Formula D announced in the middle of the Las Vegas event that Red Bull would become an exclusive partner for a World Series event at the Piers of Long Beach on November 15th, 2008! This comes as huge news to the Drifting community who was wondering what would happen to the traditional All-Star event. More details on an exact location and information will be coming soon. The event will be invite only driver wise. The top 16 drivers at the end of the 2008 Formula D points season will be guaranteed a seat in the event along with 16 other invited international drivers. Rumors have already been spreading they are speaking with drivers from New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland and more! 

Vaughn Gittin’s car remains in Los Angeles during Friday practice as it is having motor issues currently. This is the second event in a row Vaughn Gittin has been unable to perform due soley to car issues.  He had to forfeit his top 16 first round run against Chris Forsberg as he was unable to get the car running. Vaughn has been hunting for a car all day and has been rumored to be driving Forest Wang’s 240sx? We will keep you posted on if that will happen. The real question is why cannot Vaughn drive Darren McNamara’s Saturn Sky? We will try and see what is going on at the track here in Vegas.

We just received word that Darren McNamara’s was held up at U.S. Customs and was sent back to Ireland! His perfectly running Saturn Sky is sitting inside the Falken rig with no one to drive it. He was carrying an improper visa while trying to enter the United States and was sent back home to Ireland on the next flight. This comes as a huge blow to Darren who was a top 10 driver before the event started. Darren will fall out of the top 10 after this event and spend the rest ofthe season playing catch up in the points chase. We will try and find out why Falken didn’t have a work VISA for Darren when trying to enter the United States! We will keep you posted.

NOPI Drift fired all their judges last year (Wes Hamichi, Jacob Leveton, and Ernie Fimxer) in what seemed to unfold as the worst move of the 2008 season for them. The 08 season without them present launched with controversy in Miami and resulted in some reorganization off the bat. Apparently Formula D admired the talents of Ernie Fixmer a little more than the NOPI camp and has hired him as the new judge for Formula D! Ernie had this to say!
“I am very excited and honored to have been chosen to fulfill this responsibility as a Formula DRIFT judge, and hope that my contributions will help the development of this motorsport, not only in the United States, but internationally,” said Ernie Fixmer, Formula DRIFT judge. “I believe that my experience will help guide my input so that we, as a collective panel of judges, continue to make fair and unbiased decisions.”

We will see former D1 driver Ernie Fixmer in action on the stand in Las Vegas.

Jim from Formula D sent us a nice picture of Oridio’s car before it was boxed up and shipped to the USA! We will be on the case next week to get you photos of Alex P’s car and the Aristo in Vegas next week!

More crazy news continues to develop for the Vegas event on the 11th/12th here! Maybe it’s the heat that is making people go crazy but we just got word that Alex Pfeiffer will be stepping back behind the wheel to compete in Formula D. The judging panel still currently remains at two and it also seems to be unclear as to what car Alex P. will be hopping into. The RSR Honda s2000 has been retired for some time but hopefully we can see the return of the gorgeous BRS Auto Design Mazda Rx-7! Time shall tell….Vegas goes live in 8 days!

After a couple days of gossip, rumors and conjecture flying around the Internet forums it appears that the Super Autobacs Skyline has finally received some official mandates from Formula D. The Skyline team last made headlines when they formally protested qualifying after Takatori received a 5th place position and a score of 93.00. (http://wreckedmagazine.com/blog/2008/05/11/a-protest-of-qualifying/) Te following was posted on Drifting.com earlier today and it’s not very clear as to who the source of this information is. Hopefully Formula D or someone will send us some more information to shed light on the situation!? If Takatori is deemed ineligible, a top 5 driver will be inactive as of Las Vegas next week.

The Team SA R34 has recently been deemed ineligible for the Formula DRIFT series in it’s current state. The team has been accessed several fines, penalties, and faces possible removal from the series if the issues are not remedied.

The main issue stems from the vehicle’s current OEM front strut suspension setup. The setup, being OEM, is in compliance with the Japanese version of the rulebook but apparently not with the English version according to the current interpretation. Despite the suspension setup remaining OEM and from the same chassis, Formula D currently has deemed it ineligible. The decision has come as quite a shock to many in the series as a decision to allow the Scion tC to compete in the series seemingly put to rest the same issue at the start of the season. The decision effectively made the chassis, not the model, the deciding factor in vehicle eligibility. (a decision we are very much in agreement with) Unfortunately, for Team SA, consistency with this ruling is not being seen, leaving many to wonder how level the playing field is when what applies to one vehicle, does not apply to another.

