Video – Formula Drift Irwindale 2011

It’s hard to believe that it’s been six months since I first set off with the HELIX team for Formula Drift in Long Beach. This season was nothing short of insane, and although I am not coming back to cover FD next year (sorry folks), I am walking away from this experience with plenty of fond memories and great friends.

Thanks to everyone who supported Shifted, Illantic, and myself throughout the season – from our sponsors to fans and readers. It was great meeting a lot of you in person on the road, I had no idea that my work and this humble little site had such a far reach.

Last weekend in Irwindale I decided to try my hand at making a video for the event. To be honest, I spent most of the time drinking with my friends watched a lot of drifting without a camera in my hand. Either way, here is what I came up with. Hope you like it!

AG

Formula Drift Atlanta 2011

Here are some pics and a sweeeeet documentary video by Dan Cyr of Drift Posse highlighting their trip down to FD Atlanta. All in all it was a good weekend, Matt Waldin in the HELIX Drift 350Z qualified 16th and made it to the top 16 round of competition. Plenty of chaos went on off the track as well, these guys seem to leave a trail of fire and chaos wherever they go. Good times as always.

Matt Waldin

Exiting the Horseshoe

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Waldin

Flamethrower
Fire

Burnout
Smoke

Powers Dirt Drop
Getting dirty

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It’s a lifestyle

Vaughn Gittin JR

And Dan’s video documentary:

CYRIOUS PRODUCTIONS – Road To Formula Drift from Cyrious Productions on Vimeo.

Matt Waldin Racing – New Year New Look

West Chester, PA (PRWEB) – February 11th 2011, Matt Waldin Racing is preparing the new Helix powered 350z for action in the 2011 Formula Drift circuit. This will be the first year the team is running the full Formula Drift schedule.

At the end of last year with the help of Brian Crower, the 350z got a serious kick in power that propelled the team to it’s highest qualifying effort in Formula Drift to date. The team is aiming to continue on the upward trend starting in Long Beach, CA at Formula Drift’s inaugural event. The April 8th/9th event takes place on the streets of Long Beach where only a week later the Indy race is held. The stands are always packed for this event and the cars always look their best since it’s the first of the year.

Formula Drift 2011 Schedule:
April 8th/9th – Long Beach, CA – Streets of Long Beach
May 6th/7th – Atlanta, GA – Road Atlanta
June 3rd/4th – Palm Beach, FL – Palm Beach International Raceway
June 17th/18th – Wall, NJ – Wall Speedway
July 22nd/23rd – Monroe, WA – Evergreen Speedway
August 26th/27th – Las Vegas, NV – Las Vegas Motor Speedway
October 7th/8th, Irwindale, CA – Irwindale Speedway, CA

Rendering of the Helix powered 350z:
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The new look of the car has been finalized and is a great representation of the new partnership between Helix Drinks and Matt Waldin Racing. Mike English, head of Marketing and PR at Helix Drinks comments “we are excited to see the design come together and we couldn’t be happier, Matt and his car come at a perfect time as we accelerate our push into national retail markets.”

The team at Import Intelligence is hard at work making sure that everything on the car is in perfect working order and it’s ready to do battle. Matt commented “The whole crew is pumped to have a fresh start, new look and equipment for the following year. Its a major undertaking for to run a full season of any racing series, the guys at Import Intelligence have already proven they are up to the task.”

Back on board for 2011 is BC Racing Suspension. BC Racing Suspensions have always been the best balance between performance and cost. MWR firmly believes that it is important to use the products that normal consumers will be purchasing. A properly setup car starts with the suspension, “BC Racing Suspension was simply a perfect fit into our program. With years of racing heritage and great customer service, we would be silly to use any other company.”

MWR is also proud to announce the team will be running on Federal Tire’s 595RS-R sports tire. This particular tire was born on the racetrack but quality and process standards make this tire 100% street legal. The 595RS-R is highly acclaimed and is the “go-to” tire for many drift and sports car enthusiasts worldwide.

