VIDEO> The Spirit of Formula D Las Vegas
My recent trip to Las Vegas for round 5 of Formula Drift was one of minimal luxuries. Joe Ayala and I could only afford one night in a hotel and a rental car was out of the question. Day one, we got up around noon, grabbed some “breakfast” at the Blueberry Hill next to the hotel, and began our journey to the track at around two. The trek consisted of roughly 2-3 miles, on foot, in 108 degree weather. Luckily for us, we found a shopping cart to carry our backpacks, camera cases, laptop bags, and of course my skateboard. Before long, we had covered the cart in MotorMavens cards (gotta represent) and found fun stuff to do on the way, such as drifting and dirt dropping the cart on the side of Las Vegas Blvd. Joe and I had fun overall, but boy were we glad when an old woman (with a legit mustache) stopped and asked us if we needed a ride. She drove us about a quarter of a mile to the gift shop of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, complaining the whole time about how she would be late to work. Haha!
Anyone will tell you that there’s really no way to describe a trip to FD Vegas other than “hot.” I had a great time making new acquaintances, like when my buddy Josh Herron took us by Forrest Wang‘s shop to BS and look at all his rad cars. I also had fun catching up with friends, like when the amazing Drew Fishbein and Ross Fairfield from OMGDrift let Joe and I stay in their hotel room because 18andFamous Abbitt Wilkerson was too busy napping to answer his door. Haha!
Regarding the video, I apologize for taking so long to finish it. The song I chose has a small introduction that requires specific footage to go with the audio. Hobo and I had arranged beforehand to film what I needed while in Vegas. Unfortunately, the lovely security team at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was very strict about when and who could drive in or out of the gates, so we just couldn’t make it happen. That being said, I had to acquire the help of up-and-coming photographer, videographer, actor, and stunt driver Joe Ayala to finish the timeline.
Special thanks to Jason at ContourHD for hooking us up with the cameras. These things are a blast to use! Definitely one of the most fun moments of the trip was running around the grid, sticking cameras on cars. Thanks again!
Enjoy! 
:: Justin Shreeve
COVERAGE> Formula Drift Las Vegas Highlights
Just like the gypsy camps in the days of old, this year's Las Vegas round of Formula Drift brought thieves out of the woodwork. I was really surprised to find out that former Formula D judge (and current Tanaka Racing Corvette driver) Alex Pfeiffer's helmet was stolen. I suppose someone was a fan of Alex's Hawaiian print helmet, which had the traditional Hawaiian plumeria flowers painted on one side. The only question I have about that is... Okay, thieves. Now that you have Alex's helmet, what the hell are you going to do with it? Read more...
VIDEO> 24 Hours of DriftMania
Making this video was absolutely insane, but an awesome experience. Drift Mania Canadian Championship Round 4 was the only night-time round scheduled for DMCC this year, and it was my first time really doing a night-time event outside of my hometown. (It was also my first time really partying all night outside of my hometown, but that’s probably for a different post.) The most staggering thing about this event was that the entire event took place on one day, with all the practice sessions and qualifying during the day, and competition starting in the evening and going into the night.
In this video, the Drift Posse team is represented by Brad Carlton driving a grey and black 240sx s13 and Pat Cyr in his trusty F20 turbo-powered hachiroku. Some other notable appearances include Matt Waldin in his flame spitting 350z, who once again proved that his motto of stone cold consistency is a proven formula to getting wins. Surprisingly, Fred Girard and the Rockstar Energy 240sx decided to put a happy note on what has otherwise been a pretty tough season by taking the #2 podium spot.
NEWSWORTHY> Riverside Adams Drift Night
OH SNAP> Tyler McQuarrie Wins Formula D Vegas!
Wow. Formula Drift at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was sooooo HOT. Ridiculously hot. Intensely hot. We just got back to Los Angeles, after an eight hour excursion, creeping at around 10mph in traffic-swamped freeway lanes all the way back to Southern California. This being said, we aren’t posting up our event story just yet… everyone in our group is about to pass out from the heat and exhaustion.
However, we just wanted to take a minute to congratulate Tyler McQuarrie on his First Place victory in Las Vegas! In case you weren’t following the Formula D Driftstream, Team Falken emerged victorious, with an all-Falken podium sweep once again, with Tyler McQuarrie bringing home First Place, Daijiro Yoshihara winning Second Place, and Vaughn Gittin Jr taking home Third Place.
We’d also like to welcome Las Vegas-based photographer Farrel Dee to the Motor Mavens Crew! We’ll let him write up a proper introduction later, but for now, we’d like to invite YOU to upload your Formula D Las Vegas and Vegas Pro Am photos to the MotorMavens Forums! We saw a lot of people shooting photos this weekend, and we’d love to see your photos with links to your website and/or Flickr pages! Post them up so everyone can see!
That’s it for now… sleep calls! However, don’t worry… we’ll be back very soon with our photos and observations from Formula D Las Vegas!
:: Antonio Alvendia
Upload your FD Las Vegas and Vegas Pro Am photos to the MotorMavens Forums by clicking here!
VIDEO> XDC Round 4 – Englishtown, NJ
Let me start this off by saying that it was a blast to return to the United States for a drift event this year. It’s been a solid year at LEAST (maybe a year and a bit even??!) since I’ve been in the Land of Freedom and Hotdogs, and I gotta say it was good to be back. This video covers the one Drift Posse member who was available to make it out to XDC Round 4 at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey; Pat Cyr in his F20 powered AE86 coupe, as well as the stylings of some of the top players in the Xtreme Drift Circuit today. This includes event winner Matt Waldin in the two-tone 350z, Steve Angerman in the Gardella Racing Solstice, and the series points leader Chelsea Denofa in the wicked green NST BMW E36.
The competition was fun and everything, but honestly the most exciting part for me was just being in a different country, and realizing really how different our cultures can be, even though we only live a few hours away from each other. The biggest and most obvious difference though, is food. Crossing the border into the States is kinda like crossing this line of sugar, chips, and fast food, and I love it. My first order of business once we hit a gas station across the border was to buy myself some Mountain Dew Code Red, along with some Milk Duds; with a 5th Avenue Bar for dessert (I can still feel my teeth hurting). It may surprise you, but none of these is available in Canada, and as a self-proclaimed sweets aficionado, you can imagine that I was in heavenly bliss for basically the rest of the ride to New Jersey. (more…)
PERSPECTIVE> Drifting Changed My Life
That's why this story by Jonathan McWhorter was so compelling to me. It's not about the money or the fame. It's not about your company budget or your connections. It's not even how long you've been in the industry. Those are not the things that make this industry so awesome. I could tell you but Jon did such a great job - I'll leave it in his capable hands. After all, he reminded me. So, without further ado... Read more...
VIDEO> Formula D Atlanta Part 2
Experience Atlanta | FD Round 2 | Part 2 from Justin Shreeve Films on Vimeo.
Formula D Round 2 Atlanta has been a subject of the past now, but our boy Justin Shreeve had extra footage and decided to make a sequel to his original FD Atlanta video. In my opinion Justin did a great job showing the great experience a Formula D event can have on someone. These events are more than just the cars and drifting to me. It’s about the people, friends, vendors, and of course the girls! I’m not going to lie though, that clip of Daijiro Yoshihara dirt dropping was sick! Great job Justin Michael Shreeve!
::Yoshi Shindo
COVERAGE> Big Guns at Formula D New Jersey
Thanks to our friends at YoParts and Belle 1 Communications, we were able to watch Formula D live; the DriftStream live feed was really fun and entertaining! It was like an old school AOL chat room with tons of drifting fans blurting out information and opinions; I was impressed at how many people got involved in the live chat, cheering for (and sometimes clowning) drivers and teams! All in all, it was super fun - and I quite honestly was pretty disappointed that I had to shut down my computer in the middle of the Top 16 so that I could drive to my friend's house for a party/bbq (it was my fault - I should have just driven over there early so I could watch the entire thing at his house).
Wall Speedway is a pretty interesting track. It was originally built for circle track cars, but somehow was able to re-purpose itself for drifting, thanks to a lot of phone calls, legwork, and planning by the Formula Drift staff. Wall Speedway is also the most extreme banking that Formula Drift competition cars run on, with the most extreme sections of the track being 30 degrees - a really big difference in comparison to Irwindale Speedway's 18 degrees of incline. Read more...
COVERAGE> Formula Drift New Jersey Preview!
We're excited to report that some new cars were debuted at Wall Speedway Read more...
CARSPOTTING> Negative Offset Z33 350Z in AZ
I have a long history in the import car scene which dates back to 1996 - I started out with a B16A-swapped 1990 Civic DX hatchback. I owned about seven Hondas before I moved on to Nissans - eventually taking a 1993 white S13 240SX hatchback from bone stock to an SR20DET-swapped 385whp beast sitting on 18x9.5 +12 and 18x10.5 +15 Takata green Volk TE37s with rolled/pulled stock fenders. Ever since then, I've been into the wheel fitment scene and carried over what I learned from my S13 to my current daily driver - the 350Z you see pictured here.
I have mad respect for all kinds of cars, including Hondas, Japanese classics, VIP-style, American muscle and anything with sick stance. I hope to bring a little something new to MotorMavens and expose some types of vehicles that haven't been fully showcased here yet as I uncover what AZ has to offer.
The style I was aiming for with my 2003 Z33 350Z 6MT Touring model was inspired by my previously owned S13. After putting aggressive offsets on the 240, I was hooked. I knew that when it was time to step up with my Z, I would have to take it up a notch. My Z had several sets of wheels on it before I finally ended up with what you see in these pics. None of my previous wheels were nearly aggressive enough and thus began my quest for what I like to call "gangster wheel fitment." Read more...
VIDEO> One Of One Show at Long Beach
Fatlace OneOfOne Showcase | FD Long Beach Extra Footage
So yesterday I was sitting at my desk, cleaning up my external hard drive. I realized I’ve got TONS of extra footage of Formula Drift Long Beach and quite a bit of footage from the Fatlace OneOfOne Showcase that didn’t make it into the final edit.
My girl had the car for the day, and I wasn’t getting anything else done… so I decided to make another edit. This one has a much lighter vibe than the first, with no color grading and very little audio work; just lots of familiar faces, pretty cars, and loud engines.
Enjoy.
:: Justin Shreeve
Vimeo.com/JustinShreeve
YouTube.com/Shreeveco
More Formula D Long Beach 2010 stories on MOTORMAVENS
COVERAGE> Formula D Fun at Long Beach
This past weekend was certainly an exciting one. I was excited to see all the new cars that were debuting at Long Beach, as well as seeing a lot of good friends from different parts of the world, even if it would be only for a brief moment. Unfortunately, when you're working at the event like I am, you're usually hustling about, going from one spot to the next, and you don't have as much time as you'd like to just chill and spend time with good friends. This event was definitely like that for me.
I was trying to juggle shooting photos for the website while overseeing the Motor Mavens Crew's event promotions efforts. Not an easy task! Also, on the Saturday of the event, I was asked to help out with the filming of The Grid, which is a UK-based motorsports television show that airs in 120 countries around the world! And... on top of all that, we debuted the new MotorMavens X DSTROYR "Follow The Leader" shirt at our booth, which was managed by super designer Jon Chase, the creative genius behind the brands DSTROYR and Famous Stars and Straps. I and the entire Motor Mavens Crew definitely had our hustle mode switched ON this weekend! Read more...
COVERAGE> Remix Car Show and More XDC
Meanwhile, I'm also looking forward to seeing more from Remix. I'll be pretty honest - I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked to in the car show area looking at cars, because I was busy in the Irwindale grid area talking to and hanging out with all the grassroots drifters from miscellaneous regions of the United States while they were visiting Southern Cali. However, from what I've seen thus far at the Remix Show, I like it! The entire event had an intriguing vibe to it... for those of us "experiencing" the show for the first time, it was definitely different and fun. The first thing we noticed is that there were a hell of a lot of girls at this event - everything from high end "name brand" models to no-name "new talent." As I mentioned previously, I decidedly focused most of my attention on the drifters on the track and on the grid, but in all honesty, there were quite a few times I had to double take and say "damnnnnn" when I saw certain pieces of eye candy sweetening up the show. (This was definitely the type of show that our boy Yoshi Shindo would go bananas at, I'm not gonna lie.)
Back to the cars, I have to say that there were a lot of really impressive looking cars at the show. Everyone is stepping up their wheel game, and it's awesome! Read more...
VIDEO> Risky Devil Puts the "Fun" in Funyuns
Fresh off the press! Here’s the newest video from Tim Tulov of T2 Films and AJ G. of the infamous Chicago drift gang Risky Devil. The two collaborated on this video to bring you what is probably the funnest Sunday ever! From hanging out with bums, to smashing into stuff, to paying off security guards…this video delivers. Definitely give this video a gander, but I have to warn you this video contains some explicit language and it’s probably best to say its not work safe. Enjoy!
::Dax Rodriguez
WEBMINING> Ebisu Summer Drift Matsuri 2009
This video of the 2009 Summer Drift Matsuri at the famed Ebisu Circuit is just plain awesome. It’s got tons of variety in cars and courses and lots of high speed fly-bys. I haven’t been to Ebisu yet personally, but by the looks of this video, it’s no wonder everyone is so crazy about Ebisu. I can’t wait to go!
