Thought I should begin with something more general as a first entry but #formuladrift just happened this weekend at Long Beach, California and there were some things I have to write something about.

So first of all the positive:

• I really like the fact that some old as well as new names are getting back to #FD. I was really pleased that Tanner Foust got back to drifting but even more I'm happy that Kristaps Bluss from Lithuania decided to take on the American competition as well as Masashi Yokoi, the Japanese madman who was literally destroying his opponents in D1 in Japan.  
• It is a drift competition so it is already a great thing. And with #FormulaD scale I'm hoping it to evolve endlessly. 
• Great to see three favourite drivers to take up the podium. Frederick Aasbo is really a strong driver with his own driving style and has tons of talent. Ryan Tuerck is another ster of the #fdlb event, nearly all runs were wall-to-wall and he was putting his fresh new Scion FR-S against without a back thought. Odi Bakchis is my favourite amongst all formula drift drivers, last year he managed to kick so much asses with nearly a missile-car level ride that he left astounded.   

And that's all the positive...a pity...I was really hoping FD to grow into another kind of sport then F1 or WRC, but it seems they decided to go with a trusty old scheme. Well I have to admit they're trying to do it different but it does not seem to work out for now. 

So the cons of the first round:

• Dailymotion streaming. That's a circle of hell. Not only I had to turn off all other traffic consuming devices and services, I've also had to turn the video quality down so the picture won't lag so much. And still it lagged a lot! Go for YouTube they allow to re-watch previous moments during stream and it helps a lot, especially when you need to take a leave from computer.
• Judging, just learn the damn thing from Japan. Don't judge solely on what you prefer, there were tons of moments for OMTs where you didn't give them (like Yokoi vs Aasbo).
• Driving, I'm still considering FD a "sideways drag racing". Nothing changed in this department compared to previous years.
• Initiation - when will the handbrake be banned, just start applying pressure on the US drivers so they start to learn how to properly flick or clutch-kick the car into initiation and use handbrake for corrections only. 
• The third place, starting from the past year, FD decided to be "special" and give it to a higher qualifier. They've eliminated at least 2 additional tandem runs that everyone are craving for during each event. They've stripped great tandem drivers of a chance to get higher spot. Especially considering that single run and tandem run are quite different in terms of tension and required efforts.
• Useless cars...while there are lots of drivers who still run various swapped S13-15 and GT86/FRS/BRZ platforms more and more we see lots of new projects that does not have anything similar with real world cars, and the bright examples are Team Rockstar cars of Tanner Foust and Frederic Aasbo. Both are FF cars turned into firebreathing monsters with tube frames and ridiculous mods.
• Comercials and tons of promo information from presenters. I know that they are obliged to do this but seriously, you need every time to name all the sponsors Forseberg has?

I think, this would wrap up my thoughts for these event.