Federal Sponsors Formula Drift Schelley

In the USA, Taiwan-based Federal Tyres is sponsoring Henry Schelley in the Fifth annual Formula Drift Pro Championship. The seven–round competition, featuring courses in five different states across the country, began on 12 April on the Long Beach Grand Prix Street Course, where Shelley’s Mazda Rx-7 – fitted with Federal 595 Competition Series tyres – achieved a respectful 22nd placement from a field of more than 60 drift-modified vehicles.

Post-competition, Schelley praised Federal’s input into his performance: “The tyres seamlessly integrated with Mazda Rx-7 and simultaneously reported a sensitive road feedback which delivered the correct guidance in a split second so to make the track easy to navigate.” Federal hopes that Schelley’s performance will increase brand-awareness among the sold-out bleachers, filled with “racing buffs”, at each Drift Grand Prix course.

Drift is a relatively new branch of motorsport in the USA, requiring high skill-levels from participants, who must manoeuvre their cars into controlled sideways slides, slaloming through a course marked on the race track. Each driver is judged not on the time in which they complete the course, but rather on execution and style. It is particularly interesting to note that the sport contains the largest number of tyre manufacturers of any worldwide motorsport series. Federal have also supplied Australian Drift Series driver Nathan Weissel, who is achieving considerable success in the 2008 Drift Australia Series.