Right now, I'm updating the website live from the
Formula D Long Beach media center (aka: the parking garage on Linden Ave), and all the drivers are practicing, so the sounds of screeching tires and thundering V8 motors are loudly echoing off the concrete walls all around me.
If you live in Southern California, you need to drop everything you're doing and head down to Long Beach RIGHT NOW. The line at the gate is already huge, and everyone is amped up from all the excitement (or it could be from all the energy drink sponsors giving out free drinks at the track). This is what Formula Drift is all about! Let's go through some of the photos that the MotorMavens Crew has collected from Long Beach thus far!
Read more...
Posted by: Antonio Alvendia | Apr 09, 2011 | Categories: Coverage | Tags: Antonio Alvendia, Ashley Sarto, Daijiro Yoshihara, Driftspeed, Ford Racing, Formula D, Formula Drift, Formula Drift 2011, JR Gittin, Long Beach, LS1, Mike Kim, Monster, Mustang, Oliver Petalver, Retaks, Robbie Nishida, Roland Gallagher, S13, Team Instant Party, toshiki yoshioka, V8, Vaughn Gittin Jr, Walker Wilkerson, Yoshi Shindo |
Formula Drift at Long Beach is just around the corner. Yes, it is already April again. As the
MotorMavens Crew gets ready for another season of tire smoking excitement, we wanted to take a look back on the 2010 season and recap the big moments as well as showcase some of the shots that didn't make it into some of the posts.
Read more...
Posted by: Jonathan McWhorter | Apr 06, 2011 | Categories: Gallery | Tags: Andy Sapp, Antonio Alvendia, BLU808, BMW, Camaro, Charles Ng, chevrolet, Cipher Garage, Dai Yoshihara, darren mcnamara, Drift Emporium, Drift Mechaniks, Drift Posse, Drifting Book, E46, E92, Evergreen Speedway, Falken Tire, FC, Ford Mustang, Formula Drift, Formula Drift 2011, Fredric Aasbo, Genesis, GSR Autosport, GTR, Hynudai, Irwindale, Jonathan McWhorter, Justin Pawlak, Larry Chen, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Long Beach, Mazda, Megan Racing, Michihiro Takatori, Mobil 1, New Jersey, Nissan, Pat Cyr, Patrick Mordaunt, R35, Rhys Millen, Road Atlanta, RX7, Ryan Tuerck, Seattle, slide america, Sonoma, Tanner Foust, Toyota Speedway, Travis Hodges, Tyler McQuarrie, Vaughn Gittin Jr, Wall Speedway, Washington |
Today was the Formula Drift Long Beach media day. Justin Shreeve and I were only there long enough to take a few photos and some video before driving ended. Here is a photo of Chris Forsberg testing out his new Nissan 370Z – a departure from his former car, the Nos Energy Drink 350Z roadster we’ve all gotten used to. Look forward to more coverage from MotorMavens in the coming days! (more…)
Posted by: Joe Ayala | Apr 05, 2011 | Categories: Oh Snap | Tags: 370Z, Chris Forsberg, Formula D, Formula Drift, Formula Drift 2011, Joe Ayala, Long Beach, Nissan, nos energy drink, Z34 |
It's hit or miss, in
Seattle, in the early Spring. Some days the sun is out and shining - some days, something resembling a monsoon could turn the parking lots into lakes. Even though it's only warmed up to nearly 55 degrees outside,
Seattle-ites treat it like mid-Summer. That's what we are accustomed to here in the Northwest. Still, every year, toward the end of March, rain or shine, the
Northwest Nissans' Golden Gardens Meet is always a huge success.
This year, unfortunately, it was a bit wet with the sun only barely shining though the thin veil of overcast clouds later in the day. Weather aside, this year was just as packed as previous years with three main lots filling up. The parking overflowed along the street for at least a half mile. I could tell it was going to be a meet well worth checking out!
Read more...