The other question that has been left unanswered at this point is why, if the model of the car is now the deciding factor instead of the chassis, the current OEM suspension setup on the R34 has not been allowed. Considering that it is using OEM parts and does not give the vehicle an unfair advantage, the question remains. We must also note that several other vehicles in the series have more drastic changes in suspension design. Are these suspension changes unapproved and deemed ineligible now as well? At this point, we cannot comment on the situation as we have more unanswered questions than answers.

Formula DRIFT has yet to respond to requests for a description of the appeal process to this decision, or a detailed list of previously given rule exemptions. We fear that neither exist, and the series is unprepared for this type of action. The lack of both puts several vehicles in the series in question. Formula DRIFT Chief Steward has already stated that “we have several other actions pending with other competitors,” leaving us to wonder if they will be subject to the same fines and penalties.

Despite the rulebook’s lack of a appeal process, or a list of previously allowed exemptions for specific vehicles, and TIME, Team SA is continuing to explore options to have this decision overturned, seeking a sense of consistency, balance and fairness to be restored to the series.

Tanner Foust will be representing for Drifting on NBC for the Top Gear USA series. We are excited that our sport will be exposed over basic cable for this show. Hopefully Jeremy Clarkson will come make some cameo appearances.

Here is the deal from NBC.

Top Gear has just officially announced who will be hosting the U.S. version of the popular car show born in the UK and now officially scheduled to appear on NBC sometime this fall, and the winners are… (drum roll, please): Adam Carolla, Tanner Foust and Eric Stromer. Everyone knows Adam Carolla, of course, having watched him hit the big time hosting The Man Show with Jimmy Kimmel. He now hosts his own nationally-syndicated radio show called “The Adam Carolla Show”. Tanner Foust brings some actual professional driving cred to the show with a resume that includes stunt driving in “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” and “The Dukes of Hazard”. He’s also a winning rally driver, has medaled in the 2007 X-Games and hosted “Supercars Exposed” on the SPEED Channel. Eric Stomer was the last to be cast and when you see him, you’ll probably say “I know that guy.” He’s hosted an HGTV show called “Over Your Head”, was a former soap-opera actor and spent a lot of time in construction (and on construction-related TV shows). Guess we’ll pick him to win the amphibious vehicle challenges. We surmise that producers may have picked Stromer because he’s a hunk of man meat, but also because he can bring in a big female audience from his time spent on HGTV.

The press release after the jump also reveals what each host drives, and as you would imagine, Carolla (who will now be referred to as Jezza Jr.) sports a garage full of Lamborghinis, Maseratis, two Ferraris and an Audi S4. Foust makes do with a simple, tricked out BMW M3. Stromer… a Camry Hybrid. Something tells us Stromer better come equipped with a thick skin. So what do you think? Does Top Gear USA now appear better suited for success or does the show have Bucket of Fail written all over it?

We cannot say that these events are tied together or if any of this makes sense at all but as the season ticks along we are left with many questions about the largest team in Drifting today. Mickey Andrade was slated to be our Industry Insider this month due to his high stress and high impact job of managing the largest Formula D team at Falken Tires. He served us with one of the best interviews we ever read then e-mailed us earlier this week and asked us not to post it.

So tons of speculation could be served about Mickey’s departure but we don’t event want to waste our time with speculation because their are plenty of random facts we can chew on for the time being. We have received word from current employee’s that OTHER employee’s left over the past week with Mickey. Not sure if they are related but it seems that Falken will have several new faces in Englishtown next weekend. The bigger question and story for the season seems to be related to the car posted above us…..where is the heck is Calvin Wan’s 350z Convertible?

This car seemed pretty complete at SEMA but the only new cars we have seen out of the Falken camp are Ross Petty’s car (built by Garage Boso) and Darren McNamara (his new Saturn Sky) that was rushed to be built first since his AE86 had to be sent back to Ireland. Why isn’t Calvin Wan’s car done and where is this car Vaughn Gittin Jr. should have that we keep hearing about!? The season is almost halfway over and Falken seems to have more questions floating around them than answers. One thing seems to be sure……with Mickey off the crew chief box for the rest of 2008 it doesn’t seem like Falken finding it’s way to victory in 2008 got any easier.

Cliffnotes: Mickey from Falken Tires is gone along with other employee’s. We still haven’t seen Calvin Wan’s 350z this season or Vaughn Gittin’s new Mustang.

Samuel Hubinette continues his movie stardom by being a stunt driver in the sequel to Crank called Crank 2 with Jason Statham. Samuel Hubinette was spotted on the set driving an ambulance while Jason Statham was driving another vehicle in what appeared to be a chase. Rumors have it our crazy swede will actually have a line in the film! The movie is speculated to begin seconds after the first film as a true sequel. Rumors have been circling about a new moving bullet-time camera rig that Mark Neveldine created for the production will be a huge hit in innovative filming. Drift ya later dudes!