In what is a clearly a great marketing stunt, BF Goodrich is teaming up with Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White to teach him how to drive. And by driving, we mean the typical fashion we expect to see with BF Goodrich – tearing up tires all over the track.

White had the privilege of going to San Bernardino Airport where he met up with three of Team BFG’s members: Samuel Hubinette, Lars Wolfe and James Shearer. Each driver represented a different facet of motorsport, drifting, time attack and King of the Hammers, respectively.

Despite not even knowing how to drive a manual when the day began, White seemed to be a quick learner and was extremely fascinated with drifting – something expected from a persona like White.

Check out several videos after the break of Shaun White and BF Goodrich.

GALLERY: BF Goodrich and Shaun White

[Source: Autoblog]

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Red Bull has made a name for itself with crazy motorsport antics. The latest stunt is profiled in a video of their drifters, Rhys Millen and Ryan Tuerck, piloting Red Bull-sponsored machines sideways through Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. The tandem street drifting was part of a promotion for the Formula Drift event in Atlanta and even gave the mayor of Atlanta, Kasim Reed, a ride-along.

Rhys Millen was piloting his Hyundai Genesis Coupe while Ryan Tuerck was in his Pontiac Solstice Coupe, which is now retired from competition – Tuerck is now competing with a Chevrolet Camaro. Needless to say, Red Bull did a fantastic job capturing it all on video for us to enjoy.

Check out the video after the jump:

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Nothing thrills us more than a show-quality built car getting thoroughly abused on the track. And in true Vaughn Gittin Jr. form, his 1969 Ford RTR-X Mustang has finally gone sideways. Originally built as a SEMA project vehicle, Gittin Jr. promised many that he would take it out on the track proving that every bit of the car was as functional as it was show.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to witness it first hand, but the photos prove that Gittin had no reservations in whipping the RTR-X around Willow Springs Raceway. There’s no denying Gittin probably put the Boss 302 5.0L V8 through some work and clearly all the suspension tweaks that Gittin wanted done on the project paid off. We’re digging the color scheme of the car on the track and those Work Meister’s do a good job on some old school American muscle.

Hit the link below to see all the pics.

[Source: Autoblog]

Audi‘s finest test drivers got to wring out the new RS3 Sportback in on some powder-strewn Canadian roads this past week, and lucky for us, they were kind enough to film the whole thing. Powered by the same 340 horsepower 5-cylinder in the TT-RS, the cost of the TT-RS will likely stop it from being imported, but at least we can marvel at its capabilities from afar.

[Source: Audi]

Hit the jump to see the video

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Over in Japan, the Lexus GS is sold as the Toyota Mark X, meaning that you can get the rear-drive sedan at a more affordable price.

While not exactly the most dynamic diver’s car, the folks at Goodyear Racing though it would be perfect for their new race car – if you can consider the D1 Grand Prix drift series racing.

Debuting the car at the Tokyo Auto Salon, it’s hard not to love the NASCAR-esque look of the machine, with what Goodyear Racing refers to as a DTM-style widebody. There’s now word on a powerplant, but the car is scheduled to hit the track for testing soon in order to be ready for the start of a new D1 GP season.

GALLERY: Goodyear Racing Toyota Mark X Drift Car

See AutoGuide’s 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon coverage here

We’ve seen some crazy car builds in our time, but this one might top the list. SVK Customs based out of Sweden has been overhauling a Ferrari 550 GTR to one exotic machine. Just a brief overview will make any enthusiast drop their jaw: custom carbon fiber widebody kit, BMW powerplant and custom fabricated suspension components to give it some extreme steering angles for drifting – yes drifting.

A closer look at the suspension components reveals plenty of custom fabrication along with center-bolt hubs for the wheels.

For horsepower, SVK wasn’t content with the factory Italian V12, so in went a BMW European V8 with desires of obtaining over 1,000-hp. Yikes.

