August 31, 2025 • 47 mins
Guest
Amanda Sorensen
YouTube - @AmandaSorensen12
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Right stick on his door. They're just checking up too
much on the transitions. Just trust the guy in front of
you right now. If you're heading towards the
wall, the throttle's going to beyour best friend.
And if you're right there on hisdoor, he's he's going to be
lighting off early through the turns.
Just worry about filling the zones with him and being in that
pocket and stay close on the transitions and you'll you'll be
good. It is so surreal right now,
(00:22):
sitting in the seat, the pressure just got poured on.
I was here having fun and then I'm at the top and now it's like
put on your big girl pants because we got to take this baby
home. As a driver and just me as a
person. I don't need to prove anything
to anyone. I have put my time in.
To be the first female's podium in Formula Drift was a huge
statement. Amanda Sorenson in a chase
(00:43):
position. Oh, Sully, he says.
He's feeling good. Amanda Sorenson just a bit
sloppy in that chase position. Wow, how?
Horrible. Amanda Sorenson out front the
United States Air Force BMW initiative.
Big angle there. Let's go.
Congratulations for making history.
(01:04):
First ever female on a Formula Drift podium.
I have obviously been involved in racing my whole entire life.
My dad race trophy trucks, so from a very, very young age I'd
seen the operations of how race teams have operated.
Randy's the one. Their dad got them into
Motorsports racing and they bothwere really timid at first.
(01:25):
Being a parent and raising the kids in the motorsport industry
is something that's really like,I wouldn't change it.
But I do feel that the guys are way more intimidated to drive
against the females than they are to drive against another
male driver. Do you feel it benefits you
(01:46):
being a woman when it comes to marketing?
Brandon always used to say, wow,I wish I had to.
For me, yes, there's a lot of benefit, but there's also a lot
of pushback. It goes into the pitch to land
something as big As, for example, Air Force.
For me, sponsorship looks a lot different.
However, I have my brother, I have Cameron, I have had a lot
(02:07):
of other drivers reach out to me.
It's so important to have good relationships around the pits.
Always represent yourself as an athlete on a professional level,
and I also feel like what's meant for you will come for you.
Since you've been in multiple Motorsports, would you say
drifting has been the easiest tomarket?
There's obviously pros and cons with every series that I've
driven in. I think for me personally, I've
(02:27):
had a lot of success in drifting.
How can I tell you what's going to happen in the future?
Like you live in the moment and you enjoy and as the
opportunities approach, you either jump on the opportunities
or you let them go by. I get to go to New York Fashion
Week as a Formula Drift driver. I get to go to a Woman in Sports
Foundation event as a Formula Drift driver.
Drifting is so cool because it came into the States in 2003 as
(02:49):
Formula Drift and we're the fastest growing motorsport.
We're second to NASCAR and social media. 80% of our fans do
not attend NASCAR, NHRA or IndyCar.
Like when you look online, you see things like Formula One
updates all the time. You see IMSA updates all the
time. Sometimes when I'm talking to
brands, they overlook how big drifting is.
And I say the last round of Drift Masters is in Poland in a
(03:11):
stadium that fills 60,000 people, our first rounds in Long
Beach, and they shut down the streets so the people who are
there can't drive on the street so we can have a drift event.
That's how big drifting is. And when you bring a brand or
you bring a fan, or you bring a friend or family member to
Formula Drift or to any of the drifting events, I think it's
(03:31):
always ending in a wow factor. I've been wanting this forever.
I've been in the field with whatever they throw at me.
Brush it, I'll pick myself up. Moving on, Little better.
Welcome back to the Circle Adrift podcast.
I want to say thank you again for stopping in every single
week for a brand new episode. Of course, this show is
(03:51):
presented by SIM HQ where you can always save 5% off on your
next upgrade with code Circle Adrift.
But if you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, my
name is Dawson. And here on the Circle Adrift we
interview some of the most interesting personalities within
the industry to help you get thebest insights, info, opinions
possible to help you get into drifting.
But today we are back at FD in Saint Louis to hear from Amanda
(04:14):
Sorenson, one of the females in FD, along with several of her
family members that drive as well.
And she runs a lot of the marketing side of things.
And she's here to share a lot ofthe insights on that and how the
program even works. So without further ado, let's go
ahead and get in the episode. We've got one that you guys have
asked for quite a few times. Amanda Sorenson.
(04:37):
So First off, how are we doing this weekend?
I know you didn't have the best outcome with competition and
everything, so yeah, St. Louis has definitely not been
our greatest just because obviously this truck yesterday,
I didn't get as many practice UPS as I wanted with the heat
here. I was suffering with some
(04:57):
melting spark plug wires. Just something like an
unforeseen issue that we didn't really know coming into Saint
Louis, obviously. And it's one of those things
where we're just going to have to redesign the way the headers
are going into the offseason. But unfortunately, yesterday, my
lead run in top 32, I just hit the wall and it wasn't even a
hard hit, but it was a hit just enough to break the rear
(05:20):
controlling arm. So the guys were putting the car
back together and they ran into a problem that they also didn't
catch when they were kind of briefing the car before they
started the timer and we were two seconds too late.
So it's what it is, but it's a learning experience for the team
and I think that it's going to go into not just like obviously
it's a loss for the weekend, butit's something that the team's
(05:43):
going to have to grow on and it'll make them stronger in the
end. Absolutely.
Well, you mentioned the header design.
What specifically about what headers is it?
Or just custom headers I assume?Yeah, we have custom headers on
the cards, Yeah. So it's just just remapping the
entire thing, and that's only. Honestly, the distance between
the header and the spark plug wire, it's so humid here that
(06:03):
they're swelling, they're melting.
Oh wow. So that's just a problem that
obviously like I said an unforeseen issue like Jersey was
hot but it's not humid there, you know.
So my car over the offseason gotrebuilt it this drift car my
family and I built in about 5 years ago and I was our first
car that we actually built in house at our shop as a family
(06:26):
and I haven't rebuilt it since. There's been a lot of upgrades
on to a lot of progress made on the car, but I've never stripped
the car and just reboot it back together in an offseason.
So this offseason we stripped the car, put it back together
and honestly, it's stronger thanever.
Really. Yeah, it's been through some
some crashes and stuff too. And you haven't torn it apart
(06:47):
for that, I assume? Well, I mean, obviously you're
going to strain on chassis everyonce in a while, but I've never
had any major wrecks. That's fair, yeah.
I nothing that the team couldn'tfix.
Whether the car had to be running off a badge of honor,
right? Especially being a woman in a
mint, dominantly male sport. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But well, cool. As far as you know, everything
(07:09):
else with the program, I know you've got a lot going on, but
there's a whole team involved with all of this.
So how do you control all of it?I know you're a lot of the
brains of the marketing and everything.
So what all goes into this? Yeah.
So I have, I've basically been involved in racing my whole
entire life, My dad race trophy trucks.
So from a very, very young age Ihad seen the operations of how
(07:31):
race teams have operated anywhere from booking flights to
making sure that the semi can get a place and all of those
things. And so as I've grown up, the
responsibilities from our parents supporting us in this
have been handed over to us and task by task, we've been able to
navigate our way of. I mean, I've drove the semi on
the road for a full season in 2024.
(07:54):
Midway through the year, our semi truck driver couldn't
attend anymore. And Brandon and I decided to
drive the semi from each round to the following round.
And it was a learning experience.
Like, you know, it was so fun. I remember, I think it's
actually the best time I'd ever had with my brother 1 stage.
We had the worst luck. We blew an airbag and on the
(08:14):
semi and we actually melted the Haim and we couldn't get the
wheel off because we ended up blowing a wheel.
And it was just a process where we were stuck on the side of the
road from about 10:00 PM till 7:00 AM in the morning.
And Brandon and I are just like working together to try to get
this thing off. And the Cotter pin wouldn't come
out. And so it was, it was an
(08:35):
eventful night, but I think thatthat's the crazy thing about
drifting and that's what's, you know, shaped our family and our
career into the way it is. So not only do I just do, you
know, the driving aspect, I do alot more.
I'm very intrigued by marketing.I love social media.
And over COVID, I had found really just like a passion for
(08:58):
creating and editing videos. So I would film my own content
and I would edit everything on my Instagram, everything on my
TikTok. My TikTok blew up.
I remember I hit a million on TikTok and I was like struggling
on Instagram and now it's like reverse like I'm almost at
2,000,000 on Instagram and I cannot get past 1.3 million on
TikTok. But like these are things that
(09:19):
like I just, I loved doing that in my free time.
I loved creating the edits and I've now created a team around
me where I can vastly processed through content, on track shots,
getting ready shots and GoPro angles.
And then we have like our socialmedia manager who does stuff and
I operate that team now under mefor myself, Brandon and Cameron,
(09:42):
aside from social media, I also handle all the partnerships.
So sponsorship stuff, doing the marketing stuff, selling the
real estates on the car, making sure the deliverables are
written out perfectly so we can execute them.
Yeah. And so it's been fun, but like,
I just love the business side ofthings.
And it wasn't until this past year that I actually started
(10:03):
taking the driving side more serious.
But sometimes I feel like you have to build the foundation in
order to succeed first. And for me, building that
foundation looks like making sure the right funding was
coming and making sure the rightteam was under us.
And it's been a work in progressand there's definitely a lot
more to improve on, but I feel like we have a bright future
ahead. Good, good.
(10:24):
Do you think that stuff gets recognized enough?
Because obviously you just mentioned a lot of details that
I didn't even know either. So.
As a driver and just me as a person, I don't need to prove
anything to anyone. I there's a lot of keyboard
warriors out there, but if they really don't bother me, to be
honest. But I think for me, I want to be
(10:45):
recognized as a driver. I want to be recognized as a
driver and I've earned my respect there.
I have put my time in obviously getting the podium to be the
first females podium in Formula Drift was a huge statement.
And the support that I have around the paddocks, not just
for my team but from other drivers and the series and even
(11:06):
just the starting line Marshall,like he'll come up and give me a
fist bump before I go out. It's crazy.
The support that I've gained andI feel like I've gained that
respect as a driver here and that's the persona that I chose.
I don't need to highlight the marketing stuff for the business
stuff like this is this is who Iam, obviously.
But I want to inspire others to push boundaries.
And you know, when the little girls come up to me and are
(11:28):
like, Oh my gosh, like you're a race car driver.
Like you can drift this car. I'm like, yeah, like, let me put
you in the car. And that's kind of what I like
to do. All of the cars that you market,
how I guess what goes into the pitch to land something as big
as, for example, Air Force or all of the other big name
(11:49):
companies that you're dealing with?
