COVERAGE> Bisimoto Drag Hondas at Qdoba
A lot of people were crowded around the Bisimoto Honda Insight drag car and the hoodless 700hp D16Z powered Civic wagovan that Bisi drives on the street (Sshhhhh! We hope that we don't have any cops reading this!). Luckily, we were able to use our MotorMavenly powers of persuasion (or coercion) to ask people to move out of the way for just a little bit so we could reposition the cars and snap these photos! Read more...
VIDEO> In Car Drifting with ContourHD POV
In Cars from Justin Shreeve on Vimeo.
The idea for this video came from a night of goofing off with friends and tossing ideas around. When this song began to play in the background, I knew I had to edit a drift video to it, but not just any drift video. That’s when I decided to make a video using only the help of wearable/mountable cameras. Many questions arise when considering such a project. How will I get my hands on enough cameras? My old, broken GoPro SD sure wasn’t going to cut it. Then, once I have enough cameras, how can I mount them in ways that keep the viewer interested throughout the entire video? I can assure you, this was a slightly daunting prospect that quickly found it’s home in the recesses of my mind. That is, until Antonio Alvendia introduced me to Jason from Contour at the Apex’i/Lexus SC430 debut party in Seattle. I swear, that guy knows everyone!
This video is far from perfect, but I feel it captures some of the excitement and carefree qualities of drifting that are often difficult to see or feel through a lens or computer screen. I chose to leave the colors/exposure/contrast/everything alone with this video. There is zero color grading and very little audio mixing. My intent was to not only create a fun, relaxed drifting video, but to also show the grassroots drivers what these cameras are capable of straight out of the box.
A huge thanks goes out to Jason at ContourHD for making this project a possibility. Without the help of the ContourHD 1080p, my dream of an all point-of-view drift video may have never come to fruition.
:: Justin Shreeve
CONTOURHD Cameras
Shreeve Films
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...
COVERAGE> MotorMavens at Nisei Showoff, v.2
Now it's time for me to get back in the swing of things, and publish more of my own photos from Nisei. Since I was pretty busy helping some of our new crew members get started in doing event coverage at Nisei, I didn't actually start walking around to take photos until later in the afternoon.
At the end of Nisei Showoff, Ken Miyoshi always asks me to emcee the awards ceremony. It's always a good time giving out the trophies to the car owners, but sometimes I'm not sure which cars I'm giving awards to, because it's not like people drive their cars up to get their trophies or anything. Either way, the big trophies go to the cars that the Showoff judges deem to be the best, but to be honest, I have a different scale of measuring how dope a car is. That being said, I suppose getting a photo-feature on MotorMavens is my way of pointing out my favorite cars at the show. Drumroll please... Let's begin. Read more...
OH SNAP> Post Up Your Nisei Showoff Photos!
I met a whole TON of people today at the 10 year Anniversary of Nisei Showoff in Downtown LA’s Little Tokyo! Most people were taking photos, whether they were with DSLRs, point&shoot cameras, cameraphones, and even disposable film cameras.
This is the section of the site where I’d love to invite YOU to post up your photos on MotorMavens! We want to see what photos you came up with, whether you think they’re photographically amazing or not. We just want you to show us your favorite cars (and scenes) from Nisei Showoff 2010!
We’ll let Ken Miyoshi from Import Showoff pick the best photo gallery from Nisei Showoff, and the winner will receive a special prize from ShowoffCafe/MotorMavens! (more…)
VIDEO> Rauh Welt Porsches on Japan Streets!
I just posted up a Papercuts story about 0-60 Magazine’s newest issue, which includes a feature on Nakai san and his Rauh Welt Porsches and on one of my favorite cars of all time – the AE86 Corolla GT-S, but I thought I should just go ahead and post this video as well! This video features clips from 0-60′s photo shoot in Japan, and some handheld video footage so that you can hear the Rauh Welt Porsche 911′s AMAZING exhaust note as it cruises through Japanese city streets and freeways!
Enjoy!
:: Antonio Alvendia
PAPERCUTS> AE86 & Rauh Welt in 0-60 Mag
It might have been just a kewinkydink, but since we all celebrated Hachiroku Day, August 6th, this past Friday... I thought it would be cool to point out that O-60 Magazine just printed an in depth article about the AE86 this month, in their column, The Sixty.
0-60 knows that most die hard AE86 owners are pretty crazy about their cars, so they were looking for a super clean AE86 to shoot for this month's feature. They apparently heard that I had some pretty clean AE86s in my collection, and called me up to ask if they would be able to do a photo shoot with one of my cars. Actually, they were asking if I'd be willing to shoot one of my cars for the magazine... of course! Everything was all going to be good, until we spoke further, and I realized that they were actually looking for a bone stock AE86 Corolla GT-S. Ummm... oops. None of my cars are bone stock. Read more...