GALLERY: SVK Customs Ferrari 550 GTR

[Source: Jalopnik]

Tim Aldrich, a Florida resident and Nissan 240SX owner, passed away in early August, 2010. Although I never knew Tim personally, he was a larger than life presence on Ziptied, an online forum that I’ve frequented for a number of years, where Tim’s ribald humor and offline friendships with a number of other Ziptied members provided fodder for countless memes, vulgar jokes and spirited arguments. Nearly all of Tim’s comments are too explicit to print, but his username, “EAT S**T, DIE SLOW” should provide you with ample indication of Tim’s sense of humor.

Offline, Tim was known as a true stand-up guy, who loved animals and shied away from drinking alcohol and other indulgences. Tim’s death at age 30 hit hard precisely because so many members had a personal relationship with him that extended beyond a keyboard. Shortly after he passed away, one member announced that Tim’s father had given permission to some of Tim’s friends to crush his Nissan 240SX.

The genesis of the idea came from Tim’s repeated distaste for the idea that his car, or any part of it, should fall into the hands of a teenaged wannabe drifter who would defile his car by crashing it during a lame attempt at emulating their D1 heroes, or modifying it in a way that Tim would find offensive. Rather than sell the car and have it end up in the wrong hands, Tim’s friends decided to crush the car and videotape the proceedings.

A variety of ideas were bounced around Ziptied, with some suggesting the car be chopped into pieces, others commenting that Tim’s long standing wish of being “f***ing buried in this car” be honored. In the end, one member’s idea of having a backhoe trample the car won out.

Yes, the car was crushed with the RP-F1′s on it, but again, it was done in accordance with Tim’s wishes, and with the blessing of his family. In the end, the motor and transmission were sold, with the proceeds going to Tim’s family, but everything else was mangled in a final tribute to a dear friend of many in the Tampa Bay area, and online. Video of the ceremony can be seen after the jump.

Donations to the Tim Aldrich memorial fund can be made here, with proceeds going to the SPCA

[Source: Ziptied]

Video after the jump

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After teasing us a few days ago, the complete Rhys Millen “Climb Attack” video has now been released. Showcasing Millen’s talents, the 750-hp RMR/Red Bull/ Hyundai Genesis Coupe and some impressively windy mountain roads in Brazil, “Climb Attack” is definitely worth your 4 minutes.

The exact location is a mountain road that runs up the side of Serra Do Rio Do Rastro in Santa Catarina, Brazil. The video was shot and the driving performed as part of the Red Bull Xtreme Drift.

See the video after the jump:

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There was certainly a lot of hype around Vaughn Gittin Jr’s Ford Mustang at the beginning of this year’s 2010 Formula Drift season. The newly built 2011 Ford Mustang, with help from sponsors Monster Energy Drink and Falken Tire, featured every bit of experience Gittin and his team has developed over the years of drifting American muscle. And all the hard work has finally paid off as Gittin Jr. has taken the 2010 Formula Drift championship.

This past weekend, the season finale took place at Irwindale Speedway. And while Vaughn Gittin was clearly the leader in points, Tanner Foust and teammate Daijiro Yoshihara still had an outside chance of taking the championship. But Gittin wasn’t letting off the gas anytime soon facing two-time champion Tanner Foust in the grand finale. Even with the championship locked down at that point, Gittin put on a show for the spectators, taking Foust to a one-more time battle. Ultimately the Irwindale event would belong to Foust with Gittin still taking home for the 2010 championship.

This season was a dominating one for Gittin Jr and his Falken Tire / Monster Energy Drink team. He found the podium at six of seven events showing just how much experience pays off. So a huge congratulations goes out to the Falken Tire team for finally locking down a championship and we look forward to seeing what they have in waiting for 2011.

Official press release available after the break.

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The folks at Wrecked Magazine have started/elaborated on the rumor that Titan Motorsports would be turning towards drifting for 2011. With their dominance in sport compact drag racing and their expertise in all things horsepower and motorsports, it wouldn’t be a surprise that Titan would get their hands dirty in some sideways action. So instead of just hunting around, we went straight to our insider source at Titan Motorsports to get some of the details.

We expected to hear that Titan is working on a RWD-converted 2011 Scion tC sporting a 2JZ powerplant, given Titan Motorsports’ relationship with Scion in drag racing and their expertise with Supra tuning. Instead we’ve been informed that while Scion hasn’t completely shut the door on the deal, but they aren’t looking to add a third car to the series.

