Real quick before you get your Thanksgiving Holiday started... I just wanted to post up these pics of Logan "Rogansan" Yoshida's car - this metallic brown RPS13 240SX/180SX. I think that metallic brown is such an awesome color... maybe it's because my very first car was also metallic brown with white wheels, but I think the color would look good on an AE86 coupe, on a Civic, on a GS400, and it definitely looks good on this RPS13.
Above is an old photo of Logan's car... full aero, kouki tails, a roof wing, an understated lip wing and some authentic Nismo wheels in white?! Come on. Recipe for success. Read more...
It's true. I'm overdue again on posting my event coverage. This time, the coverage is from the Formula D Pro Am that took place at Irwindale Speedway this past weekend. However, I don't think it's a bad thing necessarily.
While all the other media people that attended the event (let's be honest; there weren't that many) rushed home to be the first to post photos on their websites, blogs, Twitters, and whatnot... I decided to spend time hanging out with my friends instead. I love that I was able to do this and not feel bad (this would be absolutely unacceptable behaviour if I was writing for a different website). But everyone in the Motor Mavens Crew understands. Hell, some of them were even there with me for all the non-car related stuff we did that weekend... like rolling 30+ heads deep to Dino's in Covina for some spicy grilled chicken; or taking Yoshi on a wild goose chase to meet up with some import models at a cafe in OC; or using trucks and trailers with drift cars loaded onto them to make parking difficult in the small parking lot of Flappy Jacks on Route 66, just so that Ray from Garage Autohero could get his traditional American style Sunday breakfast and complain that coffee in California sucks compared to Seattle's. LOL. Oh yeah, but somehow in between all the chillin we did with all our out of town friends that came to Pro Am, we did somehow manage to squeeze in a little bit of time to take some photos. Read more...
This weekend will mark the final Southeast Drift event of the season at the newly renovated Gresham Motorsports Park. The practice event “Land of the Great” will run during the day, and then once the sun begins to set – the competition will ramp up. With a $2000 purse awarding $1000 for first – this event is sure to bring out some heavy hitters.
There is something about driving under the lights that I find strangely irresistable. Perhaps it reminds me of my drifting roots sliding under the radar late into the night. If you’re in or around the Atlanta/Jefferson, Georgia area on Saturday – definitely stop by to check out some of the Southeast’s best!
Ever since watching Truth in 24 and seeing the engineering going into the new generation diesel engines, I’ve become a big fan of the racing diesels. Then when I saw this video featuring Peugeot’s 2009 Le Mans winning 730HP V12 098 HDi from Stephane Benini of Clash Production, I had to share. The car itself is something to behold. Coming from a film background however, I think the low slung shots of the car and camera car are Siiiick! Fantastic job.
While some of the other members of the Motor Mavens Crew are busy putting together their photos from this weekend’s Formula D Pro Am event, I thought I’d show post this scan of a car I’ve been admiring.
There are some blogs that I check out frequently, and I came across this scan from a 1999 Battle Magazine that Rob from Roadster:DRIFT posted up. The AE86 Levin has always been one of my favourite cars, so when I saw this, my jaw dropped. To some this might just be another Levin, but for me looks wise this is the PERFECT Levin! Just clean and simple with a Goodline front bumper and bonnet, TRD rear wing, and a few nice subtle touches like the kouki spec rear bumper, foglights minus the grill, and what looks like stock arches rolled and flared. It’s also sitting on a set of gorgeous RS Watanabe Type R wheels in 14×8J -6.
Like I said before, for me personally, this is the perfect Levin. But AE86s are cars that can have so many different styles applied to them and I’m sure any fan of the AE86 has their favourite. We’d love to hear from our readers what your favourite style is or even a particular car e.g., Katsuhiro Ueo’s famous D1GP Trueno.
What do you get if you take one of the most capable cars and keep refining it and refining it? The answer is sophisticated and beautiful. The Porsche 911 GT3R. 480 horsepower in a car that weighs only 2646 lbs. WANT.
