Last updated January 6th, 2012

The SoCal car scene has never skipped a beat, and it is still going strong. Although it’s Motion Auto Show’s first event, they’re the same group of people who have brought you this show for the past four years (just under a different company name). Always held at the Long Beach Convention Center, on exhibit were a wide variety of compact cars, luxury sedans, and sport cars.

Formula Drift prepares to finish off its eighth season and final competition for 2011 at the “House of Drift”, Toyota Speedway at Irwindale CA. The championship race has come down to the narrowest of margins with the Top 5 drivers coming all within striking distance to take home the championship. Follow along as we recap both Round 5 and 6, leading to the final FD Irwindale event while we wait to see who emerges the Formula D 2011 champ.

After drifting in three continents, Dai Yoshihara decided that in-between Round 6 and 7 of the stateside Formula D series, he’d take a little break and go compete in a couple of drift events in Europe. First arriving in Ireland, Dai drove a unique SR20-powered Toyota Altezza at the Mondello Circuit. He was only able to finish in Fourth Place, being knocked out by fellow Falken teammate D-Mac McNamara. Up next, Dai headed to mother England to drive Driftwork’s 2JZ-powered Nissan S15 (man, they sure love cross-manufacturer swaps over there) at the Drift Allstars European series at Wembley Stadium. Dai went on to finish Eighth in this event.

Married couple Doug and Miriam Macmillan of Hondata recently came out to the Bonneville Salt Flats and once again broke records with their Hondas. For the fourth time Miriam took her 1.5L turbocharged ’90 CRX to a new record of 220.258 mph. Although, she actually went a top speed of 234.6 mph, the results are calculated from an average speed over two runs.

The Formula Drift championship once again returned to “The Gauntlet”, otherwise known as Wall Speedway, located in Wall Township, NJ. During Friday practice, the track was blindsided by a monsoon that destroyed tents, damaged cars, and wreaked enough havoc to cancel Top 32 practice. With the weather cleared up for Saturday’s event, the drivers went to work slowly chipping the competitors down to the Great 8, which included Ryan Tuerck, Matt Powers, Conrad Grunewald, Tyler McQuarrie, JR Vaughn Gittin, Justin Pawlak, Dai Yoshihara, and Chris Forsberg.

“Y’all traveled all the way from New York for some cars?” is the first thing we heard from our astonished server at Waffle House when we tried to explain why all these “tuner cars” were invading the streets, hotels, and gas stations of Nashville.

Coming into new hands, the SpoCom show is off to a great start and the SoCal show in Anaheim was no exception. The SpoCom Auto Life Exhibits tend to start in the late afternoon and run until 11 p.m. No, this isn’t an HIN wannabe dark-lit nightclub for underage kids. For five hours, thousands of people came through the doors to check out the hundreds of cars on display. Bikini, model, and dance contests broke up the monotony of cars. Whatever your pleasure is SpoCom had it. We can’t wait to see what the Hawaii show has in store. www.spocomusa.com

In 2010, Cyber EVO stunned the World Time Attack Championship competition at Eastern Creek in Australia, clocking a blistering time of 1:30.58 and finishing a second faster than Second Place competitor Sierra Sierra. At this year’s WTAC, the Cyber EVO machine, piloted by Eiji “Tarzan” Yamada, once again became the star of the weekend event, crushing competitors with its dominant performance.

Mitsubishi Motors recently hosted its 6th Annual Mitsubishi Owner’s Day at their Cypress, CA, headquarters. Mitsubishi owners and fans from across the nation gathered to enjoy the numerous exhibits/vendors, food, and activities while sharing their passion for all things Mitsubishi. Hundreds of different model and generation cars, including Starions, Eclipses, EVOs, 3000GTs, Lancers, and Mirages, filled the parking lot with modifications ranging from mild to wild. Mitsubishi played their part in hyping up the crowds with a sneak peek at the ’12 Eclipse SE‚ the last Eclipse ever to be released after 22 years in production, vintage vehicles, and their soon-to-be-released “environmentally friendly” iMiEV electric vehicles. Due to popular demand, Road Race Engineering (RRE) once again sponsored this year’s dyno contest as participants pushed their cars to the ragged edge in an attempt to own bragging rights of delivering the highest horsepower for the day.

Pikes Peak is one of the most grueling races in the world. Thousands of feet above sea level, teams are put to the test in conditions most road cars can’t even drive on yet try to race on. This year nearly 200 cars came out to take on the 12.42-mile 156-turn mountain high course. Zenkai Motorsports and Stephan Verdier were just one of the teams taking a stab at this. With everything dialed in and running perfectly, Verdier set the fastest time during practice day. And when it was time to race, Verdier kept the same speed. At half point they were on schedule to set a new course record. But at about two thirds of the way to the top, at 100 mph a tire gave out in a turn sending the car right into the guardrail. We want to take a minute to notice Verdier, Zenkai, and their whole team for a great effort at Pikes Peak. The mountain is a monster.

When Milltek Sport of Derby England asked if I would cover this year’s Sport Auto Tuner GP, I was dumbfounded, as I hadn’t actually heard of the event.

