Through my years as a Speedhunter I’ve been through a lot of topics and discussions with you lot.
We’ve gone through the ups and downs of drifting, car setup, judging, ice racing, die-hard competition, Gatebil fun times and everything in between. It’s been a great journey and I’ve been lucky to have been able to share it with you.
But times are changing. Drifting as a sport and Formula Drift as a series is getting increasingly competitive – it really is serious business. Fans are scrutinizing every judged call, sponsors are looking for returns on investment and solid championship contenders journey from around the world to go to war on track.
‘I just drift for fun’ is a quote I’m often told when I talk to drifters around the world. I know most people mean it as a ‘it’s cool that you get to make a living out of drifting’ kind of thing, but I can’t help but think that it makes it sound like somehow I don’t do it for fun. That is certainly not the case. It’s not like any of us do it because we have to. I love doing it so much that nothing can hold me away from it…
Drifting is an addiction, a drug, a life changing lifestyle that at some point chose me – not the other way around. And, honestly, I think this is part of the reason why I have some of the best partners and sponsors in the scene backing me now. They saw my friends and I pour everything we had into it.
People like passionate people.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s not hard work. If you look into the car culture and racing community from the outside, you’ll find some of the most crafty, resourceful people in the world. What some of you guys do in your spare time or on very limited budgets is simply mind-blowing!
And that’s what it’s about – this is where the fun lies for me. You dive into the unknown with equipment that wasn’t super-competitive (back in the Chucky Supra days), you get beaten down, climb back up, figure out the next step, make connections with industry people, drive, practice, analyze and learn.
LEARN. I think the one characteristic that will take you the furthest, is to make learning fun.
I know very well where drifting started, and I understand both camps. There are the people that want drifting taken back to the roots, with more basic builds and more of a stylish grassroots kind of vibe. Then there are the fans that like what FD has become: a fully-fledged circus of some of the most powerful race cars in the world, politics, high stakes and winners and losers.
I feel like I can appreciate both. I like drifting my ice beater car lap after lap and barbecuing hot dogs on the ice just as much as the hyper-competitive mindset you put yourself in at the FD hot grid. But to me, drifting is a motorsport. It’s racing. Granted, a different form of racing, but it’s a form of racing that I want to succeed in.
I really, really want to win.
Right now, I’ve never been closer to achieving my 10-year dream of winning the Formula Drift Championship. After three wins in the US and one in Canada, Papadakis Racing and I are first in the points coming into the finals at Irwindale Speedway in just a couple of weeks.
When I say ‘we’, I mean the countless people that have supported our teams, car builds and programs through all these years, just as much as our team and sponsors.
‘We’ includes you guys too!
It felt really good when my good friend and mentor Fredrik Sørlie (yep, that guy – the owner of the 2JZ Toyota Cressida) said, “I think you’ve cracked the code of how to win in Formula Drift,” earlier this year.
But we can most definitely still lose it. My die-hard Scion teammate Ken Gushi currently sits in second place, with a super-hungry Ryan Tuerck in third and last year’s champ Chris Forsberg in fourth.
As we get closer to the finals at 500 Speedway Drive in the city of Irwindale, California, I’m doing my very best to try and block it all out and just prepare the way I do for any other race. I know and trust that we will win the championship when we’re ready for it. But at the same time, I can’t help but ask myself…
… what’s next?
Fredric Aasbø
Instagram: fredricaasbo
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Photos by Larry Chen
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larry@speedhunters.com
Additional Photo by Alok Paleri
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That last photo though
That last photo though
Well, S.Loeb sort of dropped the gauntlet for the Pikes Peak hill climb if you are looking for suggestions. I don't think you could drift up the whole thing though.... Challenge?
Rally X next!
Good luck for for finals, hope it all comes together for you
hmmm....you've come a long way. From bashing that lil dirty looking white supra, dragging its aftermarket bumpers around Norway to the pointy, potent end of professional drifting with a top tier team and equipment. Achieving your goal, especially as lofty as yours is, must be unbelievable. You're living the life many of us aspire to. But that doesn't mean you have to change your hard charging ways once your goal is in reach. Thats what has made you so hard to beat. I've hardly ever seen you not go 110%....thats your comfort zone. Remember you're in this sport because you love it 1st and foremost. If issues pop up, you and your team will deal with it as best as they can (and you have the best team....who else changes an engine in less than an hour?)