Because that's not just an easy task.
Nobody else is doing it. Yeah.
Definitely. I think I've had a lot of
experience. I think for me it's a lot
different. Being a female in this male
dominated industry with a large social media following gaining
sponsorship looks a lot different than your typical
drifter. There's no way there's a spider
(12:09):
on my hat right now. OK, we handled that well.
I hate spiders, so I think for me, sponsorship looks a lot
different. However, I have my brother, I
have Cameron. I have had a lot of other
drivers reach out to me and so I've had to help them navigate
based off what I know about thisindustry.
And so just speaking more to general public here rather than
(12:30):
my scenario, I think it's so important to have good
relationships around the pits. I think it's so important to
always represent yourself as an athlete on a professional level.
And I also feel like what's meant for you will come for you.
I have, I can relate this even to going and doing tests for an
(12:51):
open seat in a car. And you know, I may have been
the fastest driver there, but I wasn't small enough to fit in
the seat to share the car with the other driver.
And I think that as much as you always want to chase that
sponsorship, and I always say like, you know, I would love to
work with brands like Nike on the side of my car or Sephora on
the side of my car. But at the end of the day, you
(13:12):
can chase those and you can put as much time and energy into
those. But I think what's meant for you
will come for you. And I've noticed that with the
brands because they might seem like they're a perfect fit in
your eyes, but in reality, you don't know what their marketing
goals are. And until you navigate the
waters of what the marketing department in that certain
company is looking for, whether it's lead generation, brand
(13:33):
awareness, maybe even just sales, until you understand what
their marketing goals are, you have to, you're not going to
know how to pitch yourself. So step one is, well, OK, if
we're going to go after a brand,what are they looking for?
Are they looking for brand awareness or are they looking to
(13:55):
just be the tire that wins the championship in Formula Drift
Tire Cup? They don't care how many
followers you have. There's a lot of brands where
I've worked with and they're like, we're really, we already
already known. We don't need brand awareness
anymore. But what we need is we need
somebody to help us in our research development to develop
something. And that's where our partnership
(14:16):
is going to come into play. We're going to use you as a
driver to help us develop this. So talking with all the brands,
everybody has a different perspective and some of them are
old school, some of them are young and they love the social
media. But that's just honestly, like
once you understand what they what they're wanting, that's how
you can target, OK, can I, can Ihelp this brand or can I not
(14:38):
help this brand? Maybe if you didn't have them
any Instagram followers and they're looking for brand
awareness, there's a way to definitely pivot around it and
say, OK, well, Formula Drift is an insane foundation.
First of all, this foundation ofFormula Drift after driving and
all the other series, as well asnot just drifting series outside
(14:58):
of this, but different types of Motorsports.
There's been so much that I've learned and I'm so grateful for
Formula Drift. The way that they do things.
There's they offer a lot to a driver.
They offer us footage, so reposton our channels without even
charging us. They allow us.
There's a lot of things that they do to help the drivers and
if the drivers can tap into that, then there's a lot of
(15:22):
things other than just themselves that they have to
offer a brand. We have, you know, Long Beach,
our opener is insane. How many people come there?
Why would a brand not want to set up an activation in your
tent to generate leads if they're looking for automotive
enthusiasts that possibly could buy the steering wheel that
(15:42):
they're selling or just even to get their name out there.
There's so many eyeballs walkingaround and it's not just one
day, it's three days. Like there's so much more than
just you as a driver. There's offer.
So I think understanding what the brand wants and then OK,
what tools do I have to help them feed into this marketing
campaign and strategy that they want.
(16:03):
You, you mentioned the activation.
Now I've had, I've had conversations with people about
that and they have no clue what I'm even talking about.
So explain what activation is for people that don't know.
Yeah. So activations are tricky for
one, because obviously you are also competing against the
series when you want to set up an activation in your booth.
Possibly there might be, say, for example, I'm with Rockstar
(16:25):
Energy and there's another driver that wants to bring in a
different energy drink and hand them out to the whole pit.
That might be going against whatFormula Drift has already has on
contract. So there's sometimes where you
have to just come in and work with the series and say, hey,
can I set up this booth? And we're just going to keep
them in our booth and they're going to give them out for free.
So an activation is really just putting a product in a
(16:49):
consumer's hand or a potential consumers hand.
An activation could be putting alogo on the side of the car to
build the brand awareness. This whole thing is an
activation. This podcast is an activation.
So essentially. A deliverable.
Exactly, Yeah. Yeah, I can do.
Well, cool. Do you would you say drifting
has been since you've been in multiple Motorsports, would you
(17:11):
say drifting has been the easiest to market or the most
beneficial? I think for me personally, I've
had a lot of success in driftingand the marketing side of
drifting. There's obviously pros and cons
with every series that I've driven in.
This one is more targeted towards the driver real estate
on the side of the car on site events rather than outside PR
(17:34):
and media. There's been other series that
I've driven in where there's no real potential to sell
sponsorship as a driver hired for another team, but there's
potential sponsorship to sell for PR outside of that series,
maybe coming in as a female and representing a brand for
something just as a driver. Now I've got to ask this.
(17:55):
I'm sorry, but do you feel it benefits you being a woman when
it comes to marketing? Because you'll get the guys that
are out there that are saying, oh, she only has that because
she's a woman. She only has that because this
that. Yeah, I.
Think it's funny to say, Brandonalways used to say, wow, I wish
I had tits, like I wish I had blonde hair.
And for me, yes, there's a lot of benefit, but there's also a
(18:19):
lot of pushback. I feel like some brands, they
want to work with you because women in sports right now is
such a big topic. Women in sports is no longer a
movement, it's a thing. It's present.
Torres If you look back into thehistory of sports, women in
sports has just been always a movement.
Now it's a thing. We have F1 Academy, we have
female Olympic teams. Like it's crazy that females in
(18:43):
sports is a thing, it's no longer a movement.
So I think that with that being said, it almost is now levelling
up the playing field for me because I can go pitch a brand
and I can get paid just as much as the male driver to where as I
think previously, if we look back 5-10 years talking with
drivers, older female drivers inthe history of like Motorsports,
(19:04):
they always struggle to find funding.
They always struggle to find thesupport because they're they're
under so much more pressure. I think because you don't just
look around and say there's ten other females here, you're the
only female. So they have so much more reason
to say like, while you're different.
So I'm going to focus on you because you're different.
So it depends on how you look through that lens.
(19:25):
Are you going to benefit from that or are you going to take it
in a negative way? For me, I love it.
Like I'm different. Yeah, it's created a lot more
eyes on me. But I've also proven myself.
I've gained the respect being a driver and I've put in the work.
I think that I would love to seemore females in drifting.
I would love to see more femalesin Motorsports.
(19:47):
And as the years passed by, likeeven this year, we have 4
drivers and four female drivers in this sport.
Incredible. Drivers, by the way, incredible.
Drivers exactly allows me to show up and not question myself.
Like, am I really supposed to behere?
I can look around and see somebody like Claude Davis and I
see a mirror image. It's not like I'm going out
(20:08):
there and I'm having those questions anymore.
So seeing the the progression offemales in Motorsports is like,
it's amazing, to be honest, yeah.
Well, you were kind of the firstone to get the the whole bully
aspect almost. So like, from the outsider
perspective, it seems like Shelly and Paulette are both
(20:31):
almost getting bullied this year.
Like guys are just don't want tolose against them.
And I see the comments all the time.
Did you kind of get that whenever you first came in?
I think or do you? Even think that's it, that's a
thing I I. Would agree.
I don't know, I think that it's honestly just been unfair luck
with that situation, but I do feel that the guys are way more
intimidated to drive against thefemales then they are to drive
(20:54):
against another male driver. And I think with that, that's
where the risks start to begin to happen.
They start to take higher chances because nobody wants to
lose to a girl, but no one else will lose.
I don't want to lose. You don't want to lose.
So like I think that us being a female going up against the
other driver allows them to tap into their higher playing field,
to be honest, and that's where more risks are taken.
(21:15):
I wouldn't say this is necessarily they're being
bullied. I just think that there are
times where someone's like, Dang, he's really nervous
because he's going up against you.
But that's because we've proven ourselves.
We're drivers like we've earned the respect, Colette's earned
the respect, Shelley's earned the respect like we are
literally out here turning laps like running doors just as hard
as they are. It's arguably better that way.
(21:36):
I would, I would agree because Imean, truthfully, drifting is
the a good balanced sport. It's all a machine.
You're just the operator. So I mean, how much can you
really boil it down to? I think it's just like you
mentioned earlier, keyboard warriors just doing their thing.
You. Always have keyboard warriors,
but you know you made it when you have haters.
(21:57):
Oh yeah. Well, last thing on marketing,
is there any major company that you are in the works with for
your program? Because for one, I would love to
see more massive companies, Fortune 500 companies starting
to involve themselves in drifting.
And I feel like you and Cameron might be, other than RTR, the
(22:17):
only candidate to do or pull it off.
I think what's cool is, and thisis just from my perspective is
being that I have driven in other different forms of
Motorsports like rallycross or Idrive monster trucks at some
stage. And I've made so many creative
like I would say decisions with the way I've marketed myself.
(22:42):
So I'm an overall driver, which has allowed me a lot of
opportunities to not just work with automotive sponsors or
brands, but non endemic brands. I get to go to New York Fashion
Week as a Formula Drift driver. I get to go to a Woman in Sports
Foundation event as a Formula Drift driver.
And there's people like professional tennis players
(23:05):
there and like, oh, what are youdoing?
I'm like, oh, I'm a drifter and I can educate them on that.
So drifting is so cool because it came into the States in 2003
as Formula Drift and we're the fastest growing motorsport.
We're second to NASCAR and social media and 80% of our fans
do not attend NASCAR, NHRA or IndyCar, which means the brands
(23:28):
that are already invested in NASCAR, IndyCar or NATRA have a
whole new audience to tap in when they come over here.
And that's been one of my biggerselling points when it comes to
approaching these non endemic brands.
How did you? Learn that it's in.
The formula drift FD deck, really they send it to every
driver just up to the drivers toread it.
People just. Don't leverage it.
(23:48):
Yeah, I. Mean I've done my research and
I've, like I said, I geek out over marketing, so yeah, I'm
glad. You're saying all this like,
because I obviously FD doesn't do the best job of showing
behind the scenes of what's going on, so on and so forth.
