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Posted
Nov 19 2008, 05:40 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 11 comment(s)
Our resident video editor: Riley Vigier started calling this video "Ultimate Drift" during the course of the post production process. It's a fairly good descriptor for this Speedhunters drifting art film. We've basically taken all our favourite slomo shots from the 2008 Formula drift season and compiled them into a montage style music video. As ever, the film features a custom score from Speedhunters London, UK based audio producer: Ekstrak . Enjoy the film! It's a good one...
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Posted
Nov 15 2008, 01:00 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 27 comment(s)
While the majority of western countries on the planet are bracing themselves for the cold of winter, today was a hot, sweaty day at in Southern California. I regretted my choice of skinny jeans today... they may be fashionable, but they sure as hell are uncomfortable in hot weather... Anyway blah, blah, blah... Let's look at the day's action from Long Beach. It was a day of hope for some competitors, but a day of frustration and carnage for many others....
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Posted
Nov 12 2008, 09:23 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 21 comment(s)
4-door sedans are favored by drifters all around the world, and they are especially big here in Japan where Toyota's JZX cars are favorites among both pro an grassroots drifters. Nissan's primary contribution to the drift world might be the Silvia and 180SX, but they also offer plenty of turbocharged four door sedans that can be bought on the cheap and built into some pretty radical drift machines. I wanted to take a quick look at a few of Nissan's coolest four-door drift cars here. For example, how about the R32 Skyline sedan pictured above as it drifts the wet course at Honjo Circuit?...
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Posted
Nov 11 2008, 09:18 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 24 comment(s)
What do you get when you combine an badass car with an awesome driver in a really cool location mixed with some fantastic film work? You get this fantastic video of Ken Block doing some gymkhana practice in his 530whp Impreza STI. This is seriously one of the coolest car videos I have ever seen. Watch and enjoy.
Ken Block Racing
-Mike Garrett
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Posted
Nov 04 2008, 06:00 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 26 comment(s)
With the SEMA show in Vegas this week, there will be plenty of big news coming out of the tuning and motorsport world. Our first bit of news this week comes from Falken Tire who have announced their 2009 drift team with a number of changes and additions. Falken Tire is the biggest and longest-running supporter of pro drifting in the US, and they are going to be taking things even further next year....
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Posted
Nov 03 2008, 03:09 PM
by
John Brooks
with 15 comment(s)
They say that racing improves the breed, they also say that win on Sunday, sell on Monday. Both are clichés but contain more than a grain of truth. And that truth provides the motivation for the Driftworks Company to showcase the products available at their on line store. Of course having a bit of fun along the way also plays a part too, as Phil Morrison admitted to me. Driftworks was set up nearly 5 years ago and provides a top quality parts services to all levels of the drifting community...
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Posted
Oct 31 2008, 08:20 AM
by
Chris Rado
with 17 comment(s)
Okay... here comes a big one... blog that is. Prepare yourself, as I am about to touch on some drag racing, time attack, SEMA stuff, and drifting... yes, you read correctly... drifting . Let the Speedhunting begin! So some have you may or may not have heard through the rumor-mill that I have been out at Willow Springs five days over the past two weeks causing some ruckus with veteran drifter Tony Angelo. Why you ask? Because in 2009, WORLD Racing will be starting their own drift program. That's...
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Posted
Oct 30 2008, 04:30 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 16 comment(s)
Before moving on to some other things, I wanted to wrap up my coverage from the D1GP finale at Fuji Speedway with a few more photos. Up above we have another view of Kenji Takayama's R-Magic-built FD3S RX7 as he makes one of his qualifying runs on Saturday, This is surely one of the coolest of the several RX7's that can be seen competing in D1. Note how the car is sporting neon-colored Gram Lights 57D's in different colors on each side. Hmm...will this be a new trend among drift cars?...
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Posted
Oct 28 2008, 04:11 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 12 comment(s)
I don't think there's a better way to open my second D1 Fuji story than with a shot of 2008 D1GP Champion Daigo Saito's 800hp JZX100 Mark II. It's no wonder that Daigo won the championship this year after getting the chance to see his driving at Odaiba and Fuji Speedway. He drives aggressively and consistently, entering with maximum angle and letting the 800 horsepower slide the car through corner with gobs tire smoke and a screaming exhaust sound. Daigo actually had a good chance of winning the event and wrapping up a perfect weekend, but his car developed mechanical trouble and he was forced to retire from his semi final match against Masao Suenaga. Fortunately for him, by that point he had already clinched the series title....
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Posted
Oct 27 2008, 06:33 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
There is nothing quite like a D1GP event in Japan. Sure there are pro drift series around all around the world with some incredible cars and drivers, but there is something special about seeing Japan's best competing in their homeland. Fuji Speedway might not be the most iconic drift course out there, but it is one of the world's top racing racing circuits. Just two weeks ago Hamilton and Massa were screaming around the track in their F1 machines during the Japan Grand Prix, and this weekend the D1 drivers were here to leave their mark (literally)on the same Fuji course....
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Posted
Oct 26 2008, 06:45 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 9 comment(s)
I just got back to my apartment in Tsukuba City after the LONG drive home from Fuji Speedway. Driving the highways in Japan is NOTHING like in the US and let's just say that a Sunday night is not the ideal time to be driving on the Tomei Expressway coming back from the tourist haven of Mt. Fuji. I'm about ready to fall asleep here at the computer, but before I do I wanted to post the top 10 finishers from today's event and 2008 D1GP season champion....
