Ahh winter. The time of year when everything slows down, nobody wants to go outside, and everyone bemoans the free salt bath our cars get in the GTA. Why the hell would anybody take their car out in the winter!?

Thankfully not everybody is a wuss and garages their summer ride when old man winter shows up. Even Jeff brought out his well known EvoX with a couple of new bits on it for this cruise. Will wonders never cease?!

A pretty rare sight!

We wound up at a restaurant at the end of the night and I decided to try something a bit different by using the dwindling late afternoon light to my benefit.

Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you can’t have a bit of flare with your winter rims…

Parking the cars under a bright orange neon light really provided some great colours and contrast with the cold blue of a late afternoon Whitby sky…

The details really popped at the right angles!

And REAALLLY popped at other angles!

The cutoff in Jeff’s projector conversion really made some interesting light effects with the vapour from my exhaust.

Jeff was brave bringing his slammed car out on summer rubber in -1C weather! Of course like normal his was the cleanest car on the road, period.

Really loved the colours popping off in this light!

That’s it for now, hopefully I’ll get a chance to shoot some more cars in the near future, but the weather really isn’t helping anything. Come on people, be brave, bring your car out and lets shoot!

Well the car’s in winter mode now, and what do you do with an STI in the winter other than drive it everywhere sideways and do donuts upon arrival at your destination? Exactly. That’s ALL you do with it. That and fill it with gas on a seemingly hourly basis. Fun times… fun times. =)

Had a great time shooting stills at Irwindale, the final round of the Formula Drift. Of course since my new camera has a video function I had to shoot some video! Sadly I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to shooting, editing, or composing video, so I just wing it and here’s what you get. Hope you enjoy!

Formula Drift Irwindale, 2009 from Chris Hoare on Vimeo.

I decided this year to head up north to Bancroft, Ontario to try get some coverage of the Rally of the Tall Pines. The weekend quickly degraded into more ‘party’ than ’spectate an event’ but before it did completely I did manage to put up with standing around for 3 stages to snap some shots.

I’ll preface this post by saying I was a bit disappointed at the experience of shooting a rally. Definitely not for lack of excellent driving on the part of the teams, but even with a media pass it was quite hard to get the angles and locations I felt would result in killer shots. The course is obviously quite large, and hauling gear through the woods wasn’t exactly a fun experience.

The end result is you wind up with a LOT of shots of different cars all hitting the same corners in the same way at slightly different speeds. Unless someone (hopefully doesn’t) crash, you really don’t get to see much variety or much driving really. I’d happily wait for 3 hrs to see a car fly by for 25seconds if it was Colin though…

That’s not a reflection though on the effort the drivers and teams were putting in, as this Lancer shows as it bounces off the guardrail (see bits of the cornerlight fall away).

I hauled my ass further up the course to try and get some different angles, and got some shots I was happy with in the end. I really love this one of the NOS EvoX as it rounds a corner off into the distance.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves from here on in as I really wasn’t following the competition much anyways. It’s a very disparate form of motorsport to watch in person.  Still, badass cars doing badass speeds on dirt roads is pretty sweet to see. Enjoy!

Unfortunately one of the (many many) WRX’s wound up going off the course at the bridge. The wheels locked up it looked like and the car was carrying too much speed to power into the left hand turn.

After the driver & co-driver made sure that the next cars would know enough to slow down and not repeat their mistake, right into them, they hustled back to the car in order to solve their predicament…

Trying to hitch a ride proved challenging. About a half a dozen cars (many Subarus!) drove by without stopping to help. Understandable really, but still, where’s the honor!?

Finally a compassionate Focus stopped to drag the stranded Subie out of the ditch and they were both on their way!

That’s all. Next Rally I goto will likely be in the USA as I think the event will be set up and run a bit better from what I’ve been told. It’s no reflection on the event in general, I was just expecting more perhaps from it. Still, worth going to if you’ve got nothing else to do on that weekend!

A nice fat, wide set of tires have always been popular with the enthusiast crowd for obvious reasons. Even stretched tires have had their place in our hearts since the 60’s and 70’s (Countache and Stratos, anybody?). But the audacity to run these setups on a daily driven street car, let alone one engineered to run an OEM wheel & tire fitment nowhere near these specs has only really been around in this incarnation for the last few years.

Add to this the fact that setting up a car like this to live a life on the cracked and potholed streets of the Great White North is near insanity! Of course like most trends that catch on in North America the HellaFlush or ‘Wrong Fitment’ style started for us in California even though you can argue its roots in Japan. Where else can you get away with running these ridiculous fitments year round? It spread across the continent rapidly though as people in various scenes started worshiping at the altars of the stretched tire, the GTR face wheel, and the pulled fender.

With a car like the Impreza the whole thing is as much about stance as it is fitment. Dropping the wing off the back of some cars that come with them as OEM is a bit of a bad idea on most cars like the Mitsu Evos but with the overall rake of the Impreza the proper stance really brings out the aggro appearance of the car without the wing.

