COVERAGE> Formula Drift Long Beach Qualifying
The Formula Drift 2013 season kicked off here in the streets of Long Beach! Every year as the roads in Long Beach get prepped for the Grand Prix, Formula Drift always has the honor of christening the pavement with tires and the air with tire smoke. With many new drivers debuting their car for the first time in pro leagues there are also a lot of returning veteran drivers on the lot. Every year having to outdo themselves a lot of drivers bring new cars and even more horsepower with them to the track. As we bring you live coverage of the weekends events follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, at @MOTORMAVENS and @86Fest, for updates and images of the First Formula Drift competition of the year. Read more...
COVERAGE> Formula Drift After Dark: Las Vegas!
The MotorMavens Crew is once again back at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Formula Drift After Dark. For those of you that couldn't make it, consider yourself lucky that you don't have to deal with the searing desert heat. Luckily it's not as hot as it was last year, but we're still baking in the sun so we can bring you imagery of whats current in Formula Drift. Read more...
VIDEO> Formula D Irwindale 2011 = Best Thing Ever
Seriously though, this year’s Formula Drift Finale was one of the greatest weekends of my life. All the media, drivers, and industry people I’ve met over the last few years all in one place to be a part of arguably the greatest drifting spectacle in US history. I say “arguably,” but I will fight you. FD Irwindale 2011 was the best thing ever. Period. (more…)
COVERAGE> The 2011 Formula Drift Season Finale
It's hard to believe that the 2011 Formula Drift Championship season has already concluded for the year - the series went from start to finish in just six months! Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and the Drift Stream, everyone already knows that Discount Tire V8 S13 driver Daijiro Yoshihara was "Triple Crowned" as the 2011 Formula D Series Champion, marking the first time that a Japanese driver won a Formula D series championship. Even more relevant is the fact that this win marks the first time the popular Nissan S13 chassis has been used to win a Formula D championship season! S13 owners should rejoice - the iconic ichi-san is apparently still competitive against the newer technology drift cars.
For the season finale at Irwindale Speedway, Northern California based Tyler McQuarrie beat the competition to win First Place at the event in his Falken Tire V8 350Z, standing atop the podium with Rhys Millen (Second Place) and Chris Forsberg (Third place). Read more...
For the season finale at Irwindale Speedway, Northern California based Tyler McQuarrie beat the competition to win First Place at the event in his Falken Tire V8 350Z, standing atop the podium with Rhys Millen (Second Place) and Chris Forsberg (Third place). Read more...
VIDEO> Formula Drift Hits the Las Vegas Strip!
Now that you’ve heard the story behind and seen all the amazing photos from Formula Drift Las Vegas, courtesy of Oliver Petalver and Mike Kim, take a quick moment to wipe the drool from your keyboards and prepare yourselves for a short video from myself and Joe Ayala. (more…)
COVERAGE> Formula Drift: Vegas After Dark!
Round 6 of the Formula DRIFT series was held in the scorching heat of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway where locals went to witness Rhys Millen, in the Red Bull/Hankook Tire Hyundai Genesis, take first place in an already competitive season. Prior to Round 6, Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire/Falken Tire Nissan S13 was the leader in the Championship Point Standings with Justin "JTP" Pawlak (in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang) in second. Both failed to make it to the to the Final Four in Vegas, making the points spread even more slim.
In addition, this past event made people do a double take as FD Asia drivers Adwitya "Dio" Amandio & Saranon "Non" Pornpatanarak each made their U.S. debut. There was also a bit of controversy as Justin Pawlak switched seats with Tyler McQuarrie in the Falken Tire Nissan 350Z while McQuarrie piloted JTP's Falken Tire Nissan S15 instead.
All in all, with a nail biting points race, Rhys Millen back on the podium, new faces, and driver crossovers, you can see how someone might say that Vegas was the place to be this past weekend! Read more...
In addition, this past event made people do a double take as FD Asia drivers Adwitya "Dio" Amandio & Saranon "Non" Pornpatanarak each made their U.S. debut. There was also a bit of controversy as Justin Pawlak switched seats with Tyler McQuarrie in the Falken Tire Nissan 350Z while McQuarrie piloted JTP's Falken Tire Nissan S15 instead.
All in all, with a nail biting points race, Rhys Millen back on the podium, new faces, and driver crossovers, you can see how someone might say that Vegas was the place to be this past weekend! Read more...
