I got a call from the Extreme Autofest folks asking me if I want to show one of my cars again at the annual San Francisco International Auto Show at the Moscone Center this year. The only problem was that my FD3S RX7 was still unavailable because we were still working on getting it back from the Brahma Light Drift Track Opening in the Dominican Republic.
Since the FD wasn't back in San Francisco yet, I figured it would be a good chance to debut my RHD S14 and display it at this week-long show so I could show some love to my sponsors. Read more...
After being exposed to the curvy sexiness of the Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing, the cutting-edge science and incredible power of the Audi e-Tron, and the crisp, German-engineered precision of the Porsche Boxster Spyder, I'm sure some of you are thinking "The Mazda 2?!" Well, yeah...that's right. We said it - the Mazda 2.
Sure, the 2 might seem like a let-down compared to supercars like the LFA and the SLS but, let's keep it real, how many of you have the solid-gold wheelbarrow filled with diamonds and rubies that they're asking as a down payment for one of those America's Next Top Model magnets? It's like buying a Picasso. You just can't nail it up on your living room wall (perish the thought!). No. Protocol requires that you buy a freakin' museum to display it. Do you have a museum? I didn't think so.
So, being the Motor Mavens that we are, we figured we'd throw in a "real" car to talk you guys in off the ledge. We believe (in the immortal words of the bard, R. Kelly) that you can fly - but we figured you might just want to drive first. Read more...
I wish I had an extra $69K laying around. If I did, I’d be inclined to pick up this gorgeous 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera, which is the only “big bumpered” Carrera I’ve ever seen that made me drool with this much intensity. Wait. Do people drool with intensity? Maybe salivate is a better word.
I can just imagine myself rocking my favorite Kangol, aviator glasses and a Steve McQueen replicaGulf racing jacket (the white leather one, of course) and driving this car up and down the California coast. If it were in a movie, I feel like California Dreamin by The Mamas and the Papas would be playing as I drove off into the sunset… but if I were actually driving this car, most likely I’d just be listening to the sweet sounds of the finely tuned carburetors screaming, with both windows down so that the crisp ocean breeze could blow into the cockpit. (more…)
After attending several unveilings at the LA Auto Show, I wanted to grab a prime spot for the world premiere of the 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder. I hiked across the LA Convention Center to the Porsche hall. The atmosphere, as you can see from the above picture, was going to be very different from the "bull pen" vibe of the other automotive showings. Porsche had a gallery all to themselves. As I approached their hall, I was digging their entrance. Going for the full dramatic effect, the 718/8 W-RS Spyder was on display at end of the hall/main room entrance to show off Porsche's race and design history - as well as highlighting the evolutionary pathway which led to the inspiration behind the design of their newest model Boxster. Read more...
What’s up MotorMavens readers? My name is Jonathan McWhorter and I’m a photographer from Atlanta, Georgia. On Saturday, November 28th, I had the privilege of attending Southeast Drift’s Land of the Great practice and tandem drift competition at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Georgia.
It was a lot of fun because not only was a friend of mine driving, but I somehow talked them into giving me a media pass. With the media pass I was able to get down onto the track and up close to the cars as they made their runs. It was an incredible experience, and I think I got some pretty killer shots as well. I was at the exit of the bank on the first turn. It was a pretty sick spot because I was behind the wall, maybe 10-15 feet from the cars. Read more...
Fresh off the press! Here’s the newest video from Tim Tulov of T2 Films and AJ G. of the infamous Chicago drift gang Risky Devil. The two collaborated on this video to bring you what is probably the funnest Sunday ever! From hanging out with bums, to smashing into stuff, to paying off security guards…this video delivers. Definitely give this video a gander, but I have to warn you this video contains some explicit language and it’s probably best to say its not work safe. Enjoy!
I don’t know how we did it, but we somehow managed to talk Robbie Montinola and the Track Concierge Racing crew into running our sticker on their E36 BMW M3 for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill enduro that’s taking place right now!
In between laps, pit stops, and a little incident they just had with their header cracking, Robbie and the crew have been managing to provide us with some live updates through the MotorMavens Twitter page and on the MotorMavens Tumblr page. Stay tuned through your browsers or cellphones for up to date info on the race, from their perspective!
Meanwhile, here’s the official press release, after the jump.
