World One Performance Blog

In its fourth year coming to the greater Seattle area, Formula D returned stronger and more exciting than ever this past Saturday, August 8th. I’ve been covering Formula D for Subiesport/DrivingSports each year it’s come to Seattle, and I honestly do believe it gets better and better every year. In past years, I’ve endured scorching heat (100+ temps on the track) and pouring rain, but this year the overcast weather held up nice and dry, without being too hot or too cold. While the weather conditions seemed ideal all around, the newly redone track surface proved to be challenging for most of the drivers this year, resulting in more crashes, injuries, and broken cars than any of the past 3 years. Dai Yoshihara had a mechanical failure in his Lexus IS350 in practice that resulted in him slamming into the wall right at the first break and he had to be taken to the hospital with a mild concussion. Other cars lost front and/or rear bumpers, Ken Gushi’s Scion tC broke a driveshaft, and even the Pro-Am racers preceding the Top 16 raced fender-less and with duct-taped hoods. All of this action continued to wow the packed grandstands and paddock, to which the Formula D officials always mention as being among the best crowds throughout the entire tour. Ultimately, Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy / Maxxis Tires Nissan 350Z went on to win the event and widen his points lead for the Formula D 2009 Championship.

Being among the crowd and the media, it was clear to me that Formula D could be seen as a saving grace for the import car enthusiast scene in the greater Seattle area, or perhaps even the entire Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia. With Battle of the Imports not coming to the Seattle area this year and all of the major import car shows canceling their Seattle and Vancouver BC shows this year as well, the import car enthusiasts in this area very much need an event like Formula D. I believe that given the sheer numbers and enthusiasm of the crowd, many of these people would agree with me. Those of us who live in this are can only hope that more events such as this will pay visit to the greater Seattle area next year.

Click here to view the entire gallery on Armin H. Ausejo’s SmugMug.

Tomorrow, I’ll be at Formula D Seattle not only participating in the car show, but also taking photos on track for Subiesport Magazine and DrivingSports.com. I’ll be sure to share a few photos here, but you’ll most likely be able to view them on DrivingSports.com once processing and uploading is finished. To the left, you see me still holding down the shutter on the camera while the AE86 loses control and drifts toward the barrier…lucky for me, he came to a stop right before hitting it, but I was still pretty scared.  Hopefully it won’t rain like it did last year! Until then, please feel free to browse my past Formula D Seattle photos at these links below:

• Formula D Seattle 2008
• Formula D Seattle 2007
• Formula D Seattle 2006

It’s not often that we have a World One customer who sells their car, and the next person becomes a World One customer as well.  The car you see here used to belong to a long-time World One customer known as Fook.  Fook’s been a friend of World One’s for a long time, not only from a business stand point, but also for all the great stories he shares with us from his days growing up and his work on an Alaskan fishing boat for most of the year.  Over the years, he has since settled down, and is now raising a family in Thailand.  However, since his family resides in Thailand, he really couldn’t hang onto his car here stateside, thus he sold the car to his long time friend and fellow Subaru enthusiast, Wence Estrada in January of this year.

Since then, Wence has made the car his own, and the car is now featured on TunerZine.com, with an article written by yours truly.  This car has its roots in World One Performance’s history, and we hope to add it to our gallery at some point in the near future.  Please click the photo or click here to view the article.