If you’re an avid Formula Drift fan you might have noticed some visual changes that have appeared in the wheel and tire area of the Pro1 cars this year (2018). As cool as it may look it’s not for extra style points. The wheel and tire markings are there for a very good reason.

The old days of Formula Drift required drivers to run a front brake light LED strip (commonly seen on the top of the windshield) so the judges could tell when a driver slowed down in areas of the track they were not allowed to.

Here is an example of that front brake light on Kevin Lawrence’s car in the 2017 season

You can see in this older image of Kevin Lawrence at Formula Drift Atlanta that the third brake light made it very clear when a driver was on their brakes. The glow of the red light was a clear indication of a driver using either his brake pedal or handbrake. The real issue would be when it came to wheel speeds. Even in this up close photo, you cannot really see the tire clearly enough to detect if a driver has left off the gas pedal in an attempt to be hit by the chase driver.

Each track has multiple deceleration and acceleration zones. Primarily these zones are to help reduce contact by informing the drivers where the judges expect them to be in power and where it is acceptable to slow down. The goal is to reduce vehicle contact and keep both vehicles smooth and in-drift. Judges are looking to ensure that drivers are not slowing down in the acceleration zone.

This illustration is from 2017 @ Texas Motor Speedway. Formula Drift supplies these illustrations to the drivers so they know where these zones are located and their size.

One topic that has continued to come up in some of our podcasts is the reliability skill level of PRO 1 drivers. Basically, drivers are counting on the other drivers to do what they’re supposed to do while on track, especially when in the chase position. Here is a clip from our Matt Vankirk (Formula Drift Pro driver) episode where he talks about that:

What can compound the issue is something referred to as the smoke line. That is essentially the smoke that is being put off by the lead car that can obstruct the view of the chase driver in a tandem. That is why it’s so important that there are rules to keep the lead car from causing contact. Here is an explanation of that from one our FD edition Podcasts:

The idea of the LED front brake light was to help enforce all of this and make sure it was obvious when a driver was attempting to slow. However, there were some drawbacks to this method as an indicator. Things like left foot braking, a technique that most drivers utilize in tandem, would trigger the light but with control of the throttle, there may not have been a real loss in speed. Left foot braking allows modulation rather than the on-off braking that a handbrake / e-brake provide. So the illumination may have shown when a brake was being used but it wasn’t necessarily a good indicator of speed change.

Several drivers would manipulate this by running dark wheels and bait contact with chase drivers who were just attempting to stay close in tandem under this old process. With that, the judges have removed the third brake light and forced the drivers to run colored wheel spokes so just wheel speed can be measured at all times.

So a new rule came into effect for the Pro series cars so that the judges could identify people who were manipulating wheel speed easier. Here is the new rule:

3.6 F states: “PRO Series vehicles will be required to have stickers on each tire or a contrasting color on a specific portion of each wheel during official practices, qualifying, and competition.” This is a response to the dark and black wheels that have been used for quite some time. Specifically, 3.6 F subsections (a) and (b) specify the requirements for the decals. 3.6 F (a) states: “Tire stickers must be a minimum of 1 inch tall with 2 stickers per wheel,” while (b) gives examples with illustrations.

Here are some examples of some Konig Formula Drift Pro drivers wheel setups with wheel or tire markings.

Matt VanKirk (Konig Hypergram – Flow Formed):

Kevin Lawrence / Enjuku Racing (Konig Dekagram – Flow Formed:

Ryan Litteral / Koruworks (Konig Ampliform – Flow Formed):

Here is a perfect example of what these markings look like in action. We’re sure that whatever the judges can’t see with the naked eye they could pull from video footage (and slow down the footage) if it was needed to make a call on fault.

Formula Drift has done a great job in amending and developing rules that continue to push the sport forward. Their rules are constantly making the sport less subjective which allow fans to understand rulings and outcomes. They are owed a lot of credit for that!

Drifting is far from easy and Matt VanKirk and his team captured an incredible, real-time piece of footage from Formula Drift Atlanta. Each team may call for a Competition Timeout to make any necessary repairs. This timeout allows the team a maximum of 5 minutes to fix their vehicle and be ready for competition. Its one thing if you need to fix something simple, but imagine swapping a rear diff, transmission or changing out axles in only 5 minutes?

Remember the car must be on the ground, and ready to pull off to competition before the clock strikes 5-minutes. Watch Matt VanKirk and the team thrash and get his car ready to compete in their top 32 battle, its wild! You can feel the stress!