Browsing around and doing some pre SEMA website hunting for Drifting information on the Internet we noticed that the Bridgestone Drifting subsite has been removed from the Bridgestone company website. Judging that Bridgestone is a huge company with agencies behind their web promotion it would appear that the website disappearing is no mistake. After three years involved with Formula D they put rubber on many drivers and made a great impact in the sport. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of economic things to come. If they have left drifting we will need to stay tuned to where Rhys Millen and Daijiro Yoshihara will wind up in 2009. Hopefully we can get you more information when it becomes available.

Old Bridgestone Link: http://www.bridgestonetire.com/drifting/

(you will have to copy/paste this into your browser)

I was standing 4th in series ranking. It was impossible to catch 1st and 2nd unless they didn’t qualify but it was still possible to catch 3rd place and the person who was standing in 3rd was Rhys. Yes, I got to beat Rhys!

In the practice session on Friday, I hit the wall:.(
OMG! That was pretty bad… I thought it was over and, I was so disappointed. But my great mechanics TJ and Tim worked on the GTO over night and they fixed it! They did not slept at all. They are my hero!

They fixed the car perfectly, it was the time that I had to do well. I was a little too fired up and tapped the wall slightly, but was able to qualified 5th place.

In the best 16 round, I went against Takatori. Right before our match, Rhys was knocked out. It sucked for him but honestly I thought that was a big chance for me to get the 3rd place overall!
I tried my best. but because I was being very aggressive, I got too much angle and couldn’t take an ideal line but I was on his ass whole time when I followed him. So I thought I won but unfortunately, Judges didn’t give me a win. My 08 Formula D was over then… I feel very sorry that I couldn’t give reward to my mechanics who did over night work for my stupid mistake.

Well, the season was over. It was a very regrettable way of ending for me, but I got 4th place overall and it’s not bad for my first year of left hand drive in an American car.
And special thanks for all my sponsors including Bridgestone tire, Verison Wireless, PacificRim, KW suspentions, SPARCO USA, Exedy Racing Clucth, GT CHANNEL.
And Doumo Arigato for everybody who support me and came out to the event.
I had a great season:)

We still have the Redbull World Championship next month!

We kind of randomly recapped some of the awards but we wanted to put all the awards in one place that were issued at Sunday’s Formula D banquet at V20 in Long Beach.

2008 Formula D Awards:
Driver of the Year: Ryan Tuerck
Spirit of Formula D: Patrick Mordaunt
Superstar of the Year: Tanner Foust
Best Style: Daijiro Yoshihara
Biggest Rivalry: Rhys Millen Vs. Everyone
Hardest Charging Driver: Robbie Nishida
Best Tandem Battle: Robbie Nishida Vs. Tanner Foust (FD Las Vegas - Round 1 of top 16)
Most Improved Driver: Stephan Verdier
Rookie of the Year: Michihiro Takatori
Team Owner/Manager of the Year: Eddie Kim (Hankook Team of Joon Maeng/Robbie Nishida)
Mechanic of the Year: Shawn Hiller from the AEM/Rockstar Energy Drink Team

Daijiro Yoshihara looked great this whole season in the reformed Pontiac GTO of RMR Motorsports. Most drivers have some struggle under a new platform and the difference between a S15 and GTO are great. Daijiro Yoshihara looked great all season and was noticed by Formula D for it. His fight almost brought him into a championship this year as well. Daijiro has been hanging in the top five for sometime now and should be ready next year to strike hard for the gold, keep an eye out for him in 2009.

2008 Formula D Best Drifitng Style: Daijiro Yoshihara

With such an amazing event to finish the regular season you cannot miss this gallery. Cars flying into each other, buddies smashing each other’s cars up, cars hitting the walls, and even cars hitting after the judges cones at the end. It all happened and some drivers even got tossed way up in the air. Don’t miss this gallery from Formula D Irwindale.

Check out the gallery:

http://wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=69

Check out Friday’s gallery sponsored by Bosch from the House of Drift. We have some great footage of unseeded qualifying and the late night top 32 practice. This event was looking to be a great one as we rolled into the main event with a championship on the line and victory on everyone’s mind. Check out all of our great coverage from Formula D.

Check out this Formula D Irwindale Gallery: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=68

Well if you look at the images above you will find that Daijiro’s 2007 drift machine ran the same 009 FD plaque as this red Nissan 350z. We have confirmed with Dai and other sources that this car is not his or is not related to him. It does seem that someone just slapped on his old plaque on the car pictured above. While we haven’t been able to get an official word on why this was on the car it seems that the car owner is Andy Kim from Performance Nissan.

Don’t get your feelings down since SEMA and the 2009 season are right around the corner and we have a feeling that many more people will be switching up rides for the new season. People we are not even expecting in cars you wouldn’t think but for now we look forward to Daijiro just JAMMIN out in this Bridgestone Tires Pontiac GTO! Good luck at Irwindale Daijiro!!!!!!!

These got sent to us on a tip from a reader today. He said these were taken at the Japanese-American museum a few days ago. It looks to be that Ken Gushi’s Scion tC was on display along with a new Nissan 350z with a Formula D badge numbered 009 and Yoshihara. The number #9 has been run by Daijiro Yoshihara for the 2008 Formula D season on his Bridgestone Tires Pontiac GTO. Noteably the car is sporting some Yokohama decals so we cannot find out any information. This car doesn’t seem to have any affiliation with RMR (Rhys Millen Racing) other than the matching HKS sponsorship but we really cannot seem to find out much other than that. We aren’t really sure about this car and haven’t been able to find out much information but is it a potential 2009 Drift car that snuck out early? Send us any tips or information you have on this project.

How can you forget about all of the great action from the 2007 Formula D season? Well in case you didn’t make it to all 7 stops or you cannot quite remember all the amazement that happened like Sonoma 2007 then check out the trailer that Livesocket x Formula D just released and you might want to consider picking up the DVD that comes out next week on Tuesday.

Watch the Trailer: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/2007-formula-d-dvd-trailer-

Daijiro Yoshihara who pilots the Bridgestone Tires Pontiac GTO has teamed up with Pacific Rim to produce this limited “Yoshihara Make You Holla!” tee. This shirt is available in two color ways including cyan (seen above) and green. Make sure you grab this shirt while supplies last available only at Pacific Rim!

Buy this shirt: http://www.iloveracing.com/product_info.php?products_id=1343