Sam Hubinette was recently spotted drifting the flame-shooting chopped up Maybach in Kanye West’s “Otis” video, and it would appear that he has returned again with his own vehicles for the new Berner music video featuring Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa.

The video for “Yoko” features Sam Hubinette’s Dodge Challenger, as well as the Dean Kearney’s V-LED Dodge Viper drifting around Irwindale Speedway. There’s even a cameo appearance by Mike Ryan and his Freightliner drift truck which we saw drifting during halftime at Formula Drift Round 6 in Las Vegas.

Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgKwR8IuI6Y

We stumbled upon this snapshot of Lee Alexander’s S14 at yesterday’s Club Loose/Hold The Line Pro-AM Event that appears to have gone far off track and into/onto? a tree. The car had to be towed out, naturally, but reports tell us that he was right back out on the track shortly afterwards.

Either way, it’s an interesting snapshot that we felt was worth sharing.

Sadly after a month since our last post this Full Carbon Fiber FD RX7 Race Car was stolen from Long Island and was last seen making it’s way out west through Iowa. This fully-prepped race vehicle is an easily identifiable full carbon fiber body Mazda RX7 with a roll cage, lightweight wheels, and race tires. Last post we had some people saying they saw it driving on I-80 possibly so please keep an eye out. Oh yea, you get a sweet reward as seen below!

Contact Lloyd at 516-903-6414 if you’ve seen this race car. There is a $5000 reward for any information leading to the return of this car.

We just got word that this Full Carbon Fiber FD RX7 Race Car was stolen from Long Island and was last seen making it’s way out west through Iowa. This fully-prepped race vehicle is an easily identifiable full carbon fiber body Mazda RX7 with a roll cage, lightweight wheels, and race tires. We unfortunately were unable to get more details regarding the powerplant and drivetrain, but it’s hard to miss this one-off FD RX7.

Contact Lloyd at 516-903-6414 if you’ve seen this race car. There is a $5000 reward for any information leading to the return of this car.

One of the perks of owning a Lexus supercar is access to the Lexus LFA Driver Development school. Lexus put out this video showcasing the program at Infineon Speedway, and if you look past the new breed of turtleneck-clad LFA owners, you may spot Formula Drift’s Tony Brakohiapa drifting the yellow LFA around the home of what used to be Formula Drift Round 6.

I’m having difficulty figuring out if the LFA doesn’t like hanging the back end out, or if simply the thought of potentially going off track in a $400,000 Supercar is keeping things on the conservative side. In any event, it’s a well produced video, and the sound of the LFA engine is a worthy soundtrack of it’s own.

Watch the video here: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/tony-b-drifts-the-lexus-lfa-in-sonoma

The state of Hawaii has to be one of the most anti-motorsport cultures you could find in the United States and probably one of the only states without a race track that has drifting on it. Magically with these elements in place kids take to the great back mountian roads of Hawaii and drift it up. This tends to upset the locals who call Local PD frequently and complain of drifting in the area.

The state of Hawaii hates getting phone calls so much they are spending money they probably don’t have on a product called Tyregrip. This is desricbed as a sandpaper like product resulting in great amounts of “grip” or “traction.” The product is a the technology packages a very sharp aggregate inside a tough resin and is applied on top of a road already in place (normally with a different color so drivers note the surface change).

Hawaii claims this TyreGrip will ruin drifting in the locations it is installed and they plan to lay it down in 8 high drifting areas as a test run. I guess no one in Hawaii has heard of “touge” driving…. Maximum grip in turns sounds like a field day for all those guys who run the same exhaust systems as evil drifters….. Oops, I guess there is always tommorow’s plan Hawaii.

Source:
http://jalopnik.com/5543621/

The 2010 Formula Drift Rulebook has arrived in the hands of all competitors for the new upcoming season. Not really any big changes that I noticed after reading it today. I did find a whole piece on Collisions which I thought was a good quick read to understand how they will be handled from here on forward.