Posted by: Lucas Perez | Apr 05, 2011 | Categories: Car&Culture | Tags: 180SX, 240SX, AE86, AME Shallen CX, BMW, bulletside, Cadillac, Datsun, Datsun 510, Datsun 620, Dodge Colt, E34, E36, ernie ventillia, Evan Schoups, Garage Autohero, Golden Gardens Meet, GReddy, GTR, Infiniti G35x, infinity g35x, Jaisy Khammungkhune, JIC, Kent Chan, Kouki 180SX, levon bagdasaryan, lexus gs300, Lucas, matt watson, Mitsubishi Galant, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 3, nikola, Nissan, Nissan 240SX, Nissan hardbody, Northwest Nissans, Onevia, r33 gtr, Ricky Snyder, S14, Seattle, siam chautavipat, Skyline, SR20DET, Toyota, travis cuykendall, Vance Sakado, Vertex, VIP, Weds Kranze, Yoshi Shindo, Zach Dunn, Zenki S14 |
This evening, Justin Shreeve, Will Roegge, and I went to the unveiling party for Scion Racing’s 2011 tC Formula Drift competition cars, driven by Kenshiro Gushi and Fredric Aasbo. It was awesome! Great food and free drinks are hard to disagree with, especially when amongst the great company that attended. A lot of automotive industry folks were in attendance, so it seemed just like a SEMA Party without the Las Vegas atmosphere. (more…)
Posted by: Joe Ayala | Apr 05, 2011 | Categories: Oh Snap | Tags: Formula D, Formula Drift 2011, Fredric Aasbo, Joe Ayala, Justin Shreeve, Ken Gushi, Little Tokyo, Scion Racing, Scion tC |
Every year, before the Formula Drift series starts, they have a technical inspection of the cars. Rules are strict and inspections are thorough, with a handful of cars not passing on the first look. The Annual
Formula D Tech Day isn't just about standards and regulations, it's also a lot of fun. Checking out the newly built cars up close, without the massive crowds at an actual Formula Drift event, is a little more special than seeing it just fly by on the track. It gives you a nice glimpse of what it takes to build one of these cars, which takes more then just a weekend in the garage.
Read more...
Posted by: Mike Kim | Apr 04, 2011 | Categories: Coverage | Tags: AE86, Alex Pfeiffer, BMW, Formula D, Formula D Tech Day, Formula Drift, Formula Drift 2011, Josh Russakoff, Mike Essa, Mike Kim, S13, Taka Aono, Z4 |
There are times in life when one should expand one's horizons, embrace diversity and appreciate things that are personally "outside the norm." These Zen-like thoughts came to me while driving home from work one afternoon and I eventually came to the
temporary conclusion that I COULD enjoy other vehicle makes and models and let my devoted passion for RX7s rest a little. I did stress that this was a temporary conclusion, didn't I?
The result of my moment of enlightenment? A new appreciation for Honda's road grappler - the
Honda S2000. Which came just in time since a good buddy of mine,
Scott Soonthonum, informed me that he was the proud owner of the
CR edition S2K during my birthday celebration shortly thereafter. Funny how these things work out. We exchanged info with the intention of keeping in touch so that we could connect sometime in the near future.
In just a matter of days, I received a text from Scott inviting the MotorMavens crew to attend the
Gripwerks & S2kI Forums'
1st Annual BBQ Meet. Let's take a look at what photographer
Horacio Flores captured as I delve into the welcoming unknown.
Read more...
Posted by: Horacio Flores | Apr 01, 2011 | Categories: Gallery | Tags: Al Catolos, Ballade Sports, Brandon Patterson, CE28N, CR, Edward Uche, Fred Vuong, Gripwerks, Honda, Horacio Flores, Jeff Dizon, L-Con, S2000, S2000 CR, S2k, S2Ki, Scott Soonthonum, Spoon, topdown, Toti Romasanta, VIS Aero, Volk, wekfest |