Matt Waldin Racing is proudly partnered with

Mishimoto Automotive
HELIX Drinks
Federal Tire
BC Racing Suspension

MWR would also like to thank our associate sponsors:
Import Intelligence . Competition Clutch . K&N Filters . NGK Spark Plugs . Brian Crower . EBC Brakes

A look back at 2010

One of my first blog posts from 2010 was during the snowpocalypse in January when I was stranded in my house. Oddly enough, I’m writing my (probably) last post for 2010 in a similar situation – drink in hand of course.

Above: Steady Freddy Girard at Autodrome Montmagny

2010 was a very exciting year for me and a great year to get this site off the ground. I was traveling on average once every two weeks while somehow still remaining a student (had to make up some pretty creative excuses to get out of class, but it was well worth it). I got to spend a lot of time with some of the greatest people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, and got up close and personal with vehicles that most people only get to dream about seeing/driving/shooting.

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My first subject of 2010 was a perfect Aston Martin DBS out in Phoenix.

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Next stop was Club Loose Spring Moves with Matt Waldin and his 350Z for some superfun drifting time. Cool vid by Kenny Cano from that event below… 10 points if you find me.

On Board X Matt Waldin from Kenny Cano on Vimeo.


Then it was time for Drift Camp! Damien got the S15 together for some shakedown runs and Jersey Rob busted out his BBQ skills for the Pennsylvania people.


With a couple drift events out of my system, I went to study abroad in China. Naturally I found a car magazine in Beijing within hours of landing.


After being back from China for a whopping three days it was time for Formula D at Wall Speedway. Looks like drifting will not be coming back to Wall next season. Sad, I love that venue.


Then it was time for Canada road trip #1 – Montreal Grand Prix! I’ve been an F1 fan for 22 years but this was my first time seeing it live. Absolutely incredible.


Fourth of July was spent playing with Godzirra and his evil twin.


And then back to the desert to shoot Ed’s Turbo. Look for a full feature on this car next year, as it’s getting some changes over the winter.

Old and New
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, the 2010 Camaro met it’s father.

In Car Drift
And before I knew it I was back in Canada, sliding around Autodrome Montmagny with Matt Waldin.

This is probably my favorite photo of the year. It’s not really in focus, it’s not sharp, and it’s the only one out of about 100 snaps that I took on my nighttime ride-alongs that came out decent, but it is exactly what I wanted out of the shot. It’s a lot harder than you’d think to hold a camera steady with Matt driving balls-to-the-wall behind Damien. Those two love to tandem close and fast. I find myself using words like “chaos” “carnage” “fire” and “insanity” whenever I do a write up on a weekend with those guys.

That was my last official event of the year, and once September hit I shot a couple personal vehicles for my friends and gave my camera a rest.

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Boxster Spyder

aprilia

Range Rover

That’s it, and that’s all. 2010 was awesome, and things are only going to get better in 2011.

AG

Is this art?

What’s up ShiftedCrew? I’m back after a short hiatus. Summer 2010 was absolutely insane, and as the season is coming to an end I just want to thank our followers for keeping up with the site and maintaining your interest in Shifted and illantic while we have been quiet. We are going through all the e-mails and facebook messages and working hard to deliver some really good things in the near future – but I wanted to post some new photos and do a little blogging (or is it “logging” with a soft ‘b’?) in the meantime.

I was talking to friend of mine who does a lot of branding and web design a while ago about the frustrations of his work. He kept saying “design is not a democracy,” in response to feedback he had been receiving from clients who seemed to prefer fundamentally poor logos and site layouts.

It got me thinking about my own “work,” in photography and graphic design in relation to the basic principal my friend had been preaching… Art is not a democracy. But that raised another question.. is this even art? My friends and facebook fans seem to think so, but I know others would argue the contrary.

The more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that it was only art because I believed it was art. I visualized it, I captured it the way I saw it, and I put my eyes, my mood, and my passion into it. Since then, I started taking a lot more liberties with the way I take my shots and post-process them.

