Next weekends Formula drift event at Evergreen Speedway, Seattle, marks a great anniversary for me and the Dynamic Autosports team. At this event in 2009 we struck silverwear with a 2nd place podium finish. The event wasn’t without incident. We had a major collision with Vaughn Gitten as well as some other moments during the course of the Top32 but we return to this venue with fond memories and a renewed hunger to finally kick start our season.

This year has been fraught with disapointment for our crew. We have yet to score a single championship point and have been hindered with a string of really bad luck. Following the East Coast stint of the championship all of our cars have returned to the Lake Forrest headquarters of Dynaic Autosport and undergone a comprehensive overhaul to iron out the bugs and bring us back to battle spec.

Seattle is easily my favourite venue on the calendar. The high speed bank really seperates the men from the boys. There is zero room for error, let alone fear. The Subaru loves banked courses and our Hankook Tires perform brilliantly keeping us milimetres from the concrete perimeter on an extremely abrasive surface.

Without any pressure for championship position I can approach this event prepared to throw everything at the Evergreen circuit. For the sake of our team, sponsors and supporters I hope that the luck of our crew will change and we can once again challenge for podium positions.

Dont forget to follow the event on the Formula D live stream. My luggage is packed, flights are booked , car is ready. All that remains is for me to find me some Irish four leaf clovers to try and turn our luck around.

Eric.

Heres some more footage of the recent trip to Road Atlanta for the 2nd stop of the Formula Drift Season. Unfortunately things did not work out how we’d have liked it but it felt good to be back in the car again. ENjoy the video and I’ll be back next with the photos and report from the event.

Formula D Video Blog – Atlanta

Main event day on Sunday was again busy.  Aside from the thousands of spectators that showed up, I was back in the Hankook race suit to offer ride alongs in the fleet of Monster Energy Prodrift Academy cars. This is a new feature to the Prodrift event whereby during the breaks on track, members of the public can pay for some passenger time as Peden (Prodrift Judge), Bergo (Prodrift other Judge) and myself take drift fans for flat out spins of the circuit.

During the course of the day we did over 70 passenger rides and by the end of it we were triple drifting on each others door. I had a blast, and I’m pretty sure that our passengers enjoyed it too.

It was also great to catch up with the old PD crew. Team Hankook were there in force and of course the guys that were over at Formula Drift only a week ago were also present. For the main event I joined Prodrift commentator John Gibbons in the tower for some MC work, which also gave me the best seat in the house to witness James Deane win his home event in style.

Many people were asking  me when my Vtec Corolla will be back out on Irish circuits. Prodrift at Fermoy might just have given me the urge to get the cam back out of the workshop and onto the grid for some 2010 Prodrift fun. Watch this space.

The photos above were taken by PD Photographers, Daniel O’Shea & Martin Cunningham

The week before FD RD1 is always full of activities. Tuesday night we went to Rob Dyrdeks Fantasy Factory for the launch of the Monster Energy Mustang of Vaughn Gitten JR. It is so much better in real life than tv, and that world record sized skateboard that he built in Series 1 is absolutely huge.

On Thursday night, Formula Drift replaced the traditional car parade through down town with a Photography exhibition called ‘The Art of Formula Drift’. A gallery displayed images of the 2009 season and featured work or Lindberg, Will Roegge, Jose Martinez and some exclusive shots from Estevan Oriol. Free beer and drift car art installations is always going to be a  winner, I hope that this becomes an annual event.

On Friday morning we traveled the 6 blocks to the Paddock still hoping for a last minute miracle on the Subaru. Unfortunately the worst was confirmed at about 9am and for the rest of the event we were in spectator mode. Luckily there was a decent traveling Irish contingent, and we were supporting Deane Kearney, James Deane and Darren McNamara from the stands.

All the guys made it into the Saturday Top32 event. The paddock was really busy from 10am onwards so even without competing, it was time to dress up like a driver, polish the Subaru and meet with Hankook guests and drift fans.

At lunch time, the whole crew enjoyed meeting some Hankook VIP at the corporate suite. Actor Paul Walker was there; a really nice guy who seems to be interested in getting out in Drift competitions soon. Watch this space.

After lunch it was time to take in the Twin Battle action. All of the Irish guys were on fire. Kearney was unlucky to draw Freddy Asbo, who was without doubt the underdog hero of the event. James Deane knocked out Darren with an amazing pass of the course but later fell to Tanner Foust in the great 8 and Freddy Asbo, who I previously battled in Prodrift Sweden, progressed to finish fourth in his Toyota Supra.

Following the event, we all agreed to rendez vous at our favourite Long Beach establishment. The Auld Dubliner has seen many a Prodrift invasion but Saturday night seemed to attract teams and drivers from all corners of the FD Paddock. Chris the barman made sure that we were all well watered before kicking us out at 2am.

It wont be too long before I’m back on a plane to the USA. Atlanta Rd2 is not too far away and after the disastrous week at Long Beach, I’m even more determined now to get behind the wheel and put this years car through its paces. Last year Atlanta was unkind to us with a DNQ. This year it must be our return to form and I’ve no doubt that the Hankook Dynamic team will be out in force, hungrier than ever for Formula Drift success.

At the Dynamic workshop the team are working flat out on both the Hankook GTR and my new look Seibon/Hankook Sti in order to get us set for Friday and Saturday. The atmosphere trackside today was great. Some of the teams are already looking strong and its great to catch up with friends and fellow competitors following what seemed like an eternity of an off season.

Stay tuned for updates over the coming days. Things are going to get a little crazy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. In other news, my bike arrived safely so its time to get out into the Californian Sunshine and hit some skate parks!

