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| The next day we arrived at the track to find that our cars had been unpacked and most of our equipment delivered to the F1 garages at Yas Marina raceway. We were shocked and amazed by this world class facility, literally the most amazing track we had ever seen in our world travels. The track is like Disneyland for racers. The garages were pristine and spotless. Some of our equipment was locked away in a missing container that had to be located. |
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| The view from the hot pit area of the F1 garages. That tower is for top level VIP’s. The pavement is flawless and specially compounded for good grip. An army of maintenance workers keep the place spotless. |
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| Chris Forsberg’s car was sitting outside when we arrived. His famous NOS 350Z will be regulated to back up car duty in 2011 as his new car for is going to be a 370Z which is currently under construction. Look for a full MotoIQ feature soon. |
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| Our car is being inspected by us for shipping damage. In our rush to get the car ready for the event, we had to continue to work on the car. Unfortunately in our rush to pack things in our fatigued state of mind, we forgot some critical tools which made things frustrating. We spent the remainder of the day working on the car. |
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| Mike Essa’s BMW was ready to go. Mike had arrived several days earlier and had already gotten to drift the course. This beautiful car is powered by an M5 V10 which sounds amazing. |
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| Tony Brakohiapa is known as Tony B for a good reason. His 650 hp supercharged Cooper Tires Mustang is being readied for action by his crew. If you are wondering about his car’s graphics, they are done as a tribute to the famed Tuskegee Airmen. |
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| RSR shipped Manabu Orido’s iconic D1 Supra from Japan for Ken Gushi to drive. This is Orido’s second Supra, not the one he made famous when he appeared in the first D1 event at Irwindale as that car was destroyed in a shipping accident in Japan. Ken’s Scion TC was being rebuilt for the 2011 Formula D season. |
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| Norwegian Fredric Aasbo is one of our favorite drivers, besides being a totally cool guy, he has shown time and time again that a privateer with skill and determination can take the fight to the big buck factory teams. Look out for Fredric in 2011 as he will have the powerful Papadakis Racing team with sponsorship from Hankook tire and Need for Speed behind him. Fredric also uses KW suspension exclusively, which is becoming one of our favorite brands for serious work! |
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| Mad Mike Whiddett shipped the famous Bad Bull RX-8 all the way from New Zealand to compete in this event. We call Mad Mike Mr. Coordination because he can do anything athletic from drifting, to karting, to freestyle MX to BMX and skateboarding on a world class level seemingly with ease. He is one of those guys who makes your jaw drop with his antics. Unfortunately Mike won’t be doing the Formula D circuit this year in the US due to a lack of sponsorship. If any corporate types are out there, give Mike a call and help him get out to the states for 2011! |
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| Dai, Costa and I take a break from working on the 350Z. We don’t let Dai do hard stuff lest he get hurt which might interfere with his driving, but he usually handles stickers, paperwork and stuff that we don’t like doing. |
