AUTOBLOG Article on FORMULA D

[courantcom]

Please do not attempt to stir up controversy by falsely accusing or insinuating that Nuformz Racing or Samuel Hubinette had anything to do with the way that this author's opinion was formed.

Thank You,
Brad Manka
Nuformz Racing Inc.

I'm not at all trying to insinuate anything. I'm more trying to find out if this is how the author truly felt after his experience. Moreso, I'm also trying to find out if the author spent time with other teams.

[Formula D]

Just a sidebar for those interested....

The data we keep at events allow us at any given time to look at a plethora of cool information on judging. From qualifying speeds of drivers and comparing those to tandem leading speeds, to what each judge scored each driver on each run in qualifying and tandem. We can see how many OMT's and what judge scored each driver in each of those OMT's. We can see how often a judge uses OMT and we can see if they use it for certain drivers. Most importantly we can see trending of how judges vote.

From those trends we can easily see from the current event all the way to the beginning of the season how each judge voted on every single qualifying and tandem score. We can very easily see if there are patterns of consistency or if one judge votes in conflict with the other judges and how often. We can see how each judge votes for each driver and we can see if a judge stands out alone while the other two voted another way. In short, we have these measures in place so we can speak with confidence and have hard data if there is an allegation made against a judge, i.e.: "Judge X only votes for guys with X tires." With our data we can look at that accusation and see if there is any validity to it. No accusations have been made to this point this year.

The Autoblog has done many stories on FD. This is not new. This writer was just describing the make-up of the series and the sport. We of course knew they were there and the context of the story. Certainly the fact that a DA member is on the judging panel is noteworthy and certainly for a media outlet. We are keenly aware of what people might say regarding certain individuals. That is why you do your due diligence and research people's feelings regarding changes on the panel and also have things in place like our data capturing that allow us to speak intelligently if any question does come in to place.

As of now, we have seen no impropriety amongst the judges. They have been pretty dang consistent. Whether or not you like that consistency or agree with it is where the subjectivity of drifting plays its most critical role.

[Slapshotnerd]

Just a sidebar for those interested....

The data we keep at events allow us at any given time to look at a plethora of cool information on judging. From qualifying speeds of drivers and comparing those to tandem leading speeds, to what each judge scored each driver on each run in qualifying and tandem. We can see how many OMT's and what judge scored each driver in each of those OMT's. We can see how often a judge uses OMT and we can see if they use it for certain drivers. Most importantly we can see trending of how judges vote.

From those trends we can easily see from the current event all the way to the beginning of the season how each judge voted on every single qualifying and tandem score. We can very easily see if there are patterns of consistency or if one judge votes in conflict with the other judges and how often. We can see how each judge votes for each driver and we can see if a judge stands out alone while the other two voted another way. In short, we have these measures in place so we can speak with confidence and have hard data if there is an allegation made against a judge, i.e.: "Judge X only votes for guys with X tires." With our data we can look at that accusation and see if there is any validity to it. No accusations have been made to this point this year.

The Autoblog has done many stories on FD. This is not new. This writer was just describing the make-up of the series and the sport. We of course knew they were there and the context of the story. Certainly the fact that a DA member is on the judging panel is noteworthy and certainly for a media outlet. We are keenly aware of what people might say regarding certain individuals. That is why you do your due diligence and research people's feelings regarding changes on the panel and also have things in place like our data capturing that allow us to speak intelligently if any question does come in to place.

As of now, we have seen no impropriety amongst the judges. They have been pretty dang consistent. Whether or not you like that consistency or agree with it is where the subjectivity of drifting plays its most critical role.

This is a good thing!! Props to Formula D

How available is this information to teams / media if they were interested in seeing it? Any interest in releasing statistics of note at some point, maybe during the offseason when things are slow? I'm sure some of them would sound like baseball statistics, but I think that info is fun to read every now and then.

[Bebop]

I agree, it would make great filler for anouncing.

[Formula D]

How available is this information to teams / media if they were interested in seeing it? Any interest in releasing statistics of note at some point, maybe during the offseason when things are slow? I'm sure some of them would sound like baseball statistics, but I think that info is fun to read every now and then.

We have shown some of the data to teams who have asked, but overall statistics is something we have really been focusing on more seriously the past few years. We have accumulated most of the basic stuff (wins, how each drivers placed at all the events, etc) and some of that is built into the existing functionality of the current driver pages on the website. However, we would like it to be more in depth and archived better with different options that may include judging data as well. Something for the future.....

[NNog]

How can a spectator easily determine the outcome of a match but takes the judges 2 one more times to determine a winner?

You said it yourself. that is the reason majority of the FD fans are not fit to be judges. These group of 3 guys get a lot of respect from their peers, although sometimes there may be a disagreement with the call but from the events i've been to seem to be very fair.