Formula Drift Round 4 – The Gauntlet

9:26 AM Sunday morning. One of the team’s mechanics is pounding on my door looking for his backpack and bottle of Johnnie Walker that luckily the police did not confiscate the night before. Stumbling to the front of the room, I run into a concierge cart that mysteriously found it’s way to our hotel room. I reroute to the bathroom and stub my toe on a cooler that is overflowing with PBR and other forms of liquid shame.

We take a few minutes to recollect on the events that took place in the 24 hours prior that resulted in two citations and a hospital visit, but we quickly realize it was a lost cause and just chalk it up to “this is drifting.”

From what I understand, there are a number of Canadians that have photo documentation of what happened off the track. If you one of those Canadians, and you are reading this, e-mail me at AG@illantic.com and I will post up the photos of the madness.

Until then, here are photos from what was, surprisingly enough, the least chaotic portion of our weekend.

Behind the smoke

There was a serious lack of wind this weekend at Wall Speedway in NJ, the drivers reported having a hard time seeing through the lingering clouds of tire smoke.

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Matt Field drove like a rock star yesterday, he put up a great fight after hitting the wall in qualifying.

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Formula Drift Rd 4

Matt Waldin in the HELIX Drinks 350Z put up a good fight in his rematch with Otto Graven from Round 3 in Palm Beach, but in the end Otto came out on top.

Formula Drift Rd 4

Due to outrageous flight prices and a busy July schedule, I will not by flying out with the team for Round 5 in Seattle, but we will be firing on all cylinders in Vegas. If you come out for Round 6 in August, be sure to stay an extra night and celebrate my birthday with us!

AG

Shredding up the LBC

Honestly, if I even wrote about half of the things that happened to us in Long Beach last weekend, I don’t think any of you would believe me. Let’s just put it this way: I’ve been home for 5 days and I’m just now recovered enough to put a post together.

Matt Waldin

I went out with Matt Waldin and his HELIX Drinks 350Z to kick off the start of Matt’s first full Formula Drift season. Matt has already shown the world he is capable of becoming a serious contender, and with the help of HELIX he’ll now be at every FD event.

Matt Waldin

Waldin v Ng

He definitely did not leave his new sponsors unhappy. They were thoroughly impressed with his performance, qualifying 13th overall and making it into the top 16. Pictured above is Charles Ng spinning in the top 32 round, advancing Matt to the big show.

'murca

Salute

Petty Burnout

#Winning

Waldin v Powers

In the top 16 Waldin went up against Matt Powers in his V8 S14

Waldin v Powers

It was a close tandem, but Powers came up on top. Waldin officially finished 14th for the day, a personal best in both qualifying and final position. Not a bad way to kick off 2011.

Formula Drift Long Beach 2011

Formula Drift Long Beach 2011

S13.5

Walker Wilkerson

Walker Wilkerson was impressive this weekend, if he makes it out to Atlanta it’ll be interesting to see how he fares with attempting a 4th gear entry in that thing.

Walker Wilkerson

Dai

And unfortunately all good things have to come to an end at some point. When all was said and done we packed up the rig and got cleaned up so we could go out on the town with some good friends after a great first showing.

San Pedro, Ca

Next up: Dirty South. Atlanta time.