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• 2013 Formula Drift Road Atlanta: Round 2 Sees Daigo Saito Get His Title Defense Back on Track

  In Motorsports / By Tom Anderson / 13 May 2013

  

  While none of the three podium finishers of last month’s opening round of the 2013 Formula Drift championship were very unexpected, the fact that the defending series champion wasn’t among them was. In fact, Daigo Saito was knocked out in the second round of eliminations in Long Beach, clearing the way for the likes of Dai Yoshihara and Vaughn Gittin Jr. to scoop up oodles of points. This begged the question: Was Saito’s fairy tale rookie season in America’s premier drifting series a fluke?

  Well, Daigo Saito responded to that question with an emphatic “No” by winning this past weekend’s second round of the Formula Drift championship trail, held at the world-renown Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton, Georgia. The venue’s Formula D course utilizes the track’s Turn 10a and 10b complex, before negotiating a paved loop through the gravel trap and winding its way back through the chicane in the opposite direction. So who, along with Saito, was best able to tame this tricky layout? Read on and find out!

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• You Deserve a K-Break: Hanging out at a Top VIP Style Tuning Shop [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 16 April 2013

  

  If we had to pick one style of tuning that we wish was more prevalent in this country than it already is, it would probably be VIP. We love full-size luxury sedans and coupes as is, but when they’re given a lowered stance, nice wheels and tires, monochromatic paints, a few aero parts and a tricked out interior, we go all Tex Avery’s wolf. Oh yes, we heart bippu.

  Kazuki Ohbayashi also likes VIP style, so much so that he built his company – K-Break – around it. The crew from XCar travelled to the Osaka suburb of Fujiidera to sit down with Ohbayashi and discuss not only his history in the tuning business, but also what makes a customized luxury car a VIP style car. And in case you still have trouble picturing what VIP style entails, there are plenty of shots of a pair of K-Break creations – a very pink Toyota Aristo and a handsome white Lexus LS460 – to help give you an idea. So…are you a convert yet?

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• 2013 Formula Drift Long Beach: Daijiro Yoshihara Takes the Round 1 Crown

  In Motorsports / By Tom Anderson / 14 April 2013

  

  The 2012 Formula Drift season was as exciting and unpredictable as any in memory, and when the last of the tire smoke settled over the finale at Irwindale Speedway, Formula D newbie Daigo Saito found himself winner of the event and the championship. Not too long after that, Saito grabbed the Formula Drift Asia championship, too. So naturally, most of the Formula Drift community spent the winter trying to figure out how to dethrone the likeable Lexus driver from Japan in 2013.

  And judging by the results of this past weekend’s season opener on the streets of Long Beach, California, it looks like more than a few of Saito’s rivals have stepped up to challenge him. And while some of the names that managed to best the defending champ are familiar, there were a few who weren’t. Make the jump to see who made it the deepest into eliminations.

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• Requiem for a Dream Machine: The Lexus LFA’s Fathers Reflect on Its Life [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 20 March 2013

  

  For fans of Japanese supercars, December 12, 2012 can easily be called the Day the Music Died. It was on that day that Lexus completed the 500^th – and last – LFA. However, a few weeks before that rather somber occasion, the crew of MotorTrend’s YouTube channel traveled to Japan to visit the LFA factory and document the building of the last handful of cars. More importantly, they interviewed the men who played pivotal roles in the short, glorious life of the most extreme production car ever to come out of all of Toyota, much less its Lexus division.

  As the LFA’s guardians explain, the LFA isn’t like other supercars…which was their intent. Moreover, it’s proudly Japanese in its construction, design, and overall ethos. It is a shrieking, atmo-V10-hearted siren that works with its surroundings, not against them. We know, we know: It’s ate up with computer, has neither a proper manual transmission or a dual-clutch automatic, and was made by the company that brings the world vehicles that are among the leading triggers of adult-onset narcolepsy. But here’s the thing, kids: The Lexus LFA was a classic when it was in production, and will only become more classic with the passage of time. Those of you who dispute this can kindly go slather your tongues with wasabi.

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• DAMD LFT-86: Where Toyota GT86 and Lexus LFA Collide

  In Tuning / By Freddy Chen / 28 January 2013

  

  More often than not, making cheap cars look like expensive exotics is an exercise in failure. No matter what you may do to your C4 Corvette, SW20 MR2, or Pontiac Fiero, it will never have quite the same class as the Ferrari or Lamborghini you are attempting to duplicate. So when we heard that Japan-based Dream Automotive Development & Design (DAMD) Style Effects had produced an LFA bodykit for the Toyota GT86/Scion FR-S, oh how we laughed and laughed – until we actually saw the creation itself.

