Event Coverage | SEMA 2014

Night Import: Photography by Seijin Dootson | Words by William Lee

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How long has it been since I actually logged in and updated my blog? .... I have no idea .... I am truly sorry for all my NI fans. It's not the lack of interest in the car scene guys. I've been hearing from all my friends about the car scene and I always try to keep myself updated by checking out other car blogs. If I have to make another excuse like every blog post I write, I don't shoot anymore and pretty dam busy with my job. O well... but HEY! I'm back again! Let's jump right into what I have to show you guys today.

If you are a fan of my blog, you know that every year, I post up a coverage on SEMA. It's either me going there and covering it alone or sending my guys. Unfortunately for this year, my guys and I couldn't make it :/ So I had to look through my facebook friends/groups/etc. to see who would contribute their work for my blog. Luckily, I came across UCI's facebook group and saw a photo posted by Seijin Dootson. He gladly accepted my request and sent a few photos yesterday for my blog to share with you guys.

The first car you see up there is one of my favorite cars, the Mazda RX-7 FD. It kinda sucks to know that the FD doesn't get much recognition like the old days, but I still love it and will be one of my favorites until I die. What you see is a bit different from other modified FDs you've seen at car shows/events. The widebody is the popular Rocket Bunny kit with a wheel I have never seen by Enkei, the Enkei92. The color combo is a love at first sight kind of feeling.

Event Coverage | Motion Auto Show 2012 (Pt. I)

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Wow. It felt amazing last week to FINALLY attend a major car show here in SoCal. The last show I went to was the one in Puente Hills hosted by Prestige Marketing and that was like..2~3 months ago. If you are active in the car scene as a blogger, then you know exactly how it feels to rest for that long. Because of time conflicts and being so tired during my resting period, the only way to be updated with cars was to check out blogs and sites that update very frequently, such as Speedhunters, MotorMavens, StanceWorks, etc. I was particularly interested in SoCal car news because I live in SoCal and want to be updated with cars that have never came out or the ones I've seen before but with new setups for this year. Knowing how seeing cars in person and online have a difference and the fact that MAS was on a Sunday when I didn't work, I was really excited. Wait, let me exaggerate a bit more... I was extremely fu*king excited!

On Saturday when I usually stay up all night chilling with my homies, I actually came home early (around 3am...*cough*) to rest up, woke up at around 8am, got ready, and right when I was about to leave, I felt as if I needed to check my tires, so I started from the back checking the treads. Rears were fine considering it's on -8 camber and I was rolling on them for 7 months now, but the front passenger side tire was almost gone! I was like.. fu*k it..and just drove the tC slowly to Long Beach Convention Center. I arrived at around 11am, got my Media pass, and the coverage started from then on. I was debating on which photo to start with, and decided to give Michael Mao's NSX the spotlight. I'll get back to his car later on throughout the coverage. You guys ready? Because I am! LEGO!!!!

Event Coverage | Hot Import Nights 2012

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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As mentioned in my coverage, I attended Hot Import Nights right after LTBMW's 2012 meet. I was thinking about staying longer at LTBMW because cars were constantly coming in and the quality of cars were so much better compared to last year's meet, but realizing how much of a struggle I had at HIN 2011 when all the lights were off and tons of people walking back and forth in front of the cars I wanted to take photos of, I left at around 2:15pm to arrive a bit early and take an advantage of my media pass. The actual show started at 3pm, so going in at least 10 minutes earlier was good enough for me.

Now, many of you guys might not know this, but last week's HIN was supposed to happen at Irwindale Speedway along with XDC. What the hell happened? Irwindale Speedway filed bankruptcy, so the place is now gone! Well...not gone, but it's basically closed down. What HIN planned to do got fuked up and instead of cancelling the show, they decided to rent out a different place, which was at Fairplex in Pomona, CA. I'm just glad the show still happened because many enthusiasts missed out on HIN last year and wanted to attend this year's event. I enjoyed myself checking out some new rides when HIN was at Los Angeles, but what I really enjoyed was the overall mood of HIN because it brought back memories when I attended HIN back in middle school! Although I got into the scene last year, my first car show was HIN, so it was pretty dam epic to attend it again last year. I think I went right when the show started and left late because it was so fukin dark inside the convention center I had to wait until the lights were back on to do coverage.

