FORMULA D Qualifying Results?

[PerfNissan]

Who qualified today (Sat) at Irwindale? Ive been searching all the sites and havent seen anything. Was there a press release with the results or does anyone have it?

[Slapshotnerd]

there were 4 drivers who are allowed to drive in formula D:

Brian Norris (black S13 from Kaaz)
Lance (pink ae86)
Hiro Fujita (green ae86 from the bay)
Ryan (White coupe with red door, i guess he's from New Hampshire, friends with the DA guys)

there were 6 drivers who have 'reserved spots' at the san diego drivers search, as they showed good potential, but weren't consistent enough for the 'big show' just yet. I don't have that list of names.

EverythingDrift.com has more than 600 pictures that we're sorting through, we will have the coverage up shortly

[Vosko]

congrats ryan!

[PerfNissan]

from what I was told...

1-4 were given FD licenses, then 5-10th places were guaranteed spots at the San Diego qualifier

any info on the other placements? Verena told me she was #11 so she barely missed making the guaranteed placement for the SD qualifier.

[brainfood]

There were some things that should have been done to make it better for the drivers. They should have run the track on the other straight where there was no start/finish stripe. They might as well have run the full course with as many people that crashed as it was. I went there with the impression that the feeder series was going to be full speed courses not gymkana there isnt one formula d event that is as slow as the event yesterday the oval was very "driftable" and could have been run at higher speeds imo. I just think that if they made the changes to the venue with the "drivers" in mind then they should have done something that made sense from the drivers stand point. I am lucky to be one of the ones that didnt hit the wall and luckily had no close calls but I felt horrible for those that did. Heres hoping the next events wont be rained on.

[NHDrifter]

from New Hampshire? What part?

[Al]

I think about 35+ out of the just over 40 drivers that drove yesterday would agree it was a wasted event with horrible planning. There were some things that should have been done to make it better for the drivers. They should have run the track on the other straight where there was no start/finish stripe. They might as well have run the full course with as many people that crashed as it was. The way my car is setup it was almost impossible for me to drift that hairpin. either bog in 2nd up the bank or off the rev limiter in 1st. I went there with the impression that the feeder series was going to be full speed courses not gymkana there isnt one formula d event that is as slow as the event yesterday the oval was very "driftable" and could have been run at higher speeds imo. I just think that if they made the changes to the venue with the "drivers" in mind then they should have done something that made sense from the drivers stand point. I am lucky to be one of the ones that didnt hit the wall and luckily had no close calls but I felt horrible for those that did and for all of us that wasted the $180 on 8 runs at one of the most dissorganized events I have ever been to.

If you are complaining about the track lay out then you are diffinitely not good enough to adapt to a new track lay out for other events.

All FD events last year wasn't all about just pressing the gas. That lay out was similar to Sonoma on the first turn.

Competition events and Driver Search events are not practice events. Don't come out if you think you're going to get seat time. Did you bother talking to the judges or event organizer regarding the track lay out? Maybe they could have explain it to you of why.

A 90HP corolla got second place.

-Al

[Slapshotnerd]

There were some things that should have been done to make it better for the drivers. They should have run the track on the other straight where there was no start/finish stripe. They might as well have run the full course with as many people that crashed as it was. I went there with the impression that the feeder series was going to be full speed courses not gymkana there isnt one formula d event that is as slow as the event yesterday the oval was very "driftable" and could have been run at higher speeds imo. I just think that if they made the changes to the venue with the "drivers" in mind then they should have done something that made sense from the drivers stand point. I am lucky to be one of the ones that didnt hit the wall and luckily had no close calls but I felt horrible for those that did. Heres hoping the next events wont be rained on.

Alex Pfeiffer explained in the drivers meeting that it was setup that way so that the 'hometowners' wouldn't have a home-field advantage of having experience running the bank. The weather conditions were absolutely terrible and extremely inconsistent yesterday (rain, then dry, then rain, then dry) which created lots of headaches, but there was nothing anybody could do. There were really only a handful of people who actually crashed (the 300zx, the beat-up D/A car, the green FC, the pink FC who seems to be attracted to walls, who else?). I think more people crashed at the D1 drivers search last month.

it was a very tough course. That's why Taka only hit it one out of 3 runs in the exhibition (with a spin and a kiss of the wall happening in the other 2 runs). I think the theory was if people can't drifter the smaller, more technical courses, why let them run the high speed larger courses at the Formula D events?

there's still another qualifier in SD, and there may be more beyond that. let's not get too pissed off just yet...