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• Formula Drift Asia 2012 Review: Daigo Saito Does the Pan-Pacific Double

  In Motorsports / By Tom Anderson / 13 December 2012

  

  Compared to the main Formula Drift series here in the U.S., the Formula Drift Asia championship of 2012 was contested over roughly half as many rounds (three to be exact). That would make it about half as exciting, right? Well, no. Fewer events mean entrants have fewer mulligans at their disposal, and more pressure to deliver results and bring your A-game on every run. Thus, the intensity level is sky-high.

  It was in this environment that Japanese drifting wunderkind Daigo Saito thrived, sweeping the season in his new Achilles Tire Lexus IS Convertible. But to simply leave it at that would be doing a disservice to what Saito and his team achieved, as well as what the other competitors achieved in their pursuit of him. Make the jump for the juicy details of how the 2012 Formula Drift Asia season played out.

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• Review: 2013 Lexus GS 350 F-Sport

  In Road Tests / By Ari Cox / 16 November 2012

  

  The first generation Lexus GS, aka Toyota Aristo, landed in the US in 1993, and was shoehorned between the upmarket LS and the diminutive IS. Despite its design pedigree from the likes of the exalted Italdesign Giugiaro, it arrived as an amorphous blob of sheet metal, in an arguably (and minimally) successful attempt at mimicking organic shapes.

  Despite its simple look, Lexus was white hot at the time and the hip-hop community immediately embraced the car, with rappers like the Notorious BIG giving it shout-outs in songs. Ever since then, the GS platform has been on a roll. Each generation has seen the vehicle come more into its own as Lexus has solidified its own unique design language and has taken some aggressive risks, moving away from the status quo.

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• Daigo Saito Captures 2012 Formula Drift Title in Achilles Tire Lexus SC430

  In Motorsports / By Tom Anderson / 15 October 2012

  

  Just over a month ago, you might recall that we predicted the seventh and final round of the 2012 Formula Drift season at Irwindale Speedway would be a thrilling conclusion to the seven round, six state championship trail. We also forecasted that the top three in points going in – former Formula D champions Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Rhys Millen sandwiching U.S. drifting newcomer Daigo Saito – would have a knockdown, drag-out battle royal for the big trophy. Luckily, the events of Saturday’s Round 7: Title Fight proved us right on both counts, but we honestly weren’t expecting the guy that won the title to do so, nor do it in the manner in which he did.

  It became clear that the championship would go to one of the top three in points early on, as both Chris Forsberg and 2011 Formula D champ Daijiro Yoshihara failed to make it out of Saturday afternoon’s Top 32 bracket. And speaking of brackets, the three championship challengers were all on the same side of the ladder, meaning it was quite possible the title would be decided before the final battle of the event. That would turn out to be the case, but how it happened wouldn’t be.

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• The Top 10 Debuts of the 2012 Paris Motor Show

  In Auto News / By Tom Anderson / 27 September 2012

  
  

  Ah, Paris in the autumn. The temperatures are dropping, the leaves are turning to varying shades and saturations of crimson and, if the year ends in an even number, the automotive world is converging upon the Porte de Versailles for the Paris Motor Show. As always, there are plenty of new automobiles on display, running the gamut from tiny urban runabouts to TGV-smoking supercars. So which rides caught our eye like a cute mademoiselle sipping java at a sidewalk café? Bust out of your invisible box and click below to read the rest of the article, s’il vous plait.

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• Formula Drift 2012: Six Down, One to Go

  In Featured / By Tom Anderson / 5 September 2012

  

  When the 2012 Formula Drift season began more than four months ago on the streets of Long Beach, California, hopes for a competitive and exciting campaign were high. Skip forward to today and we reckon you’ll have a hard time finding anyone who feels Formula D 2012 has fallen short of expectations. A see-saw points battle, a fascinating array of new cars and revised cars, and scintillating on-track action have made the first six rounds of the series instant classics.

  And with the seventh and last round at Irwindale Speedway set to go down in about five weeks’ time, we felt now would be a good time to revisit how the battle for this year’s Formula D crown got to this point. Here, then, is a review of the season so far, as well as analysis of the drivers we expect to shine in the Jardin de Roca.

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