Streets of Long Beach ‘22: P.3

Entering the event grounds of Formula Drift. This is where all the vendors, event sponsors, and pits were set up. I got in quite early during on the Friday morning so it wasn’t quite busy just yet with people and some vendors were still even getting set-up. This was the perfect time to see everything up close without the chaos. I took the opportunity to capture as much as I could before it got too crowded.

Fredric Aasbo getting some morning laps in. This was taken on the pedestrian bridge entering into the event grounds. This perspective almost makes it look like an RC car.

Bride was set up right at the very front. Very cool display of seats that also allowed for people to try them out.

Parked at the HKS booth was their demo BRZ showing off their Type S front splitter, side skirt, and rear lip.

Hi-Power Spec L II exhaust, of course.

Super clean MK4 Supra posted up in the Viilante USA booth.

Very neat shaved and tucked engine bay with a large turbo. I love when a car is well thought-out with a theme and this Supra is a perfect example. Super simple OEM+ styling that compliments the factory lines.

I’m a huge fan of the jade green accent found on the engine valve cover which is also carried onto the brake calipers, and blow-off valve. The double pressed black TE37SLs are subtle touch, but it really sets off the rest of the car. Great car.

Mazda RX8 with a Pandem widebody kit displayed at AEM’s booth.

These are the TE37V SL 2021 LIMITED wheels. I know there is a ton of controversy around the new Volk Racing lineup with Volk deciding to incorporate engraving on the spokes and lips of the wheel - especially within the purist and “OG” crowd. I get it, and also agree that some of the newer styles have a little too much going on. Most of the engraving detracts from the overall style and look of the wheel but I think what Rays did with these 2021 LIMITED versions look good. I like that they opted to engrave the “Rays” logo instead of the usual “Volk Racing Engineering”.

Another look at the TE37V SL 2021 LIMITED. I wish these were facing upright, just to get a better look.

Eye catching Zenki S14 with an Origin Labs body kit. I don’t remember if this was part of the Kansei booth, or if it was just parked alongside the booth, but it did not have Kansei wheels…

There were stacks of used tires labeled with “FREE” on them around some of the tire company booths - presumably worn tires from the pro drift cars. People were actually going crazy over these. I took a picture anytime I saw someone carrying the tire around cause it just seemed odd to me that someone would want one, never-mind having to carry it around all day…

Demo E46 wagon by Royal Purple - I think this may have been one of Dylan Hughes’ personal cars, but I could be mistaken. Wearing a very busy livery. Reminds me of the sticker bomb trend from a while back. Quite interesting to look at.

Four Sparco QRT carbon kevlar bucket seats - cause your rear passengers also deserve to feel safe while sliding sideways. So badass.

Fuel cell in the back, and you just gotta have the subwoofer for tunes. I actually love that there’s audio in this car.

One can only assume that Dylan drives this car only by feel. I wonder what the welder button does…

I’m not too well-versed in my German cars so I almost missed it - but under the hood of this BMW is a Mercedes-Benz engine. Is this allowed??

Kazuya Taguchi’s FRS heading back into the pits after a hot lap on the course. A majority of the pits are quite wide open and allow attendees to get a really close up view of vehicles as well as team members who would be working on the vehicles to make repairs or adjustments in-between laps.

The guys and gals working in the tire booths were very busy all weekend swapping tires for the cars. Pictured is the GT Radial and Tirestacks.com booth with 3 tire mounting machines. Ready for pick up are some Gram Light 57DRs on fresh Nexens and Enkei RS05RRs wrapped with GT Radials.

The FFF Drifting Department Ferrari 599 GTB cooling down in the pits.

Castro’s GR86 getting a check over by the mechanical team after laying down some practice laps.

Ryan Tuerck’s GR Corolla was getting a ton of attention - which makes sense as this was also the debut of the Toyota GR Corolla. Ryan ended up taking first place this weekend.

Aasbo’s Supra in for repairs as it suffered from a bit of damage.

Rad Industries’ Supra chillin’ in the pits.

Chris Forsberg’s Nissan Z drawing a crowd as it entered into the pits.

Matt Field and his support crew talking about lunch (probably).

Matt Field’s drift Corvette.

This Chevy Silverado was hanging out off to the side - guessing that it was a support vehicle. TE37s, Falken AT3Ws, and King Suspension… feels very familiar…

Work being done in the Jeff Jones Racing tent.

Essa’s E46 M3 just looks so good.

Posted up at turn 2 and 3 of the track. Spotted Larry Chen and a group of photographers who opted in his photography experience and class for the weekend. Would have been a really cool opportunity and experience to learn from one of the greatest.

The crowd during the qualifying rounds. It was absolute chaos during the top 32 competition. Literal sardines in a can. You were sitting in half of a seat.

Kyle Mohan doing a Tokyo drift.

Hughes chasing down Pawlak in qualifiers.

Took a break from the burning rubber smell and headed back into the event grounds to explore some more. This gorgeous RX7 was at the K&N Filters booth - not sure what kit this was but it looked quite aggressive.

I quite enjoyed this photo - again for all of the colours in this scene. These cars were leaving the pits and lining up for more practice laps.

Crews out here need to work quick in order to keep the cars running in top shape. No different from any other form of racing.

F80 M3 in the Throdle booth. That’s it for part three. Check out part four for the tuner car show.