So I'm you get a lot of Flack. I know you know that, but that's
cool. I like to see the the behind
(24:11):
everything. That's the whole point of this,
yeah. Yeah, definitely.
But yeah, tell me more about thecars and what's going on with
cameras and all the other ones, because is your car even
relatively the same or do you guys drive different?
Yes. So my car set up my car.
My car package is similar to Cameron's car package.
(24:33):
Almost identical. We have same suspension,
everything is literally the same.
Same transmission, same transmission, same differential,
same engine package. We're both running LS
supercharged motors and the difference is, though I like to
drive way different than Cameron, we often find that my
(24:54):
setup is not very similar to Cameron's setup.
But there are times where maybe we try something on Cameron's
car that gave him the result that I possibly could have also
wanted, and we'll bounce back ideas.
However, then you have Brandon'scar.
Brandon's car is relatively the same other than he does have the
sequential, he has the upgrades of the pros are allowed to have.
But Speaking of the cars, Brandon is the one for the cars.
(25:17):
He is so into developing new technology for these cars.
He, he, Brandon and our team haddesigned the angle kits for our
cars. And so our suspension is very
similar set up to like most of the paddocks, but there's a few
different things that he wanted to try coming from different
(25:39):
backgrounds, like the trophy truck background and the off
road background that possibly could work being applied here.
And as you can see this year in his driving, he has found a lot
of result with that more forwardgrip to the ground so he can
actually control where the tiresare going.
But Brandon, yeah, he's always in the shop in the morning
working with this 3D printer, like printing up like a 3D
(26:00):
replica of something bolted on the car to see if it'll fit.
And then he goes into the CNC machines and cuts it out of the
CNC machine, take it to the track, test it and find all of
the weak points and keep improving.
So it's very cool to see how hands on Brandon is with that
stuff. He's very nerdy.
Like he he's very nerdy in a very intelligent way, but it's
(26:20):
also benefited us. And that's where Brandon and I
work together great because Brandon overseas the cars and he
overseas a lot of the operation with that.
And kind of is the final say if we were to choose between one
suspension component and anotherand I do all the other stuff
like the marketing and the social media, but without the
team like we wouldn't be as far as where we are now.
(26:42):
Well, other than the team, how do you get to a point to be able
to have like obviously you mentioned CNC machine, that's
not cheap. How do you get to the point of
having all these resources to beable to offer this stuff to
companies? Not for just, you know, research
purposes or all that stuff, but I think.
You don't even need to have yourown CNC machine.
There's times where Brandon willjust send off the part and get
(27:05):
made by somebody else and he'll work with a brand.
But that's where the relationships come into play.
Be like, hey, I want to build a part.
Are you on board? And you and I work together and
maybe you have the shop and I have the creative idea.
But that's where relationships and formula drift I think is so
important. And I remember, like, looking
back two years ago, seeing teamslike RTR and Papadakis and being
(27:27):
like, why is it that they can goland these brands?
And I feel that at the time, I had a way larger social media
reach. And this is kind of all I was
focusing on. Why do they get these brands but
I can't get them? I don't know how to negotiate
the deal, right? Maybe they say, oh, sorry, we
don't have budget or we're not interested.
And over time, I realized it's atimely thing.
(27:52):
These things don't just happen overnight.
The funding does not come in overnight.
It's taken me four or five yearsof renegotiating one deal to be
able to pay for the whole entireprogram.
And with that being said, obviously we have a lot of
support from around us, but it'sto the stage where Brandon and I
have taken our family hobby and turned it into a career.
(28:15):
And it's fully sustainable as mine and Brandon's career.
This is what we do. We wake up, I think about
booking all of everybody's fights and I think about posting
on social media and sorting it out so I can continue to give
the brands the deliverables thatthey've asked for.
And in return, obviously there'sthat sponsorship support, but
it's a timely thing. It's seeing the same face over
(28:36):
and over again for four or five years before they actually write
you the check. And that's one thing that I've
learned because it's, it's, it shouldn't be an exchange
relationship. It should be a supportive
relationship. And I'm going to benefit you in
ways that your marketing team needs help that I can offer you.
But if you know, maybe that brand that you're wanting to go
(28:58):
after is not the right fit because they don't see any value
in what you can actually offer, move to the next.
But make sure you stay friends, have the relationship.
And that's always important because it's always the same
people in this industry. But the shirt badge always
changes. And I think that that's one
thing that's always important toremember too, is you never know
who's watching and you never know where persons are going to
(29:20):
go. And So what?
That being said, the relationship part of this whole
entire drifting thing is so, so crucial and important.
Have you ever had a normal job or you just been studying
marketing your whole life? I.
Actually didn't tap into marketing till about four years
ago. Really.
So I went to school studying construction management.
I worked for my parents. At the.
(29:42):
Front desk for their construction company.
For the longest time, I also washeavily involved in sports.
I figure skated for a while. My brother and I played hockey
together. My parents never let us chill.
We were always busy. I played instruments like
drifting was just the one thing,one family hobby that had
actually taken over the brand. And I were like, we love this.
(30:03):
We see potential career here, let's go after it.
How do you weed it out though? How did like how?
What about drifting was like? That's the one.
I mean, how can I tell you what's going to happen in the
future? Like you live in the moment and
you enjoy and as the opportunities approach you, you
either jump on the opportunitiesor you let them go by.
And Brad and I jumped on the opportunity when we had seen
(30:24):
one. It wasn't easy.
Like I said, we drove our semi truck into a building or into a
building. We drove our semi truck into a
bridge in New York, I hope. It wasn't a building.
That'd be crazy, you know? What I'm saying like we
literally we didn't like drive it into a bridge, but like I'm
from the West Coast. I didn't know that there's
certain height limits on on the bridges in New York.
(30:45):
And Brad and I are driving and like we're like, oh, we might
make it under here. It's a railroad pass and we're
trying to get onto a different freeway.
But like those are the things that as the opportunities came,
we jumped on them. And in those moments, we're
like, we're ready to take full responsibility of whatever the
consequences that we may not be prepared for.
We're going to try and give it our all.
But I mean, that's why well. As far as on the other end of
(31:08):
things, back to the cars, Brandon being so young ended all
of this. How do you see all of the
younger generation coming into the sport?
We got the big SIM stuff going on.
We got Manoa showing out. What's your perspective on the
future of drifting and how people are coming in?
I think. The future of drifting is very,
(31:29):
very large. Oh.
On your hat. A spider again.
Like a can we? Get it?
All OK, Thank you. What the fuck?
Geez, they're really just attacking me.
Anyways, sorry, yeah. Yeah, I think when it comes to
the future of drifting, I think it's large.
I've had the opportunity to travel overseas and watch the
(31:50):
Drift Masters events over there,see Pro Am series over there and
go to even a place like Goodwood.
Goodwood, The Drifters go up thehill twice.
No other class goes up the hill twice.
Why? Because it's so cool.
And I think drifting has such a large potential to just continue
(32:10):
growing. And I think in the United States
specifically this place is United States is about the
entertainment like we have the big shows.
And so I think drifting will take take off in a very positive
direction. But with that being said, that's
bringing a lot of younger talentinto this because instead of
(32:31):
going to the go Kart track, now parents are buying drift cars
for their kids because the kids are seeing drifting online
instead of seeing go karting online.
And your typical path of Motorsports is starting in go
karting and getting into Rd. racing stuff and going up the
way to possibly some sort of Formula 4, Formula Three or MSA
(32:51):
series, right? And now you have drifting and
it's like to just show up at thegrassroots events and see not
just like the other Drifters like us out there, but you have
the parents coming and supporting the kids.
I think it's a huge part in whatthe future of the sport will
possibly be. You have drivers like Hiro
(33:13):
Manoa, Cameron, my younger brother coming in and they're
driving on the simulator, which obviously is more sustainable
for a budget aspect. And they're getting nutsy time.
They're crashing the car 100 times on the simulator and
there's no budget involved there.
You just got to have the same and that translates to real
life. I see in my own driving the
(33:33):
simulator has helped me so much just for visual reference
points, learning car reactions, that kind of stuff.
I. Assume you're on a SIM magic
setup, yeah? We're on a SIM magic extreme SIM
setup. And with that, I think, you
know, I can't wait to see the younger generation come into
this. I even look at Brandon.
(33:54):
I'm like, after I watch Cameron's battles, I'm like,
holy, like this is insane brain.Like we got to step our game.
Think about where he's going to be when he's our age, you know?
And I like to see the younger talent and we have like Jay the
drifter. I love to see that this is what
that's the sport needs. And it's just cool to see the
(34:16):
young talent coming in because this is where the parents are
feeling confident in this sport to start their kid, which is so
cool arguably. One of the safest motorsport I
would say. I.
Agree, I think drifting is one of the safe to safest
Motorsports. Shelley, for example, not to
bring that back up, but flippingthe car, I mean, yeah, yeah,
yeah. Even though that is flipping a
(34:37):
car, you're going very slow. So and cars are very
structurally sound. Exactly.
And everything. But you mentioned Goodwood
though, I got to talk about that.
How was that experience being able to go out there and just
little, not even just drive it, but let alone be a part of it?
So this is my first year at Goodwood and like I said, it's
(34:59):
crazy. I debuted a hydrogen car.
It's the extreme H car. So it's the first FIA licensed
hydrogen racing series and they're all-wheel drive hydrogen
rally cars. So last year and the year prior,
I raced for Chip Ganassi Racing in an extreme E, which was
extreme E has now turned into extreme H.
The extreme E stuff is electric rally car.
(35:21):
But they asked me like, hey, do you want to come help with the
debut of the hydrogen car? Give us your driver feedback.
We think that it's very important that all the drivers
are getting in and telling us what they think compared to the
E car. So I drove the hydrogen car up
the hill and it was insane. I worked with BMW and drove the
BMWCS touring up the hill. But it's so sick to just see
like Motorsports is such a cool thing.
(35:43):
I remember sitting there just having a moment to myself being
like, it's insane that all thesepeople from all over the world
have come together to just gather around cars, automotive,
whether it's the most expensive car in the parking lot or
auctioning off cars or Drifters drifting up the hill or vintage
F1 cars. It's just such a cool big
(36:04):
community. And I think about it and it's
like this industry is so huge. It's as huge as all the other
industries that it it's able to compete with them especially.
From an Internet point of view, because you don't get to see, I
know Drift Masters has a lot of light shined on it, but I know
it's not as big of a crowd as you would find here at FD
(36:25):
normally, right. Yeah.
