This just in! My email notifier just popped up on my screen, with a message from Formula D's John P:
Formula DRIFT Announces New 32 car Head-to-Head Competition Format for 2009 Season
Long Beach, Calif. – March 16, 2009 – Formula DRIFT will be implementing a Top 32 tandem competition format for the 2009 season. The Top 32 tandem format will replace the Top 16 format previously used in an effort to appeal to the fans. The new competition format will be used starting at Round 1: Streets of Long Beach on April 10-11.
The Top 32 tandem competition format will pit the Top 32 drivers in a round-by-round elimination with each driver advancing to the next round. Each round's head-to-head battles will be determined by the drivers' qualifying score. The higher qualifying score will receive a higher position, with the highest qualifier receiving the #1 spot and lowest qualifier receiving the #32 spot. The #1 and #32 positioned drivers will then compete in a head-to-head battle and the tandem competitions will continue until the finale and a winner will be determined.
"From our experience hosting the Red Bull Drifting World Championship in 2008, the 32 car tandem format seemed the most exciting," states Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. "As ambassadors for the sport, it is our responsibility to push the sport's limits and keep it as exciting for the fans as possible and we feel this new format will give the fans more action during a Formula DRIFT event."
The new format provides fans with more tandem competition throughout the event day, something fans want to see more of. The larger bracket will allow for more diverse match ups of drivers that may have never competed against each other.
“Drivers will have to strategize and plan effectively to make it further into the competition,” states Tanner Foust, Formula DRIFT 2007 & 2008 champion. “As a driver we will have to expect the unexpected not knowing the skills of the other driver. For the fans there will be more action and excitement with the Top 32.”
For more information visit www.formuladrift.com.
-Antonio Alvendia
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
I say 3 car tandem... more danger moar fun.
That's pretty sweet! MOAR Tandem = WIN
Though won't that make the teams spend more tires? With the recession and all.... Might give some of the smaller teams trouble... Just my 2cents though. As far as most of the fans care, it's more show, so it's cool too.
Awesome I cant wait
I just hope there's enough time to complete everything... I can remember more than a few events recently that ran up against a curfew, and runs were rushed to finish before the cutoff.
I think Red Bull was 4.5 hours straight of tandem runs. That could get overwhelming
Saturday will be all head to head with a break in the middle. So essentially the first half of 32 is replacing qualifying which can get boring for fans. Qualifying moves to Friday which is now public as well so if you wanna watch come on out.
this is could be a great idea, i wonder what FD would be like as a spec series (or something similar) though? it would give drivers a chance to show off their skill in an environment were they're not held back by their cars or sponsorship dollars.
Seems like a good idea, but still doesn't make FD any crappier than it already is:
http://bhworld.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/drifting-is-so-fucked-up/
That's so sick!
That's so sick!
Wow,
Thats Gonna Be Alot fun,
Just Wish i can Be There,
can Just Hope That i can watch The Video And Pics Here
thats awsome. i just told somebody about this but he didnt' really care cuz he a poser.
Thats Illest.
There should be a tree, first to corner, first to brake, first to initiate. Or stagger lights to take turns. Measure 60' and 0-60. Just like people love baseball stats, car guys like to bench race their quarter-mile times. It will add a "technical" motorsports element to drifting that blows off all criticism of "all for show" style points.
Imagine, banging 2 steps as they stage and race to a game of initiation "chicken." Now that would be very exciting. Drag racing, meets rally cross, meets drifting.
this is how the DA (drift Australia) battle format was setup and it worked very well.