March 2010

Another phenomenon happening up in the Northwest is the increase of locals getting picked up as corespondents for  various motorsports media outlets or starting their own.

Local wordsmith Lucas wrote an excellent recap and his partner in crime Yoshi provided the snaps. When complemented on his writing Lucas humbly replied "Yoshi provided the music and I just wrote the lyrics".

The Lucas/Yoshi recap can be found over on Motor Mavens.

Justin Shreeve has also lent his video skills and he re-branded his "Nothing to Worry About" video from the 14th and posted it on Motor Mavens as well. Big thanks to Antonio for giving the local kids a chance!

Cold Track Days is a local blog started by a car guy that has achieved national notoriety and audience. CTD has given several local folks a chance to showcase their writing and photography. Danny Sullivan contributed his photos and text to the Cold Track Day's coverage of the 14th.

Danny Sullivan's recap on CTD.

Make It Rain is a bunch of the kids that drive and volunteer at the Evergreen and SCCA Drift events. They also contribute by posting up the various happenings and media from our neck of the woods. Check them out!

Make It Rain's Invitational coverage

Thanks to all the writers, photographers, and video guys who show off our scene and let the world know what's happening in the Northwest!

On Sunday 3/14 Evergreen Drift hosted a  pre-season Invitational.

The event was originally planned to be a closed shakedown practice for the Evergreen Drift guys with FD Pro licenses to test for Long Beach. The event quickly snowballed into a full practice for Pro and ProAm drivers plus a media day to get footage for a 2010 season promo video. Apologies to all the drivers who didn't get 'on the list". We still love you!

Hit the jump to see the all the photos plus details on the exciting new hot lapping format we tested out.

With a field of solid experienced drivers we took the chance to try out a new course format. Instead of taking one run on only one side of the 3/8ths bank we allowed drivers to take 3 consecutive laps and connect both sides of the 3/8th together road course style.

Cars stage up on the 5/8ths and enter and exit the course just like a freeway onramp enabling us to run a constant stream of drivers around the track giving the fans more action and drivers more runs.

The course can be run in both clockwise and counter clockwise (or anticlockwise as the Brits say) to make two very different tracks.

The 'Anticlockwise' configuration featured a very challenging decreasing radius corner at 'CW2'. Some people hated it but others loved it. It certainly forced drivers to adapt by going from 3rd to 2nd and slowing from 50mph to 20mph make the tight corner.

The new course format was super fun but the added strain of 3 consecutive laps and the preseason gremlins conspired to keep a lot of drivers in the pits for long periods of time. The drivers that stayed out of the pits got in an insane number of laps.

The hot lap style course is so much fun we're hard at work figuring out how to make it work for the Open Drift days. The difficulty of the course is a bit much for beginners so we'll likely have two skill groups and run the old style course for beginners and the hot lap course for the advanced run group.

There were a bazillion media people in attendance. Here is a walk through of their work. Be sure to check out the links to see the rest of the photo sets.

Photo >>>

Jeff Santaigo -

Brad Elder -

Yoshi Shindo -

Tyler Coray -

Danny Sullivan -

Jesse Ian -

Gwag Designs -

Abbitt Wilkerson -

Brandon Thai -

We'll let you look through these photos and then hit you with the videos tomorrow.

Evergreen Drift requests all drivers who intend on competing in the Evergreen Drift Northwest ProAm Championship contact us for the purpose of scheduling a pre-season drivers meeting.

Evergreen Drift Northwest ProAm Championship Series Description -

This is a regional championship that allows pro and amateur drivers compete for the title of Evergreen Drift Northwest ProAm Champion. This five round championship provides a platform for drivers to compete against the region's elite drifters on a recognized and demanding professional course at the Northwest's highest attended track. With rounds scheduled in conjunction with the Formula Drift professional Seattle round and the season finale during the Evergreen State Fair competitors will receive top exposure. For local drivers this represents a great value with lower travel costs to maximize your budget.

Additionally, this Formula Drift ProAm sanctioned series will award the the following license and invitations to the season's highest finishing amateur drivers:

• #1 ranked - A Formula Drift Professional License
• Ranked #2 - #5 - An invite to the Formula Drift ProAm National Championship with a chance to earn a FD Pro license.
• Wildcard - Evergreen Drift officials will award one additional invitation to the ProAm Nationals.

Schedule of Events -

The most up to date schedule for all Evergreen Drift events can be found on the Schedule page.

Competitor Eligibility -

• This series is open to any driver who's car and safety equipment meets the Evergreen Drift ProAm regulations and has the skills to compete on the Evergreen Drift 5/8ths course. This includes drivers who currently hold a license with any professional drifting organization.

How to get invited to the meeting -

All interested competitors are requested to fill out the Meeting Registration form.

The meeting is tentatively scheduled to take place at Canyon's restaurant in Monroe, Washington at a date and time to be announced. Competitors are encouraged to attend in person but a conference call will be set up to allow participation for those who can not travel to the meeting.

Do not miss this chance to learn everything you need to know about the series at this important meeting! Register today.

ABOUT EVERGREEN DRIFT

Evergreen Drift is the Northwest’s Formula Drift Pro-Am Affiliate series located at Evergreen Speedway, the home of Formula Drift’s Seattle round.  Heading into our sixth season, Evergreen Drift’s events include a Formula Drift sanctioned Pro-Am Affiliate championship series, open drift events, a local amateur competition series, and an instructional drifting school. These events provide a complete program for drivers of all skill levels to participate and advance their skills from beginner to professional. Evergreen Drift’s challenging track and competitions attract the best drivers from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and beyond providing intense drifting action enjoyed by our dedicated fans.

All the latest news and information about the Evergreen Drift program can always be found at www.EvergreenDrift.com.

Evergreen Drift | 14405 179th Ave SE | Monroe, WA 98272 | drift(at)evergreendrift.com

ABOUT FORMULA DRIFT

Entering its seventh season, Formula DRIFT is recognized as the North American professional drifting championship. Established on the streets of Japan, drifting has evolved into a worldwide competitive sport that challenges each driver’s driving ability and vehicle control. Formula DRIFT provides a forum for professional drifters to compete in 7 events nationwide for the coveted Formula DRIFT Championship crown. As the first official series in North America, Formula DRIFT has taken competitive motorsports to the extreme attracting fans and car enthusiasts from all walks of life and establishes itself as the global focal point for the Sport. For a race schedule and ticket information, visit: www.formuladrift.com.

Guess what? We have another '09 ProAm Nationals Edit!

Grady Nugyen is the equally talented compatriot of the well known photographer Linhberbgh Nguyen and both are partners in the KINOD Collective photography project.

In fact, your's truly hooked Grady up with media credentials at one of his first pro drift shoots at the Formula Drift Red Bull World Drift Championships.

Grady is branching out into the video medium and turned in a top quality and artsy  take on the ProAm Nationals.

Via [Cold Track Days]