June 5, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Vaughn Gittin Jr. battles Daijiro Yoshihara in the 2010 Formula Drift Round 3 final.

For this year’s Formula Drift race at Wall, NJ I was privileged to be shooting for two publications. After a lot of fun down in Atlanta, AutoImportCraze asked me to keep the streak alive and provide shots from the other East coast event on the calendar. You can check out the full gallery of shots here: http://www.autoimportcraze.com/coverage2.php?menu=3&Warn=0&ShowID=561&car=1.

June 5, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Yoshihara, Gittin, and Foust (middle, left, right) made up this year's podium for the 2010 Formula Drift Round 3 event.

The other publication was Drifted.com. I was contacted by Alex Quail not long before the race, and asked to provide not only photos but also editorial coverage. I enjoy writing about motorsports almost as much as photographing it (hence this blog), so it was a no brainer to hop on board as a contributor.

I crafted six posts going over the whole weekend, and adding a few words of praise for APEX’i/Hankook driver Ryuji Miki. A link to each is below.

1. Welcome to Wall
2. Qualifying Results
3. Ryuji Miki’s Past Rides
4. Ryuji Miki’s New Lexus SC Drift Car
5. The Main Event
6. Crash Still-frame Video

Be sure to browse the rest of the site and show them some love in the comments. Alex and Jord have assembled a great crew of photographers and film makers from around the world. I am honored to add to the USA perspective.

Click past the jump for a few more of my favorites from the weekend.

June 4, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Ryan Tuerck takes a practice run in his Pontiac Solstice GXP drift car.

June 4, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Ken Gushi duels with Conrad Grunewald as the sun sets over the track at Wall.

June 5, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Rhys Millen tries to keep up with Samuel Hubinette's Challenger around the figure eight Wall Speedway circuit.

June 5, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Darren McNamara sliding the tail of his Falken Tires Saturn Sky drift car.

From the archive is a series that I plan to run every week on Mondays from here on out. It will help to fill the blog when there is some down time, and also allow me to reflect on past photos or events. I thought I would start things off with a short reflection on Formula Drift at Road Atlanta as I gear up for the upcoming 2010 event this weekend. Unlike ALMS style racing, you have to pick your vantage points wisely when it comes to drifting. If you are at the wrong spot, you’ll catch the car as it transitions, wheels facing forwards instead of slanted at full lock the way they are above. You want to look for the areas that give the car time to build speed, and with it a nice smoke trail. Drifting is all about style, and the courses are setup to allow the fans a clear view of each lap. As a photographer, we have to put ourselves as close as we can, exaggerating a still image into something that is mobile the way spectators and youtubers alike will relate.

The above, and below shots were taken at the 2007 FD event. The angle of Tanner Foust’s now retired 350Z car carried on entry into the horseshoe was always a sight to behold. To capture it like this took the longest focal length I had at 280mm (the EF 70-200mm f2.8L lens with 1.4x extender), and maybe a slight crop for good measure. The idea is to compress the car’s overall length, getting it pointing head on to really see how the front wheels are pointing. It’s an angle that is typical of the Long Beach Formula Drift event as the cars launch into the sweeping left-hander past the crowd. With any luck, and a little recollection of where I stood to take this, I should be able to edge out a few more on Friday.

The second shot below is one of my other favorite areas of Road Atlanta to photograph that the general public is not allowed to see. This is the staging area at the top of the hill which leads down to turn 10, where cars start and end each run. Here you can see Ken Gushi’s old Ford Mustang lining up for one of the last practice runs for the evening. This area is different from many of the other tracks on the calendar because of its seclusion. At Wall Speedway in NJ, fans can see the cars just to the left behind a barrier as they change tires or the driver grabs a drink of water before the battle. In Atlanta it’s private, a restricted space that breeds both excitement and tension. The only sounds are the rumblings of exhausts, and the periodic burn outs the cars do to break in a set of rubber.

Stay tuned for more from the track this weekend, and keep your feeds locked in here for future ramblings in the archive series.

Post updated with photos from each press event.

8:47am: I’m up in Chicago today for the first press previrew of the Chicago Auto Show. It should be a fun event, and I’ll try to update this live blog with my thoughts as the day goes on. Stay tuned!