FORUM> Happy Hachiroku Day! 8/6/2010
The very first time I heard the term "Hachiroku Day" coined was when my good friend, HerbrockOne from Cipher Garage called me up one morning and greeted me, "Hey man. Happy 8/6!" I just had to bust out laughing. I think this happened sometime in the late 1990s (damn, we're old)... but we are really crazy about our AE86s, and for some reason the number 86 just seems to jump out at us wherever we're at.
When we're ordering food or something, Herb and I always seem to get receipts that say "Order # 86" and once when I was at the airport, I've even had to board an airplane at Gate 86... hahahaha!!! I'm also pretty sure I'm not the only one who's stolen the number 86 "plastic table number" from Carl's Jr restaurants (at least, if you live in the United States).
I just wanted to alert everyone else that we've been starting up a thread in our MotorMavens Forum that includes pictures of everyone's favorite AE86s! Please add your own favorites to the thread, if you haven't done so already! Read 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...
OH SNAP> Happy July 4th from All Star Bash
Most of us in the United States are celebrating Independence Day today, the Fourth of July. This weekend, Mike Kim, Larry Chen and I represented the Southern Cali chapter of the MotorMavens Crew were out at Willow Springs International Raceway, shooting photos at the Ziptied/Just Drift All Star Bash drifting festival.
We had an awesome time at All Star Bash (as always), as it’s always good to catch up with old friends and meet lots of new drifting friends. This year, I think that the cars that traveled the furthest distance to be at ASB were from Canada’s west coast… somewhere near Vancouver. Big ups to the Drift Union guys, driving out with their super sick purple tire eaters.
We’re still in the midst of all the July 4th festivities, so we have some more drinking and celebrating to do… sorry for the delay! More photos from All Star Bash coming soon, but we need to head out to a friend’s party right now!
Happy 4th of July from the MotorMavens Crew!
:: Antonio Alvendia
PS: Our MotorMavens Northwest crew was out shooting drifting this weekend as well! Stay tuned to MotorMavens for a super cool 2JZGTE feature story from Yoshi Shindo! Great work this weekend, Yoshi!
CARSPOTTING> AC Schnitzer E34 BMW 5 Series
It’s a rarity to see a 16 year old car in as pristine condition as this. Since my encounters with most 5 series bimmers leave much to be desired, it's always a pleasure to discover one that has been built right - call it a pleasant surprise. This specimen is so clean that, to the untrained eye, it appears almost to have just rolled off the Bavarian assembly line yesterday.
You may recall that, back in the 1990s, the BMW 5 Series was the top mid-sized sedan in its class - a class with very little competition. It was a must have for dads all across suburbia. Well, little has changed since then except that the 5 series has grown up to become a more elegant machine jam packed with enough gizmos and gadgetry to make a technologically inclined person go into mental overload. I could go on and 0n about my take on how the technological interface in modern BMWs dilutes the driving experience, that's not what we're here for. Today, it's all about Adam Luong and his little piece of 5 Series heaven.
It was actually Antonio who first spotted this fine specimen at the Wek'fest in San Francisco. When he saw it again at the Bimmerfest in Pasadena, he told me about it and caught my full attention when he said that it was the cleanest E34 he'd ever seen. With a guy like Antonio saying that, I just had to see for myself. When I saw the car in person, I just had to agree. Read more...
VIDEO> Ronal Racing Rims Rebarreled by Rotiform!
Wheel Mavens, where you at?! This past weekend, I drove down to Rotiform in Orange County CA to drop off my wheels to be refinished. I’ve been steadily working on the newest MotorMavens Project Car, Project BMW E39 Touring, in attempt to step out of my ” vintage Japanese car shell” and learn a bit more about European cars, and connect with the community as well. I’ve been learning a lot about BMWs lately (like how BMW power window regulators are not your friends), and have been enjoying the process.
I had to get my wheels rebored out to fit my E39′s larger center bore, as the factory BMW CB is normally 72.56… and my E39′s factory CB is 74.1mm. Thanks a lot E39 designers at BMW! WTH.
Anyway, in order to fit my new 19×9 and 19×10 wheels on my 5 series BM double, I had to rebore them out. However, when I was dropping off the wheels, my eye was caught on a couple sets of these super aggressive, concave face, super fat lip Ronal Racing wheels. Needless to say, I was JOCKING them!
Enough typing… just watch the video. If you’re a wheel guy like I am, you’ll be drooling all over your keyboard…
:: Antonio Alvendia
WEBMINING> BMW E38 740iL Slammed Sedan
I love the way it looks from the back! The E38 has such a nice looking body style! In fact, I'd love to daily drive an E38 long wheelbase BMW myself if the car's gas consumption wasn't so damn outrageous. Screw it though... let's put all thoughts of practicality aside for just a moment, and just admire this 740iL from behind. What a great looking piece of ass. Classy too! Read more...