SABADO SABADO SABADO!!! Sabado Gigante! Super Meet de Jtuned! By now, I’m sure almost everyone knows that the Formula D PRO AM event is happening TOMORROW at Irwindale Speedway. The best grassroots drifters from all over the nation have made their way to Southern Cali’s 626 area for tomorrow’s big event. Come to Irwindale on Saturday and show your support the grassroots drifters – these guys will become the Formula D stars of tomorrow. Sponsors, this is a good opportunity to scout potential new members for your team! And hey ladies, this is a good opportunity to hook up before these drivers get too famous to acknowledge you! JK.
If you don’t drift, you should still come out to the event. On Saturday, the Irwindale Pro Am will be the location of anotherJtuned Super Meet, so make sure to sign up right away! Spots are still available, and you can sign up right here.
The West Coast arm of the Motor Mavens Family will be in attendance also, so you should definitely check the site after the event for our photos and insight into what went on at Pro Am. Our good friends from MotoIQ will also be in attendance shooting photos, so make sure to check their site after the meet too!
As this weekend's much awaited Formula D Pro Am event at Irwindale Speedway draws near, the members of the Motor Mavens Crew from Los Angeles are getting more and more excited to see all our friends from all the different grassroots drifting scenes from all over the country.
Our whole crew has a ton of respect for all the grassroots drivers out there; they are certainly working hard to step their game up and make it into the pro ranks... and for me personally, I think sometimes watching the grassroots guys compete is even more exciting than watching the pro drivers go at it. Some people may be thinking, "What?! Are you crazy?" I know, I know... it may be a bit different to outsiders or to those who are just sitting in the stands... but for those of us who circulate through the pit areas and go to the different shops and hang out with the drivers even outside of track events, it's really inspiring to see the hard work and perseverance of normal, everyday individuals, the grassroots enthusiasts, pay off.
This is what passion is all about. And this is why I think people are crazy when people think drifting is just a fad. Maybe it is for outsiders... but for the people who live and breathe this stuff day in and day out, it couldn't be further from the truth.
One guy who lives and breathes drifting is Roland Gallagher. The first time I saw Roland drive was at Formula D Las Vegas, where he was competing to earn his invite to the Pro Am. I was standing trackside with my younger brother David, and I saw this flash of teal pass me, followed by clouds of billowing white tiresmoke. My eyes followed the tiresmoke and somehow became fixated on his WHEELS which had ridiculously fat lips... I remember muttering "helllll yeah" under my breath, because these days, it's becoming more and more rare to see drift cars with good looking wheels and stance on the FD circuit. Read more...
Earlier this week we stopped by Walden Speed Shop to observe what makes these world-class metalcrafters tick. Greeting us at the entrance were a beautiful '27 T-Bucket with a Buick Nailhead 425 and a partially built '36 Ford smuggling an L92 crate motor between its bulging fenders. A gorgeous collection of vintage gas station signs hung like tapestries of automotive art signaled good things in store. Read more...
Yesterday I was talking to our web designer Andy Sapp on the phone about some MotorMavens site updates we’re planning, and the topic of driving events came up. Andy just got his driving fix handled this past weekend by bringing his E46 BMW drift car to the DMGGASD private event in Tennessee (videos to come soon!), but lately I’ve been trying to get some extra parts and money together so I can get my empty AE86 shell back together and take it to the track. I’m not talking about my AE86 street car; I’m referring to a completely virgin red AE86 hatchback rolling chassis that I’ve owned and had in storage for years. Well, it was a complete car until I stripped it and removed the engine and transmission (good job, dummy!), and it’s been sitting for wayyyyy too long so I need to re-assemble it.
So after we were talking, I began thinking about how I wanted to drive Nurburgring Nordschleifereally bad when I visited the track for the first time last year… but I couldn’t because I was extremely busy with our two month, four country automotive photography mission, capturing content for Speedhunters when I was still working on building up the SH site with Mr. Chong from EA Games.
Doing a little webmining this morning, I found this really cool video from Race-media.tv of a Dodge Viper battling it out with a Porsche 911 GT3 RS Cup at Nurburgring’s amazing Nordschleife course.
