Breaking into its seventh season, Formula DRIFT took to the Streets of Long Beach for its trademark season opener. This event is always a fan favorite being one of the only, if not the only, drift event that takes place on actual streets rather than a race track, course or parking lot. Many new cars made their debut at this event, some having great success while others clearly have a lot of bugs to figure out. American muscle prevailed however, as Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s new 2011 Falken Tire / Monster Energy Drink Mustang claimed the top podium spot with its debut.

Rhys Millen and his Red Bull Hyundai Genesis has clearly benefited from an off-season of thorough testing and upgrades as he finished up second place. Two-time champion Tanner Foust found himself in third with his Rockstar Energy Drink / AEM Scion tC. The threesome made for a colorful podium with three different brand of energy drinks being represented.

What made this event even more exciting was the debuts of several new drivers from all around the world seeing their first action in competitive American drifting. “With drivers from 13 nations and 12 current and former drifting champions, Formula Drift continues to grow drifting globally with the most diverse field of competitors than any other drifting series in the world,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula Drift.

Samuel Hübinette’s Dodge Challenger looks to have a few more bugs to work out, but his skill and expertise made sure he wasn’t far from a podium finish. Other new muscle cars included Conrad Grunewald in his Hankook Chevy Camaro and Tony Brakohiapa in the Sam’s Autoboy Ford Mustang. Noticeably missing, and without controversy, was Robbie Nishida’s Hankook Nissan GT-R and Eric O’Sullivan’s Subaru. Both were supposed to be big-name competitors and it must have been truly disappointing for both of these drivers flying over 10 hours to not see any competition.

Round Two of Formula Drift is scheduled to invade Road Atlanta on May 7-8th, 2010. We’ll be keeping a close eye on any testing during the break and will be sure to report on the second event of another exciting season of drifting.

GALLERY: Formula DRIFT Long Beach 2010

Rhys Millen is no stranger to any form of motorsports. However, he is probably most well-known for his Red Bull stunts and his impressive drifting career. Hailing from New Zealand, Millen was one of the US pioneers of drifting, completely dominating its initial competitive seasons with his Pontiac GTO. He then moved onto the Pontiac Solstice and shocked the world last year with the announcement of moving onto Korean-manufacturer Hyundai and its new Genesis Coupe.

There’s no denying that it was a perfect opportunity for Hyundai to extend their brand image and marketing to young enthusiasts, but was it a perfect fit for Millen? Some would argue that it was an unsuccessful inaugural campaign, perhaps even leaving an ugly mark on Millen’s otherwise successful drifting career. But we all know Millen hardly backs down from a challenge. Duly noted from his attempt at flipping a truck on New Year’s Eve a couple years back.

Plus, it didn’t help that last season Millen ran the first event with a Nissan VQ35 3.5-liter V6 under the hood. He later switched to a stroked and turbocharged 4.1-liter Hyundai V6, which has been pumped up further for the 2010 season to 650-hp.

We caught a glimpse of Millen testing at the El Toro Air Force Base a few weeks back and now Millen’s official 2010 Preseason Testing video has surfaced on the Web. The Genesis Coupe looks remarkably improved this year with Millen smoothly transitioning and swinging it sideways with what seems to be little effort.  Check out the video after the jump:

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A Hyundai will no doubt be one of (if not the) coolest vehicle at the 2009 SEMA Show. Rhys Millen Racing, which runs a Genesis Coupe drift team, will debut a mid-engine version of Hyundai’s sports car at the aftermarket parts venue. Better yet, instead of using the turbo four-cylinder or the 3.8-liter V8 motor, Rhys Millen Racing (RMR) has opted to swap in the 4.6-liter V8 from the coupe’s luxury sedan sibling.

And as RMR is a race shop, there are promises of even more than the stock 375hp thanks to some high-compression pistons and individual throttle bodies. The factory automatic transmission will be tossed in favor of a racing-style sequential unit

RMR hopes to retain as much of the stock suspension as possible on the car (which has been code named the RM460), with a set of StopTech brakes and a new set of wheels fitted with Toyo T1R tires (measuring 245/35/20 up front and 285/30/20 out back).

See AutoGuide’s live SEMA Coverage here!

