#DriftCar

Some automotive enthusiasts saw EVs as a sign of motorsport’s eventual dom, but electric vehicles are proving that to not be quite true.

There’s a ton of buzz surrounding the return of HKS to drifting with Nobuteru Taniguchi behind the wheel of a Toyota GT 86. Now they were the first ones to throw the new sports car on the dyno, pulling down around 170-rwhp which has about a 15-percent drivetrain loss (200-hp crank), which is pretty impressive.

HKS also spent sometime showing off their excitement about the GT 86 and the return of Nobuteru Taniguchi, with footage of NOB driving a GT 86 and speaking about it. The video ends with the upcoming D1 Grand Prix competition drift car and Taniguchi putting it through its paces.

Check out the lengthy video after the break featuring HKS’s driver, Nobuteru Taniguchi and the Toyota GT 86 getting dyno’ed.

[Source: FT86 Club]

Currently up on eBay is Hubinette Racing’s / NuFormz Dodge Charger SRT8 originally built for the Formula Drift competition. And while it’s a truly formidable drift machine – it captured first place in Summit Point in 2007 – it’s more about owning a piece of history if you’re a a fan of the sideways sport. The reason? It was the first domestic four-door drift machine ever built, having spent the last couple of years sitting in the NHRA Museum after Sean Carlson’s untimely passing.

A quick history lesson before we actually get into talking about this awesome creation from the Czech Republic. Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer based out of the Czech Republic and was originally founded back in 1850. The Tatra brand however didn’t become a reality until 1919 and is the third oldest automaker in the world behind Daimler Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot. An obscure automaker on the global scene, Tatra is recognized for its rear-mounted, air-cooled V8 engine; which when developed back in the 1930s was very sophisticated for its time.

Darren McNamara has had an impressive run drifting in America under the Team Falken name. Representing Ireland, Team Falken Tire picked McNamara up to join their team after being impressed with his skills behind the wheels of a Toyota AE86. Now Team Need for Speed has enlisted D-MAC’s help to broaden their European reach and putting him back behind the wheel of an AE86.

While the entire world is still holding their breath for an actual release of Gran Turismo 5, Microsoft’s Xbox 360’s motorsports entrant is still kicking strong. One of the coolest features in Forza Motorsport 3 is the ability to create graphics for your vehicles, pixel-by-pixel or however you can if you’re talented enough. We wouldn’t say we’re not talented, we just don’t have the patience to figure out better ways to do our own graphics like some other people. But Dr. Westies is extremely talented and this isn’t his first toy for the Xbox Live players.

We think the more interesting question to ask these days is, “What hasn’t Vaughn Gittin Jr. done with the Ford Mustang?” Sure Gittin wasn’t exactly Ford’s first choice when handing the Mustang’s keys over to a drifter (Ken Gushi Jr. had that privilege) but it’d be really tough to find someone to say he isn’t the right choice. From drifting worldwide and leading the current points championship in Formula Drift, Gittin Jr. has really broken the mold and brought Ford’s Mustang to the forefront of the action sport world.

And just when we thought we had seen it all from Gittin and his rockstar-like antics, he has teamed up with MTV’s Rob Dyrdek and his Fantasy Factory show to conjure up a car skateboard park. Many may know that Gittin Jr. himself was a skater and loves action sports, so merging the two passions together almost seemed natural to him, no matter how unnatural it is to the rest of the world.

Another Ford Mustang seems to have been built that replicates the look of his drift Mustang, but setup to tackle the half-pipe rather than Irwindale Speedway’s outer bank. Even Dyrdek took some seat time and had some wicked fun in his creation.

Check out the official press release from MTV and do not miss the video after the break.

The Nissan Silvia S15 is probably second to the Skyline in vehicles we really want and will never get. The craze of outfitting S13s and S14s with the S15 front end has sort of subsided here, but there’s no mistaking how gorgeous the Silvia S15 is. Now it’s been a while since we spotted something that made us raise our eyebrows for the better. We like to give kudos to creativity and cleverness when deserved and this Nissan Silvia S15 is a prime example of just that.

Product placement has always been a key part of any successful marketing and advertising campaigns. It all started with movies and television shows and now has even entered the realm of video games. Some campaigns are just pure tacky while others are cleverly placed to really inspire the consumer to go out and get the product. With the advent of YouTube and online videos, companies have taken their campaigns online where they can easily reach millions of viewers in a matter of minutes, literally. Viral marketing is now king and online media is the throne that it sits on.

Ever since NOS Energy Drink was acquired by the Coca-Cola company, good ‘ol corporate America has done a real strong push in bringing the product into the face of the masses. By teaming up with all facets of motorsports, NOS Energy Drink has done a great job tying their product to the right consumers. Chris Forsberg is one of the main NOS Energy Drink drivers, competing in Formula Drift and being a two-time champion. So it’s no surprise that NOS would be more than willing to spend some advertising dollars with some clever marketing.

The Bro Show consists of Jeff and Curtis, two brothers willing to do “anything” to get their own online series on Break.com. So episodes mainly consist of wild and crazy stunts and this one is no exception. The brothers headed out to Irwindale Speedway with Chris Forsberg and his NOS Energy Drink Nissan 350Z convertible to get a taste of drifting…and naturally, NOS Energy Drink.

After Forsberg did a demo lap, Jeff climbed into the passenger seat believing Curtis, his brother, was just hanging out on the track dressed in bright orange. Easy for the driver to spot and avoid…right? Well what Jeff didn’t know was that Curtis was swapped out for a dummy and Forsberg was told to crash straight into the dummy. Check out the video after the jump to see how it all unfolds.

[Source: Formula DRIFT]