Wilbert’s 05 STI is really clean, debadged except for the original STI badge in the grille opening. Gotta love the dedication to the look – these guys are all rocking plates that show they’re serious about it! Even if you’re not into this trend, you gotta respect the dedication.

It’s hard to focus on the interior of a car like this when the exterior is so…

… I mean… well this says all we need to know about the exterior doesn’t it!? Work VS-XX’s on the outside, 18×10″ all around. Yum. Look at that lip! On a Subie!! Madness!!!

Just prior to this shoot Wilbert picked up the Voltex rear diffuser which actually fit on over (under?) his already installed APR diffuser. This car is diffusing air like nobody’s business.

Here’s a better view of that big carbon diffuser, this is going to be a nightmare over speedbumps! But that’s all part of the lifestyle, go balls out or go home.

Wilbert also cleaned up the messy rear of the stock STI by removing the ridiculous number of badges out back, his car is clean, low, wide, raked and rolls hard. Definitely one of the nicest I’ve seen!

We’ve looked at a 2005 Impreza, and that’s a challenge to get setup properly for flush fitment. What if your headlight tastes lean towards slightly more … round?

There you go! Loving those projector bug-eye headlights. This car doesn’t just have stance, it’s got some balls too!

How do you fit those meaty rims and rubber up under the rear of a Bug-eye WRX? Pull, pull, pull some more. The fenders in the rear have a substantial pull/flare but it’s done very well.

Hardcore Subi-files will recognize the S204 shift knob…

Just something intangibly badass about a meaty set of rubber stuffed up under the flares of a WRX. Kudos too for chosing white rims, that can’t be fun to keep clean.

The guys in this crew follow the HellaFlush/Fatlace crew closely, and this blue bugeye has even been featured as the first Canadian Subaru on the Fatlace blog.

It’s impressive how much rake a little bit of suspension work will yield on an Impreza.

This next car is from out east actually, Toronto Subaru fans may not recognize it since it doesn’t normally prowl our streets.

Those wheels are familiar though!

Nice touches are all over this car, the red anodized tow hook is a nice clean touch on the rear end. I gotta get me one of these to pull all those G35’s out of the ditches this winter.

Sparco pulls duty on the inside keeping the driver and passenger firmly planted.

Like the rest of the cars here though, this ones charms are found in its fitment and stance. The widebody is offset by those Work wheels nicely, and the aggressive front chin spoiler really helps with the already chunky nature of the front end.

The logos say it all!

YZ you gotta get those holes filled with the proper lights!

I believe this wing mirrors are Ganador pieces – certainly rare up here in Canada.

Again this car fully embraces the hellaflush and fatlace communities! It’s gotta be nice for those guys to see their movement is spreading not just across a country but a whole continent.

Now this… this is the setup I want! You hear me buddy!? Enkei NT-o3M’s, just stunning.

It’s just the right balance of comp-spec style rim, dish, tuck, pull – everything in balance.

Sooooooo cleeeeeeean.

You’ve really got to appreciate rim choice when it compliments a car this well, it’s quite impressive how some people ‘get it’ while others are just so far off the mark with their own cars (all of these guys get it though!).

What I see great about the HellaFlush style is that even a fairly stock or pared down car can really have more presence than a car with way more in the way of appearance work done to it. The right set of wheels, some effort put into the stance, and the Impreza goes from 4-door econobox to pissed off bulldog in a heartbeat.

What’s great about the spocom scene is the friendship and ties you make. Finding what ties you together can be a car, a style, a personality, or all of those things. In this case these four friends have found a tie that links them and their cars together in a great way. Really awesome to see guys working hard and doing their best to go after a style with no compromise!

“JDM” is a funny term. Like any trend based around a single ideal, the core of that ideal will be diluted and worn away as more and more people latch the trend and don’t stick to the original intent of the idea. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just a natural progression.

However over time the original ideal will be eroded to the point that it no longer carries the same meaning at all. Over the years what has defined something as “JDM” has been worn down to slapping on bumpers, lights, oil caps, rad shrouds and other such high-dollar nonsense that we all admit to coveting. Also, at the end of the day putting parts by Amuse or Greddy on your car doesn’t make it “JDM”.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing but respect for people who want to try something unique and go after a look or performance they can only get with the Japanese parts, but you can’t deny that there’s an intangible element of mystical truth and honesty to a car like a Skyline that’s been fully built & tuned in Japan when it’s placed into North America.

Lots of R32s are now imported into Canada for sale – some good, most crap. We’ve all seen the beaters brought over by shady local importers and we’ve all seen the occasional diamond-in-the-rough that may have a few scuff marks but are obviously good runners and considered in the back of our minds “maybe I could pick that up and do it justice…”

Toshi and his R32 Skyline GTR are as JDM as you get though – no grey market imports here. Hailing originally from Japan himself and here in Canada on work, he’s a die hard enthusiast and has brought to Canada with him the true Japanese spirit of car passion. He also brought with him his Top Secret built GTR. You may remember Toshi as he’s also the lucky owner of the red R35 GTR I shot earlier in the summer. You can see why his R35 is still stock…

Having seen more than a few R32s of all different levels over here, this is easily my favorite one. It’s not the prettiest, the sponsor stickers are a bit worn, it wasn’t even freshly washed for the shoot – and that’s why I loved it. The rims are stained and pitted with brake dust from the aggressive Endless pads and from aggressive use. This is a car that was built by enthusiasts, for a true enthusiast, to be driven enthusiastically. It’s a car that is living it’s life to its proper potential.