10:20am: Toyota press conference just finished. New 2011 Avalon revealed, and will go on sale this Spring. Focus of the talk was on safety and the pedal fix. Avalon will have the fixed pedal already from the factory. Next up is Honda so we’ll soon see the what the new Odyssey mini-van will be like.

Below: Bob Carter, Toyota’s Group Vice President and General Manager, introduces the new Avalon

11:18am: Honda showed the Odyssey Concept, but pronised the production model would bow before the end of the year (my guess would be the LA Auto Show). Car looks good though with a much more curvy front and side. Photos to be uploaded later on from each press event. Next up is Chevy… not sure what is on for an unveiling this time. More to come.

Below: Vicki Poponi and designer Catalin Matei unveil the Honda Odyssey Concept (which seems to have a faulty fog light)

12:12pm: Time to break for lunch. At Chevy they had a new special edition Suburban and a new Silverado HD pickup. The Silverado looks pretty cool, and will have up to a 20,000lb towing capacity. No idea what you would tow that could be so big, but cool none the less. Later on is Kia and then Suzuki, along with other new stuff around the floor. I walked past the Corvette Gran Sport and it is wearing a very nice shade of blue. Definitely check that out if you come visit the show on a public day.

1:15pm: At the Kia stage waiting for things to get going. They have a cover band called “The Rays” playing stuff like Poker Face and Party in the USA. Guess it’s more hip than Toyota’s elevator music was.

4:28pm: Kia did a great job with their presentation. Suzuki was a bust so not much to say there. I’ll have to devote a whole other post to Kia, but suffice to say their new Ray concept car looks pretty neat. What may actually make production is a whole different story. More thoughts to come.

Below: Kia Ray Concept

5:42pm: A few more live notes before I make my way back to the airport again for my flight out tonight (and before my iPhone’s battery runs out!). In terms of new cars, there are a few others worth mentioning. Nissan and Infiniti made a reappearance at this auto show, after backing out of all but the NY show originally in 2009. They brought along the new 40th Anniversary 370Z and refreshed M sport sedan respectively. Both cars look even better in person than they did in the initial press photos. Mercedes also had the new SLS AMG gullwing on display – a car I’m still not quite sold on, but it is growing on me. Last but certainly not least, Ford unveiled the new Edge crossover in their presentation that occurred before the Toyota conference (I couldn’t see everything live). Sharing a lot with its sister Lincoln MKX, the Edge got a new front grille in line with the Fusion, and the new meters with MyTouch interface. It’s very slick, with almost no buttuns in the traditional sense. They don’t ‘press’, but rather a simple touch will activate the audio, climate, etc.

Nissan 370Z 40th Anniversary:

2011 Infiniti M:

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG:

2011 Ford Edge:

Thanks for following along with me today. Hit up the comments below to let me know if this type of live post is something you would like to see more of in the future.

It’s time to close the book on 2009 as I look ahead to 2010. I was privileged to work with Performance Auto and Sound magazine on the Formula Drift Wall, NJ event, and the coverage went to print in the Oct. issue (shown above). I’ve noticed that some magazine racks run a little behind schedule, so be sure to check your local Borders or B&N just in case there’s a few of these still around.

Click past the fold to see some of my favorite shots from the weekend.

Friday’s practice session was cut short due to a large downpour that hit the whole NY/NJ area in the afternoon. I could see the clouds looming as I crossed the George Washington bridge in the morning on my way to the track. That didn’t stop a few drivers from putting on a show for the press photographers such as myself who braved the elements – the practice was not open to the public. I asked Robbie Nishida (below) afterwards what he thought of the conditions, and despite both his front and rear bumpers being torn off in the puddles, he thought it really wasn’t that bad.

NJ is home turf for Falken ace Vaughn Gittin Jr. and he was on fire the whole weekend.

Joon Maeng also had an outstanding weekend, beating out Ryan Tuerck in the round of 32. This ended up having huge implications on the overall points standings for the season, as Tuerck finished 2nd to Forsberg by only 6 points!

On Saturday during the early practice session there was still a little bit of standing water off-line on the track. This made for some cool reflections, as in the shot below of Kyle Mohan’s RX-8.

