Scion Racing has made its 2013 FR-S Drift Car official at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Less than a week ago, we spotted photos of the same car testing, and our assumptions proved correct: This is the Formula Drift race car for Ken Gushi and the 2012 drift season.

Built in collaboration with GReddy, the FR-S drift car will feature 600-hp and over 500 lb-ft of torque and is presumed to be turbocharged. That’s all the details Scion fed us with on the new drift car, but we’re sure we’ll be hearing more as the Formula Drift season opener on April 6-7th, approaches. But judging by its decals, it appears that the FR-S will operate with KW suspension and Gushi will be drifting on Hankook tires for the 2012 season. GReddy’s brake calipers peek behind the Rays wheels and there’s no doubt Cosworth had their hands in building the powerplant.

We can’t wait to see this thing go sideways.

GALLERY: Scion Racing FR-S Drift Car Official Photos

GALLERY: Scion Racing FR-S Drift Car Detroit Auto Show Debut

See AutoGuide’s complete 2012 Detroit Auto Show Coverage Here

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Versus, the network that currently airs Formula Drift coverage, was recently acquired by NBC Sports. Starting on January 2nd, 2012, Versus will officially become the NBC Sports Network.

The name change will start with the coverage of the NHL Winter Classic and NBC Sports will continue to market and brand on previous-Versus programming. As part of the Versus rebrand, the NBC Sports Group will also be updating its logo, making its peacock larger and using new fonts for the NBC Sports.

It will be interesting to see if Formula Drift will continue to air on the new NBC Sports Network, which could impress potential sponsors of the drift series more so than hearing that their television coverage comes from Versus – even though they’re just the same.

[Source: AOL Sporting News via Wrecked Magazine]

2010 Formula Drift Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. takes his dog and pony show to the Middle East: drifting Saudi Arabia in his Ford Mustang.

At the Al Reem Circuit, he puts on a show that would make Ken Block proud. Titled Drifting In The K.S.A, Gittin was given permission to do basically anything around the racetrack, which he takes full advantage of: he first tackles the course grounds in a Boss 302 before bringing out his Monster-liveried Falken Mustang in a cloud of tire smoke.

“Everyone I met, from Princes, to other professional drivers, to swarms of fans, treated me with amazing hospitality and kindness.” Said Gittin. “It was an incredible experience that I will never forget and I look forward to coming back to the K.S.A!”

Click the jump to watch the video and to gain terrible ideas on doing this yourself. But as always…don’t. Unless you were 2009′s Formula Drift Champion.

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Currently up on eBay is Hubinette Racing’s / NuFormz Dodge Charger SRT8 originally built for the Formula Drift competition. And while it’s a truly formidable drift machine – it captured first place in Summit Point in 2007 – it’s more about owning a piece of history if you’re a a fan of the sideways sport. The reason? It was the first domestic four-door drift machine ever built, having spent the last couple of years sitting in the NHRA Museum after Sean Carlson’s untimely passing.

The only steel piece left on this car is the roof, while all the other panels have been swapped out for carbon fiber and fiberglass counterparts. It features a fully built 6.1L HEMI engine, naturally aspirated, though the exact specs of the powerplant were not mentioned in the auction. What is mentioned however is the extensive suspension and drivetrain modifications and the car currently sits on 18-inch Intro wheels.

The starting bid is currently at $39,000 and we certainly hope whoever does end up buying it takes it back out to compete.

[Source: eBay via Wrecked Magazine]

To help ensure the company’s new supercar doesn’t show up as tomorrow’s news after being wrapped around a pole, Lexus has created the Lexus LFA Driver Development school to get educated on how to control their amazing new machine.

In this video that spotlights the Lexus LFA Driver Development School, several LFAs are seen trekking along at Infineon Raceway at Sonoma, California. Scott Pruett, Lexus’ official LFA promotion driver, can be seen speaking about the LFA. But what really caught our attention is Tony Brakohiapa, a Formula Drift driver and instructor at Infineon Raceway, who takes the LFA drifting. Even though we’ve been fortunate enough to get behind the wheel of the LFA and take it well past 160-mph, the thought of going sideways never really occurred to us. Then again, we’re not paid to destroy tires for a living.

Check out the video after the break.

[Source: Wrecked Magazine]

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In the most shocking drifting-related news we’ve heard thus far in 2011, Tanner Foust will be taking a temporary retirement from the world of American drifting, announcing today that Formula DRIFT will not be on his schedule of events to attend this year. This is after hearing rumors that the new Papadakis Racing Scion tC would be one of the craziest vehicles we’ll ever see in the Formula DRIFT series.

So with Tanner Foust leaving the driver seat, who will be filling his role? None other than 2010 Formula DRIFT’s Rookie of the Year, Fredric Aasbo. Aasbo, known for aggressively piloting a Toyota Supra, will be a great fit behind the wheel of a RWD Scion tC. Stephan Papadakis Racing will also be joining forces with Team Need for Speed with the newly built Scion tC.

“No offense to Papadakis, the team, the fans or the competitors, but the thing that I will miss the most about not drifting this year is that crazy NASCAR TRD V8-powered Rockstar Scion tC,” says Foust. “It’s been an amazing two years behind the wheel of the Rockstar Scion tC. Best of luck to Aasbo and the new Need For Speed Scion tC.”

We’ll keep our eyes out, as the two-time Formula DRIFT champion will surely be missed in the series. The good news is, we’ll be seeing plenty of Foust as his schedule of events include European Rally events, X-Games and his television responsibilities. Foust’s last competition in the Rockstar / Papadakis Racing Scion tC will be at the Formula DRIFT UAE on February 25th.

Two different press releases available after the break.

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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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Think the 3D craze is just a fad and going away silently into the night? Think again. As skeptical as we were with the whole Avatar movie craze in 3D, seeing was believing. How technology has changed over the years has seriously impacted how we enjoy our entertainment at home. With more and more sports broadcasts going towards 3D, it’s no surprise the brilliant minds over at Formula Drift have teamed up with DIRECTV to bring the first ever 3D drifting broadcast to households nationwide.

The footage will be filmed at this weekend’s season finale at Irwindale Speedway and DIRECTV couldn’t have picked a better venue. With its high speed banks and insane clipping points, Irwindale Speedway is also officially known as the “House of Drift” and will truly let viewers get a great idea of what drifting is all about. For those who have witnessed drifting at a live event, the excitement level is intense. And perhaps drifting in 3D will come as close as we can get to the excitement from our households.

Formula Drift claims that it’ll be aired before the end of the year on DIRECTV’s 3D channel, n3D. Perhaps it’ll be a sign of things to come for 2011?

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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.

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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