By: Nick Weycker
Round 3 of The Drift League, a Formula DRIFT ProAm series returns to Irwindale Speedway an exciting event!
Drifting is arguably one of the most difficult forms of motorsport out there. Additionally, it is certainly the flashiest when compared to other disciplines such as endurance racing. Whether it’s the loud cars, the un-subtlety of their paint jobs, or the fact they’re built solely to go sideways and create massive clouds of smoke.
Which brings us to Round 3 of The Drift League, where MotoIQ had secured The House of Drift (Irwindale Speedway) for an entire day of drifting. The day started early for me, as I woke up at the ripe time of 5:30 to beat the Los Angeles morning rush hour on my way to the track – I did not. Pulled into the parking lot with just minutes to spare before the mandatory media meeting, the paddock was already alive with the sound of preparation; impact guns screwing on lugnuts, torque wrenches clicking, and test fires of new tunes.
After the driver’s meeting where we discovered we had made a new driver attendance record at 22 attendees, the parade laps were soon to start. Sweethearting my way onto the back of the golf cart leading the pack around this round’s course, I managed more than a few nice shots.
After a quick run around the track, an extra ten minutes lingered as drivers and their crews to got some final prep and adjustments in before the first practice.
Right on schedule, Practice 1 began. For context, Practice 1 is just one car on the track at a time; Practice 2 is the Tandem Practice. Right out of the gate, the wall on the last corner was being ridden like the underdog at the rodeo championships, (Do rodeos have championships?), as demonstrated below by Alfa Ramirez (Alfa.Ramirez), Amanda Sorenson (Amanda.sorenson12), and Rome Charpentier (RomeCP).
