By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

It’s about 5:00am and I haven’t slept yet. (I’ll set this to publish later on during the day though) While the rest of us in the West Coast prepare to make the trek up to Seattle for Formula D, on the other side of the world, another big drifting event is happening…

This weekend, Ebisu Circuit is holding its Summer Drift Festival. In celebration of 8/6 Day, I just thought I’d post up some AE86 photos from my favorite place on Earth… Ebisu Circuit. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

Damn, I love red AE86s. Especially red AE86 Truenos. To further celebrate Hachiroku Day today, I just wanted to point out that this (above) is one of my favorite AE86 photos I’ve ever taken in my whole life. It’s not like it was particularly challenging or technical or anything, but it’s just that this photo brings me back to a really great time in my life.

Standing trackside at Ebisu Circuit’s South Course (the D1 course) that day, I felt completely happy. I know it may sound pretty weird; this isn’t normally the type of thing one writes about on an automotive blog site. Nevertheless, my experiences that day were so incredible… I don’t think I’ll ever forget the sights and sounds of Ebisu Minami that day… with these two gorgeous red AE86s chasing each other down the track, bumper to bumper… initiating drift close to the intimidating South Course wall, and chasing each other door to door throughout the entire course. It was a hell of a show, but here’s the thing. There were no spectators there that day, except for me.

It was as if for some reason, two of my favorite cars in the world (and in my favorite color too!) were chasing each other down at my favorite race track in the world, dogfighting just for my own viewing pleasure. It was amazing to say the least; my words here don’t do the experience justice. It was exhilarating and exciting, yet relaxing at the same time. It was as if my whole world was at peace, for just that one moment. I f*cking love red AE86s and I f*cking love Ebisu Circuit!!! Continue reading and view more pictures on MotorMavens

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Given that he’s got what’s possibly the coolest job in the world, it’s no surprise that Valentino Balboni has been Lamborghini’s chief test driver for 40 years. At another company, that time might get you a gold watch—or just a reminder not to let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. But Balboni doesn’t want to do anything but drive Raging Bulls, so Sant’Agata has decided to honor  him with his own model, the Gallardo LP 550/2. As the name suggests—for those that speak Lambo anyway—the car will have 550 horsepower and forgo the now-standard all-wheel-drive layout for a more conventional two-wheel drive configuration, which makes me think Balboni might not be down with Audi owning the famous Italian marque. Anyway, enjoy.

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

The Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago Strada concept has been making the rounds on the internet recently. Rather than talk about the car, which you can find elsewhere, I just want to discuss my first impression of just one part of the car…

Check out the exhaust tip placement.

I love seeing things different than the norm, and sometimes when I see new things I need to really consider why they exist and if there is actually a future in it or just a random trend. Clearly the possiblity of placing the exhaust finisher/exit ports in a location like that is far easier to execute on a rear engined car than a front engined car. Yet without a doubt a tuning trend has continued to point towards the higher mounting of the exhaust tips whenever possible. We’ve seen this with higher mounted exhaust on the Amuse GT1 S2000. We’ve seen even more subtle S2000 examples with the Mugen SS rear bumper and exhaust combination which moves the exhaust up ever so slightly. The primary advantage in those cases is aerodynamics and controlling under body turbulence (putting a diffuser well below the exhaust and getting the pipes out of the way).

Continue reading "Future Tuning Trend? High Exiting Exhaust Tips" »

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

Larry Pfister has been operating HorsepowerHeaven.com for some years now. He is in the business of making killer drag racing videos and the one he has posted from the recently completed NHRA Divisional race at Mission Raceway in British Columbia, Canada is nasty good. Apparently the track or the NHRA ran a Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car class and all the west coast big dogs were in the house.

Mission Raceway has long been known as a very fast track. It’s location is great with a low physical elevation, and killer air more often times than not. It looks like the funny car guys really threw the kitchen sink at each other during this race with lots of 5 second laps being bandied about.

These cars are amongst our absolute favorites in the drag scene right now, perhaps even supplanting Pro Mods. Who’d a thunk it?! Tim Boychuk who can normally be found wheeling a top fuel car in IHRA competition won this event with Roland Leong tuning his whip. We told you these things ruled.

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Progress on the Bill Burke bellytank re-creation ran at a rapid pace the last couple weeks, and for good reason – owner Geoff Hacker wanted to display the racer on the salt at Bonneville for this year’s Speedweek, which starts Saturday. The first fire for the engine took place July 24, then by the 29th, Ted Kempgens and Tom Bambard finalized the paint and got it out on the street for a shakedown run. Geoff packed up the bellytank and all related materials Sunday, then hit the road Monday, so if you’re headed out to Bonneville, make sure to see him and the bellytank. Plans also call for Bill Burke to join Geoff on the salt this weekend. Then once Geoff’s done there, he’ll head out to California to drop the bellytank off at the NHRA Museum, where it’ll join two other Bill Burke bellytanks. Good luck, Geoff! More pics at Hemmings

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

239 PS from a little naturally aspirated four-pot is definitely something you can’t argue with. When Kamata-san of Tec-Art’s got started on this N2 Project back in 2001 he had no idea it would have evolved like it has, helping him push AE86 and 4AG tuning to extremes. Tec-Art’s is a small family-run shop in the outskirts of Tokyo, a place that over the years Kamata-san and his brother have turned into one of the most respected hachiroku shops in Japan. While they keep busy doing 20-valve swaps and rebuilding 86s from the ground up, their father takes care of another side of the business, car restoration, which is precisely why I love dropping by their place. On top of all the cool tuned hachis there are always rare classic cars to look at too! Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Dino Dalle Carbonare

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Last weekend NASCAR held a groundbreaking ceremony at Pocono for what should be the largest solar power facility at a sports venue in the world. The 25 acres of solar panels will cost $15-17 million to build out, but should pay for themselves over time. More at AutoblogGreen

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

As one of the more prolific tuning platforms on the market today, the Z33 350Z even in stock form provides for an excellent combination of power, handling, looks, and relative value. The RWD sports coupe can be found in nearly all forms of motorsports and has particularly excelled at drifting, capturing back to back championships for Tanner Foust in 2007 and 2008.

The long awaited introduction of the 370Z has many 350Z fans scratching their heads, however, as Nissan took away the flowing lines and sleek styling in lieu of an overly edgy and incoherent design. For many of us here at Motor Mavens, the 07-08 Z still stands as arguably the best looking Z of the past generation and for fellow Maven Mike Maez, he unequivocally agrees.

Mike’s take on the Z33 is one that caught our eye for a number of reasons. For one, it isn’t too over the top with a flashy body kit or a wild graphics scheme. There is attention to detail with the fitment and the wheel selection, which is always a plus, but furthermore it represents a very specific paint and wheel combo that we’ve never seen before on the 350Z. Combined with a solid ride height, an Akebono brake setup borrowed from the aforementioned 370, and just the right amount of bolt-ons, we were convinced that this was one Z that easily takes Center Stage.

Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens

By Chris Borrelli

Chris Borrelli

Car collector Hans-Günther Zach—popular German car collector—is selling off his whole lot of vehicles. These are not your average run-of-the-mill cars, though, these are vintage Rolls-Royce and Bentleys. The money maker of these classic rides is the “Star of India,” which is a one-off 1934 Phantom II 40/50 HP Continental “All-Weather Convertible.” This amazing ride is going for nearly $14.4 million, which would make it the most expensive car in the world beating the price tag of $12 million made by a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. Via Jameslist