COVERAGE> 2013 Formula D Tech Day & Car Meet
Formula Drift always holds a Preseason Technical Inspection Day before the annual race season starts. The objection of the tech inspection is to go over each car to verify that all safety equipment and chassis modifications are fair and accounted for. When it comes to building a race car, whether its for drift, drag, road racing or rally, safety has to be a high priority for any team.
Source Interlink Media was the host of this year's tech day. This was a free event to attend for those enthusiasts and fans who want to get up close and personal with the cars and drivers. They had food trucks, free energy drinks, and of course, lots of local car show enthusiasts and their rides in attendance! Read more...
GALLERY> DragonSpeed Audi R8 at Dubai 24 Hours
DragonSpeed took the world stage for the first time at the Dunlop 24H Dubai recently and delivered an impressive performance, finishing 11th overall and fifth in class from 80 starters. Only a surfeit of time penalties and late race mechanical gremlins kept the Florida-based team from taking a place in the Top 10 and a step on the Class A6 Pro-Am podium with its GT3 Audi R8 LMS Ultra. Read more...
GALLERY> HT Cup Challenge Racing with Raceline
This past weekend, I was given the opportunity to join my friends from Raceline USA and JDM Zipties at the series opener of the Honda Tuning Cup Challenge at Buttonwillow Raceway. There are three announced HT Cup Challenge events for the 2013 calendar so far - Buttonwillow, Chuckwalla Raceway, and Streets of Willow.
Raceline also added a new component to the trackdays they organize - a challenge series for the new 86 Platform,"Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ. Even though it is called the 86 Challenge (coincidentally the same name as the previously announced 86 Challenge from Speedventures), the series is tailored towards Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ drivers, not AE86 owners. Read more...
Raceline also added a new component to the trackdays they organize - a challenge series for the new 86 Platform,"Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ. Even though it is called the 86 Challenge (coincidentally the same name as the previously announced 86 Challenge from Speedventures), the series is tailored towards Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ drivers, not AE86 owners. Read more...
GALLERY> Global Time Attack & Shift S3ctor Pro Am
If you saw our previously published story on the R's Tuning Ben Sopra GTR from the Fast & Furious 6 movie, then you already know we were out at Buttonwillow Raceway this past weekend for the Global Time Attack Pro Am with Shift S3ctor. The event wasn't intended to be one of the larger GTA events; it was planned as a Pro/Amateur track day for the guys to shake down their cars at Buttonwillow. The types of cars at the event varied pretty wildly, from expensively modified AMG Benzes to homegrown builds, like Honda Civics and Mazda RX7s. Read more...
GALLERY> VW of Van Nuys Volkswagen Gathering
As most of our readers already know, my automotive background has been primarily focused around the culture of Japanese cars. I still remain a purist in this sense, but in the last few years, my automotive tastes have broadened. Ever since my first trip to Europe (something like five years ago), my interest in German cars has been steadily increasing. I never really paid attention to the Volkswagen brand because I've been a long time fan of rear wheel drive cars... but I immediately saw the light the first time I drove a Volkswagen Golf R.
My good friend Mitch Sison from EcoShine Auto called me up over the weekend and told me about this meet happening at Volkswagen of Van Nuys, organized by Brandon Chasin of Wustefest. I figured it would be a good opportunity to see some nice looking local Vee Dubs, so I grabbed my camera and my brand new Canon EF 35mm 1.4L lens and headed to the meet. Read more...
My good friend Mitch Sison from EcoShine Auto called me up over the weekend and told me about this meet happening at Volkswagen of Van Nuys, organized by Brandon Chasin of Wustefest. I figured it would be a good opportunity to see some nice looking local Vee Dubs, so I grabbed my camera and my brand new Canon EF 35mm 1.4L lens and headed to the meet. Read more...
GALLERY> Bombshell Betty Buick At Bonneville
Although many people have visited the famed Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, most live their entire lives without ever experiencing what it's like to run top speed down the salt, let alone win. I recently received a note from a dear friend of mine, Peter Brock from BRE Racing fame. He sent me a photo of this car - Bombshell Betty - a 1952 Buick Riviera land speed racer that has broken the World Speed Record in its class at Bonneville... twice. Read more...
GALLERY> Celebrating HotRod Culture w/ Mooneyes
Los Angeles is a melting pot of many cultures, so the car culture in Southern California is diverse as well - this place is ground zero for modified cars! Los Angeles has automotive heritage that spans from the first hot rodders and dry lakebed racers in the 1940s and 1950s to the evolution of the European and Japanese car scenes on US shores that began in the late 1960s and continues strong until today. People complain about all the smog and traffic and crappy roads in LA, but we're lucky - as far as I'm concerned, we have it all.
As Southern California car culture evolved from traditional handcrafted V8 powered hot rods to include the modification of small bore, high power output Japanese cars, our car scene truly has come full circle. It may be difficult for some to grasp this, but today, one of the most popular events in Southern California celebrating hot rods and the culture behind them is actually run by a group of hardcore hot rodders from Japan! The event I speak of is the annual Mooneyes Christmas Party at Irwindale Speedway, and year after year, it captivates me like it was my very first car show. Year after year, the Mooneyes Christmas Party remains paramount in my mind as the very best hot rod event I've ever attended. Read more...
As Southern California car culture evolved from traditional handcrafted V8 powered hot rods to include the modification of small bore, high power output Japanese cars, our car scene truly has come full circle. It may be difficult for some to grasp this, but today, one of the most popular events in Southern California celebrating hot rods and the culture behind them is actually run by a group of hardcore hot rodders from Japan! The event I speak of is the annual Mooneyes Christmas Party at Irwindale Speedway, and year after year, it captivates me like it was my very first car show. Year after year, the Mooneyes Christmas Party remains paramount in my mind as the very best hot rod event I've ever attended. Read more...
GALLERY> Scenes From The 2012 LA Auto Show
It's that time of the year again! The 2012 edition of the annual LA Auto Show is here, and automotive enthusiasts will be flocking to the LA Convention Center to see all the new makes and models from the world's leading car manufacturers, along with some special historic vehicles on display that showcase the heritage of some of the bigger automakers! Read more...
GALLERY> Formula Drift Finale at Irwindale
Even if they didn't attend the jam packed Formula Drift Finale at Irwindale Speedway, all drifting fans with an internet connection already know that Daigo Saito has been smashing the competition repeatedly all year, ascending the ranks of the Formula Drift Championship and ending his first year in Formula D in First Place as the Formula Drift Series Champion.
Here's a collection of some of our favorite images captured from the event! Read more...
Here's a collection of some of our favorite images captured from the event! Read more...
GALLERY> More Scenes From Formula D Las Vegas
This last trip to Las Vegas for Formula Drift was one hell of an eventful weekend. With a new course layout and drastically changing weather, the conditions took a toll on a lot of the teams. There were lots of tire scraps and car parts littered around the track when the day was done, not to mention the plethora of tire smoke from these high horsepower monsters. The sweltering heat and the freak 45 minute rain storm made it an interesting day at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With extremely fast entry speeds and high speed turns, the new course layout took out many cars from the running all weekend long. Read more...
GALLERY> Nisei Showoff Vs Infamous Long Beach
This past weekend, there were tons of automotive events happening, so those of us located in Southern California faced a dilemma - should we go to Nisei Showoff or Infamous?!
The tried and true Import Showoff event thrown by legendary import carshow promoter Ken Miyoshi during Downtown LA's annual Nisei Week Festival in Little Tokyo is always a good time. Everyone knows that Nisei Showoff symbolizes the best of the best - the highest standard in modified import cars, with attendance by the OG crews that used to run the streets of Los Angeles when the sport compact scene was just beginning to blow up. The whole vibe at Nisei Showoff feels a bit nostalgic, to be honest. Can it be that it was all so simple then? Good cars and good friends in a relaxed atmosphere, surrounded by good Japanese restaurants and boutique shops in Little Tokyo.
However, some young car enthusiasts don't care about memory lane nostalgia or waxing poetic about the good old days. For this rapidly growing new generation of frame-scraping tire stretchers, the newly conceptualized Infamous show was thrown as a collaboration between the Fatlace and Canibeat Crews at the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
It's obvious that MotorMavens connects to both scenes and both types of automotive taste, so those who follow @MOTORMAVENS on Instagram and Twitter already know that we decided to hit both shows. Here's a quick gallery of images from both events! Read more...
The tried and true Import Showoff event thrown by legendary import carshow promoter Ken Miyoshi during Downtown LA's annual Nisei Week Festival in Little Tokyo is always a good time. Everyone knows that Nisei Showoff symbolizes the best of the best - the highest standard in modified import cars, with attendance by the OG crews that used to run the streets of Los Angeles when the sport compact scene was just beginning to blow up. The whole vibe at Nisei Showoff feels a bit nostalgic, to be honest. Can it be that it was all so simple then? Good cars and good friends in a relaxed atmosphere, surrounded by good Japanese restaurants and boutique shops in Little Tokyo.
However, some young car enthusiasts don't care about memory lane nostalgia or waxing poetic about the good old days. For this rapidly growing new generation of frame-scraping tire stretchers, the newly conceptualized Infamous show was thrown as a collaboration between the Fatlace and Canibeat Crews at the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
It's obvious that MotorMavens connects to both scenes and both types of automotive taste, so those who follow @MOTORMAVENS on Instagram and Twitter already know that we decided to hit both shows. Here's a quick gallery of images from both events! Read more...
GALLERY> Autocon At Santa Anita Racetrack
This weekend's Autocon event at Santa Anita Racetrack was hot. Super hot. There were lots of other car events happening in other parts of the west coast, but it seemed as if most people naturally just flocked to Autocon, because it's a new event series that's gaining some good momentum. It was initially started as a smaller car gathering in Southern Cali's City of Industry, but it has seen quite a bit of growth recently. I even saw some of the core team from the old Hot Import Nights (the crew that was behind HIN when it was strongest) and Global Time Attack behind the scenes this weekend.
I've been traveling out of state for the past few weeks, but I decided to fly back to Los Angeles for this weekend's event - it was the perfect chance to enjoy summertime in Southern Cali, spend time with good friends, and finally check out Autocon in person. Read more...
I've been traveling out of state for the past few weeks, but I decided to fly back to Los Angeles for this weekend's event - it was the perfect chance to enjoy summertime in Southern Cali, spend time with good friends, and finally check out Autocon in person. Read more...
GALLERY> Gazoo LF-A & GT86 at Nürburgring 24H
Have you ever seen a Lexus LF-A take flight with all four wheels off the ground? As Gazoo Racing Lexus LF-A driver Akira Iida explains it, "The momentum of our team is very good. Our target for the 24 Hours Nürburgring race is to maintain a steady pace." As many Lexus and Toyota fans already know, the Gazoo Racing team did a lot better than just maintain a steady pace at The Green Hell - the Gazoo Lexus LFA team and the Toyota Swiss Racing GT86 team took top honors in their classes - SP8 and SP3 respectively. Read more...
GALLERY> MFest VI Brings Heat to Las Vegas
Whether you own a BMW or not, it's really tough to not be blown away by the sheer number of high quality cars that made it to MFest VI in Las Vegas. Even though we didn't even get an ounce of sleep the night before, the caravan, event, and parties were so fun that we had no problem going nonstop throughout the weekend!
MFest weekend started off with the epic, world record setting caravan up from Barstow CA and ended with an equally epic pool party at the Tao Beach Club in Las Vegas. MFest Chris and his team could not have been any more hospitable or welcoming - nor could the weekend have been more mind blowing. No wonder we have TONS of photos! Read more...
MFest weekend started off with the epic, world record setting caravan up from Barstow CA and ended with an equally epic pool party at the Tao Beach Club in Las Vegas. MFest Chris and his team could not have been any more hospitable or welcoming - nor could the weekend have been more mind blowing. No wonder we have TONS of photos! Read more...
GALLERY> The Road to MFest Las Vegas 2012
Reporting live from Sin City, the 2012 MFest is already underway... and it's getting HECTIC over here! MFest is much more than a BMW meet. MFest is much more than a BMW car show, and it's definitely more than a run-of-the-mill track day. What started out as a meeting of BMW M-cars has turned into an entire takeover of the Las Vegas Strip, with hundreds and hundreds of cars mobbing the freeways to Vegas in a huge caravan, averaging roughly 100mph (although, honestly, I saw some people that had to be going MUCH faster than 120 because of the speed at which they passed us on the 15 North!).
While there were plenty of M-powered caravans (we're talking multiple M cars, not Dodge Caravans with M engines) driving from other states, we drove along with the Southern California group, and it was super fun!!! While everyone else is out pre-partying it up at Lavo inside The Palazzo, we're sitting in our suite next door at The Venetian uploading pictures into the new gallery we made, which contains Images From MFest 2012.
Now our readers can see what the MFest experience is like, whether they're with us in Vegas, or chillin out at home. Enjoy the images, and if you're here at MFest with us, please upload YOUR own photos into the shared gallery linked above, so everyone can see your MFest photos too! Read more...
While there were plenty of M-powered caravans (we're talking multiple M cars, not Dodge Caravans with M engines) driving from other states, we drove along with the Southern California group, and it was super fun!!! While everyone else is out pre-partying it up at Lavo inside The Palazzo, we're sitting in our suite next door at The Venetian uploading pictures into the new gallery we made, which contains Images From MFest 2012.
Now our readers can see what the MFest experience is like, whether they're with us in Vegas, or chillin out at home. Enjoy the images, and if you're here at MFest with us, please upload YOUR own photos into the shared gallery linked above, so everyone can see your MFest photos too! Read more...
GALLERY> Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Nearly two weeks ago, some of you saw a portion of the 1.968-mile temporary street course in Long Beach, CA when Formula DRIFT slid into town. Just this past weekend, fans were treated to the full street course with the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. During the three-day event, fans were able to see a variety of races - IndyCar, Firestone Indy Lights, American Le Mans Series, Pirelli World Cup, and the infamous Formula DRIFT team competition. Local Long Beach drifter Kyle Mohan and 2011 Rookie of the Year Aurimas "Odi" Bakchis won the team DRIFT competition. Read more...
GALLERY> Lunch With A Mazda 787 LeMans Racer
The past few days has been an incredibly hectic for the MotorMavens Crew! Those who have been following our adventures live via the @MOTORMAVENS Instagram and Twitter will already know that we were in San Francisco for the past few days, but returned to sunny Southern California yesterday morning, just in time to meet a particular Mazda 787 Le Mans car at the annual Mazdaspeed Motorsports luncheon.
This year's luncheon was held at a venue that we would be visiting for the very first time - the Crevier Classic Cars Collection in Orange County. While there were a ton of rare and expensive cars already on display at the Crevier Museum, Mazda brought some very interesting vehicles out from their own collection of historic cars... a vintage Mazda Cosmo, the Car&Driver Mazda RX2, and the belle of the ball - one of the three Mazda 787 race cars that competed in the 1991 Le Mans 24H, where Mazda became the first (and only) Japanese car company to win 1st Place at the world's most famous endurance race. Read more...
This year's luncheon was held at a venue that we would be visiting for the very first time - the Crevier Classic Cars Collection in Orange County. While there were a ton of rare and expensive cars already on display at the Crevier Museum, Mazda brought some very interesting vehicles out from their own collection of historic cars... a vintage Mazda Cosmo, the Car&Driver Mazda RX2, and the belle of the ball - one of the three Mazda 787 race cars that competed in the 1991 Le Mans 24H, where Mazda became the first (and only) Japanese car company to win 1st Place at the world's most famous endurance race. Read more...
GALLERY> Fond Memories of Irwindale Speedway
I really don't have many details on this at all... but yesterday on Twitter, I heard someone saying that Irwindale Speedway was shutting down for racing this year. I posted up something about this on the MotorMavens Facebook, but didn't want to put anything up on our actual website until I verified this to be true.
Today, I received a single-sentence email from Doug Stokes, Irwindale Speedway's Communications/PR officer, and a friend I've known ever since drifting events started up at Irwindale. This is all the email said: Read more...
Today, I received a single-sentence email from Doug Stokes, Irwindale Speedway's Communications/PR officer, and a friend I've known ever since drifting events started up at Irwindale. This is all the email said: Read more...
GALLERY> McLaren Beverly Hills and The MP4-12C
Just a typical weeknight in Los Angeles... I received an invite to a special party that The McLaren Group was throwing to celebrate the opening of their newest showroom. McLaren Beverly Hills is situated on some prime real estate; it's on Wilshire Blvd next to The Auto Gallery, only blocks away from the high end boutique shops on Rodeo Drive.
With red carpets and media walls lining the sidewalk leading up to the building, McLaren's newest supercar was undoubtedly the belle of the ball. Invited guests were given the chance to get up close and personal with the 592 brake horsepower McLaren MP4-12C; a car that just about anyone can drive home at the bargain price of $229,999. Read more...
With red carpets and media walls lining the sidewalk leading up to the building, McLaren's newest supercar was undoubtedly the belle of the ball. Invited guests were given the chance to get up close and personal with the 592 brake horsepower McLaren MP4-12C; a car that just about anyone can drive home at the bargain price of $229,999. Read more...
GALLERY> Rucksters Customs Brings the Ruckus!
As some of you may (or may not) know, I'm definitely not from California. So when I found out that I would be going to California for a week, I knew that I'd have to check out as much stuff as I could possibly get around to checking out while I was there. Usually, when I go somewhere in the name of drift events, I don't really get to act like a tourist very much since the team is always busy taking care of race car stuff - but there was no race car stuff this time so I knew this was going to be my best chance to really see some cool stuff.
Once I got into town, my buddy Nick Soo suggested that we check out the Rucksters Customs garage. My experience with Honda Ruckus scooters was fairly limited, to say the least. I had seen a dude cruising on a fairly unmodified one at Drift Mania, and then this year at Formula Drift in Florida, I saw a stretched out Ruckus for the first time cruising around the paddock area. I was definitely intrigued but I was unable to get a really good look at the machine.
As soon as we pulled up to the Rucksters shop, it was clear we were at the right place. I figure that when your front door is this legit, you must have some awesome stuff behind it. We were greeted by shop manager Hai who was hanging out at the front counter, and he was more than happy to show us around the place and really school us on some crazy Ruckus knowledge. Read more...
Once I got into town, my buddy Nick Soo suggested that we check out the Rucksters Customs garage. My experience with Honda Ruckus scooters was fairly limited, to say the least. I had seen a dude cruising on a fairly unmodified one at Drift Mania, and then this year at Formula Drift in Florida, I saw a stretched out Ruckus for the first time cruising around the paddock area. I was definitely intrigued but I was unable to get a really good look at the machine.
As soon as we pulled up to the Rucksters shop, it was clear we were at the right place. I figure that when your front door is this legit, you must have some awesome stuff behind it. We were greeted by shop manager Hai who was hanging out at the front counter, and he was more than happy to show us around the place and really school us on some crazy Ruckus knowledge. Read more...
GALLERY> Traffik Tour Heats Texas Motor Speedway
For those who haven't been to Texas Motor Speedway in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the complex is HUGE. It may seem like a cliche that "everything is bigger in Texas," but this is a case where that saying is actually true! I experienced the Texas Motor Speedway complex first hand recently when I attended the inaugural event of the nationwide Traffik Tour series, which is a car show series that has partnered up with the Indy Racing League (IRL).
For the first Traffik event, the entire car show was organized right by the main entrance of Texas Motor Speedway's main track entrance, so the 80,000 recorded event attendees for the IRL event and the special "Ultimate Drifting" Formula Drift competition event (not for series points) had an opportunity to check out all the cars in the Traffik show, as they melted underneath the sun's 100 degree heat. Read more...
For the first Traffik event, the entire car show was organized right by the main entrance of Texas Motor Speedway's main track entrance, so the 80,000 recorded event attendees for the IRL event and the special "Ultimate Drifting" Formula Drift competition event (not for series points) had an opportunity to check out all the cars in the Traffik show, as they melted underneath the sun's 100 degree heat. Read more...
GALLERY> The Forza Motorsport 4 Experience
As some of the readers of this blog may (or may not) already know, I've been away from my Southern California hometown for the past few weeks. In fact, I'm still out of state, dealing with an illness in the family. Last week however, I was able to come back to LA for just a few days to pick up mail, pay bills, and pack some additional clothes for my extended stay with the family.
On one of the nights I was back in LA, I was lucky enough to attend the exclusive Forza Motorsport 4 launch event/E3 Expo afterparty at the LA Live Event Deck in Downtown Los Angeles. Since my time in LA was so brief and packed with errands, I unfortunately didn't even have time to go to the E3 show itself, even though I had passes at the ready.
Even though I didn't make it to E3, I didn't feel too bad, because the Forza Motorsport 4 event had it all - hot cars, hot girls, catered Korean BBQ tacos and sliders from the Kogi BBQ truck, an open bar, an appearance from The Stig from the world renown BBC show Top Gear (or at least, a person dressed in the Stig's racing suit), special exclusive performances by legendary drummer Travis Barker from Blink 182 and Mixmaster Mike from the Beastie Boys, and did I mention... an open bar? Read more...
On one of the nights I was back in LA, I was lucky enough to attend the exclusive Forza Motorsport 4 launch event/E3 Expo afterparty at the LA Live Event Deck in Downtown Los Angeles. Since my time in LA was so brief and packed with errands, I unfortunately didn't even have time to go to the E3 show itself, even though I had passes at the ready.
Even though I didn't make it to E3, I didn't feel too bad, because the Forza Motorsport 4 event had it all - hot cars, hot girls, catered Korean BBQ tacos and sliders from the Kogi BBQ truck, an open bar, an appearance from The Stig from the world renown BBC show Top Gear (or at least, a person dressed in the Stig's racing suit), special exclusive performances by legendary drummer Travis Barker from Blink 182 and Mixmaster Mike from the Beastie Boys, and did I mention... an open bar? Read more...
GALLERY> Scenes from the Long Beach Grand Prix
This past weekend, the Toyota Grand Prix took over the streets of Long Beach, CA. This annual three-day festival of speed consisted of the Izod IndyCar Series, the American Le Mans Series, Firestone Indy Lights, Toyota Pro Celebrity Race, SCCA Pro World Challenge Championship, and a team tandem competition from Formula Drift. We don't normally cover open wheel racing on Motor Mavens, but since we were all in Long Beach two weeks ago for Round 1 of the Formula Drift series, we thought it would be pretty interesting to experience the annual Long Beach Grand Prix to show a little bit of contrast on the site.
Britain's Mike Conway (above) emerged as the winner of the IZOD IndyCar race. Last year, Conway fractured a vertebrae and broke his leg during the Indianapolis 500. An injury like that would spell the end of a racing career for some people, but Conway was able to overcome that incredible setback and take his first IndyCar win at Long Beach. What a way to make a comeback! Read more...
GALLERY> Mazda Shinari Concept
When I saw the first pictures released of the Mazda Shinari Concept, my immediate thought was Art In Motion. Corny, maybe, but it was an honest reaction. It was so beautiful to me. So, imagine my recent good fortune to get an opportunity to attend a Mazda press event!
At the event, I was given some information concerning what lies ahead for Mazda - the design path (and general mindset) that they will be taking to bring you a Mazda worthy of the 21st century.
As a part of this new direction that Mazda is taking, the Director of Communications briefly highlighted The Shinari. He didn't go into specifics but my mission for MotorMavens was clear - to find as much information about this car as possible. Not to mention, it wouldn't be MotorMavens if I couldn't find good pictures as well, right? Read more...
At the event, I was given some information concerning what lies ahead for Mazda - the design path (and general mindset) that they will be taking to bring you a Mazda worthy of the 21st century.
As a part of this new direction that Mazda is taking, the Director of Communications briefly highlighted The Shinari. He didn't go into specifics but my mission for MotorMavens was clear - to find as much information about this car as possible. Not to mention, it wouldn't be MotorMavens if I couldn't find good pictures as well, right? Read more...
