On Tuesday, March 21st, 2012, Sonoma Drift attempted to break the world record for the most donuts at one time. The event started off with everyone warming up by drifting on Infineon Raceway's famous Turn 11, which is also used in NASCAR and IndyCar racing. Read more...
First impressions are lasting impressions, and my first impression about the Nurburgring is that it's absolutely unreal. As you make your way into the Eifel Mountain region of western Germany, it becomes more and more difficult to comprehend that something like the Nordschleife exists. The cascading mountains covered in dense forest, although the perfect place for your dream course or a video game, don't seem a feasible locale for a high speed, high stakes race track. I would liken the feeling to going to an amusement park as a kid and trying to fathom that so much awesome could be in one place. In today's world of rules, regulations, and protocol, this place should not happen (at least not easily and with lots of paperwork). However, the automotive dreamland that is the Nurburgring was conceived in a time when they only cared about one thing: racing. Read more...
The first time that I was introduced to this car was during the Targa Trophy event this past year. However, the car was dressed in white and had a unique theme that might have been reminiscent of a Storm Trooper. Over the course of the past year, owner Jamie Liu has been adding modifications in an effort to gain a top position at events such as Hot Import Nights, SEMA and Autofashion 2011. Words alone cannot justify the brilliance of this build so let's look further into Jamie's amazing Mercedes-Benz R230 SL55 AMG. Read more...
We’ve seen the new McLaren MP4-12C before here on MotorMavens with Antonio’s coverage of the Beverly Hills McLaren Event and it was unveiled back in September of 2009 as the first production car to be completely designed and built by McLaren since the McLaren F1, but it’s still rare (and beautiful) enough to cause minor disturbances as it weaves sleekly through more mundane traffic.
This video chronicles the MP4-12C’s invasion of North America – with a cameo appearance by a certain McLaren Formula One racing phenom who was arrested in Australia in 2010 for “deliberately losing traction” whereupon he was dubbed a “Hoon” by the Australian Magistrate. We couldn’t possibly make this stuff up! (more…)
The past few days has been an incredibly hectic for the MotorMavens Crew! Those who have been following our adventures live via the @MOTORMAVENSInstagram 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...
The annual WekFest gathering in San Francisco always has something tasteful to offer. The event brings a sense of unity and community among car builders and enthusiasts from all parts of California, but especially in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Today's visit is no different. With hundreds of amazing builds to gaze upon packed into San Francisco's Fort Mason Center, the event becomes a bit overwhelming. It really is a sensory overload. Read more...
Just imagine what it might be like to watch this Prodrive E30 M3 at the Manx Rally in person. Wouldn’t that be AMAZING?! The first time I ever heard of Patrick Snijers was from an BMW E30 drifter named Yoshi Jeffery. In this video, Snijers drives the living hell out of his M3, which was built by Prodrive long before they began their relationship with Subaru! (more…)
Anyone who knows me personally can tell you that I have a soft spot in my heart for rear wheel drive Toyota Corollas. I've even made it a point to seek out and photograph modified RWD Corollas when visiting other states and/or countries. Hell, anyone who has read anything I've written online or in magazines or books can tell you that. This being said, it comes as no surprise that I was more than a little excited when I first laid eyes on this battleship gray TE72 Toyota Corolla wagon. Read more...
