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...
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> Joshua Herron's FD Year In Review
Formula Drift 2009 from Joshua Herron on Vimeo.
While 2009 may have come and gone, Joshua Herron dug through hours upon hours of footage to give us one last glimpse at what the ’09 Formula Drift season held in store for us. This video is amazing on so many different levels. The cinematography is top-notch, it is jam-packed with unreleased footage, transitions through three songs – each with a unique vibe, and it does it all seamlessly. The last segment definitely feels like a throwback to the old skate videos I grew up with.
Amazing work on this video, Mr. Herron! I’m going to go watch it again (and again, and again)!!!
:: Andy Sapp
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...
CARSPOTTING> Tyler McQuarrie’s E90 BMW M3
I know what some readers may be thinking... this car looks super basic. It doesn't have a crazy aftermarket aero kit or anything... but I think that's one of the reasons why I was drawn to it when I first saw it. Although I'm huge fan of aggressive BN Sports or Goodline aero kits for cars used on the racetrack, I tend to prefer the understated cleanliness and class of OEM bodywork and "factory option" parts when it comes to daily driven street cars. Apparently, Tyler has the same opinion when it comes to daily driven cars, as his M3 looks clean, classy, basic, and understated... that is, until you hear the powerful rumble of his exhaust. Read more...
VIDEO> Herron's Breaking Point
Joshua Herron just dropped his edit from one of my favorite stops on the Formula Drift tour: Seattle’s Evergreen Speedway. Josh’s videos are getting better and better with each drop. Keep an eye out for some Mavens up in the mix!
Great work Josh!!!
:: Andy Sapp
COVERAGE> Formula D Seattle, Part 3
It's a long story, but in a nutshell, the Formula D/SCCA guy Randy Hembrey got pissed off at me and pulled my hard card on Saturday (competition day), which allows me to get track access for shooting photos. This was definitely a problem, as I was expected to produce good images that weekend (I was shooting the event for clients, who helped pay my way to get up to Seattle). I had a hell of a time trying to get photos for the rest of the day, especially without access to the hot areas, but I still managed to get some photos somehow.
So here it is... Formula D Seattle through my eyes. Read more...
NEWSWORTHY> Factor X NSX wins Redline Time Attack at Willow
The cars of the Redline Time Attack continue to dominate racetracks all across the country, and at the most recent Redline event at Willow Springs International Raceway, long-standing record lap times were shattered not once, but twice.
Redline Time Attack golden boy Tyler McQuarrie and his Unlimited Class carbon fiber-bodied C-West/BC Honda S2000 showed why they are a dominating force in the time attack scene by running the 2.5-mile “Big Willow” course in 1:20.454 seconds. Not only was that lap time the fastest of the day, it was the fastest ever recorded at Willow Springs International Raceway. With a lap time like that, it seemed safe to say that McQuarrie would walk away with yet another 1st place trophy.
But records, including newly set ones, are made to be broken. Billy Johnson, piloting the lime green Unlimited Class FX Motorsports/Cricket NSX ran the same Big Willow course in just 1:18.555 seconds. For those of you who hate to do math at home, that’s almost 2 seconds faster than McQuarrie. And for those who need help in the art of deductive reasoning, this also means that Johnson walked away with the new track record. But that’s not all Johnson walked away with; he also scored the first-place trophy in Redline Time Attack’s Unlimited Class.
At the end of the day, the Redline Time Attack Unlimited Class results were as follows:
- 1st: #5 (Johnson) FX Motosports NSX 1:18.555
- 2nd: #1 (McQuarrie) Cwest s2000 1:20.454
- 3rd: #489 (Bonarito) Sierra Sierra Evo 1:20.838
There are still seven races left in the Redline Time Attack Series, and the next event at the New Jersey Motorsports Park is just two weeks away. Be sure to check back with us later in the week for our gallery of the Redline Time Attack at Willow Springs International Raceway.
::Justin Kaehler
