When Team Fred approached me to judge two of his Formula D events, my immediate thought was: Is this guy mad? I mean, seriously, who in their right mind would ask me for what little drift expertise I have, considering I don't have much at all? I hardly consider the ten events I've been to (if even that much) and watching clips from Option videos enough firsthand experience to qualify as a drift expert, but when Team Fred makes the call, it's like a minor league ballplayer getting called to the majors: you just go for it.
I thought I'd try to study up on the game during my flight over-watch a few more videos, call up the pros for tips-but as I was told, "Dude, you've seen enough of these things; you'll be fine." Personally, I wasn't convinced, but also I wouldn't be completely on my own since I would be joining three other judges, two of which have plenty of driving experience (Tarzan Yamada and Utsumi Uchi), a translator (Ken Takahashi) and a fellow colleague in the magazine world (Ed Loh). By the way, I filled in for Rich Chang (yes, the former Super Street editor, Richard Simon Chang). By joining the already familiar cast of characters, I wasn't totally of the green. At the two events prior, drivers had already begun to contest the actions of the judging panel (a normal occurrence with anything involving judging) and abuse the "one more time" policy. As a result of this, Formula D made changes, limiting the "one more time" to just one more and one more time only, a problem addressed with the addition of an instant replay monitor for the judges. Additionally, drivers were given a strict provision that any excessive complaints deemed inappropriate towards the judging or credibility of the judges would result in possible fines and/or deduction of points. With these changes in effect, all eyes would be focused toward the judges. It wasn't the best foot to get started off on, but things would soon change.
Qualifying Sessions-Learning the Game and Then Some
The thick, damp, and barely bearable heat of Houston is the hardest part about being in Texas. Watching drift events in Southern California is easy to do with calm breezes and at most mild sunburn, but Texas is just wretched. You miss covering an inch of epidermis with sunblock and you're bound for skin cancer; skip out on downing at least 2 bottles of water an hour and you've gone way beyond the realm of dehydration. Upon my arrival at the track, it was time to learn the course layout, which, coincidentally enough, had been laid out nearly identical to the Odaiba D1 course, according to Uchi. Every turn and each sweeper right down to the chicanes were on par with the exception of the first entry area, which had a couple of bumps that threw drivers off on several occasions. Tarzan and Uchi, both of whom have more years engaged in racing environments than I've been alive, offered plenty of suggestions on what to look for and how we should be critiquing. It was a heavy dose of information that had to be processed quickly since qualifying was almost upon us. I made mental notes and went up to the judges' tower to get a better overall look at the layout.