HIN and wDrift

This year has brought me some new and some familiar opportunities. Hot Import Nights new brand called wDrift, was one that was both of those. A new competitive drifting series of events to replace the defamed XDC Circuit, wDrift aims to bring ProAm level competition to new venues and areas that normally don’t have it. I was brought on board to judge during the 1st round and ended up continuing to run the drifting side of the 3 events series as the year progressed as head judge.

There was no points series so it was not a championship this year, so there is no pressure to travel several states unless a driver chose. Each event was a standalone competition that was bringing drifting action to the car show aspect of HIN.

Many car enthusiasts mod their rides and like to show them off. Many more like to come see the tricked out whips and get new ideas or just be dazzled. Having drifting as part of these gatherings, really helps grow the sports impact among more everyday people. Drift events alone only bring in drifting fans, and unless you are a fan, many times you don’t even know about the events.

The first event was in Orlando, FL at the well-known drift track at CFRC. We had a full Top16 field to run, but the Florida skies opened up and made the competition very interesting. Holding on to his 1^st place qualifying spot, Pat Goodin defeated all and became the Champion of wDrift Orlando with his NA- LS 240sx.

The second event was held in New Hampshire, close to HIN’s title sponsor Sylvania. The drifting group up here is relatively small, but they have an organization called “Drift Spot”. With their help, we setup a pretty challenging decreasing radius first corner that had some of the better drivers struggling at first. Soon, they were all doing great and we had  a competition on our hands. At the end of the event, Tanner Munson in his boosted LS powered 240sx took the top spot.

wDrift did not perform at every venue that HIN visited, so the 3^rd and final round for 2013 was held in Fontana, CA. This venue, AutoClub Speedway, was once open to drift events, though only briefly. The drift event they held years ago had its issues and the facility no longer was friendly to drifting groups. Having HIN bring the wDrift competition here, with the help of Adam’s Motorsports Park crew, we turned around the perspective of the venue. They were so impressed by the crowd and the organization of the drifting portion, they invited Adam’s crew to start a relationship to possibly hold future events. This was our greatest success this year, improving the respect level of drifting and helping the community by gaining a new venue.  Back to the driving--  The course was similar to the CFRC course but with a longer first 2 corner section and then a smaller end section. The drivers that locked in their line, using the outer clipping zones, shined early and kept on laying down great runs. When the smoke cleared, Tyler Wolfson had driven his rotary FD Rx7 to victory.

2014 wDrift is up in the air where it will go and what they will do. Hopefully, we can keep improving and I can try to bring some legitimate events to new venues and drivers with HIN. I am not trying to make a series to compete with FormulaD, but to be a part of a travelling show that is enhancing the drifting scene and reputation….. sign me up.