Another great Drift Alliance production as they invaded Drift Mania. We attended the event as well and had our booth setup next to the DA guys. They were up to their typical antics like the Canadian National Handstand competition?! With 2:17 left you can see me off in the left side of the screen!!!!!! So +1 for the video and I am listening to Matt Petty coordinate his hand stand competition. I am also sporting Cipher Garage’s 86 Life shirt that you can buy in our store!

Welcome to 2008 and enjoy the New Year! If your going to drink tonight make sure you grab a designated driver.  Slide America has HUGE plans for 2008 so please keep your eye out. We are hitting hard starting February 5th and we won’t be turning back, trust to see us all around the Drifting world in 2008! Thanks everyone for the support.

So that was some tacky CSI Season 3 line I heard last night before I made this blog that I wanted to throw out their. We rolled into Miami Beach on Friday and got ready for the Hot Import Nights Miami show. NOS Energy Drink threw a huge bash featuring 2 famous designers who had fashion shows and they crowned the Naughty NOS Girl for 2007. Make sure to stay tuned, the store release of Slide America is set to hit stores February 5th, 2008!

This was our view from Miami Beach out into the Atlantic.

Jenny Chu has fans down in Miami clearly.

Here is the stage for the NOS Fashion show.

This girl had her boyfriend stop their Volvo on 8th/Washington and stuck her head out the sunroof to take pictures in the middle of traffic at an intersection……amazing!

The Lexus IS350 before it got stickered.

This was just posted over at Wrecked Magazine, check it! Huge news for 2008.

“I just was mailed a document from one of my favorite sources before we left out of town and inside was a 10-15 page document laying out the plans for Scion to enter Drifting in 2008. Yes, that is right……Scion is stepping up in a HUGE way in 2008! They are converting a Scion tC into a RWD drifting machine under the flagship of well known RSR. Here is the cover of the Scion Drifting packet.

The current known sponsors of the project are Scion, RSR, Toyo Tires, Enkei Wheels, and Sparco. Here are some other vehicle renderings in the packet.

Now later in the packet they announce a driver, Ken Gushi formally of Ford Racing. Apparently Scion is making some big strides taking away Ken Gushi from Ford. What will this car have in store for 2008? It will be an interesting project to keep your eye on but I feel Scion will do the project justice. Scion has played a huge role in the growth of sport compact and I feel they will make sure their Drifting program goes well. Here is a confirmation on Ken Gushi from the packet.

Don’t miss this car in Formula D for 2008! Rumor has it this car will make the Impot Tuner cover so keep your eye out! I think they should trash Import Tuner and go with Wrecked! Who’s with me?”

So let’s continue with our SEMA fun. We spent more time at the Wynn that you would imagine. After the GM party we found out about this secret shuttle that took you to the Wynn. So we ran to the shuttle at 5pm and bypassed the taxi line and hit up a taxi at the Wynn with about 400 less people in line.

NOS Energy Drinks has stepped up their role in 2008 for Formula D. We are so excited to let you know that Chris gave his doors up for the next season to the NOS can. Mike Fine presented a great unveiling at the Maxxis Tires booth saying he hopes to help push Chris into the next level (Championship) as an independently funded team. Here is a snapshot of the new look on the Maxxis car.

The Formula D press conference dropped some huge bombs! Wrecked Magazine did a much better job laying all the news out but let me give you some cliff notes. Formula D will have a world finals to wrap up the year. Formula D will have a demo in Mexico and an event in Singapore. They also are adding an event to the regular season(so now and they also added Las Vegas to the tour this year. The 8th event is TBA. Here you can see Ryan Sage bringing us all the good news.

We did some great interviews with guys like Neil Tjin, Status Sean, and Jason Whitfield for a tuner segment from Mobil 1. They really stepped up this year with a big bottle at the main entrance, 2 billboards, and 150 taxi cab advertisements.  We had a blast filming with these guys…………

So we rolled into Las Vegas with full intentions to have the time of our life and help make this excellent video for Mobil 1! We accomplished both of course in record fashion! Our first place we crashed at was the Wyndam Grand Desert Resort right off East Harmon which is kinda behind Planet Hollywood.

So Monday night we showed up to the Wynn Hotel for the General Motors party that is always my favorite event and a great way to kick off the week! So after the big GM party we rolled into the exclusive VIP Afterparty and 50 cent unveiled his car ride to the 200 people in attendance. Will Castro from Unique Autosports presented the car, it was a great thing we were able to witness.

Also at the GM Party was my favorite car of the show. The Pontiac Solstice SD-290 Racer Concept in a custom candy apple red paint was gorgeous. The revamped Ecotech engine is making 290hp (hence the SD-290). I’ve been on a huge vintage kick lately as we all know and this modern car with the old school vintage kickback I just love. The redone grills and front make the car easy on the eyes.  I hope to see this thing appear some more in the future.

We received word from our cohorts in Europe (Driftpromotion) that Paul Vlasblom from the UK will be coming stateside for the D1 All Star Weekend in November. Paul is noted for putting on a crazy battle with Ueno in the UK! We have confirmed that his car is already in a crate on the way to California!!!!!!!! The roaring BMW M3 station wagon is on it’s way to The House of Drift! Will more European drivers be looking to invade the states? Stay posted to the blog, I think we could possibly be breaking some more news stories on drivers heading this way soon.

We’ve been hunting for more information but this is what we found Clash Productions said about the event. We don’t read French which has brought us to somewhat of a standstill.

We had a blast in Los Angeles! My iphone took a crap this weekend so the photos are missing from this blog! I got into town pretty early on Tuesday and got some work done with some friends. It was a great weekend and the feedback from the ESPN showing in Hollywood was fantastic. Also, we did a soft launch of Wrecked Magazine and people were going nuts! It goes public soon so stay tuned. Gotta love Socal, we tore up King Taco and Jones Coffee this weekend.

Here is the top 16 rundown for the weekend:

1. Tanner Foust

2. Chris Forsberg

3. Rhys Millen

4. Sam Hubinette

5. Vaughn Gittin Jr.

6. Dai Yoshihara

7. Robbie Nishida

8. Ryan Tureck

9. Ryuji Miki

10. Bill Sherman

11. Casper Canul

12. Mitsuru Haraguchi

13. Kenji Yamanaka

14. Ken Gushi

15. John Ruskakoff

16. Tony Brakahopia

The best run of the night was the Daijiro Yoshihara Vs. Chris Forsberg runs that got called a one more time! It was the battle for second place in the series as Tanner Foust had already secured first place and these guys gave it their all! Congrats to AEM/Toyo Tires and Tanner Foust for securing a first place for the 2007 Season and finally winning his first round of the season at the House of Drift. ESPN2 coverage starts November 15th, keep track!

Check this out guys, it was filmed at Formula D Seattle and we got a chance to meet up with these guys from EA Sports. I think that Need For Speed: Pro Street will be an excellent title and reflect the drift culture very well. Look at Vaughn smash his car in the last turn wall, I love it!