Browse by Tags
Posted
Jul 22 2009, 04:02 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 26 comment(s)
This month has gone by fast hasn't it? I'm finding it hard to believe that we've got just over a week left before AWD month is going to be over. I've had the fortune of attending numerous track events here in the USA and in Japan, so I thought I'd post a gallery of some of the most memorable Evo and Impreza time attack cars I've seen over the past couple years.
Some of these cars are very well known, and some of them might not be - but all have left a lasting impression on me in some way or another....
More >>>
Posted
Apr 22 2009, 01:23 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 63 comment(s)
Yesterday I was flipping through the latest issue of Drift Tengoku magazine when I came across the section that regularly features abnormal drift cars from around Japan. This month's issue had some pretty incredible one cars, one was a bitchin' VIP Y34 Gloria built by Supermade that had been swapped with an SR20 and a manual, and the other was an SR20-powered Toyota Platz (the FF econo car that was sold in North America as the Echo) that the owner had converted to rear wheel drive using Silvia parts. Seeing these crazy drift cars got me thinking that it'd be cool to do a little post showing some of the oddball drift cars I've spotted at events in Japan....
More >>>
Posted
Apr 03 2009, 10:15 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 14 comment(s)
When I look back on my personal experiences with drifting, three big moments come to mind. The first of these moments would be when I was first saw video of drifting. I don't remember exactly when it was, but it had to be some time in the mid '90s when I was in junior high school. There was a short clip on television (the original Speedvision maybe?) showing some drifting from Japan, and I remember thinking it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen someone do in a car. I don't even remember it being called "drifting", I only knew it as "those crazy guys sliding their cars around corners"....
More >>>
Posted
Feb 27 2009, 07:05 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 16 comment(s)
When it comes to Toyota drift cars, there's basically two paths. You have the light and nimble AE86 OR the big turbocharged monsters like the Chaser and Soarer. For this post I'll be paying tribute to the latter - the "big" Toyota drift cars seen in D1 Grand Prix competition over the past few years. When I say "big" Toyotas here, I'm pretty much referring to anything other than the AE86 (don't worry, those will be featured next time)....
More >>>
Posted
Feb 26 2009, 08:48 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 25 comment(s)
After checking out Paddy McGrath's coverage of the AE86 track day in Ireland, I came away very impressed with the quality of the cars that were on the track. These days, "JDM" is the most overused automotive term around, but lot of those Irish-built carsgenuinely looked like they came straight off a Japanese racing circuit. After getting those heart-warming feelings from Paddy's post, I thought I'd answer back with some photos of rear-wheel-drive Toyotas I've captured at various events at Tsukuba Circuit. This includes not just AE86's, but MR2's and other RWD Toyotas....
More >>>
Posted
Feb 24 2009, 06:36 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 16 comment(s)
I'm going to be completely honest here. Back in my high school days when I spent Friday nights cruising with my buddies in a 5.0 Mustang, if someone came up to me and said that in a few years I'd consider 1980's Toyota sedans to be "cool", I would have laughed at them. In those days, I saw cars like the Corolla and Cressida as nothing more than beaters that parents handed down to their kids......
More >>>
Posted
Feb 23 2009, 09:38 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 12 comment(s)
How about a new desktop wallpaper to start off the work week? Widescreen and standard versions of this Toyota 2000GT vs. Lancia Stratos photo are available now in the Desktops section.
Looking at this picture makes me think about tonight's dinner options. Japanese or Italian?
-Mike Garrett...
More >>>
Posted
Feb 19 2009, 06:53 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 15 comment(s)
And now for some more Toyota-themed material from my photo archive. This time let's take a look at Toyotas from the late 1950s through the mid '70s - a period which saw Toyota lift itself out of Japan's tough post war period and begin down the path to global domination. From the car geek's perspective, there are some fine Toyota machines from this period, ranging from slammed Crown wagons to period-correct Celica race cars. Living in Japan, I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of these cars first hand and have built up a pretty nice collection of vintage Toyota photos....
More >>>
Posted
Feb 12 2009, 05:13 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 35 comment(s)
In my last archive post we spent some time looking at various FF and AWD Toyotas, and now I'll head in a new direction as we look at two of Toyota's high end two-door models, the Supra and the Soarer. Mechanically, these two cars share a lot with each other, so I figured putting them together makes sense. Most people consider the Supra to be Toyota's flagship performance car despite the fact that it disappeared several years ago along with the RX7 and the Skyline GT-R. As for the Soarer, behind the AE86 and JZX chassis, the JZZ30 Soarer is the most popular Toyota for drifting, especially here in Japan where they can be picked up for pennies on the used car market....
More >>>
Posted
Feb 10 2009, 04:38 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 21 comment(s)
Car makers try to offer cars to fit every market, but everyone knows that each has their own "signature" when it comes to enthusiast cars. For example, Honda has its compact FF sports cars, Nissan has the Z and, GT-R, while Mitsubishi and Subaru have their AWD rally cars, and Mazda its lightweight sports cars. What about Toyota though? As you read in my 101 post last week, Toyota's contributions to the automotive world are spread out pretty evenly. From big turbocharged sedans and MR sports cars to rally-spec Celicas and Corollas, Toyota has pretty much done it all....
