This has been an extremely busy weekend for the Motor Mavens crew in Southern Cali. Travis Hodges and I went out to bake in the sun at the IDRC Season Finale at Fontucky Dragway (aka Auto Club Dragway/California Speedway) all day Saturday. We’ll show you some of what we captured at IDRC soon enough, but first I wanted to shine a light on a special event that took place today (Sunday) at Irwindale Speedway.
Even though I was still exhausted and burnt from our skin cancerous Saturday in Fontana, I somehow dragged myself out of bed and prepared my camera gear for yet another day at the track. While I found it extremely hard to pry myself from the ice cold air conditioning blasting throughout my house, I reminded myself that I made a commitment to show up. My friend Luke Pakula kept dropping me friendly reminders about the event the Slide Assassins guys were throwing at Irwindale Speedway, so I wanted to come through and show support of their event, on behalf of the Motor Mavens crew.
After all, the Motor Mavens movement is all about supporting grassroots drifting! Everyone on our team does their best to show how much we genuinely care about the scene by being out there as much as we possibly can. Actions speak louder than words, so hopefully people will notice that our site doesn’t only cover the big events like Formula D and All Star Bash… Motor Mavens shows love by shining a light on some of the smaller events as well. And luckily for us, some of the grassroots drifters have been showing us love back!
We just can’t tell you enough how much it means to us when we see people showing their support of the site by rocking our stickers on their cars, by leaving comments on our blog posts, by reposting our links onto different forums, blogs, Facebook and Twitter pages! It is especially means a lot to us when people voice their support when they see us at events. We love that people appreciate our site, because we put a whole lot of heart and hard work into it!
THANK YOU to all those who have shown support of our site! We do this for you!
In the pits at Irwindale, a whole lot of Slide Assassins cars and crew were congregated around Mike Essa’s Tech Trix Motorsports tent. I also noticed that a bunch of their cars seemed to rock a similar sponsor sticker, PAC Auto Body, who can be reached by visiting the website on the door of this S13. Seems like these Rays Gram Lights wheels are another common thread that holds the Slide Assassins together? Good choice on buying good wheels!
When I walked up close to Mike’s car, I noticed he was still rocking some MotorMavens stickers on his car from Seattle Formula D. Thanks a lot for continuing to rep our stickers, Mike! Awesome to see they haven’t been peeled off.
This particular gold/bronze FC3S RX7 looked familiar. I remember seeing this thing fenderless and furious, spitting flames out at Willow Springs during All Star Bash Weekend. It now sports new rear overfenders, and some thinner tires, which make it look light years better. If only it were yellow, it would sorta make you think of a car driven by a certain Samurai from Marionette, wouldn’t it?
Speaking of reminders, this shiny, super clean red SC300 (or SC400? I didn’t look inside to check) sort of made me think of Takahiro Ueno’s awesome Vertex JZZ30 Soarer. Well, I don’t recall ever seeing Ueno rocking orange wheels and emblems, but just imagine how incredible and classy this SC would look with kouki bumpers and lights, a Vertex lower lip kit all around, and some fat lip wheels?
By the way, if you guys like the SC300/SC400/Soarer like I do, I could easily be persuaded to show you some examples of cars I like, if you ask nicely.
Also near the Tech Trix and Slide Assassins home base tents, there were a bunch of Slide Assassins ladies (the girlfriend crew, I assume?) cooking up some steak and chicken tacos, and providing cold drinks for the drivers. Awesome. Good lookin out, ladies!
I saw this very clean S13 hatchback in the pit area, who apparently just recently got some wide body fenders, as they were still unpainted. This car also rocks a dealer plate, whuch makes me think the owner is very, very smart. Why deal with Cali smog hassles and stupid state referee stations… get yourselves hooked up with a dealer plate that you can transfer to any car you drive, allowing you to legally drive any car “temporarily.” Dope. I want one!
I haven’t seen a Sileighty this clean in a while! I can’t remember seeing a Sileighty (especially a Strawberry Face Sileighty) that I actually liked in a long, long time. This one surprised me with its clean graphics-free body and shiny black paint, not to mention the understated Super Made aero. The wheels aren’t Super Made, they’re Sportmax Made. But they’re cheap, and I’m sure they’re just temporary kicks for what looks like a high class car. All things in due time, I’m sure putting together a super clean super well made S13 like this wasn’t cheap. Different car owners have different priorities.
