DRIVER SEAT> Global Time Attack at Road Atlanta
Road Atlanta and Global Time Attack are a match made in heaven. If you combine a 2.54 mile road course that rolls through the green hills of Georgia with an open rule set where maximum speed and minimum lap times are all that matters, you're bound to have an incredible event.
Thanks to GTA series sponsors like Continental Tire, Whiteline Suspension, Garrett Turbo, Spec Clutch and Meister Watches, the battle for Road Atlanta certainly did not disappoint, with new competitors in the mix, newly set fastest lap records, and even big crashes! Read more...
Thanks to GTA series sponsors like Continental Tire, Whiteline Suspension, Garrett Turbo, Spec Clutch and Meister Watches, the battle for Road Atlanta certainly did not disappoint, with new competitors in the mix, newly set fastest lap records, and even big crashes! Read more...
GALLERY> Nisei Showoff Vs Infamous Long Beach
This past weekend, there were tons of automotive events happening, so those of us located in Southern California faced a dilemma - should we go to Nisei Showoff or Infamous?!
The tried and true Import Showoff event thrown by legendary import carshow promoter Ken Miyoshi during Downtown LA's annual Nisei Week Festival in Little Tokyo is always a good time. Everyone knows that Nisei Showoff symbolizes the best of the best - the highest standard in modified import cars, with attendance by the OG crews that used to run the streets of Los Angeles when the sport compact scene was just beginning to blow up. The whole vibe at Nisei Showoff feels a bit nostalgic, to be honest. Can it be that it was all so simple then? Good cars and good friends in a relaxed atmosphere, surrounded by good Japanese restaurants and boutique shops in Little Tokyo.
However, some young car enthusiasts don't care about memory lane nostalgia or waxing poetic about the good old days. For this rapidly growing new generation of frame-scraping tire stretchers, the newly conceptualized Infamous show was thrown as a collaboration between the Fatlace and Canibeat Crews at the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
It's obvious that MotorMavens connects to both scenes and both types of automotive taste, so those who follow @MOTORMAVENS on Instagram and Twitter already know that we decided to hit both shows. Here's a quick gallery of images from both events! Read more...
The tried and true Import Showoff event thrown by legendary import carshow promoter Ken Miyoshi during Downtown LA's annual Nisei Week Festival in Little Tokyo is always a good time. Everyone knows that Nisei Showoff symbolizes the best of the best - the highest standard in modified import cars, with attendance by the OG crews that used to run the streets of Los Angeles when the sport compact scene was just beginning to blow up. The whole vibe at Nisei Showoff feels a bit nostalgic, to be honest. Can it be that it was all so simple then? Good cars and good friends in a relaxed atmosphere, surrounded by good Japanese restaurants and boutique shops in Little Tokyo.
However, some young car enthusiasts don't care about memory lane nostalgia or waxing poetic about the good old days. For this rapidly growing new generation of frame-scraping tire stretchers, the newly conceptualized Infamous show was thrown as a collaboration between the Fatlace and Canibeat Crews at the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
It's obvious that MotorMavens connects to both scenes and both types of automotive taste, so those who follow @MOTORMAVENS on Instagram and Twitter already know that we decided to hit both shows. Here's a quick gallery of images from both events! Read more...
OH SNAP> Link YOUR Mitsubishi Owner’s Day Pics
Oh snap! We’re still working on compiling and posting all the photos we took at Mitsubishi Owners Day 2011 at the Mitsubishi corporate offices in Cypress CA. I got to the event super early, mostly because our good friend Brian Urbano from Mitsubishi kept hyping the event online through Twitter, Facebook, and direct text messages to us, saying… “Yo! Are you coming? It’s gonna be soooo fun!”
The event definitely WAS fun, but I’ll be honest. I screw up sometimes. I was so concerned with picking up a friend and getting to the event on time, I forgot to put my memory card case in my camera bag! #FAIL!!! Yup, I know. LOSERRRR. Good thing one of our MotorMavens shooters, Horacio Flores, owns a Mitsubishi Evo X! He showed up to the event later in the day and took some photos for the site! Whew… he saved me from my royal screw up! (more…)
ROADTRIP> Spectre 341 Virginia City Hillclimb
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...
ARCHAEOLOGY> Team Orange CT9A Lancer Evo 9
Last week, Mitsubishi decided to announce that they were discontinuing sales of their popular Lancer Evolution, as Evo fans across the world shook their heads in disappointment. Out of respect to Evo owners out there, I thought I'd dig into my archives and publish some photos of one of my favorite Mitsibushi Lancer Evos of all time - the Team Orange Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9, owned by D1 Grand Prix champion driver Nobushige Kumakubo.
