There's only one word that sums up what went down at the Buttonwillow Raceway Park last fall at our Super Lap Battle Finals, as if you hadn't heard this one enough: major. Our homegrown time attack is the largest of its kind in the United States-the first of its kind-and draws tuners from all over the world to see if they have what it takes to stack up against the best. Super Lap Battle racing measures a tuner's all around ability in regards to building a prime racecar. They need to be able to prepare a car that can make reliable power to pull away through the turns as well as the straights. The suspension needs to be setup to handle massive G-forces from all angles. Aero needs to be set up to direct airflow into the proper areas as well as generating the right amount of down force versus drag. The teams who can master these areas become all too evident, separating the men from the boys.

This year was our most historic yet as we witnessed not one, but five records being broken, the biggest being a three-year-old overall record of 1:48.906 mastered originally by Tarzan Yamada in the Sun Auto Cyber Evo; talk about major. It was Nobuteru Taniguchi and the fiery HKS CT230R Evo that came to steal the thunder by first setting a new record with a 1:44.668. Over the next session, NOB turned the heat up and broke his own record with a 1:44.610, before letting all hell loose in the last session and clocking in a final time of 1:43.523! Do the math; it's a whopping 5 seconds faster than the last record! Breaking track records isn't unusual for HKS; they've been campaigning and breaking numerous records all across Japan with this Evo, so it was only natural that they brought their car to the U.S. to cause just as much damage. Mission accomplished, NOB!

Taniguchi wasn't the only Super GT driver to come over and compete in our event; 5Zigen brought Ryo Michigami over to drive their new Civic Type-R to set the fastest Unlimited NA time of the day with a 1:55.427. 5Zigen told us, as the car was being unloaded and prepped for the course, that the 2.4L K-series engine didn't even have 1,000 miles on it and had not even been broken before it was sent into action. Of course, we don't recommend you doing the same, unless you have a race team budget to work with.

We saw the most impressive times in the Unlimited class and by day's end, we saw Sun Auto's overall record being broken three other times. On top of HKS' major lap time, the Twins Turbo/FASTTRACK Mazda RX-7 driven by Jack Mardikian pulled a 1:48.597 and our nation's fastest Evo tuner, AMS, pulled a 1:48.772 in an Evo driven by Paul Gerrard. In just one year of promoting their Evo, AMS was able to drop their '06 time by over seven seconds and really stepped up to prove that U.S. tuners have what it takes to be competitive with the best in Japan by beating Sun Auto's time. The Twins Turbo/FASTTRACK FD was able break the Unlimited FR class record held by GMG's Cup car in one session, but just when it was starting to get really exciting, Jack's car caught fire in the afternoon session and was put out of commission quickly. Factor X Racing had one of the craziest NSXs we've seen compete and was good for second place with a 1:50.631, and another one of the Twins Turbo shop cars was a silver Supra, which came up third place with a 1:51.316. GST Motorsports represented the Bay Area with a GC8 Impreza that ran a 1:49.168. One of the perennial FF competitors is Bernardo Martinez in the Hasport Integra and this year was no different, with him capping off the event to a 1:54.708, placing him well ahead of 5Zigen's Civic Type-R and Autosport Garage's EG Civic hatch.

As the cars in the Unlimited class were breaking records, the Limited class cars were breaking records of their own. In the Limited AWD class, the Evasive Motorsports Evo driven by Robert Walker smashed the old record with a 1:53.916. Crawford Performance, a favorite in the Limited AWD class ran into some issues with their car the day before at Import Tuner's STI versus Evo shootout and couldn't get on the track to give Evasive a much desired run for their money. In the Limited FR class, Rob Walker jumped into the A&J/T1R S2000 sponsored by Nitto Tires and set the fastest Naturally Aspirated time of the day and won the class with a 1:54.888. To show you that it's not all big name tuners kicking ass and taking names, the Limited FF winner wound up being taken by privateer, Tage Evanson in a '95 Honda Civic hatchback. Tage was sent to the Super Lap Battle finale after competing in our Phoenix qualifying round to gain a spot and is a perfect example of how you can make it and run with the big boys. His 1:58.366 was not only fast enough to win his class but broke the long standing Limited FF record by over a full second!