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Posted
Oct 25 2008, 03:47 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 12 comment(s)
As I'm writing this it's about 7pm here in Gotemba city Japan and I just returned to the hotel from the first half of this weekend's D1GP season finale at Fuji Speedway. This was actually my first trip to Fuji Speedway and it is an amazing circuit. Probably the most scenic I have ever been to, but I'll be talking about that in another post.There was heavy rain during yesterday's practice sessions, but fortunately today was dry.My stomach is growling like crazy, but before we head out and enjoy some yakiniku, I wanted to post up a few quick shots from today's qualifying and practice....
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Posted
Oct 23 2008, 08:40 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 7 comment(s)
In just a few minutes I'll be heading out the door for the trip out to Fuji Speedway to cover the final round of the 2008 D1GP Season. The battle for the series championship is tight with both Youichi Imamura and Ken Nomura within reach of current points leader Daigo Saito. Besides the D1GP match itself, the event will also include a large rotary car gathering and parade lap. It will also mark the last run of Takahiro Ueno's Toyota Soarer before he retires it and switches to a new machine for next year. It has been raining all day here, but I'm hoping things will dry up a little Saturday's qualifying runs. I will try to post some updates from the track so stay tuned......
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Posted
Oct 23 2008, 03:57 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 5 comment(s)
A while back Vaughn Gittin Jr. posted a blog entry here about his experience drifting (legally) on the streets of downtown Los Angeles for the Bosch Performance Art project. JR just let us know that the finished video is now complete and can be seen above for your viewing pleasure. In addition to the YouTube version, there is a higher quality version and a behind the scenes piece on the Bosh Performance Art website. The finished product is pretty cool so make sure you check it out.
Bosch Performance Art
-Mike Garrett
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Posted
Oct 20 2008, 10:15 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 22 comment(s)
Love it or hate it, the Ford Mustang is an automotive icon and the original pony car has been a favorite among enthusiasts ever since its introduction in the mid '60s. After its Carroll Shelby and Steve McQueen "glory days", the Mustang was reduced to a shadow of its former self with the Mustang II of the '70s. By the mid '80s the Mustang had regained some of what made the original cars great with the introduction of the famous Fox body 5.0. The 5.0 'Stangs became the car to have in the '80s, and the potential of the EFI 5.0 engines made them one of the most popular "tuner" cars ever. The original 5.0 Mustangs are now over 20 years old, but they continue to be one of the best "bang for the buck" vehicles on the used car market in the USA. The 5.0 has already been established as a great platform for drag racing and even road racing, but what about drifting?...
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Posted
Oct 20 2008, 04:14 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 7 comment(s)
Lately I have been thinking about how fun it would be to take a quick vacation down to Okinawa, AKA the "Hawaii of Japan". There's just something about the clear ocean water, and soothing shamisen music I always see on TV that makes me want to hop on a plane for a little visit. Car-wise, Okinawa is not quite the same as the mainland, but they do get a few events there. The photo was taken at this month's Yokohama Drift Meeting at Nago Circuit which included a number of D1 drivers ferried their cars to the island for a drift exhibition. You can see Testsuya Hibino, Yashio Factory Oka-chan, and NOB Taniguchi taking part in this four-car tandem run in front of the fans gathered at Nago....
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Posted
Oct 18 2008, 06:00 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 9 comment(s)
A moment of impact.... Robbie Nishida takes out a pylon and shatters his front bumper. UK photographer David Lister was there to shoot the image.
You saw David's incredible gallery from the practice and qualifying sessions at Formula Drift Irwindale.... now let's look at his snaps from the event proper....
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Posted
Oct 16 2008, 11:29 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 5 comment(s)
With less than a month to go until the first ever Red Bull World Drift Championship in Long Beach, the identities of the international drivers on the roster is continuing to be finalized. The latest drivers to be announced are from the European Drift Championship and include '08 series champion Ben Broke Smith in his JZX81 Toyota Chaser as well as '08 runner-up Tim Marshall in his Chevy V8-powered R33 Skyline. Both of the cars have already left the UK on their voyage to California where they will be supported and hosted by HKS USA....
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Posted
Oct 16 2008, 09:30 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 18 comment(s)
Here is the recipe for this story: Take one UK based sports and touring car photographer, add the ingredient of his killer 500mm camera lens setup, mix with the mayhem of top-calibre Formula Drift action and brew with the ambience of Irwindale Speedway. What you get from this is drifting as you have never seen it before . I've been a fan of the photographic style of Sportscarpros.com for a few years now and immediately thought of these guys as soon as we started to brainstorm ideas for the Speedhunters...
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Posted
Oct 10 2008, 02:34 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 20 comment(s)
Right now as I write this, Formula D practice and unseeded qualifying is happening over at Irwindale. I want to shoot some photos today, so I'll keep this kinda short, and follow it up later. Rod thought it would be cool for us to do retrospectives on Irwindale in honor of the Formula D Irwindale happening this weekend, but honestly, I've been shooting drifting at Irwindale for so long, I didn't even know where to start. Some of these photos, you may recognize from my hardcover book,...
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