So~ being excited while driving to Pomona, CA, I arrived, got in line to get my pass, and entered a building where HIN was taking place. What I usually like to do before I start a coverage is to walk around the whole area and check out the cars. After taking a quick glance, I walked around and took some snaps. While doing my coverage though, I don't know what the fuk happened, but I lost interest in the show within 40 minutes and this is when the show actually started. I'm not saying the car show sucked at all because it was actually dam good. Tons of models, cars, and people, but I think it was because most of the cars that did show were the ones I usually saw at other car meets/shows. I mean..I've been doing this for months now, so had no clue why this feeling struck me. Am I getting tired of this scene already? or is it because I want to see something new? Ah...fuk it..I don't know what the hell I'm talking about right now, so let's get on with the coverage. The lighting wasn't as bad as HIN in Los Angeles, CA but my camera has its limit, so I did have some difficulties taking shots here and there. Yeap~ the photos will be shitty! I tried to take photos of cars I've never seen before, but like I've just mentioned, most of the cars you will see today are the ones you guys have seen in the previous coverages.

NightLife | Spring Kickoff Car Show & Meet

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee
It feels like my life is getting busier every week because of needing to do several things within a time period. I'm feeling old now as well because sooner than later, I'll be hitting the age of 25. My apology to some of you guys who are older than me and had to read what I just wrote, but you should know that aged-feeling once you pass 21. Blah~ anyways, out of nowhere, I realized I needed to be more involved with the automotive scene. It's not to the point where I need to attend 3 meets or events on one day, but just going out there. I felt as if I needed to bring something more to the table so that people can look up to Night Import or just appreciate it more than other blogs out there. Naw~ I'm not trying to be competitive. All of the bloggers or just blogs in general should be a family rather than hate on each other. You know what I mean? Most of the stuff I post up on my blog doesn't have that exclusiveness yet, but one day, and I know for sure that day will come soon, Night Import will be your automotive source for features and coverages v(^-^)v

Last week, while thinking about what to do before heading to a KBBQ session with a few well-known photographers, I headed out to this meet called Spring Kickoff, which was at Racer's Edge Karting in Burbank, CA. I heard it was organized by Garrett, but not 100% sure. This event was a mix of a car show and meet because it sort of had the vibe of a car show. I'm talking about vendors being present and the actual Go Karting place being opened for spectators and participants. There were no trophies, but people had an opportunity to participate in the raffling.

Random NightLife | Memorable Car Shows and Meets of 2011

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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What a great year! Wow! I'm sitting down in front of my study table, typing this article while thinking about all the events and meets I've been to in 2011. Yea~ I know it sucks that the End of the World is coming soon, and because it is, it's time for me to choose the meets and car shows I've been to that were memorable and enjoyable. I've plugged in my external hard drive to see what's been done throughout this year and holy hell, the hard drive decided to shut down on me and all the saved files disappeared. Luckily, my brain had a back-up storage system that only saved automotive related events and not school or friends, which might make me sound like an ass, but for my blog and you guys, it's something to definitely appreciate. I took some time to think about how many I've been to and the amount really did exceed my expectations. If I counted correctly and only included the ones that were automotive related, I've been to 150+ car shows + meets. My aspirations were not to attend the most meets and become competitive with other bloggers, but it was that unexplainable force that pulled me into a world that I couldn't escape. No matter how much I tried, avoiding the temptations to drive my slammed Scion tC to anywhere in Southern California was not happening. That's how much I loved and still love what I do as a hobby and will continue on for myself and for all you fans out there that truly appreciate Night Import.