COVERAGE> The 2011 Formula D Seattle Experience
Formula Drift in Seattle is definitely one of my favorite stops on the Formula D tour. It always happens in the middle of the summer, and summertime is the best time to visit Seattle anyway! The event planners at Formula Drift always seem to pick the FD Seattle weekend perfectly, when the rainy state of Washington is blessed with a little break from the gloomy rain, and the sun comes out to put everybody in a good mood!
Since most drift fans outside of Seattle were able to watch the event play-by-play on Justin.TV's Formula D Driftstream, Seattle-based MotorMavens sharpshooter Yoshi Shindo and I decided we'd post up photographic highlights from the event, based on our own experiences there! Read more...
Since most drift fans outside of Seattle were able to watch the event play-by-play on Justin.TV's Formula D Driftstream, Seattle-based MotorMavens sharpshooter Yoshi Shindo and I decided we'd post up photographic highlights from the event, based on our own experiences there! Read more...
COVERAGE> The Formula D Atlanta Experience Pt.1
For the MotorMavens Crew, Round Two of the 2011 Formula Drift Championship at Road Atlanta represented a lot of hard work, and about 6 or 7 total hours of sleep for the entire weekend. Since our Associate Editor Jonathan "J-Mac" McWhorter lives in the Atlanta area, he volunteered to be the team leader for the weekend, and coordinated everything for the out-of-state crew members that would be flying in for the event.
Some people may not realize this, but Road Atlanta is a very special place for the MotorMavens Crew. Anyone who knows MotorMavens co-founder Andy Sapp can tell you that he has a very fond place in his heart for Road Atlanta. Even though Andy coined the now famous phrase Keep Drifting Fun, he has been drifting competitively at Formula D events in Atlanta ever since 2004 - the very first event in the Formula Drift series. Ever.
Read more...
Some people may not realize this, but Road Atlanta is a very special place for the MotorMavens Crew. Anyone who knows MotorMavens co-founder Andy Sapp can tell you that he has a very fond place in his heart for Road Atlanta. Even though Andy coined the now famous phrase Keep Drifting Fun, he has been drifting competitively at Formula D events in Atlanta ever since 2004 - the very first event in the Formula Drift series. Ever.
Read more...
COVERAGE> Live From Formula D Atlanta Day 2
I'm back in the media tower at Road Atlanta and clicking away at my keyboard while open practice adds clouds to the cloudless sky over the track. I swear, it was clear and blue before the drifting started, now we've got puffy white clouds everywhere. Coincidence? Probably. Our sharpshooters Yoshi Shindo and Oliver Petalver are still on track right now and I'm going to give you a mix of what they've gotten so far today as well as some more shots from yesterday's practice. Read more...
COVERAGE> Formula Drift Atlanta Practice Session
Right now I'm sitting in the media tower at Road Atlanta while practice continues just over the hill on the course. That's right, Allen Iverson, we're talkin' about practice! Not the game, but practice. With that being said, even though it was practice, the drivers were pushing it to the limit and beyond. Many cars ended up in the kitty litter on the initiation corner and some went into the wall. Read more...
GALLERY> Ken Block Gymkhana Grid Invitational
Here are some more much overdue photos from Ken Block’s Gymkhana Grid Invitational. At first, “gymkhana” may sound like a martial arts discipline (to those unfamiliar with the automotive version) but it's actually a starting line and a finish line joined together by all sorts of interesting obstacles such as cones, tires, and barrels which, when arranged just so, require a driver to perform all sorts of interesting maneuvers such as reversals, 180 and 360 degree spins, and figure 8s - all while racing against the clock. The reason I stressed that this is the automotive version is because, you may be interested to know, there is an equestrian version as well. As you can imagine, there's a lot less smoke - unless they figured out how to get a horse to do a burnout when I wasn't looking. Read more...
NEWSWORTHY> Dai Wins FD Twice In A Row!
For those who were logged in to the Formula D Driftstream on Saturday, you mostly likely have already heard the news! Daijiro Yoshihara won 1st Place at Formula Drift again... taking home top honors TWICE IN A ROW! Driving his Discount Tire/America's Tire/Falken Tire S13 Silvia, Dai was able to beat all his competitors, thanks to his crew - Scott Dodgion from SPD Metalworks, Mike Kojima from MotoIQ, and Owen Orrego from Falken.