What do you get when you put your car in the capable hands of Top Secret to build and tune it? Starting with a Nur Spec RB26 engine, Top Secret bored and stroked it out to 2.8L and built the internals.

The interior of the car is as JDM as it gets. When I think of cars built in the hayday of tuning and wangan running mayhem, I don’t think of slick gauge packs and integrated electronics. I think of double sided tape and universal everything. Gauges that are function oriented. Electronics that would look more at home in the bargain bin of a Radioshack then a powerfully modified tuner car. Toshi’s car is a perfect blend of this honesty. Quality parts that don’t fit together into some preconceived theme of what a tuner car should be. They all just serve a purpose and work the way they should; much more like a race car than a street car.

One feature that I love about Toshi’s car is the ability to change from AWD to fully RWD on the fly. R32’s have long been doing this by removing a fuse or something (I’ve never gotten a straight answer on how it was done the ghetto way) but Toshi can do it with the flick of a switch. 700+ hp out the rear wheels is a recipe for terror.

Everywhere you look on this car it’s brand names you covet. The bumper and body kit are Do-Luck items.

Although you may overlook the Top Secret built and tuned motor as it isn’t as much of a center piece.

A Brembo Gran Turismo big brake kit takes care of clamping duties. 4 piston up front, 2 piston in the rear. Slotted two piece floating rotors up front help keep weight down.

The color of this car just screams beautifully against the rusty fence and burnt orange of the fall colored plants. Bright fall days are great for shooting.

Carbon everywhere, as far as the eye can see! I always wonder how well carbon fiber pieces will stand up over time on a car like this since the gelcoat is something that will eventually be worn down by UV light, stone chips, etc. Toshi’s hood, trunk and big GT style wing have all stood up beautifully.

I have to say a big thanks to Toshi for bringing out his absolutely amazing R32 to shoot. Toshi is a great guy and a true enthusiast. This is really one of the best most honest JDM pieces I’ve seen in Toronto, and easily the nicest R32 I’ve seen. As far as I’m concerned it’s the perfect mix of power, flash, reputation and soul.

Well, when your life gets turned upside down you tend to neglect the things that mattered to you for a while. That’s what’s happened here, my life was thrown into utter termoil for a bit, and only now 3 weeks later am I getting my shit together properly.

I feel re-focused (horrible pun intended). I feel rusty though with posting, so please bear with me as I try to find my footing again in what I was doing here. I noticed that the visitor stats have stayed consistent through the absence of new content which is pretty cool.

Jeff’s EvoX is a car that I’ve become very familiar with. Jeff is a great enthusiast, he’s always planning his next mod. His car is a perfect example of what an enthusiast can do on their own with some determination. While everyone in the scene in Toronto has seen Jeff’s car before a a show or meet, there’s no high-dollar shop sponsored builds here.

The style of this car is pretty unique in Toronto for an EvoX, and Jeff has earned his status as having probably the best set up EvoX in the city. If you know a better one, let me know. He could use the competition!

Since it’s the end of the season Jeff is currently in the process of negotiating with some new product sponsors for next year and I have a feeling from what little he’s told me (no, not giving anything away here, sorry) his car is going to be absolutely EPIC next year. Expect big things.

Unfortunately he’s got to park it up soon for winter (it’s AWD man! why?!). Well partly because that awesome ARC box sucks in whatever precipitation hits the hood! It’s a great airbox, but it’s perhaps TOO good at what it does!

Those rims that give Jeff’s car the signature flush look will probably be gone next year. If he gets his way! Can’t say what will replace them yet, but trust me, it’s going to completely change the feel of this car in an awesome way.

Jeff really put some attention to details into the car this season. His engine bay and all the little carbon aero bits on the car really work to set it off in subtle ways. Somehow he’s kept it the good side of tacky though, just shows he knows exactly what’s up with this car and tastes in the scene. Keep it conservative, but try new things here and there…

The only good thing about Jeff parking his car is that now when I see him I want be constantly reminded how dirty my car is compared to his. HAH. Can’t wait to see this thing next year and what it transforms into, I have this feeling it’s going to be huge…

Anyone who follows Subarus or sport compact racing in general will have seen the Crawford built 2008 time attack STI.

The details on this car are stellar. I was surprised how good the condition of the car was considering the punishing it takes on the track. The carbon front splitter was pretty immaculate and didn’t look like it’d turned a lap in anger…

And the very pricey looking carbon roof skin and spoiler were also stunning.

Gotta love the dual cannons facing out the back of this car. Not sure why they went with twin tips when it’s not dictated by the actual engine – maybe to keep the look somewhat?

