Nip/Tuck
Our December cover car, Chris Forsberg's 350Z is going under the knife for a huge makeover. On the menu: new motor with individual throttle bodies, Origin body kit, Seibon hood, SSR MS1 rims, new paint scheme and more. Look for it to slide into the new Formula D season. www.driftalliance.com
Pastrana striking a Fonzie pose.
X marks the spot
Subaru announced at the recent LA Auto Show that the X Games Rally winning, double-back flipping, Travis Pastrana has signed to race for Team Subaru through 2009. Flippin' sweet! www.subaru.com
Bunny Ranch
Playboy magazine announced their picks for the '07 cars of the year. Some of the notables are the pseudo-tree hugging Lexus GS 450h, and the Pontiac Solstice's sexier sister, the topless Saturn Sky Red Line which won for Best Roadster. The car of the year went to the BMW Z4 M coupe-PMOY optional. www.playboy.com
Holy Rusted Metal, Batman
POW! BAM! That's the sound of Hot Wheels' factory cranking out the classic TV version of the Batmobile designed by George Barris. Complete with faux jet engine, you can say it's putting the heat back in Hot Wheels (oh, that's good). www.hotwheels.com
R.I.P.
Concept Corner is deader than K-Fed's hip-hop career. Not one to leave you hanging, our last (and final) answer was a Mazda Ibuki that debuted in '04. www.superstreetonline.com
They done done it
If you haven't heard, those crazy guys over at NOPI are starting their own drift league. The name for the new series? Wait for it...NOPI Drift.www.nopidrift.com
Despite no mention on the cover, us staffers are in there. We swear!
Spocom Dee-Vee-Dee
Many of you readers ask what it'd be like to be a Super Street staffer. To answer your question, pick up SpoCom: Inside Drift, the DVD. In it, you'll see all the hard work that goes into putting out a monthly magazine. Follow along as the production crew comes to our cover shoot with supermodels Ursula Mayes and Amber Lancaster posing with Chris Rado's flamethrowing tC. Or better yet, to an AxeRide photoshoot which featured our staff entouraging with some of the hottest import models around.
Besides us wacky editors, as the name implies, the DVD goes into drifting, revealing what AEM's Steph Papadakis and Rhys Millen do to prep for their Formula D season. Hosted by Kaila Yu, other features abound so make sure you go their Web site to find where you can pick one up for yourself.www.spocomusa.com
Say What?
Today there's no denying that the Battle [of the Imports] is in a class all by itself. At the last event for 1996, the frigid temperatures and gusts of dust-filled winds couldn't keep nearly 650 racecars, 15,000 spectators and 28 vendors away"
Want Concept Corner back? Or are you glad it's gone?E-mail loudandclear@superstreetonline.com
Tetsu's Tales
Past Thanksgiving Day, Honda gave big party at Twin Motegi. Honda's big party is called Honda Thanks Day. You can watch Honda's racecar drivers, riders and all Honda racecars and motorcycles at same place, at same time. If you were lucky, you can take the navigation seat of Super GT NSX with famous racecar driver. But I was not at Twin Ring Motegi for watching Honda's racecars. I was there for watching '07 Civic Type R sedan! There was CTR sedan proto type but it looks like complete; big rear wing on the trunk and diffuser under the rear bumper can be friend with blowing wind. There's aluminum shift knob and it looks like racecar's gas pedal. There is red awesome starter button is now symbol of Honda. CTR sedan has red head K20 spec R motor which can makes "over 220ps." Honda doesn't announce full specification and price, but Honda's Web site says CTR proto type's K20 makes over 220psi. Honda will start to sell CTR sedan in March 2007. If you had plan to buy Civic Si coupe, I think Civic Si sedan is on your list now. Who will build the first to ever convert their Civic Si sedan with the Japanese OEM CTR front end? We will know it in this year. Tetsuya Ogushi www.honda.co.jp
Advanced Research
Concept vehicles: Unlike Britney's C-section scars, it's the stuff that makes car guys like us leave uncomfortable wet spots in our tighty-whities. Honda knows this. That's why they opened a standalone Advanced Design Studio in the trendy area of Old Town Pasadena, close to the renown Art Center College of Design. The studio's goal? To work on designs generations in advance of what's available on the market. Hence the name. www.honda.com
Established in 1961 in Bergamo, Italy, the blue-ribbon brake bakers, Brembo started life humbly as a small mechanic's garage. Manufacturing its first brake discs in '64 and fitting Enzo Ferrari's F1 car in '75, Brembo currently produces over 32 million rotors a year for over 30 OEs. Talking about braking the bank.
Back in March of '97 we went cuckoo for Koko's EG Civic, landing it on the cover. Aspecial "Race To Win!" insert detailed the ins and outs of Drag and gasp-at-the-time Road Racing. If that wasn't enough, we even managed to break news of the US slated Integra Type R.
MACK
La Auto Show
Bumping up the date bumped up the number of debuts, giving you another reason to go to the LA Convention Center besides on a hot import-filled night.
Super Street Redesign
The new look is like Life cereal. Come on Mikey, you know you like it.
Time Attack Finals
Bigger and badder than ever, our finals even drew a Super GT driver straight from Japan.
PS3 Six-Axis Controller
Tilt the controller and now you steer the car. How dope is that?
WACK
Autograph Stickers
of yourself?!?! If more than seven people don't know who you are, take that 'ish off and pray you didn't misplace any checks.
Super Street Redesign
Cross your fingers and hope this look stays.
Time Attack Finals
A GT Cup Porsche winning our event. Booooo!
PS3 Six-Axis Controller
Cause really, how cool do you look arms flailing wildly in the air. WACK