So I I know that can get lost intransition though whenever it's
online. Do you I assume you agree with
that for? Like you're comparing drift
masters to formula drift? Well.
No, just like the OR like. Goodwood, How?
How big you're explaining drifting to be I It seems a lot
bigger than it actually is online.
(36:48):
I would disagree. I think that when I look online,
I would think that drifting, like when you look online, you
see things like Formula One updates all the time.
You see MSA updates all the time, at least I do.
And it's like sometimes when I'mtalking to brands, they overlook
how big drifting is. And I say the last round of
Drift Masters is in Poland in a stadium that fills 60,000
(37:09):
people. That's how big drifting is,
60,000 people. Our first rounds in Long Beach
and they shut down the streets so the people who are there
can't drive on the streets so wecan have a drift event.
That's how big drifting is. And when you bring a brand or
you bring a fan or you bring a friend or family member to
Formula Drift or to any of the drifting events, I think it's
(37:32):
always ending in a wow factor. It's like, I think it's
overlooked how big it is, all right?
I'll agree with that. Sorry.
I'm sorry. It just, I, I feel like the
media is pushing it. It needs to be that way, but it
it pushes it in a way that it looks better than the events
(37:52):
usually are, which is totally fine.
It's the whole point because youwant it to become that, be
bigger, so on and so forth. But I, I just want drifting to
grow just like I assume you do too.
So do you think FD could ever beas big as NASCAR because you
compared them a little bit earlier?
(38:15):
I think definitely, I think the Formula drift, it's one of those
things where like as much as youwant to have control and make it
like NASCAR, sometimes you just got to let the world do its
thing and there's it doesn't need.
To be adopt it like that yeah, but like.
It doesn't need to be NASCAR to be cool or to be as valuable.
Air Force sponsors a NASCAR and they also sponsor me.
(38:38):
Like we're doing same opportunities, we're doing same
things, like, but also if it waslike NASCAR, then it wouldn't
make it original, wouldn't make it Formula Drift anymore.
So the demographic that's cominghere is definitely like this
demographic is very unique, but that's what makes it unique.
You don't have a fan coming and be like, oh, like, remember we
used to come here and watch the NASCAR drivers go round and
(39:00):
round, but now like we're watching Drifters like, you know
what I'm saying? Like Formula Drift's unique
because of its own thing, if it were to come.
Just like. NASCAR then, you know, I do
think that there's a lot of variables from NASCAR that I
would love to see come into the Formula Drift industry, possibly
like team franchises. I think that that would allow
somebody like me who's a driver,something to look forward to and
(39:21):
I decide I want to retire. You don't think that would make
formula drift? Obviously it would have to be
that way, but too inaccessible at that point.
No, I think it also would have it.
Only makes it better I think. It would also help the drivers
to be more motivated to find thefunding.
Like you don't have to pay a marketing manager any money, you
(39:44):
have to give him 20% of what they bring you.
So to have a conversation with the marketing manager and say
hey can you sell my sponsorship for me requires $0.00 upfront.
At the end of the day once they seal the deal and the deal is
done they get 20%. But 20% gone from your paycheck
is better than nothing in my opinion.
(40:05):
But I think turning it into something like a franchise will
allow it to be more of a sustainable career.
I'm looking at Brandon being like, how much longer are we
going to do this? When do we actually say stop?
And what do we do from this? Where do we go next?
If we had a franchise, I could easily put Cameron in the car
and say, well, there's 32 spots on the grid and that's how much
my buy in is. My car is there.
(40:27):
Team Sorenson owns three spots. Doesn't matter who's driving the
car. So it's like a NASCAR sort of
franchise situation. How long do you take, do you
think it would take to even do that, or do we technically have
the means to make that happen? I think anything takes time.
Obviously it could take 2-3 years to kind of get that
through. But also like it's like them
(40:48):
coming up with the idea of beinglike let's get rid of
qualifying. You never know till you try.
I do really wish they'd bring qualifying back.
I agree. I like the qualifying aspect.
I think it's cool because it always is changing up the show,
but I'm not too sure exactly what their reasonings are behind
the seating bracket and why theychose the qualifying format or
(41:08):
to get rid of the qualifying format.
But I personally, as a driver, liked the qualifying things.
But sometimes, you know, there'sthe hidden variables that we are
not too sure of, yeah. I don't think I've talked to a
single driver that wishes it would stay this way.
Every single driver I've talked to is like, no, bring qualifying
back. This shit makes no sense.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, understandable.
Yeah. Anyways, I did want to ask on
(41:29):
Goodwood though. Is that road as sketchy as it
looks? Yeah, my.
First time going up the hill I was in the M3CS2 ring and I had
I hadn't even like done a track walk.
Oh. No, I literally.
Watched on boards and I was likeOK, sweet.
And I was doing first glance group, so first glance of the
(41:50):
2026 car, and I went up the hilland I just remember, I mean,
like, OK, well, watch out for the turn past the bridge because
there's no forgiveness at the end of it.
And it's a hard left-hander after a long straight.
But the hill is, it definitely gets more technical as you go up
it, when you start getting into the walls and getting into the
hay bales. But it's so sick.
(42:10):
It's so sick. The hill is.
So sketchy I. Watching, watching Ryan Turek
blink the top of that course inspired me so much.
And I was like, one day I'm going to have a drift car there.
One day I will drift up the Goodwood Hill.
We're starting out with debutingthe hydrogen car, but one day I
will drift up the hill next. Year.
Yeah, maybe next year. Yeah.
(42:32):
No, that's that shit's insane. What was the whole no doughnut
thing? Was that just a meme or was that
an actual rule that they made those?
Well, you you were only allowed to do doughnuts if you were in a
certain group, you got 2 doughnuts you're allowed to
make. But that was for the drift group
or like the demo group they callit.
The rest of the guys you're not allowed to because of the way
that the timing was of the show and how they timed everything.
(42:53):
Gotcha. OK, yeah, 'cause you have.
To remember, at the end of the day this is still show, so the
production team is a little bit behind that.
Always got to wait on the camera, man.
Yeah. Exactly.
And you also met did Drift masters too?
Yeah, Drift. Masters in Ireland how did?
That go. That was good.
It was a huge learning experience for me.
I, that was my first time driving turbo, first time
(43:17):
driving 2 Jay-Z, first time driving a GT86, first time
driving in Ireland. Like it was like a lot of first
for me. So are we on the TJ?
Train now I. Loved the TJ.
It was sick. Yeah.
I haven't really done proper chase runs yet with the turbo,
so we'll see how I'm going to bedoing three more events this
year in that car, so I'm excitedto be doing that.
But different platform, different package.
(43:39):
A lot to learn in. I had 0 expectations other than
to have fun and absorb all the knowledge, and I exceeded all
those expectations. And so for me, it was super
cool. I laid down to 69 runs, which I
think I was a little gypped on my second run, but that track is
scary. Like it's a blind entry and in
(44:00):
the drivers meeting there like no handbrake on entry.
And I'm like, sweet, you want meto go in here at 140 kilometers
per hour and I'll pull the handbrake.
Like they're like if you're on handbrake, we don't want to see
it. So my first run they deducted me
a lot of points because I was onhandbrake.
I'm like, it's kind of impossible to go through here
without playing Handbrake give. Me a break, yeah.
Exactly my second run. I actually nailed the entry,
(44:21):
barely any handbrake and they gave me great amount of points.
But the car, unfortunately, I got stuck on lock going into the
one zone and from there was kindof a domino effect and I dropped
a tire in the last turn, lost mypoints there And I was like,
Dang, if I would have completed that lap, I easily would have
had like an 80 score on the board and would have been in the
show. But I showed up with my goals
and I checked all of them off. So we're looking forward to the
(44:43):
next one. See it?
When's that one going to be? We'll see.
I have to confirm the wild card.I have it confirmed but the news
is not out yet so. It looks like that track is.
It's just one of those tracks. If you don't nail the entry, the
entire lap is toast. Like you can just scratch it.
My spotter. Was like, I don't even care
(45:04):
about the second-half. As soon as you get the entry
done, then we'll work on the second-half.
But you need to get the entry because the entry is like 80% of
this score here. Did you do?
Anything in SIM to practice for that?
Like specifically no. Unfortunately, just the way my
schedule played out, I was not even home.
I haven't been home for two months.
I get to go home for the first time on Sunday back to Vegas
just because of all the other events that I was going to.
(45:27):
So obviously from that, like we went to Atlanta, then we went to
Spain for the Drift Masters event.
I had training in Spain prior togoing to the Drift Masters event
and I got 4 laps in the car and the motor blew up when I went to
go train so I was like all rightsweet.
So we got to schedule another test day.
So I ended up going and testing in Ireland at a different track.
So I just didn't get to go home with the situation that was
(45:49):
happening. So no SIM training.
The only training I really had done to prepare for that was a
few laps around the track and then the motor blew so.
Well, that's rough. Well, it's.
What it seems to have done better?
Then no training, I guess. Yeah.
But all right. Well, cool.
I don't want to. I know you're still busy helping
out over there, so I don't want to take up too much of your
(46:09):
time, but I really appreciate it.
Is there any advice that you could give to just anyone trying
to go down this rabbit hole of formula drift?
I think the important key is just know that it's not all
uphill and every single time youfeel like it's just all going to
fall apart, it's going to get better.
(46:29):
It's all growing pain, every single mistake you make.
Look at it as a learning point and learn as much as you can.
And I would say with that, like it's so easy to just be like,
wow, I didn't win the championship my first season
showing up in Formula Drift. I didn't win the first round
that I showed up like nobody's going to.
But if you won all the time, like what's the point in the
(46:50):
journey? So enjoy it and enjoy the
failures. That would be my piece of
advice. Awesome.
Well, cool. Is there anything that you can
announce or want to announce or shout out any sponsors, anything
like that? I don't think I have any big
announcements right now, to be honest.
So yeah. Easy peasy.
Well, I want to say thank you again.
Taking the time and good luck atthe next one.
(47:12):
Utah, yes. Yes, yes.
Thank you so much for having me on Circle Drift.
I appreciate it, absolutely. You're welcome anytime.
I gotta get the brothers on too,yes?
Yes, we'll bring them. What another great episode this
week. Then obviously if you made it
this far, you're one of the Ogs of the podcast, or maybe you're
a new one. So thank you for sticking around
this long. If you did enjoy or learn
(47:34):
anything new out of the episode,I just ask that you consider
subscribing and turning on the bell notifications.
