(2011 PREDICTIONS) Drifting

[ontrack]

I predict...................WHINING.

[wesismyhero]

I agree about the Maxxis situation. I've never ran the z1 tire, but I am running the v1 tire and love it!! I've beat them to death and they take all of it. I talked to Kevin from LS Auto (Forsberg's mechanic) and he went on and on about the z1. If the discontinue the z1, what would that mean for the BDC since Maxxis was one of the main sponsors? I'd really like to see a few other manufacturers such as Kumho, Federal, Dunlop, Goodyear and General get back into FD. Those brands are huge sponsors in Japan, Canada and the European series. Why not here?

[D1 DRIFTER]

just think of JR's mustang on 235's this will make 2011 interesting

[Bebop]

I agree about the Maxxis situation. I've never ran the z1 tire, but I am running the v1 tire and love it!! I've beat them to death and they take all of it. I talked to Kevin from LS Auto (Forsberg's mechanic) and he went on and on about the z1. If the discontinue the z1, what would that mean for the BDC since Maxxis was one of the main sponsors? I'd really like to see a few other manufacturers such as Kumho, Federal, Dunlop, Goodyear and General get back into FD. Those brands are huge sponsors in Japan, Canada and the European series. Why not here?

Kumho was in formula d in the beginning but didn't want to pay to play

Federal was around in 08/09, and they were on the approved tire list this year

Dunlop is represented in FD as falken....and vice versa(D1)

Goodyear's marketing demographic isn't geared toward FD in the states, they are very active in FD asia though.

Cotinetal/General tires can def make in big impact in FD if they develop a proper tire

I think there are more then enough tire suppliers in FD. But I question some of there quality, nexen is making waves with the N9000. But I dont think cooper has a single tire that can match up to the NT05, RS2/3, MAZ1, or the RT615K.

[wesismyhero]

I didnt know Federal was still on the list. I remember the Federal s13 in 08. I think pretty much it's boiled down to Hankook, Falken and Nexxen.

[Bebop]

This list was released mid year 2010

This list and appendix K are what I really want to get my hands on for 2011

[wesismyhero]

I agree, I want to see that list for 2011. I would like to see at least one sponsored car running Federals in 2011. I don't remember anybody running them in 2010 and I think only Denis Martzenis was running Kenda. I had read before you could petition to have any tire company put on that list as long as it met certain specs, I wonder how hard of a process that is.

[wesismyhero]

Has anybody heard any news on Drift Emporium dropping out and Titan coming into FD?

[Bebop]

Matt Waldin was running Kendas toward the end of the season....

I haven't heard much about Titan during the off season. But I did hear that Takatori was still interested in driving his VQ S15 or something similar to that next season. Nice idea for a turn key drift team don't ya think?

[D1 DRIFTER]

i think these news rules will cause cheating. plain and simple. weight will be added to cars in places not "legal" adding lead inside of cages and hell even foam or anything else

[boxmod]

Maybe with the new rule people will express some creativity and fun instead of a LS1 in everything.

it was ok when you had it but now that others like it... its bad?

someone need some attention? lol

[Slapshotnerd]

i think these news rules will cause cheating. plain and simple. weight will be added to cars in places not "legal" adding lead inside of cages and hell even foam or anything else

how is adding weight "cheating" ??

In drag racing, people would build crazy tube frame chassis cars that would be 200-300 lbs underweight... but that allowed them to add weight ballasts in places that were advantageous to them. For a FWD drag car, this meant as low as possible as far forward as possible. If you make weight, it doesn't matter whether that last 300 lbs is metal in the unibody or a big giant piece of led over the front or rear axle, as long as it's all on the car.

I really really like this rule, I just hope that the growth and contraction of a tire from different levels of heat doesn't cause anybody to be DQ'd like the infamous "Tiregate" in Atlanta.

[Justin Banner]

Ballast is also dealt with in the rule book. It must be approved by FD, cannot weight more than 5 lb.s per brick (generic term), and cannot use more than 100 lb.s of ballast. Ballast can be placed anywere on the chassis, so long as it's between the firewall and before the rear axle.

I think I already have my topic for my next article, New Rules, Rumors, and Truths.

[Slapshotnerd]

ah, I just read that part. I still think it's a great rule, thru and thru. This will force teams to think a little bit more about how much weight they want to build the car to and what size tire they want to run. Unfortunately, this will also limit some teams as not all tires are available in all sizes, so if the build ends up running lighter or heavier than planned, they might not be able to get the tire size they were aiming for.

PS - I wonder if stereo systems will count as "ballast", a-la Ross Petty in the S13 w/ the subwoofers in back

[my 1 88 u]

I hope J-Rod does his homework on the car weight and tire sizes. I'd love for him to announce it as they run.