The annual
WekFest gathering in
San Francisco always has something tasteful to offer. The event brings a sense of unity and community among car builders and enthusiasts from all parts of California, but especially in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Today's visit is no different. With hundreds of amazing builds to gaze upon packed into San Francisco's
Fort Mason Center, the event becomes a bit overwhelming. It really is a sensory overload.
Read more...Posted by: Sam Attal | Feb 19, 2012 | Categories: Coverage | Tags: 2012, Ab Flug, AME Shallen LX, Bay Area, Bazreia, Bruce Nomura, CCW, Exige, Fatlace, illest, IS300, J's Racing, JZA80, JZZ30, Kranze, Lexus, Lotus, Mark Arcenal, Meister, Mike Kim, Norcal, Rauh Welt, RWB USA, RX8, Ryan Bacsafra, Sam Attal, San Francisco, SC300, Spoon Sports, Supra, T&E, Toyota, turbo, Vertex, Weds, wekfest, Wheelflip, Work | 1 Comment »
Scotland - a country that's home to some of the freshest street cars that I've seen in person since I've been shooting for
MotorMavens. You may remember awhile back I did a feature (which you can check out
here) on a crew of sweet drift cars in Scotland's capital city of
Edinburgh.
Well, once again, I happened to be in the land of the rising Haggis (click
here if you're unfamiliar with Haggis), and thought it would be cool to catch up with some of the guys and see how their cars were getting on! I hope you enjoy the dramatic "black and white" theme - it seemed to go so well with the cars and the scenery of Edinburgh.
Read more...
Posted by: Daniel Bridle | Apr 18, 2011 | Categories: Carspotting | Tags: 1JZ-GTE, Alpine, Barry Stevenson, Blitz, Chizfab, CR Kai, Crail Raceway, Cretsa, D-Max, Daniel Bridle, Defi, drift cars, Drift Day, drifting, Driftworks, Edinburgh, FRP, Ganador, GReddy, GTS-T, HKS, HSD, Japan, John Fallon, JRM Coachworks, JZX90, Nissan, Nissan R32 Skyline, Nissan RPS13 180SX, ORC, R32, RB25DET, Recaro, Rota Grids, Scotland, Skyline, T&E, Toyota, Toyota AE86 Levin, Toyota JZX90 Cresta, TRD, Uras, Vertex, Walbro, Work Emotion CR Kai, work wheels | 8 Comments »
It's hit or miss, in
Seattle, in the early Spring. Some days the sun is out and shining - some days, something resembling a monsoon could turn the parking lots into lakes. Even though it's only warmed up to nearly 55 degrees outside,
Seattle-ites treat it like mid-Summer. That's what we are accustomed to here in the Northwest. Still, every year, toward the end of March, rain or shine, the
Northwest Nissans' Golden Gardens Meet is always a huge success.
This year, unfortunately, it was a bit wet with the sun only barely shining though the thin veil of overcast clouds later in the day. Weather aside, this year was just as packed as previous years with three main lots filling up. The parking overflowed along the street for at least a half mile. I could tell it was going to be a meet well worth checking out!
Read more...Posted by: Lucas Perez | Apr 05, 2011 | Categories: Car&Culture | Tags: 180SX, 240SX, AE86, AME Shallen CX, BMW, bulletside, Cadillac, Datsun, Datsun 510, Datsun 620, Dodge Colt, E34, E36, ernie ventillia, Evan Schoups, Garage Autohero, Golden Gardens Meet, GReddy, GTR, Infiniti G35x, infinity g35x, Jaisy Khammungkhune, JIC, Kent Chan, Kouki 180SX, levon bagdasaryan, lexus gs300, Lucas, matt watson, Mitsubishi Galant, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 3, nikola, Nissan, Nissan 240SX, Nissan hardbody, Northwest Nissans, Onevia, r33 gtr, Ricky Snyder, S14, Seattle, siam chautavipat, Skyline, SR20DET, Toyota, travis cuykendall, Vance Sakado, Vertex, VIP, Weds Kranze, Yoshi Shindo, Zach Dunn, Zenki S14 | 19 Comments »
I’ve been traveling up and down to the city of
Edinburgh in
Scotland for a good few years now but, for some reason, the whole the time I’ve been shooting for
MotorMavens, I never really thought to check out the car scene up there. In fact, I didn’t really know there was much of one!
It turns out I was very wrong and there’s actually a really strong scene there with a ton of fantastic modified cars. It just seems to be a little more hidden than down in
England. Fortunately, a good friend of mine named
Fraser Gordon was there to show me otherwise. He was coming to Edinburgh for the day from the city further west known as
Glasgow, so he phoned me up and we organised to meet up with some of his friends to chill out, take some photos and see the sights of Edinburgh. It just happened to be in four sweet-looking and sounding drift cars.