I’ve seen more recent pics of the car running a second roof mounted spoiler which I guess helps add some high speed stability or keeps the tail of the car more planted in high speed corners.

There was another Crawford prepped car there though that caught my eye more… can you guess it from this pic?

That’s right it’s the Gymkhana 1 car! This car is so impossibly badass in person it’s awesome. Everyone who walked by it uttered “ooooh that’s the car”

Love those meaty tires on meaty wheels behind meaty fenders…

Who knew DC sold ICs?

I’m biased but the 06/07 front end really is the best of the GD era!

The WRC style wing on Block’s car was a beautiful piece, the fit and finish looked stellar.

There was plenty else to see around the paddock though, and while I didn’t get crazy shooting every possible tuner car down there my eye was caught by this IS with a stonking big HKS turbo kit on it.

Painted in the blue the E46 M3’s came in, this car had a bit of a German feel to it more than a Japanese tuner car usually would.

There was fantastic paintwork and suspension work as far as the eye could see.

The actual Mines 370z was there too and I shot a lot of it, but here’s just a teaser. Unlike most people who call a car “Mines” because it might have a spoiler, this car was the genuine article – replete with Mine’s decals everywhere.

This clean Evo on CCWs really caught my eye. Look at that offset…

Ok you twisted my arm, here’s another of that Mine’s 370z. All of their cars are just so clean looking. I like the dual inlets for the twin intakes in the front bumper.

The guys at DSport mag had a great sense of humour. This guy upgraded to 20″ recently from his 17″ necklace.

The paddock really was rammed with cars you couldn’t look at a car without seeing a great detail of another car behind it you wanted to check out

Even the driers were working hard promoting their sponsors and wares – here’s Taka Aono spreading flyers across the front of his Hachi.

The Pro-Am guys were hittin’ hard and trying to nail the clipping points as tight as they could!

Definitely putting on a good smoke show.

Ultimately one or two of them go ta bit overzealous…

Like this beautiful gold 240 that hit the wall 15ft in front of me at about 120km/h!!

Thaknfully the car was built right and the driver wasn’t hurt.

But the day was over for that car!

Inside the Garage Boso S15 cockpit. Gotta love a drift car with a full system! (and nav?!)

Such a nice car, great stance, all the right creative flare.

DMCC Champ Matt Waldin was out here too, representing the Canada eh!

During ProAm there was a little Miata that was running the course – putting in some great show and absolutely annihilating the tires!

One thing that sort of bugs me is the number of cameras and GoPro’s stuck all over the cars. I understand how cool the footage is but it sorta takes away from the cars to me. Here’s one on Dai’s car’s tail.

Some more details on the Garage Boso S15.

The cars were getting really hot in the late afternoon sun and the guys spraying the intercoolers were working hard. I don’t get why these cars don’t have IC sprayers built in really, it’s not like its a heavyweight system or complicated to set up?

During practice the Hachi’s weren’t holding back at all, here two of them tangled up and Taka Aono got left holding the other’s bumper in the wall.

Not sure what this guy was thinking he was going to do by grabbing onto the tail of this G35 doing a burnout…

Here you can see Matt Powers doing a burnout and how the tails of the cars were constantly sliding down the incline of the banked corner. Again, did he think he was going to push the car back up?!

The more powerful cars could light the tires up at the top of the incline with enough speed to keep the car from sliding down it seemed.

Matt Powers is a joker and while he was focused in the car he seemed to always be having a lot of fun.

The beautiful Hankook STI had a hickup and went into the wall pretty hard. Breaks my heart… You can see how off kilter the tow hook is!

Check out the camber on this Hachi. You can see where the bumper in front of Taka’s car came from.

Another of Matt Powers, the car would look so much better without that handicam on the roof!

It’s really easy taking pics in the California sun when it’s low on the horizon.

Here’s a peek inside the Falken/Japan Automotive Supra.

The inside of the cars were full of smoke after every run, the Hankook STI was no exception. Looks like the rays in a cathedral.

Chris Forsberg went into the weekend as the points leader and only needed a few more to clinch the championship…

Which he did! The rest of the drivers were instantly on him as the first to congratulate him. It was pretty cool seeing how much these guys support and root for each other.

Here’s Vaughn congratulating him, these guys were honestly really happy for Chris, pretty nice to see.

With that over it was all focus and determination again for some of the drivers…

Tuerck in particular was doing very well throughout the day putting in solid practice and first round runs all through the afternoon.

Can’t get enough of those SSR Type Fs! They’re everywhere…

I gotta get a line on some of these at not-stratospheric prices.

Nissan was amazingly well represented, it boggles my mind that the S15 can be such a fan favorite at huge events like this and yet car manufacturers are so reluctant to bring cars like that over to North America.

Tuerck was right up the tail of everyone he tangled with that afternoon including Matt Waldin who he easily trounced. Not to say that Matt didn’t put up a good fight though!

Tanner’s new haircut has him looking more focused than ever…

Earlier in the afternoon the Need For Speed Shift booth had a competition for all of the FormulaD drivers with a grand prize of $5000. Here’s Carl Rydquist doing some smack talk.