COLLISIONS

Vehicle contact in drifting is something that Formula DRIFT recognizes as part of the sport, however contact of vehicles while in head-to-head battle requires specific rulings and guidelines as follows.

A) LEAD CAR:

The lead car must be required at all times to run the line given by the
judges and also maintain adequate speed through out the course. If the
lead car measures untypical speed, this may result in a score against that
driver. Untypical speed is defined as speeds of equivalent measurement
from qualifying speeds. Some slight variance (+5, -5) is in most cases
acceptable.

If the lead car loses drift, goes off line or reduces speed too drastically in
comparison to that particular driver’s qualifying speeds and the chase car
hits the lead car, the lead car will in most cases be deemed at fault for the
contact. It is each individual judge’s job to ascertain fault. There may be
circumstances where the lead car is not at fault for the contact, but this will
be left to each individual judge to ascertain fault.

B) CHASE CAR:

The chase car is required at all times to follow and chase the lead car. The
driver of the chase car is encouraged to know the approximate speed of the
lead car through the entire course. If the chase car makes contact, in most
cases that driver will be deemed at fault for the contact unless otherwise
noted as per above. Contact known as “rubbing” is acceptable, however
the chase car cannot affect the lead car where loss of drift or loss of line
occurs.

C) DAMAGE DUE TO CONTACT:

Once contact is made and damage occurs to either vehicle, the Judges
using majority rule will ascertain fault. If damage due to contact occurs,
both drivers have a right to have their spotter enact a “5 Minute Rule.” It is
expected that in most cases damaged vehicles can be repaired in this time
frame.

In some cases, damage sustained to the vehicles may require more time to
repair. At this point ONLY the vehicle not at fault may ask for additional
time. (NOTE: This does not preempt teams ability to call 5 Minutes for other
purposes). In the spirit of time and the show, the CHIEF STEWARD also
reserves the right to continue the competition with the outstanding head-
to-head matches of that particular round. The CHIEF STEWARD will re-
assess the vehicle between subsequent head-to-head match up’s or even
at the end of the round.

If a team cannot repair their vehicle and the team was also not at fault
during the incident, a Formula DRIFT official will verify that indeed the car
is not repairable in time for the next round and declare the driver the
winner of the match. The driver may move onto the next round or if the
damage is too extreme, may exit from the competition. competition.

Way north of Atlanta, Georgia in Dawsonville (Home of NASCAR driver Bill Elliott) a company is putting together Atlanta Motorsports Park on a 162 acre lot. Today on Monday, August 31st, 2009, Atlanta Motorsports Park announced the “drifters” program and driving school as its newest class of membership.

Atlanta Motorsports Park incorporated a drifting circuit as part of the course design from the famed Formula One engineers at Tilke Architects.  Jeremy Porter, AMP Founder and CEO, said, “we see this market as one that is emerging and one we need to focus on.”

Jeremy Porter said, “I have been working with Dan Willie and Tracy Shayhorn of Batlground Engineering to create both a membership program and drifting school that is affordable and makes sense for this market.  We understand the limited budgets and we feel that we can create a membership price point that will work with this market.”

According to the press release we received the AMP website will have more details coming in the next 30 days. From what we are told the track has all been properly zoned and construction is underway currently. You can view this map/track layout PDF we got our hands on. The website doesn’t have a date for completion which doesn’t seem very reassuring but hopefully you can be at drift school in Atlanta soon.

View the Track Layout PDF: www.wreckedmagazine.com/images/2009/Atlantamotorsportspark.tracklayouts.pdf

UTI is throwing the Formula D Tech Day on April 4th, 2009 from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Come check out all the fun and watch the pre-season inspection live at the Rancho Cucamonga campus. Plenty of Formula D teams will be on hand for the event.

Address:

9494 Haven Ave.

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

For More Information Call:

1.866.200.9750

Time:

10:00am to 4:00pm