Manabu "Max" Orido has to be one of the most active pro drivers in the world. He competes in Super GT, Super Taikyu, Formula D, he judges for MSC, tests cars for magazines, and now he has announced that he is returning to the D1 Grand Prix after a three-year hiatus. I originally saw a post on Club4AG with a rumor of him coming back and then checked his official site to find that he is planning to compete in next weekend's D1 match at Autopolis in Kyushu. His car will be the 2JZ-powered Weds/Bandoh IS which if I am not mistaken is the same car pictured above at Tokyo Auto Salon 2008. The car is done a similar livery to the GT300 IS that Orido drives in Super GT. First it was NOB Taniguchi and now its his friend Orido who has returned to the D1 ranks. Should be quite interesting to see......

On the night I drove up to Las Vegas, I was watching the outside temperatures soar up to 118 degrees, and this was at around 10pm. At 4am that same night, it was still at 115 degrees. Super hot. Thankfully, it has cooled off just a bit, due to a thunderstorm which cooled off the track last night, and lightning that lit up the night sky like the LED and neon bulbs covering all the casinos on the Vegas Strip. While the weather may have cooled off just a bit, the action at Formula D's pre-event...