Mike Hayes'S BIO

Name: Mike Hayes

Location: Vancouver, Canada

Previous Locations: Born and raised locally to British Columbia

Career Path: NFS Concept artist

Previous Career Paths: Brief stint as a web developer, before moving to the games industry.

Notable Projects/Wins: Has been involved with NFS since the first Underground game.

Car: '96 Acura Integra

Fav Past Cars: Previous to the integra I drove a late 80's Toyota... But it was of the FWD variety.

Next Car: NSX (96+ for the 3.2l) or Mk IV Supra (Turbo)

Car Passions: I enjoy auto-x racing, I turn my own wrenches (for the most part), and look forward to some track time at Mission Raceway (located just outside of Vancouver, B.C. canada) this summer. I'm an addict to the speed channel, but I don't watch NASCAR.

Personal Style: Slacker. Black denim, collared printed shirt, and a pair of sk8 shoes.

Favourite Band of the Moment: Lamb of God

Personal Motto: I work to pay for more parts.


2,128 Posted Jul 29 2008, 09:45 AM by Mike Hayes with 9 comment(s)

CAR LIFE>>KICKING TIRES
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My father was a bit of a car nut. He introduced me to the term "kicking the tires" at the local dealerships. We weren't a particularly brand loyal family either. Dad cycled through Chevy V8's and even an '86 Corolla (At the time this was the new hotness!). (The image is from a Toyota brochure circa 1980's, and isn't the exact car that he had) My first car was the epitome of reliably bland. A 1990 Toyota Tercel (Thank wikipedia for the image of exactly what my lump of...

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Posted Jul 29 2008, 04:30 AM by Mike Hayes with 11 comment(s)

MAGAZINES>> D TO D: DRIFT & DRIVING
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I'm concentrating on "D to D: Drift & Driving Entertainment Magazine" in this post. I've found that there is a great deal of technical depth in D to D. What would likely be a paragraph blurb on a new intercooler from Greddy/Trust becomes a 2 page spread with temperature graphs by RPM, etc. The very first thing I noticed about these JDM mags is that even though we in North America think we run a lot of advertising in our print media... We got NOTHIN on japan. With a car culture...

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2,128 Posted Jul 28 2008, 08:20 PM by Mike Hayes with 7 comment(s)

MAGAZINES>> DRIFT TENGOKU
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I was asked recently to pour over some JDM magazines and get a feel for them. I have to say, I love seeing the high level of tune on the JDM rides in the magazines. They have such a diverse scene over there. Truth be told, the majority of the drift scene appears to revolve around Nissan Silvia's and 1 & 2-JZ powered Toyotas, but there is also a fair bit of coverage to be had on the other players in the scene as well. Drift Tengoku as a magazine drops right into the mix as a more feature focused...

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Posted Jun 18 2008, 02:30 PM by Mike Hayes with 16 comment(s)

CAR SPOTLIGHT>>A SICK LITTLE MX-5
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Look at what I came across while surfing the intertubes! This has got to be one of the most stylish daily driven track weapons I've ever seen. The folks over at www.tripleZoom.com have a full feature on the car and the driver, and I must say, it's a great read. The owner, Chris Lee, has some of the rarest Miata parts on this continent. Not the least of which are those massive flares. Am I alone in loving "Dampa Chi" the little Tein mascot??? Of course, he needs those flares to fit...

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2,128 Posted Jun 10 2008, 12:00 PM by Mike Hayes with 8 comment(s)

EVENT>>DEEPER READ ON DTP
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As a bit of a follow up on my previous post on DTP, I want to get into a little more detail about some of the fantastic rides that I saw there. I would love to do full on features here, but at the moment, the weather in our area is not the most cooperative for photoshoots, and driving about. So I'll have to offer further teasings of what we have in our local scene. That 420z TT seems to have sparked a lot of interest. I saw people swarming around the car. The owner is a down to earth guy who...

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Posted Jun 04 2008, 02:20 PM by Mike Hayes with 10 comment(s)

EVENT>>AFTERMATH: DRIVEN TO PERFORM
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The Driven to perform car show touched down in Vancouver last weekend, and brought with it a barrage of cars that remind me that car culture is alive and well. I was there to see the local scene as it came out of hibernation. As for the "Who the hell are you?" bit, here goes: Based out of Vancouver, and being an artist on the Need For Speed games, I'm a bit of a car nut, and a "Honda guy". You know. One of those. Anyways, on with the show. With an array of Toyotas to chose...

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Mike Hayes