I haven’t been this happy with a set of photos in awhile. Maybe that’s because I haven’t shot much in awhile, haha. I decided to head out to Formula D Long Beach because I had to do some social media marketing for a company I am currently doing work for. They are the people responsible for creating all their clothing for the Formula D brand so it made sense for me to go. I really dig the ambiance of Long Beach and how FD holds the event there so it didn’t seem much like work. Friday was a little slow, being that it was only qualifying day for the competitors, but the emptiness made for an easier task of getting photos. It’s honestly pretty fun being in the paddock area where all the competitors are because you get to not only see the Formula D competitor cars up-close, you also get to see the respective crews working on the cars. There were some changes this year. Fatlace has been relieved of their duties of setting-up the car show side of the event and now the crew from Autocon has taken over. Some of the vendors that we typically be on the paddock-side have been moved over to the car show side to give it more of a complete look. On Friday, I didn’t really walk over to that side because I don’t think it was set-up, but there was already plenty of stuff to see even though much of the event itself had yet to be completed. It feels like forever since I had done anything car-related so I spent a couple hours just shooting detail photos and random stuff that I saw. It was fun. I think the break was nice after going to Japan twice in the matter of two months. It sounds strange but you really can get burnt out being around all this stuff non-stop. I took a month off or so to finally put my office together and honestly just sat around and watched Love on Netflix. Shit is great. Anyways, Tiffanie came along with me too and she has been making huge strides in her photography lately. While I have been in hiding, she’s actually been shooting quite a bit, just not car stuff. Her skill set is pretty impressive and as familiar as I am with her work, it continues to get better. Our photos are mixed together in here but she couldn’t make it the following day because she was shooting a wedding. Enjoy the shots below. I’d tell you more about Formula D Long Beach and the competition itself, but I honestly wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention, haha….

Formula D Round 1: Long Beach 2017

Photos by StickyDilJoe & Tiffanie.Marie

Words by StickyDilJoe

Vaughn Gittin Jr. and his Mustang RTR sliding through the streets of Long Beach to a overall #1 qualifying spot in Round 1…

I can’t tell you how much I am in love with Ryan Tuerck’s Toyota “GT4586” build. Stuff like this is just insanely interesting and great to see for the automotive industry. I just wish he would actually use this in competition, haha. But still, it’s balls to the wall amazing…

Love all the vents on the front wide fenders and the intake ducts right under the emblem area. Also awesome how the car sits at this ride height with the Fifteen52 Penta wheels and all. Had it been an actual competition vehicle, I’d venture to say that it’d probably have to be raised up slightly…

A better look at the Ferrari F136 V8 engine swap originally from a 458 Italia which is now reversely-mounted inside the engine bay of the Toyota 86…

Custom headers and two Vibrant Performance oil breather catch cans up front…

Since the engine is reverse-mounted, the intake is actually running into the firewall, which is why the air ducts pull in air from the fenders…

The front wheels seem to protrude out at this angle thanks to Wisefab front suspension arms…

A look at how the custom headers look through the opening of the front bumper…

…and the dump which exits out the sides of the front bumper…

The interior of Ryan Tuerck’s GT4586. The PDM unit mounted in the center dash is powered by a MoTec M142 engine management system…

The radiator and fans are actually mounted in the rear of the GT4586, which is the popular thing to do now for most drift cars. It makes sense for efficiency and also for collision damage. If you mount the cooling system in the rear, its less likely to see any damage that would come had it normally been in its factory position…

Yogi and Tiffanie hiding out in the Nitto Tire booth…

Newest member of the Anti Employment Self-Employment Club, Mike Sabounchi formerly of Super Street and Hoonigan-fame…

Kyle Mohan’s Mazda MX-5 Formula D vehicle…

…featuring a turbocharged Mazda 20B engine swap…

Another angle, this one by Tiffanie of the massive protruding Turbonetics turbocharger…

Kyle Mohan appears to not care much for fender flares…

Dai Yoshihara’s Subaru BRZ in the pits with Odi Bakchis’ new S14…

Matt Field’s new 2017 Falken livery which is a mix of the traditional Falken scheme mixed with some signature Matt Field highlights…

Rear-mounted radiator set-up on Field’s S14…

Matt Field’s 427RHS LSX engine swap which is actually an RHS tall deck engine block with Manley forged pistons, Holley LS3 high-ram intake plenum and Vortech blower…

AIM MXL2 digital display mounted on the column, relieving the factory instrument cluster of its duties…

Wilwood brakes, Parts Shop MAX Limit Break suspension, and Car Modify Wonder front fenders…

Closer look at the rear-mounted cooling system…

One of the cool things to see on qualifying day at Formula D was the drivers’ autograph session where everyone lined-up to meet the competitors…

Nitto Tire’s model Courtney Riggs was all smiles…

Dai Yoshihara and Odi Bakchis representing Falken Tire…

Great to see Kei Miura from TRA Kyoto out at Formula D Long Beach checking-in with Kenshiro Gushi’s 2JZ Rocket Bunny GT86/FRS…

Chris Forsberg’s RB26-powered S30Z at the AEM Electronics booth…

Tiffanie shooting the drivers during the autograph sesh…

Courtney Riggs seems to always know where the camera is…

James Deane and Piotr Wieck’s twin S15 Silvias from Worthouse also representing Falken Tire…

The GReddy display booth featured this R32 Skyline sedan with traditional GReddy/TRUST livery and Advan Racing RG-D2 wheels…

GReddy-prepped RB26 engine looking nice and clean inside the engine bay of the Skyline sedan…

Gushi’s GT86 featuring a new graphical livery for 2017 and TRA Kyoto Pandem kit…

I always like to see the cars torn apart in the paddock. They just seem more “real” when you can appreciate the bits and pieces…

Nameless Performance’s new GT86 piloted by Cameron Moore featuring a BN Sports aero kit which is currently only 1 of 5 in the entire world…

900+ horsepower 2JZ-GTE engine swap inside Moore’s BN Sports 86…

Front angle of the BN Sports kit and the underside of their FRP hood…

Dan Burkett’s RAD Industries Toyota Supra has to be one of the best looking cars in Formula Drift…

Under the hood of the Supra is a beautifully executed 900HP 3.4-liter stroked 2JZ-GTE engine. For a competitive race vehicle, the engine bay looks show-ready…

Interesting to finally see an A80 Supra without a Ridox kit, haha. Burkett’s Supra is actually dressed in a “Weapon Widebody” kit…

Gonna go ahead and stop right here with a shot of this 2JZ-GTE engine on wheels. Much more to see in Part 2 so I hope you come back for more! Thanks for looking!…