Takahiro Ueno will be saying goodbye to his legendary Toyota Soarer and exchanging it for some German Iron with a BMW 335i powered by a Toyota Supra 2JZ-GTE engine! Wow, this sounds like an insane setup with a ton of hype behind it and hopefully we will see it before Nomuken’s R35 GTR in action! The car is being prepped for the 2009 season already, check below for a sneak peak image!

The rumors this morning all over the Internet seem to be talking about Greddy Trust Japan going out of business. We hope this isn’t the case and have been looking for a more official notice/memo out of Greddy today but cannot seem to find out. A simple google search will show you some well done homework on the Internet or just a rumor that has blown out of control clearly. We are going to keep our ear to the streets to see if we can keep you updated on this story.

It looks like Drift Emporium is near completion of their new G35 drifting project. After watching Braille Auto unveil a G35 vert at HIN Orlando it looks like Calvin Wan and his Falken Infiniti G35 were years ahead of the trend. Drift Emporium participated in NOPI Drift this season and backed Kenji Yaminaka as a driver for the circuit until it was discontinued. We are not sure what plans they have for the new drift machine but we hope to see it in Formula D or somewhere soon!

Result: No one cares.

We have been blown up at the PM Lifestyle Office with calls about this huge alliance and big D1 Grand Prix season for 2009. It’s just more hype, smoke, and mirrors coming from this camp. They blamed Formula D for canceling it’s All-Star event which made about ZERO sense. Just because they can fool magazines like Stupid Street to do interviews with their new “sheriff in town” doesn’t mean anyone in the Drifting community buys they are back again for the third time. We have even heard Richard Goodwin’s name thrown into the frey of people running things on the back end. a A quick google search will show you he is an old founder of Hot Import Nights. This sums up how we feel about the situation. Our parents always told us to stick to what we are good at so we offer the same suggestion to D1.

Things D1GP is good at: Throwing events in Japan

Things D1GP isn’t good at: Throwing events in the United States of America

Just food for thought.

…..is almost out. Here is a sneak preview of what the cover will look like. If you STAY up really late tonight or wake up REALLY early you can see the new issue in it’s entirety. FREE Slide America DVD will be mailed to the first person who can guess who/what is featured on the cover of this issue by leaving us a comment on the blog.

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.

Thanks to: Driftpro.com

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.