Which one would you rather drive? I’ve driven a few Dodge Vipers on the racetrack before, and I also got the opportunity to test drive a Porsche GT2 last year when I was at Porsche Leipzig. For me, the answer is the Porsche. No questions asked. However, I have some friends who are just huge fans of massive, front engined, big horsepower monsters like the Viper.
I wonder which car our readers would prefer? The raw power and brute force of the Viper? Or the aggressive finesse of a Porsche?
I know what you are thinking. What the..? I found this on the internet and thought it was pretty weird; many of us stateside have never even seen a Lada in person. Hell, most Americans wouldn’t even know what a Lada is! The car in this video, the Lada, is the trademark car for the Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ, which is now a part of Renault-NISSAN-Lada.
Most people today wouldn’t give this car a second glance, however if you live on the other side of the pond you know that this Fiat 124-based VAZ was a really popular car. Its low cost, DIY friendly mechanics, and the fact that you could beat the crap out of it, led to its popularity. Hmmm, kinda makes me wonder if there are any other quirky cars we’ve never even heard of that are just waiting to be discovered? Haha! Just goes to show that you can take a relatively unpopular, yet solid car and do some killer things with it. Lada lovers are still finding sick ways to modify this machine!
Cressidas and Levins and Sprinters and Skylines, oh my! I was just clearing out some images on my Mac and transferring them to one of my terabyte drives when I stumbled upon these images I shot at the Japanese Classic Car Show last month. Before I transfer them to the HD archive and forget all about them for another year or so, I thought I'd just share some more pics of these awesome Japanese nostalgic cars! Read more...
After years of endless innovation and dedication to Sport Compact Drag Racing, today at 3:00pm, Bergenholtz Racing will be inducted into the NHRA Museum in Pomona CA. Actually, wait… that’s right NOW!
Their very first flagship vehicle, the Bergenholtz Racing CRX, will be inducted into the museum for its accomplishments in drag racing. Their CRX is most noted for being the first fwd drag car to implement wheelie bars (even though a lot of people used to talk sh!t about the car and its wheelie bars, until they found out that the bars actually worked), which would forever revolutionize FWD drag racing.
“It is a great honor for the NHRA to recognize Bergenholtz Racing and its accomplishments in Sport Compact Drag Racing. I thought capturing the back-to-back NHRA Championships was at the top of the list, but being inducted into the museum is legendary. I know my grandchildren and my great grandchildren can go to NHRA museum and look at the amazing things their grandfathers did in drag racing,” said Ron Bergenholtz, Team Manager of Bergenholtz Racing.
At Motor Mavens, we know what it’s like to fight an uphill battle; being resourceful, street smart, and leveraging personal relationships to produce results even without a big corporate budget or any outside financial resources.
Bergenholtz Racing did this for years as they competed in NHRA Sport Compact Drag Racing. They proved that the underdog CAN be successful… and sometimes it just takes enough will, enough motivation, enough discipline, enough perseverence and enough heart to emerge as the winner.
Some drag racers dedicate their whole lives just to win a single Wally – after all, it is the most coveted trophy in NHRA drag racing. However, as you can see from the piano at Ron Bergenholtz’s Southern California home, these two Filipino brothers with non-Filipino last names have amassed quite a lot of Wallies… and now, the NHRA Museum is honoring them for their hard work and dedication. Awesome.
As two underdogs living a real-life success story, Ron and Ed Bergenholtz first made a name for themselves by racing (illegally of course!) on LA streets, and then graduated to compete professionally (and win!) in NHRA Sport Compact drag racing, beating out other competitors with much larger budgets and big corporate funding. These guys are drag racing heroes and their story inspires us… but more importantly, they’re our boys and we’re PROUD of them. With or without a championship ring or a display case full of trophies.
Ron and Ed Bergenholtz are good FRIENDS to the Motor Mavens crew, and that’s why we’re so proud of their accomplishments. CONGRATULATIONS guys!
If other automotive websites had any inkling of sense, they would pick these guys up immediately and pay them to write blogs or sponsor their cars or something. These guys are the sh!t, come on.