Titan is, however, looking to get involved and did confirm that they’re in talks with a current top 16 drifter. Our guess would be Frederick Aasbo, a Supra drifting expert. Even though Titan hasn’t confirmed that they’ll even be running a Toyota, our guess is they’ll still want to end up wit ha 2JZ in whatever they work with. That is unless an opposing OE manufacturer is willing to step in. Titan did confirm that they are open to various manufacturers if Toyota or Scion decide not to be involved.

So in summary? Titan Motorsports is definitely interested in getting into Formula Drift competition for 2011, but has no confirmed plans on driver or car. They are currently exploring manufacturer and tire support and while they’d love to continue building their relationship with Toyota and Scion, they are opened to exploring new platforms as well.

A quick history lesson before we actually get into talking about this awesome creation from the Czech Republic. Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer based out of the Czech Republic and was originally founded back in 1850. The Tatra brand however didn’t become a reality until 1919 and is the third oldest automaker in the world behind Daimler Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot. An obscure automaker on the global scene, Tatra is recognized for its rear-mounted, air-cooled V8 engine; which when developed back in the 1930s was very sophisticated for its time.

The Trabant, for those who don’t know, is an infamous East German car with a two-stroke engine and plastic body panels. In so many ways it epitomizes what’s wrong with implementing Communism.

So what happens when you combine an air-cooled V8 powerplant with a Trabant, with plans to go sideways? This one-of-a-kind, wickedly awesome drift car.

Originally built for Rodeocross, a form of motorsports that takes place on a dirt road course, organizers claimed that it was too dangerous to run, so off it went sideways onto the drift scene. We think its an excellent example of just how much fun you can have in a sport where there are very few rules.

We’re hoping a video surfaces of this bad boy in full sideways action, since we’ll probably never get to witness it in person. Although the owner of the car is reportedly willing to part with his prized possession – and for just $1,500 dollars.

GALLERY: Tatra V8-Powered Trabant Drift Car

[Source: SouthRnFresh and Jalopnik]

Darren McNamara has had an impressive run drifting in America under the Team Falken name. Representing Ireland, Team Falken Tire picked McNamara up to join their team after being impressed with his skills behind the wheels of a Toyota AE86. Now Team Need for Speed has enlisted D-MAC’s help to broaden their European reach and putting him back behind the wheel of an AE86.

This year Team Need for Speed has been compromised of Mad Mike Whiddett and Matt Powers. Now Darren McNamara will join the group in the above rendered AE86 not only as a drift machine, but a grip one as well. The car is currently under construction at MCN Sport, Darren’s own shop that specializes in AE86 performance.

They promise that it’ll be the wildest AE86 ever, powered with a 500-hp 13B rotary powerplant with an estimated weight of 1,760 lbs. Custom fabrication work includes a rear-mounted radiator, custom seven feet widebody and 17×10 Work Meister wheels with an insane -45 offset. Of course they’ll be wrapped with Falken rubber.

Darren hasn’t decided when and where it’ll make an appearance, but he promises that Europe will be in for a treat when he does. We’ll keep our eyes out!

[Source: SpeedHunters]

Formula Drift’s success has been overwhelming in America. Not only does the series do a great job ensuring the fans get the excitement they expect after paying the ticket price, but they do a fantastic job in taking care of their drivers, sponsors and race teams. Formula D’s TV show scheduling is about to begin on Versus and they have recently released the opening video segment that stars plenty of Formula Drift’s finest.

The intro video features coverage up to the Seattle event, and really does a good job capturing the excitement one would expect from drifting. The show will be offered in HD starting on August 30th and will air every Sunday for fourteen weeks for seven events. The time slots are 2:00PM EST, 11:00AM EST and each episode is re-aired each week following the initial airing.

More kudos to Formula Drift in teaming up with a successful television network to garner more fans and attention, keeping racers and sponsors happy around the nation.

Check out the video after the jump:

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Here’s the most anticipated, yet expected drift news of the year. D1 Grand Prix has announced that their US-based events will be pushed until the 2011 season, and even then we find that hard to believe. All the rumors that were brewing about a 2010 season had basically faded away, and as much as we’d hate to say it, a lot of people just stopped even caring if the D1 Grand Prix had a presence this year.