Last year we witnessed the Sierra Sierra EVO break the Super Lap Battle record held by the infamous HKS CT230R at Buttonwillow Raceway. Sierra Sierra is now the first U.S. team in history to hold the overall record. In 2011 the top teams like Sierra Sierra, FX Motorsports, GST, AQ Motorsports, Evasive Motorsports, AMS, and Gates311 have all been hard at work on their setups. It is all but guaranteed that records will be broken again this year. The event is open to the public so come check us out at Buttonwillow Raceway on November 9. For more info, go to www.superlapbattle.com

This year's SEMA Auto Show attracted more than 100,000 industry leaders from around the world. If you weren't a part of the masses this year, fret not. We have some web exclusive coverage right before your eyes. Be sure to stay tuned to our upcoming issues where you'll get an even better look into the world's biggest aftermarket industry show.

Scion Evolution, the largest and most active Scion enthusiast club in the nation, teamed up with Five Axis to host a car charity meet at the Five Axis facility in Huntington Beach, CA. This year’s event, Encore, displayed a wide selection of show cars ranging from old school to VIP, including representatives from Optomize Scion, AF (AutoFashion), Greddy, HPI Racing, Mackin Industries, RAZO/CarMate, and more. But more importantly, the charity event was held for a good cause—to raise funds and awareness for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

After Japan, Southern California is the epicenter of the import tuning scene. Sure, involvement has grown and diversified over the years, but SoCal is still where import car culture was introduced to Americans—nine out of your 10 favorite companies have offices here, and it might actually be harder to find a SoCal shopping center parking lot that’s not hosting an import gathering any weekend night of the year. Imagine my surprise three years ago, when the sickest show I’d ever attended became the first annual Wekfest meet in—wait for it—Northern California.

If the subtitle above looks a little unfamiliar to you, join the crowd. In for 2011 is a new stop on the Formula D tour: Palm Beach International Raceway (PBIR), formerly known as Moroso Motorsports Park, just northwest of West Palm Beach. In is PBIR, out is Sonoma...the rest is the same. Well, except for the drifting, that is.

Want a sneak peek at what the newest trends in the U.S. import auto scene will be? Go to a track day in Japan, VW meet in Europe, lowrider show in East L.A, Honda gathering in SoCal. With www.NWP4life.com’s annual Eibach Honda meet drawing 450 featured cars (three times as many were in the surrounding lots) and 15K spectators, it’s probably the best example. After all, it’s where we first saw the movement evolve from gaudy body kits and custom audio enclosures to stock body lines and gutted interiors, to accessory racks and flush-fitting wheels, to ultraclean paint with dipped/plated/polished hardware. Have a look at this year’s forecast:

Think of Formula D’s second round at Georgia’s Road Atlanta like that first semester in college—kick-back and nowhere near as stressful as the second one, when you have to bust ass and pick up your grades. After a busy season opener in Long Beach each year, Round 2 in “Hotlanta” is easily one of the more relaxed, easygoing events, making the track a favorite among drivers, photographers, and spectators alike. Its downhill drag-race entry breeds triple-digit speeds, drifters battle to kick up the signature orange clay lining the track without going off, and celebrate creatively as they wait for a tow out of the “kitty litter” that guards the cars from walls when they do. This year was just a little bit different.

Sponsored by Project Mu

If there’s any part of Southern California like San Francisco, it’s Venice Beach. And if you’ve never ventured out to this particular end of the earth to immerse yourself in the freak show, allow us to describe it for you: awesome. We all know Hellaflush (who hails from S.F.) is awesome, so it should come as no surprise that the recent Hellaflush: Venice Beach show was two times as, well, awesome. Until the cops came and kicked everyone out and over to the ItsJDMyo.com meet. Typical Venice. Here’s some of our favorite stuff:

Nissan Chief Creative Officer Shiro Nakamura—the man who penned the 350Z, GT-R, Juke, Leaf, and Cube, among a host of others—has a new book. In Stories on Shapes of Japanese Cars, he elaborates on his publicly voiced convictions that design should follow emotion, describing his processes for designing different cars for different global markets, and revealing why his designs often “incorporate diverse images such as bumblebees, shoes, and even video games.” We’re hoping he proves us right about our theory that the 370Z’s head and taillights are skewed half “Z” logos, but we may never know. There are currently no plans to translate the book into English, or even sell it Stateside.

Regular readers may recall “Sportsman’s Struggle” in 2NR’s May ’11 issue, chronicling the destruction/rebuild/destruction epic of the SoCal-based FCS Fab Outlaw SFW drag Integra, dubbed “Ghostrider”. Well, we’re happy to report that it’s back in full effect after its brutal ’10 season-ending crash. Kind of. This completely rebuilt, fully acid-dipped, stitch-welded, battle-ship gray, 1,1000hp second coming is actually a second car altogether—one that Jason Park, Chris Cook, and the extended FCS Fab crew brought to life in 10 sleepless days and shook down at the Vegas IFO event above. It’s gone as fast as a 9.50 e.t. letting off, with data logging showing only room to grow. Peep the official Import Tuner Facebook for fan-exclusive content!