This weekend in sunny Southern California, the 2009 Formula Drift season got underway with an exciting opener at the Streets of Long Beach course section of the Long Beach Grand Prix circuit. Winning the first round was young gun Ryan Tuerck and his 2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP.
Along with the debut of some pretty impressive custom high-powered drift machines, including Vaughn Gittin's Falken Tire 2010 Ford Mustang and Tanner Foust's V-8 powered Scion TC, surprising to most, there were quite a few early upsets of big name drifting players, including Red Bull racer and Drifting World Champ, Rhys Millen. The Long Beach Grand Prix course in itself is a true spectacle. Sometimes regarded as North America's Monaco Grand Prix, the street course offers some of the best close quarter high-speed racing around. It's set atop Long Beach's scenic marina and for its fourth year, Formula D brought 32 of its top drivers to the circuit for some entertaining tandem, tournament-style drifting. Read More inside Motor Trend