September 28, 2011 at 5:28pm by Steve Siler
Most folks see semi trucks simply as society’s beasts of burden—slow, unwieldy, and as unsexy an opposite of race cars as conceivably possible. This is why we so dearly love the FIA’s truck-racing series, which sees purpose-built rigs comically (they can’t help it) duking it out on track, and it is precisely why we can’t stop watching the video below. It shows racer/stunt driver Mike Ryan in his famous (in certain circles) baby-blue-and-orange Freightliner Cascada Pikes Peak edition putting on Formula Drift’s first-ever semi-drifting exhibition at this year’s Formula Drift Championship in Las Vegas.
Starting with footage of a daytime practice session in Irwindale, California as both truck and driver get acclimated to doing the sideways shuffle on a “black lake” instead of a dirt road, the six-and-a-half-minute mini-movie also features for some sublime synchronized drifting between the Freightliner and drifting champ Sam Hübunette in his Dodge Challenger. There’s even a surprise feel-good moment when Ryan gives a cancer-stricken boy the ride of his life. The video is pretty spectacular, and the driving is good enough to leave your understanding of the semi’s role in society—if not your understanding of the laws of physics altogether—in a cloud of thick, white tire smoke.
Tags: drifting, Freightliner, semi |