Enjoy the video, and below the feature are some more videos of Fionan competing at other venues in Ireland. **Caution –  colorful language present in some of the clips**

Rally Sprint with Fionan Reid

Last Saturday the 20th of February saw the first drift practice day of 2010 run by driftireland.com, the online home of drifting in Ireland. The venue was Goldstone race track in Kikenny, just over an hour south west of Dublin.

Goldstone is a small 2nd and 3rd gear circuit perfectly suited to novice and amateur drivers.With the majority of the web sites members falling into this category it was no surprise to see a great turnout of over twenty cars despite the freezing cold February weather.

I was on hand to support Amy and run her FC  Rx7 for the day.It had been a couple of months since she and the car has last run and I was hoping some of the the engine problems we encountered previously were now resolved. Unfortunately after only a few laps things were still not right and she was struggling with a handbrake problem and what sounded like a misfire.

The track was busy all day long, from the 12 o clock opening time to 6 in the evening there was a constant line of drift machinery waiting to get out and try hit the clipping points that the DI crew had strategically placed. A small competition was run in the afternoon to encourage all the drivers to push their limits and really nail all three clips.

I took some laps in the FC after trying to get it running right but it still wasn’t 100% and Amy would have to try and work with it for the day.All things considered she did great and I will definitely have it right for the next practice day in early March.

At around 4:30 the winter weather turned even worse as it began to snow !. We loaded up in preparation to leave but the Goldstone staff let the guys run for another couple of hours, the AE86 corolla crew owned the track, good work !.

Big thanks to all the Driftireland.com crew and the Goldstone staff for running a fun, relaxed day.Hopefully this year will see us at many more in maybe a little warmer weather !.

Few more pics, thanks to Shane Macken for the use of some of his great shots of the day

No sign of any sun all day. Good man Nixon !

Amy making friends with the security staff………

Heading home,

I’ve recently secured support from Action Cameras in the UK to help me capture much of what I’ll be up to in 2010 and I wanted to fill you in on what equipment I will be using.

In the past I’ve used every type of on board camera system, from bullet cams plugged into camcorders to go-pro, and in truth i’ve never been 100% happy . Some of you will know that I like to get out on 2 wheels too so I use cameras on the downhill bike also. I’ll explain this post though from the point of view of drifting.

In general I want a camera who’s lens will capture as much of the cockpit in as possible, has good resolution or clarity, doesn’t require rocket science to setup and one that I can line up the shot before I press record. Nothing worse than getting home with 30mins of footage of the dash or the tax disc holder (Believe me its happened). And finally, one that makes it as easy as possible to get the footage online.

So, the kit I’m using this year is the ‘Drift Innovation’ X170 Cam (Nice name eh?). Couple of reasons we went for this one, particularly with drifting in mind.

1. Its 720p resolution in 16:9 – for everyone else that means its great quality and records in widescreen mode.

2. It has a lcd screen built in meaning that before i press record or secure the clamp, I know im getting the right angle. Also you can play the movies back on the LCD.

3. Very important – it comes with the standard thread for roll cage mounts unlike go-pro which seem to have their own fiddly mounts that I hate. Standard thread means that there are 100’s of universal mounts on the market for this camera.

4. The remote Control – Genius. Im sitting on the line in Formula D , all strapped in, 1 min to go and Ive to turn a camera on in the far side of the car? Nightmare. The X170 has a remote that works from 5m away – major problem solved right there.

5. Construction – built of tuff stuff and water resistant. Essential for Downhill or Irish Drifting.

6. Price – I researched them all and to be honest, at approx £200, you wont find a better suited cam for drifting.

7. Comes standard with a load of mounts (Helmet strap, handle bar) and the connector cables to PC or direct to your tv.

I hope to get out with the camera soon to get some actual footage – cant wait to give it a good once over.

A also got separately a roll cage mount, a 4gb card and some spare batteries. (All of these cameras like to use batteries).

If any of you are interested in getting on board gear, the guys at action cameras are specialists in this area and the delivery was with me in 24hrs. As a bonus they’ve offered anyone willing to make a purchase a 10% discount code on the back of supporting me. The Code is “ERICDRIFT10″ which can be used against ANY of their products until the end of the year. It would be great if you could show these guys some support.

Look forward to posting up some videos. If you’ve any questions or comments please feel free.

Sample rally video of this camera in Action.

Happy New Year !
Its been a quiet few months since the Formula D finale in Irwindale but with the start of a new year its time to get back in gear for another season.
Mondello Park racing circuit just outside Dublin had for the first time began to hold drift practice days last year.If there was ever any doubt of the growing popularity of the sport then the number of cars at these sessions prove otherwise.
The final run of the year was on the 13th of December and despite the miserable weather conditions there was a huge turnout including some of the top Prodrift Drivers who’s cars had survived the season.

I was once again on duty for the day as my girl Amy G’s pit crew / instructor.Since deciding to make the switch from circuit racing to drifting a couple of years ago I have been developing her FC RX-7 alongside her drifting skills.
The car right now looks almost completely stock since I don’t consider aero kits much use for a beginner but under the skin the suspension has been fully sorted thanks to a lot of advise from Kyle and Ash over at Mazdatrix.

I fabbed up a custom v mount intercooler set up and 3 inch exhaust for the motor and of course all the right safety equipment is in there, custom 8 point cage with seats and harnesses etc.
Im lucky enough to get some laps in the car at most practice days and it now feels very competitive, plenty of power and almost capable of as much angle as my corolla.The scream of a rotary has been sadly missing from the Irish drift scene for some time but hopefully Amy G will make it to the Prodrift ranks this season and show the boys whats up.