We expanded our Street class this time with 10 cars competing overall. All drivetrains were allowed to compete, but next year we'll be breaking it down to Street AWD, Street FF and Street FR to give each class a more definitive classification. The difference between the Street Class and the Limited Class is that they must retain a full interior, run a tire with a minimum UTQG of 140 and be street driven 15 minutes from the morning rendezvous point/inspection at the host motel. The beauty of the Street class is that it doesn't take a huge amount of money to be competitive; the difference between winning and losing in this class is how good your setup is. The average power output in this class was within the mid-300 hp to 400 hp range with the exception being the 240 hp naturally aspirated Evasive Motorsports S2000. The competition was definitely stiff for the Street class but in the end the JIC/M1 Evo on Hankook tires, driven by Russ Warr, pulled out on top with a 1:58.340. Second place was JC Meynet in his STI, followed very closely by Tim Kuo in the black Evasive S2000. We don't usually recognize those who position after the top 3 spots, but the fourth and fifth place teams put in a massive effort just to compete. Phillip Chase from TEIN had just finished his new Evo a day before it was supposed to be in SEMA for their booth so he never had a chance to shake the car down and pretty much just drove it up to Buttonwillow and right onto the track. Same with the Yokohama Supra; they were still working on the car up until the last session.

As you can see, the '07 Super Lap Battle was a surprising round of record breakers in all classes of competition. In just a few years' time, the tuners have really shown through to produce race bred vehicles at the highest caliber. So, what's on the plate for the '08 Super Lap Battle season? Check www.superstreetonline.com for the full schedule of qualifying events across the country and get ready; if you thought this year was full of surprises, just wait until we show you what we have in store for the next round. Congratulations to all of our class winners and record breakers for delivering the hottest round of time attack action yet!

Chariot Of Fire
Through the back S turn, I noticed excessive smoke in the car," explained Jack Mardikian, driver and owner of this '95 MazdaRX-7. "I thought to myself, 'if it doesn't go away, I'm pulling in.'I figured it was an oil leak from the exhaust but as I came around to the pit entrance the smoke exceeded so I pulled in. I had to stop the car with the handbrake because my brakes went out. My mind was saying, 'I don't want to leave my car!' But someone just grabbed my arms and yanked me out of the car." As the RX-7 pulled into pit lane, the flames within the engine bay were spilling from the hood seams. Thick black smoke filled the cockpit and also hovered over the front-end. With his life in danger, Jack didn't want to leave his baby, but thankfully his crew was quick pulling him out of the burning car before the fire could cause him injury. "My lungs were burning," he remembers, "but still, it was so exciting." The accident forced the Twins Turbo/FASTTRACK competitor to retire early, but to everyone's surprise, their efforts didn't end in vain. Jack's flying lap during his only timed session was good enough to beat the previous track record at 1:48.597 and give him the win in the Unlimited FR class as well as place him second overall.

Remember a couple years back and you might recognize Jack's RX-7 from Super Lap Battle '05. His best lap time then was seven seconds slower. He thanks Twins Turbo for taking his car to another level. "I've been building this car for the last five years," he told us. "It's been worth every penny. The RX-7 is not that respected in the racing community and we've been able to take this car to levels that no one has bothered to do." The motor itself was built by rotaryracing.com out of Santa Ana, CA but the car was redesigned mechanically from head to toe by Twins Turbo. "We designed the engine to achieve drivability," he continued. "It was very rough back then and all over the place. Now it has no wheel spin. I can drive the car instead of fight with the car."

Jack has blown several engines and spent over a quarter million dollars to get the car where it is today, but the fire at Buttonwillow ultimately raised concerns. It turns out, the problem stemmed from an oil leak, which wasn't fixed from the previous engine builder. "Sunday we wanted to test the car, but we had an issue with one of the front pulleys," Jack explained. "We noticed an oil leak under the car from the oil pan. We took the cover off and replaced the gasket and resealed everything. Unfortunately, the leak continued as we found out from the fire. Oil seeped into the engine bay and soaked parts, in particular the headers. In the first session, we ran 9psi and the next session 14psi. The higher pressure caused more of a leak and trapped oil between the headers and heat shielding ultimately causing the fire."