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> Concorso Ferrari on Pasadena Streets
We don't normally attend these types of events to shoot coverage for our website, but since this all happened right next to where Antonio lives, we figured we should check it out. Anyway, who wouldn't want to spend the day with tons of beautiful Italian cars? I was dumbfounded by how many gorgeous looking Ferraris turned up to fill up all of Pasadena's famous Colorado Boulevard. Read more...
SHOPAHOLIC> GMG Racing Open House
For you MotorMavens readers out there who aren't familiar with GMG (a Porsche tuning company), here's a little info. Founded in 2001 by James Sofronas and Fabryce Kutyba, GMG quickly rose up in the ranks as a premier tuning facility through racing in the SCCA World Challenge GT Series and ALMS race series. The guys were able to draw on their extensive racing background (with knowledge gained through painstaking R&D) to bring racing performance to their customers' street cars. GMG's primary focus is Porsches, but their shop doesn't shy away from Ferraris, Audis and Volkswagens - they cater to all German/Italian automobiles. Read more...
COVERAGE> Daijiro Yoshihara’s Triumph in Atlanta
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> Rod&Kulture Nostalgic Dragfest, Pt.1
Even though I've always admired and respected cars like 1968 Camaros and Shelby Daytona coupes, I'll honestly admit that when I was younger, I was never really interested in musclecars or hot rodding either - probably because I completely misunderstood what hot rod culture was all about! I used to think that hot rods were only for old guys that wore unfashionable Hawaiian print shirts with their cargo shorts, long white socks, and military trucker hats bearing the name of some sort of Navy vessel they worked on back in the day. I just didn't get it. The whole hot rod scene just didn't connect for me - possibly because most of the muscle car owners from my high school were always at odds with the import car crowd. Their high-and-mighty attitudes and constant disparagement of the 4-cylinder cars I loved created a social barrier that made it hard for Japanese car enthusiasts like me to connect to and learn about the cooler aspects of hot rodding.
It actually wasn't until I began building and restoring my 1973 Corolla 1600SR that I began seeing a lot of parallels between the Japanese nostalgic car culture that I love and the whole hot rod and scene. I don't want to get too deep into this subject (at least not in this story), but let's just say I'm a big fan of traditional hot rods, retro funny cars, and diggers now! This being said, I obviously couldn't miss Rod&Kulture Magazine's annual Dragfest at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, CA this weekend! Read more...
VIDEO> Colors of the Industry by BowlsLA
Formula D LBC: Colors of the Industry from BOWLS on Vimeo.
This morning, I received a Facebook link from a group of guys who are friends of the MotorMavens Crew. While I certainly thought we weren’t going to run any more videos from Formula D Long Beach on our site (we just can’t run every single video that comes out, you know)… I thought that this video should go up anyway, as the last piece from Long Beach, as we move towards our coverage of Formula D Atlanta.
This video was produced by our friends from Bowls LA. If you don’t know what Bowls is, then you need to step your game up! Bowls LA is one of the coolest shops in Southern Cali, blending streetwear, kicks, and motor-driven lifestyle… located smack dab in the middle of the historic SGV, nestled in between the San Gabriel Valley foothills and the “watch out for door dings and crazy drivers” part of town where everyone goes for Southern Cali’s best Chinese food.
I thought this video was cool, because it was a little different than the normal “car porn” videos that people normally make – this one had a simple, yet different concept. It shows a few of the movers and shakers in the automotive aftermarket industry, and asks a single question… “what’s your favorite car color?”
:: Antonio Alvendia
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
VIDEO> The British Drift Championship
MAXXIS Tyres BDC Round 1 – SILVERSTONE from Stephen Brooks on Vimeo.
We recently received a Facebook message from a videographer named Stephen Brooks, which included a link to this video. What I like about the video is the fact that it’s not just a bunch of boring, repetitive footage of cars drifting… I actually like this video because it features more than just the cars – it also captured great “lifestyle” imagery from the British Drift Championship at famed British grand prix circuit Silverstone.
I’ll be honest… with so many different (and separate) drifting event organizers in the UK, it’s so hard for those of us in other countries to understand the differences between them. Last time I was in the UK, I was fortunate enough to be flown out to shoot an EDC event at Donington Park. However, since then, I’ve been hearing A LOT of talk on the internet about JDM Allstars, and now… the BDC. My head’s spinning now! Let’s see, there’s EDC, BDC, IDC… and idk what else. Just imagine if all the event organizers somehow managed to work together to create a massive, super sick series… that would be incredible! (It’s probably not likely, due to differing sponsors, management styles, and personalities… but I’m just saying, it would be pretty cool.)
If someone out there could please enlighten me, and provide some more information as to the differences between the different events, I’d appreciate it! However, for now… check out this entertaining video from Stephen Brooks.
:: Antonio Alvendia
PS: I thought it was interesting that ONE tire company was allowed to buy title sponsorship for the entire series! It’s kinda funny seeing cars with Falken livery and a huge MAXXIS banner on the windshield! Hahaha…
