COVERAGE> Bonneville Salt Flats Speedweek 2010
As I was snapping pics...photos (this is MotorMavens, these are photos!) of the activities, I was thinking about what I wanted to share with you guys on MotorMavens.com. There are TONS of things going on at the Bonneville Salt Flats! There were over 500 vehicle pre-entries at Speed Week 2010 - plus over 100 hot rods roaming the salt! Amazing! My hope is that I give you a flavor for what you'll experience WHEN (not if) you guys and gals attend your first Speed Week. Read more...
PAPERCUTS> Project Car Magazine w/ AE86
I just realized that I haven’t posted up a “Papercuts” story in quite some time. To tell you the truth, it’s because I haven’t even bought any car magazines in quite some time. There was a time in my life when I would go to bookstores and hang out, just to check out all the car magazines that were out. My friend Kenta and I would meet up at Barnes & Noble or Borders (or better yet, the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Little Tokyo or Torrance) to check out the latest car magazines every single month. I miss going to bookstores just to chill and check out magazines… I’m not sure if I haven’t been going because I’ve just been busy, or if the magazines these days don’t intrigue me…
Whatever the case may be, I stumbled upon this copy of Project Car Magazine at the CVS Drugstore in Studio City. This issue caught my eye because I saw my friend Taka Aono on the cover; after all, he is the USA’s undisputed top AE86 driver. I thumbed through it really quickly, and decided within 20 seconds, “that’s it. I’m actually gonna buy this issue.” While my 10+ years of Living the 86 Life have led me to own just about every AE86 book or manual that has ever been produced in Japan, it’s honestly pretty rare to see magazines that actually produce good stories about AE86s stateside. I definitely think this magazine was worth the $6 or 7 (ouch!) that I paid at the cash register.
Even though he’s probably the one Source Interlink magazine editor I don’t really know, I really gotta give props to Project Car editor Gary Narusawa and his crew over there. (more…)
COVERAGE> More World Time Attack from OZ!
Most of the cars on the track were the competitors for the WTAC, but since it was technically an open practice drive day, several non-competing cars were also out on the track. Let's take a look at some of the cars on the circuit from today! Read more...
COVERAGE> World Time Attack Challenge Practice
OH SNAP> EG6 Civic + Subaru WRX = Cibaru?
You might be thinking, “what are you talking about?” After all, we don’t normally post up photos of incomplete cars that are getting painted on our website. This particular snapshot comes from a post on the Honda Tech forum that my friend Terry Pham linked me to.
You might be thinking… wait, is that a GDB Subaru Impreza WRX STi hood scoop bondoed to an EG6 Honda Civic hood? If that’s what you guessed, then you would be correct. However, before you go and pass judgment on whether you think it’s cool or not, let me give you some insight into the story.
This EG6 Civic hybrid is the first of its kind, that’s for sure. It features not only an engine swap, but an entire FRAME and running gear swap from a GDB Subaru Impreza WRX STi! So YES, you would be correct if you guessed this was an AWD Honda Civic EG6… and if you ever heard it driving down the street, you should know that its engine is not blown; in fact, that’s the sound that a 4 cylinder Subaru boxer motor is supposed to make… even though it’s not supposed to make that sound from underneath the hood of a Honda Civic!
While we don’t normally feature these types of cars on our site, I thought I should post it up, because the fabrication work behind this build-up is pretty damn fascinating! The original Subaru body panels were cut off from the Impreza’s frame to make this work, and the owner of this car cut up the body of a perfectly good EG6 Civic hatchback, and pretty much welded it onto the Subaru frame! Whether you like the look aesthetically or not, you just GOTTA give the builder of this car props for his originality and workmanship – c’mon!
I’m wondering what our readers think about this car. First, read the build-up thread (with more photos) on Honda Tech, then come back to MotorMavens to voice your opinion on this!
Would YOU like to have this as a weekend/fun car? Or no…?
:: Antonio Alvendia
VIDEO> Through the eyes of a child
Formula D Irwindale 2009 Rd 7 “Judgement Day” from Abbitt Wilkerson on Vimeo.