Event Coverage | AutoCon 2011 (Pt. III)

Night Import: Photography by Nick Schultz and William Lee | Words by William Lee

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It's coming to an end! This will be my last continuous coverage on AutoCon 2011. I've been getting a lot of positive feedbacks from Part 1 and Part 2, so I really appreciate you guys spending some time to check them out. I try to keep things entertaining and especially for those who couldn't make it, trying to make you feel as if you were at the event. That's what a coverage is supposed to be all about, right? If there were any unpleasant captions on photos, just go with it because that's pretty much how I like to write things (^-^) That was a douschebag move, but seriously, always know that Night Import is and will be a 'personal blog'. I'll definitely try to keep things professional as much as possible, but I don't dress myself up purposely to make this blog to have a certain reputation.
Anyways, back to the coverage, Part 3 will be a compilation of almost everything with an addition of photos taken by our photographer Nick Schultz. Nick was walking with me for at least 3 hours and while I was busy with cars, Nick took care of most of the models and a few cars as well. You'll be seeing his photos here. Matter of fact, the cover photo for Part 3 was taken by Nick. Ah! I have to make an announcement as well. The watermark you guys see on Nick's photos will be our NEW watermark and I'll be using it on my next batch of photos as well. The story behind it will be described on the fanpage later on.

Event Coverage | AutoCon 2011 (Pt. I)

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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How should I start this..I have so many things to say about this event, but need to keep it as simple as possible so that I don't lose fans and kill the excitement I've been gradually building up for the wait on this coverage.
First off, I want to give mad props to my guys Justin and Nate for their effort and time to create this amazing event. I don't even clearly remember when I met Justin, but as we were talking throughout the months, I realized he was a humble guy and had a clear mind of how he wanted the automotive scene to go. His huge success on hosting AutoCon last year continued on this year and as expected, it was overwhelming. The same props go to Nate as well. He's been an awesome guy since he approached me regarding a major event he was a part of last year, and consistently was a help with all the curiosities I had in the scene. Once again, great job by these two guys and if you do have some time to give some feedback, make sure to visit AutoCon's homepage and e-mail them. I'm sure they're expecting something from those who participated, so it would be great to give them more ideas about the event or just your overall experience.

Now, to talk about my experience at AutoCon this year, let's just say I have to place AutoCon in my Top 3 Car Shows of 2011. This event was more than a typical car show. It was not all about bringing your modified car, park, show it, and get an award if you won. Nor was it a time to only walk around and take photos of cars and models and leave like every other event, complaining about the parking and entrance fees, and the ridiculous food prices. The meaning of "AutoCon" pretty much explains everything; Automotive Connection. Actually, I have to say it was both an Automotive and Lifestyle event. AutoCon was created to bring the whole automotive community together at one place and enjoy what we all truly loved. It was about talking with your friends and family or even better, making new friends through cars. You also can't forget about the collaboration with Toys for Tots and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help those who are in need. While covering the event and looking around like I always do at events, the vibe I felt at AutoCon was different and rather pleasing. I knew the whole purpose of AutoCon and I have to say that purpose was met. I usually see the same cars at every car show or the ones that were built to only show at major ones, but AutoCon brought out almost everything. Although there were ones that I've seen numerous times, some new ones and fully built cars such as the ones from Auto Concept Elite, Heavy Hitters, etc. came out to support this event. The photos I'm about to share with you guys will lead to a better a storyline than my words. Do know that this coverage will be separated in parts, so make sure to come back later on or read the updates I make through my fanpage.

Event Coverage | Tokyo Motor Show 2011

Night Import: Photography by Kaoru Shoji | Words by William Lee

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If you guys were waiting for the unveiling of Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ, I was waiting for the whole package; the event coverage on Tokyo Motor Show. TMS is a must-to-attend event if you live in Japan or for those who work in the automotive industry, because it's not about what kind of 'modified' cars will be on display, but newly introduced cars from Japan and major announcements that affects the whole world. We all know Japan is the largest vehicle manufacturer, so such events like TMS and TAS are events not to miss.
I'm very pleased that both our photographers in Japan, Charles Zee Zayas and Kaoru Shoji, got accepted as Press to attend TMS and today, I'll be showing you guys the coverage done by Kaoru-san. It was truly amazing looking through past coverage on this event done by other blogs and it's now to the point where I'll be writing a few things with the help of our photogs and editors! I kept myself updated with all the cars that were planned to be at TMS, so I'll try my best to walk you guys through every section Kaoru-san covered.

Event Coverage | SEMA 2011 (Pt. III)

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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I'm still exhausted! Walking for 4 days straight wasn't fun at all and the workout with lack of sleep is finally getting back to me. I got back home yesterday at around 12pm and knocked out for about 5 hours and slept again at 10pm and was sleeping till 9am today. One part I really regret during my week at SEMA was not staying a bit longer on Saturday because all of my friends who showcased their cars at SEMA were out of the Convention Center, which meant I had an opportunity to do a group photoshoot. Too much partying and lack of sleep was probably the reason why I totally forgot about this (-_-;)ㄱ Anyways, after waking up and clearing my mind, I was editing rest of the photos and now, finished writing my Part 3 coverage on SEMA. Today's part will be covering South Hall where all the Tire/Wheel/Accesory companies were located.
I decided to start it off with one of the cars I was looking forward to see; 911 RAUH Welt-BEGRIFF (RWB). This specific car belongs to Mark Arcenal from Fatlace and was built by the master himself, Nakai san. I was actually standing here for an hour or so because I heard Nakai san was present and I wanted to take a photo with him. Yeap~ I'm a fan of his work and meeting him would've been a great honor. He didn't show up, but looking at his work in person was a thrilling experience.

Event Coverage | Formula Drift Round 7 - Title Fight (Pt. II)

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Drifting is such an awesome automotive sport people tend to look down upon. I should say it was popular back in the days when drifters from D1GP Japan came down to the states, but it seems like the popularity is growing back slowly, especially after hearing so many people attending Seattle's Formula D event, which eventually sold out. I didn't even imagine Saturday's event was going to have the biggest crowd out of all the FD events held at Irwindale. The main event, Top 16, started at 8pm and that's when the stands were usually filled with spectators, but it was already packed at around 5pm when the Top 32 was competing. Today, I'm going to share the rest of Fatlace's Slammed Society Showcase and a few drifting shots I took from the VIP stands. Our photographer, Jay Ebue, was in the track taking shots, so those photos/coverage will be shared within this week.

Event Coverage | SoCal Summer Daze Car Show

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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This event hosted by Elite-AutoSports with the help from AJP Distributors and JDM Sport was one that I was excited to attend. All the staffs from the three companies are a very good friend of mine, and knowing these guys put so much effort into promoting an event, I knew this was going to be one of the biggest events for this year. What made me even more stoked was my family, Low N Slow, finally going out to an event as a team! I'll talk more about the cruise and meet-up later on, but back on subject, I want to take some time to talk about the three companies.

Elite-AutoSports is well known for hosting their monthly meets at Krispy Kreme in Burbank, CA. Out of all the meets here in SoCal, the one hosted by Elite is and was the biggest one. Few years ago, the Burbank meet was legendary because of thousands of cars attending and filling the whole plaza. After some incidents of immature drivers ruining the meet, it was closed down by cops and was thought to never happen again. However, Elite was patient and was waiting for the right time to host it once again. Last week was its final meet of the year and from what I've heard, it was massive! Once again, big ups to Elite-AutoSports for bringing the automotive community together.

JDM Sport and AJP Distributors are companies I've mentioned to you guys a few times throughout this year because of their activeness in the scene. I've never seen such a company participating at so many meets and events. I don't really remember how I met JDM Sport, but I do know head staff, Lee Ho, was an awesome guy to talk to from the beginning. He is a major supporter for my blog and always tries to bring up his supporters. Thumbs up!

Event Coverage | Sideway Sundays #5

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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I can't believe it's already been almost a year now since the launch of Sideway Sundays. There were ups and downs, but I have to say out of all the events here in SoCal, no event can beat the venue of this event. The reason being is because unlike other events, Sideway Sundays happens at the track were Formula Drift has its championship rounds; Irwindale Speedway. Taking this into consideration, it's a great opportunity for many drifters to try out the track for only $80 and for the Car Show participants, getting a feel of what it's like to display their rides on the track were famous drifters like JTP, Mike Essa, etc. drift on for only $10.
To be honest, I've been always disappointed with the turnout for the Car Show section because the event has so much potential. I dislike comparing events, but when I look at coverage contents on Import Alliance from Canibeat, Ivy League East, StanceWorks, etc., I'm amazed on how so many car owners take the advantage of showing their rides at a track area for a cheap price. I'm talking about more than 1000+ cars with tons of spectators.
It might sound as if I'm talking about money issues here, but it really isn't because I know most of you Car Show guys complain about registration prices and I'm trying to point out how cheap it is to show your car at an event with trophies. You can't also ignore the fact that the event is at Irwindale Speedway as well.
Now for the Drifting event, I have no clue on how things are organized, but do know compared to other drifting events, the price is a bit steep but worth it because of..once again..it's at Irwindale Speedway. I'll talk more about my random thoughts throughout this coverage so let's get to the photos and captions.

Event Coverage | Nisei Showoff Car Show 2011 (Pt. I)

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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I can't believe it's already been a year since my first time to Nisei last year. Probably that was one of the first events I've covered for Just Stance and I remember it to be hot as fu**, but filled with top notch cars from California and even a few from out of states. From what I've heard through friends who've been into the car scene for quite a long time, Nisei Showoff Car Show has a history of throwing the best car event in Los Angeles, CA.
If you didn't know, Nisei is a Japanese Festival happening in Little Tokyo of Los Angeles and this was their 7th annual event. Within this 1 week festival, the Car Show happens right across where all the festivities happen, so it's basically a win-win for both sides. If you are hungry, walk across and grab yourself some JDM food and to walk off those calories, walk back to the Car Show area and check out some cars.

I was expecting this years Nisei Car Show to be as big as last year and because I have a site that lets all of our staffs eligible to apply for Media (not being cocky at all), I sent an e-mail last week and we got approved. I called up 1013MM who covers a lot of events and feature contents for Canibeat to see what time he was planning to go. We arrived at around 10:30am, 30 minutes before the actual event started and was expecting an early access. Now before some of you guys start bashing on me because I said 'early access', you guys need to understand photographers who work for automotive sites actually 'work' at car shows rather than chilling the whole time, so we do need some extra time before an event, especially ones that are known world-wide like Nisei Showoff. That's why for all of those who don't live in the States get to see photos of the whole car rather than photos of only the front bumper and rest of it being covered by people.
1013mm and I asked the security guard if we could get in a bit early, but after he talked with the host or staff, our access got denied. We were a bit disappointed, but waited. In a few minutes, a crowd was building up in front of the entrance. Waiting would not have been a big deal if the staffs were more organized and kept everything on time, but what sort of pissed me off was seeing the host (I'm speculating it was him) or a staff letting all of their friends of friends get in. They were clearly aware of Media applicants waiting, but seems like it wasn't an issue to consider.
What do I think about this? Not good of course. I don't know the host nor staffs and some of you guys who are friends of the organization might dislike me for writing my own opinion, but I'm being straight up and telling the truth. To all future event hosts and staffs, be fair with what goes on inside and outside of an event.

Event Coverage | Sideway Sundays #3 (Pt. II)

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Most of you drifters who participated at Sideway Sundays are still talking about the issues regarding lack of time, professionalism of drifters, etc. on the facebook event page or through forums, and I was a bit hesitant about writing Part 2 today. Why? Because stating my own opinions might create an even longer ongoing conversation, but I was a participant, yet a staff, and heard from the organization on what happened, so I do have rights in every way to say what I got to say..right?
First of all, let me share my thoughts on the most asked and debated problem posted on the event page and forums.

1. Gate opening
-I arrived at Irwindale Speedway around 7:50am and according to the schedule I received, the gate was supposed to open at 8am. I believe gates were opened 10~20 minutes later after the staffs finished organizing the stage.
Although Adams Motorsports is the head of the drifting session, Irwindale Speedway has control on what goes around inside and outside of the track area and if anything does not satisfy their needs of a 'safe drifting' event, more time will be spent to organize. Do know both organizations want Sideway Sundays to be the best and safe event for all drifters, car show participants, and even for the spectators, so please understand some overtime.

