Event Coverage | Sideway Sundays (Oct. 23)

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

---

I'm having that feeling again while writing this coverage...dammit...and I say to myself, "Already a year?" I remember the days talking with the staffs of Sideway Sundays before the event was officially launched. There were a lot of things to discuss and few misunderstandings, but overall, I was satisfied and I'm sure it was the same for every company out there that contributed to this monthly event. To be honest with you guys, I was very disappointed with how this event started. Only those who knew about this event during early 2011 know what I'm talking about. The first Sideway Sundays was planned to be free for everyone except drifting participants, but what really screwed things up was the unpredictable weather. What should have been 'Rain or Shine' was cancelled because of a predicted rain weather forecast and everyone who planned to attend were either pissed or disappointed because on the day of the event, it was sunny! From then on, things went downhill. The actual first event was greeted by a thunderstorm, next event was way too hot, and it's been continuing on like that till yesterday. I'm not saying it’s someone’s fault and because a few staffs of my blog and I were a part of this event, there is really no one to blame. I'm just not satisfied with the overall turnout since the first event and hoped it was going to get better, but my expectations were not fulfilled. I tried my best and so did the others, so I guess this is how we conclude Sideway Sundays for this year. Don't worry if you didn't attend any of the events because it will continue on next year.
Anyways, let's get to the coverage on yesterday's final Sideway Sundays of 2011.

Event Coverage | Sideway Sundays #5

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

---

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.

Random Nightlight | Real Life, Ryosuke Takahashi's RX-7 FC3S

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

---

Majority of tuners in the car world base their modification style through an inspiration; a car you saw through a famous car blog/website or seeing one in person by going to a car show or meet. However, you will rarely see someone modifying a car based off of a famous car Manga series, the most popular and well-known, Initial D. Shuichi Shigeno, the mastermind behind Initial D, gathered  information from young minds into illegal street racing and created a Manga that is still in the top of almost every automotive Manga series today. But instead of talking about the history and storyline of Initial D, for those who know this Manga will know the characters and cars and I'm sure by looking at the first photo made you think of one car in the series, the leader and fastest member, Ryosuke Takahashi's Mazda Savanna Infini III RX-7 FC3S.

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

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

---

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

---

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

---

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: Sideway Sundays (Pt. II)

Night-Import: Photography by William Lee & Andy Nguyen

---

We are back with our coverage on Sideway Sundays and it's none other than our drifting photographer Andy Nguyen who took over the drifting area.
Andy came down from NorCal (again!) to support Night-Import and to practice/attempt drifting shots in the rain. The weather was freezing, raining, and windy but we all managed to make it through the whole event.
Despite the horrible weather condition for the photographers, car show participants, and spectators, it was actually a good sign for drifters because they didn't have to worry about tire wear; however, many of the participants were oversteering because of the slippery track, but I'm pretty sure the 1 1/2 hours was worth their time.
($80 = 3 sessions, each session is 1 1/2 hours).

Event Coverage: Sideway Sundays (Pt. I)

Night-Import: Photography by William Lee & Andy Nguyen

---

One of the events many enthusiasts were looking forward to was Sideway Sundays @ Irwindale Speedway, which Night-Import were the first ones to announce on major forums & facebook. We were definitely stoked about this event and so were many others, but unfortunately, the first event that was supposed to be held on February 27th got postponed because of the 'expected' rainy weather condition. It actually didn't rain on that day and as many of those that were disappointed about the decision, we were feeling the same as well.
The organization decided to move the event on March 20th, 2011, which was yesterday, and when we were all thinking the weather was going to be sunny, it was the opposite.
There were many questions being asked on forums and through messages on facebook, so let me clarify a few points:

1. We are updating nearly 40+ forums with this event. Most of the updated infos will be 'replied' or updated on the original post, so even though you guys hate reading, please understand that we have to go through tons of forums and let's make it easier for both of us by reading the 'entire' information posted.
2. The reason why our logo is not on the flyer is because of the technical difficulties the organization had in the past. We are 100% supporting and promoting this event.
3. Night-Import is the head of the Media. If you have the proper credentials to register for media, please contact us. Also, we are now limiting 4 people from each site for media. You CANNOT ask if a friend can come along just because media registrants get a free pass and you personally know any of Night-Import staffs.

I hope this clarified most of your questions. Questions regarding the event can be asked on our Sideway Sundays event page on facebook or your forum (if the event is not on your forum, please contact us).
Now let's start the coverage on the first Sideway Sundays!

Random Spotlight: Falken's RX-7 FD3S

Night-Import: Photography by William Lee

---

If you read our Sideway Sundays Preview coverage this week, Falken's FD3S RX-7 probably caught your attention. One of the reasons why I personally enjoyed 1 1/2 hours of being at this place was because of Dan drifting with his LS1 FC Rx-7, but also because of this car.
Regarding who actually drifts this car is even a mystery to us. On this day, Justin Pawlak (JTP) was drifting the RX-7, but we didn't have an opportunity to ask who it belonged to (of course Falken, but the actually drifter).
One thing that I'm pretty sure of is that this wasn't Calvin Wan's Rx-7.

Here are some words I read through searching from the net:

"I wish JTP was staying rotary, he could hop into the Falken RX7. I don't think I've seen anyone drive that car recently."

"Although this FD RX7 looks a bit like Calvin's personal car, it's not. It's actually the same car that was driven by Tony Angelo back in 2005. It'd certainly be nice to see this thing on the track again."

Special Coverage: Sideway Sundays Preview

Night-Import: Photography by William Lee, present with Edgar Lozoya

---

I've been spreading the word about the upcoming event Sideway Sundays @ Irwindale Speedway on Facebook and tons of forums throughout the last two months and a half. There were several questions asked to us and I would like to clarify and answer them.

1. Why are you guys promoting it?
- We were the first blog site to know about this event and decided to promote it on facebook and forums.
2. You guys decided to 'not' promote the event several times.
- There was a miscommunication with the organization. We sorted the situation out and Night-Import is now a part of the Sideway Sundays group.
3. Are you guys part of the sponsor for Sideway Sundays?
- We don't really care if we are. Our logo is not on the finalized flyer and you'll see one during XDC event this Saturday. However, we are still promoting and supporting the event.
4. When will be the postponed event?
- March 20, 2011. This is a finalized and 'not to change' date, so please come.

If you still have ANY questions, please e-mail us to night-import@hotmail.com

Ok, so back to our special coverage, Edgar Lozoya (Editor) and I made it to the layout/testing day at Irwindale Speedway today. The one who is in charge/hosting this event is Troy from Adams Motorsports and he's been putting a lot of work into this event. Let me tell you, this event will NOT be like those drifting events you guys have been to during the past few years. There will be various activities, but you'll have to be there to experience it.
One of the BEST parts about this event is the 'Car Show'. Why? Click Read More