It seems that most of the videographers who made it to Formula D Irwindale have been finishing up the edits on their videos this week. While many of our readers are already familiar with a lot of the “normal videographers” that travel to all the stops on the Formula D circuit, I thought I’d shine a light on a certain young videographer from the Pacific Northwest named Abbitt Wilkerson.
Devout Motor Mavens readers might recognize his name, as Abbitt is the guy behind all the AW Films drifting videos that have been popping up on Vimeo and the owner of a particular sick stanced Subaru Impreza WRX STi that has been the topic of some controversy on the site. (haha!) Abbitt is still relatively new to the car scene, as he only recently began driving and he is just starting his video production career. He’s still building up his skills and experience, because as Abbitt will be the first to tell you – HE’S ONLY SEVENTEEN! Not bad for a high school kid.
Believe it or not, there have been quite a few people on the internet that were actually hating on Abbitt and his aggressively stanced STi, saying he’s just a spoiled kid who had the luxury of getting everything paid for by his parents. It’s funny, because when I mentioned it to him at Irwindale, he got pretty defensive about it, insisting that he works his ass off to hustle enough money to pay for his car and his camera equipment.
Whatever the case may be, he gets respect from ME because while most seventeen year old kids are wasting their lives playing video games and watching TV, Abbitt is actually doing something productive, working two jobs so he can afford to build his car and filming as much as he can so that he can constantly improve his skills in shooting and editing video. Sheesh, I wish I was that productive when I was seventeen. I didn’t do ANYTHING but take pictures and listen to hip hop.
Props, A-dub!
:: Antonio Alvendia
CARSPOTTING> Sick Stanced STi
The owner of this slammed Subaru Impreza WRX STi is a seventeen year old (Yes, I said 17 years old!) high school student named Abbitt Wilkerson from AW Films. Abbitt has been making a name for himself; not only because he shoots some of the most popular car videos up here in the Northwest, but also because he has a driving passion for building Subarus with the common thread of aggressive wheel fitment. Read more...
COVERAGE> Formula Drift Seattle, Part 2
Above, here's a real dope R32 Skyline 4door that came from British Columbia (that's Canada, to those of us who are ignorant Americans). More photos of this car coming soon!
It's so cool that you can register a car like an R32 Skyline, A31 Cefiro or C33 Laurel and just drive it on the street, legally in Canada. What the hell are we still doing living in Southern Cali, anyway? (Who am I kidding, I love Southern Cali...) Read more...
WEBMINING> D1GP Miami, shot by Floridaracing.org
Thankfully, with the help of our friend Google, we were able to find images posted on a forum by one of the guys from Floridaracing.org. (We've seen some of these guys at the track before - whenever we see them at the track, we see them with multiple Canon DSLR bodies and some huge Canon lenses.) We were searching the internet for photos for a few days, and the ones found on Floridaracing.org's album seem to be the best photos we've found from D1 Miami thus far. Props, guys! Read more...
NEWSWORTHY> DC x Ken Block Gymkhana Video 2 is up!
It seems that everybody has been talking and Twittering about the much anticipated release of DC Shoes Founder/rally driver extraordinaire Ken Block‘s new “Gymkhana 2” video.
We just wanted to show everyone this link – it’s finally up! Ken Block shows us all how hard he rips it in his new Subaru Impreza WRX STi! Instead of having members of his DC Snowboard team grind off of his carbon fiber WRC Impreza wing, Ken decided to inject a little bit of Hollywood into his newest viral video – aside from having a cameo appearance by Rob Dyrdek (DC skater, star of MTV’s Rob & Big and Fantasy Factory), it’s complete with explosions, crash test dummies, cool near misses with big rigs, cranes, pylons, and umm… he also comes really close to driving his car right off the dock, right into the water.
We wonder when he’s gonna take some time out of his already busy schedule (and full Rally America season) to compete in the Formula Drift series..? What do you guys think? Would you rather watch Ken Block at rally events or at drifting events?
::MotorMavens
