News>> Course Change For Fd Irwindale

It's hard to believe that the 2011 Formula D season is coming to a close. Next weekend will be the 8th time Formula D has finished a season at Irwindale Speedway,  the "House of Drift." To freshen things up and make the show more exciting this year, the organizers decided to change the competition course. This new course is longer, faster and will be much more entertaining to the fans while bringing new challenges to the drivers and teams.

Will this new course change up with pecking order? Or will the top tier teams dominate even more? We'll be going into Irwindale knowing that a new champion will be crowned and this change will definitely spice things up.

-Linhbergh

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1

should give the fans way more of a show, and allow for longer door to door action...

2

gonna suck for guys with less power even more now..... idiots only care about the v8 guys..

4

Kinda agree with Steve O up there

5

hahah

Care Factor: ZERO

too bad really, this was the only course where drivers had to properly modulate throttle to get around.

now itll just be a WOT showing of smoke trails.

more like a rolling burnout contest, amirite?

6

i second that^^

WOT

7

I really never cared much about FD, but it seems that here in the US organizers are hell-bend about power and speed.

How about car control? A slower course does not mean boring.

Take Taka Aono for instance, he is been doing this longer than the majority of the participants, I have yet to see him on the podium these past years. Does he suck? I don't think so !!!

Whoever is putting together this event should re-evaluate what the priorities are.

8

Reminds me of that extended layout in SHIFT 2: UNLEASHED :P

9

If it's going to make the race more exciting for the fans then I'm all for it! I do however remember Nascar making changes to spice things up there and that didn't go so well. I've only watched a couple of races this year and fell asleep during both from boredom.

10

lower power guys should be able to make that just fine, looks like it keeps the momentum going more smoothly

11

it seems all fd tracks are becoming the same

long banked corner

tight bit

open bit

long corner



just meh

12

Steve you are definitely right about making it harder for the under powered cars but the high hp guys will be struggling to make a set of tires last a whole lap.

13

turn that last turn into a chicane and it might work out for all.



side note:

why does this layout look like it was drawn up with MS paint?

14

wow....scary how close to sidewyas-NASCAR this is becoming.

15

Should be a much better show, at least it will be different. Change is good!!!

16

ya, i wish it was all about V8's it ruins arguments over which cars better when the motors are the same

17

Steve O is Right

Weasel is Right



FD is powerfest, no more drifting...

20

bye bye tires! awesome!

21

i'm really liking the polish touge comp that was posted on here a lil while back. the FD events seem less tech and less involved for a spectator... i mean, where's the chance that anyone can die at one of these events?!?



(i'm not blood thirsty, i just enjoy the feel of standing behind a barrier while someone is drifting 10ft from your face and the talent and skill it takes for a driver to attack one of those courses)

22

I would rather they go to Horse Thief Mile or something different. Bowls are great for the fans to watch, but the "drifting is more like extended burnouts. I want FD to incorporate tracks where speed is maintained, like Suzuka, Sugo or Autopolis, Long Beach and Atlanta are the only tracks that are not just smoke shows. This layout is just Wall, NJ in California.



FD I know you are doing what you can to maintain public interest and keep corporate sponsors happy, but you are rednecking drifting. Remember, drifting started as a style of racing, not burning out. I will still watch FD and support, but it's getting harder to do.

23

with this course layout there will still definently be throttle modulation and car control, yes the v8's will have an advantage, but how many of them are not running a v8? i can only think of a couple, Dmac, Fredric Aasbo, some of the megan racing team, and dmac and aasbo shouldnt have a problem keepin up, i like this new course layout, the higher speeds and longer runs dont mean WOT for the whole run, and do push the drivers limits and comfort areas, and DO give the crowd a better show IMO

24

Finally! they're doing the d1gp track! this should be good! can't wait til' next saturday!

