Ford’s social media campaign this month on Facebook faces two drivers off against each other for the month of December can be described as nothing short of a popularity contest. Two drivers face off and accumulate votes on a set day against another driver. On December 8th Justin Pawlak squared up against the Internet hype machine Ken Block himself and defeated him by a pretty decent margin in the end. So a huge congrats is in order to JTP and everyone in the drifting community to rallied to push him past Ken Block.

Today actually Vaughn Gittin Jr. is facing off against Brian Deegan which can be voted on following the link below. The winner of that round will take on the victor of two time Formula Drift champion Tanner Foust vs. Justin Pawlak which will take place on December 14th. The top four of this group is almost 100% full of Formula Drift drivers/alumni. If you want to find out more or vote for VGJ then follow the Facebook Fan page link below.

Vote for your favorite Formula Drift drivers Here: http://www.facebook.com/OfficialFordRacing?sk=app_190322544333196

After the 2011 season Formula Drift has 52 events in the books. The series now has 17 overall event winners meaning just about every 3 events (twice a season) a driver will receive his first win in the sport. Now after 2011 nine drivers are multiple events winners in the series. This year added two of those nine drivers with Justin Pawlak winning both his events this season and Tyler McQuarrie earning his second at Irwindale Speedway this season joining the club.

1. Sam Hubinette (9 Wins)
1. 2004 Road Atlanta
2. 2004 Houston
3. 2004 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)
4. 2005 Road Atlanta
5. 2005 Chicago
6. 2006 Streets of Long Beach
7. 2006 Chicago
8. 2006 Wall Speedway
9. 2007 Summit Point

2. Tanner Foust (7 Wins)
1. 2006 Road Atlanta
2. 2007 Irwindale Speedway
3. 2008 Streets of Long Beach
4. 2008 Englishtown
5. 2008 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)
6. 2009 Las Vegas
7. 2010 Evergreen Speedway
8. 2010 Irwindale Speedway

3. Chris Forsberg (6 Wins)
1. 2005 Irwnidale
2. 2007 Road Atlanta
3. 2007 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)
4. 2008 Streets of Long Beach
5. 2009 Road Atlanta
6. 2009 Evergreen Speedway

3. Rhys Millen (6 Wins)
1. 2004 Irwindale Speedway
2. 2005 Wall Speedway
3. 2006 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)
4. 2008 Road Atlanta
5. 2008 Evergreen Speedway
6. 2011 Las Vegas

3. Dai Yoshihara (6 Wins)
1. 2006 Irwindale Speedway
2. 2007 Evergreen Speedway
3. 2007 Wall Speedway
4. 2010 Road Atlanta
5. 2011 Road Atlanta
6. 2011 Evergreen Speedway

6. Vaughn Gittin Jr. (3 Wins)
1. 2008 Irwindale Speedway
2. 2010 Streets of Long Beach
3. 2010 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)

7. Ryan Tuerck (2 Wins)
1. 2009 Streets of Long Beach
2. 2009 Irwindale Speedway

7. Tyler McQuarrie (2 Wins)
1. 2010 Las Vegas
2. 2011 Irwindale Speedway

7. Justin Pawlak (2 Wins)
1. 2011 Streets of Long Beach
2. 2011 Palm Beach International Raceway

10. Ken Gushi (1 Win)
1. 2005 Houston

10. Calvin Wan (1 Win)
1. 2005 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma

10. Yukinobu Okubo (1 Win)
1. 2006 Evergreen Speedway

10. Mitsuru Haraguchi (1 Win)
1. 2007 Streets of Long Beach

10. Toshiki Yoshioka (1 Win)
1. 2008 Las Vegas

10. Darren McNamara (1 Win)
1. 2009 Wall Speedway

10. Stephan Verdier (1 Win)
1. 2009 Infineon Raceway (Sonoma)

10. Conrad Grunewald (1 Win)
1. 2011 Wall Speedway

In cased you missed Part 1 of this saga where Victoria Lo dominated all the media/press boys in a SVT Raptor challenge you can head over to Part 1 on Wrecked Magazine and read it – “We Send A Girl to the Octane Academy And She Wins.”

I’m back to continue making you jealous of my time at Ford Racing’s Octane
Academy last week. In my last post, I drifted with Vaughn Gittin JR. and went on a
seat-of-your-pants ride with Brian Deegan. I also won the Reverse Raptor Challenge!

After lunch it was time for stunt driving with Tanner Foust, one of my all-time
favorite drivers. When my group arrived at Tanner’s station, he was out playing on
the wet Jennite surface, effortlessly doing fancy pirouettes and 360s in the all-new
Ford Focus ST. Now this sounds totally lame but once you see him drive in person
you’ll understand: He was born to do this. This session was a battle, as I was super
excited to get behind the wheel with Tanner, however I was still slightly hungover
from the previous night’s outing. But hello, this is Tanner Foust! I had to stick it out.
Tanner gave us a quick run-down of how to do a 180 J turn and the 360 spin and
then it was time to get behind the wheel. The dashboard and center console had
so many warning lights on it felt like Christmas in there. Tanner had disconnected
everything, including the ABS. The challenge for this part of the Academy was to
spin the Focus but maintain control – any cones knocked over would result in point
deductions.

The actual driving portion of stunt driving with Tanner was awesome but riding
along while other group members attempted the 360 was almost unbearable.
Nausea + Newbie Stunt Driving = Hell. But, I made it through and Tanner
successfully taught me how to do the 180 and 360. Check out my stunt driving
footage with Tanner Foust as cameraman! I had such a great time learning how to properly
do these stunts because let’s be honest, who hasn’t attempted to do a 180 in the
snow? But alas, the training was dangerous as it rained the other day and I had to
fight the urge to yank that e-brake and hone my 360 skills… My poor Honda s2000.

And finally, the last session of the day was rallying with Ken Block. Apparently Ken’s
not one for teaching, so Ford brought in its crew from the Tim O’Neil Rally School to
give us the training we needed. The challenge was obvious: Rally the course as close
to Ken’s 2:15 time as possible. While we were receiving hands-on instructions from
the O’Neil team, Ken took us out one by one for a ride-along on the rally course in
his Ford Fiesta. He’s a man of few words that Ken, but the man can drive!

During the instructional, one of the coaches advised: Rallying is driving as fast as
you can for the conditions – but all I got from that was “Drive as fast as you can!”
My practice lap around the course was tame but as soon as the countdown for the
official lap began, I was all pedal to the metal. After an awesome start I couldn’t take
the braking anymore and just wanted to go fast – Um, hello! There’s a time to beat! I
quickly learned my lesson though, as I unintentionally incorporated Tanner Foust’s
previous 180 teachings into my rally (see my sad fail here). My heavy foot resulted
in a non-winning time but at least I learned what NOT to do while rallying. Plus, I
wasn’t one of the guys [names withheld to protect their pride] who put the Fiesta
in the ditch or completely flipped it over, so all in all I’d say the rally session was
successful! I’d actually love to take another stab at rallying to really learn how to
control turns and weaves at fast speeds – I’m looking at you Tim O’Neil – but until
then I’ll just take my need for speed out on the SoCal drivers. Again, my poor s2000.

So that’s my recap of my awesome day at Octane Academy. My posts definitely
haven’t done this program justice… If you love driving, cars, speed, Vaughn,
Tanner, Deegan, and/or Ken, this is not something you want to miss out on. I
have to thank the Ford Racing team again for allowing us to participate in such
an awesome program. Octane Academy is definitely an experience that everyone should try – or at least, attempt to try (you have to get accepted, first!). If you haven’t submitted your video application yet, do it now! Upload your video to
www.octaneacademy.com before the deadline!

If you read my new editorial we are buried deep in project cars and SEMA preparations. When we got the invite to head out to Detroit, Michigan for the Octane Academy no one in the office had the time on our hands. I called on our newest pit reporter Victoria Lo who cut her teeth on the mean streets of New York City for years and finally got enough sense to move to California. Below is her story on how she beat a bunch of boys doing car things while Formula D champions Tanner Foust and Vaughn Gittin Jr. stood by, coached, and watched. -Joey Redmond

Last week I was fortunate enough to participate in a condensed version of Ford
Racing’s Octane Academy at the Michigan Proving Grounds. If you watched this
year’s X-Games 17, I’m sure you saw the commercials for Octane Academy featuring
its four well-known instructors: Vaughn Gittin JR., Brian Deegan, Tanner Foust, and
Ken Block.

While the full Academy program lasts 4 days, our media “tease” allotted the 5-
person groups about 90 minutes with each rotation. Each driver had a specific
expertise: Vaughn – Drifting, Deegan – Off-Road Racing, Tanner – Stunt Driving, and
Block – Rallying. Each session had a challenge to complete and the person with the
most points at the end of the day would be crowned Champion. The competitor in
me was awakened.

