This video was shot last summer at Willow Springs International Raceway. Too bad there’s music instead of the sound of the Nelson Racing Engines twin-turbo, but still, it’s pretty cool. More details on the shoot at BangShift.com

Paul Walker just confirmed in a radio interview that he and Vin Diesel are set to star in the fifth The Fast and the Furious, which will be set in Brazil. The fourth installment brought in over $75 million in the first weekend, so this isn’t really a huge surprise. The Brazil location should be interesting. Via Jalopnik

I’ve had a long history with the development of Fast and Furious (FF4). I just got a chance to see the movie on Friday night for the first time in its entirety. Being behind the scenes for the filming gave me a lot of perspective on what I thought the movie might look like or how it might progress. Of course most of my assumptions I thought of ended up being false. I think that is perhaps always the case with movies if you’re on the inside; The end result is a bit of a mystery that gets worked out in the editing room after everyone else packs their bags and moves on. You can really only hope for the best and then let it go.

Regardless of what I thought would or would not happen, the movie is a huge hit and I’m very glad! The F&F franchise needed a hit to keep it going and this movie delivered huge box office numbers. That is what was needed to keep the franchise moving forward and I’m excited about part 5! Continue reading at The Real JDM

On Friday night, the wait was finally over. I had my large bag of Sour Patch Kids and I was ready for the two hours of non-stop motor mayhem that is Fast and Furious.

The lights dimmed and the scene opened with Dom and Letty chasing down this massive tanker convoy, ready to jump aboard and hijack its lucrative cargo. How do they do that? Through outlandish acrobatics and cryogenic technology–what did you expect? The ensuing series of events during the heist borders on insanity as Dom proceeds to drive 55 mph in reverse–in a Grand National–and pull off an improbably timed power brake that enables him to escape by diving under a flaming tanker barrel-rolling down the highway toward him. Yep, Fast and Furious is up to the same old tricks that made the first installment every car nut’s love-to-hate movie in the first place.

I so badly wanted to like this movie, but I’m sorry to say that I saw it for what it was: a sub-par attempt to rekindle a dying franchise. I’m not going to totally rag on this movie, though–there were some definite pros. Follow the jump for my full review.

Continue reading "Review: Fast And Furious" »

I’m going… are you going? I got tickets… you got tickets?? Let’s just say I’m a little hyped up over today’s debut of this latest installment of The Fast and the Furious. I haven’t been to a “car guy” movie since Disney/Pixar’s Cars back in 2006. Needless to say, serveral of my car-nut buddies and I are going. We’ll either wind up making fun of generic tuner lingo or being hopelessly glued to the screen shifting our sodas to the beautiful soundtrack that is a 454 big-block Chevelle. Let’s just say I’m hoping for the latter. Stay tuned for my review!

California residents who were hoping to check out opening night of Fast & Furious this Friday have been cruelly thwarted. An emergency resolution passed late yesterday has banned the film from California theaters until further notice, following a pair of street-racing-related deaths in So Cal this week. More…

Continue reading "Fast & Furious Opening Night Cancelled in California Amidst Fears of Increased Street Racing Activity" »

When I chatted with Paul Walker at the Fast & Furious shoot last year, he struck me as a pretty serious gearhead. But at the time I never suspected he could rip up a track like this. It’s too bad they didn’t let him do any of the stunt driving for the film–(he was a little sad about that, too)–because he seems to have some pretty burly skills on him. Check out this epic drift video from Streetfire–Walker, Tanner Faust ‘n’ pals go out to play at Willow Springs raceway in a bunch of awesome rides, including  a 2010 Mustang and a whole heap of GT-Rs. Enjoy!

Check out this Fast & Furious promo our buddies at Streetfire are running. It’s got the long version of the trailer in HD–looks good!–while a pop-up quiz gives you some questions to answer while it’s running. The quiz is connected to their sweepstakes, which promises a Grand Prize trip for two and ride-along at the Texas Mile Challenge for the winner. Take a look!

Daryl over at Just Driven has some interesting low-down and spy shots of the stunt R34 Skylines built for the new Fast and Furious movie. The clean R34-bodied Kaizo that stars as Paul Walker’s ride is the only one that doesn’t get hurt. The rest of them are GTS-T mules dressed up to look like R34 Skylines on the outside. Then there’s one lucky car, Daryl says, that’s fitted with a VW buggy drivetrain and running gear, and gets jumped and run down a flight of stairs. See build pics below the jump.

Continue reading "Fast & Furious R34 Skyline Stunt Cars: A Mixed Bag" »

It’s dark, but not too dark to tell there’s a lot of nice cars getting wrecked. Thanks to Brad Jolly for the tip on this one!

Check out the polished version of that on-set spy video we showed you last year. The GPS presence is kind of a goofy addition, but I guess that’s unavoidable nowadays. Enjoy!

Dumbest ”In Mother Russia…” joke wins. As seen on Filmz.ru.

The upcoming Fast & Furious will be the first major theatrical feature to be shown with the seat-shaking D-BOX Motion Code technology, promising moviegoers “an unmatched realistic, immersive experience” which presumably includes life-like, bone-jarring car wrecks and tubs of extra-buttered popcorn dumped down shirtfronts. But wait: the only viewers who will get to enjoy these visceral treats on April 3rd are the lucky few within driving distance of two D-BOX-equipped US theaters– the Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood and UltraStar Surprise Pointe 14 in Surprise, AZ. The rest of us will have to schlep off to the normal moviehouse and get our seatbacks kicked the old-fashioned way. Anyone in Hollywood or Surprise want to write us a review?

Here’s a new video for your viewing pleasure, which takes a closer look at some of the cars used in the production.

Here are some pics I snapped on the set of the new Fast & Furious movie last spring. The studio has had them under embargo until now, so this is the first time they’ve seen the light of day. There were a ton of extra cars and their owners on site, including CarDomain member madmods and his Solstice. Also present were several stunt versions of the gray-primer Chevelle–including the wheelie car, its back end loaded up with massive metal plates so it’d be able pop up during that launch. Again, the new muscle-intensive focus of the series is emphasized even in the filmmakers’ choice of background cars–check out the Cougar, Camaro, ‘Vette, and Ford GT. A whole heap of hot Fords were loaned out for the shoot by the Saleen family, including Steve Saleen’s daughter Molly, who will be making a cameo in the film driving her fuscia ‘07 Mustang. Fast & Furious is scheduled to be in theaters April 3–not that far off at all! Follow the jump to see a ton more photos of the cars that’ll be hitting the big screen in a little over a month. And don’t forget to check out the recently-released official photos as well.

Continue reading "More Pics From The Set of Fast & Furious" »