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Posted
Nov 02 2009, 05:30 PM
by
John Brooks
with 19 comment(s)
Was it really more than 25 years ago? That first time I met the quiet, slight Brazilian with the burning intensity in his eyes? Thruxton, a ex-WW2 fighter base in Hampshire and although it is close to Stonehenge it is not generally regarded as a place of dreams or magic. It is almost always windy and usually cold too, oh and don't forget the rain. Its main virtue as far as I was concerned was that it was around an hour from home. Back then I was a camp follower to the British Formula Three scene...
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Posted
Nov 01 2009, 04:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 3 comment(s)
There is a name that's synonymous with Le Mans: Jacky Ickx. The unassuming Belgian driver ruled sportscar racing in general and Le Mans in particular throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but his career effectively spanned four decades. Ickx was a multi-discipline master: one of the old school of drive anything, anywhere, anytime – fast. An all-rounder of the highest ability; Europe's equivalent of Mario Andretti. Unlike many sportscar drivers who never made their mark in Formula 1, Ickx...
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Posted
Oct 31 2009, 10:53 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 8 comment(s)
There aren't too many drift dynasties around. Let alone one quite as successful as these two brothers. Born and raised in County Cork, in the south of Ireland, James (L) and Mike (R) are the most successful brothers in the European drifting world. To get a better view of this story, we need to go back to 2004, where I first saw Mike competeing in an E30 325 BMW. . Like pretty much all Irish drift stories, this one again begins at the home of Irish drifting, the Rosegreen / Tipperary International...
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Posted
Oct 30 2009, 03:32 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 10 comment(s)
This Speedhunters film is going to be my final contribution to the Driver's Month special features.
It's a quick portrait of the multiple World Touring Car Champion, Andy Priaulx.
Shot last month at the Imola round of the WTTC, we've done our best to capture the essence of Touring Car racing. The intensity, the aggressive driving and the on track dramatics.
Thanks Andy Priaulx for taking the time to talk to us. Enjoy the film!
...
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Posted
Oct 30 2009, 12:35 AM
by
John Brooks
with 16 comment(s)
1968 was a year of revolution; politically, socially, culturally, even down to something as trivial as sport. Nothing was ever the same again, it was, perhaps, the End of Innocence. Politically, students and workers had taken to the streets in Paris during May nearly toppling the government. In the "Prague Spring" a Soviet satellite made a bid for freedom, bloody and brutal repression by the Russians was the final outcome. In the USA a presidential election year saw LBJ resign and Richard...
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Posted
Oct 29 2009, 04:15 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 29 comment(s)
It was the Winter Nationals at Pomona California in 1974. We were down to the last round of qualifying, with no success of making the field yet because I’d had ignition problems all weekend. But when I warming up the car in the pits, it sounded so sharp. I knew I’d found the problem. But little did I know I was about to take the “E ticket” ride of my life on the next run....
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Posted
Oct 28 2009, 05:00 AM
by
Linhbergh Nguyen
with 50 comment(s)
Irwindale came, and Irwindale went. The tire smoke has settled and the modern gladiatorial spectacle known as Formula D has ended, but the ink is still drying from the tales written in the FD history books. However, there was one particular gladiator that stuck out from the rest. It was a story of "David and Goliath" proportions, retelling the classic children's book The Little Engine that Could. A student from San Diego California and the only privateer with zero sponsors, Matt Powers...
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Posted
Oct 27 2009, 02:53 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 18 comment(s)
Tucked away in a small industrial area of Gardena, California you'll find one the most legit drift shops on West Coast - Garage Boso. While I was there on Saturday shooting photos of Ross Petty's S15, I also spent some time checking out the shop itself and the nice selection of toys that can be found there. I always get all giddy when I visit a shop full of cool projects, and Garage Boso more than delivered....
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Posted
Oct 26 2009, 04:42 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 10 comment(s)
What`s up everyone, my name is Robbie Nishida. I drive the Hankook Tire/Gruppe S 350Z in the Formula Drift series. Normally I am the manager of a garage on a military base called Yokota located in Tokyo, Japan. My father is half american and japanese, which makes me a quarter. I have been drifting for over 10 years. I never ever thought back then that I would be traveling every month to the states to drive professionally. It all first started by accidently going to a touge nearby where there were guys drifting. I'd seen drifting before on videos, but not in real life. It`s just like going to a concert or even a ball game. Seeing it live was really exciting. I knew right away that this was what I wanted to do....
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Posted
Oct 26 2009, 02:26 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 24 comment(s)
Last weekend at the Formula Drift awards banquet, an award for "Best Looking Car" was given out. I'm not exactly sure what criteria was used in the judging, but I don't disagree with the results. As part of our Driver's Month features on Speedhunters, we figured it'd be the perfect time to do a feature on the "Rossta" S15. On Saturday morning I took a short drive over to Garage Boso in Gardena where co-owner Frank Siharath showed me around the shop and rolled out the infamous multicolored S15 for some photos....