If you were unable to watch the climactic final battle that pitted Dai against his Falken teammate, Vaughn Gittin Jr, then make sure you scroll to the bottom of the page and watch the video of the tandem battle! Read more...
If you were unable to watch the climactic final battle that pitted Dai against his Falken teammate, Vaughn Gittin Jr, then make sure you scroll to the bottom of the page and watch the video of the tandem battle! Read more...
COVERAGE> Daijiro Yoshihara’s Triumph in Atlanta
Most of our readers who have been following us on Facebook or Twitter know that the members of the MotorMavens Crew just got back from an exciting Formula Drift weekend at Road Atlanta; we're happy to have been receiving tweets and Facebook messages from everyone all weekend! We're also happy to hear that many of our friends who were unable to make it have been watching the event through our website's live stream. Since most hardcore Formula Drift fans already knew the podium results on the night that it happened, I thought it would be pointless for us to do the same type of play-by-play recap that most other websites will be publishing.
MotorMavens was never intended to be an online newspaper. Instead of focusing on the results, with Daijiro Yoshihara and the Discount Tire S13 taking the win; Vaughn Gittin Jr's Mustang coming in 2nd Place, and Chris Forsberg's NOS Energy 350Z finishing third; I thought I'd take a minute to focus on the importance of Daijiro Yoshihara's win.
Round Two of the Formula Drift Championship was important to Dai's sponsors, because it marked the first-ever win for his title sponsor, Discount Tire. Those who have been following Formula Drift since its beginning might also recall that it was Discount Tire's first podium since 2004, when Calvin Wan took 3rd Place in Sonoma with his Discount Tire RPS13 240SX. (There should be a party breaking out at Discount Tire's Phoenix, Arizona-based offices!)
Formula D Atlanta was also the second FD event in a row that resulted in a 1st Place finish on Falken Tires, which is huge for the massive teal and blue army! I know everyone involved in the Falken drift team is extremely proud of their drivers; winning both events back to back is no easy feat! On the corporate side, I'm sure these wins help justify the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Falken's been spending on drifting for the past few years!
While these milestones might be important to the corporate sponsorship side of Formula Drift, most fans don't care about that at all. What made Daijiro Yoshihara's First Place win significant to the fans is the fact that it proves that the popular, yet "old and outdated Nissan S13 240SX chassis" is able to remain competitive and WIN in professional level Formula D Competition!
Sponsorships aside, winning First Place at Road Atlanta was a huge win for Dai personally. According to Dai, winning in Atlanta "was huge for me. It was my fourth 1st Place win in Formula D, but actually... for me, [winning Formula D Atlanta] was even bigger than the very first time I got 1st place, at in Irwindale in 2006." Read more...
MotorMavens was never intended to be an online newspaper. Instead of focusing on the results, with Daijiro Yoshihara and the Discount Tire S13 taking the win; Vaughn Gittin Jr's Mustang coming in 2nd Place, and Chris Forsberg's NOS Energy 350Z finishing third; I thought I'd take a minute to focus on the importance of Daijiro Yoshihara's win.
Round Two of the Formula Drift Championship was important to Dai's sponsors, because it marked the first-ever win for his title sponsor, Discount Tire. Those who have been following Formula Drift since its beginning might also recall that it was Discount Tire's first podium since 2004, when Calvin Wan took 3rd Place in Sonoma with his Discount Tire RPS13 240SX. (There should be a party breaking out at Discount Tire's Phoenix, Arizona-based offices!)
Formula D Atlanta was also the second FD event in a row that resulted in a 1st Place finish on Falken Tires, which is huge for the massive teal and blue army! I know everyone involved in the Falken drift team is extremely proud of their drivers; winning both events back to back is no easy feat! On the corporate side, I'm sure these wins help justify the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Falken's been spending on drifting for the past few years!
While these milestones might be important to the corporate sponsorship side of Formula Drift, most fans don't care about that at all. What made Daijiro Yoshihara's First Place win significant to the fans is the fact that it proves that the popular, yet "old and outdated Nissan S13 240SX chassis" is able to remain competitive and WIN in professional level Formula D Competition!
Sponsorships aside, winning First Place at Road Atlanta was a huge win for Dai personally. According to Dai, winning in Atlanta "was huge for me. It was my fourth 1st Place win in Formula D, but actually... for me, [winning Formula D Atlanta] was even bigger than the very first time I got 1st place, at in Irwindale in 2006." Read more...
