Josh Bretz, staff writer
Formula Drift is the American version of Japan’s D1 Grand Prix which had its inaugural season in 2000. The company was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 and had its inaugural season in 2004. 2015 will be Formula Drift’s twelfth year of competition.
Drivers get a day and a half for practicing on the track and tuning to get the optimum performance out of their cars. The second half of the day two starts the beginning of the qualification rounds, each driver is given two opportunities to qualify for the top 32 tandem fields.
Each qualifying run is judged on three criteria: Line, Angle and Style. All drivers will make two qualifying passes, in reverse order of the current season standings (drivers with 0 points will start the qualifying while the current season points leader will finish off each round of qualifying). In the event of a tie, the driver with the higher style score will earn the higher qualifying position.
Judging criteria:
Line: The drift line is defined as the ideal path a vehicle must take on a course and is marked by inner clipping points and outer clipping zones. The exact line of each track will be dictated by judges at each track, and will often push the drivers to use the entirety of the course from “wall-to-wall.” The ‘Line’ judge will give a whole number ranking from 1 to 25 based on how well each driver followed the prescribed line.
Angle: A single judge will monitor the overall slip angle the drivers uses over course of the qualifying the qualifying pass, rewarding a driver with more points for pushing the limits in as many places as possible. Steering adjustments should be minimal mid-corner, and transitions should be smooth from one corner to the next to maximize points. An angle score from 1 to 25 in whole numbers will be provided.
Style: The ‘Style’ judge will monitor the overall smoothness and excitement of the run, giving a score from 1 to 30 in a whole number. Aggressive flicks, closeness to the wall, extreme angle, degree of difficulty, fluidity and extreme proximity to the lead vehicle (in case of head-to-head competitions) are examples of how personal driving style can be showcased. Additionally, both the Line and Angle judges will provide a style score between 1 and 10 in whole numbers, supplementing the Style score from a different perspective.
The full racing schedule can be found at http://www.formulad.com/schedule
Formula Drift is the American version of Japan’s D1 Grand Prix which had its inaugural season in 2000. The company was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 and had its inaugural season in 2004. 2015 will be Formula Drift’s twelfth year of competition.
Drivers get a day and a half for practicing on the track and tuning to get the optimum performance out of their cars. The second half of the day two starts the beginning of the qualification rounds, each driver is given two opportunities to qualify for the top 32 tandem fields.
Each qualifying run is judged on three criteria: Line, Angle and Style. All drivers will make two qualifying passes, in reverse order of the current season standings (drivers with 0 points will start the qualifying while the current season points leader will finish off each round of qualifying). In the event of a tie, the driver with the higher style score will earn the higher qualifying position.
Judging criteria:
Line: The drift line is defined as the ideal path a vehicle must take on a course and is marked by inner clipping points and outer clipping zones. The exact line of each track will be dictated by judges at each track, and will often push the drivers to use the entirety of the course from “wall-to-wall.” The ‘Line’ judge will give a whole number ranking from 1 to 25 based on how well each driver followed the prescribed line.
Angle: A single judge will monitor the overall slip angle the drivers uses over course of the qualifying the qualifying pass, rewarding a driver with more points for pushing the limits in as many places as possible. Steering adjustments should be minimal mid-corner, and transitions should be smooth from one corner to the next to maximize points. An angle score from 1 to 25 in whole numbers will be provided.
Style: The ‘Style’ judge will monitor the overall smoothness and excitement of the run, giving a score from 1 to 30 in a whole number. Aggressive flicks, closeness to the wall, extreme angle, degree of difficulty, fluidity and extreme proximity to the lead vehicle (in case of head-to-head competitions) are examples of how personal driving style can be showcased. Additionally, both the Line and Angle judges will provide a style score between 1 and 10 in whole numbers, supplementing the Style score from a different perspective.
The full racing schedule can be found at http://www.formulad.com/schedule