Another year means another Formula D season opener in Long Beach, California… I like this event, I genuinely do. Not so much for the drifting itself because I don’t really even pay attention to the competition but the overall feel of the event is great. There is always a sense of excitement in the air when Formula D hits the streets of Long Beach. This is the only drifting event allowed on a public city street and it just looks fucking awesome to see some of these machines slide around on a road that is normally occupied by pedestrians. It is all closed off of course so it is completely safe but still, even when we roll into the car show area of Formula D, it feels really cool because you get that feel of driving on a “track” even though it is in fact just a street. As always, I didn’t do a whole lot of coverage of the drifting. I didn’t even bother getting a media pass this time around because I just wanted to spend the day hanging out and absorbing the environment. I got to see a little bit of the drifting but most of what I watched came during the qualifying rounds of the event where I watched the live stream on my computer. It is a little hard to see with so many people gathered on the grand stands of the event and being that the course is rather oddly designed being that it is a normal street, it is just way easier to watch it at home. Its kind of like watching a basketball game or football game from the nosebleed section. You don’t see a whole lot and you’re just left wondering what happened. Watching it on a PC or on television gives you better insight as to what is going on because you get to see everything. Attending the event is all about ambiance and environment. Long Beach is a great city so it is a perfect start for Formula D every year. The show is always sold out, you see all types of people from all over, and there is much to look at even if you’re not watching drifting…

I spent most of my time just walking around the vendor display area and back and forth to the car show area which was hosted by Fatlace. They do the “Offset Kings” showcase area which is a car show that hosts a variety of build types. It is more catered to the “stance” styled builds being that it is named “Offset Kings” but you do see some cool stuff here and there. Our guys brought some of our cars out so I stayed the whole day to chill with them. Being in the car show isn’t that big of a deal to us because we do not compete anyways. Yogi helps operate the Offset Kings event and as such, we don’t actively compete at the show because it would be a conflict of interests. It is better to give other enthusiasts a chance to compete anyway because there are some enthusiasts out there who really care to win. We do not. Most of the awards we win just sit here at the shop anyway or I do some random to them like hang them up in the bathroom as a joke. Honestly, we’ve been doing this so long that it really isn’t that important to us. It is fun to compete, don’t get us wrong, but if we don’t, it doesn’t matter. We are just there to have a good time and honestly, it is such a pain in the ass to get parking down in Long Beach when this event is going on that we tend to just do the car show at Formula D because it guarantees us the best parking…inside the event. There is no walk, no need to pay for parking, and we just hop in the car and leave at the end of the day… What more can you ask for? Fuck a trophy, we’re getting old, let’s park inside and save some energy, haha…Throw a free t-shirt at us and we’re likely to throw that shit back at you…

Below is what I captured that day at Formula D Round 1: Long Beach. Hopefully you guys have watched the two-part Vlog that I put together for the event. It helps to provide a better “inside look” at what we do at events like this, which is mostly us fucking around and having a good time…Enjoy…

These first couple of photos came from the Friday evening roll-in for the Offset Kings Showcase… As you saw in Part 1 of the newest Chronicles Vlog, we had some throttle cable issues with Mikey’s Integra. Whenever you create something completely one-off, there is potential that it could possibly not work and this is one of those instances. We had a custom throttle cable and bracket made for his individual throttle body set-up and the thing just kind of broke on the way to Long Beach. Luckily it broke right as we exited so it wasn’t too much trouble. The problem was fixed the following day at the event and Mikey drove the car home after the event…

I normally see this RHD FC RX-7 buried in dust inside Buddha Concept Designs but Yogi recently convinced them to fix the car and bring it out to events. I really like the paint and the custom gold Panasport G7 C2C5 wheels on it so I’m glad it is out and about again…

Jon Tran’s Hyundai Genesis on VIP Modular wheels has been making the rounds lately. Yogi is in the background fucking with a stuffed animal. I don’t know why he does what he does. A lot of the things he does is questionable but we just let him do what he wants to do…

There is much more to this roll-in that I posted in the vlog. The coverage actually picks up the next day when we returned to the event around 10am the following day. By this time the competition had started and the event was already flooded with people….

One of the main attractions at the Offset Kings showcase was Rob The Crook’s Liberty Walk Ferrari 458 Italia. Rob is one of the masterminds behind the Crooks and Castles brand and he has a ton of amazing cars. Recently, FLOSS Design created some custom BBS LM wheels for the Ferrari and FD Long Beach was the first event where the public got a chance to see the wheels on the 458. It looks absolutely stunning and is a match made in heaven….

This “strawberry-faced” (Yes, I still call it that) S14 had a pretty bad ass engine set-up. Not sure if it is meant to be a drift car or what but it has some cool bits and pieces on it…

Under the hood was a Toyota 2JZ-GTE engine swap with a fully-tubbed and shaved engine bay. Pretty awesome set-up.