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I’ve never been happier with my work, and I have never cared less if anyone liked it or not. Funny that since I grabbed my camera by the balls and started to shoot the way I wanted, my stuff has been more well-received than ever before.

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Is it art? Decide for yourself… but here are some more pictures to help you make up your mind.

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Big things on the way soon, check back for an update from illantic as well.

SF Coverage – FD Wall 2010

I had a great time this weekend with Matt Waldin and the Mishimoto/Import Intelligence crew at Wall Stadium for Formula Drift.

It was hot, sweaty, messy, loud, and absolutely insane – but unlike last year we managed to avoid the projected thunderstorms all weekend which meant the smoke show was on.

Along with many of the DA boys, Wall is Matt’s home track on the FD circuit. He threw down some solid runs which lead him to qualify 18th in the field – his personal best in Formula Drift.

Thanks for repping illantic, Matt!

Unfortnuately, Gushi knocked him out of the top 32, but not without a fight.

Here are some more snaps from the weekend:

Loved this shot

RT and ACP

Nice to see ACP in something other than a NOS Evo for once :)

JR throwing it down

Tanner did much better than last year.

Drift Emporium… crazy dudes

Can you tell I’m obsessed with fire?

Clipping point got mangled this round, lots of drivers had trouble with the switchback

Russell Walker came out as a privateer all the way from Texas and qualified just out of the top 32. Tough break this weekend but he’s a cool guy and a good sportsman. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him.

Mad Mike lives up to his name

Total accident shot of a burnout, but I really love the way it looked when I got it to my computer. I might actually make a print of it.

Formula Drift, Wall NJ

Drift GT-R… does it really need any more of a caption?

Hope you all enjoyed the photos. Before I wrap this up I just want to put out a HUGE thank you to Matt for all of the hospitality this weekend, Fred from Rockstar Energy for the swag and for keeping us hydrated, Ed from Tuner Icons for the baller trailer, the Formula Drift staff for taking care of us in the Media tent, and all the other media people I met this weekend for spreading the drift love and expanding our social networks – haha.

Next weekend I hit Montreal for the F1GP – stay tuned.

Drift Camp 2010

I had a great time on Saturday with the Import Intelligence crew at Maple Grove Raceway. They put on an awesome event with about 20 cars drifting the front and back lots. I was going to take more photos, but I decided it would be more fun to eat Rob’s famous Drift Chicken and ride around with Tony and Damien. Thanks for the hospitality as always fellas, can’t wait to roll to DMCC with you in June.

Spotlight: Joon Maeng

This is a great video highlighting one of the nicest FD drivers I have met. He is a true sportsman and I’m excited to see what he has in store for 2010.

Joon Maeng – Formula Drift 2010 ‘Street of Long Beach’ from 29FRAME on Vimeo.

Club Loose – Spring Moves

On Saturday I had the opportunity to roll to Englishtown with my favorite professional drifter, Matt Waldin, to drift with Club Loose and get some photos of his Mishimoto sponsored Nismo 350Z drift machine before he goes and scrapes a bunch of walls with it.

The car was running consistently all day, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is ready for FD and DMCC this year.

This was the first event of the 2010 season for Club Loose, appropriately named “Spring Moves”. The guys were all happy to see each other again, and wasn’t hard to tell that they are a tight-knit group of enthusiasts. Between the A, B, and C groups there were about 30 cars running on the track, and plenty of spectators enjoying the day.

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I remember seeing this guy at D1 last year, hopefully he gives FD Wall and XDC Englishtown a shot this year.

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Waldin representing illantic. We love it.

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Nick at Elite JDM was tearing it up in his real RHD S13

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The stereo was playing some pretty sweet tunes in the grandstand

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Live Streaming Video of FD Long Beach

Watch live streaming video from formulad at livestream.com

If you’re like me and couldn’t make it out to Long Beach for Formula Drift, check out DriftStream 2010 live! Props to our friends at MishimotoLovesDrifters who helped sponsor the stream.