Not your usual sightseeing tour then…
Read more...Posted by: Daniel Bridle | Nov 16, 2010 | Categories: Carspotting | Tags: 180SX, A'pex, Advan, Amran Ali, ARC, Barry Stevenson, Blitz, Crail, CS2, Cusco, D-Max, Daniel Bridle, Danielle Halliday, Driftworks, Edinburgh, England, Fraser Gordon, Ganador, Glasgow, GReddy, HKS, John Fallon, Kouki Nissan Silvia S14, Kouki S14 spoiler, Nissan Skyline, Nissan Skyline R32 GTS-T, PS13, R33 Skyline, Racing Oni, RB25DET, Rising Sun Performance, RPS13, Scotland, Silvia, SR20DET, Teeside, Tein, Tein Super Drifts, Tomei, Union Canal, Universal Turbos, Vertex | 25 Comments »
Even though everyone else in the United States is still feeling the effects of the country's economic slump, I'm happy to observe and report that the Formula Drift series has been growing! Not only have new non-endemic (non-automotive) sponsors joined the series for 2010, but the attendance at both the Long Beach and Atlanta rounds of Formula Drift have been out of control, with seats completely packed! I'm really amazed to think that I've been watching Formula D grow into a stronger and stronger series from the very beginning. I've been traveling to all these events and documenting the growth of the series ever since it started out, with it's inaugural round in Atlanta in 2004. Formula Drift, you've come a long way, baby.
Not only has the series progressed businesswise, but the media outlets, drivers, and cars have all been stepping their game up to become more powerful, making Formula Drift a serious force to be reckoned with, on a worldwide stage. I bet the people who run the D1GP series in Japan are thinking, "Damn yo! That could have been us!" (Although they probably wouldn't be saying it in those words.)
Enough of my theory and random thoughts on the state of drifting in America though... let's get down to business! After all, the reason why people come to MotorMavens is because they like our taste in cars! So let's get down to it - our first installment of my insider's look at Formula D Atlanta. Let's go!
Read more...Posted by: Antonio Alvendia | May 13, 2010 | Categories: Coverage | Tags: Andy Sapp, BMW, Casie Kimball, drifting, Dynamic Autosports, E60, E92, Eddie Kim, Eri Moriyama, Formula D Atlanta 2010, Formula Drift, Gardella Racing, Gary Gardella, GSR Autosport, GTR, Hankook, M5, Megan Renae, Melyssa Grace, Mike Essa, Peak Performance, Pontiac Solstice, Quaife, R35, Randyl Dawn, Red Bull, Road Atlanta, Robbie Nishida, S85, Savini Wheels, Takahiro Ueno, V10, Vertex, VQ35, VR38DETT, Weds Kranze | 24 Comments »
I’ve been holding this info back for a couple days, and trust me – it’s pretty hard not to say anything when you have news like this! This is a pretty interesting piece of news here – Samuel Hubinette is currently in Japan, and plans to drive at the D1 Grand Prix event at Odaiba this coming weekend!
I received an email from Samuel, asking my opinion on which car I thought he should borrow for this weekend’s D1GP event – Daigo Saito‘s D1 Championship car, the FNATZ JZX100 Chaser, Takahiro Ueno‘s widebody JZZ30 Vertex Soarer, or Takahiro Ueno’s normal fendered JZZZ30 Vertex Soarer.
My vote was for Daigo’s super sick Chaser – first of all, it’s a D1GP Championship winning car for crying out loud; second of all, I thought the long wheel base and the big pendulum swinging characteristics of such a long drift car would be perfect for Samuel’s driving style. However, since I heard reports that Samuel was currently in Yokohama at Ueno-san’s car shop, Sui Vax, I’m guessing he opted for one of the Soarers. Either way, S.Hubinette is one hell of a driver, and I’m confident that he can drive anything with four wheels – probably even an Ikea Expedit bookcase or a Malm dresser. LOL
Speaking of Ikea, I can’t believe that Samuel has been drifting professionally this long, and Ikea still hasn’t sponsored him. They’re both Swedish after all; now that Mopar is no longer his title sponsor, I think Ikea needs to step up and sponsor the crazy Swede. Samuel has told me before that he loves going to Ikea in Irvine, because it reminds him of Sweden. He can chill out there and drink all the lingonberry juice he wants!
Could you just imagine Samuel’s pit area if Ikea were to sponsor him? Instead of an EZ-up with folding chairs, he’ll be rocking a bright red Ikea couch that folds into a bed; a furry white carpet on the ground; a difficult to assemble cabinet, and a million cheap tealight candles scattered all over the place.
