Browse by Tags
Posted
Nov 17 2009, 06:42 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 35 comment(s)
Over the weekend we heard unconfirmed rumors that Chris Rado had driven his Scion tC into the 6's at Pomona, making it the first front-drive drag car ever to do so. There has been a little discrepancy regarding the time, but I just got off the phone with Chris who gave me the the quick rundown of what happened. With the car running faster than ever, and a solid coating of rubber on the track Chris laid down an astonishing 6.97 second ET during eliminations.
Unfortunately the incredible traction that the car had off the line caused the timing beams to misread the 60-foot time, technically making the ET "unofficial". Nonetheless, the complete 1/4 mile time is still legit by all accounts.
The drag racing was just part of Rado's wild week, which included record breaking time attack runs at both Buttonwillow and Fontana. He'll be posting a blog here soon with the story in his own words.
-Mike Garrett...
More >>>
Posted
Nov 12 2009, 02:42 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 14 comment(s)
Mad Mike Whiddett has been on quite the roll lately. After taking the NZDrift championship in his home country, he traveled to Thailand last weekend for the inaugural Formula Drift event there. Driving his tried and true Madbul RX7, Mad Mike defeated Ryuji Miki to take the top podium spot in Thailand. Veteran driver Tengku Djan took the final podium spot.
Mike is working on a full update from the event, and we look forward to seeing it.
-Mike Garrett...
More >>>
Posted
Oct 30 2009, 12:01 AM
by
Vaughn Gittin Jr
with 37 comment(s)
Even though Formula D has come to an end for the year and is a huge relief for many, the next five days are full of suspense, insanity and excitement for me, as I get ready to introduce my dream that will become a reality in a big way at SEMA. A new generation of Mustang will be introduced to the world - the Mustang RTR which will be a dealer-installed performance and appearance package available at select dealers in 2010. Official introduction to be posted here next Tuesday. If you will be at SEMA...
More >>>
Posted
Oct 28 2009, 02:45 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 10 comment(s)
Just a couple weeks ago I posted a photo of a previous gen Accord Wagon from Japan, pondering how cool it would be if Honda decided to bring the new Accord Tourer to North America as the TSX Wagon. Perhaps someone from Honda was reading? Acura has just announced the TSX Sport Wagon will be joining the lineup for 2011. The car most likely will look very similar to the Euro/Japanese market Accord Tourer pictured up above.
Hmmm...I wonder if it will be time to replace my daily driver come 2011?
-Mike Garrett...
More >>>
Posted
Oct 21 2009, 11:12 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 26 comment(s)
We're only a few days past the end of the '09 Formula Drift Season and already the offseason news is starting to flow in. Kenji Yamanaka, who's driven for Drift Emporium over the past couple seasons has a new ride for 2010 - sort of. He's actually going back behind the wheel of the old JIC Magic S15 that he drove from 2005-07. The car has been purchased by Bridgeway Motorsports in the SF Bay Area and is being outfitted with a GM LSx engine to match Kenji's driving style. You might...
More >>>
Posted
Oct 21 2009, 10:18 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
Rally America has just released its 2010 race schedule, and it looks like it'll be an exciting year for rally fans in the United States. . Besides the six-race championship season, they will also be hosting three European style exhibition rallycross events at the New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ.
The championship scehdule is as follows -
1. January Sno*Drift Rally Atlanta, MI
2. February Rally of the 100 Acre Wood Salem, MO
3. April Olympus Rally Olympia, WA
4. May Oregon Trail Rally Hood River, OR
5. June Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally Wellsboro, PA
6. July New England Forest Rally Newry, ME
Rally America will also once again help to organize the rally competition at X-Games 16 next year.
For more, check out the official Rally America site.
-Mike Garrett
...
More >>>
Posted
Oct 20 2009, 01:25 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
The final round of the NZDrift series was held last weekend at Pukekohe Raceway. After his fourth consecutive 1st place qualifying score, Mad Mike Whiddett came up with a second place finish - more than enough to claim the season championship.