But other than that, don't forget we do have merch on the
site. Circle adrift.co.
Right stick on his door. They're just checking up too
much on the transitions. Just trust the guy in front of
you right now. If you're heading towards the
wall, the throttle's going to beyour best friend.
And if you're right there on hisdoor, he's he's going to be
lighting off early through the turns.
Just worry about filling the zones with him and being in that
pocket and stay close on the transitions and you'll you'll be
good. It is so surreal right now,
(00:22):
sitting in the seat, the pressure just got poured on.
I was here having fun and then I'm at the top and now it's like
put on your big girl pants because we got to take this baby
home. As a driver and just me as a
person. I don't need to prove anything
to anyone. I have put my time in.
To be the first female's podium in Formula Drift was a huge
statement. Amanda Sorenson in a chase
(00:43):
position. Oh, Sully, he says.
He's feeling good. Amanda Sorenson just a bit
sloppy in that chase position. Wow, how?
Horrible. Amanda Sorenson out front the
United States Air Force BMW initiative.
Big angle there. Let's go.
Congratulations for making history.
(01:04):
First ever female on a Formula Drift podium.
I have obviously been involved in racing my whole entire life.
My dad race trophy trucks, so from a very, very young age I'd
seen the operations of how race teams have operated.
Randy's the one. Their dad got them into
Motorsports racing and they bothwere really timid at first.
(01:25):
Being a parent and raising the kids in the motorsport industry
is something that's really like,I wouldn't change it.
But I do feel that the guys are way more intimidated to drive
against the females than they are to drive against another
male driver. Do you feel it benefits you
(01:46):
being a woman when it comes to marketing?
Brandon always used to say, wow,I wish I had to.
For me, yes, there's a lot of benefit, but there's also a lot
of pushback. It goes into the pitch to land
something as big As, for example, Air Force.
For me, sponsorship looks a lot different.
However, I have my brother, I have Cameron, I have had a lot
(02:07):
of other drivers reach out to me.
It's so important to have good relationships around the pits.
Always represent yourself as an athlete on a professional level,
and I also feel like what's meant for you will come for you.
Since you've been in multiple Motorsports, would you say
drifting has been the easiest tomarket?
There's obviously pros and cons with every series that I've
driven in. I think for me personally, I've
(02:27):
had a lot of success in drifting.
How can I tell you what's going to happen in the future?
Like you live in the moment and you enjoy and as the
opportunities approach, you either jump on the opportunities
or you let them go by. I get to go to New York Fashion
Week as a Formula Drift driver. I get to go to a Woman in Sports
Foundation event as a Formula Drift driver.
Drifting is so cool because it came into the States in 2003 as
(02:49):
Formula Drift and we're the fastest growing motorsport.
We're second to NASCAR and social media. 80% of our fans do
not attend NASCAR, NHRA or IndyCar.
Like when you look online, you see things like Formula One
updates all the time. You see IMSA updates all the
time. Sometimes when I'm talking to
brands, they overlook how big drifting is.
And I say the last round of Drift Masters is in Poland in a
(03:11):
stadium that fills 60,000 people, our first rounds in Long
Beach, and they shut down the streets so the people who are
there can't drive on the street so we can have a drift event.
That's how big drifting is. And when you bring a brand or
you bring a fan, or you bring a friend or family member to
Formula Drift or to any of the drifting events, I think it's
(03:31):
always ending in a wow factor. I've been wanting this forever.
I've been in the field with whatever they throw at me.
Brush it, I'll pick myself up. Moving on, Little better.
Welcome back to the Circle Adrift podcast.
I want to say thank you again for stopping in every single
week for a brand new episode. Of course, this show is
(03:51):
presented by SIM HQ where you can always save 5% off on your
next upgrade with code Circle Adrift.
But if you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, my
name is Dawson. And here on the Circle Adrift we
interview some of the most interesting personalities within
the industry to help you get thebest insights, info, opinions
possible to help you get into drifting.
But today we are back at FD in Saint Louis to hear from Amanda
(04:14):
Sorenson, one of the females in FD, along with several of her
family members that drive as well.
And she runs a lot of the marketing side of things.
And she's here to share a lot ofthe insights on that and how the
program even works. So without further ado, let's go
ahead and get in the episode. We've got one that you guys have
asked for quite a few times. Amanda Sorenson.
(04:37):
So First off, how are we doing this weekend?
I know you didn't have the best outcome with competition and
everything, so yeah, St. Louis has definitely not been
our greatest just because obviously this truck yesterday,
I didn't get as many practice UPS as I wanted with the heat
here. I was suffering with some
(04:57):
melting spark plug wires. Just something like an
unforeseen issue that we didn't really know coming into Saint
Louis, obviously. And it's one of those things
where we're just going to have to redesign the way the headers
are going into the offseason. But unfortunately, yesterday, my
lead run in top 32, I just hit the wall and it wasn't even a
hard hit, but it was a hit just enough to break the rear
(05:20):
controlling arm. So the guys were putting the car
back together and they ran into a problem that they also didn't
catch when they were kind of briefing the car before they
started the timer and we were two seconds too late.
So it's what it is, but it's a learning experience for the team
and I think that it's going to go into not just like obviously
it's a loss for the weekend, butit's something that the team's
(05:43):
going to have to grow on and it'll make them stronger in the
end. Absolutely.
Well, you mentioned the header design.
What specifically about what headers is it?
Or just custom headers I assume?Yeah, we have custom headers on
the cards, Yeah. So it's just just remapping the
entire thing, and that's only. Honestly, the distance between
the header and the spark plug wire, it's so humid here that
(06:03):
they're swelling, they're melting.
Oh wow. So that's just a problem that
obviously like I said an unforeseen issue like Jersey was
hot but it's not humid there, you know.
So my car over the offseason gotrebuilt it this drift car my
family and I built in about 5 years ago and I was our first
car that we actually built in house at our shop as a family
(06:26):
and I haven't rebuilt it since. There's been a lot of upgrades
on to a lot of progress made on the car, but I've never stripped
the car and just reboot it back together in an offseason.
So this offseason we stripped the car, put it back together
and honestly, it's stronger thanever.
Really. Yeah, it's been through some
some crashes and stuff too. And you haven't torn it apart
(06:47):
for that, I assume? Well, I mean, obviously you're
going to strain on chassis everyonce in a while, but I've never
had any major wrecks. That's fair, yeah.
I nothing that the team couldn'tfix.
Whether the car had to be running off a badge of honor,
right? Especially being a woman in a
mint, dominantly male sport. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But well, cool. As far as you know, everything
(07:09):
else with the program, I know you've got a lot going on, but
there's a whole team involved with all of this.
So how do you control all of it?I know you're a lot of the
brains of the marketing and everything.
So what all goes into this? Yeah.
So I have, I've basically been involved in racing my whole
entire life, My dad race trophy trucks.
So from a very, very young age Ihad seen the operations of how
(07:31):
race teams have operated anywhere from booking flights to
making sure that the semi can get a place and all of those
things. And so as I've grown up, the
responsibilities from our parents supporting us in this
have been handed over to us and task by task, we've been able to
navigate our way of. I mean, I've drove the semi on
the road for a full season in 2024.
(07:54):
Midway through the year, our semi truck driver couldn't
attend anymore. And Brandon and I decided to
drive the semi from each round to the following round.
And it was a learning experience.
Like, you know, it was so fun. I remember, I think it's
actually the best time I'd ever had with my brother 1 stage.
We had the worst luck. We blew an airbag and on the
(08:14):
semi and we actually melted the Haim and we couldn't get the
wheel off because we ended up blowing a wheel.
And it was just a process where we were stuck on the side of the
road from about 10:00 PM till 7:00 AM in the morning.
And Brandon and I are just like working together to try to get
this thing off. And the Cotter pin wouldn't come
out. And so it was, it was an
(08:35):
eventful night, but I think thatthat's the crazy thing about
drifting and that's what's, you know, shaped our family and our
career into the way it is. So not only do I just do, you
know, the driving aspect, I do alot more.
I'm very intrigued by marketing.I love social media.
And over COVID, I had found really just like a passion for
(08:58):
creating and editing videos. So I would film my own content
and I would edit everything on my Instagram, everything on my
TikTok. My TikTok blew up.
I remember I hit a million on TikTok and I was like struggling
on Instagram and now it's like reverse like I'm almost at
2,000,000 on Instagram and I cannot get past 1.3 million on
TikTok. But like these are things that
(09:19):
like I just, I loved doing that in my free time.
I loved creating the edits and I've now created a team around
me where I can vastly processed through content, on track shots,
getting ready shots and GoPro angles.
And then we have like our socialmedia manager who does stuff and
I operate that team now under mefor myself, Brandon and Cameron,
(09:42):
aside from social media, I also handle all the partnerships.
So sponsorship stuff, doing the marketing stuff, selling the
real estates on the car, making sure the deliverables are
written out perfectly so we can execute them.
Yeah. And so it's been fun, but like,
I just love the business side ofthings.
And it wasn't until this past year that I actually started
(10:03):
taking the driving side more serious.
But sometimes I feel like you have to build the foundation in
order to succeed first. And for me, building that
foundation looks like making sure the right funding was
coming and making sure the rightteam was under us.
And it's been a work in progressand there's definitely a lot
more to improve on, but I feel like we have a bright future
ahead. Good, good.
(10:24):
Do you think that stuff gets recognized enough?
Because obviously you just mentioned a lot of details that
I didn't even know either. So.
As a driver and just me as a person, I don't need to prove
anything to anyone. I there's a lot of keyboard
warriors out there, but if they really don't bother me, to be
honest. But I think for me, I want to be
(10:45):
recognized as a driver. I want to be recognized as a
driver and I've earned my respect there.
I have put my time in obviously getting the podium to be the
first females podium in Formula Drift was a huge statement.
And the support that I have around the paddocks, not just
for my team but from other drivers and the series and even
(11:06):
just the starting line Marshall,like he'll come up and give me a
fist bump before I go out. It's crazy.
The support that I've gained andI feel like I've gained that
respect as a driver here and that's the persona that I chose.
I don't need to highlight the marketing stuff for the business
stuff like this is this is who Iam, obviously.
But I want to inspire others to push boundaries.
And you know, when the little girls come up to me and are
(11:28):
like, Oh my gosh, like you're a race car driver.
Like you can drift this car. I'm like, yeah, like, let me put
you in the car. And that's kind of what I like
to do. All of the cars that you market,
how I guess what goes into the pitch to land something as big
as, for example, Air Force or all of the other big name
(11:49):
companies that you're dealing with?