Tanner Foust didn’t have the best run in his Rockstar Scion tC, but it sure did look good when he had it sideways.

As the sun set in the afternoon, only one could stand atop the podium. That one was Irishman Darren McNamara in the Falken Saturn Sky. Gittin, and McQuarrie managed to make it a sweep for the tire sponsor in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

Although I managed to catch a cold from standing in the rain all day Friday, the event was a blast and I look forward to attending again this coming summer.

Without further ado, let’s wrap up the rest of the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. For those unable to attend this year’s convention, read on to find out what you missed.

No celebrities were on hand to get interviewed by VW’s latest spokesperson… or spokes-car as it were, but I’ve got to hand it to VW for creating a pretty entertaining display. Not only was the original Beetle “Max” there to add a few sound bytes, but so were all of his commercials. Rather than putting random words (see Prius display from Part 1) or scenery of Germany on their large monitor overlooking the acre or so allocated to the company, they rotated in Brooke Shields, astronaut Richard Searfoss, and others to praise das auto. Once you’ve spent all that money making the commercials, it seems like a good idea to replay them whenever possible.

My eyes were focused on something else however…

On display was Volkswagen’s Concept BlueSport soft top roadster. While it isn’t production ready just yet, the plan as shown would be to put a diesel 4-banger into the rear of the car, giving it a 45:55 weight distribution and great gas mileage. I really like the styling, which some have compared to the Volkswagen Scirocco – at least for the front end – another car that I hope makes it over to the US. The large overfenders added a great muscular character to the overall subtle beltline, and while the orange soft top is an interesting color for a design study, I’d take mine in black.

Speaking of tops, over at Ford they had a few of their own to show off.

The new Flex crossover may turn into a stretched out Mini Cooper if Ford starts offering accessories like the roofs shown here. The graphics are neat, but how many people will see them and appreciate them ontop of the car? The Flex is not exactly short like a Mini, so maybe they should leave this type of art to hp computers instead of automobiles.

Lincoln also seemed proud of their sunroofs, going so far as to mount an entire MKT on its side so people could get a better view of the roof and cockpit. The MKT is based on the same platform that underpins the Flex, but that’s where the similarities end.

Unlike the vista roof on the Flex, the MKT will take a design much more like the very popular one on the Ford Edge. The whole front row glass pane can be opened, sliding to rest over the 2nd row’s glass in such a way that the skylight remains in tact. The driver can have the wind in their hair and the kids in the back can still look up at the clouds, or tall buildings, depending on where you are driving. Let the neck-straining begin.

Volvo had a preview at what might be on the horizon for the next S60 sedan with this Concept of the same name.

Adorned with coupe-like lines that would make the Mercedes CLS jealous, this vehicle also featured a really slick rear door hinge. Instead of hooking up to a b-pillar (we don’t need no stinking b-pillar) the entire door pivots and slides back over the rear fender similar to a minivan. This allows for tons of entry space so second row passengers can easily get into some very plush looking seats. The seats themselves had an odd cutout down the middle of each back. The Volvo reps said this would allow air to flow more freely throughout the cabin while cutting down on the materials needed to make the seat. Past vehicles like the 350Z roadster have used netting in the seat to achieve a similar result, and this concept takes that to the next extreme.

Over at Jaguar, now separated from the Ford mothership to be embraced by Tata, the new XFR was on display, along with the XKR convertible and coupe. Sitting in the back very casually was a specially prepared XFR. No ordinary racer, this feline ran at Bonneville in November of last year to chase 200mph glory.

The 510bhp supercharged V8 can easily reach an electronically limited 155mph in normal trim, but this cat had its speed governor removed and a few small aerodynamic and safety features added for the run. On the salt it achieved an astonishing 225.675mph, the fastest Jaguar ever tested, breaking the company’s previous record of 217mph set back in 1992 using an XJ220. Not so long ago Cadillac was happily touting how the CTS-V broke the eight minute mark around the Nurburgring, but could this be an even faster four-door? Here’s to hoping it gets tested for a few more records before the end of 2009.

Last but certainly not least Mercedes-Benz was kind enough to bring a SL63 AMG Black to the show. Words escape me as I look at it again, so I’ll sign off here. I hope you enjoyed this look at the show.

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