Friday, there was a massive storm heading towards the speedway.  We really had no idea when it would hit, just that it might be sometime during qualifying.  As we went through qualifying, the rain held off and we made two solid passes.  As we were pulling into the pits and getting ready to head over to the drivers meeting to get the official results of qualifying, the storm moved in.  I’m originally from the east coast so I’m no stranger to adverse weather but this storm moved in faster and stronger than any storm I had ever seen!  In a matter of minutes, we went from a light rain to practically hurricane force winds!  We pushed the car farther into the pits and literally held down the awning with straps as debris started flying through the air.  A few minutes later, the storm passed and we went out to survey the damage.  Luckily, we had little to no damage but there was a ton of carnage all around the pits.  One tent had even been blown up and onto a power line!  I finally got word that I had qualified in 6th place and that our evening practice session was canceled due to the mini-apocalypse that had moved through the track!

Saturday was a new day and most importantly a clear day!  We got a few practice laps in and were ready for tandem.  Our first run was against Walker Wilkerson, who is currently the highest ranked rookie in Formula Drift.  He really came out of the woodworks and has been driving very well for his first year in competition.  Our first run with him was pretty solid, I lead through the course and although he had made a couple corrections, he stayed close behind.  On my chase run I stayed right up with him on the straight to make sure we were together on the bank, however Walker’s drivetrain broke on the straight and we rolled together to a stop while he was trying to get his car into 3rd gear.  He signaled his car was broken and we were given the win since there was no way he could fix it in 5 minutes.  Next we faced Ross Petty, who has been a force to reckon with ever since he made the switch to a V8 engine.  On my lead run, Ross followed closely which meant that I needed to stay closer on his.  As we pushed into the last corner, Ross carried in with a little too much speed and as his rear tires pushed up onto the steep banking, he spun.  We were now moving into the Top 8!

In top 8, we went against Daijiro Yoshihara, who has been a contender for the Formula Drift Championship almost every year.  He is also one of the most consistently fast cars on the course so we decided to tighten up our car a little bit in order to gain some extra speed.  As we pushed down the straight, we were side by side but as we went into the first corner, he flicked out into a slight feint entry maneuver and his rear bumper almost came into our car.  As I initiated, I steered around him but at this point, I felt I was off my line so I made a correction and got into the throttle but as I was adjusting I lost grip in the front end and hit the guard rail.  As I was trying to drive off course, Formula Drift officials told me to stop because both of my driver side wheels were broken with flat tires.  We called 5 minutes and were towed back to our pit where Kevin and Sergio were waiting, along with the Bergenholtz and SHR crew guys.  The car hit the ground and the clock started.   They immediately jacked the car up and started ripping the wheels off; Kevin inspected everything for damage while Bergenholtz taped the hood down.  Kevin said that the suspension was good so the guys slapped on new wheels and tires while he adjusted the tire pressure.  Kevin also said the alignment looked okay except that the front camber and toe were off but as long as the back end was ok we could still control the car.  Bergenholtz cleared a path for me as I headed back to the line to make my second run.  As I tore down the straight for my lead run, I had a little bobble on the entry due to the crooked front end but then it drifted through the rest of the course quite well.  Although we did not get the win, we were able to give the crowd a great second run and also show them how dedicated we are to getting back out there to complete our runs!  I cannot say enough about the level of camaraderie in the drifting paddock, it is truly is amazing and is why I love drifting!  I hope it never changes.

We finished the event in 6th Place overall, and maintained our 4^th Place Championship position.  There is only a 30 point spread between 2nd and 6th so it’s all still up for grabs!

Chris Forsberg

]]> http://www.chrisforsberg.com/blog/2010/12/13/2010-fd-video/feed/ 0 http://www.chrisforsberg.com/blog/2010/08/10/kdf-x-cfr-x-fd-washington/ http://www.chrisforsberg.com/blog/2010/08/10/kdf-x-cfr-x-fd-washington/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:27:54 +0000 NOS Drift Team http://www.chrisforsberg.com/blog/?p=1306 Continue reading →]]> NOS has partnered with the Keep Drifting Fun fellows (Will Roegge and Joshua Herron) to produce some of the best drifting footage on the net and they have come through again. KDF and CFR are both using the best POV cameras out today CONTOURHD’s and shot this entire video using only CONTOURHD cameras. With a little KDF editing magic, this is one of the most creative drift videos to date!

Click Here to see some pics from the guys over at Wrecked Magazine that came out to shoot a little behind the scenes…

Even more exciting is this announcement….  The NOS family has a new member, it’s Jarod DeAnda, which is amazing because Jarod’s commitment to drifting is as strong as most drivers, spreading the word about drifting and educating fans all around the world.  His character has brought color to our sport and now he will be bringing that same color to the NOS brand.

The NOS Energy Drink Drift Team was out at the world famous Road Atlanta Raceway this past weekend for the second round of the 2010 Formula Drift Championship.  The team was coming off a 10th place finish in round one and a 1st place finish in the Formula D Team Drift Challenge both in Long Beach, CA last month.

With temperatures in the mid 90’s and off the chart humidity, the Mishimoto cooling system was working at full capacity keeping  the NOS Energy Drink Nissan 350Z running flawlessly. Team owner and driver Chris Forsberg put the Nissan in 8th place after qualifying on Friday.

“Even though I was melting while I was suited up in the car,” said Forsberg, “the Mishimoto radiator kept the engine cool allowing me to get the job done.”

Fortunately, the temperatures cooled on Saturday for the main event making for a perfect day for the thousands of fans that came out to see the best of the best. Forsberg slid past Cyrus Martinez in the Top 32 bracket to be paired with two time Formula Drift champion Samuel Hubinette. Hubinette and Forsberg were so close to each other during their tandem runs they had to run the course twice to allow the judges to make their decision. Ultimately, Forsberg defeated Hubinette moving him to the Great 8 round of tandem competition where he faced off with Ken Gushi. A critical error by Gushi caused contact between the two cars. Forsberg would earn the win, but his steering was now damaged. The Chris Forsberg Racing crew grabbed their Genius Tools and was able to get the car in near perfect condition to continue the final rounds of competition.

In the final four, Forsberg faced drift veteran Daijiro “Dai” Yoshihara. Dai was on the top of his game the entire day clocking some of the fastest entry speeds in the field. Forsberg piloted his injured NOS Energy Drink Nissan 350Z through the course keeping up through the main corners, but today was Dai’s day and the judges gave him the tandem win. Dai went on to defeat Vaughn Gittin for the overall win.

Forsberg was next paired against Michael Essa to decide 3rd place. Essa was running his personal best event, but Forsberg’s consistency and skill proved too much for Essa and he finished his personal best of 4th place overall.

“We’re very excited to have a solid finish at Road Atlanta,” said Forsberg. “We didn’t get the result we wanted in Long Beach, but this will give us some momentum going into New Jersey and put us back in contention for the Championship.”

The podium finish puts the NOS Energy Drink Drift Team in 5th place in the points standings heading into the 3rd event of the year at Wall Township Speedway in Wall, NJ on June 4th & 5th.

Check out pictures from the event

The V8 car was still a lil cracked up from the Sonoma weekend. But Seibon thought it was a nice touch since their products are used on professional race cars.

I was able to get the SR car finished for the show and put it out on display as well. It was nice to get that one back together and ready to run.

Overall it was a fun event and gave us some time to talk to some of our fans outside of the racetrack.