Because that's not just an easy task.
Nobody else is doing it. Yeah.
Definitely. I think I've had a lot of
experience. I think for me it's a lot
different. Being a female in this male
dominated industry with a large social media following gaining
sponsorship looks a lot different than your typical
drifter. There's no way there's a spider
(12:09):
on my hat right now. OK, we handled that well.
I hate spiders, so I think for me, sponsorship looks a lot
different. However, I have my brother, I
have Cameron. I have had a lot of other
drivers reach out to me and so I've had to help them navigate
based off what I know about thisindustry.
And so just speaking more to general public here rather than
(12:30):
my scenario, I think it's so important to have good
relationships around the pits. I think it's so important to
always represent yourself as an athlete on a professional level.
And I also feel like what's meant for you will come for you.
I have, I can relate this even to going and doing tests for an
(12:51):
open seat in a car. And you know, I may have been
the fastest driver there, but I wasn't small enough to fit in
the seat to share the car with the other driver.
And I think that as much as you always want to chase that
sponsorship, and I always say like, you know, I would love to
work with brands like Nike on the side of my car or Sephora on
the side of my car. But at the end of the day, you
(13:12):
can chase those and you can put as much time and energy into
those. But I think what's meant for you
will come for you. And I've noticed that with the
brands because they might seem like they're a perfect fit in
your eyes, but in reality, you don't know what their marketing
goals are. And until you navigate the
waters of what the marketing department in that certain
company is looking for, whether it's lead generation, brand
(13:33):
awareness, maybe even just sales, until you understand what
their marketing goals are, you have to, you're not going to
know how to pitch yourself. So step one is, well, OK, if
we're going to go after a brand,what are they looking for?
Are they looking for brand awareness or are they looking to
(13:55):
just be the tire that wins the championship in Formula Drift
Tire Cup? They don't care how many
followers you have. There's a lot of brands where
I've worked with and they're like, we're really, we already
already known. We don't need brand awareness
anymore. But what we need is we need
somebody to help us in our research development to develop
something. And that's where our partnership
(14:16):
is going to come into play. We're going to use you as a
driver to help us develop this. So talking with all the brands,
everybody has a different perspective and some of them are
old school, some of them are young and they love the social
media. But that's just honestly, like
once you understand what they what they're wanting, that's how
you can target, OK, can I, can Ihelp this brand or can I not
(14:38):
help this brand? Maybe if you didn't have them
any Instagram followers and they're looking for brand
awareness, there's a way to definitely pivot around it and
say, OK, well, Formula Drift is an insane foundation.
First of all, this foundation ofFormula Drift after driving and
all the other series, as well asnot just drifting series outside
(14:58):
of this, but different types of Motorsports.
There's been so much that I've learned and I'm so grateful for
Formula Drift. The way that they do things.
There's they offer a lot to a driver.
They offer us footage, so reposton our channels without even
charging us. They allow us.
There's a lot of things that they do to help the drivers and
if the drivers can tap into that, then there's a lot of
(15:22):
things other than just themselves that they have to
offer a brand. We have, you know, Long Beach,
our opener is insane. How many people come there?
Why would a brand not want to set up an activation in your
tent to generate leads if they're looking for automotive
enthusiasts that possibly could buy the steering wheel that
(15:42):
they're selling or just even to get their name out there.
There's so many eyeballs walkingaround and it's not just one
day, it's three days. Like there's so much more than
just you as a driver. There's offer.
So I think understanding what the brand wants and then OK,
what tools do I have to help them feed into this marketing
campaign and strategy that they want.
(16:03):
You, you mentioned the activation.
Now I've had, I've had conversations with people about
that and they have no clue what I'm even talking about.
So explain what activation is for people that don't know.
Yeah. So activations are tricky for
one, because obviously you are also competing against the
series when you want to set up an activation in your booth.
Possibly there might be, say, for example, I'm with Rockstar
(16:25):
Energy and there's another driver that wants to bring in a
different energy drink and hand them out to the whole pit.
That might be going against whatFormula Drift has already has on
contract. So there's sometimes where you
have to just come in and work with the series and say, hey,
can I set up this booth? And we're just going to keep
them in our booth and they're going to give them out for free.
So an activation is really just putting a product in a
(16:49):
consumer's hand or a potential consumers hand.
An activation could be putting alogo on the side of the car to
build the brand awareness. This whole thing is an
activation. This podcast is an activation.
So essentially. A deliverable.
Exactly, Yeah. Yeah, I can do.
Well, cool. Do you would you say drifting
has been since you've been in multiple Motorsports, would you
(17:11):
say drifting has been the easiest to market or the most
beneficial? I think for me personally, I've
had a lot of success in driftingand the marketing side of
drifting. There's obviously pros and cons
with every series that I've driven in.
This one is more targeted towards the driver real estate
on the side of the car on site events rather than outside PR
(17:34):
and media. There's been other series that
I've driven in where there's no real potential to sell
sponsorship as a driver hired for another team, but there's
potential sponsorship to sell for PR outside of that series,
maybe coming in as a female and representing a brand for
something just as a driver. Now I've got to ask this.
(17:55):
I'm sorry, but do you feel it benefits you being a woman when
it comes to marketing? Because you'll get the guys that
are out there that are saying, oh, she only has that because
she's a woman. She only has that because this
that. Yeah, I.
Think it's funny to say, Brandonalways used to say, wow, I wish
I had tits, like I wish I had blonde hair.
And for me, yes, there's a lot of benefit, but there's also a
(18:19):
lot of pushback. I feel like some brands, they
want to work with you because women in sports right now is
such a big topic. Women in sports is no longer a
movement, it's a thing. It's present.
Torres If you look back into thehistory of sports, women in
sports has just been always a movement.
Now it's a thing. We have F1 Academy, we have
female Olympic teams. Like it's crazy that females in
(18:43):
sports is a thing, it's no longer a movement.
So I think that with that being said, it almost is now levelling
up the playing field for me because I can go pitch a brand
and I can get paid just as much as the male driver to where as I
think previously, if we look back 5-10 years talking with
drivers, older female drivers inthe history of like Motorsports,
(19:04):
they always struggle to find funding.
They always struggle to find thesupport because they're they're
under so much more pressure. I think because you don't just
look around and say there's ten other females here, you're the
only female. So they have so much more reason
to say like, while you're different.
So I'm going to focus on you because you're different.
So it depends on how you look through that lens.
(19:25):
Are you going to benefit from that or are you going to take it
in a negative way? For me, I love it.
Like I'm different. Yeah, it's created a lot more
eyes on me. But I've also proven myself.
I've gained the respect being a driver and I've put in the work.
I think that I would love to seemore females in drifting.
I would love to see more femalesin Motorsports.
(19:47):
And as the years passed by, likeeven this year, we have 4
drivers and four female drivers in this sport.
Incredible. Drivers, by the way, incredible.
Drivers exactly allows me to show up and not question myself.
Like, am I really supposed to behere?
I can look around and see somebody like Claude Davis and I
see a mirror image. It's not like I'm going out
(20:08):
there and I'm having those questions anymore.
So seeing the the progression offemales in Motorsports is like,
it's amazing, to be honest, yeah.
Well, you were kind of the firstone to get the the whole bully
aspect almost. So like, from the outsider
perspective, it seems like Shelly and Paulette are both
(20:31):
almost getting bullied this year.
Like guys are just don't want tolose against them.
And I see the comments all the time.
Did you kind of get that whenever you first came in?
I think or do you? Even think that's it, that's a
thing I I. Would agree.
I don't know, I think that it's honestly just been unfair luck
with that situation, but I do feel that the guys are way more
intimidated to drive against thefemales then they are to drive
(20:54):
against another male driver. And I think with that, that's
where the risks start to begin to happen.
They start to take higher chances because nobody wants to
lose to a girl, but no one else will lose.
I don't want to lose. You don't want to lose.
So like I think that us being a female going up against the
other driver allows them to tap into their higher playing field,
to be honest, and that's where more risks are taken.
(21:15):
I wouldn't say this is necessarily they're being
bullied. I just think that there are
times where someone's like, Dang, he's really nervous
because he's going up against you.
But that's because we've proven ourselves.
We're drivers like we've earned the respect, Colette's earned
the respect, Shelley's earned the respect like we are
literally out here turning laps like running doors just as hard
as they are. It's arguably better that way.
(21:36):
I would, I would agree because Imean, truthfully, drifting is
the a good balanced sport. It's all a machine.
You're just the operator. So I mean, how much can you
really boil it down to? I think it's just like you
mentioned earlier, keyboard warriors just doing their thing.
You. Always have keyboard warriors,
but you know you made it when you have haters.
(21:57):
Oh yeah. Well, last thing on marketing,
is there any major company that you are in the works with for
your program? Because for one, I would love to
see more massive companies, Fortune 500 companies starting
to involve themselves in drifting.
And I feel like you and Cameron might be, other than RTR, the
(22:17):
only candidate to do or pull it off.
I think what's cool is, and thisis just from my perspective is
being that I have driven in other different forms of
Motorsports like rallycross or Idrive monster trucks at some
stage. And I've made so many creative
like I would say decisions with the way I've marketed myself.
(22:42):
So I'm an overall driver, which has allowed me a lot of
opportunities to not just work with automotive sponsors or
brands, but non endemic brands. I get to go to New York Fashion
Week as a Formula Drift driver. I get to go to a Woman in Sports
Foundation event as a Formula Drift driver.
And there's people like professional tennis players
(23:05):
there and like, oh, what are youdoing?
I'm like, oh, I'm a drifter and I can educate them on that.
So drifting is so cool because it came into the States in 2003
as Formula Drift and we're the fastest growing motorsport.
We're second to NASCAR and social media and 80% of our fans
do not attend NASCAR, NHRA or IndyCar, which means the brands
(23:28):
that are already invested in NASCAR, IndyCar or NATRA have a
whole new audience to tap in when they come over here.
And that's been one of my biggerselling points when it comes to
approaching these non endemic brands.
How did you? Learn that it's in.
The formula drift FD deck, really they send it to every
driver just up to the drivers toread it.
People just. Don't leverage it.
(23:48):
Yeah, I. Mean I've done my research and
I've, like I said, I geek out over marketing, so yeah, I'm
glad. You're saying all this like,
because I obviously FD doesn't do the best job of showing
behind the scenes of what's going on, so on and so forth.