My group started off with the 2010 Formula Drift Champion, Vaughn Gittin JR. Each
person received a hot lap with Vaughn in Ford’s 300hp V6 Mustang to experience
riding sideways at 90mph. While the ride was thrilling and filled with adrenaline,
I spent a lot of the time concerned that my helmeted head would at any point bash
out the passenger window. It was an awesome ride but it was time to switch seats
because it was now my turn behind the wheel. The goal for this challenge was
simple: Drift the longest around an oval. I watched JR intently during the hot lap so
his instructions seemed easy enough: “… accelerate to that cone at about 3000rpms,
whip it right and then turn it left while slamming down on the throttle. Then, when
you feel it catch, let off the throttle for a second and then follow with gas, no gas,
gas, no gas, and steering the wheel accordingly.” Got it! But with only enough time
for 3 attempts, it became clear that drifting is not as easy as it looks (or sounds)!

JR’s feedback was I’m too throttle-happy – apparently I just want to go fast. All the
time… I took this as a compliment. Although I did the second best in my group, it
was nothing compared to the winner’s (Alex from Rides Magazine) 6 full-laps. My
session with Vaughn was awesome and I’m sure with some more practice and a
healthy supply of tires (hello sponsors!), I could drift circles around Alex.

Next up was off-road racing with X-Games 17 Rally Cross Gold Medalist, Brian
Deegan, in a Ford F-150 SVT RAPTOR. Surprisingly, this was one of the most exciting
hot laps, as Deegan’s excitement after every jump was equivalent to mentioning
Justin Bieber to a 12-year-old girl. On one of the jumps, we launched so high and

landed so hard that the power steering went out. Did that end our hot lap? Not
a chance! With cameras on us, we had to power though and Deegan muscled the
RAPTOR like a champ. He really is a talented driver as it’s no wonder he’s doing so
well in off road racing – he just won the Pro Lite and Pro 2 in the Lucas Oil Off Road
Racing Series! Keep kickin’ ass, Brian!

The folks at Ford Racing knew letting us loose on the off-road track behind the
wheel of the RAPTOR would be a cluster fuck filled with flipped trucks and mud in
their hair, so they opted for a calmer, more controlled, Reverse Raptor Challenge.
The task? Navigate the muddy slalom course in reverse using ONLY the Raptor’s
back-up camera in less than 5 minutes without knocking over any cones. The
challenge required no real driving skills except a little depth perception, knowing
your left from your right and then flipping that, but definitely left us trusting those
nifty back-up cameras a bit more. And although I got extremely nauseous watching
the screen while driving, there was something else I took away from this challenge…
A Rockstar Energy Drink Refrigerator! That’s right, I won, bitches! I can’t wait for
my apartment to look like a college dorm room. Part 2 is coming soon so stay tuned!

Check out the tentative drivers list here for Formula Drift Round 7. No big shockers in the drivers list (hopefully some last minute shocking entries show up) but read it up and down. The finals are going to be up in the air and we cannot wait until the main event:

1. Fredric Aasbo
2. Jeff Abbott
3. Emmanuel Amandio
4. Odi Bakchis
5. Tony Brakohiapa
6. Patrick Cyr
7. Michael Essa
8. Mike Feiock
9. Matt Field
10. Chris Forsberg
11. Vaughn Gittin Jr.
12. Otto Graven
13. Conrad Grunewald
14. Ken Gushi
15. Jim Guthrie
16. Sam Hubinettte
17. Jeff Jones
18. Ryan kado
19. Dean Kearney
20. Nikolay Konstantinov
21. Alex Lee
22. Luke Lonberger
23. Joon Maeng
24. Cyrus Martinez
25. Darren McNamara
26. Tyler McQuarrie
27. Dennis Mertzanis
28. Rhys Millen
29. Kenneth Moen
30. Kyle Mohan
31. Patrick Mordaunt
32. Charles Ng
33. Robbie Nishida
34. Justin Pawlak
35. Ross Petty
36. Alex Pfeiffer
37. Kyle Pollard
38. Saranon Pornpatanarak
39. Matt Powers
40. John Russakoff
41. Ryan Tuerck
42. Matt Waldin
43. Walker Wilkerson
44. Daijiro Yoshihara
45. Toshiki Yoshioka

You have seen these Octane Academy television commercials over and over again recently on TV. They are going to turn this insane promotion into a 13 episode television show on Fuel TV. “I am really pumped on the entire octane academy program that Ford has given me the opportunity to be involved in,” says Vaughn Gittin Jr. “This will be a dream come true and the opportunity of a lifetime for over 30 action motorsports fans. The fact that it will be aired on my favorite TV station – Fuel TV – is awesome. There will be plenty of insanity going on at each camp that people won’t want to miss and FUEL TV is the perfect outlet. I am looking forward to assembling my team, having some fun and seeing who has what it takes to make the cut!”

Former Formula Drift champion Tanner Foust is also doing one of the Octane Academy schools with his rally Ford Fiesta at the same time. This television show will be packed full of Formula Drift stars and drifting with Vaughn Gittin Jr. for 13 episodes. This is the first motorsports show for the television channel in history. Once Fuel releases the air schedule we will update you readers here on the website.

This video which was captured by Kevin Wells (crew chief for Chris Forsberg Racing) was shot over the weekend at the Lucas Oil Off Road Truck event where Stephan Papadakis quickly comes into frame with his Honda powered truck and lands funny of a jump.

The truck flips over four times before coming to a stop which you can see in the video following the link below. He even flies right over the k-rail barrier before landing at a complete stop. Stephan Papadakis is currently the crew chief for the Team Need for Speed Scion tC with Fredric Aasbo. You can see a pre season interview that Seibon Carbon did on Wrecked Magazine here. Stephan was the crew chief for Tanner Foust where he led the Rockstar Energy Drink Nissan 350z into two back to back championships.

According to Kevin Wells he said that Stephan was okay and we expect to see him in action in a few weeks at Formula Drift Las Vegas without a problem. You should ask him about this ride he took because we bet it was quite a fun one since he is alright.

Watch the Crash: http://youtu.be/fwnkkX5ITKU?hd=1

The guys at MotorWorldHype caught up with Tanner Foust at X-Games 17 while the Wrecked Magazine staff watched it on the office couch via DirecTV. The second question we focused on was the end of the interview where Tanner drops he is shooting for an Indy ride. Rumor has it Indy Racing has been trying to get tons of guest drivers in for the Vegas race which happens on October 16th. We transcribed some good/interesting parts of the interview below or you can sit through the whole thing via YouTube.

MotorWorldHype: Will you Be Drifting in 2012? 
Tanner Foust: I don’t know about coming back to drifting in 2012. Maybe later down the road, I miss it and I miss the driving. I have been watching the championship and keeping close tabs on things and it looks like it is going to be a tight battle at Iriwndale.

MWH: What is Left on the Menu in 2011? 
TF: Top Gear is out on Sunday nights at 10pm on History Channel. I am trying to get into an Indy race towards the end of the year and we will see if that happens. I also have 5 more events at ERC (European Rally Cross) that has been my big push this year that is 10 events.

The Formula Drift team running in X-Games (some now alumni) put on a pretty great showing over the weekend at X-Games 17. Stephan Verdier appeared to suffer a mild concussion during the elimination rounds and put him out for the weekend. The other two Formula Drift stars Rhys Millen and Tanner Foust both drove all the way into the final 8 round. Rhys Millen took an unlucky lap and got stuck behind a factory Subaru who spun in the most narrow part of the track trapping him for sometime.

Tanner Foust on the other hand punted Liam Doran going into turn one and stayed in hot pursuit of Brian Deegan through the 8 lap course. Tanner was unable to make the pass on his Ford Fiesta teammate but the former Formula D champion locked down another X-Games podium for his trophy collection. Thanks for Ford Racing/ESPN Images for the photographs.

In case you missed the weekend of rally here is the finals summed up in a two minute video: X-Games 17 Rallycross Highlights 

Tanner Foust retired from Formula Drift with a send off at Formula Drift Abu Dhabi back in February. If you want to still visit him you can go visit Top Gear HQ (El Toro Field) in Orange County. They have some ticket dates open for July 12th, 13th, and 14th if you hurry up. If you plan on attending one of the Top Gear USA tapings make sure you arrive super early to get inside. The taping will run for quite a few hours to chalk off a good chunk of the day and note you won’t be able to bring in your cellphone so just leave it in the car.

Get Tickets Now: http://on-camera-audiences.com/shows/Top_Gear