2. Lack of time for drifting and price to drift being too expensive
-I heard a few different stories from a lot of participants and will not mention who said what, but before the event started, I was informed there were two separate groups; amateur drifters (including those who never drifted) & drifters (had some experience in drifting).
There were about 80 drifters in total and was separated into two groups. Let me compare to how many drifters participated in Sideways Sundays #1 and #2; about 15~20 for the first event and ~40 for the second. I barely read and heard any complaints about those two events because each drifter had enough time to drift more than 3 times.
Let's get to Sideway Sundays #3. Because of the positive feedbacks that were written on forums and facebook regarding the first and second event, the amount of drifting participants doubled. I saw the first group starting at around 10am and a lot of participants were spinning out, hitting cones, etc. and it definitely took much more time for each drifter to complete the track layout compared to those who participated in the first and second event. I'm not saying this is bad at all because Sideway Sundays is opened to everyone, amateurs and professionals. When considering this happening to the first group, the amount of attempts to drift definitely reduced. I also want to mention that this whole event was at Irwindale Speedway. I'm not trying to make a huge deal out of this, but Irwindale Speedway is where the final rounds of Formula D occur and rarely do they even open the bank for drifters to drift. Only drifting event I know of at Irwindale would be House of Drift outside of the track. It took a lot of time and effort for Adams Motorsports to organize this whole event so please keep that in mind rather than saying it was about the money.

Now to group 2, there were a lot of experienced drifters and most of them I saw were participants from the first and second event. There were also about 40 participants in this group including Formula D stars Mike Essa, Jeff Jones, and a few XDC leveled participants. Although a few amateurs were included in this group, it seemed as if everything went pretty smooth until one drifter crashed into the wall and took literally 40 minutes for the towing truck to get the car off the track layout. This incident greatly reduced the amount of time for the second group to attempt more drifting rounds.

I've read some other feedbacks, but I'll just leave it to here because I'm sure Troy from Adams will explain each situation thoroughly. Part 2 will mostly cover the drifting session and some of the Car Show parts I missed. There are actually other photos I didn't share in Part 1 so that will be posted on this parts coverage as well.

Event Coverage | Sideway Sundays #3 (Pt. I)

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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It's been almost a week now since the third Sideway Sundays event happened at Irwindale Speedway. If you have no clue on what this event is about, I suggest you to visit Sideway Sundays fanpage for detailed information.
First of all, my bad on the lag with the coverage. There are still a few event coverage and features I'll need to post up, but because I didn't want all you Sideway Sundays participants to think we bailed out, I caught up with other minor things and finally decided to write up this coverage today, but there are more reasons on the wait, which will be explained later on.

All in honesty, unlike the past two Sideway Sundays event held on March 20th and May 1st, the feedback from this past weeks Sideway Sundays was not so pleasing to read, which is why I wanted to wait a bit so that everyone had an opportunity to voice their opinions about the event, but this issue will be explained more in Part 2.
I was responsible in promoting this event on various forums and on facebook, so if you saw 'night87' on your forum, that was me. Old to new information were listed on the forums and I only update new information after receiving it from the organization/staffs, so please read through the original post. Because the Car Show section did not have any complaints, today's Part 1 coverage will only cover the Car Show area and Part 2 will be about the most debated issue as of still today, drifting. Well let's get on with how everything went on in the morning.

Event Coverage: Sideway Sundays #2

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Can't believe a month passed after the first Sideway Sundays. The weather was gorgeous and the whole event was much organized despite the few changes. To bring you guys an even better coverage, most of the photos were posted on our supporting site OpenClutch, which will be posted in a week or so.

Personally, I was expecting a huge turnout and was keeping my hopes up. Although our site was in charge of media, we were monitoring every promoted forum and facebook, Compared to other car shows that charge roughly $40, Sideway Sunday's Car Show entry price was only $20. Lastly, the weather was much better. Taking all of this into consideration, the Car Show was smaller than the first event. I'm a bit disappointed, but after you guys look through this coverage, I hope some of you SoCal guys can make it to the next event, which will be on May 29th (Tentative).