This video of the 2009 Summer Drift Matsuri at the famed Ebisu Circuit is just plain awesome. It’s got tons of variety in cars and courses and lots of high speed fly-bys. I haven’t been to Ebisu yet personally, but by the looks of this video, it’s no wonder everyone is so crazy about Ebisu. I can’t wait to go!
As you might imagine, everyone who's anyone in the automotive industry was at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas last week. While many pessimists have complained that this year's show was smaller than any other SEMA in recent years, there were quite a few notable announcements, releases and debuts this year. (And those who did show up to the show were serious about doing business, not just a bunch of useless tire kickers.)
While there was much on the news front in terms of debuts, to be honest, there was nothing that excited me personally more than the new Lexus LF-A. I might be a bit jaded, as I am a Toyota man. My first car was a Toyota, and I've owned many many different types of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in my life; I've lost count of the actual number, but if you figure that I currently own 6 Toyota/Lexus vehicles, then I'm pretty sure the total number is somewhere around twenty. Yup, TWENTY! So maybe I do have a slight personal slant towards the Lexus brand, but regardless, I think the new LF-A that Lexus debuted at SEMA is nothing short of amazing.
Sure, there are skeptics out there who complain that the LF-A hasn't yet beat an R35 Nissan GT-R's record at the Nurburgring. There are also people out there who also say there are a lot of other cars they would rather buy for the LF-A's hefty $375K price tag. Sure it's pricy. And yes, maybe the R35 GTR can currently beat it around Nordschleife. However, in my mind, there's just no denying how outstandingly bad ass the LF-A is. Read more...
Anyone that worships at the altar of Nissan must, some day, make a pilgrimage to the Datsun Heritage Museum. Located in Murrieta, California, it contains a treasure trove of Datsun and Nissan memorabilia, a library of pre-digital reading material and, of course, cars. For many southern California Datsun enthusiasts, it also serves a community center where meets and events can be held. Last weekend, the SoCal Roadster Owners' Club held their annual charity toy drive and car show there. Read more...
Ever since I was a little kid rallying has been one of my favourite motorsports, and even though I grew up through the Tommi Makinen era, I’ve always loved watching the 70’s and 80’s periods of rallying, the cars just seemed so much more alive and raw back then (especially the Group B cars), and this video from the 1977 Lombard RAC Rally definitely captures that. Its 10 minutes and 26 seconds of pure footage. No music, no slow mo, just some amazing sounding engines and very talented drivers.
Recently my buddy Dave Mucci made the trip from Chicago to Ocean City, MD, all for the love of automobiles! I figured it'd be pretty whack of me to write an article about H20 International since I've yet to go myself, so I asked the man, the myth, my buddy Mooch, to provide some guest commentary. Some of you may be familiar with Dave's work in 0-60 Magazine, doing detailed engine illustrations. The kid is one hell of an artist, but he isn't a writer by trade and I'm not much of a grammatical genius so bear with us. Hopefully you will be too engaged with the dope photos to give a crap. For the photography, Dave enlisted the help of Patrick Mizenko who took tons of killer photos, only a sliver of which you'll see here, the rest you can check out at Patrick's site. Thanks again to you both!!!
As the gloomy rainy season begins for many of us, I thought I’d post up a cool rainy drift video, reminding us that the rain isn’t all that bad… it saves tires!
Chasers, Mark IIs, Soarers, Silvias, 180SXs, Skylines, Levins, Truenos and RX7s… I stumbled across this gem on Vimeo recently, featuring lots of awesome Japanese cars at the famous Nikko Circuit. The entire three-part series is viewable on MayDayGarage.com, check it out!
This is the time of year when people begin to pull coats and cloaks a bit tighter in anticipation of the weather to come. As a personal homage to this gradual increase of outer garments, I decided to fly to Germany and cloak myself with a little tire ash. Acknowledging the inevitable end of reasonable weather in Deutschland, the International Drift Series (IDS) brought the fight back to the Nurburgring for the conclusion of their season - although, Read more...
