I don’t think the Formula Drift creative team could’ve done a better job naming Round 4 of Formula Drift at Wall Speedway. ‘The Gauntlet’ was a round of pure destruction and chaos both on and off the track. With cars blowing motors, diffs, and smashing into the wall above the steep bank, watching FD at Wall Speedway was almost like watching a demolition derby with drift cars. Of course, Mother Nature made an appearance, bringing a torrential downpour and some crazy wind which wreaked havoc on the Need For Speed booth. (more…)
One of the advantages to building your race car at Portland Speed Industries is their ability to hook you up in ways you wouldn’t think possible – how about getting you a 40 acre parking lot, a pro driver and an entire fabrication/tuning staff on hand to help refine your skills and car set-up? (more…)
Subaru of America has released a new YouTube video of the 2011 Subaru WRX STi setting an all-time course record for the historic Isle of Man TT Mountain Course. The 5 minute 25 second video highlights in graphic detail the speed and drama surrounding rally driver Mark Higgins‘ lap that averaged 115.356 MPH. After the run, Higgins talks through the “moment” at Bray Hill when he momentarily loses, and then regains, control of the WRX STI at more than 150 MPH. (more…)
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...
This year was Joe’s and my first trip to Formula Drift at Wall Speedway in New Jersey. Super bummed that I couldn’t make it out last season, I was very excited to see this awesome track. I know it may not look like much to most people, but as a videographer, Wall Speedway is what dreams are made of. There is so much texture and color and grit. The trees, asphalt, and guardrail all make it very fun to shoot. (more…)
This weekend, the MotorMavens Crew split up and went to several different events - while most of our friends were out in New Jersey for the latest round of the Formula Drift Championship, I decided to check out the annual Spectre 341 Challenge (aka the Virginia City Hillclimb) event happening roughly 30 minutes outside of Reno, Nevada. As I arrived into the wild west town of Virginia City and walked through the parking lot of the Silverland Hotel (designated the pit area for the race teams), I saw a good mixture of professionally prepared race cars, classic American muscle, and privately owned exotics getting ready to run up the treacherous winding road of Nevada State Highway 341. Read more...
The term retrofit is defined as the replacing of existing parts, equipment, or systems with updated parts or systems. This 1974 Mazda RX4 is a perfect example of the concept.
My first glimpse of this ride didn't come at a car show, as is usually the case. No, I actually saw a picture of this car on Facebook - a picture that my friend, June Masermsin, took at Wekfest in Long Beach. So, I guess a case could be made that a car show was technically where I saw the car - in a third party, social media-inspired and facilitated manner.
Technicalities aside, I immediately expressed an interest in shooting the ride and, the following week, I received a random text from a buddy of mine (who happens to be a childhood friend of the owner) informing me that the car was available for shooting the same day! How's that for serendipity? And, since I started by defining retrofit, wouldn't it be nice if I kept the trend going by linking you to a definition of serendipity? However, there was one caveat—I had exactly one hour to shoot the car. So, what was an enterprising photographer to do? Take a look! Read more...
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...