At this year's LA Auto Show it seemed the topic du jour was green car technologies. However, when you think of an eco-friendly or zero emissions vehicle, I'm sure the last thing you see in your mind's eye is the Audi e-Tron (pictured above). It's hard to believe this sick “super-car” contains a purely electric drive system. The e-Tron has four engines (yes, four) that produce 313hp (230kw) and 3,319.03 lb-ft (4,500 Nm) of Torque. WTF! It can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph (0 - 100 km) in 4.8 seconds. Now that's what I'm talking about! The e-Tron's lithium-ion battery is a beast as well. Its range according to Audi is about 154 miles (248km). Funny thing is, according to Top Gear, Audi's R8 was the most fuel efficient super-car. I’m thinking Audi is about to outdo itself in this area. Nice... Read more...
For my first post on MotorMavens, I hope I can entertain you. My name is Scottie Scheetz and I have only recently become a Florida resident. I grew up in Northern Virginia, just a few miles south of D.C. Cars have always been in my life, as I am one who only looks to shops for alignments and welding work (for now, but I will remedy that shortly). I frequently enjoy taking my car apart just to give me something to do when I am bored. One thing I am passionate about is drifting. I have been following it since 2000-2001, and I absolutely love how it has grown. Many late nights and exam study times were spent watching drift videos on any sites I can find.
That's enough about me... Let's talk about the car scene in Florida. Before moving here, I heard lots of talk about Florida having a terrible car scene. I must say, since I relocated to this amazingly warm state, I'd have to disagree with that completely. My view point has completely changed. There is quite a large scene for car enthusiasts that are into Hondas, VWs, Toyotas, Nissans, etc. There are car events every weekend, from huge blowouts to smaller 60 car beach meets. I legitimately mean every weekend something is going on. Read more...
Sign up and get these piston-shaped earplugs for FREE!
Yo… just FYI you guys..! I just saw this online. You can get a set of FREE earplugs from 3M if you sign up with your name and address. And they’re shaped like pistons!
Travis always tells me I should use earplugs when I’m near loud cars (like retro dragsters or something SUPER loud like bridge ported 20B turbo rotaries or something) because my hearing is so jacked from all the hip hop concerts I’ve been to and the loud stereo system that I used to have in my old car, that I can never hear anything or anyone anymore.
So sign up if you want to. I just did. What did you say? Just text me. I can’t hear youuuuuu…
It seems that everyone and their mother were talking about the Lexus LFA online and at the LA Auto Show today. However, while walking the floor this morning, I just couldn't take my eyes off this really hot, curvy new model in the Mercedes Benz booth. I was overcome with the feeling of instant attraction when I spotted her from across the room, and naturally began gravitating towards her, like Scooby Doo and Shaggy when they're in the presence of submarine sandwiches. She was sexy and sophisticated, and she had me thinking about her all day; her initials were SLS.
If the car in the above photo looks familiar to you, it's because it reminds you of the most gorgeous, curvy (and rare!) Mercedes Benz collector's item from the 1950s... the 300SL Gullwing. The red car in these photos is the 2011 Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing Roadster, which was the first car ever to be designed and built completely by AMG. Mercedes originally signed off on the Gullwing project with AMG way back in 2006, but the car would not be deemed ready until its pre-production mules had gone through years of secret endurance testing all over the world, including the Green Hell itself, Nurburgring's North Course. (Nordschleife). Read more...
I was just at the LA Auto Show earlier today, when an older gentleman walked up to me and said, “Hey… are you the guy from that Lexus LFA video online?” Totally puzzled, I replied, “Uhh… yeah..?” Then I began receiving some text messages from people saying, “Hey man… your MotorMavens LFA video is on Autoblog right now!” Oh yeah? Coooool.
As I was walking through the Lexus booth, I got a few “evil eyes” from certain corporate folks too… and as much as I tried to play it off with a “Who, me? What did I do?” look on my face, I think maybe they might have seen the video too. I guess a lot of normal car people spend a whole lot of time on Autoblog.
I’m glad that someone tipped them off about our video though, even though they don’t believe it’s legit! I don’t care, at least people are talking about our video, even if they (some of the readers, and even Autoblog’s own contributing writer Dan Roth) are criticizing the video for looking fake, and even criticizing me personally for looking like a Lexus fanboy or having, as Dan Roth puts it, “meaty, indiscriminate paws.” Hahaha, it’s cool, I don’t care… unlike many other automotive writers, I don’t feel the need to take myself so seriously.
