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February 24, 2010
Blending Cultures
By Speedhunters
Car Culture At Large
The owner of the Spirant JZX100 also owns a AE86 and he decided to spice things up a bit by asking a friend to pinstripe the car. I thought it looked pretty cool… Maybe he’s even going to start new trend. You can see some more photo’s of the pinstriping and some other cool stuff on the owner’s blog.
By Jeroen Willemsen
February 11, 2010
AE86 Dry Run
By Speedhunters
Car Culture At Large
I came across lollerfest of a gem a while back on Banpei’s twitter page. For those of you that are missing some of that on-track sideways action during the winter months, this would be a fantastic and entertaining way of practicing during the off season!
By Linhbergh
January 21, 2010
Simply Clean + Stance in Orlando
Antonio Alvendia
I made the short trek last weekend to the Winter Park section of Orlando. It was cold out by Florida standards, but was at least warmer than it had been the past two weeks. Last Sunday’s event was the first of it’s type (for this area) and the title stated it clearly. Simply Clean….. Proper stance, perfect wheel fitment, quality paint job…. Almost everything a car enthusiast should dream of! There were of course big horse power cars, so they filled in the missing link that we gas mileage savvy people left out. But lets think about this for a second. One one-thousand… Do you really need 500 horsepower when your car sits 1 inch off the ground and has a 95% chance of losing a bumper at every divot? Well, I know I sure as hell do! I can’t think of anything better than the ability to yell louder than the passenger screaming in the seat next to you “SHUT UP! I F*CKING GOT THIS!” as you drive over your front lip, while laughing hysterically…Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!
January 18, 2010
AE86 Inspiration: Running Free
Antonio Alvendia
This past week, all the key members of the Motor Mavens Crew have been extremely busy, working on developing some cool new website features that our readers will enjoy. I recently had the opportunity to hang out with some of my AE86 friends from out of town also. MotorMavens contributor and AE86er Pedro Velado came all the way from El Salvador to hang out at my garage and talk about AE86s; and on the same day, my close friend, Osaka-based AE86er Taku Machida came to visit on his last day in the United States before he and his family moved back to Japan this past weekend.
Since all these AE86 friends have been coming by to hang out and look through my photo albums, filled with old school AE86 photos from over 10 years ago, I felt that it would only be fitting to dig up some old school AE86 photos for our website too. You see, I have to exercise extreme control in order to avoid posting up AE86 photos and stories every day on the MotorMavens site. Hell, if it were solely up to me, I could make it a site that only had AE86 and old school Toyota content… but we wouldn’t want to alienate all our readers who own other car marques.
Today though, I’m going to indulge and share images of one of my favorite AE86s from a stash of photos I took FIVE YEARS AGO. Yes, I took these photos way back in 2005. The red Sprinter Trueno in the photos is the famous “Yama red” AE86, owned by hachiroku driver Yamashita Koichi from the legendary Kanagawa-based drift team, Running Free. Running Free has a small handful of original members, but Yamashita is definitely the most famous in the group. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!
September 21, 2009
One Of My Favorite AE86 Levins
By Ben Schaffer
The Real JDM
Shout to our friend Jon Sibal on the blogroll. Jon continues to impress me with his impeccable taste, not just of his renderings but of the cars he selects for his blog. Jon recently featured this absolutely sick Levin. I love everything about this car.
I cant remember the last time I saw a Levin on the track without crazy countersteer angles. Could this possibly be a time attack Levin! Man…brings me back to going to Fuji Speedway ten years ago and watching the GT300 JGTC AE86 compete sponsored by ORC. This car is just killing it in every way. Continue reading after the jump!
August 20, 2009
Evergreen ProAm is the Jam
Antonio Alvendia
Continuing our MotorMavens coverage with more images from Seattle, I think we should put the Top 32 drivers and points standings aside right now so we can all focus on the real reason why this year’s trip to Seattle got me so hyped. The Pacific Northwest has a really strong grassroots drifting scene, and the Evergreen Pro Am really stood up to the hype, or lack thereof. That’s right, I said lack – I don’t think these Pro Am drivers get enough attention.
Pro Am drivers are the unsung heroes of professional drifting. Most of these guys don’t have any sponsors to help with travel or car building expenses. Many don’t even have much coveted tire sponsorships. However, they persistently and repeatedly show up time and time again to all the track events, paying their dues and showing what they’re made of.
It just so happens that the Evergreen Pro Am drivers impressed me; not just because of their hard work and dedication to drifting, but because their cars have style… and it’s the cars that get me hyped. I think I’ve seen enough stripped out ghetto built, busted up drift cars to last a lifetime. So let’s shine a light on the cars and drivers of the Evergreen Pro Am. This is real drifting! Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens
August 6, 2009
Artchis AE86s at Sugo Raceway
Antonio Alvendia
In celebration of our beloved “Hachiroku Day” today (8/6/2009), I thought I’d post up some photos from my archive of AE86 photos. I have sooooooo many AE86 photos in my hard drives and photo albums it’s ridiculous. So many in fact, that I could start an AE86 only blog site if I felt like it! But no time for that right now, as right now we’re concentrating on building Motor Mavens and telling the whole world about our site!
I wasn’t sure if I should categorize this as “Point&Shoot” or “Archaeology” since these pics seem to fit into both categories. I just decided on “Point&Shoot” since these pics are more that style anyway… they aren’t artistic or photographically dope, but it doesn’t matter. The subject matter is off the hook!
These pics are three years old – they were taken back in spring of 2006, to be exact. I was in Japan for a “work/vacation,” just hanging out with Team Orange, and I decided to roll up to D1 Sugo with them. When we arrived, the lower division D1 qualifying had just ended, and I was so happy to see all these dope AE86s around! I must have looked ridiculous as hell, taking a million photos of these AE86s on their loader trucks… the owners of the cars laughed at me, probably thinking “damn, this guy is going bananas taking all these photos! Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens
Ebisu Drifting Matsuri AE86s
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
Tec-Arts AE86 N2 Project
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
August 5, 2009
AE86 Global Massive
By Speedhunters
Car Culture At Large
This post isn’t about having the right or the wrong rims. It’s not about stance, offset, demon camber or wheel fitment. Nor is this post about whether or not it’s right or wrong to swap your AE86 engine to another brand. No, this post is about one thing only: a celebration of the worldwide AE86 community. In compiling these photos, I’m quite amazing to me to see just how far the cult of the Hachiroku has spread… It seems like there are fans of this little car in every pocket of the globe! See tons of AE86 pics Speedhunters!