The fact is, D1 Grand Prix was great for the sport of drifting in America in its initial stages, bringing in all the excitement that drift enthusiasts yearned for. But the company’s trials and tribulations in America have really left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. Combine that with the fact that Formula Drift is very much alive and well, running extremely successful events and at the end of the day we’re not really sure who would care for D1 Grand Prix in America.

But the good news is, Japan’s series will still be shown on SPEED TV and that is still scheduled as promised. We’ll just have to enjoy the drama on the television.

Official press release available after the break.

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While the entire world is still holding their breath for an actual release of Gran Turismo 5, Microsoft’s Xbox 360′s motorsports entrant is still kicking strong. One of the coolest features in Forza Motorsport 3 is the ability to create graphics for your vehicles, pixel-by-pixel or however you can if you’re talented enough. We wouldn’t say we’re not talented, we just don’t have the patience to figure out better ways to do our own graphics like some other people. But Dr. Westies is extremely talented and this isn’t his first toy for the Xbox Live players.

So for those interested in tuning the Lexus SC430 drift car look-a-like, search “DRW” or “Miki 2010″ in the Forza Motorsport 3 storefront to grab it. Dr. Westies is quick to share that the graphics package incorporates 994 layers per side of the car. That’s a whole lot of time and patience we would never have to develop our own. But hey, we’ll definitely be adding one to our collection and hopefully Dr. Westies “gets bored” more often.

GALLERY: Dr. Westies’ Forza Motorsport 3 Ryuji Miki Lexus SC430 Drift Car

[Source: ForzaMotorsport.net]

This weekend is Formula Drift’s Round 3 event at Wall Speedway in Wall, New Jersey. So naturally people are already sneaking in photos from what’s being unloaded in the pits. One of the new vehicles uncovered is Ryuji Miki’s new drift Lexus SC430. And while we’re surprised by how physically unappealing it is, we’re excited to see this luxury platform go sideways.

Ryuji Miki’s drifting career has been a wild ride ever since he captured the D1 Grand Prix championship in 2004. After switching to the Top Secret / ORC 350Z with little success, Miki ended up back into the APEX’i RX-7. After a break-up with Bergenholtz Racing, Miki continued campaigning with APEX’i but it looks like they’ve finally decided the FD is just way too old and had to go.

What is even more interesting on his latest car is the prominent Lexus branding. Perhaps the team nailed themselves some OE support? We’ll have to see if and how well the car competes this weekend, or if Miki will be back in the FD. Either way, Formula Drift is getting more exciting with plenty of domestics, imports and now luxury cars – Essa’s BMW M3 and now this Lexus SC430.

[Source: Wrecked Magazine]

The boy geniuses from ‘Keep Drifting Fun‘, Will Roegge and Josh Herron, have just released their latest video, an up close and personal account of the Formula Drift Atlanta weekend from the perspective of defending champ Chris Forsberg.

Forsberg, who’s NOS energy drink sponsored Nissan 350Z roadster is among the most recognizable machines in the wildly popular Formula Drift series, tells the tale of an action-packed weekend of drifting including a little NASCAR-style bumping and a bent suspension. But as the video shows, Forsberg battles through adversity like a true champion to finish on the podium, moving him into 5th place in the 2010 championship standings heading into Round 3 at Wall Speedway in New Jersey this coming weekend.

The dynamic duo of Roegge and Herron definitely have a genuine passion for drifting, traveling the country in their 1974 Volkswagen Westfalia van while documenting the action at all seven rounds of the Formula Drift championship as well as visiting many grassroots drift events as part of their ‘Keep Drifting Fun’ documentary effort.

Check out the video after the jump and be sure to visit keepdriftingfun.com for more info on their cross-country adventure and video-making. And if you happen to bump into these bearded drift hobos at an event, give them an air high-five for us!

[Source: Keep Drifting Fun]

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We know. You’re tired of hearing about this kid, but we can’t help it. It’s like a bad soap opera that continues to unfold and it just shows how little he’s learned. Sure he’s branded himself as part of this Keep It On The Track campaign, but his attitude and everything else is same ‘ol spoiled Nick Hogan.

Apparently Nick Hogan had managed to qualify 20th at the XDC Las Vegas event but was not happy one bit about that result. How could he be? We all know he’s such a premier drifter and experienced driver. (Yup, that’s sarcasm) Rumor has it he went straight to his Twitter account, ripping the series (mature), the sport (great way to garner fans) and even sent an @ reply to one of the judges asking why he was deducted points. But hey, of course they were quickly deleted and he issued out some apologies. At least he didn’t claim his Twitter account was “hacked” like other celebrities or athletes. Honestly, Hogan is neither these days.

And just in case you want another laugh, hit the source link to see Nick Hogan’s extremely mature comments to the rest of the community over at Wrecked Magazine – which offered $100 to anyone who could provide video of Hogan’s qualifying run. There are also retweets of Hogan’s now deleted tweets.

Stay classy Nick, stay classy.

[Source: Wrecked Magazine]

We’d be kidding ourselves and the entire world when we say we watch videos on YouTube looking for substance or a plot. When it comes down to it, car videos are like porn for us. We don’t care about a story, we’re drooling over the action.

Vernal Equinox is a fancy 12-minute flick by French filmmaker Stephane Benini. Truth be told though, it’s not exactly 12 minutes, the last three minutes and change is a nice long credit roll reminiscent of what you’d see out of Hollywood. But nonetheless the video is entertaining for any car nut out there, especially those in love with drifting.

The video is well thought out and there’s no denying the editing and quality of filming. Each shot took quite the setup and direction to do and all of it flows nicely together. But hey, we’re no Roger Ebert over here, but we’d give it two thumbs up and well worth the watch.

[Source: Cartech Blog]

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After crisscrossing Europe, flying over the Atlantic and racing from Boston to Quebec, the Gumball 3000 Rally made its way to Toronto yesterday, stopping mid-way for a pit-stop at Shannonville Motorsports Park. AutoGuide just so happened to drop in on this venue – which was far less glamorous than the 5-star accommodations, private parties and exotic cars that make up the rest of the Gumball event.

The stop-off was hosted by the Castrol Drift Mania Canadian Championships - a local drift series – which put on a demonstration for the assembled crowds of onlookers, media and the Gumballers themselves. Referred to by one driver as “crazy donuts” the drift cars took to a skid pad – one driver even using his right-and drive Toyota Soarer street car because his drift car was out of commission. Most of the drift cars were actually right-hand driver models imported from Japan – with the notable exception of one Pontiac GTO (which so happens to be the same car that Rhys Millen used to race in the Formula Drift series).

As for the Gumballers – many of them driving right-hand drive models (from the U.K.) as well – some took to the race track while others just basked in the glow of camera flashes. Of note were numerous SLRs and Bentleys, as well as a Bugatti Veyron, a matte-black Ferari F430 Spider and one of our faves, a Lamborghini LP670-4 SV – all the way from Monaco.

Other bizarre models included a Volvo wagon and a tubbed Dodge Challenger with massive 24-inch wheels and tires measuring 405 across.

Few Gumballers actually took to the track (as expected), although we did run across one Norwegian Gumballer who knew how to handle a car, burning up the tires (and the brakes) on his rented E350 4MATIC Mercedes and making an Aston Martin DB9 look slow.

The Ontario Provincial Police were in full effect and had significant warning that the Gumballers were coming and headed to Toronto before leaving for New York City today. One Gumballer who definitely won’t be driving across the finish line had his license suspended and his Dodge Charger impounded by the police for ‘stunt drving.’

Check out our gallery of Gumball 3000 cars below, as well as a full gallery of the awesomely ghetto cars of the Castrol DMCC.

GALLERY: Gumball 3000 Pit Stop at Shannonville Motorsports Park

GALLERY: Castrol Drift Mania Canadian Championships Demo Cars

It didn’t take long for this Formula Drift season to stir up some controversy. As we mentioned in our Formula DRIFT Long Beach Recap, the Hankook Nissan GT-R was noticeably missing from competition. We knew for a fact there was no way they would let that slide for another event, considering sitting out one event already puts the championship far out-of-reach.

