Welcome to the Meguiar's Drift Garage

Round 4- SONOMA 2006
The J-Wrap from J-Rod

Well Brother, I gotta tell ya that it was an amazing eve.eerrrgghh, sorry I was hanging out with "Hulkamania" too much at Sonoma as he and I were rapping out the whole time during the Tandem Battles.

The Battle on the Bay at Infineon proved to be an interesting event in the first few battles with weird spin outs, interesting calls yet at the end the podium finishers deserved what they were awarded! Rhys Millen in1st, Casper Canul in 2nd and the "Import" Kenji Yamanaka rounding at the podium in 3rd, these guys drive amazingly well and they all had a great weekend!

I must tell you that the best run I saw all day and also probably one of the best tandem battles I've seen in 3 years of Formula Drift competition has to go to Daijiro Yoshihara in the Rockstar Energy Drink/Nitto Tires Silvia versus Ryan "Hampshaa" Tuerck in the Cooper Tires/Drift Alliance S13, these guys displayed exactly what the judges are looking for from crazy high speed entry, early initiation, gangster angle all the way through the "tear drop", tight on the clipping points, great car control with sucking up on each others bumpers, killer transition crossing it over as they came out of the "tear drop", bellowing smoke coming from the tires and then last but not least coming really tight on the walls and of course getting the crowd on their feet!

Straight up, that run was just so solid I can still picture it in my mind!

Sonoma's crowd was so committed to seeing high impact drifting they were enduring one of the hottest days in Sonoma even passing out due to heat exhaustion, that's a fan for sure! Well, we'll see you in the great northwest next and I can't wait, new track, new cars (hopefully Rhys and Sam) and new FANS!!! Bring it and SEND IT!!!!

J-Rod
www.myspace.com/sendit

10 Questions with J-Rod

Meguiar's Drift Garage: 10 Questions with J-Rod - Calvin Wan It took almost two years, but it finally happened last month in Sonoma, CA, where Calvin Wan swept to the top of the podium in front of a hometown crowd at Infineon Raceway. The 2005 Formula D Round 4 winner not only won his first series event that weekend though, he made Formula D drifting history by sliding his Falken Tires Infiniti G35 Coupe to victory - becoming the first competitor, believe it or not, to win a Formula D event with an import.

Meguiar's Drift Garage: 10 Questions with J-Rod - Dai Yoshihara Dai Yoshihara might be a transplant from his native Japan, but you can't call somebody who drifts by day and makes a living by selling JDM parts on Ebay anything but American. The Pacific Rim Apparel driver originally picked up his drifting skills just outside of Tokyo, but now is considered one of the best sliders on our shores.

Meguiar's Drift Garage: 10 Questions with J-Rod Formula D mic master J-Rod puts slidemeister Conrad Grunewald under the microscope for the latest, exclusive 10 Questions with J-Rod Q&A. Conrad Grunewald is a Monterey, CA resident by way of his daily grind - which is not all that bad when you're a Skip Barber Racing School instructor at one of the most famous road racing courses in the country.

Meguiar's Drift Garage: 10 Questions with J-Rod - Taka Aono Formula D mic master J-Rod puts another of the series' slide stars under the microscope for an exclusive Q&A for the latest installation of 10 Questions with J-Rod. Taka Aono has built a solid reputation as one of the country's best hachi-roku pilots and has drawn comparisons to Japan's most visible AE86 slider - Katsuhiro Ueo.

News and Articles

Q & A With Formula D Drift Star Samuel Hubinette Samuel Hubinette, known as the "Crazy Swede" for his aggressive driving style and wild antics on the track, has established himself as one of the elite drivers on the Need For Speed Formula D Drift Series. A native of Sweden and a U.S. citizen, he captured the inaugural Formula D title in 2004 for Team Mopar, and posted a runner-up finish in 2005. In the first two years of the series, Hubinette has won 50 percent (five of ten) of all Formula D events.

House of Drift Irwindale Speedway made history by hosting the first D1 Japanese drift event back in 2003; on August 28, the Speedway continued to write America's drift story by crowning a champion to conclude the 2005 Need For Speed Formula Drift Championship. Like LA County Raceway in Palmdale was over a decade ago for import drag racing, Irwindale Speedway has become the spiritual home of drifting.

Houston Rockets Forget that it was over 92 degrees in air temp and well over 100 degrees on the track surface. Forget that a sold out field of almost 5 dozen drifters all vied for one position at the top of the podium. Forget that the track layout at Houston's Reliant Park, with a high speed straight away start and a series of decreasing radius esses caused mayhem and metal carnage.

Need for Speed Formula D 2005 - Round 2 In New Jersey, during Round 1 of the 2005 Need For Speed Formula Drift season, fans were treated to the cleanest, most aggressive drifting action the series has ever seen. Despite a short oval course, fierce drifting, and a field of extremely talented drifters, only one tandem battle was contested by a "One More Time" run-off.