Carl would turn in a 7:05.460 in the Maserati MC12 around the Nordschliefe.

His smack talk would be short lived though as it was Quoc who took the win!

The bleachers were packed at the start of the evening rounds of competition and I was stationed in the middle of all the action at the media ‘island’ for a bit.

Which got me up close to the action as the cars swing around the second section!

But soon it was back to the start/finish line as that’s where all the detail shots were.

Competition was fierce, here’s Tuerck on a mission up against Ken Gushi’s Scion TC, the little Solstice was having little trouble riding the inside line of ever competitor it came up against.

Matt Powers was all thumbs up to a couple of fans with “MATT IS #1″ posters sitting on the other side of the fence from the start/finish line. Nice to see him acknowledge his fans!

Tyler McQuarrie was hitting hard throughout the evening too putting lots of angle and opposite lock going around the final section.

At times it was hard to judge which cars were which, here’s the Hankook 350z… somewhere in there.

Dai looked VERY focused at the start/finish line with his eyes on the track, competitors, and little else.

The track became a haze of blue tires moke and shadows as the more powerful cars like the Rockstar V8 ScionTC absolutely roasted tires on each run.

Falken was fairly well represented, it was pretty hard to get a shot in the pit area WITHOUT a Falken or Hankook girl in the background!

Here you can see Tanner Foust’s V8 Scion up against Matt Powers’ 240 and you start to see why the insane horsepower numbers really matter, it’s hard to stay inside a car with 800hp when it has time to open up a lead like this on a short straight.

Not the best shot but probably my favorite of the night as you can see the hot side of the turbine housing lighting up as the MazdaRX8 comes out of the final corner!!

Matt Powers had endless thumbs up!

The Hachis were firing flames all night long which made for some cool light shows.

The Matt Powers fan club/Pit Crew.

Ryan Tuerck won the night and celbrations were quickly under way. He drove hard and definitely deserved it. I gotta say this was the best time I’ve had shooting an event and can’t speak highly enough of the guys from EA who put the whole thing together. I definitely plan to get back to another FormulaD event sometime next season on my own ticket and try do some more shooting.

An XBOX360 and a copy of NFS:Shift (which I already have on the PS3, but hey two is better than one).  Along with that was some interesting swag, free stuff is always good! The guys at EA hooked us up throughout the trip going way above and beyond what I expected. To the point that I felt a bit bad actually as I fully expected to be paying for my own food and booze at the very least. Enough about all this though, you’re not here for my travel diary. The first full day in LA we went over to the track to see some practice session action and the pro-am guys do their thing. I also managed to score a media pass as I had been in talks with a couple editors to shoot for them pending the results I got since I was down there. We’ll see where that goes… Once we got to the track I made a b-line for the first subie I saw. In this case the Crawford drift GD car. Even before competition started it ws clear this car had seen battle…

RPF1s and a bunch of stickers a drift car do make…

One thing I never noticed about this car in photos is the opening in the rear window on this car. I assumed incorrectly this was to feed cool air into the compartment at first, turns out the rads are hiding down behind that huge pipe in the trunk area. I never bothered to look where they put the fuel cell..

Interestingly the Falken/Sears drift “Saturn” is right hand drive, something I never picked up on. Perhaps it’s an Opel at heart? One of the many things I meant to ask the crew but forgot to.

Chilling at the Falken booth can net you some decent meetups. Vaughn Gitten Jr. came over and talked to us fo ra while, showing us his custom Falken colored DC kicks. This guy was as real as they come, had no problem standing around shooting the shit with us while he definitely had better things to do. I was a bit awe struck at first, it’s pretty weird to see someone in person you’ve only seen in a thousand photos before. All the drivers turned out to be as approachable as Vaughn but he was definitely the coolest to us.

Of course Vaughn’s daily driver is a Mustang, but not just any. He’s got his own special edition of the GT500 that he’s worked on with Ford called the RTR. This thing is absolutely stunning, Ford made some subtle changes to the 2010 Mustang but they were all the right ones. Vaughn made a few more changes of his own for this package and while the GT500 is a bloody expensive car up here in Canada, this RTR package is absolutely killer.

Walking around the pits a bit more before the main practice started there was a brief memorial presentation for Shaun Carlson, who if you don’t know was a formative figure in the Formula Drift series who passed away a few weeks ago at a very young 35. It was quite moving to hear his friends and colleagues talk about him, you definitely can see these guys are all a very tight knit family just like a grassroots drift crew, they just happen to have huge sponsorships for their team. The NuFormz Viper was done in a special livery as well to memorialize Shaun and it was great to see the car out on the track.

As I had media credentials waiting for me, I had to attend the media safety meeting. While our meeting was obviously boring and full of pearls of wisdom like “don’t cross the track while cars are drifting” I did get to also sit through the driver’s meeting where the FD judges explained what they were specifically looking for on the Irwindale track. The entry & exit speeds they wanted to see and how they were scoring. For example the drivers had to come out of the long sweeping turn 1 at at least 80mph and would lose one point for every mph they were under that speed to a maximum of 10 points. So if you came out at a mere 70mph you were getting zero for that section. Judging is brutal.