Oh, umm… but back to the topic at hand, I’m sure Samuel will be putting on quite a show for the Japanese D1 audience. I just hope we don’t see Option Videos of Keiichi Tsuchiya and Manabu Suzuki saying “DRIFT YA RATER!!!”
:: Antonio Alvendia
Posted by: Antonio Alvendia | Mar 24, 2010 | Categories: Newsworthy | Tags: Antonio Alvendia, Chaser, d1, D1GP, Daigo Saito, Expedit, FNATZ, Grand Prix, Japan, JZX100, JZZ30, Keiichi Tsuchiya, Malm, Manabu Suzuki, Odaiba, Samuel Hubinette, Soarer, Sui Vax, Takahiro Ueno, Vertex | 24 Comments »
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...Posted by: Calvin Wan | Dec 09, 2009 | Categories: Coverage | Tags: 911, Auto Show, Bel Air, Brahma Light, Calvin Wan, CE28N, Chevy, Dominican Republic, Falken, Falken Tire, Graphtech, GS300, GS400, GTR, Honda, Impala, IS350, IS350C, J's Racing, Jay Pizarro, Lexus, LS1, Nissan, Plymouth, Porsche, R35, RSR, S14, S2000, San Francisco, Silvia, V8, Vertex, Volk Racing | 17 Comments »
I was on a hunt for footage of one of my favorite cars – the JZZ30 Toyota Soarer (aka the Lexus SC300/SC400) and lo and behold, what should I find but Manabu Orido drifting Honjo Circuit in Japan.
Although in this video, Orido’s driving his Project Mu/Autotech JZS161 Toyota Aristo (Lexus GS300) and not a Soarer, I thought it was worth it to post this gem just to show the interior action shots. Look at how little he has to do to control the car – his economy of motion and technique is amazing.
I know that we’re not supposed to be envious…but I just can’t help it! Who wishes, like I do, that they could plug into The Matrix (I’m talking about the movie, not the FF Toyota) and download Orido’s drifting skills like Neo, waking up suddenly, saying… “I know drifting.”
::Avon Bellamy
Posted by: Avon Bellamy | Oct 30, 2009 | Categories: Webmining | Tags: Aristo, Avon Bellamy, HKS, Honjo Circuit, Japan, JZS161, JZZ30, Manabu Orido, Soarer, Vertex | Leave A Comment »
Ever since we started the Motor Mavens blog, I've been so busy that I haven't really had much time to cruise the web like I used to. However, there are a few sites that I try to check once in a while, because I really like the content.
Al's Car Stuff Blog is
one of the very few sites that I see that consistently posts up cars that I like! I don't know much about Al or his background, but seeing these photos of this
Nissan/Datsun KP510 Bluebird 1600 SSS on Al's blog brought me back to a Japan trip I took several years ago.
Back in 2004, I went to visit D1 driver
Takahiro Ueno and his shop,
Sui Vax in Yokohama, Japan. I was doing a feature photo shoot on Ueno and his shop for Modified Magazine at the time, so I spent the whole day hanging out in Yokohama. When I told him how crazy I was about Japanese nostalgic cars, he said he knew a shop that I would love, and he wanted to take me there. That shop was
Flex Auto Review - they restore and sell Japanese classic cars! Ueno was absolutely right. I flipped out when we got there! AWESOME. (I was kind of embarrassed afterwards, because I was so
obviously excited when I was walking around Flex Auto... and I didn't quite show the same level of excitement when I was hanging out at
Ueno's shop earlier that day. Oops, my bad.)
Read more...Posted by: Antonio Alvendia | Oct 29, 2009 | Categories: Webmining | Tags: 1600, 510, Al's Car Stuff, Antonio Alvendia, bluebird, Datsun, Equip 01, Flex Auto Review, Japan, KP510, Momo Prototipo, Nissan, SSS, Sui Vax, Takahiro Ueno, Vertex, work wheels, Yokohama | Leave A Comment »
Shiny black paint... check. Menacing stance... check. Pink JLine wheels... check. ??? Prowling the city streets surrounding the Arizona Diamondbacks' Chase Field, we have James Parker's glorious G35 coupe. To say that this car has undergone a complete transformation over the years would be a bit of an understatement.
Read more...Posted by: Dax Rodriguez | Apr 21, 2009 | Categories: Center Stage | Tags: Avon Bellamy, Buddy Club, Dax Rodriguez, G35, GReddy, HKS, Infiniti, Jim Wolf Technology, JLine, JUN, Mike Maez, Nismo, Veilside, Vertex, VQ35 | 23 Comments »
