As Tanner Foust currently sits 3rd place entering this weekends Final round of Formula Drift. We figured we would take a look back to a small interview we did with Tanner in 2006. He has come a long way and now with the Scion Racing team. Take a look at this quick throw back.
Everything Drift: Your best finish last season was at Sonoma. What did you think of the Sonoma track overall, and would you have changed the track at all?
Tanner Foust: The Sonoma track was a nice change for us because it was the first smooth track in awhile. You could make the car sit a little bit lower, and you could be more precise with the suspension tuning. I’m not sure if there was room to because it was so narrow. I liked the idea of not always having a decreasing radius first corner. Maybe a flick into the first corner, rather than a long straightaway going into the first corner, or rather than a long straightaway entrance maybe a kink in the straightaway. The cool thing about Formula D is that basically, you take what you get and you just make the best pass that you can no matter what the track, and everybody has to drive the same layout.
eDRFT: Do you think your driving style is different from others?
TF: I traded cars with Andy Yen recently, and he’s told me that our car transitions kind of slowly. But I think that from my driving background where I was always driving with zero mistakes for events or in front of groups of people, there’s a tendency to stay smooth. Where I live in Colorado, from driving on the ice, it’s definitely the key to stay smooth. With drifting, I try and be more aggressive.
eDRFT: How has the change from a 2 car team to a 1 car team gone for McKinney last season?
TF: It certainly helps to keep everybody focused. Just having 1 car to deal with. With 2 cars, if there was any problem with one of the cars, then suddenly we were maxed out. Just having the 1 car is really helping to keep us focused and keep this car running strong and reliably. Any little change we need to make we can make them right away, so that it can help us on the very next run.
Written By: Kitty Contreras
Original Post Date: January, 2006