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September 12, 2010
POV Grassroots Drifting
By Rob Einaudi
Editor-in-Chief
Check out this cool new vid from Motormavens. Love this Gary Numan tune–mixed at just the right level with the drifting sounds!
September 29, 2009
The Gorgeous New Infiniti Essence
Antonio Alvendia
“Oh my god!”
“Simply stunning!”
“That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”
You can expect to hear people to say things like that when you tag along with the Essence, Infiniti’s new flagship concept car and 20th birthday present to itself, on a mini-tour of the U.S. This is the first that many Americans will be seeing of this 592-horsepower car since its debut at the Geneva auto show back in March. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens
September 15, 2009
IDRC Finals Fontana Pt. 2
Antonio Alvendia
As I looked over our coverage on the IDRC Finals at Fontana last weekend, I thought should make a complete and separate post about some of my favorite cars out there – the old school draggers! After all, as these cars (and their owners) get on in age, the people that own these cool old school drag cars tend to bring them out less and less. Needless to say, I was more than glad to see some at IDRC Finals! Let’s take a look. Continue reading and view more photos at MotorMavens!
September 14, 2009
IDRC Finals Fontana Pt.1
Antonio Alvendia
It’s been an extremely busy week for those of us working on the Motor Mavens site! We’re all making lots of steps toward positive growth for the site, which is exciting! This past weekend, Travis Hodges and I went out to the IDRC Finals at the AAA Auto Club Dragway in Fontana CA. We thought it would be interesting to show a little bit of drag racing content on the site, since our site is just so populated with drifting content all the time (not that it’s a bad thing!).
Fontucky was extremely hot while we were there; the sun and Southern Cali fires weren’t helping matters at all, burning through our sunscreen like a magnifying glass being held over ants. If you’re interested in play by play bracketed info on all the classes, you’ll need to check an upcoming copy of DSPORT Magazine. However, if you’re like us and you just want to check out the cars at the event, please read on! Continue reading and view more photos at MotorMavens
September 9, 2009
Slide Assassins Sunday Session
Antonio Alvendia
This has been an extremely busy weekend for the Motor Mavens crew in Southern Cali. Travis Hodges and I went out to bake in the sun at the IDRC Season Finale at Fontucky Dragway (aka Auto Club Dragway/California Speedway) all day Saturday. We’ll show you some of what we captured at IDRC soon enough, but first I wanted to shine a light on a special event that took place today (Sunday) at Irwindale Speedway.
Even though I was still exhausted and burnt from our skin cancerous Saturday in Fontana, I somehow dragged myself out of bed and prepared my camera gear for yet another day at the track. While I found it extremely hard to pry myself from the ice cold air conditioning blasting throughout my house, I reminded myself that I made a commitment to show up. My friend Luke Pakula kept dropping me friendly reminders about the event the Slide Assassins guys were throwing at Irwindale Speedway, so I wanted to come through and show support of their event, on behalf of the Motor Mavens crew.
After all, the Motor Mavens movement is all about supporting grassroots drifting! Everyone on our team does their best to show how much we genuinely care about the scene by being out there as much as we possibly can. Actions speak louder than words, so hopefully people will notice that our site doesn’t only cover the big events like Formula D and All Star Bash… Motor Mavens shows love by shining a light on some of the smaller events as well. And luckily for us, some of the grassroots drifters have been showing us love back!
We just can’t tell you enough how much it means to us when we see people showing their support of the site by rocking our stickers on their cars, by leaving comments on our blog posts, by reposting our links onto different forums, blogs, Facebook and Twitter pages! It is especially means a lot to us when people voice their support when they see us at events. We love that people appreciate our site, because we put a whole lot of heart and hard work into it! Continue reading and view more photos at MotorMavens.
September 8, 2009
Toyota Mark X ZiO TGDA Concept
Antonio Alvendia
Despite my inflated sense of self-importance, I have to admit that no one in the industry really knows who I am. But that’s okay. Even though I spent years working at some high-profile media companies, I’m at best remembered as “that one guy with the hat”. I’m flattered when people remember me enough to recognize the fact that I often enjoy wearing hats, but that’s neither here nor there. To be honest, I rather enjoy the anonymity; it keeps people’s expectations of me low. But for the one or two people who actually care about what I have to say, I would like to state here and now that I am absolutely addicted to minivans. Tricked-out JDM minivans, to be precise.
Back in 2008, I – the guy with no “steez” or a functioning media outlet – somehow convinced Toyota Japan’s corporate types to let me into the Toyota Technocraft facility in Yokohama to shoot the van you see here, the Toyota Mark X ZiO TGDA Concept. Toyota Technocraft, for those who may not be aware, is where Toyota Japan builds all its “specialty” vehicles. Everything from ambulances to JGTC cars, plus the Mark X ZiO TGDA Concept, is made at this top-secret facility, and Toyota let me in to run amok in the place. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens.
September 4, 2009
Rare and Refined, VIP Infiniti M45
Antonio Alvendia
With VIP style cars so popular these days, it seems that everyone in Southern Cali always sees slammed Lexus GS and LS bodies with big wheels… It’s even common to see Infiniti Q45s with VIP treatment pretty frequently nowadays. However, it’s not often that we see a Y34 body style VIP Infiniti M45, which only came out between 2003 and 2005. The Y34 has got to be the coolest M45 ever made. Ever.
VIP originated with Japanese Yakuza members modifying their cars with dish rims, clean body kits, and limo tint. Anytime a Yakuza boss rolled down the street you would know to get out of the way! Justin Wu, the owner of this particular 2003 M45 may not be a Yakuza boss, but he definitely is gangster, and here’s why. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens.
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 14, 2009
Racecraft and the 1966 BMW 2000CS
Antonio Alvendia
Remember the sexy silver machine from last week’s post about Seattle vintage race car builders Racecraft? The 1966 BMW 2000CS served as the design inspiration for some of the most gorgeous BMWs ever to roam the Autobahn, dazzling enough to warrant closer inspection on MotorMavens. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens
August 13, 2009
Formula D Seattle, Part 3
Antonio Alvendia
I’m sure many of you have been waiting for my photos and stories from Formula D Seattle, so I apologize to our readers for uploading these kind of late. It’s been a pretty hectic weekend. There was plenty of drama at Formula D on Saturday, and I apparently added to it by pissing off the Formula D safety steward while grabbing a quick shot of Dai Yoshihara’s smashed Lexus IS350 as it was getting loaded up onto a tow truck and pulled off the track.
It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, the Formula D/SCCA guy Randy Hembrey got pissed off at me and pulled my hard card on Saturday (competition day), which allows me to get track access for shooting photos. This was definitely a problem, as I was expected to produce good images that weekend (I was shooting the event for clients, who helped pay my way to get up to Seattle). I had a hell of a time trying to get photos for the rest of the day, especially without access to the hot areas, but I still managed to get some photos somehow. So here it is… Formula D Seattle through my eyes. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens
