The donut is one of the first maneuvers taught when learning how to drift. Pro drifters and rally racers sometimes do donuts when they make a mistake to get back on course. And sometimes they do donuts for fun when they are celebrating a win or just for show. In Gymkhana Grid, learning how to execute donuts and figure eights cleanly and quickly can be a huge advantage in the competition.
The layout seems complex at first, but after watching a few runs you start to understand where the course goes. I can only imagine how many times drivers got lost on course during the first practice sessions!
Quite a few licensed Formula D drivers were invited, including Stephan Verdier who converted his Subaru back to 4WD just for the event.
Jeff Jones was driving for BMI Racing for the weekend. I wonder if this is a sneak preview for the 2011 Formula D season?
Isn’t that just the cutest 4 rotor RX-8 you have ever seen?
Jeff wanted to punch Cody Parkhouse in the head after Cody beat him in the top 16 bracket.
Cody was piloting the A'PEXi Lexus SC430. I am glad to see him back in the driver's seat. Last time I shot his VQ powered S13 was at Just Drift Halloween bash. Right after the event Cody’s racecar was stolen from in front of his house!
Cody got into the top 8, but he got knocked out by his good friend Matt Powers.
It’s good to see Matt’s car still in one piece. Pretty soon it should be in pieces for some off season upgrades.
Matt eventually gets 4th place in the rear wheel drive class. Congratulations Matt!
It was the battle of the Z33’s, as Kevin Abbring in his Bio-methanol powered Z went up against Pat Mordaunt’s turbo charged Z. After the smoke cleared Kevin came out on top. Pat put on a good fight despite losing his power steering earlier in the day.
There were familiar faces all around. The voice of Formula D was the voice of Gymkhana Grid for the day.
There were also quite a few unfamiliar faces, including famous skater Bucky Lasek. Unfortunately Bucky was given a car with no handbrake...
Mr. Top Gear himself was there to take the overall win at the inaugural event. Tanner Foust didn't hold back one bit going into the competition and it showed.
Calvin Wan was brave enough to bring out his personal car to battle it out with those water barriers.
Calvin ended up getting in the top 8. A strong finish considering he has not actively competed in professional motorsports for more than a year.
Vaughn Gittin Jr. did not have a secondary car he could use for this event, so Ken Block lent him his prized Rally Ford Escort.
Vaughn ended up getting knocked out after suffering mechanical issues against fellow Mustang driver Tony Brakohiapa in the top 16 eliminations.
The most exciting battle of the weekend was between Kyle Mohan in his FC RX-7, and Toshiki Yoshioka in his DriftSpeed S15.
Yoshioka tried to keep the drifting to a minimum to lower his lap times.
Kyle and Yoshioka enter the final 720 degree donuts at the same exact time.
It’s a race to the finish as you can see, with Kyle looking over at his opponent out accelerating him. Yoshioka’s DriftSpeed S15 had much more traction coming out of his donuts, so he finished just a fraction of a second quicker.
Mike Essa’s missile car would not have passed the technical inspection, so he brought out his BMW 350R instead. The uncorked M5 V10 is one of my favorite sounding engines.
The highlight of the event was the burnout contest. This is where all the professional drifters shined. Most of the rally drivers couldn't do the slow and showy burnouts due to 4WD.
Somewhere in this photo there is a very hot 350R. Mike ended up winning the contest after bouncing off the rev limiter doing 3rd gear donuts for three minutes straight.
Linhbergh caught a nice shot of Mike single-handedly opening up a hole in the ozone layer directly above Irwindale Speedway.
Joon Maeng was first in line for the burnout contest. He was also the first to break his car.
After pushing his AE86 off the track Joon returned with his personal racecar to finish his burnouts.
The team from Holland who brought their Bio-methanol powered 350Z decided it was a good idea to run onto the track, and let their driver Kevin Abbring do donuts around them. It looked like a scene out of a zombie movie as everyone was running away with their eyes still focused on the donuting 350z.
Scott Stanwood from Numoventz fabrication shop drove the 350Z he built for Pat Mordaunt in the burnout contest.
I’ve never seen anyone so happy to get free tacos. Frank Siharath co-owner of Garage BOSO was on hand to keep the rasta themed S14 driven by Ross Petty in tip top shape. According to Frank, the Garage BOSO rasta S15 was stripped of its motor and tranny to make room for an LS3. They put the SR24DET into the rasta S14 for this event.
Ross had a different approach to Gymkhana. He drifted the ENTIRE course. Even the straight-aways! He would even manji the slalom.
Calvin Wan took advantage of that, and Knocked Ross out of the top 16. Ross was forced to do wheelies on his tiny bicycle to keep himself occupied for the rest of the day.
I spy a very cold Speedhunter. Keep an eye out for a few car spotlights, including one of Ken Block's Ford Escort from Linhbergh!
Out of all the drivers who drove this event I have to say Alex Pfeiffer had the cleanest line through the box.
Linhbergh and I discussed our thoughts while we were munching on pizza after a long day at Gymkhana Grid. We both would like to see more popular drivers, and because the rules are more relaxed we want crazier cars. As this was their first event, I'm sure it's going to get better and better in the future!
-Larry Chen
