Once again Formula D makes the stop in my hometown Seattle, Washington! This is always one of my favorite events because, not only is it my home track, it’s also where we see the Northwest grassroots drivers come out and show everyone what they’re really are made of. Seattle has a way of making people rise to the occasion!
Earlier in the day, I received a phone call from Rob Primo telling me that practice was rained out. It was very disappointing because practice is my favorite time to shoot the cars on track. Seattle strikes again. However, she can be forgiving at times. A couple of hours later I received another call from Rob. The rain had stopped and the track was dry. Practice was on again! I think you already know that I quickly grabbed my camera gear and drove straight there before Seattle had a chance to change her mind. So, I guess you can thank beautiful Lady Seattle for what you’re about to see.
Ian Fournier‘s windshield banner might look a bit off since it’s the Pro-Am banner. He wasn’t able to drive with the Pros because he was a couple of days late registering – he wasn’t sure if his car was going to be finished. That’s a big disappointment since we all wanted to see him make Top 8 with his new Nissan VK56 V8 like he did last year at Irwindale.
One of the cars in the Formula D lineup that I always love to see on the track is Joon Maeng‘s Bergenholtz Racing RX8. If you haven’t heard this thing in person, you’re missing out!
Rob Primo made it back from his Alaska trip just in time to compete in Pro-Am. His Garage Autohero built Toyota 2JZ-GTE motor was running strong during practice. I cannot wait to see more of this car over the next two days! Be on the lookout for a full feature on this car in the near future!
Cyrus Martinez was one driver today who stayed glued to his leading driver all day long. A few times I even lost him in Conrad Grunewald‘s smoke! There are no Formula D regulations against industrial strength super magnets…yet. Are there?
Here’s another photo of Cyrus getting close to Luke Lonbergerin his BLU808 Chevy Corvette. Both drivers were killin’ it all day!
Roland Gallagher‘s been dealing with mechanical problems for a while now but he finally got his car all dialed again. It’s great to see him driving hard and aggressively like we saw in his Pro-Am days. I will be rooting for him!
Here’s another home town hero, Walker Wilkerson and his Nissan S13 getting close to the wall. He’s been the talk of Formula D because he is resisting the current V8 swap trend and he still runs a Nissan SR20DET – not to mention that he is maintaining a “D1 Japan” inspired aesthetic style. In my humble opinion, his is one of the best looking cars in the Formula D series. But, I am a bit of a traditionalist.
It’s great to see Robbie Nishida back driving in Formula D! We missed him at all of the East Coast events. FD wasn’t the same without him!
Make sure to stop by the MotorMaven’s booth on Saturday!
And…
Click here to check out more Formula Drift Seattle stories
Or…
Click here to check out more Formula Drift stories from earlier this year
::Yoshi Shindo
Thank god for Walker Wilkerson.
Domestichate.
Totally agree Yoshi regards Walker’s car – absolutely my fav car in FormulaD
Cool pics dude
haha, should be funny when V8’s gets forbidden and all cars should run their original engine that came with the car!
Compared to al those V8 engined driftcars is Walkers car a classic driftmachine, no cut of front and back, running a engine that came with this model! its more like the the D1SL!
yeah, i think Walker is a hero because he compete’s against high dollar V8 Driftmonsters
Greets Arnold
Fantastic article, other than the fact that Luke runs a C6 Chevy Corvette and not a Camaro.
Also its great to see Cyrus stepping it up out there! Despite having an seemingly ordinary SR 240 he always somehow manages to squeak his way into the top 32.
Wes. That was an editing error on my part and Yoshi was in no way responsible – I will be shot at dawn.
Rock on Yoshi! Wish I was there bro! How’s your s14 comin?
yeap, f**k all those drivers that run v8’s in the nissan chassis. if i was a driver i wouldnt tag along (do you see the creators of drift running v8s?? no, YANKstuff) and f**k tradition, original is what it should be, plus wat sounds better? a gay LS V8 engine smoking around 5-6k rpm or RB’s and SR’s banging on the limiter!?
Seattle is named after a dude, an indian chief to be more specific…just sayin’
Ya’ll need to get off Walker’s nuts.. his S13 is fugly.. jusssayin’
@seattlejester – Unless the inhabitants of a certain country or town specifically desire their country or town to be referred to in the masculine (like zee Germans), English defaults them to a feminine pronoun. That’s probably because most people don’t want to live in a dude. But, whatever floats your boat, bro…
@Daredevil – Haha, I get your point, but it kinda takes away from what they accomplished you know? Like if we refer to Washington state as a she it’s a bit silly. Or if you did something so great, and they named a city after you and the inhabitants referred to it as she, I think it would be, 1. hilarious no doubt (Daredevil had a good run, but in the end she could not hold her own and gave in to the man), but 2. kinda sad.
Somewhere in the great cosmos, an Indian Chief weeps silently.