Congrats to Mad Mike and his team!
We look forward to hearing more about this event from him soon.
-Mike Garrett...
More >>>
Posted
Oct 19 2009, 04:01 AM
by
John Brooks
with 35 comment(s)
Formula One is not usually on the SpeedHunters menu, however we would like to salute the achievements of Jenson Button and Brawn GP who took the 2009 Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships at Interlagos, Brazil, yesterday. This achievement is all the more incredible as just eight months ago the team did not exist but it rose phoenix like out of the ashes of Honda's Formula One departure. After a disastrous 2008 season many long hours were put in through last winter developing...
More >>>
Posted
Oct 18 2009, 12:46 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 13 comment(s)
Ryan Tuerck may have taken the top honours at Formula D Irwindale this evening, but it was Chris Forsberg who was crowned the new 2009 Champion. Congrats to him and his team from Speedhunters! More stories from Irwindale to follow... :Rod Chong
More >>>
Posted
Oct 05 2009, 01:23 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 23 comment(s)
Some of you guys may have heard the news today that Shaun Carlson passed away over the weekend. Shaun was the owner of NuFormz Racing and was a pioneer in both drag racing and later in drifting while working with Samuel Hubinette.
Shaun will be sorely missed by everyone in the community and it won't be the same having Formula D events without him.
Here's sending our best to wishes to all of Shaun's family and friends from everyone at Speedhunters.
-Mike Garrett...
More >>>
Posted
Sep 24 2009, 09:55 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
If you've noticed my lack of activity over the past couple days, that's because I've been busy relocating to my new place in beautiful Southern California. Now that I've got my office sort of set up, it's time to catch up on a few days of Speedhunting. One of the big stories this week has been the news that Conrad Grunewald will be returning to Formula D next season in a 2010 Chevy Camaro. The car is being built for a SEMA debut and Conrad will start testing soon after. The new Camaro is a big, heavy car so Conrad will be doing everything he can to trim the pounds off. Under the hood will be a variant of the LSA engine found in the new Caddy CTS V. It was only a matter of time until someone turned the Camaro into a drift car, and we can't wait to see this thing going head to head with the Falken Mustang next year in a battle of the pony cars!
For more, you can check out the detailed build story on LSXTV.com, or Conrad's official site.
-Mike Garrett
...
More >>>
Posted
Sep 21 2009, 11:03 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 13 comment(s)
It's been a long time coming, but Mazda has finally announced that the Mazda2 (or the Demio as it's known in Japan) is USA-bound. According to Mazda, the 2 will go on sale stateside in late 2010 and will be priced below the Mazda3. The Demio's Euro-like styling always caught my eye on the streets of Japan, and I can't wait to see them over here. The car in the photo above is the Demio tuned by Auto Craft Kyoto at the '08 Tsukuba Super Battle.
Hmmm...is it time to make plans for a new daily driver?
-Mike Garrett
Source: GT Channel ...
More >>>
Posted
Sep 19 2009, 11:00 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 4 comment(s)
Dean “Karnage” Kearney, the 2009 Prodrift Super Series champion, has confirmed he'll be competing in Formula D next month. The final round of the 2009 American drifting championship will be staged at the Toyota Speedway -more popularly known as the “House of Drift”- in Irwindale, California on October 16h & 17th. Dean's ambition to compete in the USA came after witnessing the REDBULL Drifting World Championships in 2008 at the port of Long Beach and he wanted to...
More >>>
Posted
Sep 14 2009, 10:32 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
Today (Sept.15) in Japan, Mr. Yutaka Katayama - better known as "Mr.K" will be celebrating his 100th birthday. Nissan enthusiasts should immediately recognize the name, but if you don't, Mr. K is the man responsible for both bringing the Nissan brand to the United States, and for the creation of iconic Nissan/Datsun cars like the original 240Z.