More >>>
Posted
Feb 05 2009, 04:49 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 17 comment(s)
Once we agreed that we'd dedicate February to Toyota, I started thinking about all the cool AE86 material I'd be able to post up this month. I may not be as big of a Hachi Roku maniac as Antonio (is anybody?), but I've had the pleasure of owning and modifying one, and I can say for sure that it's one of my favorite cars. One of the things I like most about the 86 is the way it can fit right into so many different "scenes". You'll AE86's at classic car meets, drift gatherings, track days, autocross and gymkhana, and even rally events. That said, there are few places where the AE86 shines more than as a home-built drift car. If you name any one of today's pro drifters in Japan (and many around the world), chances are they have driven an AE86 at some point in time, and lot of them still own them....
More >>>
Posted
Jan 22 2009, 04:34 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
Hopefully you guys have been pleased with all the Roadster/Miata content we have been posting over the past couple weeks. I know I've been enjoying it (though maybe I'm a bit worried that the prices for used Miatas and parts is going to go up!). Anyways, this time I wanted to go through my archive and post up some Roadster photos that I've taken in Japan over the past year. I've always thought the Mazda Roadster was the ideal car for driving around Japan. It's small, nimble, and incredibly fun to drive - a perfect match for Japan's narrow and winding roads. There have been countless times when I've been driving our Honda Fit here thinking to myself, "damn, if only I was in one of my old Roadsters right now"....
More >>>
Posted
Jan 21 2009, 10:19 AM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 37 comment(s)
Let's rewind things for a bit. I was digging through my massive photo archive for these pics... since it's Mazda month, I definitely had to show this blast from the past. The car in the photos is a FC3S D1 car, owned by my good friend Hirotaka Hoshino. Hoshino is a D1GP driver, and the charismatic leader of Geki Kassou Dan , a group of really cool image-having drifters from the Gunma prefecture of Japan. The FC pictured above has got to be one of my favorite FCs of all time. It just looked...
More >>>
Posted
Jan 08 2009, 08:25 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 12 comment(s)
I've been busy today making last minute preparations for Tokyo Auto Salon, but I wanted to take a quick break from that to post up some more photos from the archive. Today's theme: Track Tuned RX7's at Tsukuba Circuit. The FD3S is one of the most popular circuit cars in Japan, meaning I have an abundance of photos them and that I'm going to have break this up into a couple posts....
More >>>
Posted
Jan 07 2009, 10:16 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 50 comment(s)
I can't really believe that Tokyo Auto Salon 2009 is less than two days away now. It seems like it wasn't long ago that I was writing about the 2008 edition of the show. If you have ever been to Auto Salon, than you know just how packed the show floor can get, especially on Saturday and Sunday when the public comes. It's literally impossible to walk around without bumping into someone or blocking their ketai picture. Anyways, I'll be heading into the center of it all on Friday morning to bring extensive coverage for Speedhunters. Some of the highlights of this year's show should be......
More >>>
Posted
Jan 06 2009, 09:25 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 3 comment(s)
I was digging through my hard drive looking for photos of classic Mazdas and one of my finds was this shot right here. I took this picture of a Mazda Familia Rotary Coupe at the JCCA meet at Tsukuba Circuit last summer. The Familia Rotary Coupe was used during Mazda's early racing days and saw action in a number of late '60s and early '70s touring car events including the Spa 24 Hours. Mazda's experience racing these cars would of course lead to bigger ventures like the famous 787's at LeMans. It was also with cars like this that people like Isami Amemiya began to hone their rotary tuning skills on the streets of Japan. ...
More >>>
Posted
Jan 05 2009, 04:39 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 16 comment(s)
Since I knew January was going to be Mazda month, I have been planning to do a post with photos of various grassroots RX7 drift cars I have shot in the USA and in Japan over the past year or two. As I hunted through my old photos trying to remember which events had cool RX7's, I realized that RX7 drift cars are actually pretty rare. Sure, there's quite a few of them out there, but compared to something like a Silvia or even an AE86, their numbers are small. I guess that makes seeing one even more noteworthy. On that note here's a few of my drifting RX7 shots from the archive....
More >>>
Posted
Dec 12 2008, 03:57 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 5 comment(s)
Looking at some of the comments from our loyal readers, I noticed that some Speedhunters fans requested desktops of my recent photo story, Solstice Above San Francisco. I decided to oblige and format the photos into desktop size and upload them into our desktops section , where they're available for download now! Check it out! Download whatever you like! -Antonio Alvendia
More >>>
Posted
Dec 05 2008, 03:56 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 6 comment(s)
You requested it, so we rewind... Speedhunters is proud to present our exclusive Nissan 370Z desktop, in standard and widescreen formats! Props to one of our favorite CMG Sharpshooters, Chris Manacop , for creating one of the most visually striking 370Z images on the internet! 370Z desktops are available for download in our Speedhunters desktops gallery NOW. Tell all your friends! (And your internet friends that you've never actually met in real life!) -Antonio Alvendia
More >>>
Posted
Nov 27 2008, 01:01 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 9 comment(s)
Being an American in Japan on Thanksgiving is kind of tough since uhh...there is no Thanksgiving here. I don't even think you can buy a Turkey in Japan. Anyways, enough of my ethnocentric moping. Here are a couple of Nissan-related high res desktop wallpapers for you guys. One is a shot of Koguchi's D1GP 180SX in action, and the other is this shot from last week's HPI event at Tsukuba Circuit. Both widescreen and standard versions can be found in our Desktops section. Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it, and to the rest of you, just enjoy the wallpapers!...
More >>>