The fire was quickly doused after Jack was pulled out and damage was kept at a minimum. Already with next year's competition in mind, Jack has the car back in the shop, returning it to race form with improvements in the suspension, weight and safety. Even at this year's event, he claims the car could have gone farther. "The car is capable of over 500hp. I ran under 400hp for the record breaker. We were going to turn the boost up to 22psi on the last session but never got the chance. Next year..." - Sam Du

Fast Facts
'95 Mazda RX-7
Class Unlimited FR
Time 1:48.597 (1st in class, 2nd overall)

Driver Jack Mardikian

Owner Twins Turbo/FASTTRACK

Home Town Signal Hill, CA

Daily Grind Turbo Specialists

Power 501whp, 400 lb-ft

Under The Hood 13B with Twins Turbo header, 4" downpipe and 5" oval exhaust, Borg Warner S366 turbo with extended tip hot-side, Motec M800, , Fabworks custom fuel rail, C&R radiator, three oil coolers, Aim sports dash, alloy racing covers, heat shielding, Accusump

Drivetrain tubular a-arms with hinged joints, LSD

Stiff Stuff custom-valved Tokiko shocks with Vogtland springs

Rollers 18x11" front and 18x11.5" rear CCW wheels with 295/30-18 front and 315/30-18 rear Hoosier R6 tires

Against All Odds
Take a look through the final standings of our Super Lap Battle and you'll notice three teams don't have team or tuner names; that's because no manufacturer or sponsor has helped them out. No free parts, no donations, just hard work and pure passion. These guys are true enthusiasts like you and we'd like to congratulate Tage Evanson of Phoenix, AZ who brought his home-built '95 Civic and won the Limited FF class.

Tage isn't a stranger to racing, but he's fairly new to Super Lap Battle. He's been an autocross addict for 10 years. He started racing the big tracks three years ago through NASA events. During qualifying at his home territory of Firebird Raceway, he easily won his class. "I decided to go to Buttonwillow and see if it could beat everyone else especially since everyone there is practically all sponsored or factory-supported. It was neat coming in there as an amateur," he explained.

Tage's car is unlike several cars at the finals. He's done all the work himself and has tried to save as much money as he could, as you can tell from the plywood splitter and eBay roof wing. He may have cut corners trying to make the car more aerodynamic but under the hood is a different story. "I had a '95 Integra before this which I owned for eight years. I spent all that time developing the chassis and engine. I sold the Integra as a rolling frame and swapped over everything to my Civic. It was the exact same track width and wheelbase but lighter than the Integra. I had both cars on jack stands for three weeks while I did the swap."

When it came time for Super Lap finals, Tage trailered his car from Phoenix and entered Buttonwillow as a stranger. His race started with problems due to his inexperience. "I typically run the gas tank really low for minimum weight so I showed up to the track with a quarter tank," he told us. "My car was immediately sputtering and cutting out. I wasn't sure what it was. It could have been ignition related. I still ran only a couple tenths off of the leader, Hasport's CRX, in the morning." The second session worsened for Tage though. "The car was running awful. I barely got one lap in and I was 11 seconds off pace. 12 seconds would have got me eliminated! My first two sessions were a 2:04 and 2:10. I filled up my tank for the third session and ran a 1:59. I eventually dropped to a 1:58.366 and beat the previous track record by 1.1 seconds held by Hasport. The team at Hasport was really nice and congratulated me at the end. I was surprised to win since their car on paper along with a professional driver should have been faster than mine." - Sam Du

Fast Facts
'95 Honda Civic
Class Limited FF
Time 1:58:366 (1st in class, 19th overall)

Driver Tage Evanson

Owner Tage Evanson

Hometown Phoenix, AZ

Power 229whp, 169 lb-ft

Under The Hood GSR block B18C1, gold needle sleeved to 85mm, LS crank 89mm stroke, eagle rods, Endyn pistons 12.5:1 compression, Endyn ported type R head, Endyn bump stick cams, STR cam gears, ITR intake manifold, RSD 550 injectors, AIM fuel pressure regulator, Endyn .5mm oversized race spec valves and retainers, Hondata S200, JDM 4-1 header with 2.5" collector

Drivetrain GSR '95 case with '99 Civic Si gears, JDM 4.785 final drive, LSD, custom short shifter

Stiff Stuff Koni race spec shocks, Ground Control coilovers with 800 lb front and 600 lb rear springs, GSR front sway bar, Comptech 22mm rear sway bar, Neuspeed strut bar front, roll bar welded to rear shock towers

Rollers 15x8" 949 Racing wheels with 225/45R15 Nitto NT01 tires

Stoppers GSR front brakes with Carbotech XP10 pads, 10.2" rear '01 Civic Si rotors with RSX caliper brackets, GSR calipers and Carbotech pads

Konig Wheels Hookin' Ish Up!
Here's the part of the story where you start kicking yourself for not paying more attention to the contests and free schwag we give out every month. A few issues ago, we wanted you to visit the Konig Wheels site (www.konigwheels.com) to fill out a questionnaire and check "yes" to the terms and conditions-all for the chance to win a set of Konig's new BriteLite wheels and a free trip to the Super Lap Battle Finals. Nick Kennedy was the lucky guy to be chauffeured by our very own Yamz to beautiful downtown Buttonwillow, where he was treated to a 4-star McDonalds dinner and a sausagefest motel party with the Source Interlink edit teams. He also received a ride-along in several Super Lap cars, including Jason Whitfield's Aveo.

