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
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...
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…)
VIDEO> Texas Drifting at Gulf Greyhound Park
A few of Texas’ notable drifters descended upon Gulf Greyhound Park about a month ago for a day of drifting. It was ridiculously hot, but everyone seemed to mow through all their tires by the day’s end.
I’ll go ahead use this post to make my formal introduction as well – My name is Henry Swasey and I’m from Houston, Texas. I’m a photographer/videographer who has a thing for drifting (street drifting specifically). As you may have seen in my other videos that were previously posted on MotorMavens, I’m with a local drift crew called Team Silhouette, and we have a shared interest in dope street drifting and getting it captured on camera. I have a few big projects in the works, so stay tuned to MotorMavens for more Lone Star drifting!!
::Henry Swasey
View more videos from Henry Swasey on Youtube
View more videos from MotorMavens on Youtube
COVERAGE> JDM Allstars Rd.2 – Donington Alpine!
I later heard that the plan was to hold it on something called the Donington Alpine Circuit. I had no clue what that was until I came along to the shoot of the promotional video a few weeks back. Then it all became clear. On the outskirts of the main track and the Launch Pad is a fast, wide, almost mountain road-like track that the JDM Crew decided to use. It's made up of four corners and a steep uphill straight where the cars seemingly come out of nowhere and fly over the top. There's a right transition into the second turn, aiming for a clipping point close to the deadly armco, then a transition left into the third turn where you plant the throttle and bring the rear of the car to the armco on the straight, leading to another transition right into the final hairpin turn.
Fast corners, armco barriers on all sides and beautiful scenery all around. This was looking to be one of the most unique and exciting drift events in the JDM Allstars calendar. Read more...
VIDEO> Silhouette Street Drifting in Houston TX
A dude from a crew on the north side of Houston TX, showed us this amazing drifting spot in an abandoned neighborhood. It’s known as “the graveyard” among them for the many ditches that suck cars in from time to time.
We had this shoot planned two weeks in advance, but due to a spook from the local fuzz the last time we were there, we had to be quick. I managed to grab all my still shots prior to the actual drifting so as not to draw unnecessary attention. Once that was done, we got the cameras mounted, and off my boys went. About 45 minutes later and lots of running around with the tripod and dolly, we were outta there… The cars emerged unscathed; no one got hurt, and no one got caught. Props to everyone from Team Silhouette that helped.
:: Henry Swasey
View more videos from Henry Swasey on Youtube
View more videos from MotorMavens on Youtube
OH SNAP> The Demon That Makes Trophies of Men
A lot of times when you buy a car, you have a plan. Sometimes it can be just a mild street car build, or full on race car that will never see a day on the streets. In my experience my builds are always unexpected, starting off with just a daily driver that turns into a full blown money eating machine. Either way, planned or not planned we all have the same passion on getting our cars to become what we imagine in our minds. It always amazes me how far we go to do that. (more…)
WEBMINING> Hawaii Loves Old School Toyotas
Things have been extremely busy for the Motor Mavens Crew over the past two weeks. We’ve been turning our attention to some general “housecleaning” operations and important meetings to plan for future expansion of the site. Unfortunately, these things were extremely time sensitive and had to take priority over website updates for the past week. Pretty wack, I know. We should be back to our usual schedule after this; thanks for being patient and for your continual support!
We have some cool features to post this month, but before we get into all that, I wanted to turn your attention to the 808 state for a bit. This past weekend, many of my friends from Hawaii’s island of Oahu got together for an Old School Toyota meet. People might not realize it, but there are lots and lots of really amazing cars in Hawaii. All the local braddahs over there have much love for vintage Japanese cars.
Just look at how many clean TE27s came out to the meet! I’m drooling over two especially… a particular blue 1973 1600SR and a clean orange 1973 1600SR. More on these cars in the near future!
Props to Justindabull for his video work. Justin is really, really young (still in high school?), but he’s been hanging out with all the old school Toyota guys in Hawaii for years, because his dad, Mike, has owned some pretty awesome vintage Toyotas. Good job Justin! And congrats on getting your video featured on MotorMavens! Can’t wait to see you all again!
Shoots!
:: Antonio Alvendia
COVERAGE> Garage Zero in Atlanta
GALLERY> More Scenes from JCCS 2009
WEBMINING> Hasback Shoots Nisei Showoff
So as I finish organizing my own photos of the 2009 Nisei Showoff Grand Finale and prepare them for posting (I should have like 3 more posts to make on the last Nisei Showoff), I thought I should shine some light on these photos, which were taken by a non-pro photographer that I don't even know. Good work Hasback! Now on to the pics... Read more...
COVERAGE> AZ Drift "Drag&Drift" at Firebird Raceway
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PAPERCUTS> Someone actually made this FF Corolla cool!