As interesting as it was I was still pretty awestruck by so many iconic drivers sitting feet in front of me. In the foreground here you can see a few of my favorites – Tanner Foust and Matt Powers listening intently. Rhys Millen is in the left of the frame along with Dai Yoshihara in the middle ground. Matt Powers was another driver who really impressed me, even though he’s just young (albeit with serious driving skills) the guy is as real and down to earth as it gets. He’s got a great sense of style and dices it up with the huge corporate sponsored cars in his Nissan 240 like it’s no big deal. I was always a fan of his from the coverage the guys at Speedhunters give him but I have huge respect for Matt now having seen what actually competes with in person.

Of course I was axious to start watching (and shooting) some real drifting for the first time in my life. The DMCC series we have up in Canada is a very grassroots effort and while it’s entertaining and I’d never talk down about our local guys, there really is no comparison to the speed and power of the cars. The practice session was already more intense than the competition at our local drift events.

There were some really iconic cars already flinging it sideways on track and it was actually a bit emotional in a weird way to see so many cars I’ve read about, watched videos of, studied, now flying at me out of turn 1 at 80+mph fully sideways.

The drivers definitely weren’t holding back during practice and were trying to find their line along the top of the big banked first turn where they were told to try and keep the car. They weren’t supposed to drop in towards turn two until they were passed this clipping point cone you see in the foreground. This is Ryan Tuerck in his Pontiac Solstice showing what he thinks of Toyota by wiping the car’s ass all over the wall. It was actually all very seemingly controlled.

Here’s a closeup of Vaughn flying past me about 15ft from where I was standing at around 75mph. There was luckily radar guns right near where I was stationed shooting this practice session so I got to hear the entry and exit speeds that were being used to judge this section as they were radioed to the judges. It was really interesting how the high horsepower cars didn’t have that much of an advantage over the smaller but more nimble cars like the Hachis.

The NuFormz Viper sounded absolutely fantastic out on the track banging through the corners with very little fuss.

Here’s Ryuji Miki showing Tanner Faust how it’s done around the track in his Gruppe-S/Apex’i RX-7. Ryuji was the D1GP champion in 2004 and has been drifting forever. His car sounded and looked incredible, the rotory cars just wail and scream while everyone else grunts and drones.

If you ever doubt these guys have skill just take a look at how hard Ryuji Miki was pushing it during just the practice session. That clipping point is millimeteres from the canard on his FD3S and yes this was the clipping point they were supposed to be doing 80+mph through. If I recall correctly Ryuji was tossing the car through here at 76mph.

Here’s Tanner Foust following Ryuji as closely as he can through that section. Tanner’s a pretty smooth driver, of course it doesn’t hurt having a purpose built car and more horsepower than most of the grid under the hood. This NASCAR V8 powered car as just obscene levels of power and I imagine not having to manhandle the car as much into a drift allows Tanner to focus on his line a lot more. Any car that makes a Viper look and sound under powered is clearly a sight to behold. He also lays down a lot more smoke going through the turns compared to the less powerful cars which must make following him a nightmare.

One more shot from this section for now, this time of Rhys Millen in the Hyundai Genesis. I expected this car to be on par with the V8 Scion for lunacy but it really didn’t seem to be pushing as hard as some of the others. Still a very cool car to see out on track and obviously Rhys is one of the best drivers at putting anything on four wheels around any course at the moment.

Here’s a closeup of  Rhys waiting at the start gate with the door open. In the late afternoon sun these guys are absolutely roasting inside the cars, add to that the methanol, racing gas, and tire smoke and even with that dry-carbon 1-piece dashboard in front of you it isn’t the most pleasant office while standing still.

Stephan Verdier was pushing hard in practice as well and unfortunately put his ar into the wall at the end of the transition section after turn one. Here he is checking the damage out immediately after the crash before the safety crew even got there. It’s a wall that you’re generally not going fast enough to hurt yourself going into, but fast enough to seriously wreck the car. Verdier has had some rough luck this season and I feel for him because he’s actually a really very good driver. Perhaps he has a bit of the Colin “McCrash” McRae spirit in him – “Either win, or crash.” The Subaru had to be towed off the track at this point, but it would be back…

Here’s Chris Forsberg chilling by the side of the pits. He was the Championship points leader going into this weekend and when I spoke to him briefly he seemed pretty relaxed considering where he was and how close he was to winning the overall Championship. Definitely another driver who was more than happy to say hey and talk briefly even while working.

Calvin Wan making it look too easy in his stunning Falken liveried S15. This is easily my favorite looking car in the whole grid, the Falken colors are just so sick, and I’d quite literally drive over most people I know just to get my hands on a S15. That’s right. Watch your back.

The DriftSpeed S15 was another killer looking car. The carbon aero kit on this car was nuts, I can’t imagine putting all that stuff back together. Definitely speaks volumes about the confidence of the driver to keep it all off the concrete. Or perhaps they have a huge budget for bodykit parts? Probably a bit of both.

