OUR CHEMICAL ROMANCE
Round One of Formula DRIFT

Story by Mark Dorman Pictures by Mark Dorman and Eric Dorman The 2014 Season of the Formula DRIFT Championship is underway and got off to a rocking start at Round One in Long Beach, California earlier this month. The excitement kicked off during the qualifying rounds. Whittling down the field to the top 32 drivers, there was a lot of excitement in store for the main event. Fans arrived in Long Beach greeted by the sound of engines roaring and tires squealing. You can't help but feel excited walking into an event like this. With full race cars boasting 800+ horsepower averages, Formula DRIFT has the most powerful race cars on factory chassis of any racing—and you can feel it in every race.

Chris Forsberg took the podium in Round 1 in the Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z, setting him up with a solid point lead to start the season off. Kenneth Moen followed as the 1st runner up in the Bridges Racing Nissan 240SX and Michael Essa taking 3rd in the Yokohama BMW M3. With the top two podium positions, Nissan secured the lead in the Manufacturers Championship Standings followed closely by Ford and then BMW. Words and pictures are no substitute for the fun and excitement one experiences being at Formula DRIFT. It’s all the more reason to attend the next local Formula DRIFT event at the Irwindale Event Center for the Title Fight. Until then, make sure you follow the action on live stream (aka “Driftstream”) on the Formula Drift Website (see link below).

The 2014 Formula DRIFT season will continue with Round Two: Road to the Championship in Atlanta on May 9-10. For more photographs from Round One of Fomula DRIFT, see LA Car's Facebook page For more information about Formula DRIFT, go to formuladrift.com and find Formula DRIFT on Instagram @formulad, Facebook Facebook and Twitter @FormulaD.