F-bodies represent! Apparently, the 3rd Gen. had some issues and didn't run today, but the top 2 cars were American muscle cars and the winner was a Pontiac GTO! Apparently, in Formula D, horsepower is king! (take that, ricers!)

 

wow, if I knew they were up to that, I would've tried to make it out..

 

Yeah awesome car (the yellow one). Unfortunately the pic was taken after it was crashed (check out the drivers side strut mount! ouch!). We got a thread about it running on the domestic drifting forums with action shots before the crash, here's a quick link for you:

DriftingForums.Com :: View topic - long beach pic drift camaro

I wasnt at that event but I heard Samuel Hubinette driving the Dodge Viper SRT10 won 1st with Rhys Millen driving the GTO coming in second. Not sure though. The domestics have been making a statement in the Formula Drift series, last seasons champ was also driving a domestic. And earlier this year JR won 1st place in a D1GP event driving the new Mustang platform, that was a first!! (D1GP is the Japan Pro league). I'm gonna have to disagree that horsepower is king though, its all the drivers skill. The platform they drive dosnt really matter as long as its tuned to drift. Props to them drivers!!

 

 

On second thought, I think you're right. In the first run of the final (Viper leading), the Viper pulled out to a pretty sizeable lead but then got sideways right before the final turn and the driver stopped to prevent pitching the car into the wall, blocking the GTO from continuing. In the second run (GTO leading), it looked like the GTO had the better line from my vantage point, which was a pretty decent view of about half of the track. I think the GTO was the crowd favorite, but the scoring for drifting is rather interesting and highly subjective.

I agree that drifting is heavily dependent on driver skill, but it seemed to me as though the higher horsepower cars had an easier time keeping the wheels spinning and righting themselves when they got a little too sideways, although there was a Nissan Skyline running that looked like it had some serious power.

I wish I would have seen the 3rd Gen. run (it was an oldie, too - '82 or '83.)

 

Went out today to have a watch.. was definitly cool since after five was free. Got to watch the guys drift for around 15 minutes or so, and the speed world challenge guys after. I really enjoyed it.. there's nothing like seeing/hearing these guys in person.. its quite an experience.

as for the thirdgen/firstgen camaros, neither were running today. I am very dissappointed with the thirdgen, though.. What bugs me is the paint/sponsor decals and how the car simply looks cheap.

 

I have a question... that bar up on the firewall... that's semi bent. Is that to make the hood bend up in the middle to clear the motor? Because I'm building a road race firebird, and I don't REALLY want a cowl hood but I have a high rise manifold and need to clear it. Is this how he's getting that hood to pop up in the middle? And if so, where did he get a hood wide enough that it didn't create a gap.