Another Toyota 86 is heading to the 2012 D1 Grand Prix season according to the Speedhunters Facebook page. This one will be driven by Manabu Orido but no Subaru engine inside this one! The Toyota 86 chassis is taking a Lexus IS-F V8 engine and should officially be the first V8 swap in a Toyota 86/Scion FR-S platform. It is a shame that D1 will have three of these in competition while we only will see one in Formula Drift for 2012.

The former series of JDM All-Stars which is now rebranded as Drift All-Stars has a pretty awesome 2012 schedule spanning across the continent. The event looks at six full events and a national cup to complete the series. Let’s check out where they are visiting:

Round 1-  Birmingham Speedway (England) May 18th/19th
Round 2- London 02 Arena (England) June 23rd/24th
Round 3- TBD (Ireland) July TBD
Round 4- Constantsa Stadium (Romania) August 17th-19th
Round 5- Maripocs (Hungary) August 25th/26th
Round 6 Finals- Valleta (Malta) September 21st-23rd
Nations Cup- Drift Grand Prix (Romania) October 5th-7th

The guys in Europe (Ireland) are coming up with a big and fun 2012 series. They have produced several Formula Drift drivers past/present from former champions so keep your eye out at these events for up and coming talent.

Round 1 Ennis, Co.Clare April 14th/15th
Round 2 Punchestown, Co. Kildare May 25th/26th/27th
Round 3 Fermoy, Co. Cork July 14th/15th
Round 4 Tullyroan, Co. Tyrone August 18th/19th
Round 5 Mondello, Co. Kildare September 8th/9th

We have been covering the Scion FR-S over and over again over the past few months but it really is the best new release of a drift ready chassis. Ken Gushi when he was in Japan made his own personal video of drifting around in the Scion FR-S. You cannot really hear the audio of him talking very well with his personal camera he mounted on the car. Ken does note that he was asked to not beat on the car very hard so he did take it a little easy. Check below for the 5 minute in car view of Ken Gushi drifting the Scion FR-S (with ease) around this track in Japan. Follow the link below to check out the video.

The two Toyota 86 (Scion FR-S in America) heading to the D1 Grand Prix series next year have already been seen doing tandem at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon. The car is gaining more and more hype by the minute and it might even convert into car sales. I just love this old school HKS look that NOB will be driving in 2012. The Hibino car also marks the return of Falken Tire to the D1GP series. Check the link below to watch the videos of these two Toyota 86 cars doing tandem!

If you think these slow speed tandem videos look awesome then get ready for D1GP which kicks off in April. If your stuck stateside for all of 2012 then you can always check out Ken Gushi in his Greddy Scion FR-S for all seven events of the 2012 Formula Drift season.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61300566@N05/

One of Patrick Mordaunt’s crew members John Jimison posted this up on Facebook this morning and we cannot manage to find this car anywhere else. From the best we can tell the car is for Nobuteru Taniguchi and the return of his awesome HKS style that we grew to love back in the days of D1GP. It looks like he will be joining Hibino in the 2012 D1GP season who was shown driving his Toyota 86 earlier this week.

Another car parked at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon this weekend is Mad Mike’s newest creation Drift-N-Ice which is a Redbull Energy Drink x Speedhunters FD Mazda Rx-7. Made Mike released this news on his website this morning and sadly he hasn’t been able to turn a wheel in the car yet! Here is what he has to say about the build and opportunity:

 “For me this is a dream come true, to be given this opportunity to compete in Japan and team alongside Kawato San again is an honor. We paired in 2010 for the Red Bull project ‘Drift-N-Ice’ using Kawato’s 13b turbo powered FD RX7 for the job and I was impressed with the performance and workmanship. For the past few months now we’ve been exchanging emails with the team at Magic Co, they’ve built an amazing car for me and I can’t wait to get some seat time.”

While recently Tokyo Auto Salon has been somewhat of a snooze fest for drifting news in the Japanese world it looks like the 2012 show might have some hope. Already announced is Tesuya Hibino (legendary Toyota Corolla driver) will be driving a Toyota 86 this season in the D1 Grand Prix series. The video above shows him flinging it around in this lot. Hopefully some other big drifting news will come out from the Tokyo Auto Salon this year!

Source: http://speedhunters.com/

While most of the world is focused on the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon another big show is going on in the United Kingdom. The Autosport International Show is happening right now and the SATS team just unveiled the MKIV Toyota Supra with new sponsors and a new look for 2012. The car has already hit the track before the debut so just follow the link to watch this Toyota Supra in action below.

A writer at BMWblog.com a few days ago named Shawn Molnar wrote a great piece about why BMW should start providing factory support in Formula Drift. The first BMW to enter Formula Drift back in 2005 was Andy Sapp with his black 3-series. Following in his footsteps several BMW projects have come and gone from the sport. Most recently and noteable has been Michael Essa with his Z4 and 335 (pictured above). Here is part of his compelling argument of why BMW should get involved and you can follow the link below to read the full story:

“BMW has long spent marketing dollars in creative ways. We’ve seen BMW throw money at sailing championships and golf championships – and considering the economic stature of the spectators, we weren’t surprised to see marketing budgets partly devoted to these sports.

BMW took a hiatus from their Hollywood product placement efforts, but they’re now back in the game with the i8 scoring a lead role in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – playing in theaters now. When potential buyers are paying to see your advertisement, you know you’re on to something. Previous Hollywood product placement certainly did no harm for the brand, and the young audience that Hollywood captures represents a key target market to focus on, since these youngsters will be buying the cars and motorcycles of tomorrow.”

Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2012/01/03/time-for-bmw-to-embrace-formula-drift/