Before I start with the hoard of photos from my recent trip to Houston, Texas for Wekfest, I better unload this set that I captured from the final Formula D event of 2014. I almost forgot that I even had these photos with all that has been going on lately but I’m honestly pretty happy with how the shots came out so it would be a waste if I just never posted them. As with most of my other previous Formula D posts, they don’t consist of any actual drifting at all, haha… I mean, you can find photos of the action elsewhere and find the results of the series on the Formula D site. I just like capturing everything that goes on during the event outside of the drifting. Most of my time is spent in the pits or in the vendor area just looking at cars and chatting with friends. Formula D is such a popular event that almost everyone is out there every year and I always run into people that I don’t get to see very often. Drifting is very much alive and well in America and the ambiance is almost incomparable to any other event series. It is just a very diverse group of car enthusiasts, many of them like me, don’t even pay attention to the results most of the time and just go to go because it is fun to be there to see it all go down. You guys have heard my thoughts on American drifting in the past so I won’t bother you with it. I’m happy to see that the sport is thriving here in America but I always do miss the cultural side of it which originated from Japan. Still, you run into guys and cars on occasion that still try to keep that Japanese tradition alive, and that’s a great thing. It’s good to know that their are people who still remember where it all started…

I had some friends who brought out some cars for the “Offset Kings” car show that took place alongside the Formula D event. The car show area isn’t huge but like the crowd, it is also pretty diverse. You’ll run into a lot of the usuals but every now and then, there will be a car there that is new or just doesn’t get out very often unless there is an event like FD. I just enjoy seeing how cars are put together and how they are executed so I spend a lot of time checking out the cars that are in the pits and in the show. It was a great event. From what others were telling me, the competition was great and the people who were there to watch the action were fully immersed in it until the very end. Below is what I captured while I was there from the afternoon until the evening. Enjoy and make sure to come back for the start of the Wekfest Texas coverage because it is a good one…I promise…

Mark from Fatlace had one of his Porsches trailered down to Socal so that he could trade cars with James from Floss Design. I guess Mark wanted one of James’ NSXs so they traded straight-up. Must be nice on both ends…

Always nice to see an RX-7, FC or FD, that still has a Rotary engine in it. Seems like everything has an LSx swap in it these days so it is refreshing to see the motor that is meant for the car to still be there… strange how the world works these days, haha….

James aka Floss’ Porsche 997.2 GT3…

Creaminz’s Vollkomen Design widebody Porsche 997…

One of LTMW’s many Liberty Walk E92 M3s…

Phaze2 Mizzark’s BMW M5 on Airrex suspension….

Floss’ custom E91 BMW wagon with a host of integrated OEM E92 M3 body pieces. Everything is so subtle that you’d almost expect it to look this way from the factory but it was indeed a lot of work to make this happen. The front end, hood, and fenders are all M3 components and even the rear quarter is OEM M-parts that were grafted into the stock wagon body….

Kyoei USA’s Aimgain LS400….

Kyoei USA’s Aimgain Toyota Prius which I had the opportunity to shoot last year from Aimgain….

Jeff Wolfson’s 2JZ-GTE powered Scion FR-S drift car with full Aimgain aero kit…

The tires of Wolfson’s FR-S has definitely seen better days…

Chris Jeanneret’s K24 turbocharged Honda S2000 made it out to compete in the Final Round of FD but ultimately did not qualify… Still some minor things to work out but the future of these build looks promising….

GM LSx turbo-swapped FC3S RX-7 reppin’ Animal Style…

Ron Ewerth’s LS-supercharged (LS9?) Scion FR-S also wearing full Aimgain aero….

Sarto Racing widebody E36 M-coupe on display in the Nitto Tires booth….

Rocket Bunny V2 Subaru BR-Z that is currently getting a makeover in time for the 2014 SEMA Show in Las Vegas….

Liberty Walk-kitted BMW Z4 convertible…

Yet another LB*Performance widebody E92 M….

R35 GTR that probably makes like a million horsepower from SP Engineering… I had a chance to ride in one that made 1500HP and I swear it is the scariest shit EVER…haha…

Toyota Sienna SE sitting on brand new SSR Professor SP4…

Nicely done Aimgain FR-S on bronze Work Meister S1….

Ayeeejayyy’s bagged stock body LS400 on Work VS-KF wheels….

EF Civic hatchback on Manaray Turbina S wheels…

Track-bred CR-X with 2-piece Work Meister’s up front and Work RS-Zs in the rear…

Really clean single-cam Civic hatchback from City Stars with a nicely done engine bay….

Kerwin’s H22-supercharged RHD Civic hatchback….

Custom widebody GS400 from Liberty VIP on SSR Professor SP3s….

CD Accord on some AG wheels….

Sang Pham’s J’s Racing GT widebody turbocharged S2000 on new Advan Racing GT wheels…

Tim Macasero’s Powerhouse Amuse GT widebody S2000 on red Volk Racing CE28N….

Jamie Cano-Carter’s Subaru Impreza Wagon from Project Zero on bronze TE37V…

This deep wine-colored AP2 S2000 with Amuse (or Amuse-style) front bumper was on a set of WED’s Kranze wheels that I haven’t seen before….

Really liked this 2JZ-GTE powered Toyota Cressida on SSR Formula Mesh…

S14 Kouki drift car with a beefy V8 swap protruding out of the hood…

Two of the best-looking drift cars at Formula D: The Final Fight were these S-chassis Nissans from Animal Style. They represent a dying breed of Japanese drift cars that still carry that traditional look of drifters that we grew up enjoying when the sport was first introduced to our car community. I personally stopped to stare at these cars for a length of time because I couldn’t help but be a bit nostalgic. It’s rare to see Japanese-style represented in American drifting these days and it is good to see that there are a dedicated few that still try to keep this look alive…

Just the aero set-up with the big vented hoods, wheels and all is just spot-on with a car you’d see from Japan…

I couldn’t help but appreciate these cars even more after seeing the Animal Style guys drift at the recent Final Bout event. I haven’t been much into drifting at all the last couple of years but I’m honestly thinking about checking out Final Bout next year…. On another note, love the V-OPT.CO.JP banner as an homage to Japan….

Garage Autohero’s 1JZ-GTE powered S14 Kouki had a pretty interesting turbo and dump pipe set-up…

Angel’s K-supercharged Civic is undoubtedly one of the best Honda builds of the calendar year. Not only was his build put together exceptionally well, he always regularly made it out to almost every event in California…

Closing out my FD coverage with a shot of Brian Duong’s EVO X which was parked at the Mackin Industries booth showcasing the new Gram Lights 57Getter wheels… That’s all for today. Thanks for looking!!!