Here's sending our birthday wishes the Mr.K!
-Mike Garret...
More >>>
Posted
Sep 10 2009, 10:08 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
Next month's Formula Drift season finale at Irwindale Speedway is shaping up to be quite the event. Besides the chase for the championship, the FD finale will also host overseas drivers like Fredric Aasbo - the Scandinavian star who competed at the Redbull Drift Championship wlast year. Fredric just officially announced his entry for Irwindale, and he'll be back behind the wheel of the Team Japan Auto Supra.
Tire and pit support will again come from Falken Tire.
Fredric had a nice showing last fall in Long Beach, hopefully he'll be able to do the same at the House of Drift.
-Mike Garrett...
More >>>
Posted
Aug 22 2009, 11:09 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 21 comment(s)
At the end of another smokey evening of Formula Drift Competition up here in the SF Bay Area there was only one driver left standing - and that driver was Stephan Verdier in his Subaru WRX. It was certainly an unexpected result, but not an undeserved one with Stephan taking down a number of FD's biggest drivers on his way to the to the top.
There's more to come from FD Sonoma, but for now congrats to Stephan Verdier as well as fellow podium mates Ken Gushi and Ryuji Miki!
-Mike Garrett...
More >>>
Posted
Aug 08 2009, 10:21 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 6 comment(s)
When you smell like of strange mix of sweat, rubber particles, and champagne you know you've spent the day at a Formula Drift Event.
After another exciting round of compeition, it was Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Drink 350Z who emerged as the day's victor. This was Forsberg's second win of the year, and he should be getting a nice boost to his lead in the FD points standings....
More >>>
Posted
Jul 29 2009, 03:59 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 18 comment(s)
Right now the finishing touches are being put on the new Subaru Legacy B4 race car that will run in the GT300 class of the Super GT series. The new car is being built by R&D Sport in Kanagawa Prefecture and should be debuting at Super GT Rd.6 next month in Suzuka. The boxer-powered Legacy will be driven by Tetsuya Yamano (who drove the GT300 Impreza) and Shogo Mitsuyama.
Can't wait to see what the finished product looks like next month! Thanks to Super GT man Len Clarke for the tip.
More on Subaru's press release here.
-Mike Garrett...
More >>>
Posted
Jun 26 2009, 02:45 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 37 comment(s)
Despite the loss of several major manufacturers, the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show is shaping up to be an interesting one. This is thanks in large part to Toyota, who should have auto journalists swarming over the cars in their booth. Besides the production Lexus LF-A and a possible version of the 086A project, there's word that Toyota will be showing the 2011 Supra at this year's show. According to 7-Tune, the new Supra will likely be a 3.5L V6 mated to a hybrid system like the one used on the new Toyota Crown. Total power is estimated to be around 400hp. As far as the exterior, the car is expected to share looks with the FT-HS Hybrid that was shown at the last Tokyo Motor Show. There hasn't been any info on pricing yet, but it's been said that the car could reach production in 2011. There's even a rumor that there will be a more affordable, non-hybrid version of the car available with less power....
More >>>
Posted
Jun 11 2009, 09:15 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 23 comment(s)
Earlier this week Mad Mike Whiddett debuted his new RX8 drift car in New Zealand, letting our buddies at NZPC get first dibs on shooting this beast. The outside of the new car looks very similar to his RX7, with a wide BN Sports kit and of course the Red Bull graphics. In proper Mad Mike fashion, the wheels are Work Equips that are nearly as wide as they are tall. Under the hood is a three-rotor 20B fed by an HKS T51R turbine - something a bit different from the 4-rotor NA mill in the FD.
At the moment the Madbul FD is being shipped to Japan, so the RX8 will become Mad Mike's primary vehicle back home in NZ. We'll be keeping an eye out to see how Mike and the new car do in the NZ Drift series this year.
Thanks again to the NZPC and NZ Drift Series crew for the scoop.
-Mike Garrett
...
More >>>