First I would like to apologize for the delay in getting the article up today. It was a crazy day of getting back into the normal non-Vegas life I haven’t been accustomed to in almost 10-days. With that said, yes everyone from our camp made it back in one piece after a long trip to Vegas and back. Today I will touch on the adventure as well as give a rundown on what happened this weekend in the motorsports world. Let’s begin……
Like I had mentioned, it was a long trip to Vegas and back. The total distance traveled according to my Garmin was 4,650 km’s. For the couple of Americans reading this that is 2,890 miles. To be quite honest I don’t mind the trip, I love highway driving and road trips. The others don’t share my love to the same degree. Jordan couldn’t stomach the idea of a third 2,000+ km trip in less than 3 weeks and took the easy way out and flew home on Saturday. I don’t blame him.
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Overall I think the week was pretty good. We gathered content for the long winter months, shared conversation over dinner with the likes of OMG Drift and Driftwest, attended the Global Rallycross event, checked out a local meet (more on that later), did some shopping and did some drinking. We even lost Jason for a few hours on Monday night. Now we can rest and look forward to next years trip down for the 2013 version.
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Our Vancouver contributor Devan Francis joined us on Monday and for many of us it was the first time meeting him in person. Devan will be putting together a few videos with content he gathered over the week. The first of those will show up sometime in the very near future. Keep your eyes posted.
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I have been I pretty big proponent of Rallycross the last couple of years. I think it started when I was lucky enough witness the Rally Event at the 2007 X-Games. While the event wasn’t Rallycross per say, it extremely entertaining. That being said, we were pretty lucky to have a round of the championship created for the SEMA Show.
When the dust settled at the end of Tuesday nights Final, Tanner Foust won the round and secured the 2012 Championship.
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When walking through the paddocks on Monday before the heats started I noticed a Ford Fiesta with eBay livery parked on stands with extensive damage. The car was flipped by Englishman David Binks during Sundays practice after shorting the 70-gap jump. Brinks was rushed to hospital but was later released with only minor injuries. Here is video of the crash:
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A few of us sat in on the Formula Drift press conference Wednesday afternoon. Compared the last couple of years, this year’s presser was short and sweet. The big announcements were that in FD’s 10th season there will be:
1. A tire manufacturer’s championship.
2. A vehicle manufacture championship where the engine must come from the same manufacturer as the chassis.
3. The addition of a “Super Drift Challenge” which will replace the Team Drift exhibitions. $25,000 will be up for grab during these events.
4. Also the removal of the Las Vegas event and addition of a Texas event.
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Friday night we stuck around Vegas for the Annual VIP meet. While it starts as a VIP meet, a pretty wide variety of imports tend to show. The quality of cars was pretty impressive for the most part. It was funny though, after discussing the vibe of the meet with Richard we both came to the agreement that it wasn’t much different than a DODOlogic meet. Different groups of people show up and hang out and check out cars. It is pretty universal.
Watch for coverage of the meet in the near future.
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The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place this weekend at the wicked Yas Marina Circuit. This is what the podium looked like after the checkered flag:
1. Kimmi Raikkonen
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Sebastien Vettel.
Going into Autin, Texas in a couple of weeks we have Vettel with a slim 10-point lead over Alonso. The last 2 rounds should shape up to be quite exciting.
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The Final Round of the WRC season takes place this weekend in Spain. Not much to talk about here as Sebastien Loeb has already locked down his 9th consecutive championship.