Unlike most cars events, Formula Drift is not based on the first one to cross the checkered line. This discipline is based on bringing the car to the limit without losing control, and looking good doing it.

Formula Drift Racing Judging:

To determine a winner, the system relies not only on judges, but also on the crowd, who has the power to ask for a “One More Time”, making the drivers run again in situations where it’s too close to determine who has the upper hand. Apart from this special case, grading is done by the judges according to four main criterion: line, speed, angle and impact. Starting at 100 points, the driver’s grade will go down as he makes mistakes of does not fulfill the judges’ requirements around the track.

Line: The race line is the ideal path a driver must take on course. A driver’s score will be affected dramatically for not following it. A specific driving line is defined, and each corner has “clipping points”, marked by cones lying down. The driver must bring the nose or the rear of the car the closest he can to those points in order to earn more points.

Speed: The faster a driver can drift through the course, the higher points he earns. A big part of the grading depends on the entry speed of the first corner. On this track, the minimum entry speed to get points was 100km/h.

Angle: The bigger the angle a driver can maintain while drifting around the course the more points he earns, once again, a big part of the grading depends on the first corner, where a bigger and more impressive angle can give drivers a fair advantage in grading.

Impact: Drifting, overall, is about style, and the more energy, tire smoke and excitement a driver generates, the more points he earns. During the tandem battles, points are awarded to the chaser for staying as close to the leader as possible, but hitting the lead car or overtaking it (unless there is no other option to avoid collision) will result in the driver being awarded a 0 in the run.
In all cases, spinning out or missing a drift will award the driver a 0 on the run.

Big angle, high speed and lots of smoke, Ee Yoong Chern had it all during Singapore Formula Drift 2010

Formula Drift Racing Procedure:

Qualifications see the drivers go through the course one by one, but the main event is the tandem battles, which take place in two rounds:

In Round 1, one driver is designated as the Leader, the other being the Chaser. The leader’s aim will be to tear through the course as fast as possible in the aim to lose the other driver following him, while still complying with the judges grading criterion. The Chaser’s job is to stick as close to the Leader as he can. The closer he is, the more points he gets. Once again, the line, speed angle and impact rules apply to him. At any point in time, if the Chaser overtakes the leader or hits him, he will be awarded 0 points for the run. The only times the Chaser can overtake the Leader is if the latter spins out and the only way to avoid collision is to pass him.

In Round 2 the roles are inverted and the driver with the most overall points will continue on while the other will be out of the competition.

Tengku Djan and Fanga Dan in a tandem battle During Singapore Formula Drift 2010

Kiki Sak Nana building a gap on Faireen Bin Ismail during Formula Drift Singapore 2010