The Formula Drift series travels around the US with 7 events spread out over 7 months. June 21st, the series stopped in the Northwest at Evergreen Raceway in Monroe, Washington just outside of Seattle.
Radium Engineering has discovered that most drift cars have fueling issues and regularly deal with fuel starvation related problems. As a result, our Fuel Surge Tanks have become very popular in the sport.
We attended the event as a vendor and brought our Lotus Elise along as a display vehicle (it is not a drift car).
Friday, qualifying and practice day was overcast with a little rain.
Northwest local Walker Wilkerson says a prayer before a practice run, or maybe he was adjusting his helmet....
Rhys Millen warms up his tires before a practice session. There is no shortage of tires with a Hankook sponsorship.
Robbie Nishida fixed his previous fuel starvation issues with the recent addition of a Radium Dual Bosch 044 Fuel Surge Tank (horizontal mount) for his SC300.
Scion was on hand with a group of FR-S vehicles that were drawing a crowd.
Speaking of the FR-S, Ken Gushi is piloting this prepped 2013 FR-S in the Formula-D series. It is powered by a Cosworth 2.5L Subaru engine.
Local Kyle Pollard put down some clean runs in his RHD S13 Silvia. He uses a Radium Dual Bosch 044 FST (vertical mount) for his Tomei powered RHD S13. Kyle qualified and made the top 32 and put up a good fight but was beat by Matt Powers.
Car damage is part of drifting. Drivers and crews work frantically to make repairs between runs.
Justin Pawlak was looking solid in qualifying and practice. Justin was leading the series in points, but was knocked out in the first roung against FD rookie Jeremy Lowe after a controversial call.
The fellas from Doc Race (a Portland-based fabrication team) check out this S13.
Lots action throughout the day.
Radium sponsored driver Andrew Coomes put down a couple runs at his home track. He solved fuel sloshing problems in the 2011 ProAm season after integrating a Radium Bosch 023 Fuel Surge Tank. Andrew just missed qualifying by a few points.
Defending champ Dai Yoshihara during practice.
The infamous Mike Kojima gives some coaching to Darren McNamara.
Back at the Radium tent, the Lotus grip car was drawing a crowd.
Our staff was available to answer any and all questions about our products.
Saturday was sunny and the crowd showed up in a big way. Tire smoke was the dominating fragrance.
The qualifyers from the previous night were getting as many practice runs as they could before the evening competition started.
Pit crews were busy frantically trying to keep the cars on the track. Michael Essa's BMW Z4 was damaged beyond repair from contact with the wall.
Justin Pawlak watches as the crew quickly replaces front suspension control arms after a minor crash.
The top 32 were widdled down to 16.
Robbie Nishida hit the wall early in the competition and was not able to continue competing.
Vaughn Gittin Jr. walked away with the win and is now currently first in the standings in front of Daigo and JTP.
Full Write up's on the event can be found here:
Speed Hunters
Formula-D Official Results
A'PEXi//A Lap with Pat Mordaunt//Formula D Seattle 2012//SullyLife from David Sullivan on Vimeo.
A New//Formula Drift Seattle 2012 Highlight//SullyLife from David Sullivan on Vimeo.
We had a great time at the event and were glad to see so many people. Will we be at the season finale in Socal? hmmm.....