COVERAGE> Evergreen Drift Season Opener
A familiar roar pierced the air. Throttles stressed to their maximums; tires screaming for their very lives, as if their torturers were cold and heartless killers. A battle was taking place; a fight between practicality and the absurd. Some chariots were wrecked in the process, but none were left behind. In the end, after the smoke cleared, we were all blessed. Friends reunited in a common bond, new and old alike. Make no mistake; the 2010 drifting season has begun! Hell yeah.
March 14th marked the triumphant return of some of the Northwest’s most seasoned veterans. An invite-only drift event was held last Sunday to start off the 2010 season with a bang. It was a great mix of old school friends, with up and coming drivers all the way from Canada to Oregon. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, with a steady 70 degrees all day with almost no clouds in the sky. It was as if God himself found favor in the boys from Evergreen Drift. Read more...
March 14th marked the triumphant return of some of the Northwest’s most seasoned veterans. An invite-only drift event was held last Sunday to start off the 2010 season with a bang. It was a great mix of old school friends, with up and coming drivers all the way from Canada to Oregon. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, with a steady 70 degrees all day with almost no clouds in the sky. It was as if God himself found favor in the boys from Evergreen Drift. Read more...
COVERAGE> Southeast Drift’s Land of the Great
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...
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...
COVERAGE> Irwindale Pro Am, Part 1
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...
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...
WEBMINING>Team Battle:Drift by Stephen Brooks
Team Battle:Drift from Stephen Brooks on Vimeo.
I’ve been checking out Stephen Brooks’ work lately on Vimeo. The man from the land of tea and crumpets makes great videos, but this one really stood out to me in particular. It was shot during a team drift event (hence the name) at the Norfolk Arena, which is about 2.5 hours North of London.
Although I’m not too keen on the song choice, I think it matched the content of the video very well. Beyond that, I feel like this piece does a great job to portray all the emotions behind the scenes of a drift event. Don’t worry though, there’s great drifting footage as well!
::Justin Shreeve
ARCHAEOLOGY> JDM Allstars Action
Here are some more photos from the JDM Allstars event at Wembley. The skies over London were bright and clear for a moment... I was feeling a bit burnt and tired from standing out on track for hours the day before, so I took some time to relax around the paddock area catching up with some friends, drivers and setting up my camera before heading over to the drivers briefing tent to see what the day had in store. I soon learned that the morning session was dedicated to qualifying for the Top 32 battles.
The qualifying would be run using the new Super Lap format. With the Super Lap, drivers are given just one single run to lay down their best score, no warm up laps, or anything. The judges were also wanting to see the drivers give it their all and get their cars as close as they could to the wall. A lot of pressure, but it was definitely gonna be exciting! Read more...
The qualifying would be run using the new Super Lap format. With the Super Lap, drivers are given just one single run to lay down their best score, no warm up laps, or anything. The judges were also wanting to see the drivers give it their all and get their cars as close as they could to the wall. A lot of pressure, but it was definitely gonna be exciting! Read more...
CARSPOTTING> Instant Party R32 Skyline
Thinking back on this summer's epic All Star Bash weekend, I've begun to come to the conclusion that it just might have been the best American grassroots drifting event that I've ever been to in my whole life. Now THAT is a pretty strong statement - especially when you've been to as many grassroots drifting events in different states as I have. Of course, one of the things that naturally attracts me to the All Star Bash is the presence of some pretty awesome cars, most of which are S13s and S14s.
However, there was a certain non S-chassis that caught my attention - it was a white R32 Nissan Skyline with license plates from Washington state. It wasn't until the end of the last day of All Star Bash that I met the owner of this car - Jon Jaffe from Washington's own Team Instant Party. When we spoke at Willow Springs, it was hot, so I just gave him props on his car and a couple stickers, and went on my way.
Fast forward about a month - on my way back from the Formula D Seattle trip, BN Sports Raymond and I found ourselves chillin out in Bothell, Washington with Instant Party driver Roland Gallagher and his dad. On the day I was supposed to return to Los Angeles, I asked Raymond if we could stop by Roland's house on the way to the airport so I could check out his car really quick and say what's up. Shortly after we arrived at Roland's house, Jon took a break from his workday to come over and say hello. Perfect timing. I wanted to get a closer look at his Skyline anyway! Read more...
However, there was a certain non S-chassis that caught my attention - it was a white R32 Nissan Skyline with license plates from Washington state. It wasn't until the end of the last day of All Star Bash that I met the owner of this car - Jon Jaffe from Washington's own Team Instant Party. When we spoke at Willow Springs, it was hot, so I just gave him props on his car and a couple stickers, and went on my way.
Fast forward about a month - on my way back from the Formula D Seattle trip, BN Sports Raymond and I found ourselves chillin out in Bothell, Washington with Instant Party driver Roland Gallagher and his dad. On the day I was supposed to return to Los Angeles, I asked Raymond if we could stop by Roland's house on the way to the airport so I could check out his car really quick and say what's up. Shortly after we arrived at Roland's house, Jon took a break from his workday to come over and say hello. Perfect timing. I wanted to get a closer look at his Skyline anyway! Read more...
COVERAGE> Formula Drift Seattle, Part 2
Okay, it's already past 2am now, and I need to get to sleep because we have a long day at the track ahead of us tomorrow! But before I sleep, let me just throw a few quick photos up on the site!
Above, here's a real dope R32 Skyline 4door that came from British Columbia (that's Canada, to those of us who are ignorant Americans). More photos of this car coming soon!
It's so cool that you can register a car like an R32 Skyline, A31 Cefiro or C33 Laurel and just drive it on the street, legally in Canada. What the hell are we still doing living in Southern Cali, anyway? (Who am I kidding, I love Southern Cali...) Read more...
Above, here's a real dope R32 Skyline 4door that came from British Columbia (that's Canada, to those of us who are ignorant Americans). More photos of this car coming soon!
It's so cool that you can register a car like an R32 Skyline, A31 Cefiro or C33 Laurel and just drive it on the street, legally in Canada. What the hell are we still doing living in Southern Cali, anyway? (Who am I kidding, I love Southern Cali...) Read more...