Things may change after winning the championship; maybe you may choose to do more global challenges....perhaps more grassroots drift events....maybe you may choose to build a lower level competitive drift car and team to compete in the lower ranks (if so i'd like to tender my resume lol)....or maybe investing in a product that you can sell such as clothing, etc. Whatever happens, happens. You keep your eyes on the prize and go "full Stumt". Good luck Fred
hmmm....you've come a long way. From bashing that lil dirty looking white supra, dragging its aftermarket bumpers around Norway to the pointy, potent end of professional drifting with a top tier team and equipment. Achieving your goal, especially as lofty as yours is, must be unbelievable. You're living the life many of us aspire to. But that doesn't mean you have to change your hard charging ways once your goal is in reach. Thats what has made you so hard to beat. I've hardly ever seen you not go 110%....thats your comfort zone. Remember you're in this sport because you love it 1st and foremost. If issues pop up, you and your team will deal with it as best as they can (and you have the best team....who else changes an engine in less than an hour?)
Things may change after winning the championship; maybe you may choose to do more global challenges....perhaps more grassroots drift events....maybe you may choose to build a lower level competitive drift car and team to compete in the lower ranks (if so i'd like to tender my resume lol)....or maybe investing in a product that you can sell such as clothing, etc. Whatever happens, happens. You keep your eyes on the prize and go "full Stumt". Good luck Fred
Next I think is a joint sponsorship between SH and RedBull, and do a full competitive series with the Shift Drifters, along with a video of you linking the whole Transfagarasen Highway. You and Vaughn need to join up as joint ambassadors and bring drifting demos to F1 tracks and the WEC events. You could also take a year off from the US drifting, do the FD World events and a full drift series in Europe to prove just how far those guys need to go to be at the top level. Just some thoughts.
DevBizkit I had to say something when I read this, because it is just a really nice thing to say and perfectly explains his veiw on the whole matter.
Also, I really liked the whole Formula Drift idea in the beggining, but now it seems like it is becoming to popular. Im not saying that Im to hipster for it or something, but it's just too much. The drifting just doesn't have that realxed vibe to it that grass roots drifting does. When I watch Formula D all I can think about is how it just turning into a sport, "for mentally unstable alfa-males."
Good luck at the finals!!
Oh wouldn't it be special to win the LAST ever formula drift event being held at Irwindale? Aasbo taking the win would come as no surprise to many, myself included. All I know is I will be there come hell or high water to see how the Final will unfold.
Conquer the drift track , then the world .
Joking aside , I do wish the very best on your final , I do hope you win Irwindale , and also the championship !
What's next ? Hmm , maybe try on grip racing ?
Well that is the big question isnt it? What to do after becoming a world drifting champion. You could keep drifting and go for another, or you may want to expand into different motorsports, maybe you will have had your fill of racing and you try to do something else. Well a friend once told me,"its your paper, what you make with it is up to you." Regardless of what you choose to do next your fans and friends will support you fully in whatever endeavors you pursue.
I totally can see your point of view, but at the same time I also enjoy the level of dedication the teams have, the undeniable skill of the drivers which improves each and every year, and of course the ridiculous and incredible cars that teams are building each year.. That being said, it seems like the dream of becoming a true formula drift driver is becoming more and more out of reach to those up and coming in the sport. Even the cars and drivers in pro 2 are advancing at a pretty incredible rate.
All I know is grassroots will never die, regardless of how big FD may one day be.
PhatRainbows Ah so that's why i like it so much lol
Great season so far, best of luck at Irwindale!!
As for what to do in the future?? It would be awesome to see drivers like you and some of you and some of your close rivals take on some of the more notorious drifting events around the world. I know it's expensive, tough on schedules...but in a perfect world, I'd be watching you at Mondello Park, that crazy Latvian track, Pukekohe, and of course, some Japanese events like D1 Ebisu. FD is great because of the level of competition, but compared to what else is out there, some of the tracks are rather uninspiring. A big name like yours could help to elevate some of these lesser known, but well respected events / tracks.
Not to copy Tuerk, but many of his drifting videos on various closed roads are amazing (Off Seasons, Oregon, etc). Another good one was Reese Millens Redbull hill climb video from China. Would love to see you tearing up some street secrions, monster uphills, and scary downhills. There's too many amazing roads in the world that will never see skid marks due to any number of reasons. Your one of the few people who, along with the right partners, have a chance to drift some truly unique locations!
WRX might be interesting. It would be cool to see how your drifting skills would transfer over to a race car. Your car control would serve you well in those cars, and there's certainly valuable things to learn from racing wheel to wheel.
Other racing would be cool too. Ever think about trying to race a FRS in something like the PWC TC class, or IMSA's CTSCC? I think the cross over between racing and drifting is interesting, and there doesn't seem to be too many people doing both these days (probably because drifting has elevated to the point where it's no longer a side gig). Other than the old school Japanese guys, Conrad Grunwald and Shane Van Gisbergen (actually a very successful racer, part of the only team to win two BlancPain Endurance events this year) are the only big names I can think of who practice both drift and grip racing. Why not add your name to the mix?
Twitch_6 Not to dis Fredric, as I don't know his background exactly, but to honestly be a top tier race car driver, your training needs to start at a very young age, and drifting is not racing. There are many race drivers that have crossed into drifting. Foust, Grunewald, T McQ, Ng and others. Other than light forays due to sponsorship (Goosh), none of the drifters cross into racing competitively. There is a reason race car drivers look at drifting as a lark, to them it is. I am not trying to bash these professionals in FD, far from it. they ARE elite drivers. But they are not racing drivers. I think this would be a fantastic question for Behind the Smoke or FD's web show to cover, from the drivers that do cross the lines.
And no, we aren't talking Doriken here. He's goddamn unique and we all know it. Nob, Orido and Dk are the only exceptions I can think of anywhere to having a drift beginning successfully making it into racing.
FormulaDrift FredricAasbo Speedhunters Driftfotos http://twitter.com/Renev56/status/647672421776949248/photo/1
Thank you!
Nail on head - what you're talking about here is pretty much exactly what I'm contemplating venturing into.
There's a lot of things I want to accomplish within drift Still. But I've always liked Rallycross and with the growth of Supercar RX that could be an avenue for me in the fuure - BUT it's a totally different ball game in terms of funding, not to mention the skillset needed to do well. If I were to head into rallycross, the right way to do it would be to have a three year program with committed partners that allowed me a real shot at getting up to speed.
Some sort of spec or touring car race class would be fun too. Or even trying out some short course truck racing in the States...
Drifting is damn cool, though!!
Glad to hear your looking at lots of options.
In respect to what @D1RGE said, I don't think anyone would expect Aasbo to jump in a PWC or BlancPain GT3 car and be anywhere near competative...that's more like a 10-20 year goal. Van Gisbergen was racing in V8 Supercars and GT3 before drifting competitively, so he's one of those rare people.
That said, I don't think GT4 or equivelent, or a lower level of TC is definitely attainable. I don't know how it works in Europe, but in both American series, the Pirelli World Challenge, and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, Am and Pro-Am drivers are mixed in with the Pros. CTSCC uses the classic Pro + Am driver combo in the Street Tuner class. PWC TC and GTS classes feature a mix of driver levels. PWC also provides a comprehensive ladder to climb, with the GT3 cars being the top.
Point is, there is a lot of racing out there where you don't need to be a Max Verstappen to be competative. Actually, Patrick Dempsey is a good example. He started racing competitively as an adult, worked his way through the lower levels of sports car racing, and is now competing in the FIA WEC, and doing very well to boot.
It's really amazing to see how far you've come since seeing you at rudskogen in the bmw you started with. Your career in drifting has really been a truly inspiring one.
At the same time, for me personally, it has been a little bitter at the same time.
After seeing you and Kenneth smoking up the track, I thought to myself that this is something I want to try, so I bought myself a Nissan S14 and started to build, but I bit of more than I could chew, and the build went one step forward and two steps back.
But finally I had the chance to test it at rudskogen, and I met you there Fredric, at this point, you were in the white supra.
I remember you looking at my car for close to an hour, looking at everything I had done, under, inside, the engine and so on.
I remember you saying you liked my car, and you wee impressed by it, the blue S14.
Sadly, that was the last time I was out on track with it. I had so many technical problems, and I was stuck having to do everything myself.
But I still remember following you and seeing your progress, and how impressed I was with your driving. I am still hugely impressed with your driving and I love seeing you drive at rudskogen, even though it still is a little bitter.
I gave up and sold my car earlier this year, but still, I hope one day that I have the chance to get passed by you, in good ol' Østfold.
Good luck Fredric, I'll be watching round 5 from the sofa, cheering you on.
Good times! And thanks for the kind words... Guys like you continue to push me further in what I'm trying to do. And remember that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
Don't forget this will likely be the last time the House of Drift will be...
I love Tuerck's off season videos. I would love to see a video with you, Ryan, Chris, Vaughn, Mad Mike, and Matt Powers swapping cars and giving some feedback to the fans about the different handling characteristics of snappy little cars like the TC and MX5 vs the medium sized S14, FT86, RX7 and RX8, the big grunty Mustang and your old Supra. It would really add something to our appreciation of the different approaches to drifting that pro drivers take and adapt to.
Please Speedhunters... Make it happen.
I love Tuerck's off season videos. I would love to see a video with you, Ryan, Chris, Vaughn, Mad Mike, and Matt Powers swapping cars and giving some feedback to the fans about the different handling characteristics of snappy little cars like the TC and MX5 vs the medium sized S14, FT86, RX7 and RX8, the big grunty Mustang and your old Supra. It would really add something to our appreciation of the different approaches to drifting that pro drivers take and adapt to.
Please Speedhunters... Make it happen.
Forrest wangs going to smoke your ass
dont drop a tranny 
sincerely, #VH8TER CREW
Forrest wangs going to smoke your ass
dont drop a tranny 
sincerely, #VH8TER CREW
I really hope the judges dont pull the same stunts they did last time.. everyone know what im talking about. i really really hope you dont get boned by favoritism like some drivers did last time around. it was just horrible to watch the better drivers always loose to a guy that really had no reason to be in top 16 at all.. alec hannadale and forrest wang got the short straw and suffered this curse more than any other i think.. it was just bad. i wish you the best of luck Fredric, youve definetly earned this years podium in my book. cant wait to see you back at gatebil!
MarbMack I'm 100% sure that will never happen. Vaughn is sponsored by Ford, Mad Mike is sponsored by Mazda, Aasbo is sponsored by Toyota/Scion. When was the last time you saw Vaughn in a car that wasn't a Ford? When was the last time you saw Fredric in a car that wasn't a Toyota? When was the last time you saw Mad Mike in a car that wasn't a Mazda?
Ekoumvak I'm guessing it's going to be their biggest livestream audience ever...
Ekoumvak I'm guessing it's going to be their biggest livestream audience ever...
MarbMack That does sound awesome, imagine a battle day with all the top drivers randomly drawing another driver's car? Buuuut I think Louis is right on why this couldn't happen!
what's next? hmmmm, maybe rally, wec?
Forrest chokes as much as LeBron
I'm sure WRX or GT racing would be possible for you to transition into Fredric, and even though the skill set is different there is a lot that will be transferable, and I bet your ability to race side by side will be pretty high up there! Good luck with whatever comes next, I'd love to be in your well earned position !
I'm sure WRX or GT racing would be possible for you to transition into Fredric, and even though the skill set is different there is a lot that will be transferable, and I bet your ability to race side by side will be pretty high up there! Good luck with whatever comes next, I'd love to be in your well earned position !
Good luck, hope you win it all
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