By the way, in case any readers aren’t familiar with the term “Strawberry Face” Sileighty, let me explain. (I think everyone probably already knows this, though…?) In Japan, the S13 is commonly referred to as an “ichi-san” (Or 13 – literally, it means one-three) and the S15 is referred to as an “ichigo.” (It means one-five. Get it?) Well in Japanese, the word “ichigo” also means “strawberry,” so people refer to these S15 faced S13s as “ichigo face” or “strawberry face” Sileighties. (Sileighty = Silvia face + 180SX body for those who don’t know.) This had been the term in Japan for years, and I didn’t even hear of the S13.5 term until much later, from an internet forum guy. Wait, so do people call an S14 faced S13 an S13.4? Cause if so, that sounds wack as hell. And I’m not the hugest fan of how those look anyway, so whatever.
Here’s the rear. Like I said, this Strawberry face Sileighty looks gorgeous. Super clean. Awesome body!
This purple zenki S14 looked pretty rock n roll in the pits! Purple with zebra pattern front bumper and a matching valve cover? This definitely looks like something from a Mattley Crue outfit. Ah, but I wonder if the owner of this car has matching purple pants? If the driver were in Team Mulsanne, then he would.
Here’s Luke Pakula’s newly repainted AE86 turbo… but wait. That isn’t a 4AG in there! Nice headlight sticker, Luke!
Here’s Luke’s green AE86 once again, with a RAD Experience sticker on his rear bumper. I remember meeting those guys at Nisei Showoff, and they told me they would love to have us come out to their events, so I even sent them a “nice to meet you” email. However, nobody got back to me, and today, I found out that the event already passed, so they epic failed on that one. Good job guys. I would have wanted to go!
Here’s Cool Hand Luke initiating early at Irwindale. Since there weren’t any K-rails in the middle of the track like their normally are for big events, the track officials were pretty hesitant to let us go down into the track area for insurance reasons, so I tried my hand at shooting through the fence on the outside of the Irwindale oval. Let me tell you, shooting through the fence sucks when you’re shooting stills… but it’s cool, I’m glad I tried it out on a day where there wasn’t a big event happening.
On Luke’s back window, I spotted an old school Cipher Garage sticker, which definitely made me smile. He said he’s been rocking the sticker since he first got his car, which is cool, because it means he’s had that sticker on his car since way before we ever met!
Taka Aono was also in attendance, driving his turbocharged 4AG powered AE86 to get in some practice runs before the big event next month. Taka wasn’t the only one out at Irwindale practicing though… I saw Justin Pawlak ripping through the course like a madman, busting perfect lines and high speed in his 20B turbo powered Mazda RX8. I also saw Jeff Jones and Carl Rydquist out there, and even Tommy Roberts and Matt Powers.
In fact, here’s a photo of JTP and his RX8, taken from the ground level by our homie Teddy Danh from Mulsanne. Very nice!!!
This RPS13 caught my eye as it passed me on its way back to the pits, because it had a crazy rainbow reflective sparkle material covering its hood! I wonder if that thing causes glare for the driver; it was bright as the sun!
Also rolling back to the pits was Kelvin Arreola, who drove his homemade FC3S RX7 convertible. Haha, it was so funny to see that he made it into a convertible and kept driving it after he rolled his car at Formula D Las Vegas. Best of luck Kelvin! Those good offset 16×8 Starion wheels may be less expensive than some aftermarket Japanese wheels, but they look every bit as aggressive due to the concave face. Search the junkyard for these wheels! They’re getting rare in Southern Cali nowadays!
Here’s Matt Powers attacking the outer bank… he was driving well, with a high speed and early entry, but on one of his runs, he hit one of those super tall cone things, sending the black base part of the cone flying out from under his car, taking the rear bumper with it.
Here’s another photo of Matt’s big cone hit, from where Teddy Danh was shooting, on the other side of the track. Awesome shot of the pylon flying, Teddy!
That’s it from the Slide Assassins Sunday Session at Irwindale today. Next time you see Irwindale photos from us, you can bet they’ll be much closer to the action! Thanks for reading!
:: Antonio Alvendia
Pingback : SLIDE ASSASSINS' DRIFT EVENT @ IRWINDALE(house of drift) SEPT.6th (SUNDAY) - Page 11 - Zilvia.net Forums | Nissan 240SX (Silvia) and Z (Fairlady) Car Forum
rad, would liked to have gone but the pool was calling me instead.
rad, would liked to have gone but the pool was calling me instead.
Sorry, forgot to add great post! Can’t wait to see your next post!
Good fun yesterday! Don’t know why they didn’t let you out on the track though, I was out shooting in the middle lol. dope pics as always Antonio!
Looks like it was a great event.. I fail for not being there.
Keep shooting these grassroots events… Its Great stuff…
Congrats to the Slide Assassins for a smooth Irwindale event!!!
