Scion

You’ll hear a lot of words when it comes to describing Toyota and their respective sub-divisions Lexus and Scion. Reliable. Comfortable. Beige. Durable. Fuel-efficient. Quiet. Dull. Beige. Rarely do you hear words like awesome, powerful, exciting, or even fast. However, the people who spout the former are either haters or uninformed. As one of the premier automotive powers in the world, Toyota is the equivalent of one Dr. Bruce Banner. Calm and unassuming until it [Toyota] feels the need for speed, Toyota has demonstrated time and time again that when it wants to, it can and will, make machines that’ll tear your face off. The annual Toyotafest held in Long Beach, organized and held by the Toyota Owner’s and Restorer’s Club (or T.O.R.C.), is a celebration of those machines and then some.

As a longtime fan of the brand, I owe a lot to Toyota from where I am today. It was a Toyota that chauffeured my family and I around for the majority of my childhood and teenage years. It was a blazing orange Toyota that got me into the car scene into the first place. And today, by my hard-earned choice, it is a Toyota that zips me through and around the mean streets of SoCal, one traffic jam at a time. Needless to say, I was pumped for this year’s Toyotafest and wouldn’t attend it like the clueless spanner I was last year (forgetting to charge my camera). Commence the coverage.

This past Saturday, the famed streets of Long Beach once again played host to the opening round of the Formula Drift season. It was at this event that the GReddy / Scion Racing FR-S made its highly anticipated debut, driven by veteran driver Ken Gushi. And although the car may look like the street version of the Scion FR-S, what's underneath is of course very different. Even though the car was introduce at the Detroit AutoShow in January – the majority of the build actually took place after the car came from the show. Click past the break to see a bit more of just how much the team was able to do in just a few short months. 

On top of the vast tuning and customization options, stout physics engine and comprehensive online play, Forza Motorsport 4 has a fascinating variety of vehicles from which to choose. Whether your proclivities lean toward mammoth SUVs, fire-breathing supercars, snappy hot hatches or out-and-out race cars, the latest installment of the Xbox 360’s flagship racing title has something for you.

This is not to say, however, that the folks at Turn 10 included as many vehicles as they could have on the disc. To remedy this, the company has been releasing downloadable 10-car add-on packs for the last six months. Each one has added variety and depth to the already eclectic car roster, and the one for this month – the April Alpinestars Pack, which dropped yesterday – is no different.

With the opening round of the 2012 Formula Drift season just over a fortnight (That’s a fancy way of saying “two weeks”; who says we aren’t an educational website?) away on the streets of Long Beach, California, the excitement in the Sub5Zero editorial bunker is starting to build. Formula Drift’s ninth full season (The sport first arrived stateside as a one-off exhibition at Irwindale Speedway in 2003 followed by the debut Formula Drift event at Road Atlanta the following spring.) promises to be one for the ages, with an eclectic mix of cars, drivers and venues on tap. We’ll analyze the prospects for the 2012 Formula Drift calendar in due course, but first, let’s take a quick look back at 2011.

Just like this year’s, last year’s championship chase opened on the streets of Long Beach. Justin Pawlak came out on top in his Falken Tires Ford Mustang. Daijiro Yoshihara then took top honors at Road Atlanta for the second year in a row in his Falken Tires/Discount Tire Nissan S13. Pawlak was on top of the podium again at the end of round three in Palm Beach, while Hankook Tire Chevrolet Camaro driver Conrad Grunewald outlasted the competition to take top honors at the treacherous Wall Speedway in New Jersey. Yoshihara took his second win of the year at round five in Washington State, while Rhys Millen was victorious at Las Vegas, two years after he failed to qualify in the Red Bull Hyundai Genesis Coupe’s debut.