Check it out!
::Justin Shreeve
VIDEO> The Spirit of Irwindale Formula D
The+Spirit+of+Irwindale+Formula+D
There’s just something about Irwindale Speedway at the end of the season. After all the teams in the Formula Drift Championship have faced countless trials and tribulations, dealing with mechanical problems and financial stress of how to get their cars and teams from event to event as the series travels all over the country; the Formula D homecoming at Irwindale Speedway for the last event of the year has a different feeling to it than the other events in the series.
The drivers and teams in the points race are anxious, knowing that they must be on point and professional every step of the way, as even the smallest mechanical hiccup or driver error could take them out of the running and give the advantage to an opposing team.
At the same time, the fans are excited to see the cars and drivers return to the birthplace of American drifting after they have spent the whole year on tour, cutting their teeth and taking their epic fender-to-fender dogfights to race tracks across the nation in an attempt to attract more sponsors, build more publicity, and most importantly… attract new drifting fans.
I’ve been traveling with the Formula Drift series since the very first event; since the series started in 2004… and every year, as the season ends at Irwindale Speedway, there’s a shared feeling of excitement and pride of accomplishment running through the pits.
This video, by Motor Mavens shooter Travis Hodges, is our attempt to capture that feeling. And it was captured entirely with two cameras, the new Canon 7D digital HD SLR and the Twenty20 ContourHD.
We hope you enjoy the video, and CONGRATULATIONS to all the teams, drivers, umbrella girls, and FANS that make the Formula D series what it is. RESPECT!!!
:: Antonio Alvendia
GALLERY> The Irwindale Experience
When I arrived at LAX on Thursday, I got my rental car and drove straight into L.A. traffic to get to Irwindale Speedway, working my way though all that traffic while trying to find a good radio station to listen to. I finally arrived at the Speedway about 45 minutes later.
Walking though the pits, watching all the vendors getting set up for the event, I noticed the pit area is so much bigger than the one we have at Evergreen Speedway where Round 5 was held . This was a subtle hint that more vendors and drivers would be attending this event than the one at Evergreen.
Another thing that I noticed was the weather. Seattle summer includes two months of decent heat and sun after which it's back to the infamous rain season that happens to have started a couple of weeks ago. So, even though I caught myself wiping sweat off my forehead every few minutes, I was enjoying every minute of the sun. I wish it was like this in the Northwest.
Fast forward to the opening day of the Final round of Formula Drift. I got there bright and early to start taking photos and meet lots of new people. Since I'm pretty new to MotorMavens, a lot of people didn't know my name or my face. I took that as the perfect opportunity to introduce myself to the locals. The attitude that California people have is really great! Everyone was friendly and awesome to hang out with! Read more...
VIDEO> The Chris Forsberg Story
“Chris Forsberg: Where I came From” Presented by NOS Energy Drink from NOS Energy Drink on Vimeo.
I just received a link to this video where Formula D driver Chris Forsberg gives a heartfelt explanation of his roots in drifting and where he came from, not to mention what types of trials and tribulations he and his crew had to endure to become the first successful privateer team in the Formula Drift series.
I love hearing about and reading stories of underdogs who worked hard and persevered through tough times to make it to the top. Chris’s story is one of those… it’s pretty compelling.
Chris is now leading the points in both the Formula D championship and the Tires.com Triple Crown (in case you didn’t know, it’s another points championship with a cash award, which is why people are running those huge stickers on their windshields). If Chris wins at Irwindale, he will be the first driver to do both on his way to his first Formula D title. IF Chris wins, it will also be the first time that a drifter with no other motorsports background become the champion. We will find out soon enough, THIS WEEKEND Oct. 15-16 at Irwindale Speedway for the Formula D Finale!
See you there! Make sure to stop by the Eat Sleep Race booth to get some Motor Mavens stickers and t-shirts!
:: Antonio Alvendia
CARSPOTTING> We Dig Northwest Style!
COVERAGE> Formula Drift Seattle, Part 1
However, some teams had a longer day at the track than others... when I arrived to the Formula D pit area, I noticed Robbie Nishida's Dynamic Autosports/Hankook Tire 350Z up on jackstands, in the dusty, dirt covered pit area of Evergreen Speedway. Apparently, just a few minutes before I arrived, Robbie's 350Z made contact with the wall on one of his practice runs, severely damaging the left side of his car. Above is a photo of the car, with hood, fender, and suspension off... as the Dynamic team hustles to collect parts to repair the car in time for tomorrow's main qualifying session. Read more...
