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Daijiro Yoshihara's First Place win significant to the fans is the fact that it proves that the popular, yet "old and outdated Nissan S13 240SX chassis" is able to remain competitive and WIN in professional level Formula D Competition!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...
COVERAGE> San Francisco Auto Show 2009
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...
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...
CARSPOTTING> Tyler McQuarrie’s E90 BMW M3
On the morning after the 2009 Formula D Finale, most of the people who were at Irwindale the night before were either still in bed resting from the exhausting event or packing their bags and heading back to the airport. While normal, smart people stayed in bed to sleep in that Sunday... I exchanged a volley of text messages with a hungover Tyler McQuarrie, who still had a pounding headache from all the alcohol pounding that took place at the "FD Official Hotel" the night before, as he and Forsberg and Hampshaa and everyone else in the lobby celebrated their Formula D wins from the night before. Right after I congratulated Tyler on reaching the podium, I assured him that I didn't give two sh!ts about his pounding headache... and he should drink some coffee because we had plans to shoot photos of his newly done up E90 BMW M3 sedan! (LOL, I didn't really say that. He's super cool, and wouldn't flake anyway.) Cheerful despite his hangover, Tyler manned up and drove his car out to meet up with me and the MotorMavens Seattle fam at our meeting spot, which luckily wasn't too far from the hotel where he was staying.
I know what some readers may be thinking... this car looks super basic. It doesn't have a crazy aftermarket aero kit or anything... but I think that's one of the reasons why I was drawn to it when I first saw it. Although I'm huge fan of aggressive BN Sports or Goodline aero kits for cars used on the racetrack, I tend to prefer the understated cleanliness and class of OEM bodywork and "factory option" parts when it comes to daily driven street cars. Apparently, Tyler has the same opinion when it comes to daily driven cars, as his M3 looks clean, classy, basic, and understated... that is, until you hear the powerful rumble of his exhaust. Read more...
I know what some readers may be thinking... this car looks super basic. It doesn't have a crazy aftermarket aero kit or anything... but I think that's one of the reasons why I was drawn to it when I first saw it. Although I'm huge fan of aggressive BN Sports or Goodline aero kits for cars used on the racetrack, I tend to prefer the understated cleanliness and class of OEM bodywork and "factory option" parts when it comes to daily driven street cars. Apparently, Tyler has the same opinion when it comes to daily driven cars, as his M3 looks clean, classy, basic, and understated... that is, until you hear the powerful rumble of his exhaust. Read more...
WEBMINING> Calvin Wan's S15 on Streetfire
We just saw this awesome video of Falken Tire works driver Calvin Wan on Streetfire.net, which features Calvin driving his S15 Silvia at a pre-season private practice event.
The “test track” in the video is an EVOC facility in San Bernadino CA, which is actually an Emergency Vehicle Operations Center used by the California Highway Patrol for training. However, we’re pretty sure that the CHiPs don’t get drifting training yet. And certainly not in a vehicle as stylish as Calvin’s S15 Silvia, his 2009 Formula D competition car that we’ve seen previously in red and yellow and black and yellow liveries. You know which liveries we’re talking about, right?
::Motor Mavens