And so what if I do sound like an unprofessional, Lexus fanboy in the video. That’s just how the Lexus LFA makes me feel; it makes me feel awe and inspiration like I was a little kid again. (Well, let’s be honest. I dunno if I was ever a little kid.) And if I was still a kid, I’d be tearing the poster of the Lamborghini Countach off my wall and replacing it with the limited edition screenprint of the Lexus LFA that I got at SEMA. Yes, I like the LFA that much.
On the Autoblog post/comments, I was criticized for sounding totally unprofessional and being way too excited like a fanboy, sure… but I don’t feel like I need to use Business English when I’m creating content for our site; so excuuuse me for being enthusiastic, because quite simply… the Lexus LFA genuinely excites the sh!tout of me.
If other automotive writers are afraid to show their real emotions or lack that type of enthusiasm when dealing with incredible cars like the LFA, then that sucks for them… they should get out of the game. After all, isn’t genuine enthusiasm for cars what makes us all tick?
So call me a fat ass fanboy if you will… but this fat ass fanboy got to drive the LFA before most of the USA did, even though it was just in a circle, inside a warehouse. Good enough for me, for now.
Either way, now a whole lot more people have heard of the MotorMavens website. Win.
I don’t know about you, but I just can’t seem to get enough Pro Am action. AW Films just released their take on the day’s events. Abbitt says he struggled with this edit, but after watching it several times, I never would have guessed! There is a ton of great footage and an equal amount of great driving in this video. Take a look!
I got this awesome KP47 Toyota Starlet video link from Chihiro Yoshimura from AE/KP drift team Peak, from Kanagawa Japan. I absolutely LOVE the vintage racing footage of the old KPs… in the video, where they actually feature the car though, I was a bit puzzled because the car’s sitting on Gotti wheels, which are Italian, not Japanese. I would imagine that a car like this would/should be running some sort of TRD wheels or RS Watanabes or SSRs. I don’t think those Gotti wheels were originally used on this particular car… maybe the owner of the car, Kuwahara Racing, just swapped them out at a later date. But for once, let’s stop talking about wheels.
The real star of the show is the HEART of the Starlet – the Toyota 3KR racing engine, designated 137E and prepared by Toyota Team Tom’s for circuit racing. I had to pause the video and rewind it several times so that I could get a better look at the really cool vintage parts used on this car. Most of these are what I like to call unobtainium… that is, you will never in your life find parts like this! Stuff like the vintage KP47 TRD parts, like the fiberglass hood and N2 flares, TRD rear wing, TRD high rise 3KR headers… should I go on?! (more…)
Continuing our coverage of the Formula D Pro Am Finals...I thought I'd do a little name dropping, since that's apparently what I specialize in over here. Haha... click through to the story and see if you can recognize some of the faces and the cars they belong to... Read more...
Well… I’m not quite sure about the heavy metal headband wearing headbanger “rock onnnnn” long hair tight pants faded black Ozzy Osbourne t-shirt wallet chain black fingernails music, as it’s not my personal style (sorry if I offend those schooled in metal)… but here’s what our boy Ross Fairfield’s eye captured at the Irwindale Pro Am. Check it out!
And Ross… party on bro. I’m just scared to hear what your video might say when you play it backwards, LOL.
Okay, well… I hope I’m not going to get into too much trouble for this, but I just couldn’t help myself. Ever since I first saw the spy photos of it online, and ever since I first laid my own eyes on it at SEMA, I’ve been absolutely crazy about the Lexus LFA.
Come on… what’s not to love? It’s the epitome of sexy, futuristic, high tech automotive styling and technology… and it’s a Lexus, which means it’s bound to be the most reliable of the luxury supercars. The only problem is, it costs $375K, which leads me to believe that there won’t be any Lexus dealerships letting me test drive one anytime soon. So what do you think a devoted Toyota/Lexus owner (and hyperfan) like me would do when I get a text message saying, “the Lexus LFA just arrived at our warehouse. Come down ASAP if you want to check it out in person.” Naturally, I dropped everything I had to do that day and made my way down to the [secret location] so that I could get a sneak peek at the car in person.
