NEWSWORTHY> Daigo Saito Wins Formula D Atlanta
Daigo Saito for the win! Driving the Achilles Radial Lexus SC430 powered by a 2JZGTE engine and AEM Electronics Infinity ECU, defending 2012 Formula Drift champion Daigo Saito took first place honors at Formula D Round 2 this weekend at Road Atlanta.
The changes in weather made it extremely difficult for the drivers at Road Atlanta. The rain slicked track proved to be a challenge as the event entered into the Top 16 portion of the competition. (more…)
EVENT> Speed&Stance Meet at Auto Club Speedway
This Sunday, May 5th! Cinco de Mayo! RAIN OR SHINE. We’ll be out at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana for the first Speed and Stance meet with our friends from Speed Ventures, Canibeat, Stance Nation, Dayuum, AutoCon, It’s JDM Yo, JDMZipties, Fatlace/Illest/HellaFlush, Super Street, Import Tuner, Hoonigan, OMGdrift, Sub5Zero, Fifteen52, Flossy, OEM Audio Plus, Dub Nation, California Car Cover, M7 Japan, Cusco, Eco Shine, and a ton of other friends… Come join us! (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> Dai Yoshihara Wins FD Long Beach
NEWSWORTHY> Rest In Peace, Carroll Shelby
Yesterday, the automotive world lost one of its international legends – Carroll Shelby, the 89 year old creator of the world famous Shelby Cobra 427, and the Ford GT40 that beat Ferrari at Le Mans.
Shelby is one of those names in the automotive industry that everyone knows, but it’s possible that some of our readers aren’t familiar with his long and storied history, from his days in Formula One, Le Mans, and even land speed racing at Bonneville. Rather than quickly writing up a story about Carroll Shelby from the media center at the American Le Mans race at Laguna Seca, I think I’ll just provide a link to a couple good articles on Shelby that I saw in the New York Times and USA Today before I have to get back to shooting on the track. (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> D1GP Champ Daigo Saito Joins FD!
Oh whaaaaat!!! The rumors are true! Just released today – it seems that D1 Grand Prix Champion driver Daigo Saito will be joining good friend Robbie Nishida at Bridges Racing to campaign a two-car team in the Formula Drift Championship. I suppose the question everyone has on their minds NOW is which car will Daigo be driving? (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> Alpinestars LA Parking Lot Sale
Alpinestars is having a huge parking lot sale on Saturday December 3rd at their Torrance CA location. If you’ve been kicking around the idea of buying some stylish A-Stars gear, but have just been waiting to get a good deal, this is your chance… don’t sleep on this opportunity to get some dope gear for cheap!
For the absolute lowest “homie hookup” prices, tell them you heard about the sale from MOTORMAVENS! (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> RIP MotoGP Rider Marco Simoncelli
Another tragedy hit the racing world as Italian Moto GP rider Marco Simoncelli lost his life in today’s Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang. Simoncelli, who rode for San Carlo Honda Gresini, was sent to the medical center at the Sepang circuit for treatment, but efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> Hot Wheels x JNC Hakosuka
Recently we met up with our friends over at Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine for this year’s Toyotafest (watch for the upcoming story), and they told us the epic news about the “hush-hush” project they had been working on with Hot Wheels!
Now we can finally share the great news with all our readers, and the above picture shows you the outcome. Hot Wheels is producing the legendary Hakosuka in die-cast form! Just to be clear, this isn’t a KPGC10 Skyline GT-R, it is actually a KGC10 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-X. One of the coolest things about this die cast project is the JNC inkan on the doors. Congratulations, guys!!!
The detail on the car is really nice! It has exterior oil cooler hoses, headlight covers and the interior is fully caged. JNC says it’s heavier than your typical Hot Wheels car so you KNOW this car is gonna fly down the track! Any one still have their orange Hot Wheels track? (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> Scion FR-S (FT86) Unveiled
NEWSWORTHY> Formula D Long Beach Live
Watch live video from driftstream on Justin.tv
Everyone has been looking forward to the start of the 2011 Formula Drift season. Several members of the MotorMavens Crew are here in Long Beach shooting photos and video that will be live on the site soon enough! While you wait, check out the Driftstream brought to us by Justin.tv to keep up on the action! (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> Floating Cars in Fukushima Japan
Oh no! I’ve been glued to my computer screen, unable to take my eyes off the Al Jazeera/YouTube live stream that has been playing nonstop coverage of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Northeast Japan yesterday (March 10) at 2:42pm, not to mention the resulting tsunami that has been flooding parts of the Fukushima prefecture and other parts of Northeast Japan.
MotorMavens is not CNN or NBC or ABC or NHK. Why post news coverage such as this, then? Simple, really. I have developed many strong friendships in Japan, and I’m praying for all the people in Japan that are enduring this insane natural disaster… especially my close friends and family!
In case you didn’t read the story I posted on the site a couple days ago, featuring the Team Orange CT9A Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9, Fukushima Japan is the home of The Holy Land of Drifting, Ebisu Circuit. It’s also the home of my very close friends from Team Orange. I’ve been trying to call their mobile phones for hours, but I can’t reach any of them. I can only imagine that phone circuits must be jammed, busy, or non-functioning because of the tsunami… (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> Further Development on FT86
STOLEN> Justin Pawlak’s Green FC/Truck/Trailer!
ATTENTION! Justin Pawlak’s truck & enclosed trailer that housed his legendary green FC has been STOLEN! We’ve been blasting this all over Facebook and Twitter since this morning, but here’s a photo of the car in case you don’t know which FC3S RX7 we’re talking about! (Highly doubt that, since this is one of the most famous FC3S RX7s in the US drifting scene!) Please help JTP get his car (and truck) back! (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> We’re Back From Being Hacked!
MotorMavens readers (aka: our worldwide automotive family, supporters, and friends)! We’re back from being hacked! This malware attack on our website was crazy, and we’re still working to restore photos and functionality on the website. We apologize for the inconvenience – trust us, we’re just as pissed about it as you are! It screwed lots of things up on the website, and really screwed up the quick and easy carshow registration forms that we set up. It couldn’t have come at a worse time… right before our first car show – MASS APPEAL at Irwindale Speedway this Saturday, December 4th!
A LOT of people have been asking questions about the Mass Appeal show. A lot of people have told us they have been registering their cars just because they don’t want to miss our very first show, and we love you guys for it!
Since Ken Block and Gymkhana Grid partnered with MotorMavens to find and showcase the west coast’s most stylish cars for the special project that Ken Block’s crew will be filming at Irwindale, we have invited some of the best looking street cars that have been featured (and not yet featured) on our website to this show! Mass Appeal is going to be an awesome gathering of friends and like-minded car owners. We can’t wait! We have LOTS of friends driving their cars from all over for this event, but we need to emphasize one point… The Mass Appeal Show is focused on QUALITY. The point of our show was to attract the dopest cars – not necessarily the shiny, high budget builds you see at SEMA (although we have quite a few SEMA demo vehicles registered). (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> MotorMavens Mass Appeal Show!
YES!!! Are you excited?! I know I’M excited!
The MotorMavens Crew is finally doing its very own car show! MotorMavens was approached by the good people that are organizing The Ken Block Invitational Gymkhana Grid event to bring the most stylish street cars and show cars to Irwindale Speedway on Saturday, December 4, 2010.
For this event, we plan to showcase the freshest cars that our friends and readers own for a massive MotorMavens streetcar party at Irwindale! Come out and chill with the MotorMavens Crew (and the MotorMavenettes), as we’ll be shooting an HD video of the car show to profile all the freshest street cars at the event! We will also have all the top automotive media outlets in attendance as well, scouting the best cars for magazine features. We’ve even received confirmations from overseas media – I’m talking the UK, Europe, Australia and even Japan! This is so exciting!!!
If you own a super fresh, super stylish street car and/or show car, and would like to be included as part of the show, please make sure to pre-register your car at http://www.motormavens.com/massappeal/ to receive a limited edition MotorMavens x KenBlock Gymkhana Grid shirt and other gifts from our sponsors – DC Shoes, Monster Energy Drink, Discount Tire, Castrol Edge.
- The $40 Pre-Registration fee includes:
- TWO (2) tickets to watch the Ken Block Gymkhana Grid event itself (Valued at $50 ($25 x 2 tickets)
- Pre-registered car owners receive ONE (1) limited edition MotorMavens x KenBlock Gymkhana Grid tshirt. ($20 value) (more…)
STOLEN> Cody Parkhouse’s Drift S13 & Trailer!
Last night Cody Parkhouse’s Formula Drift-spec S13 hatch was stolen in front of his house in Long Beach. The car was housed in a white Carson enclosed trailer with small black “Pacer” sticker on it. California license plate: 4AB2288.
Some info about the car from Cody:
Red s13 hatch, supercharged vq, parts shop max arms, tein superdrifts, custom pwr radiator, 1 sparco evo and 1 evo2, kaaz 1.5 way diff, aeromotive a1000 fuel pump, aem 1050 ecu. I know a lot of the parts are pretty common but maybe some stuff might stand out.
If you have seen the car/trailer fitting this description, you can reach Cody at 562.900.5907.
:: Andy Sapp
NEWSWORTHY> Drift Cars vs Drag Cars at IDRC
California people!
Mark your calendars and free up your schedule on Saturday, September 4th! (Labor Day Weekend) We’re teaming up with our friends at IDRC and DSPORT Magazine to present the Drift Car Quarter Mile Challenge at California Speedway in Fontana CA (even though they now call it “Auto Club Dragway” because of sponsorship reasons).
We’re calling out ALL DRIFT CAR OWNERS to sign up for this special event and show the drag-only guys how fast your drift cars really are!
This event will also include a big carshow in the pit area, with lots of Southern Cali’s freshest street cars on display. If you have a super low car with aggressive offset wheels, make sure to sign your car up for the show! I’ve personally made calls to several car owners and crews who own some of the best stanced cars with wide wheels and stretched tires. (I’m not done calling people yet, so please don’t yell at me if I haven’t called you yet…) A whole lot of car owners and crews are already confirmed, so we’re going to have a big area with the dopest street cars surrounding the MotorMavens booth. If you have a dope streetcar, make sure to enter it into the car show!
NEWSWORTHY> Riverside Adams Drift Night
NEWSWORTHY> MotorMavens on VholdR Website!
While we were attending the Apex’i/Lexus Formula D pre-party in Downtown Seattle, we were fortunate enough to spill a few drinks with our new friends at Twenty20, the company who created the incredible VholdR and ContourHD wearable HD camcorders.
The very first time I had ever seen or heard of the ContourHD camera was when MotorMavens Sharpshooter Travis Hodges used it to shoot his Spirit of Irwindale Formula Drift video last year. Since then, the cameras have become more and more popular within the automotive community, with filmmakers like Justin Shreeve and MotorMavens UK shooter Josh Allen now using the cameras to document the numerous events that they attend.
We were treated to a nice surprise from the Twenty20 folks, when they featured Justin Shreeve’s MotorMavens videos in their customer newsletter. Thanks for the love, Twenty20! We’ll make sure to return it twentyfold!
:: Antonio Alvendia
NEWSWORTHY> Monster Suzuki Wins Pike’s Peak
The Monster of the Mountain has done it again. This year’s Pike’s Peak “Race to the Clouds” is now over, and even though most people think of the name Millen when they think of Pike’s Peak… it might just be fitting that the Rocky Mountain behemoth (that peaks at 14,400 feet above sea level) be nicknamed Monster’s Mountain.
Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima hails from Shizuoka, Japan (not too far from Fuji Speedway), and has been doing Suzuki owners proud by holding (and defending) the world record time at the legendary Pike’s Peak Hillclimb in Colorado – previously in a turbocharged Suzuki Escudo, and now in a monstrous Suzuki SX4. (I know that Suz and Tajima have had their relationship going for a while, but for some reason, Suzuki SX4 still sounds odd to me when prefaced with the word monstrous.) Enough of my rambling though… let’s cut to the official press release: (more…)
NEWSWORTHY> Fatal Lexus LF-A Crash At Nurburgring
Just in case you guys haven’t heard the sad news from Nurburgring yet… while test driving a Lexus LFA Nurburgring Edition on the 410 highway just outside Nurburg, Germany, Toyota’s chief test driver died in a head-on collision with two other drivers test driving a new BMW.
Both BMW drivers survived the crash (but are hospitalized in critical condition), but unfortunately, Toyota’s driver (who Autoblog speculates is Hiromu Naruse – the personal driver of Toyota head honcho Akio Toyoda, and a highly esteemed driver who is known within the Toyota organization as the Godfather of the LFA) didn’t survive the crash.
For more information and photos, follow this link to Autoblog.
:: Avon Bellamy
NEWSWORTHY> Audi Sweeps Le Mans 24H Podium!
At this year’s 78th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the infamous high-speed Circuit De Sarthe in France, Audi R15 TDI Plus stood the test of time against their faster opponent – the Peugeot 908 HDI. It was the ultimate battle of the tortoise and the hare, where the tortoise came out triumphant in this modern take on an old fable. With a little patience and a lot of strategy, the Audis were able to capture their ninth Le Mans victory – placing Audi in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place on the podium!
These past two days, I saw myself riding a roller coaster of emotions as I watched the Peugeots take the lead throughout the race; however, I was hopeful in seeing how everything would play out during the course of the 24 hours. To those familiar with Le Mans, it’s by far the ultimate endurance race; testing both man and machine. It has got to be one of the most exciting races in the world, as it’s a battle of wits, not brawn. It’s a challenge to see who can go the distance and last the longest, and Audi has proven itself time and time again.
This year, the Audi #9 car took first, Audi #8 car took second, and the # 7 car took third – driven by the Great Dane Tom Kristensen, who has been atop the podium during the past nine years at Le Mans, giving him a personal total of eight victories at 24H Le Mans! Truly a remarkable feat.
The picture above shows the drivers of the Audi #9 car (Mike Rockenfeller, Romain Dumas, and Timo Bernhard) celebrating with the head of Audi Sport, Director Wolfgang Ullrich. On behalf of the Motor Mavens Crew, I’d like to congratulate the Audi TDI team on their longstanding success and their win of this year’s 2010 Le Mans. Audi has entered the history books with the ultimate 1-2-3 win. Amazing!
:: Tamer Omran
NEWSWORTHY> Dai Wins FD Twice In A Row!
If you were unable to watch the climactic final battle that pitted Dai against his Falken teammate, Vaughn Gittin Jr, then make sure you scroll to the bottom of the page and watch the video of the tandem battle! Read more...
