)
Saturday, Sep 18 – 6:00pm (Fuji)
Sunday, Sep 26 – 6:00pm (Okayama)
Sunday, Oct 3 – 6:00pm (Tokachi)
Saturday, Oct 9 – 5:00pm (Ebisu)
Sunday, Oct 17 – 6:00pm (Ebisu)
Saturday, Oct 23 – 5:00pm (Texas)
Sunday, Oct 31 – 2:00pm (Texas)
Saturday, Nov 7 – 4:00om (Atlanta)
Saturday, Nov 13 – 6:00pm (Fuji Exhibition)
Saturday, Nov 20 – 6:00pm (Miami)
Sunday, Dec 5 – 5:00pm (Fuji)
Sunday, Dec 5 – 6:0pm (Wrap-Up)
Sunday, Dec 12 – 6:00pm (Irwindale)

It appears this buzz and rumors about the D1 Grand Prix series coming back are true. Once we hit June I figured there was no possible way they could produce a 2010 schedule and expect sponsors, drivers, and fans but alas, I am proven wrong again. Here are the event dates/venues for the 2010 schedule. Information on Speed TV deal will come in following post.

Round 1- August 13 – Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, TX
Round 2- August 14 – Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, TX
Round 3- September 24/25 – Atlanta Motor Speedway, Atlanta, GA
Round 4- October 29/30 – Homestead Miami Speedway, Homestead, FL
Round 5- November 27/28 – Toyota Speedway, Irwindale, CA

While I am pretty much a “gaijin” I do enjoy browsing Yahoo! Japan auctions for random goods when I get the chance. This morning I found Daigo Saito’s JZX 100 for sale. It’s listed at 3,500,000 yen (roughly $40,000 US) and possibly has 1 bid on it from what I can tell. Pardon my inability to read anything on the auction page but I am sure some of our comment crew can help us out. Anyway, if your looking for a turn key drifting car for Japan and have millions of yen tucked in a shoebox, this might be for you.

Buy It Here: http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k125612701

We overlooked all the drifting videos released in 2009 and picked out the Top drifting films of the year based upon views, buzz, links, quality of production, and entertainment. Here is how they stacked up:

10. Rhys Millen with his Hyundai Genesis: First Look
9. AW Films Takes on Formula D Seattle
8. The Soul of Drift at Ebisu Circuit with Speedhunters
7. D1 Grand Prix by JerseyStreets.TV
6. Chapter 2: 223Km to Bihoku – 2010 Ford Mustang in Japan Unleashed
5. Joon Maeng at Formula D Long Beach about his newly setup S13
4. Lithuania Drifting Accident – People Hit [Graphic Warning]
3. 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models Go Drifting in Vegas
2. The Grassroots Movement: All Star Bash
1. Smart Car Drifting in Japan

2009 D1GP USA Summary

The D1GP USA series has released a 2009 official summary video. In four minutes the video swings you through Anaheim, Miami, Chicago, and Englishtown to close out the 2009 season. The video offers a new view of Quoc Ly’s flip from Chicago and a more in depth look at some of their Japanese superstars that came to join the series for 2009.

Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/2009-d1gp-usa-summary

T2 Films Brings Us D1GP USA Chicago

Tim over at T2 Films has produced some great footage that we have featured at Wrecked Magazine over the past year. His videos have become a staple to the midwest and I was excited to see he produced a great D1GP USA Chicago video for us. Check out some video of Daigo Saito and the other Japanese stars as it’s a rare chance to see them on our soil.

Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/t2-films-brings-us-d1gp-usa-chicago