Formula D Long Beach also marked the debut of the first Mercury Z Racing Z33 in America. I had the opportunity of seeing the Japanese debut at Tokyo Auto Salon this year and I must say, the livery and execution on that particular Fairlady is much better than this one. Nonetheless, it is cool to see this kit in the U.S. because it is a pretty crazy kit that I could see becoming quite popular stateside…

Car Modify Wonder (fucking awesome name) RPS13 180SX on display at FD next to the Mercury Z Racing demo car….

Do you guys remember that Tic Tac-themed E36 I posted a couple weeks ago? Well, this is the same car but re-imagined in a very Jeff Koons-esque livery that is an ode to the old livery made famous on BMW GT2 race vehicles…

Incredibly clean black-on-black Kouki S14 with bright teal Project Mu brakes…

SixSigmaAuto/Autofashion/Raw Heart Rocket Bunny NSX pancaked at the Autofashion USA booth…

Rocket Bunny RC-F looking amazing as always…

Forrest Wang’s 2JZ-powered S14 was on display and not in competition this year…

…as he debuted his new 2JZ-GTE powered S15 Silvia for the 2015 FD season. This car looks incredible like the 14 but a little more refined and as seen in competition, much more competitive…

Dai Yoshihara’s Rocket Bunny Version 2 BRZ rocking its new Turn14 livery….

Masashi Yokoi made the jump from Japan over to the U.S. to compete in the Formula D series in North America after spending some time competing in the FD Asia series. His S15 ultimately did not make it into the Top 32 so it was displayed at the Yokohama Tire booth…

Ken Gushi’s Rocket Bunny V2 FR-S with its new 2015 GReddy livery…

At the Scion Racing booth, you apparently do not take pictures with models and instead, the models take the photos for you as you posed next to Ken Gushi….

Joon Maeng’s newly debuting Toyota 2JZ-GTE powered BMW Z4 which was wired by Rywire Motorsport Electronics. Joon is still refining his new set-up but it should be an interesting year for his team….

Mikey and his wife Tina spending some time with the Andrade babies, Brooklyn and Ashlyn….

Speaking of kids, these two girls were rolling in style in their stanced-out electric cruisers…

The Offset Kings Showcase was highlight with a special Rauh Welt section that featured some of the RWB Porches that reside here in the U.S. Above is a 964 Porsche dubbed “RWB BlackAUT”…

Fatlace’s Rauh Welt Pandora One… Special appearance by Jonathan Wong from Driving Line…

Newly-built Rauh Welt “Medusa” 993 on gold Fifteen52 wheels… Absolutely love how this build came out and the nickname which is so perfect…

All these RWB builds feature intricate details that you really have to take a closer look at to recognize. The Medusa build features these rear fender vents that flow very well with the lines of the kit and are actually functional….

Medusa’s round ass… Probably the first and last time I’ll ever utter those words together on this site…

RWB Creaminz aka RWB Sriracha….

Victor Wu’s F80 BMW M3 on custom FLOSS Edition BBS LM….

Phuong’s bright green vinyl-wrapped Rocket Bunny V2 Subaru BRZ…

Mark Arcenal’s VW Golf GTI on Work Emotion wheels…

Love the finish of these Work VS-XX wheels on this BMW 3-series…

First gen Lexus LS400 planeted on the floor on WED’S Kranze Cerberus…

Next to it was another UCF10, this one on Work Emitz…

Blitz Technospeed Z1 wheels are one of my all-time favorite wheels so it is great to see someone put together a custom set in 2015…

Phaze2 Mizzark’s BMW M5 with a freshly repaired and repainted Enlaes front lip thanks to Buddha Concept Designs…

Another of Jon Tran’s custom Genesis…

This Audi wagon looked pretty good on BBS mesh… If you talk to DPK David he’ll tell you that he’s always wanted a wagon like this even though he’ll never own one. It’s like me wanting to eat burritos every day without getting fat or dying early….

Beautifully executed Porsche 964 911 on BBS mesh…

Subaru WRX bagged on custom Work VS-XX. The tire smoke in the air is the closest we will get to any sort of drifting coverage today… sorry, not sorry…

Aimgain GS400 from Royal Flush on Fabulous Profound wheels…

Really like how this engine bay looks on this Civic from Citystars. I think this car won an award at the end of the day, like “Best JDM” or something even though there isn’t anything really “JDM” about it… If the shoe fits, wear it, I guess, haha… Cool car, and very well done. JDM? Ehhh, not so much…

Datsun 510 coupe on SSR Longchamp XR4s…

FC3s RX-7 Turbo II on Try Force Zeldas…

Red-on-Red Soowoo Scion FR-S featuring the popular Rocket Bunny V1 kit…

Aimgain widebody Scion FR-S sitting on aggressive WED’s Kranze wheels… Love the interior on this build…

Killagram’s V2 Rocket Bunny FR-S….

AE86 hatchback from Project Zero featuring an Itasha-themed bonnet…

Interesting tire-chalking on this flared Subaru WRX STI….

Last shot of the day goes to Jamie Cano Carter’s Subaru WRX wagon with a newly swapped EJ25 STI motor… Looks like someone is ready for a print feature….hmmm….

That’s all for now folks. Thanks for looking!!…. Part 2 coming soon!!!…