It definitely had no trouble chasing down opponents in practice seen here keeping the corner right up the ass of the AITRacing 350Z which itself was no slouch.

Ahh the two Signal Auto S15’s going through the 2nd last turn together, these cars were both very different from each other. The car in the background was running a VK56DE V8 out of a pathfinder with ITB’s. An S15 with a tuned 5.6L V8? Don’t mind if I do.

Under the “MadMax” category was this G35 with a huge supercharger kit poking through the hood. I couldn’t decide if the two supercharged G35s were cool or just kind of lame, it’s a weird looking car to see drift (very long) and while the supercharger whine is cool, it’s nowhere near as badass as the brutal V8’s, highly strung rotaries, or constantly backfiring turbo-4s.

Here’s a close-up of that supercharger sticking fully out of the hood. Mad Max really would be proud.

Another of that V8 powered S15 along with a S13.5 in the background. The Maziora paint is just so nice in the late afternoon California sunshine, and those SSR TypeFs are easily my favorite rim. I’m glad they didn’t go full drift style and polute the rear with something mismatched.

Following this practice run there was definitely smoke coming from under the S13.5’s front end…

But the crews put out the fire quickly. This wouldn’t be the last fire for this car however. I never found out exactly what was causing it but judging by where they’re spraying in this picture I’m assuming there was an oiling leak around the turbo or manifold that was igniting. There was definitely a slower burning flame under the car at one point so it was dropping something in substantial amounts.

Practice was winding down the some of the drivers were heading back to the pit area, here you can see Tanner Faust (in the mirror) driving his V8 Scion back.

There was  brief break between practice sessions so drivers in both series (FD and ProAm) could make some changes, fixes, and adjustments.

The Hachis were first back out on the track. What was I saying about the smaller cars not lighting the tires up as much as the V8s?

By now the sun was making some nice golden light through the tire smoke and shooting was great. The cars were all finding the line nicely and practice was becoming fairly rythmic.

That S13.5 was back at it again in short order and stomping out some decent runs in late practice…

But again it didn’t last long as the end of this run resulted in more flames, more fanning of smoke, and the fire crew earning their pay.

Here’s Kenji Yamanaka in the V8 powered S15…

And here he is making eye contact with me through the lens, hahaha I couldn’t believe this. I’m sure he’s not actually but it looks like it.

Shooting in sunny (and smokey) California is easy!

You can see one of the track workers picking up a piece of an S13 that made friends with the wall, and some of the love left behind by Stephan Verdier’s WRX STI earlier in the day.

The other STI was doing well. I’m not sure what the tie-in with SouthPark was but the kids were on the hood and on the rear window. Look how smokey it is inside that car after just one turn. It still looks weird to me to see an STI drifting with rear wheel drive. Looks like fun though, wish I could switch mine to full rwd.

Rhys came back to do some more damage to the track with the Genesis coupe. It’s a great looking car.

Now that’s some nice traditional drift imagery right there. Dai Yoshihara in the Discount Tire 240 got some serious angle in practice and was one of the faster drivers through the radar gunned section.

By now the sun had dipped behind the horizon and the mood was changing.

In the start finish line the cars were starting to wrap up the second practice sesssion and set up their final runs.

They were already showing signs of battle though and for sure tomorrow was going to be intense based on how these guys were bringing it before the competition even began.

Total jokers, all of them. Clearly luck had something to do with some of the drivers not making friends with the wall.

Other cars like this RX8 take a more pragmatic approach to protecting their body parts.

Love the upturned exhaust on the Drift Speed S15.

It’s pretty awe inspiring to get this close to such iconic cars. And then feel the ground rumble a bit as they launch.

Having only ever seen an S15 in car shows it was pretty captivating seeing so many of them set up so differently in such a tight proximity.

Because of the banked nature of the track, the starting line where the cars were doing their burnouts was very sloped so the cars would slide down the bank towards crew, other cars, and smoetimes most scarily photographers.

Gotta respect that fitment.

A quick glimpse inside Calvin Wan’s Falken S15, he’s got a very business like cockpit compared to some of the other ars out on the track.

Matt Powers is my hero, this guy has a hilarious sense of style and just brings so much fun to an event that would otherwise feel very corporate. “Mattley Crüe” – amazing.

In the fading light the Maziora cars paint really starts to look punchy. Again with thsoe SSR TypeFs…

Chris Forsberg was running in practice but I imagine keeping his cards face down and holding off till the event to go balls out.

Ahh the V8 S15, here’s a quick look at it as it idles on the line with those 8 ITB’s popping through the hood. This car has also seen a supercharger poking through that hole in the past.

Rhys was watching the competition very intently during their runs. These guys are here having fun, but there’s a lot of analysis of each other’s line and technique that goes on while they’re running.

I’ll leave it there for today, stay tuned for the next update with more photos and some HD video of the competition day!

If you sat through that and still want more pics, be sure to check out the ENTIRE gallery at Flickr: here!

