Behind The Scenes>> Rain Soaked In Monroe

Thursday set up and practice days seems to have taken a liking towards rainy days. In New Jersey, the whole Formula D paddock experienced rain of rather biblical proportions –rain which blew the NFS Electro Lounge completely from where it stood.

The start of round 5 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, also saw the appearance of rain. Though H20 falling from the sky is a rather normal occurrence in the Pacific Northwest, the race cars of the FD field prefer sunnier days.

Thursday morning came and we were greeted with grey skies and a pair of very moist automobiles. I'm also happy to report to you all that my BMW E30 has completed the northern 1,159 mile trip to Seattle without a hitch. Will Roegge also joined the road trip to Seattle, late in the game, in his new 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera, in Portland, Oregon. 

We were greeted to a cloud covered, very wet, and not yet completely set up Evergreen Speedway.

Throughout the paddock, teams, drivers and cars had nothing more to do but to wait and see if the rain subsided.

The rain may have dampened the mood of some members in Team Blue and Teal, but for others, it was just another reason to smile more.

Darren McNamara's Saturn Sky saw the addition of this aluminum panel which put a nice safety barrier between him and…

…the fuel cell in the back. There really isn't much actual Saturn Sky left in the back of the car!

There were moments when the rain did subside and the smiles came out.

Daijiro Yoshihara's S13 was looking as aggressive as ever with the addition of the front splitter.

With nothing going on at the track, a few members of the media decided to walk the track to check out for any new photo spots or angles. Will Roegge and video guy, Skylar Smith, decided to not walk the track in any normal way.

I spotted this rather neat looking Corolla behind the Falken pit area.

For most of the day, race cars hid from the rain. Charles Ng's FC RX-7 seemed almost warm comfortable tucked under the car cover. Since the rain only seemed to be getting worse, the day's practice session was cancelled officially.

All around the paddock, crates sat in front of the their respective booths. 

The Papadakis boys decided to switch to black Motegi wheels for the rest of the season. Their reasoning? They wanted Fredric to become a drifting Sith Lord and black wheels is a start to that.

The rain kept coming down and the cars kept rolling in.

In New Jersey, Matt Powers had a rather large crash with John Russakoff. He collided with John's AE86 on the passenger door which pushed the door bar in a whole four inches! In the time between New Jersey and Seattle, Team Powers was able to remove the crushed in door bar and welded in a whole new one.

Matt also has a new door as well.

To help level out the playing field a bit more, Formula D changed the 2011 season's weight to tire rule a bit further.

Teams added weight in order to run a larger tire size.

Since practice was officially cancelled, Fredric Aasbo thought he'd make best with his time and spend some time playing videogames.

Larry took a page out of Fredric's book and did the same. But instead of lounging on the couch, he took to the D-box.

Thursday was also a special day for one Team NFS member, Matt Powers. He celebrated his 24th birthday.

After leaving the FD paddock area, I thought I'd walk through the Pro Am paddock. I came across Andrew Commes' Rockey Bunny S13….

…and Tyler Wolfson's Mazda FD RX-7.

Who doesn't love a Cressida? Especially a sideways one.

Rolland Gallagher, a Seattle crowd favorite, and his infamous S13 were hiding from the rain. 

As the season progresses further, we're finding Mike Skudlarek's street style S13 become more and more stickered up. 

After being MIA for most of the season, it's good to see Ian Fournier and his R32 once again. We're excited to see how his new Titan V8 power plant will do at Evergreen Speedway. 

Later in the day as the rain started to clear out and the track dried a bit, a few drivers were able to make it out on track. We're looking forward to see if that extra practice time will help those few drivers during today's qualifying.

-Linhbergh

Speedhunters 2011 Formula D Seattle coverage

ADVERTISEMENT

Comments



Comments are closed.

19 comments

by Oldest
by Best by Newest by Oldest
1

Can we have a spotlight on Will's Porsche?

2

what wheels is your e30 sitting on?

3

pls make 1 photo .. wallpaper :)

4

+1 @Wayne



"There really isn't much actual Saturn Sky left in the back of the car!"

they should just rename it the Chevrolet NASCAR Sky

5

Happy Birthday Matt Powers!!!

6

Its silly to not run in the rain...

In the rain we could see new drivers do well and perhaps the V8s would struggle.



yes to drifting in rain. Its not even going to be a propper spray from the car in front.

7

Is Tyler Wolfson's RX-7, the ex-Jarius Wharerau (D1NZ) RX-7?

8

blog post for the birthday of powers? :)

9

Daftmonkeh



Dude you're a broken freakin record. Every comment is NASCAR! NASCAR! Yet you guys in whateverthehellfrozenplace are building 1000+hp drift cars....dude, get off your high horse.



Keepin it real pure, yup. Real JDM, so true to its roots. Do us a favor and just shut the hell up about NASCAR. And I don't even like it. This is a RACE CAR. THIS IS A PROFESSIONAL BUILD. WTF do you expect?



Please just stop posting in the FD blogs if you hate it so damn much already!

10

Where's the "COCAINE" window sticker on the porsche? Saw it at FD on friday, did he just put it on?

11

I love Daijiro's car. So sick! Daaaaaayuuuummmmmmm!

12

i noticed the e30? in the first set of photos... any problems on the way up??

13

Wait, drifting was cancelled cause of the rain? What is this, NASCAR?



You're supposed to take advantage of the rain and see how good your drivers REALLY are...

14

love this behind the scenes look.. are people still saying 'neat'..??

15

Mr Nguyen, I take my hat off to you sir: your car looks FAT. I dont know if its the bronze wheels, or maybe its just in my head, but theres something slightly hakosuka-ish about it. Which is obviously a good thing.

16

I want to make sex on the Cocaine porsche.

17

Mike Skud's car has the best style.

18

Canceling a practice session because of rain?

What a bunch of pussies ...

19

I love Daijiro's car, so cool!!! amazing ....

OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS