As we wait for the FIA Intercontinental Drift Cup to publish its rules that were due back on July 15th, Formula Drift has announced that it will work with the Irish Drift Championship (IDC) and the British Drift Championship (BDC) to make accessing FD easier from 2018.
While Formula Drift co-founder Jim Liaw says that this isn’t a response to the current situation with the FIA, it does show that Formula Drift is still on top of things when it comes to ensuring more and more drivers from around the world can enter the series.
The original goal of the FIA Drifting Working Group was to create a centralized set of rules for all drifting series, and while that hasn’t happened yet, Formula Drift has been committed to the idea since the formation of FD Japan and FD Canada. That will be the biggest change between the three series: a formation of an alliance to develop universal rules and regulations. It means that car building, scoring, and other regulations would be similar for all three including licensing. IDC and BDC champions will receive a Formula Drift Pro license while drivers ranked 2nd to 8th in each series will receive a Pro2 license starting next year.
So, while drivers from around the world are teased that the Drift Cup rules links just loop back to the entrant page on the official website, drivers in the IDC and BDC will be able to jump over the Atlantic to the US and compete in the US Formula Drift Series officially and without petition (if they win the championship).
However, again, Jim Liaw stressed that this is not an anti-FIA move. As he pointed out on Facebook, “I am a member of the FIA Drifting Working Group. We have had loose relationship(s) like this in the past with various international organizers at various levels plus we co-operate Formula Drift Japan and Formula Drift Canada. This is just a more formal and official step into a relationship. (The ultimate) goal is to bring drifting closer together and to get like-minded organizers to work together.”
David Egan, CEO of Zigen Promotions who owns the IDC and BDC, had this to say in the press release: “Professional drifting has witnessed a dramatic increase in global popularity and professionalism within recent years and I feel that much of this success can be credited to the ambitious and methodical approach of the Formula Drift championship.” He also stated that while the IDC/BDC have done well on their own, they have looked towards Formula Drift as a “world leader for inspiration from afar.”
As we wait with baited breath for the Drift Cup to finalize, Formula Drift with the IDC and BDC continue the end goal of the FIA Drifting Working Group: to bring the sport of drifting to a global scale.
With that in mind, what do you think this will ultimately mean for professional drifting? Sound off below.
Words by Justin Banner
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I think it will be easier on drivers themselves and the whole team to have 1 standard car that can attempt all the pro events and similar rules will make the drivers more comfortable.
But also I think they have to keep an outlaw class or something like this for the guys with wild ideas, that's how you improve rules. And sure the small budget builds with local events will always keep the amateurs happy.
I am really into this "Outlaw" group that you presented. Might be something as Group B of drifting, maybe without getting banned? Those type of cars challenged engineers, drivers, audience. I just hope drifting won't become something like NASCAR or F1, and be in a league of its own, that of course at the same heights, qualities and more as the previous mentioned racing types/championships.
Drifting is pretty much the Group B of our era, we just haven't realised it yet.
I've never even considered making that connection, fucking hell you're so right though!
You have no idea how long I've waited for someone in this professional field to say this. The only thing that I'd have to correct/complete around this fact is that drifting is becoming more of a circuit race. That is why I've retained myself from saying it's the present Group B. But it's the only Motorsport remaining with the same unlimited power, drivers rawness and impact as a feeling. The biggest gift of drifting is that is one of the few if not the only Motorsport that it's timeless, and by that I mean also the fact that it doesn't use time for scoring(which for me would ruin the conception of drift).
Depends on the venue, because drifting can work in different locations.
This is an old Polish event, which has since been shut down:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpHi_n_N7ZU
The need to revive this, like yesterday.
Yup, well aware of that event as I had to edit some shorts with crashes that happened in 2012. That year was amazing. Although King of Europe held the event last year in Karpacz, it is possible to have drift events over there in the future, so that's why I have some hopes that drifting will be much different than F1/NASCAR due to its amazing diversity.
Well sounds good and synchronized. Let's see what's the outcome of these new rules if implemented!
Regards,
http://www.timsautobodyinc.com
I think this is a great initiative by the series' involved, and forges the way for a set of regulations to be created by those responsible for driving drifting forward for so many years. Exciting times.
Top 32 recap with no commercials can be viewed in less than 45 minutes. The entire live stream takes more than 5.5 hours. What is important now is figuring out how to reduce this 1 minute of action to four minutes of BS ratio. Competition is great for competitors but drifting is supposed to be a show/spectacle much like Monster Jam. We used to share venues with stunt bikers, motocrossers and such with an emphasis on excitement from beginning to end. The shows weren't perfectly polished but it seems like instead of trying to improve the product, they trimmed "areas of costs".