Have to apologize to you guys, I’ve been a tad busy though with my latest adventure over the past few days. I got sent out to LA by EA on a all-expenses paid trip to see the final round of Formula Drift at Irwindale. It was an insane experience and to top it off I managed to secure not only the VIP passes from EA, but also media credentials to get me into places I shouldn’t be! I got some insane shots, and will be putting together some fairly deep coverage in the coming days for you all. In the meanwhile enjoy this pic of Ryan Tuerck’s Pontiac Solstice drift car. This was shot at the start/launch line. Talk about location!

Sometimes there’s a definite plan or mod-route in mind when a serious project car is undertaken. Sometimes, there isn’t a plan at all, and it’s the result of years of evolution and tweaking and fiddling. Stephen’s Honda falls into the latter category. Perhaps it’s the definition of this category…

Please note a correction has been made to this article. I incorretly remembered Stephen telling me he did the fender work himself, when in fact he enlisted the experienced help of Vince H from Shinzomedia. Stephen corrected me on this and the change has been made below. Apologies to Vince & Stephen for my error.

Stephen bought this car new back in 1997 and never gave it up. He never had a finite goal with the car, other than he wanted it to be as different from other cars as he could.

The custom CCW rims he picked up this season really do accomplish that goal. They’re 1-off sizing made just for him and the result of months of back and forth work. Definitely worth it in the end though! Hiding behind those rims is set of AEM rotors and pads. Gotta make sure you can stop before a pothole when you got proper fitment going.

That’s what I call fitment. Stretched tires on CCW with a nicely rolled fender. Stephen enlisted the help of someone who’s had a hand in many of the best cars in the scene – Vince from Shinzomedia. Vince helped a great deal with the fender work and kept everything neat and tidy and up to the highest caliber of work. It’s tight but unlike most extreme setups like this he has no real rubbing issues.

The Acura EL front end conversion Stephen did to his car was one of the first major mods he completed on it back in 2002.  Before that it was primarily suspension stuff. The striking gold paint was done many years later in 2007.

The gold theme carries over from outside the car to inside the engine bay. There’s a wicked ‘Chinese’ theme going on here to me, red & gold – feels very royal. Every time I pop the hood on one of these cars I’m reminded how filthy my car is. Stephens headers are probably cleaner than my apartment. Look nicer too.

Inside a set of brides and the ubiquitous Takata harness holds him and his passenger in place.

The gold paint changed color quite a bit when the sun went behind some clouds. I can see why Stephen calls the car the Pineapple Express now. It definitely goes more yellow than gold in certain light. (Compare it to the below taken earlier in the evening than the one above.)

The car is powered by a B20 block with a B18 type R head. The head was shaved, ported and polished. DC 4-1 headers and an Apexi exhaust are is out back. The car was changed from automatic to a manual setup along with an Exedy Stg2 clutch & lightened flywheel. A type R LSD and a B&M short shifter make this a much more fun car to drive than it was originally!

Stephen’s taken this car a long way from its humble beginnings and he’s getting some attention from serious mags now. Look for the car to pop up in some big places soon. Maybe not as prestigious as my site, but pretty good.

As further proof god hates racing and Canada’s climate is a cruel joke, the season finale of CSCS was basically rained out. OK, maybe not rained out totally, a day full of spitting rain, puddles, problems with timing equipment, poor track conditions, made it a bit of a weak note to go out on. The staff worked their asses off though so full credit goes to them for still putting on a good day considering what they were given, and while there wasn’t as much racing as previous events the fans were still having a good time and at least one event (drifting) runs 90% as good in the wet as it does in the dry.

I figured since it was raining why not pull out the new camera and try out the video function since I wasn’t going to be nailing many stellar competition still shots. I’ve never really done video before, and definitely not with this camera (well, one video with it, but I’ll keep that to myself) so I’m pretty happy with the results even if I suck at editting. The camera definitely has the potential in it, but I need to find a way to build some sort of steady-cam on the cheap. Off to Home Depot I go.

Anyways, here’s what I came away with!

Well, I failed. One week into this idea and I already forgot haha. Can’t blame me though, I made two big purchases last weekend and was totally enamored with both – more on that later. Anyways, here’s something terrifying. Why am I into car photography again?

Ownage.

Despite just picking up a shiny new camera (more on that later), I will unfortuately be shooting less and less in the coming weeks as winter rears its ugly head up here in Canada and everybody puts their summer rides into hibernation. When that happens my mind starts planning other projects to keep me busy…

During the day I’m a mild-mannered designer and I do a lot of action sports apparel and snowboard design (the graphics on them, not the board profiles for you in the know out there). I was playing around in Illustrator and drew (no, not live-traced) these up for fun a while ago. I love automotive apparel but I don’t see much out there that’s very well done.

What do you think, would you wear a shirt like this? I just slapped them on a shirt, ot really designed very well I guess and they’re all Subaru related since I’m a Subaru fanboy, but I’m thinking of doing some more dynamic designs of some more universally liked cars and wheels. Any suggestions? GTR? 2000GT? Bubble Civic? VS-XX? BBS-LM?