GALLERY: Rhys Millen Racing Mid-Engine 4.6-liter Genesis Coupe

[Source: Edmunds]

Hyundai continues defy doubters, setting a new world record at the world-famous Pikes Peak Hill Climb in a race-prepped Genesis Coupe. Driver Rhys Millen piloted his Rhys Millen Racing Red Bull Hyundai Genesis Coupe drift car to a time of 12:09.397 in the rear-wheel drive Time Attack Class, beating his nearest competitor by 1 minute, 23 seconds and besting even his own previous time by 22 seconds.

“Driving the Genesis Coupe for the first time at Pikes Peak in front of thousands of fans is an amazing experience,” said Millen. “Nothing compares to the pressure and thrill of Pikes Peak while competing against yourself for the record.”

Millen also said the Genesis Coupe performed superbly, even though by the summit the tires were worn down to their steel belts.

The Pikes Peak Hill Climb, which takes place annually on Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado, starts at an elevation of 9,300 feet and finishes at an elevation of 14,110 feet – where the air is so think drivers’ reaction times begin to slow and their race car engines lose 30 percent of their power. Drivers drift around 156 corners, nearly missing guard rails and trees, while avoiding cliffs with 2,000-foot drop-offs.

2009 marks the 87th annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the second-oldest motorsports event in America, second only to the Indianapolis 500.

GALLERY: Rhys Millen Racing Red Bull Hyundai Genesis Coupe

Official release after the jump:

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Recently we ran a story reporting that the Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Genesis Coupe that competed in the first round of the Formula D series was actually powered by (ghasp!) a Nissan motor. That won’t be the case from now-on, however, as Rhys Millen himself has just confirmed that for the second race of the season, the Hyundai drift car will in fact be powered by Hyundai, with a turbocharged version of the company’s 3.8-liter Lamdba V6.

Currently the car is making 480hp at just 4500 rpm and 570 ft-ls of torque at 3800 rpm.

The reason for the initial run with the Nissan engine was due to a timeline that proved to be too tight. Rather than forfeit the race, Millen chose to run the car with whatever motor was available.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you see things) Millen and his Nissan-powered Hyundai did not perform well, and didn’t even make it past the first round.

We’ll be watching to see if he has better luck as round two of the Formula D series visits Road Atlanta this weekend.

[Source: Autoblog]

When Hyundai announced at the Chicago Auto Show that Rhys Millen Racing would run a new Genesis Coupe in the Formula D series, we didn’t know (nor did they it seems) that the car would be powered by Nissan.

Despite an official press release that stated the car would be powered by a 550hp stroked and turbocharged 4.1-liter version of the V6 found in the factory Genesis Coupe, the car ran the first event of the season at Long Beach, CA with a Nissan VQ35 3.5-liter V6 under the hood. (Formula D rules aren’t too picky about what engine powers a car).

Apparently the decision was a last minute one as the planned engine was not yet ready – something Hyundai USA PR boss Jim Trainor takes partial responsibility for as the company took Millen away from his regular duties to help with the launch of the factory Genesis Coupe.

Interestingly, however, Trainor had no idea of the situation as Rhys Millen Racing made the decision independently, opting to run the car in a less-than-ideal state rather than not run it at all.

As a result the car did get some exposure, although not in the actual competition as Millen and the Nissan-powered Genesis Coupe didn’t even make it through the first round.

The team is working to complete the Hyundai engine and should be ready to compete at either New Jersey on June 6th or Las Vegas on July 10th.

For move info on the Formula D series see here:

http://formulad.com/

[Source: Autoblog]

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Hyundai is spending some big bucks to kick off 2009 by advertising during the 43rd Superbowl. The commercial will feature a vehicle that Hyundai hopes will transform how people think about the Korean car manufacturer.

Motor Trend magazine was invited along to see the filming of the commercial and they have been kind enough to share their footage with us. Titled “Epic Lap” the video features pro racer Rhys Millen hammering on the Hyundai Genesis Coupe at Road Atlanta. Apparently the shoot required 50 laps of the famous race track at blistering speeds.

Millen, a former rally car racer and current competitor in the Formula D drift series certainly shows off his drifting technique in the rear-drive Genesis Coupe.

If you watch closely you can see that Hyundai employed some high-powered chase cars to keep up with the 310hp V6 Genesis Coupe, including a Porsche Cayenne and a Mitsubishi EVO.

[Source: Motor Trend]