Sick Coveredge! I would like to Thank you on behalf of Slide Assassins for comming out and supporting the grass roots. Means ALOT to us for the support.
sweet coverage!!
im lovin the lexus with its simple looks.
and yes antonio, you should make a feature for the cars you like/love/drive.
hehe. lets see those old skool toyota’s and make me happy. lol. ^_^
Good pictures. I like the one of the crimson RPS13 w/ da glitter hood. I like how there is a shadow covering most of the drivers face. Very cool.
Great Coverage Guys! I had a lot of fun. Great Event, Great Food, and Great People!! Lets do it again!
Great Coverage Guys! I had a lot of fun. Great Event, Great Food, and Great People!! Lets do it again!
It was nice meeting you yesterday and I’m glad you guys came out to our little event. Keep up with the great pics and awesome coverage!
thanks for the awesome coverage guys. It was an awesome day at the House of Drift. Those tacos the ladies made were bomb.
Wow awesome!!
thanks for covering the event dude!
Great coverage! Thanks for showing up and supporting the grassroots scene. The Slide Assassins did a great job with the event. It was also great meeting you on Sunday, hope to see you guys around more often.
Grrrrrreat coverage as always, motormavens rocks!!
You guys are a great asset to motorsports and our car culture.
Please make more decals, we would like to support you, the way you support us.
Love, Ernie
Sweet! Thanks for coming out Antonio!!!
AWSOME coverage guys! Beautiful pics.
i was there yesterday, and you couldn’t have put the story any better. 10 thumbs up!
Can’t wait to see what went down at the IDRC to!
peace
Good meeting you yesterday, and very cool pictures.
This was a sick event and having good coverage makes it that much sweeter. Big ups to you guys for coming out, hope to see you at the next one.
Looks like a lot of fun! Nice pictures of Luke’s car.
Hopefully another event soon.
Awesome coverage. Can’t wait to see more coverage from you guys
I’m also been haggled to post on her by yours truly(Luke pakakalaka=boom), Great event guys. Cant wait for the next one. No more late night tuning Ernie.
Hey, those were nice shots, i wish i was able to attend irwindale to see it in person. Props for the pictures, good enough for the world to see. Glad to see people starting to run at Irwindale again!
~charlie
Wow great event lukes car is badass!
Hope to see more of tgese guys on here,,, they tear it up!!!
Great post! I want more!!!
Good stuff fellas
Bergenholtz Racing would like to say thanks to slide assassins for having us. It was the most relaxing day of drifitng we have ever had. I felt like we were at the beach for God’s sake. No stress just plain fun drifitng. Events like that are sooooo cool. We had a lot of fun testing for once. Please have more. Thank you Slide Assassins!
Awesome Job Slide Assasins!
Awesome event!
Too bad we missed it. Broke two cars and tried desperately to make at least one work.
As usual, awesome coverage Antonio.
See you guys soon.
Epic coverage indeed,
the photos speak more than a thousand words here
Oh heck yeah!!! Great pix and awesome coverage. Keep up the good work guys.
Awesome coverage MotorMavens!!!!
Thanks for coming out to our event and making us look good, I know it was ruff!! But on behalf of Slude Assassins and the drift community….. Big Ups!!!!!
wooo! go luke!
great event, thank you slide assasins
YES I want to see your fav. SC/SOARER’s. Post up your best shots!!!
Btw, if you get the chance, check out my TT V8 6-Spd SC!:
http://uzztt.wordpress.com
dang dude super epic coverage meng, hope to see ya’ll at the next event. I had fun that day for my first event and my first time driving my hatch, good thing is there are more good times to come. Slide Assassins are too legit =] thanks again
awesome shots!
see you around.
thanks slide assasins for the event and tacos.
thanks to motormavens for the cool pic.
see you guys at FD irwindale ProAm!
Antonio good write up. I enjoy seeing the grassroots cars in other regions.
@ om1kron
I love random quoter’s like that, quite hilarious, I post here all the time. sorry for not writing an essay jerking off the journalist. I’ll come through with the media fluffer on the next post. Promise.
Awesome coverage of some dope a$$ drifting!! The photos are awesome!!!!
awesome coverage!!! thanks MotorMavens…we need stickers to rep!!
lol @ om1kron
siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!!! good job!
Hi Luke *waves*
great coverage!!! thanks for coming!!
nice coverage antonio!!! cant wait til i get my s13 up and running 😛 no crazy wheels but maybe some nice offset old school wheels 😛
Pingback : Slide Assassins Sunday Session | Car pictures and car wallpapers by the thousand
i love the corolla and your drifting is maaad what is that colour an the corolla i want to spray my car in that colour
Very nice. Thanks for sharing with me!
1996 Honda Civic HB Midori Green
I like this site, sharp design! is it from a template?