Sunday, May 9, 2010

Formula Drift 2010 @ Road Atlanta

 was always curious about Drifting and had seen enough and more videos but when i got a chance to see it, there was no way in hell that I'd miss it. 
Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally oversteers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while maintaining vehicle control and a high exit speed. A car is said to be drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle prior to the corner apex, and the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa), and the driver is controlling these factors. 
the above is obviously not the stuff that i can type out. pulled it out from Wikipedia. 


Formula Drift is a championship which is held nationwide and features some top notch teams and privateers. its very much like INRC that we have. privateers who impress the sponsors get sponsorship deals. Need For Speed did sponsor one such privateer. 
enough of digressing. This event that i went to was held at  Road Atlanta which is a motorsports park. 
they have a calendar of events covering all types of track races. This is known to be one of the best racetracks too (they claim). The days events actually started in the noon with free practice for all participants starting at 2pm. I planned my travel such that I'd reach there by 1pm just so i could get to see these cars up close. I parked up and walked towards the Paddock/Pits area.passed by some nice cars on my way...
went ahead to the Paddock area where all the participating cars were being worked upon. I wanted to get a close up look at these cars coz there has to be something magically different in these cars to make them go sideways.Just as i entered, my attention went towards to the far corner of the area where i saw tyre smoke and rumbling V8's. it was the dodge stall !!

















and those V8's rumbling were Challengers and Chargers in SRT 8 HEMI's. they were drifting in a track made specially by Dodge. this had nothing to do with the actual competition. stood and watched it for a while and then i saw this..a board which said FREE THRILL RIDES .
  
oh yes. thats when i realized that the passenger seat was part of the thrill ride on these drifting 425HP V8's. left the rest of my paddock visit to air and got in line for this ride of a lifetime.this is where my eyes where stuck on all through the wait for my turn. 
and when my turn did come, what a ride it turned out to be..watch this video and esp the 2nd half which is just phenomenal. must watch








guess what , i got greedy and went again  :) while i was waiting for my 2nd turn, this is what this guy with the charger did...he did this super awesome burnout...!!

after all this adrenaline rush, i went to the track coz the knockout session had already begun.i walked up to the viewing area and marked up my space. it was gonna be at the spot where i could get as close to the cars as possible at a turning. no zoom zoom on my camera (busted). 
and then it happened..the 350Z ,which was fitted with a V8, that was on the track cracked its gearbox and went
around spewing oil all over the track.



so now come the cleaning squad. its a long process with a truck dragging along a bag of ash and some other stuff that absorbs oil. then a tractor comes with a huge blower which blows off all the dust and all the debris. after this brief disruption came the action !! ..this is an event worth visiting and guess what,it only gets better after you know the rules. i understood that well enough to know whats going on.
the race eventually resumed.

phew.the knockout session was incredible. watch my video coverage of the race.

a video of the line up and launch



Don't forget to watch the picture slideshow below  
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