Best of Driving Line 2015: Drifting
Every year, things seem to get "bigger and better", and drifting, particularly Formula Drift, was no exception. Still collecting plenty more fans as events move around the country, its veterans are becoming more determined to win now than ever before, while talented new blood continues to roll through and shake shit up. Here are some of our favorite drifting highlights from 2015:
Fredric Aasbo Sets the Bar High with the Long Beach Season Opener
Coming off a Second place overall finish in 2014, Fredric Aasbo kicked things off in true fashion in the Papadakis Racing Scion tC, winning on a track that up until that point had actually given him some trouble. With a new sponsor in Rockstar Energy, the Norwegian Hammer let everyone know that he came full force with that victory.
Matt Powers Slides Into the Virtual Realm with Castrol EDGE's Virtual Drift
Take Oculus' 3D virtual technology, add Matt Powers' real driving skills and you get Virtual Drift. Blinded to the real world, Matt had to rely completely on a virtual world to complete an actual road course while driving a Roush Stage 3 Mustang, one that reacted to all his driving inputs in real time. Crazy stuff!
Mad Mike MADNESS!
Mad Mike Whiddett came back to big world of American drifting and brought a new friend along: RAD BUL. The screams of rotaries still live vividly in our heads, and in our Issue 4 cover story, Living The Dream, we managed to get him on top of an actual bull!
Auto Enthusiast Day: Endless Drift Demos for Everyone, Fun for the Entire Family
Summer break was ultra proper at Auto Enthusiast Day, and drifting's biggest stars came out to perform drifting demos for attendees, including Vaughn Gittin Jr., Tanner Foust, Mad Mike, Odi Bakchis, Matt Powers and Alex Heilbrunn. And they did it nearly all day long. Did we mention this event was free? Hit one up next year, for sure.
The Norwegian Hammer Takes the 2015 Formula Drift Championship Title!
Fredric Aasbo had a couple slips in Atlanta and Orlando rounds but delivered extra strong from that point on in New Jersey (taking First place, his second consecutive win at that track in a row, all because of mad driving skills in the wet), Seattle (like we said, driving skills in the rain, son!) and Montreal (oui, oui!). By the time the Irwindale finals came around, he was already well positioned in First and only needed to pass the Top 32 to clinch the title - he one upped that by also taking the win for the event!