Adams Motorsports Park currently holds Night Drift events every Thursday night and recently the Hankook / Dynamic Autosport team had Robbie Nishida in from Japan to test the GT-R at one of these events out in Riverside, CA. The car looks complete and fully functioning, but how well it performed we’re not sure. We’ll know after this weekend though, once the GT-R makes its drifting debut.

Interestingly, rather than the stock GT-R powerplant, the Hankook/Dynamic Autosport car is VQ35 powered, which may or may not be surprising to some. To us it’s not surprising given the huge success the VQ35 has had on many different vehicles in Formula Drift. In fact, when Rhys Millen didn’t have the Lambda Genesis motor ready, he slugged himself a VQ35 into the Genesis early on last season. One thing’s for sure, this GT-R has one of the finest drivers in the entire series in Robbie Nishida. If anyone can drive the wheels off this car, it will be him. We’ll keep our eyes out on how well he’ll do this weekend!

[Source: Adamsdrift.tk]

GALLERY: Hankook Drift Nissan GT-R

Drifting is a dangerous sport, and not just for the drivers. Having photographed several drift events this author is well aware of the risks involved -  I’ve have even had a few close calls, on one occasion a friend of mine pulling me away right as the vehicle struck the K-rail. At another event the “track mats” shot up (while the vehicle was doing a burn out over them) flying right past my head. So needless to say, as safe as they try to make it for the photographers, there’s always a risk with cars going sideways.

During the recent SSS Gecko Cup drifting event in Warsaw, Poland a camera man became collateral damage when an Nissan S13 went flinging sideways a little too quickly. The car slammed into the safety rail (which wasn’t the concrete K-rails we’re used to) which in turn knocked into the camera man. Clearly the camera man takes a nice fall and apparently he was unconscious for a few seconds, thought it doesn’t seem so. But hey, he lives to shoot another day and that’s all that matters!

Make sure to check out the video after the break, it makes you think twice how closely you stand next to the action!

[Source: Tampa Sports Car Examiner]

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All forms of motorsports – take note! Formula Drift, in association with YoParts.com has successfully launched the first ever full live streaming of their events to the world. Other sanctioning bodies have tried this in the past, but with hardly any sort of success. Needless to say when they first told us about Driftstream 2010 we were a little skeptical. Instead of jumping the gun and making a post, we decided to check it out ourselves during this past weekend’s event, then report on the quality. The verdict? Read on:

We first logged onto the Driftstream website during qualifying on Friday and were pleasantly surprised on how smooth and surprisingly lag free the video was. It was as close to real-time as we could get without driving the 40 miles to Long Beach, California. The video commentary was nicely done, and the production gets two thumbs up from us by keeping the viewer up to date with standings, points and results.

For those that are unable to attend the Formula Drift 2010 events out of their range, Driftstream is a fantastic way to catch it all. Adding to the experience, there are thousands of other fans chatting it up on the site at the same time.

We’ll admit that there’s absolutely no substitute to inhaling tire smoke and seeing the cars up close and personal, but this is by far the best second option we’ve been able to get our hands on and best of all – it’s free! We hope other forms of sanctioning bodies take notes on what Formula Drift done.

If you missed Formula Drift’s season opener at Long Beach, California, head on over to the Live Stream channel now to watch a recap of the entire event. Don’t forget to stay tuned for the next event at Road Atlanta on May 7-8th, 2010. And again, all events will be streamed live so follow Formula DRIFT’s schedule and catch all the action this season, no matter where you are.

[Source: DRIFTSTREAM 2010]

At this past weekend’s first Formula D event of 2010, motorsports video phenom Will Roegge unveiled his newest creation entitled ‘Art of Formula D: 2009 Retrospective’. The video features 2009 series champion Chris Forsberg and a linear progress through all seven rounds of the 2009 Formula Drift professional drifting championship. What better way could there be to get psyched up for the 2010 Formula D season than watching Roegge’s latest drift video?

Enjoy the 2009 recap after the jump:

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