OFFICIAL NOTICE: Formula Drift Post-Race Technical Inspection Report

During the routine post-race technical inspection, which first began during Round 4 at Evergreen Speedway, on September 8, 2007 at Round 6 of the Formula Drift Championship event at Wall Speedway, it was determined that the #2 car, driven by Rhys Millen was not in compliance with the 2007 Formula Drift Rules & Regulations.

Upon inspection by the Formula Drift Technical Manager, it was determined that the #2 car did not have functioning brake lights as required in Section 8.5 of the series rules, which read:

Section 8.5 Electrical Systems
… Brake lights, tail lights (rain lights), reverse lights, and hazard lights must function normally.

During the course of the investigation, Formula Drift Officials were able to determine that the brake lights were operable during Pre-Event technical inspection on the morning of Friday September 7, 2007 and that they were working earlier in the day of Saturday September 8, 2007, prior to the Qualifying round as witnessed by a Formula Drift Official. Team RMR was immediately notified following the post-race technical inspection by Formula Drift Chief Steward of the initial findings and was told a penalty would be assessed upon further detail review.

Formula Drift attempted to determine if there were any extenuating circumstances such as an impact or other incident that would have rendered the brake lights inoperable. Upon review of the footage of every scored run made by the #2 car including all qualifying runs, it was determined that the brake lights were never operable during Top-16 Tandem/Head-to-Head competition. In addition, Formula Drift rulebook Section 6.3 states:

Section 6.3 Damage
…It is the responsibility of the team to notify the TECHNICAL MANAGER of any or all damage.

As a result of a detailed review and the team’s appeal, the #2 car will be assessed a 17 point penalty and a fine for a rulebook infraction of Section 8.5; Electrical System. __________________

As Quoted By Rhys
“So today I received a letter from Randy the technical steward at “Formula D”. It stated that I was being assessed a points penalty of 17 points and a fine of $500.00 for my brake lights failing to pass post race inspection at round six, New Jersey. It started out to be 34 points ( all competition points for the event ) but was dropped after I gave them my piece of mind. In my eyes this is a huge pile of $#!% for the following reasons :

Randy and his technical staff did not notice an issue until after the race nor did the judges or competitors say anything about the brake lights not working during the rounds. But for some reason after the race they were able to notice and recall that they were working in qualifying.

There is nothing written in the rule book that is based on a vehicle failing to pass “A Post Race Technical inspection” stating that points or fines will be assessed and deducted.

My brake lights were deemed to be working prior to Ross Petty hitting on the very first lap ( half a lap ) of the top sixteen.

In the past if an issue has come to the attention of the technical staff such as “deemed illegal tires” or “vehicle swapping during rounds”, a technical bulletin has been handed out to all competitors along with a statement of how the infraction will be handled and that it will be enforced at the next round with no points or fines being applied to those parties involved”

As you can see in the image it appears that Ross hit him in the rear tire section? You be the judge…….We haven’t seen an official response/reply from Formula D yet. We will keep you posted.