Welcome back to the Monday Morning Rundown. It was was a nice few weeks off for myself over the holiday season and now we are back at it here in 2012. I hope everyone had a happy and safe holidays. Today we will ease ourselves back into the fold gently as there still isn’t a whole lot to talk about. Let’s begin…….
The 2012 drifting schedule here in Western Canada is beginning to take shape with Drift Union announcing their D-Day dates at Penticton Speedwayfor the upcoming season. They are as follows:
April 22nd – Test / School day
May 13th – D day 18
June 3rd – D day 19
June 30th July 1st – Drift Union Invitational (The big one)
July 28th – D day 20
Aug 18th – D day 21
Sep 29th – D day 22
For more info keep an eye on their webpage: http://www.driftunion.com
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Driftwest released their series rule book over the weekend. Everything seems to be be straight forward which will hopefully keep things simple and affordable for the drivers. To take a look at the rule book follow this link: http://driftwest.ca/front-page/2012/2012-driftwest-series-rulebook/
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Just this past week what is thought to be Ken Gushi was spotted testing a turbo’d FR-S at Laguna Seca Speedway. I am sure we can expect a formal announcement from Scion in the coming weeks about their 2012 Formula D program.
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The 2012 D1GP schedule looks like this:
Round 1 – April 14/15 Tokyo, Japan at Odaiba Circuit
Round 2- May 26/27 Suzuka Circuit
Round 3 – July 21/22 Autopolis
Round 4 – August 25 Ebisu Circuit
Round 5 – August 26 Ebisu Circuit
Round 6 – September 22/23 Chubu International Airport
Round 7 – November 3/4 TBD
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The Dakar Rally is in full swing with half of the stages completed. So far the Hummers and the Minis are proving to be the most strong of the ‘cars’. Once again it is too bad that there is no telivision coverage of the event in Canada. Fortunately there are several sources of coverage on the net to keep yourself up to date.
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Speaking of Rally. The 2012 World Rally Championship season is just around the corner starting this weekend in Monte-Carlo. Of interesting note is the addition of Mini to the manufacturer slate this year. They are doing well at Dakar so maybe they can make a splash in the WRC this year. Only time will tell.
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You buy one of those new Chevy Sonics? You might want to swing by the dealership and make sure it has all it’s brake pads. Apparently several hundred left the assembly line with no inner front pads. Oops!
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And to finish the Rundown is MR. Minty Fresh himself. He made quite a splash at the SEMA Show with his Minty Z. A couple of weeks after the SEMA Show he made a bit of a CRASH with picture of his damaged wheel and fender. Mr. Minty has been trying to sell his 350Z for a while now with no luck so he has come up with a way to part ways with it while still getting what he wants out of it. It is actually the pretty clever idea of raffling it off on Facebook. He is selling 500 raffle tickets at $50 a pop and once all sold he will draw for a winner. To follow the raffle check out the Facebook Page set up for it here: https://www.facebook.com/events/310405545670945/