25

I see alot of comments about speed and power I laugh becuz ISNT THAT THE AMERICAN WAY OVER THE TOP, YES ITS ADVANTAGES FOR THE V8'S, BUT THE MORE HATE I HEAR THE MORE I SEE CARS NOW RUNNING THEM. THERE IS BUT ONLY ONE WAY TO COMBAT AN OVER POWERED CAR DRIFT ON MORE TECHNICAL TIGHTER COURSE'S WERE BRAKE CHECKING AND POWER OVER ANOTHER CAR IS NOT KING BUT DRIVER SKILL UNTIL THEN IT IS WHAT IT IS. GO BIG OR GO HOME KINDA SUCKS HUH!

26

What if I was to tell you that I heard FD tested this configuration with a lower hp car and not a V8 car??

27

I heard that FD testing this config with a lower hp car. If this is true, does that change some of the comments posted earlier??

28

Anyone realizes this is similar to new jersey?

29

V8s are subjective. for mtp, it makes sense, cause power extraction is cheaper and more reliable compared to the SRs/rotaries etc., while still retaining the s-chassis. The only BS in FD is the amount of money pumped in to the sport. It becomes another tsuchiya-inada-leaving-D1GP-story. Money and power can only take you so far. At the end of the day, it boils down to the skill level. If it takes so much just to get a pro license, FD should at least supply standard items like tires.

30

I said this over at the Wrecked Magazine blog, but this is NOT THE OLD D1 COURSE. Formula D's been jocking that course for the past how long. NO drift event has ever stretched to BOTH sides of the Irwindale inner bank like this. Like I said, this is a jumbo version of Wall Speedway, and it's redundant. Like I said before, I think that what should really go down on the infield is a max speed swing off the bank into a huge angled dive into decreasing radius turn, like Fuji Speedway. It shows driver skill in commanding the car into the precise line and favors more of a nimble feel than all out power.

31

Was just going to say the same thing DK. its almost a mirror image.

32

Im about done with FD...i am hooked on the pro-am events now, cuz they are small tracks that contain the true elements of drifting...FULL CAR CONTROL. im tired of this V8, torque-hungry excuse for drifting...i understand its drifting, but there is so much less skill involved with all this V8 crap...u better get your priorities straight FormulaD

33

This isn't really drifting anymore, its just doing huge burnouts. FD is the least technical drift comp in the world.



I guess more smoke brings in more fans which = more money

34

As it happens often, unfortunately, the same as it happen in D1, idiots are seing nothing but POWER, SPEED when this form of drifting is and has always been about SKILL really... Kids on the streets of Japan where not bent over the SPEED and POWER of the cars, but the ability of the drivers to SLIDE the car around corners.....

The house of drift has only surrendered as a big time looser to the POWER/SPEED bias.

How about this, make a layout with long speedy sections and also shorter, twistier sections so that people can see and enjoy both the raw power and speed but also the raw talent and skill, I think that such a layout would be better for the drivers as well.

CAR CONTROL IS WHAT DRIFTING REALLY IS ALL ABOUT, ALWAYS KEEP THAT IN MIND!!

35

so now it's basically just the opposite of new jersey...

36

ok so everyone keeps talkin about the skills of the drivers.. so r u guys sayin that the formula D drivers with v8's are not skillfull or talented drivers? yea tanner foust was a shitty driver i agree, so is frederic aasbo, vaugh gitten JR is sooooo terrible, matt powers? psh what a talentless idiot, ryan tuerck, chris forsberg, ross petty, sam hubinett, d-mac, all those guys, shittiest drivers iv ever seen got that right....

YOU GUYS ARE MORONS i would LOVE to see any of you go up against these guys, and to whoever said that v8= talenteless an went on to say hes addicted to pro am events, THERE ARE MANY v8 s-chassis in pro-am events!!!!!! THERE EVERYWHERE!!!! there comes a point were a driver is limited by his vehicle, iv seen these guys drift lower powered cars lots of times, they grew up driving lower powered cars, just like us!!!

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