Apparently, the LF-A was temporarily brought to a top secret secured storage facility to keep it safe in between its appearance at SEMA and its big debut at the LA Auto Show this upcoming week. When I saw the car at SEMA, they had round the clock security guards around the car that wouldn’t even let you touch the car, much less sit in it… so when my friend who works at the warehouse texts me and says, “if you want to see the car, come down now cause nobody else will be here,” you absolutely KNOW I’m gonna jump at the chance!
So here’s my first actual encounter with the Lexus LF-A. You’ll have to excuse the crappy video quality, because I was unprepared and I only had a point and shoot pocket camera with me when I went to see the car. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. This car excites the hell out of me. (So you’ll have to excuse how completely unprofessional I am in this video! LOL. I was a bit excited. This video isn’t at all professional automotive journalist-like. But hey… I couldn’t help myself.)
We did a kind of ghetto edit on the glass door of the warehouse so the storage location could remain secret and my friend’s identity could remain secret. Okay, enjoy the video!
:: Antonio Alvendia
PS: You’ll have to excuse the ridiculous music that was blaring inside the car. I didn’t know how to turn off the radio! The thing was so complicated with all these buttons and stuff, and I couldn’t even turn down the volume of the radio for some reason.
What's going on! My name is Edward Uche. I live in Los Angeles, and I am the newest addition to the Motor Mavens Crew. I've followed this automotive blog since it began back in April and words cannot describe how excited I am to join as a contributor. As the owner of a turbocharged FC3s RX7, I'd love to meet other readers of this site at a track day or event in the near future. However, right now it's my honor to present you my first contribution, which deals with a subject I'm extremely passionate about - seeking knowledge involving all things Rotary. I'm happy to connect with all you fellow car enthusiasts and mavens out there; now lets begin...
What happens when you combine a national holiday and time off work with family and friends? ...a well devised plan for a cruise, that's what. During my Thanksgiving festivities this past week, I couldn't help but squirm with anticipation for this weekend's big rotary event, RX7Club.com's annual "Turkey Run." The meeting location launching the rotary/old skool massive would be RX3 owner and MMA trainer Savant Young's Fight Academy in Pasadena CA. There were so many varieties of cars to be seen; RX2s, RX3s, FCs, FDs, Miatas, and even Toyota TE21s and S13s.
Keeping up with the latest in grassroots events, the members of the Southern Cali Motor Mavens Crew were on a mission to bring our viewers a look into the organic Los Angeles car culture. Witness. Read more...
I was rolling through the San Fernando Valley today with the newest member of the Motor Mavens Crew, Edward Uche, when I spotted this parked on the street. WTF?!
Do you think this car might have been a reject from a lost episode of Pimp my Ride? Because like… remember when they were asked to restore an FJ40 Toyota Land Cruiser, and then the brilliant “car customizers” on the show decided to put wood flooring and a FISH TANK in it?
Well I think the owner of this old school Mercedes Benz must have told the people pimping his ride something like, “I’m not quite sure what type of mods I’d like done to my Benz. I do like sleepers though.” Well apparently, the ride pimpers must not have exactly understood the meaning of SLEEPER. Lol.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! While we’re all celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with our families, we recognize that we’re all very thankful for a lot of great things that have happened in the past year – we’re very thankful to see that our new website has been growing in popularity, and we’re stoked to be getting lots of comments and interaction with more and more of our awesome readers.
After you get your fill of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, take some time to check out this new video from the Formula D Pro Am event this past weekend. It was produced by a new member to the Motor Mavens Crew, videographer Rob Strohmeyer from Las Vegas.
Rob isn’t just a videographer though… he’s a dedicated car guy! He has owned three SR20DET powered S13 coupes and a CA18DET S13 coupe (which he hated BTW haha), a 1994 PEP (Personal Equipment Package) FD3S RX7 with RE Amemiya aero kit, a 350Z with Vertex aero kit and Work VS-XX wheels, a GS400 with a 2JZGTE.
Rob just dropped this edit from the Pro/Am Nationals at Irwindale. I personally think his video has a great mix of action, pit area shots, and some cool dolly work. I think this video definitely captures the vibe of a grassroots event like this Pro Am, and we’re glad to have him as a new member of the crew. Welcome, Rob!