So I'm you get a lot of Flack. I know you know that, but that's
cool. I like to see the the behind
(24:11):
everything. That's the whole point of this,
yeah. Yeah, definitely.
But yeah, tell me more about thecars and what's going on with
cameras and all the other ones, because is your car even
relatively the same or do you guys drive different?
Yes. So my car set up my car.
My car package is similar to Cameron's car package.
(24:33):
Almost identical. We have same suspension,
everything is literally the same.
Same transmission, same transmission, same differential,
same engine package. We're both running LS
supercharged motors and the difference is, though I like to
drive way different than Cameron, we often find that my
(24:54):
setup is not very similar to Cameron's setup.
But there are times where maybe we try something on Cameron's
car that gave him the result that I possibly could have also
wanted, and we'll bounce back ideas.
However, then you have Brandon'scar.
Brandon's car is relatively the same other than he does have the
sequential, he has the upgrades of the pros are allowed to have.
But Speaking of the cars, Brandon is the one for the cars.
(25:17):
He is so into developing new technology for these cars.
He, he, Brandon and our team haddesigned the angle kits for our
cars. And so our suspension is very
similar set up to like most of the paddocks, but there's a few
different things that he wanted to try coming from different
(25:39):
backgrounds, like the trophy truck background and the off
road background that possibly could work being applied here.
And as you can see this year in his driving, he has found a lot
of result with that more forwardgrip to the ground so he can
actually control where the tiresare going.
But Brandon, yeah, he's always in the shop in the morning
working with this 3D printer, like printing up like a 3D
(26:00):
replica of something bolted on the car to see if it'll fit.
And then he goes into the CNC machines and cuts it out of the
CNC machine, take it to the track, test it and find all of
the weak points and keep improving.
So it's very cool to see how hands on Brandon is with that
stuff. He's very nerdy.
Like he he's very nerdy in a very intelligent way, but it's
(26:20):
also benefited us. And that's where Brandon and I
work together great because Brandon overseas the cars and he
overseas a lot of the operation with that.
And kind of is the final say if we were to choose between one
suspension component and anotherand I do all the other stuff
like the marketing and the social media, but without the
team like we wouldn't be as far as where we are now.
(26:42):
Well, other than the team, how do you get to a point to be able
to have like obviously you mentioned CNC machine, that's
not cheap. How do you get to the point of
having all these resources to beable to offer this stuff to
companies? Not for just, you know, research
purposes or all that stuff, but I think.
You don't even need to have yourown CNC machine.
There's times where Brandon willjust send off the part and get
(27:05):
made by somebody else and he'll work with a brand.
But that's where the relationships come into play.
Be like, hey, I want to build a part.
Are you on board? And you and I work together and
maybe you have the shop and I have the creative idea.
But that's where relationships and formula drift I think is so
important. And I remember, like, looking
back two years ago, seeing teamslike RTR and Papadakis and being
(27:27):
like, why is it that they can goland these brands?
And I feel that at the time, I had a way larger social media
reach. And this is kind of all I was
focusing on. Why do they get these brands but
I can't get them? I don't know how to negotiate
the deal, right? Maybe they say, oh, sorry, we
don't have budget or we're not interested.
And over time, I realized it's atimely thing.
(27:52):
These things don't just happen overnight.
The funding does not come in overnight.
It's taken me four or five yearsof renegotiating one deal to be
able to pay for the whole entireprogram.
And with that being said, obviously we have a lot of
support from around us, but it'sto the stage where Brandon and I
have taken our family hobby and turned it into a career.
(28:15):
And it's fully sustainable as mine and Brandon's career.
This is what we do. We wake up, I think about
booking all of everybody's fights and I think about posting
on social media and sorting it out so I can continue to give
the brands the deliverables thatthey've asked for.
And in return, obviously there'sthat sponsorship support, but
it's a timely thing. It's seeing the same face over
(28:36):
and over again for four or five years before they actually write
you the check. And that's one thing that I've
learned because it's, it's, it shouldn't be an exchange
relationship. It should be a supportive
relationship. And I'm going to benefit you in
ways that your marketing team needs help that I can offer you.
But if you know, maybe that brand that you're wanting to go
(28:58):
after is not the right fit because they don't see any value
in what you can actually offer, move to the next.
But make sure you stay friends, have the relationship.
And that's always important because it's always the same
people in this industry. But the shirt badge always
changes. And I think that that's one
thing that's always important toremember too, is you never know
who's watching and you never know where persons are going to
(29:20):
go. And So what?
That being said, the relationship part of this whole
entire drifting thing is so, so crucial and important.
Have you ever had a normal job or you just been studying
marketing your whole life? I.
Actually didn't tap into marketing till about four years
ago. Really.
So I went to school studying construction management.
I worked for my parents. At the.
(29:42):
Front desk for their construction company.
For the longest time, I also washeavily involved in sports.
I figure skated for a while. My brother and I played hockey
together. My parents never let us chill.
We were always busy. I played instruments like
drifting was just the one thing,one family hobby that had
actually taken over the brand. And I were like, we love this.
(30:03):
We see potential career here, let's go after it.
How do you weed it out though? How did like how?
What about drifting was like? That's the one.
I mean, how can I tell you what's going to happen in the
future? Like you live in the moment and
you enjoy and as the opportunities approach you, you
either jump on the opportunitiesor you let them go by.
And Brad and I jumped on the opportunity when we had seen
(30:24):
one. It wasn't easy.
Like I said, we drove our semi truck into a building or into a
building. We drove our semi truck into a
bridge in New York, I hope. It wasn't a building.
That'd be crazy, you know? What I'm saying like we
literally we didn't like drive it into a bridge, but like I'm
from the West Coast. I didn't know that there's
certain height limits on on the bridges in New York.
(30:45):
And Brad and I are driving and like we're like, oh, we might
make it under here. It's a railroad pass and we're
trying to get onto a different freeway.
But like those are the things that as the opportunities came,
we jumped on them. And in those moments, we're
like, we're ready to take full responsibility of whatever the
consequences that we may not be prepared for.
We're going to try and give it our all.
But I mean, that's why well. As far as on the other end of
(31:08):
things, back to the cars, Brandon being so young ended all
of this. How do you see all of the
younger generation coming into the sport?
We got the big SIM stuff going on.
We got Manoa showing out. What's your perspective on the
future of drifting and how people are coming in?
I think. The future of drifting is very,
(31:29):
very large. Oh.
On your hat. A spider again.
Like a can we? Get it?
All OK, Thank you. What the fuck?
Geez, they're really just attacking me.
Anyways, sorry, yeah. Yeah, I think when it comes to
the future of drifting, I think it's large.
I've had the opportunity to travel overseas and watch the
(31:50):
Drift Masters events over there,see Pro Am series over there and
go to even a place like Goodwood.
Goodwood, The Drifters go up thehill twice.
No other class goes up the hill twice.
Why? Because it's so cool.
And I think drifting has such a large potential to just continue
(32:10):
growing. And I think in the United States
specifically this place is United States is about the
entertainment like we have the big shows.
And so I think drifting will take take off in a very positive
direction. But with that being said, that's
bringing a lot of younger talentinto this because instead of
(32:31):
going to the go Kart track, now parents are buying drift cars
for their kids because the kids are seeing drifting online
instead of seeing go karting online.
And your typical path of Motorsports is starting in go
karting and getting into Rd. racing stuff and going up the
way to possibly some sort of Formula 4, Formula Three or MSA
(32:51):
series, right? And now you have drifting and
it's like to just show up at thegrassroots events and see not
just like the other Drifters like us out there, but you have
the parents coming and supporting the kids.
I think it's a huge part in whatthe future of the sport will
possibly be. You have drivers like Hiro
(33:13):
Manoa, Cameron, my younger brother coming in and they're
driving on the simulator, which obviously is more sustainable
for a budget aspect. And they're getting nutsy time.
They're crashing the car 100 times on the simulator and
there's no budget involved there.
You just got to have the same and that translates to real
life. I see in my own driving the
(33:33):
simulator has helped me so much just for visual reference
points, learning car reactions, that kind of stuff.
I. Assume you're on a SIM magic
setup, yeah? We're on a SIM magic extreme SIM
setup. And with that, I think, you
know, I can't wait to see the younger generation come into
this. I even look at Brandon.
(33:54):
I'm like, after I watch Cameron's battles, I'm like,
holy, like this is insane brain.Like we got to step our game.
Think about where he's going to be when he's our age, you know?
And I like to see the younger talent and we have like Jay the
drifter. I love to see that this is what
that's the sport needs. And it's just cool to see the
(34:16):
young talent coming in because this is where the parents are
feeling confident in this sport to start their kid, which is so
cool arguably. One of the safest motorsport I
would say. I.
Agree, I think drifting is one of the safe to safest
Motorsports. Shelley, for example, not to
bring that back up, but flippingthe car, I mean, yeah, yeah,
yeah. Even though that is flipping a
(34:37):
car, you're going very slow. So and cars are very
structurally sound. Exactly.
And everything. But you mentioned Goodwood
though, I got to talk about that.
How was that experience being able to go out there and just
little, not even just drive it, but let alone be a part of it?
So this is my first year at Goodwood and like I said, it's
(34:59):
crazy. I debuted a hydrogen car.
It's the extreme H car. So it's the first FIA licensed
hydrogen racing series and they're all-wheel drive hydrogen
rally cars. So last year and the year prior,
I raced for Chip Ganassi Racing in an extreme E, which was
extreme E has now turned into extreme H.
The extreme E stuff is electric rally car.
(35:21):
But they asked me like, hey, do you want to come help with the
debut of the hydrogen car? Give us your driver feedback.
We think that it's very important that all the drivers
are getting in and telling us what they think compared to the
E car. So I drove the hydrogen car up
the hill and it was insane. I worked with BMW and drove the
BMWCS touring up the hill. But it's so sick to just see
like Motorsports is such a cool thing.
(35:43):
I remember sitting there just having a moment to myself being
like, it's insane that all thesepeople from all over the world
have come together to just gather around cars, automotive,
whether it's the most expensive car in the parking lot or
auctioning off cars or Drifters drifting up the hill or vintage
F1 cars. It's just such a cool big
(36:04):
community. And I think about it and it's
like this industry is so huge. It's as huge as all the other
industries that it it's able to compete with them especially.
From an Internet point of view, because you don't get to see, I
know Drift Masters has a lot of light shined on it, but I know
it's not as big of a crowd as you would find here at FD
(36:25):
normally, right. Yeah.
