Mad Mike has been recognized and seen in America Drifting in famous camo style Rx-7. His new car is being unleashed at 7pm on August 29th on Tyler Street. Check out the flyer for more details on the event. We will have the car to you as soon as we can after the unveiling!
We have found more photos of the Formula D haulers before they headed to Mexico and found a mystery white S15. We have confirmed through some sources that the driver of this clean S15 is Ross Petty! He will be piloting this over the weekend in Mexico.
The car he started 2008 with has been stolen by a teen heart throb and no one has really seen him since NOPI Columbus, Ohio but we found Bill Sherman and have the scoop for you. Bill Sherman will be stepping back into his 2007 NOPI championship vehicle for the remaining parts of the 2008 Formula D season under the Retaks/Bridgestone Tire team. Bill has seen quite some success in this vehicle including sustaining a top 10 driver score wise in Formula D with it. This should be a great treat for everyone in Sonoma coming up right around the corner.
More photos of the Nissan 370z have been uncovered thanks to a poster at VWVortex.
It’s been widely reported that the 2010 370Z will be shortened by four inches and will ride on a slightly widened track, but without a profile shot, it’s hard to tell. The rear three-quarter view shows reworked rear windows that are slightly smaller, with the bottom edge angling steeply towards the roofline. The rear glass of the hatch is sunken in, and incorporates a small spoiler into the trunk lid, while the fenders appear wider than the outgoing model and the tail lamps are equipped with LEDs.
The short wheel base cars have been doing very well this year in Formula Drift so maybe shorter and wider is a ticket for success for any tuners that are willing to hop onto it as a program.
Fresh off the rumor mill it appears tons of people have been asking the right questions to RMR since the General Motors news broke this week. According to our sources at RMR they will NOT be driving the Hyundai in Formula D in the 2009 season. Apparently the rendering that was pulled off of Hyundai’s Media site is intended to be a time attack vehicle for Rhys Millen Racing.
Rhys Millen has been stealing headlines it seems this week between winning Seattle, the GM fold, and the Hyundai merger. We have heard that Hyundai will still be campaigning a vehicle with some team for the 2009 season. Many rumors around the pits have gone as far to say it will be with a Hankook (another Korean company) partnership.
Well we just got an e-mail about the “NOPI Nationals” taking place now under the moniker Motorsporst Nationals? We really have no idea what is going on with this Atlanta based camp these days nor does anyone else seem to? We are guessing since the venue has shifted to a Convention Center that Drifting will no longer be a part of the program which means we can stop talking about this awesome event before it starts.
On the site they even bothered to say this:
“Wow, you guys sure know how to blog! The rumor mill in this industry is unbelievable! Anyway, after a long hard week of negotiations, we are moving the Nationals to the beautiful facilities at GICC by the Atlanta Airport. “
Yet it was on NOPI.com’s very own website that we based this information off of (NOPI Drift is No More). This is what NOPI put on their site and sent out as an official press release through their agency. Confusion, we think so!?
We found out the new driver of the Braille Auto Nissan 350Z is Patrick Mourdaunt. He will be running with the new wrap; Riceboy TV/Braille Auto this weekend in Seattle. More details to follow soon.
Who is the man behind the helmet? We have confirmed with Bill Sherman that he is no longer driving for Braille Auto or participating in Formula D at this time. No one else seems to want to talk but yet this photo was snapped over the weekend at Willow Springs from a tipster who was out at the track for another event. Very interesting……we know Blake Fuller isn’t in the car as well so who is this new mystery driver? He is definitly shorter than Bill Sherman (note the helmet location difference between the two photos)
Part of the confusing side is no decals have been switched on the car other than the name plate which is listed incorrectly as Blake Fuller. Does this mean the car hasn’t been prepped for Seattle yet which seems unlikely at 4 days out from go time or is it a driver that hasn’t had a ride or sponsors? Could we see another great return or debut in Seattle? The only other tip we have is a video posted on Vimeo. Our source confirmed he did see a film crew at the time he was on location. Thoughts anyone?
Jon Sibal produced a Lexus rendering that was aired all over the Internet back in April 2008. As he pointed out on his blog the front bumper design of the Hyundai has been copied by whoever did the render of this car for RMR and Hyundai. The news has spiraled onto sites as big as Autoblog and no one has seemed to get any answers. Jon Sibal said this on his blog, accusing only the artist who made the render and not Rhys Millen Racing and Hyundai.
Whoever created this image for RMR or Hyundai is where the problem lies. Hyundai and RMR most likely isn’t aware of what this person did here. The issue is how this person who took my design which I spent a lot of time designing, and he spent a few seconds to copy and pasted it on the Hyundai Genesis RMR car then showed it them without disclosing that the front bumper is a blatant copy of my design.
Hyundai realizes for this car to be accepted in youth subculture it needs an aftermarket backing. They invited several tuners to come look over the car that will be released in 2010. This means they should have some great concern with Drifting in 2009 in some form. It also looks like they are formulating track versions of the Genesis for tuners looking to get a head start on the rest of the field.
Hyundai officials also confirmed today that the company will offer Track versions of both the four-cylinder turbo and the V6 coupe. “They’ll be a low percentage of the mix,” Joyce admitted, “but they will be uncompromised in their performance.”
In addition to retuned suspension compared to the standard versions of the coupe, the Genesis Track models will pick up a front strut tower brace and a full set of Brembo brakes, including four-piston monobloc calipers up front.
Regardless of the engine underhood, Track models will come with Bridgestone Potenza RE050A summer tires, sized 225/40R19 up front and 245/40R19 in back. Non-Track Genesis coupes get 225/45R18 Bridgestone Potenza RE092As in front and 245/45s in back.