Maybe I'm putting the carriage before the horse but it seems like there are a bunch of issues that need to be taken care of before inviting foreign competition over. It's not going to look so good when we have more eyes from all over the world watching and we're dropping cars off rollbacks while "not drifting" for the majority of the time.
Good point. To piggy back off of this, I'd like to see less time waiting for people to fix their cars. 5 minutes would be great if that was all it took, but we've all stared at an empty track for 20 minutes waiting that 5 minutes.
I'd be interested in seeing a FD event in a future season with no time to fix your car. If it can't make it around the course for 20 seconds a few times a day than it's too fragile. No rules limiting power or other aspects that we like to see, just reliable cars. The car doesn't run, than your done. The outrageous and interesting builds can still happen, but we get to see them running.
@VC You wait the 20 minutes for the 5 minutes because it takes time to actually transport the damaged vehicle from the track to the paddock space of the team. They are designated 5 minutes as soon as they get their hands on the car, and it is timed. Maybe ask the flatbed driver to work faster or something. This isn't an issue in the round of 32 and 16 because there is usually another pair ready to go. But as soon as you dip into the top4 zone, there just isn't much you can really do but wait. There is no real solution to this.
Also, I believe if you don't give competitors time to repair their vehicles, shady scenarios can potentially go down.
Example:
Competitor A, in the chase, can ram into Competitor B "by accident" during a battle to the point where Tech will deem the car Not Safe for competition. Competitor A will now have a deficit going into the second run of the battle. But Competitor B's car is now disabled and can no longer compete because he doesn't have allotted time to make repairs on the car. Competitor A wins because Competitor B never made it to the start line for the second half of the battle. Competitor A gets ample time to repair his car for the next battle.
I wonder if they could make a rule change to have chassis mounts on the vehicle for lifting from the top. They usually have equipment for moving k rails and the heaviest cars are only 3000lbs. Why not lift them topside instead of the flatbed?
The safety issue is a good point. I can definitely see people trying to sneak one by the officials.
Maybe a slight format change where something else is run between each matchup. Possibly giving everyone time to keep it safe and keep the show interesting.
I know not all the lower tier driver's can make every event, but maybe running another category between the pro runs would be fun to watch or bring in something fun like stunt riders to keep the crowd entertained. I believe someone above mentioned this as well.
the thing woth running the "sideshow" or in between entertainment that is the same as the main entertainment doesnt work in my experience. Needs to be completely different to break it up, if they tied in with Rally X or time attack or something, thatd work
I agree with the side show. It would be great way to keep the audience entertained while teams are making necessary repairs. I've seen other series bring out stunt bikes before and they're usually crowd favorites.
I guess it's agreed then. Drift Gods! Make it so!
I love how Formula D just assumes its the best "the first winner of BDC and IDC get FD licences 2-8 get Pro 2"
Have a look at the Champions of FC
04 - Sam Hubinette - Sweden
05- Rhys Millen - New Zealand
06 - Sam Hubinette - Sweden
11 - Dai Yoshihara - Japan
12 - Diago Saito - Japan
15 Fredriccc Asabo - Norway
Not to mention, not a single US driver has won rookie of the year.
The Yanks done even dominate their own series, let alone the world stage, FD is just big because of the population and hence the sponsorship $$$$$
The worldliness of FD's lineup is part of the reason it is the best. The BEST drivers / cars from around the world in one competition. There are plenty of highly competitive Americans as there are plenty of highly competitive drivers from around the world. It is a series ran mainly in the USA but the competition is world renowned.
Of all the pro series' that I've shot or attended, it is the best with regards to driver skill level, car preparation and presentation. It's the only drift seres I've seen that feels like proper motorsport. For most drivers I know, it's the series they aspire to compete in. Make of that what you will.
Skill is open to interpretation, you just need to look at the style/ suspension setups of the cars to see the "type" of drifting is different to everywhere else.
Prep and presentation comes down to sponsorship $$ which comes down to market size / population.
As for feel that's personal.
You like it as do many, many others, that's great. I don't, I happen to think it's popularity is entirely down to market size and marketing / sponsorship bucks which are all intertwined.
Much the same as the NBA bring the world most popular basketball league, NASCAR (the shittest Motorsport ever) is the most popular spectator sport in the world etc etc.
Population , marketing , sponsorships
I don't think skill is open to interpretation. I'm genuinely curious to how you think the drifting is a different 'type'? This season in particular has been some of the best drifting and battling that I've seen anywhere, ever.
Sometimes, I think people just hate on FD because it's the cool thing to do.