Discount Tire Takes Drift Fans for a Thrill Ride on Season 2 of “Behind The Smoke” with Formula D Champion Daijiro Yoshihara

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Discount Tire, America’s largest tire and wheel retailer, and sponsor of the Formula D Discount Tire/Falken Tire Nissan S13, announced Season 2 of Behind The Smoke, its hit GTChannel web video series featuring Formula D champion Daijiro Yoshihara. The first webisode of the new season will premiere April 14 on GTChannel’s YouTube Channel.

GTChannel’s cameras will follow Yoshihara throughout the 2012 season giving fans an exclusive look into the life of this world renowned Formula D driver. On track action and off track adventures will be chronicled in 21 videos with a new episode appearing each week.

“We’re very excited to work with Dai and Discount Tire to produce a follow up to our hugely popular premier season,” said Behind the Smoke producer Taro Koki. “We anticipate an even greater response from fans for Season 2 and Dai is sure to keep them hooked with his genuine brand of entertainment.”

Behind the Smoke is a weekly web video series produced by GTChannel in association with Discount Tire. First launched in 2011, Behind the Smoke is the first Drift racing reality series to cover the extreme motorsport and one of its most notable driver personalities. The premier season attracted 1.5 million unique views with an average of 50,000 views per episode. A playlist for Season 1 is available at http://tinyurl.com/3ebnfrx.

“Last year I won my first championship and Behind The Smoke captured every moment,” said Yoshihara. “This time I’m defending the trophy for my fans!”

Discount Tire, a long standing North American Drift supporter, has been the primary sponsor of Yoshihara since 2009 and the exclusive tire and wheel retailer of the Formula D Championship series for the past eight years.

Discount Tire also sponsors the tires.com Triple Crown, which is made up of three regular season Formula D events. The driver with the highest combined score from Road Atlanta, Evergreen Speedway and Irwindale Speedway receive a $10,000 cash prize. In addition to winning the Formula D championship, Yoshihara also won the tires.com Triple Crown in 2011, marking the first time in Formula D history that a driver took home both the Formula D series championship and the tires.com Triple Crown title in the same year.

The Road to Formula DRIFT: An Amateur Photographer Contest

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The Road to Formula DRIFT

an NWMotiv.com Amateur Photographer Contest

Do you think you have the talent to compete against the best photographers in racing’s most popular new sport? NWMotiv.com and Formula DRIFT are proud to give you that chance!

Want to feel the rush of the best drift cars in the world passing you by? Or maybe take the next best photo and get yourself recognized?  Starting now and for the first 4 rounds of Formula DRIFT, NWMotiv.com will give an amateur photographer the chance to shoot with us, trackside, at Formula Drift Round 5 – Seattle.

Compete head to head versus other photographers in our four shooting challenges and the photographer with the most points after round four will be invited by us, NWMotiv.com, to shoot Formula DRIFT Round 5.  It’s no secret that approved photographers for the drift series are being cut, be among the best and learn firsthand what it takes!

How it works:
Review the theme for the round and submit your photo before the deadline shown, one entry per person. Each photo will be judged on a points scale by NWMotiv Editorial Staff, Josh Mackey and Armin Ausejo. Additionally, these photos will be posted to Facebook for additional public votes. For every 10 likes a photo receives on our gallery, an extra point is added to the total.

Rules:
An Amateur Photographer as defined by this contest is a photographer that has not shot a Formula DRIFT/D1 event EVER. You MUST own a digital SLR camera. Each shot you submit must be your own; you must own the legal rights to it. You are not required to be from the Northwest, but you must provide your own transportation and/or lodging if you are traveling. You agree to allow NWMotiv and Formula DRIFT to promote your photos online through their website and/or social media outlets. Last, but most important, this is an invite, we reserve the right to revoke it, final contest winner will be held to the highest standards of professionalism, any acts that tarnish the image of either brand will be met with swift punishment.

Let’s Go!

Round 1 – Photo Theme: Ominous – Deadline April 6, 2012

Click here to register

Nitto Tires Continues Support of Formula DRIFT for Seventh Consecutive Season

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February 23, 2012

Long Beach, Calif. – February 23, 2012 – Formula DRIFT is proud to re-sign Nitto Tires as a Major Sponsor for the 2012 Pro Championship Series.

Nitto Tire will be on-site at each event as a sponsor of the Series as well as competing with their drift team. The Nitto team will compete on the NT05 tire.

“Nitto Tire is proud to continue its support for Formula DRIFT for the seventh season,” said Harry Kong, Marketing and Events Specialist for Nitto Tire. “This motorsport combines competiveness with excitement for both automotive enthusiasts and the general public. For 2012, Nitto will continue to use the Nitto NT05 as the tire of choice for the drift due to its predictability and durability under drifting environments. As a major sponsor, Nitto Tire will be integrated into 14 episodes of the Formula DRIFT TV broadcast on NBC Sports as well as a contributor to Formula DRIFT’s successful live-stream coverage. As the popularity of this motorsport grows, our fan base grows with it. Currently with over 1.2 million fans on the Nitto Tire Facebook page, we have a large outreach to help bring the excitement of drifting to our fans.”

For 2012, Nitto will be sponsoring Joon Maeng with the Nitto Tire / Mazda RX-8, Matt Powers with Need for Speed / Nitto Tire S14, Michael Essa with the GSR Autosport / Nitto Tire Z4, and lastly a new addition to the Nitto Tire team, Toshiki Yoshioka with the RS-R / Nitto Tire S15.