These photos really are old - I shot most of these photos back in 2007, when the car was first built. In fact, I shot these photos with a Canon 40D and my old school 20D - that lets you know how old these pics are - those cameras are archaic now! That being said, I apologize for the crap photos. Old as they may be, these photos depict Kumakubo's then-new Lancer Evo 9 - the world's very first Mitsubishi Lancer ever to be built for professional drifting competition. Read more...
These photos really are old - I shot most of these photos back in 2007, when the car was first built. In fact, I shot these photos with a Canon 40D and my old school 20D - that lets you know how old these pics are - those cameras are archaic now! That being said, I apologize for the crap photos. Old as they may be, these photos depict Kumakubo's then-new Lancer Evo 9 - the world's very first Mitsubishi Lancer ever to be built for professional drifting competition. Read more...
COVERAGE> World Time Attack Challenge Practice
The World Time Attack Challenge has arrived. Sydney, Australia plays host to some of the greatest time attack cars from around the world. The hype leading up to this event has been huge here in Australia, with some of the world's greatest time attack cars set to battle it out on Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway. Here is the run down from today's practice session... Read more...
COVERAGE> Redline Time Attack at Buttonwillow
Many automotive media outlets, drivers and teams traveled out to Buttonwillow Raceway this weekend for Round 1 of the 2010 Redline Time Attack Series. I've been so pre-occupied with other projects that I almost screwed up and forgot that Redline was this past weekend, but luckily I received a friendly reminder about the event from Brandon Scarpelli from WebRidesTV! If it weren't for Brandon, I probably would have spaced out and forgotten about it - and that wouldn't have been a good thing!
I drove up to Buttonwillow with Edward Uche and his boy Asim; both of them FC3S RX7 owners hoping to see some rotary goodness out at the track. When we arrived, we split up so they could check out the Mazdatrix RX8, while I stopped in to check out Chris Rado's World Racing Scion TC.
There has been a lot of controversy (including some trash talking and hating) surrounding Chris's Scion TC. I've read some comments on the internet that bashed this car, hating on the usage of the huge front wing. I gotta admit, it does look a bit crazy, but as long as I've known him (10 years I think), Chris Rado has always been a bit of a crazy individual. He's a forward thinking, rule-breaking person that's always trying to dream up some new sort of innovation for his car. I remember back in 2000, we were hanging out at the SEMA "International Auto Salon" in Pomona, and he was telling me about how he installed videocameras on the back of his JZA80 Supra turbo with a small video screen inside the car. I thought it was a pretty crazy thing to do back then, but now it's commonplace on OEM cars.
This being said, when Rado says that having a big ass F-Wing on the front of his Scion TC really helps the performance of his car, I believe him. Of course there are critics out there who say it looks dumb, but remember... people said the same thing about putting wheelie bars on front wheel drive drag cars, but it has been proven to work.
At the end of the day, numbers talk. Chris drove his F-Wing fighter and ended up breaking his own course record at Buttonwillow, winning top honors in the Super Modified Front Wheel Drive Class with a time of 1:46.736. Read more...
There has been a lot of controversy (including some trash talking and hating) surrounding Chris's Scion TC. I've read some comments on the internet that bashed this car, hating on the usage of the huge front wing. I gotta admit, it does look a bit crazy, but as long as I've known him (10 years I think), Chris Rado has always been a bit of a crazy individual. He's a forward thinking, rule-breaking person that's always trying to dream up some new sort of innovation for his car. I remember back in 2000, we were hanging out at the SEMA "International Auto Salon" in Pomona, and he was telling me about how he installed videocameras on the back of his JZA80 Supra turbo with a small video screen inside the car. I thought it was a pretty crazy thing to do back then, but now it's commonplace on OEM cars.
This being said, when Rado says that having a big ass F-Wing on the front of his Scion TC really helps the performance of his car, I believe him. Of course there are critics out there who say it looks dumb, but remember... people said the same thing about putting wheelie bars on front wheel drive drag cars, but it has been proven to work.
At the end of the day, numbers talk. Chris drove his F-Wing fighter and ended up breaking his own course record at Buttonwillow, winning top honors in the Super Modified Front Wheel Drive Class with a time of 1:46.736. Read more...