[Sketch13]

I crashed.. (the red Sileighty). I agree, the surface was extremely inconsistant. At least my runs for both the practice and comp were done in the rain, I feel sorry for everyone that crashed as a result of dry practice sessions followed by wet comp runs.

[Slapshotnerd]

I crashed.. (the red Sileighty). I agree, the surface was extremely inconsistant. At least my runs for both the practice and comp were done in the rain, I feel sorry for everyone that crashed as a result of dry practice sessions followed by wet comp runs.

ah yea, that's right. you were the 2nd car out (which made me $5 poorer). heh...

how bad is the car? you were back out there later, right?

[brainfood]

I did talk to the event organizers I had a 15min. phone convo with Naoki my first post when I re-read wasnt how I meant it to be that is why I edited it. I was just putting out the opinions of how I felt and the impressions I got from all the other drivers I talked too. A lot of what I posted were things I heared in the pits and not expressly my opinions either. I was posting feedback that needed to be said now all that disagree or dont like it I dont really care its the truth and its how people felt yesterday. Maybe looking back at it they dont feel that way realizing the organizers and judges were doing what they could. But when you say it was a difficult course and we shouldnt whine, well when a d1 licensed driver and also the judge of the competition tells you before the qualifier that he couldnt complete the course and then another judge and d1 licensed driver hits the wall during one of his demo runs what do you expect. This is a "feeder series" in my opinion it should be there to give good drivers a chance to prove themselves and the judges should be looking for ability not a d1 level driver. Any licensed driver still has to go to the event and qualify so I firmly believe that instead of screwing over people that might have some talent but were thrown by either having a bad day or the rain or the course layout people should be given another chance. I think if they are looking for good drivers they should have run the full course and if they didnt want a home field advantage then they should have run it backwards or changed it up but still run a full speed course. My car was setup for high speeds with a lot more mechanical grip which in the end screwed me both on tire choice and suspension setup im sorry to say that but I was having no problem on the banking even though it was wet and I came to drift a formula d level course and was disapointed when it wasnt. And I still stand by the fact that they should have run on the other straight and they should have moved the starting gates closer to the first corner. The people that were completing the course were not pushing at all on the banking because there was no way to slow down in time for the hairpin if you went full out on the banking you couldnt slow in time to make the transition and downshift into the hairpin. And I think the judging showed that the awesome runs from Brian Norris were only 90's? because he had to carry less speed than anyone would have into the first corner. In the end I was just stating some opinions from me and other drivers that I heared or talked to, and I know it was hard for everyone and stressful being in the rain and the changing track conditions but thats racing and I will be out to drift another day I was fine with the outcome because I didnt hit the wall so my car isnt down for next months comp. or the possible feeder series in march.

[brainfood]

for the record the essay I wrote was not a plea for a handout, I had a bad day and my performance wasnt anything was what I am capable of I didnt deserve a license and I know it but I am better than what I was yesterday.

[kidynomite]

Paragraphs are your friend.

In response to the little I did read though:

I think the term feeder series is a bad term for this thing. Using that word implies more of a practice than it is supposed to be. These events are drivers searches, I just think DA/FD did not want to use the term since its most popular with D1.

The way I see this now is that DA (and all thier subsidiaries) have thier Drift Days as practices for the search. You are supposed to be attending those to get your skill level up and bring your a game to the "drivers search".

The purpose of doing things like this is to eliminate poor competition, even though you have to qualify at the actual FD event that doesn't mean there shouldnt be tough competition there. Big complaints last year were that the top finishing was very skewed, and that largley has to do with the small amounts of good competition. Now with this series the 60 or whatever people that show up to FD should all be at similar levels.

I wasn't there but from what I am hearing it seems to be somewhat on the right track. I like the fact that they had a different setup removing bias. A good driver should be able to drive anywhere anytime, anyone can perfect one course, but that won't prepare you for Formula D.

[Motdyn-Ls1fd]

If you are complaining about the track lay out then you are diffinitely not good enough to adapt to a new track lay out for other events.

All FD events last year wasn't all about just pressing the gas. That lay out was similar to Sonoma on the first turn.

Competition events and Driver Search events are not practice events. Don't come out if you think you're going to get seat time. Did you bother talking to the judges or event organizer regarding the track lay out? Maybe they could have explain it to you of why.

A 90HP corolla got second place.

-Al

And do you think that 90hp corolla will be competitive in formula d?

[kidynomite]

And do you think that 90hp corolla will be competitive in formula d?

Apparently the judges do, and the judges have all driven in FD events.

It at least is better qualified than the rest of the competition.