Desert Drift Street League
2025 Drift Series
Revision 1.2
Series Rules
The spirit of the event is rooted in stylish cars and stylish driving. The goal is to create an atmosphere where the cars look as good as the driving while keeping this really fun and a great way to shred with friends. The organizers reserve the right to deny any cars not within this spirit. We recognize that the rules will not fit everyone and we will happily talk thru any concerns you may have. We also reserve the right to modify the rules as the series evolves.
1. Cars
a. All cars MUST be registered and road worthy. License plate MUST be fastened to the car.
b. All cars must be from a recognized OEM. No tube frame, one-off, or otherwise custom chassis will be allowed.
c. All cars are to have properly fitting wheels that minimize fender gap. The top of the wheel must be able to compress and tuck into the fender (no wheel poke).
d. All cars should be lowered. Tucking tire heavily encouraged.
2. Tires
a. All cars must be on 235 width or less rear tires. 300 tread wear or higher.
b. Front tires are unregulated.
c. Tire size and tread wear will be STRITCLY enforced and if a competitor is found in violation, they will be removed from the competition and forfeit their entry fee, points, and any earned prizes.
i. DDSL will have a gauge that will be used during tech and during times of competition.
ii. This gauge will be available for purchase separately.
d. Tire pressure is unregulated.
e. No beadlocks, glue, etc.
3. Engine/Drivetrain
a. Engine swaps are allowed.
b. Engine bays must present well, be clean and tidy. No loose wires, loose hoses, etc.
c. No dry sump, rear radiators, fuel cell. Leave that to the Pro series.
d. Fuel cell is allowed BUT NOT REQUIRED. It must be firewalled from the drivers compartment. Every effort should be made to make the install clean, tidy, and stylish. The fuel cell cannot be over 10% bigger in capacity than an OEM tank. This is to prevent too much rear weight balance shift.
e. Transmissions must be an H-Pattern gearbox. No dedicated racing transmissions. Must retain syncros.
f. Transmission swaps allowed, but must satisfy rule 3e above. Sequential shifter on OEM transmission allowed (Ikeya formula, s1, etc).
g. Fuel surge tanks ok, but must be firewalled off.
h. All engines must run on widely available pump fuels (91, 100, e85, etc).
4. Suspension
a. Coilovers highly recommended.
b. No relocated pickup points unless it’s to slam the car to the ground.
c. No rack relocation that changes the intended OEM setup (switching from rear steer to front, etc). Rack relocation to fix over-centering is allowed.
d. Wisefab, FDF, SLR, etc are OK but must satisfy all fitment and style rules. No wheel poke, strange stance, or otherwise. Try to make it look like you don’t have it.
5. Interior
a. All OEM panels, carpet, plastics must remain to just behind the front seats. Rear seats and panels can be removed but are recommended to keep in place.
b. Trimming panels OK to fit a roll cage.
c. All cars must have functioning radio with a minimum of two speakers.
d. Removing HVAC is OK. But do you really need to?
e. Interior must be clean, tidy and present well.
f. Dash swaps or interior swaps are OK as long as they present well. We want to see cool stuff done nicely.
6. Exterior
a. All body panels must be present.
b. All panels must be the same color OR as part of a livery design (fades, two tone, graphics, etc).
c. Drivers will do their best to ensure all panels stay on the car and are re-attached if they do fall off during competition.
d. Any holes must be filled and matching with the rest of the car. (ie, corner lights, wing mounts, badges, etc).
7. Safety
a. All cars must have a minimum 3lb fire extinguisher or Element extinguisher.
b. All cars must have working brake lights and headlights.
c. All seats must be fully fastened
d. Stock seat belts are OK.
e. Harnesses must be routed properly and secured properly. Please look to the NASA rulebook for proper mounting.
f. All glass must be present and in good shape. No cracks larger than 6”
g. Rollcages HIGHLY recommended. We will make very few exceptions to not having a cage.
h. Bolt in cages OK with door bars.
F. All cars must pass MHC tech
8. Other
a. Cool cars are cool. Our series is not for purpose built race cars with minimal interior, stitched together exterior, and crazy drivetrains. There are other series for that and this series focuses on street cars. Build up that spare chassis you have into a cool car you can take to a car show and then come compete with us.
Series Competition Format
1. The competition format will be based on a standard top 16 bracket. The organizers could elect to run a double elimn bracket at one of the rounds. This decision will be communicated ahead of time.
2. Qualifying Competition Rules
a. Qualifying – Each driver will get two laps. Highest score will be recorded. 16 highest scores will proceed to the tandem elimination bracket.
i. Super 16
ii. Great 8
iii. Best 4
iv. Finals
b. Judging criteria will be based on these 4 factors.
i. Judge 1: Entry – 30 points
1. Commitment to speed. No lifting before the first turn.
2. How aggressive the entry is. Big, snappy, committed.
3. This criteria only scores the run up and entry into turn one.
ii. Judge 2: Consistency – 30 points
1. Smooth, clean run with minimal corrections.
2. Proper use of handbrake (in decel areas only).
3. Hitting zones and clips properly.
4. Minimal steering corrections.
5. Good, consistent throttle control.
iii. Judge 3: Impact/Style – 30 points
1. Driving the car to its max potential.
2. Driving in a way that makes us all excited to exist.
3. Snappy transitions
4. Aggressive throttle
5.
iv. Guest judge #4: Radness/Presentation – 10 points
1. Awarded during tech.
2. These points can be given for anything. Rare part, clean execution on build/idea, or any other reason.
3. The guest judge reserves the right to award points however they see fit.
4. Drivers are encouraged to convince the judge to award points for their car.
3. Tandem Competition Rules
a. Tandem competition will consist of the top 16 drivers from qualifying in alternating back-to-back runs.
b. Leading car will follow a qualifying line.
c. Purposeful contact will be heavily penalized. We are trying to get CLOSE to our friends, we are not trying to create a ton of bodywork for them after the event. It is harder to drive within an inch of hitting someone than it is to push them around the track.
d. Mimicking the lead cars entries, transitions and line is HEAVILY favored. We want to see cars initiate and transition together.
e. Driving as a synchronized pair is favored over pure proximity.
f. The winner of each tandem battle will proceed to the next match until a winner is decided.
g. 3rd place battle will happen, it’s dumb I even have to have this in the rules. Thanks FD.
4. Competition Schedule
a. All competitive rounds will take place over a single day. Multi-day events could happen, but the second day will be for practice only.
b. Schedule may change depending on driver count (more or less time needed for quali)
5. Prizes (TBD)
a. Each round will have top 3 prizes
b. First Place
i. $666
ii. 1 pair of tires from BlackCloudBrotherhood!
iii. Detailing products from XXXXX
iv. Engine oil from XXXXX
v. Gift certs
vi. Additional prizes
c. Second Place
i. $420
ii. Detailing products from XXXXX
iii. Engine oil from XXXXX
iv. Additional prizes
d. Third place
i. $200
ii. Detailing products
iii. Engine oil from XXXXX
6. Conclusion
We are very excited to bring DDSL 2025 to life and hope to work together with drivers, partners, and staff to make this the most amazing series AZ has seen to date. We want a place for our friends to drive hard and get recognized for it. A place where the field is a little more leveled out and everyone stands a chance. A place where style and competition can come together to create something we all want to see and be a part of. Ultimately, this is a place for our friends to share the passion of drifting we all have. Let’s have fun and let’s shred together. – DDSL Crew
