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 Florida drifter Zoltan Hajdu is no stranger to anyone in the know focused around the southeast drift scene. Way back when he drove a black beat up BMW and now he has this Stage 6 Nissan 240sx. Zoltan will be a rookie this year in Formula Drift with this all out turbo LS2 machine. He shouldn’t lack power at the big tracks like Las Vegas and Seattle but interesting to see how this setup fares at some other events. What do you think of the car? Full build sheet if you click read more below.
It looks like the new 2012 rule book has a shift in tire/weights once again. The last update we reported on is in January 2011 where the smallest tire class was 2000-2099lbs allowing you to run up to a 215mm and 2100-2399 was several weight classes ranging from 225mm to 245mm. The heavier cars ranging in the 3000+ range have the biggest change in tire sizes. Here is the last weight/tire link to compare old sizes to the new ones. It seems like this is going to be a struggle of regulation focus over the next few years with the series before they can find an ideal weight class ruling. What does everyone think of the new changes to this section of the rules?
9.1.TIRE SIZE REGULATION9.1.1. Cars are limited to the size of the rear tire that can be used,
depending on the weight of the vehicle.
9.1.2. A car must be track-ready and running when it is weighed and
registered to a weight class. A car will be weighed WITH the driver
9.1.3. Once the car is registered to a weight class, it will be
recorded, and issued a class specific sticker that must be displayed
prominently on the windshield. A car's weight may fluctuate within the
limits of its weight class, but it can never weigh less than the minimum
weight for its registered class.
9.1.4. Tire sizes are AS MEASURED in mm, across the span of the contact
patch. Tires will be measured on the rim, while on the car, while the
car is on the ground.
9.1.5. Tire size must not exceed the maximum size dictated by
class at any time on track.
9.1.6. Tire size will be measured and verified on track before
the start of every tandem round. A FORMULA DRIFT official may
also check tire size at any time during the event.
Weight and Tire Classes-
2100-2399lbs up to 235mm
2400-2699lbs up to 245mm
2700-2799lbs up to 255mm
2800-2899lbs up to 265mm
2900-2999lbs up to 275mm
3000-3099lbs up to 285mm
3100-3199lbs up to 295mm
3200-3299lbs up to 305mm
Today a magazine has been reporting that Tyler McQuarrie has a deal signed for 2012 and we have confirmed that is not the case at this current time. To catch you up back in the beginning of October he was left go from Falken Tire at the end of the 2011 season. Then we found out he was in New Jersey visiting Gardella Racing which he has continued to be linked with during this off-season. I have confirmed the two teams are still in talks so the deal is not dead but Tyler McQuarrie’s manager confirmed that nothing has been signed either. That about sums up the report but just wanted to confirm that other media outlets are reporting incorrect information this morning. Good luck to Tyler landing a deal for this new season!
Jeff Jones has spent his fair share of history in Formula Drift moving from one chassis to another in the sport. In fact, we even own one of his old chassis from the 2010 season in the form of a FD Mazda Rx-7. He is pictured above giving tribute to his old car back at the 2011 SEMA Show. Now he reported today that he will be putting together a new chassis for 2012. The new chassis will be a S14 Nissan 240sx platform with some sort of turbo motor setup. The guys at Garrett have announced they will be coming on board for his new build. We cannot wait to see what Jeff Jones has cooked up for the new season.
“TAngelo Racing is happy to announce a return to drifting in 2012 with factory support from Scion Racing. After three years as a Formula Drift judge and technical manager, Tony’s long awaited return to competition is met with personal excitement and lots of hype from his fans.
Tony will be driving the #33 Scion Tc from 2011, with a whole new look and feel. The crew will consist of drifting favorites, “DA Aces” Lindsay Ross as spotter, and Mike “Carluch” Edwards wrenching on the car. While Tony has been keeping active in overseas competition and driving with “Bloodmasters,” a drifting gang producing explosive missile car videos out of Englishtown, NJ, he’s psyched to return to FD competition.
“I couldn’t be more excited to get back into the drivers seat for 2012,” Tony said. “Scion is a brand that is very active in drifting, and is doing really fun things for 2012. I’ve always been impressed by their presence in FD, and I am totally pumped to be part of the Scion Racing Family.”
Odi just posted some awesome photos of his 240sx with a brand new look for 2012 thanks to the guys at 702 Graphics. His new title sponsor is M7 is represented along with his other partners Feal Suspension, DSTROYR, and Nexen Tire. He did mention in his e-mail to us he is working on bringing along some other partners before the Streets of Long Beach rolls around. Hands down this might become one of my favorite cars in Formula Drift for 2012!
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!