Event Coverage: IDRC / Fancy Fed Car Show (Pt. II)

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Along with IDRC, DSPORT hosted a car show like last year but with a different title; 'Fancy Fed Car Show'. If you read the first part of this coverage, I've mentioned the insane hot weather and good turnout last year, but it was the opposite for this year's event. The weather was rather chilly and the amount of cars was smaller than expected. It seems as if the high gas prices are keeping show car owners to stay at home and go to meets rather than events, which is respectable in every way. Despite the small turnout, DSPORT did a tremendous job keeping the car show organized and hosting the overall event. Our last coverage will consist of the show cars, vendors, and some Drag racing.

By the way, while I'm in the subject of 'Drag racing', I've noticed all these local meets here in SoCal getting raided by cops because of illegal street racing. To all you immature drivers, instead of challenging others at public roads and acting like a hard ass as if you can burn almost any car, bring your ride to events like this, pay the fee, and challenge others in a legal way. Let the local meets continue and save yourself from getting a ticket. The hosts of a meet can go up to you any time and tell you to leave, but because a meet is usually ran in a privately owned property, they just don't have the right to do so. Once again, please let 'car meets' continue.

Back to the coverage, I started off Part 2 with Raichelle Viado posing in front of the Evo we featured a few weeks ago. More photos will be shown at the bottom.

Event Coverage: Modified Live / Oulton Park

Night-Import: Photography by Rich Mckee / Words by William Lee

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Modified Live is one of those events in the UK consisting of a Car Show, Time Attack, and Drifting. We usually don't see these 3 separate events happening at once all together.
Here's a short summary of the event shared by Rich from his site Fast-N-Modded.

Sleep, often we all take it for granted but as 4am rolled around on Saturday morning its the one thing we all wanted more than anything, but knowing the great show that was in store we soon chirped up after some filthy dubstep and monster!

Leaving the Humber Bridge lorry park at 5am we set out to meet the crazy Goole gang which included Carl, Matthew and a few others. For some strange reason we had a lot of drop outs, some cars not being ready in time, money issues etc but as we rolled out of Yorkshire with 4 top modified cars all entering the Kleers show & shine competition we still felt that it was going to be a good day, after all.. its what you make of it !

The journey there was one of the most uneventful things ever in history with us munching the motorway miles in no time, before we knew it we where creeping over the speed bumps into Oulton park.

The sun was just breaking through the mist and through the trees as we parked the cars up, traders already up and ready , polish and wax busted open, we cleaned all the cars up and then headed trackside to catch some action !

Let's start this off!

Event Coverage: Formula Drift | RD1 Streets of Long Beach (Pt. VI)

Night-Import: Photography by Andy Nguyen

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It's finally here! 'Our' final coverage on Formula D will end with Andy Nguyen's coverage inside the track area. I took a glimpse t all the photos and as always, it was dam impressive.
Formula D Round 1 is probably one of the biggest events within the Championship rounds and an opportunity to see who will be drifting for the year. As always, the skills of these drifters improve every year and the upgraded engine in these beasts always amazes us.
If you read our Part III coverage, I told you guys about the issue Andy was facing and unfortunately, the shots from the Top 32 qualifying rounds were saved but only 9 or so from the actual day of the event. Well at least we get to share some photos taken by Andy so let's start this off!

Event Coverage: Formula Drift | RD1 Streets of Long Beach (Pt. V)

Night-Import: Photography by William Lee

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This will finally be my last coverage on Formula D, but still a few more to share done by our photographer Andy Nguyen. As mentioned on our previous coverages, there were tons of sick cars at the Fatlace:Slammed Society Car Show area and I was saving the best for last. Starting it off, you guys are looking at Fatlace's project Q45. It's first debut was at Wekfest in NorCal and the second appearance here at Streets of Long Beach Formula D. The Q is running on Air Runner, AME XG-23 wheels, and the aggressive looking K-Break Cima bodykit. Great job by Wraptivo on the Matte White and Black look.