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Posted
Oct 26 2009, 10:42 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 16 comment(s)
What’s up Speedhunters, my name is Justin Pawlak, or better known as “JTP”. I’m the Formula D driver of the Bergenholtz Racing/Nitto Tires Mazda RX8. I would say most people know me from my ever changing FC RX7. I got into drifting in late 2005 at the Drift Day Industry Drift 1. I had recently moved to California to work at AEM and had bought my FC in hopes of becoming a professional drifter. Surprisingly enough I had driven that same car until this past year when I stepped into the 2009 Mazda RX8....
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Posted
Oct 25 2009, 01:00 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 7 comment(s)
Yo Speedhunters! I’m Tyler McQuarrie, driver of the Falken Tire Nissan 350Z. I just wrapped up my first season with Team Falken and ended up getting my best finish in the Formula D Championship since I started drifting back in 2004. I’ve driven for many teams and tire manufactures but none of them come close to Team Falken. I am honored to call myself a Team Falken driver...
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Posted
Oct 23 2009, 02:15 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 7 comment(s)
Hello Everyone – my name is Darren McNamara and I drive the Falken Tire/Sears Auto Centre Saturn Sky in Formula Drift. I am one of those lucky people who gets to live out their dream job every month. I first raced a car when I was 11 years old, it was an 850cc Mini. It was actually a 12-16 year one make old oval racing class, but my dad got me in because of his previous racing reputation. I finished second on my first day out but it did take me a while to become successful. Once I won the appropriately named “Ministox” championship in 1999. I quickly moved up to the “Production saloons” a class for 1000cc Euro size hatchbacks....
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Posted
Oct 23 2009, 10:42 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 11 comment(s)
What’s up everybody? My name is Ryan Tuerck, I'm a 25 year old who competes in the premiere drifting series in the US, Formula D. I have been in some form of racing for the better part of my life. I grew up racing Motocross with my two brothers. I raced for 10 years starting as a novice on someone’s old used equipment and finishing as a pro on a brand new bike. Motocross taught me a lot of useful skills that have carried their way into drifting, making the transition to cars very natural.
I drive the Gardella racing Mobil 1 Pontiac Solstice. I started with Gardella racing in 2008 with a mostly production based car. We finished the season with a career high 6th place in the Formula D championship. This year 2009, Gardella racing pulled out all the stops, leaving no bolt untouched and built a drift car with the hopes of winning the '09 Formula D championship. ...
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Posted
Oct 22 2009, 09:51 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 13 comment(s)
I have been lucky enough to be involved in Irish drifting from pretty much the beginning. This means that I have been even luckier to watch the rise of some of the best drifters to emerge from this green isle. For drivers month I'm going to be preparing two stories for you all to read. The first of which is the story of a man who surely needs little introduction; Darren McNamara ... Going back to 2004, I got to cover my first ever drift event. Armed with a Fuji 'point & shoot' camera...
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Posted
Oct 20 2009, 02:00 PM
by
John Brooks
with 12 comment(s)
Can you imagine what qualities were needed to be THE top racing driver of the 60s. Big hair, wolfish smile, Mediterranean suntan, hairy chest on display, dolly birds on either arm............in other words a regular Carlos Fandango and yet it was much simpler than that..........all you really needed was a Scottish accent and a wee bit o' tartan. Jim Clark was acknowledged by all his contemporaries to be the best during his reign in Formula One, he was the leader of the pack, absolutely no doubt...
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Posted
Oct 20 2009, 04:30 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 29 comment(s)
With the D1 Grand Prix all done for a good five months I thought it would be cool to take a look back over the last few years and more to the point at some of the top drifters that have participated in the Japanese drift championship. I've picked two names that are synonymous with D1, drivers that for some reason or another are no longer competing at a professional level in Japan. First up is Katsuhiro Ueo, in my opinion the best AE86 drifter out there... ...driver of the unmistakable Racing...
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Posted
Oct 20 2009, 03:24 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 18 comment(s)
This is Andy Priaulx MBE, Husband to a fantastic wife, father to two gorgeous kids but then I would say that ; racing driver from an early age racing almost everything from Motorbikes and power boats to formula one cars, currently racing in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) having won the title three times in a row now trying to win it back. My experience of GT racing is also varied but my greatest success was to win the Nurburgring race in 2005 with Said, Lamy and Husiman, to master the...
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Posted
Oct 19 2009, 09:30 AM
by
John Brooks
with 9 comment(s)
If Juan Manuel Fangio was top dog when motorsport resumed in full after World War 2, who would take over his role when he decided to retire after winning a fifth driver's title in 1957? (Yes I know that he raced for part of 1958 but effectively he left the sport while still on top.) Then, as now, there could only be one answer.........Stirling Moss. Fangio was a link to the pre-war racing scene having competed against some of the great such as Tazio Nuvolari and Achille Varzi but Stirling Moss...
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Posted
Oct 18 2009, 09:30 AM
by
John Brooks
with 10 comment(s)
In any sport or indeed any form of social activity there is the alpha male, the leader of the pack, the head of the herd, the Numero Uno.........whatever the expression used everyone in the group acknowledges, even if only to themselves, that this individual is the tops. THE MAN. So too with motorsport, even in the ultra competitive arena of Grand Prix racing there is usually an individual who is recognised, sometimes openly, sometimes grudgingly, as the benchmark that all others must measure themselves...
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