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Posted
Nov 17 2008, 02:21 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 26 comment(s)
Last week I tried I new kind of post where I showcased some of the cars I spotted on the streets of Tokyo, and judging by the feedback on that post, it sounds like you guys want to see more of that kind of stuff. With this in mind, I took my camera along yesterday when we out shopping. "Inaka" is what the Japanese call small town rural areas and the cars you find out here make an interesting contrast to the stuff you see in Tokyo. For example, check out this '90s Toyota Crown wagon dropped on some big-lipped wheels that I spotted cruising down Route 294 near Shimotsuma city. Cars like this are common sight in rural Ibaraki Prefecture....
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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
Sep 26 2008, 08:05 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 9 comment(s)
Nikko, Japan is a scenic and popular tourist location from people all over the world who want to check out some traditional Japanese culture on their trips to to Japan. Visitors can hop on a bus in Tokyo and take the trip a few hours north to see Nikko's historic Tosho-gu shrine and its famous monkey sculptures, the ones that originated the phrase "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". While "that" Nikko is certainly interesting, as a car freak I think tour companies should also offer trips to Nikko Circuit, one of Japan's most famous drift courses....
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Posted
Sep 25 2008, 03:20 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 10 comment(s)
I was just going through some more photos from last weekend's MSC event at Nikko Circuit and realized I have some more cool stuff to post. I can't say enough how fun MSC events are to shoot. The vast number of cool-looking cars and exciting driving provides a wealth of good shooting possibilities, and even though Nikko is a small course, there are still tons of nice angles to be found all over the place. In the shot above we have the Spirant JZX100 Chaser with it's sexy shade of red paint and ZG style overfenders. We talk about JZX's all the time on Speedhunters, but this car is certainly one of the best I have ever seen......
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Posted
Sep 23 2008, 06:34 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 18 comment(s)
Time for more some more action from last weekend's MSC Challenge event at Nikko Circuit. There is just something about these MSC events that offer the perfect balance of talented drivers and impressive cars without the drawbacks of a "pro" drifting event. MSC events are run on smaller courses meaning there are few grandstands or other amenities seen at the larger circuits. While there are many big sponsors of the series, MSC is still about the drivers first and foremost. I feel that the above photo does a good job of portraying the atmosphere of MSC. Everyone is just chilling in the gravel spectator area taking in the action while standing only about 20 feet from the track....
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Posted
Sep 22 2008, 05:00 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 7 comment(s)
Welcome to the "World's Least Important Car Show". That is the official slogan of the Billetproof events which are now held all over the United States, and the most recent one was held this weekend in the Northern California city of Antioch drawing somewhere in the range of 1000 cars. We came across some photos of the show on the HAMB forums, and this unique event is surely worth sharing here on Speedhunters....
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Posted
Sep 22 2008, 03:30 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 14 comment(s)
What is your idea of the perfect first wedding anniversary? A gourmet dinner and a walk on the beach perhaps? Maybe some soft piano music and glasses of wine? What about taking a trip to see the best grassroots drift series in Japan tearing it up on one of the world's most iconic drift courses? That is just where I found myself yesterday as I somehow convinced my wife to not only let me go out and shoot drifting on our anniversary, but also to tag along with me on the trip. I guess I am pretty lucky sometimes....
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Posted
Sep 04 2008, 01:23 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 18 comment(s)
I was browsing through the Car Lounge forum on VWVortex when I came across a thread with buildup photos of an LS1-powered E36 M3 in Idaho. When the owner found out that his M3 had a bent frame, he purchased a new one and then began to convert the old chassis into a V8-powered track/drift car. The car's LS1 is sporting mild modifications at this point, but the addition of nitrous is planned in the future. The majority of the building is done and just a few finishing touches are still needed to complete the project....
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Posted
Aug 27 2008, 06:30 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 10 comment(s)
For those who are fans and followers of grassroots styte nostalgic drag racing and hot rodding from the 1950's and '60s, there are few better websites out there than the Jalopy Journal and its "Hokey Ass Message Board" (H.A.M.B). For these guys it's all about homebuilt, stripped down rods ,straight axle drag cars and the like. I also think it should also be noted that these guys were around long before the "rat rod" trend took off. Rod, is a hardcore lurker on the H.A.M.B forums and since he introduced me to the site a while back, I have been reading it quite a bit myself. Every summer, they hold an extravaganza in Joplin, Missouri called the H.A.M.B drags and it looks to be an amazing event by any stretch....
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Posted
Aug 21 2008, 05:52 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 16 comment(s)
If you were to leave Toyko on the Shinkansen bullet train heading northeast, you will pass right through a city in Tochigi Prefecture called Utsunomiya. It happens to be the biggest city in the prefecture and is known all over Japan for its Gyoza, the Japanese version of Chinese dumplings. For us car people, Utsunomiya is also home to Nissan's Tochigi Plant, the birthplace of performance cars like the Z and the new GT-R. Located a just down the road from the Nissan factory is a fairly nondescript garage sitting alongside the highway. From a distance it looks like any normal car repair shop, but a look at the sign on the top of the building will reveal the true significance of this shop. Koguchi Power....
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Posted
Aug 17 2008, 08:19 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 60 comment(s)
Talk about a busy day. Left Tsukuba at 6:00 in the morning to take a drive down the rain soaked highway out to Honjo Circuit in Saitama to cover the MSC drift event there. After spending the entire day shooting the event with Rod and Antonio and then driving back home, I am pretty beat and am looking forward to some much needed sleep. Before hitting the sack, however, I couldn't resist posting a few quick shots from the event. Even though it was just a one-day event, the three of us came home...