So I I know that can get lost intransition though whenever it's
online. Do you I assume you agree with
that for? Like you're comparing drift
masters to formula drift? Well.
No, just like the OR like. Goodwood, How?
How big you're explaining drifting to be I It seems a lot
bigger than it actually is online.
(36:48):
I would disagree. I think that when I look online,
I would think that drifting, like when you look online, you
see things like Formula One updates all the time.
You see MSA updates all the time, at least I do.
And it's like sometimes when I'mtalking to brands, they overlook
how big drifting is. And I say the last round of
Drift Masters is in Poland in a stadium that fills 60,000
(37:09):
people. That's how big drifting is,
60,000 people. Our first rounds in Long Beach
and they shut down the streets so the people who are there
can't drive on the streets so wecan have a drift event.
That's how big drifting is. And when you bring a brand or
you bring a fan or you bring a friend or family member to
Formula Drift or to any of the drifting events, I think it's
(37:32):
always ending in a wow factor. It's like, I think it's
overlooked how big it is, all right?
I'll agree with that. Sorry.
I'm sorry. It just, I, I feel like the
media is pushing it. It needs to be that way, but it
it pushes it in a way that it looks better than the events
(37:52):
usually are, which is totally fine.
It's the whole point because youwant it to become that, be
bigger, so on and so forth. But I, I just want drifting to
grow just like I assume you do too.
So do you think FD could ever beas big as NASCAR because you
compared them a little bit earlier?
(38:15):
I think definitely, I think the Formula drift, it's one of those
things where like as much as youwant to have control and make it
like NASCAR, sometimes you just got to let the world do its
thing and there's it doesn't need.
To be adopt it like that yeah, but like.
It doesn't need to be NASCAR to be cool or to be as valuable.
Air Force sponsors a NASCAR and they also sponsor me.
(38:38):
Like we're doing same opportunities, we're doing same
things, like, but also if it waslike NASCAR, then it wouldn't
make it original, wouldn't make it Formula Drift anymore.
So the demographic that's cominghere is definitely like this
demographic is very unique, but that's what makes it unique.
You don't have a fan coming and be like, oh, like, remember we
used to come here and watch the NASCAR drivers go round and
(39:00):
round, but now like we're watching Drifters like, you know
what I'm saying? Like Formula Drift's unique
because of its own thing, if it were to come.
Just like. NASCAR then, you know, I do
think that there's a lot of variables from NASCAR that I
would love to see come into the Formula Drift industry, possibly
like team franchises. I think that that would allow
somebody like me who's a driver,something to look forward to and
(39:21):
I decide I want to retire. You don't think that would make
formula drift? Obviously it would have to be
that way, but too inaccessible at that point.
No, I think it also would have it.
Only makes it better I think. It would also help the drivers
to be more motivated to find thefunding.
Like you don't have to pay a marketing manager any money, you
(39:44):
have to give him 20% of what they bring you.
So to have a conversation with the marketing manager and say
hey can you sell my sponsorship for me requires $0.00 upfront.
At the end of the day once they seal the deal and the deal is
done they get 20%. But 20% gone from your paycheck
is better than nothing in my opinion.
(40:05):
But I think turning it into something like a franchise will
allow it to be more of a sustainable career.
I'm looking at Brandon being like, how much longer are we
going to do this? When do we actually say stop?
And what do we do from this? Where do we go next?
If we had a franchise, I could easily put Cameron in the car
and say, well, there's 32 spots on the grid and that's how much
my buy in is. My car is there.
(40:27):
Team Sorenson owns three spots. Doesn't matter who's driving the
car. So it's like a NASCAR sort of
franchise situation. How long do you take, do you
think it would take to even do that, or do we technically have
the means to make that happen? I think anything takes time.
Obviously it could take 2-3 years to kind of get that
through. But also like it's like them
(40:48):
coming up with the idea of beinglike let's get rid of
qualifying. You never know till you try.
I do really wish they'd bring qualifying back.
I agree. I like the qualifying aspect.
I think it's cool because it always is changing up the show,
but I'm not too sure exactly what their reasonings are behind
the seating bracket and why theychose the qualifying format or
(41:08):
to get rid of the qualifying format.
But I personally, as a driver, liked the qualifying things.
But sometimes, you know, there'sthe hidden variables that we are
not too sure of, yeah. I don't think I've talked to a
single driver that wishes it would stay this way.
Every single driver I've talked to is like, no, bring qualifying
back. This shit makes no sense.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, understandable.
Yeah. Anyways, I did want to ask on
(41:29):
Goodwood though. Is that road as sketchy as it
looks? Yeah, my.
First time going up the hill I was in the M3CS2 ring and I had
I hadn't even like done a track walk.
Oh. No, I literally.
Watched on boards and I was likeOK, sweet.
And I was doing first glance group, so first glance of the
(41:50):
2026 car, and I went up the hilland I just remember, I mean,
like, OK, well, watch out for the turn past the bridge because
there's no forgiveness at the end of it.
And it's a hard left-hander after a long straight.
But the hill is, it definitely gets more technical as you go up
it, when you start getting into the walls and getting into the
hay bales. But it's so sick.
(42:10):
It's so sick. The hill is.
So sketchy I. Watching, watching Ryan Turek
blink the top of that course inspired me so much.
And I was like, one day I'm going to have a drift car there.
One day I will drift up the Goodwood Hill.
We're starting out with debutingthe hydrogen car, but one day I
will drift up the hill next. Year.
Yeah, maybe next year. Yeah.
(42:32):
No, that's that shit's insane. What was the whole no doughnut
thing? Was that just a meme or was that
an actual rule that they made those?
Well, you you were only allowed to do doughnuts if you were in a
certain group, you got 2 doughnuts you're allowed to
make. But that was for the drift group
or like the demo group they callit.
The rest of the guys you're not allowed to because of the way
that the timing was of the show and how they timed everything.
(42:53):
Gotcha. OK, yeah, 'cause you have.
To remember, at the end of the day this is still show, so the
production team is a little bit behind that.
Always got to wait on the camera, man.
Yeah. Exactly.
And you also met did Drift masters too?
Yeah, Drift. Masters in Ireland how did?
That go. That was good.
It was a huge learning experience for me.
I, that was my first time driving turbo, first time
(43:17):
driving 2 Jay-Z, first time driving a GT86, first time
driving in Ireland. Like it was like a lot of first
for me. So are we on the TJ?
Train now I. Loved the TJ.
It was sick. Yeah.
I haven't really done proper chase runs yet with the turbo,
so we'll see how I'm going to bedoing three more events this
year in that car, so I'm excitedto be doing that.
But different platform, different package.
(43:39):
A lot to learn in. I had 0 expectations other than
to have fun and absorb all the knowledge, and I exceeded all
those expectations. And so for me, it was super
cool. I laid down to 69 runs, which I
think I was a little gypped on my second run, but that track is
scary. Like it's a blind entry and in
(44:00):
the drivers meeting there like no handbrake on entry.
And I'm like, sweet, you want meto go in here at 140 kilometers
per hour and I'll pull the handbrake.
Like they're like if you're on handbrake, we don't want to see
it. So my first run they deducted me
a lot of points because I was onhandbrake.
I'm like, it's kind of impossible to go through here
without playing Handbrake give. Me a break, yeah.
Exactly my second run. I actually nailed the entry,
(44:21):
barely any handbrake and they gave me great amount of points.
But the car, unfortunately, I got stuck on lock going into the
one zone and from there was kindof a domino effect and I dropped
a tire in the last turn, lost mypoints there And I was like,
Dang, if I would have completed that lap, I easily would have
had like an 80 score on the board and would have been in the
show. But I showed up with my goals
and I checked all of them off. So we're looking forward to the
(44:43):
next one. See it?
When's that one going to be? We'll see.
I have to confirm the wild card.I have it confirmed but the news
is not out yet so. It looks like that track is.
It's just one of those tracks. If you don't nail the entry, the
entire lap is toast. Like you can just scratch it.
My spotter. Was like, I don't even care
(45:04):
about the second-half. As soon as you get the entry
done, then we'll work on the second-half.
But you need to get the entry because the entry is like 80% of
this score here. Did you do?
Anything in SIM to practice for that?
Like specifically no. Unfortunately, just the way my
schedule played out, I was not even home.
I haven't been home for two months.
I get to go home for the first time on Sunday back to Vegas
just because of all the other events that I was going to.
(45:27):
So obviously from that, like we went to Atlanta, then we went to
Spain for the Drift Masters event.
I had training in Spain prior togoing to the Drift Masters event
and I got 4 laps in the car and the motor blew up when I went to
go train so I was like all rightsweet.
So we got to schedule another test day.
So I ended up going and testing in Ireland at a different track.
So I just didn't get to go home with the situation that was
(45:49):
happening. So no SIM training.
The only training I really had done to prepare for that was a
few laps around the track and then the motor blew so.
Well, that's rough. Well, it's.
What it seems to have done better?
Then no training, I guess. Yeah.
But all right. Well, cool.
I don't want to. I know you're still busy helping
out over there, so I don't want to take up too much of your
(46:09):
time, but I really appreciate it.
Is there any advice that you could give to just anyone trying
to go down this rabbit hole of formula drift?
I think the important key is just know that it's not all
uphill and every single time youfeel like it's just all going to
fall apart, it's going to get better.
(46:29):
It's all growing pain, every single mistake you make.
Look at it as a learning point and learn as much as you can.
And I would say with that, like it's so easy to just be like,
wow, I didn't win the championship my first season
showing up in Formula Drift. I didn't win the first round
that I showed up like nobody's going to.
But if you won all the time, like what's the point in the
(46:50):
journey? So enjoy it and enjoy the
failures. That would be my piece of
advice. Awesome.
Well, cool. Is there anything that you can
announce or want to announce or shout out any sponsors, anything
like that? I don't think I have any big
announcements right now, to be honest.
So yeah. Easy peasy.
Well, I want to say thank you again.
Taking the time and good luck atthe next one.
(47:12):
Utah, yes. Yes, yes.
Thank you so much for having me on Circle Drift.
I appreciate it, absolutely. You're welcome anytime.
I gotta get the brothers on too,yes?
Yes, we'll bring them. What another great episode this
week. Then obviously if you made it
this far, you're one of the Ogs of the podcast, or maybe you're
a new one. So thank you for sticking around
this long. If you did enjoy or learn
(47:34):
anything new out of the episode,I just ask that you consider
subscribing and turning on the bell notifications.
But other than that, don't forget we do have merch on the
site. Circle adrift.co.
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