Wow, it seems like just yesterday that I made the trip out to Lake Elsinore to visit a fleet of fresh Hondas at the 2013 Eibach meet. Wait, actually it wasn’t yesterday it was just a few hours ago… Yes, that fast and I already have my pictures up. Why? Because its Sunday afternoon and I am a very boring individual. Actually, its partly because my gallery is somewhat modest (150 pictures) compared to what I know will be galleries of thousands of shots from other outlets.
As far as my impressions of the meet? Well I should start off with a disclaimer that the last time I went to the Eibach meet, it was actually at Eibach’s facility. For a while now the meet has gotten so big that organizers have been forced to find larger venues. This year they visited the Storm Stadium in Lake Elsinore. While the location was scenic, it was also incredibly hot! As well as at least an hour away from most of the people who would visit. I’d love it if they moved it to some where closer and cooler (temp. wise) but part of the fun is the exodus to get out there right?
The quality of cars was not quite the way I remember it but, well trends are different now and with the economy the way it is there aren’t many who have the money or patience to pay a premium and wait 3 months for those JDM parts. I commend those who still do that despite the economic climate but it seems like the Honda scene is now more about creative without breaking the bank and that in and of itself makes for some pretty fresh rides.
I wasn’t able to capture everything but I figured I would just give you a taste of what was there. Click on the thumbnails for teaser shots then hit the red text for our Facebook gallery. If you want more just stay tuned to your usual internet haunts and I’m sure many more galleries will pop up. For now, enjoy!
This weekend is hands down the biggest weekend for all men and women who consider themselves certified “Honda heads”! The Eibach meet is one of the biggest car meets in the country and THE biggest Honda meet ever in history to ever happen in any place at any time. OK, maybe that last part is an exaggeration but still! In fact the Eibach meet is so big, that they can’t even hold the event at Eibach anymore.
This year the famous meet will be held in the massive parking lot at Storm Stadium in Lake Elsinore, CA. Sure it is a little bit farther out than Eibach’s facility but the extra space will allow more room for all the epic Honda-ness. Enough talk! I shall provide you with the details and you shall make plans for your exodus!
This weekend was a treat for me. For a long time I loved visiting the annual Toyotafest (produced by T.O.R.C.). Unfortunately for the last few years the Toyotafest has landed on my birthday (May 9th). Naturally I have other plans on my birthday so I have been unable to attend. This year I got lucky and the Toyotafest fell a week earlier than it usually does! Needless to say it was a treat to be able to finally visit the event again after a few years and let me just say it is just as impressive as I remember it!
True Toyota corporate’s presence is smaller than I remember but that just made more room for owners to show off their toys (you see what I did there?). Toyotafest’s entry price of “free 99″ drew in tons of Toyota fans and car fans a like to the event and the quality of some of the cars on display kept them inside all day.
As usual there was a great mix of old school restored rides, modern builds, and cool one-offs. I combed through it all and shot the best of the best, some of which you can see here by clicking on the thumbnails. The rest of the pictures can be seen by vising the Facebook gallery.
The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach plays host to several motorsport events over the course of one weekend. In fact there is so much going on that sometimes once one event is over they have to get out of the way to make room for another event. One such example is the Mother’s Car Show. You see, the ALMS main race takes place on Saturday but the Mother’s Car show takes place on the same real estate used by ALMS for their paddock. So, by Saturday night all the big rigs, equipment, trailers, and teams from ALMS are gone to make way for the car show. By Sunday morning what once was a hub for all things LeMans becomes a sea of gleaming super cars.
Traditionally it is one of the first things I shoot Sunday morning, and this year was no different. There were a slew of top notch automotive art on hand and armed with my trusty camera I snapped all the cars I thought were worth snapping. There are some preview thumbnails below and you can hit the red text for the full gallery on our Facebook page.
When Sony came out and announced the Playstation 4, it was a big flarkin’ deal. They held a super private media get together at a posh location and live streamed the whole thing to the world. It was all very exciting, except for those of us who love racing games. We all were hoping that we would see Kazunori Yamauchi step out onto that stage and say “hey, we are 90% done with Gran Turismo 6!” Instead, we got was a trailer (an awesome trailer but still a just a trailer) for “Drive Club” which looks great but does not have the gravitas behind it that a well established franchise such as Gran Turismo does. While there is obviously still a chance Gran Turismo 6 will be announced at E3 2013, I have yet to hear anything that would indicate its going to happen.
Since that Sony meeting passed the world gaming community has been waiting for Microsoft to make its move. Well, they finally announced that…that they will make an announcement. Xbox will be holding an event next month on May 21st and many predict that it will introduce the next generation Xbox to the world. Exciting for gamers in general but what’s in it for us racing fans? Well I’ll tell you…
At a location that I can’t tell you about, a person/ninja whom I cannot name, back flipped out of the shadows and told me that it is nearly certain that Forza Motorsport 5 will be announced along with the new Xbox. It is unknown if this will happen at the May 21st event, at E3, or in a stand alone event but the word is it will be announced within the same time frame.
You might be asking why I would trust a ninja who stalks the shadows. Well this particular ninja happens to be a very well connected insider in the gamming community. However, since neither Microsoft, Turn 10 Studios, nor Dan Greenawalt have made any announcements or even hits on the matter I still have to chalk this up to rumor and speculation.
But if I were a betting man I would put every dime of my savings, which adds up to…a dime that we will get some kind of official word about the next Forza Motorsport title sometime between May 21st and E3 2013!
Here it is folks! Our final motorsport gallery from the Long Beach Grand Prix. We saved one of the best for last and today you get to see the American LeMans Race on the streets of Long Beach from my eyes, or lens rather. This is one of my favorite events to shoot because there is such a wide variety of cars all on track at once. It will be interesting to see how this race is going to look next year when ALMS and Grand AM officially merge.
If you missed the results, NGT Motorsports took the victory in the GTC class, Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan took the victory with their BMW Z4 in the GT class, Scott Sharp and Extreme Speed Motorsports won in P2, CORE Autosport won in the Porsche Challenge (PC) class, and Muscle Milk/Pickett Racing took the victory in P1.
To get some glimpses of how all the on track action played out click the red text to visit our facebook gallery. Here’s to next year!
My favorite thing about the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach (besides it being in my hometown) is that being a “Grand Prix” means there are several races in several classes all crammed into one weekend. Sure, Indy Car is the main event but the support races are anything but second string. This year, a crowd favorite was the Pirelli World Challenge which features makes and models that most of us own or could reasonably afford (with the exception of the GMG Racing Audi R8s and Black Swan Racing’s SLS AMG). Watching everything from an SLS to a Chevy Camaro mix it up on city streets all in a perfectly legal matter makes for some top notch entertainment!
This year’s winner was James Safronas of GMG Racing. James is something of a hometown hero since his GMG team is somewhat local being based out of the OC. James took the pole position in his Audi R8 GT and utilized his starting position to fight his way to a victory. To see all the track action click on the red text for our Facebook gallery. Enjoy!
I know I am a little behind but hey I took on three days and three different motorsports all by myself! It was rough, but fun. By now you probably already know that Takuma Sato made history by winning the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach and becoming the first Japanese driver to win an Indy Car event as well as the first Japanese driver to win at Long Beach. However, despite what he said in his post race interview, it did not come easy.
Long Beach is known for being a dangerous narrow street course and the walls ate up plenty of drivers this year, including defending champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. Sato was able to navigate his way through all of the random carnage unscathed and his team managed a top notch pit stop to keep their driver up front which allowed him to go on and get the victory. Graham Rahal came second behind Sato and Justin Wilson got his first podium of the season with a third place finish.
If you want to see all the action for yourself check out the highlight reel below. If you want to see the fruit of my three days of labor hit the red text for the full gallery on our facebook page.
When Formula Drift comes to Long Beach, its a pretty big deal. It is the first round of the season, it marks the debut of new teams, sponsors, drivers, and it also sets the tone for the rest of the season. Its also right in my backyard (kind of) so I always try to do my due diligence when it comes to covering this event for you all.
With the silly season over, new cars revealed, and the track ready the talk of the weekend was Justin “JTP” Pawlak. He was one of the few drivers to remain in (basically) the same car as last year and he has also won Long Beach the last two years in a row. Falken Tire was already anticipating their driver turning the weekend into a three-peat. However hopes of that were nearly dashed when JTP made an uncharacteristic mistake in Friday qualifying and had a bad shunt into the tires and wall at the beginning of Long Beach’s infamous sweeper.
The impact nearly destroyed the front end of JTP’s Falken Tire Ford Mustang but luckily his team was able to get the car back together in time to make another qualifying run. Despite the damage JTP managed to qualify 23rd and get into the big show. Unfortunately the show ended for JTP when his Drift Alliance brother Ryan Tuerck managed to take him down in the Top 16 which blew the competition wide open. With JTP out it was anyone’s game. Except for Tuerck who like JTP was taken out by a Drift Alliance member, this time Chris Forsberg. Forsberg fell to the same fate when Vaughn Gittin Jr. took him down in the Final 4. This sent 2011 champion Vaughn to the final to face none other than his main rival of that year Dai Yoshihara.
Unlike JTP, Dai was having a great weekend. He remained in a familiar car and due to his confidence in his machine and his team giving him a great set up Dai managed to qualify first. After that there was no stopping him as he took down Tyler McQuarrie, Matt Powers, Fredric Aasbo, and finally Chelsea DeNofa to make it to the finals.
After a heated battle Dai Yoshihara bested Vaughn Gittin Jr. to win the round and complete a perfect weekend (1st qualifier, and the win). During the podium ceremony Dai said that with his momentum he will “definitely go for the championship”. Watch out guys, Dai has officially begun his mission.
If you want to check out our photo galleries just click the red links below.
If you like drifting at all and have no idea what to do this weekend then you are a magnificent moron! The 2013 Formula Drift season starts tomorrow you idiot! Where the hell have you been? Did you not see the banner at the top of this website for the last two months!?
Whew, ok, ok I am going to cut you some slack. In case I did not make it incredibly clear a second ago, Formula Drift round 1 is going down this weekend (tomorrow and Saturday) on the streets of Long Beach. Most tickets might be sold out by now but there may be a few hundred seats left and city officials have allowed Formula Drift to sell some overflow general admission tickets. Technically, those tickets are “standing room only” but Formula Drift will allow folding lawn chairs.
So hurry up and get your tickets! Here is all the info:
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