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Posted
Jul 22 2008, 03:47 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 22 comment(s)
Yesterday we took a look at some of the cars seen in Japan's top level D1GP series but now it's time to take a look at the other side of the Japanese drift spectrum. the MSC Challenge series. Since MSC is a grassroots level series filled with privateer drivers, you have to look at the MSC cars from a different viewpoint than the pro level cars seen in D1. MSC events are held at all corners of Japan from Kyushu in the south to Hokkaido in the north, so few or no drivers compete in every event. Because of this, you also get a wide variety of cars depending on the region the event is being held in. I will try to show some of the more interesting and unique cars seen at MSC events as well as some of my personal favorites from the series......
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Posted
Jul 22 2008, 12:04 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 13 comment(s)
It's time to continue the coverage from my trip to last weekend's Tuning Powers show in Tokyo. As you saw in my first post, there were plenty of really cool and unique cars to be found at the event. While I said that the show draws a lot of the smaller tuners from around Japan, as you can see in the photo above, it also draws some of the bigger ones like JUN Auto who brought out their now famous Evo X demo car. They have done even more work to this car since the last time I saw it and I'm hoping I'll get the chance to see it in action at Tsukuba Circuit again soon......
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Posted
Jul 21 2008, 04:20 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 26 comment(s)
When you think of annual Japanese tuning shows, the big ones like Tokyo Auto Salon or Osaka Auto Messe probably come to mind. But there is another tuning show held every year in Tokyo that is very much worthy of a look. The show is called Tuning Powers and unlike TAS, this show is geared strictly towards hardcore gearheads who are interested in seeing the latest in performance technology. At Tuning Powers you won't find any flashy VIP sedans or crazy wagons, nor will you see any campaign girls surrounded being ambushed by photographers. What you will see are some of the most impressively built performance machines from all over Japan. With a select mix of domestic and imported cars of both classic and modern styles, Tuning Powers is more about the technical aspects and ingenuity of tuning than outright flashiness....
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Posted
Jul 18 2008, 08:40 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 10 comment(s)
Earlier in the month I showcased a couple of my favorite cars that can be seen competing in the D1GP series and while we love pro drift cars like those, we haven't forgotten about the grassroots and street drift cars which are such an integral part of the scene. I found this particular Saitama-based Toyota JZX100 on Minkara and knew it would a make a perfect addition to our month-long look at the drift world. The car is owned by Minkara member "さ~たん" and beautifully combines elements seen on both drift cars and on VIP sedans. The first thing that sets this car apart is the body style. While the JZX100 is very popular chassis for drifting, the Cresta model is by far the most uncommonly seen version as Crestas are heavily outnumbered by their Mark II and Chaser counterparts at the circuit and on the street......
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Posted
Jul 11 2008, 08:12 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 5 comment(s)
There is no doubt regarding the popularity of drifting these days and there's no shortage of websites devoted to providing photographic coverage of drift events from around the world. One of our most liked and respected sites in this field is Doristars.com, a site which has been providing high quality photos of the UK drift scene since 2001. Starting with the goal of providing a photographic history of drifting in the UK and expanding the following of the sport to a larger audience, Doristars now has nearly 10,000 photos in their collection. Doristars content that spans the course of seven years and includes everything from early UK grassroots events to the latest action in the EDC and elsewhere. While looking through the Doristars galleries, you can watch the history UK drifting unfold before your eyes......
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Posted
Jul 10 2008, 08:23 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
The kei truck or keitora as it's known in Japanese, is an absolute staple of life in rural Japan. There is a nary a Japanese farmer around who doesn't use one of these tiny little trucks for their daily chores. I have had the pleasure of driving one of these fantastic machines and I can't say that it was the most comfortable vehicle I have ever driven. Then again the cabins on these things are not really designed for those over six feet tall. While the kei trucks were designed as utility vehicles through and through, there a few crazed individuals who have taken up the art of drifting these things. This particular Suzuki Carry is owned by Minkara member "KChan" and has been fully modified for drift used including a roll bar, full suspension, and of course a turbocharger helps send power to the tiny rear wheels......
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Posted
Jul 04 2008, 03:33 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 7 comment(s)
No it's not really street drifting but it does look a lot like it. This photo was taken by one of our forum members "theindustrialist" at the "Triple Threat" event at Turner Field in Atlanta. It looks like there's an impromptu crowd of locals that has gathered to check out the action. There are plenty more photos from the event in the event thread in the Speedhunters forum......
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Posted
Jun 19 2008, 10:21 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 9 comment(s)
If you are going to be in SoCal this weekend and want to see some of the best drifting action ever, be sure to head out to WIllow Springs International Raceway to check out the Ziptied All Star Bash Part 4. From what I hear, the event is going to be epic. I wish I could be there again! I took this photo during last summer's original ZT All Star Bash. Broken aero parts are a common sight at All Star Bash events......
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Posted
Jun 16 2008, 07:00 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 16 comment(s)
Nikko, Japan is a mountainous area that is a popular spot for tourists who want to get of Tokyo and take in some traditional Japanese culture. But for fans of drifting the big draw in the area is Nikko Circuit. Nikko Circuit is to the Japanese drifting world what the El Mirage dry lake bed is to the hot rodding world. While the track itself might be old small and old, it contains tons of drifting history. Nikko used to be the site of the D1GP during the early days of the series and it's been the host of countless other iconic drift events. Last week I took the short drive up to Nikko Circuit to check out a drift soukoukai hosted by D1 driver Hiroshi Fukuda's FLUKE-NET......
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