The Japanese Classic Car Show, put on by Terry and Koji Yamaguchi, is always a cool destination for us. It's one of the few low-pressure, family-oriented events we cannot miss. The anticipated sight of glistening Toyota Starlets or Datsun 510s is like a Yamzy dream. This year's third annual JCCS in Long Beach also coincided with Mazda's 40th anniversary of the Rotary and Toyota's 50 Years in America. The show was loaded with the best old-school Japanese iron from across the Pacific. Toyopets, RX-3s and Corollas of every chassis number prior to '85 were all on display. To walk around this show was to enter a timewarp in which vintage Skylines and fully decked out Mugen CRXs still roam the streets, along with SR20DET swapped Datsun Z cars and slammed Toyota Sprinters. Dual side-draft carburetors abounded with cars sporting the coolest 13- to 15-inch wheels from SSR, Hayashi Racing, Hoshino and WORK. Think you know JDM? Think again. The old-school JDM class was in full swing with fender-mounted mirrors, classic "smiley" bumpers, "SP" taillights and whale tails you could have a picnic on.

Mazda brought out a full display of vintage racecars, including its Savanna and FC3S, as well as the newest GT class racecar. Jay Leno took in the event, talking with fellow car nuts throughout the show. PJ Bonafacio, well known in this community, had the coolest Toyota Starlets we've seen to date, while Toysport brought out their infamous convertible with the deep-dish SSR Fins. Meguiars' "Car Crazy" was on hand, filming and interviewing show goers. Car clubs from the early '80s like Bosozoku Racers and Shoreline Racing came to show off their vintage Celicas. With '72 Skylines around one corner and Toyota Crowns around the next, it was a visual overload.

With the amount of detail and affection given to all these cars, it would be impossible to say what we thought was the best of the show. Everything from the purest carbureted, Wink-mirrored RA24 Celica to the mongo-turbocharged and injected Bluebird were on hand. If you missed it, we have great news for you: For the first time, a DVD of the JCCS including show coverage and some cool old-school running shots will be available this December at www.japaneseclassiccarshow.com. See you at the next show!

It's hard to talk about the NHRA Sony Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series finale, held as always at Pomona Raceway, without mentioning the freak weather. Yes, people have crappy weather wherever they go, but the areas surrounding the famous Pomona track were quite literally turning into hell on earth. Hurricane-strength Santa Ana winds were knocking down telephone poles and forcing nearby Ontario Airport to send all incoming flights away to other locations. The rest of Southern California, as you may recall, was burning to the ground, and everyone was calling Pomona's track officials crazy for allowing the race to carry on.

But the people questioning the sanity of the Pomona Raceway officials were obviously far, far away from the race track. Skies were blue, the weather was mild and even Carter's engineless Supra could outrun the gentle breezes blowing across the city. The racing gods were smiling down upon the storied drag strip, and they obviously wanted to see the exciting conclusion to the hottest sport compact drag racing on earth.

Gary Gardella was able to walk away with his first Pro FWD World Championship, but he almost didn't win this World Champion title. In fact, he lost his final race to rival Marty Ladwig and his Lucas Oil Chevy Cobalt. But to win the championship, Ladwig needed to do more than just beat Gardella's Red Bull/DuPont Cobalt; he had to set a new record while doing so. Though Ladwig was grateful for his win against Gardella, he just wasn't fast enough to speed away with the title, making Gary the slightly more appreciative racer.

Gardella wasn't the only one to get his champion cherry popped. All Modified driver Brent Rau had to do to win his first championship was successfully stage his '99 Eclipse in the first round of eliminations, which he managed to do with no problem. Launching off the line, on the other hand, proved to be a whole lot trickier. Just as Rau blew his Eclipse's transmission, opponent Ken Scheeper blew his Mazda's engine. Their ETs were 19.527 and 18.958, respectively. Again, even Carter's Supra can run faster than that.

Hot Rod points leader Stephanie Eggum's '99 Civic suffered mechanical problems and couldn't even move off the start line, causing her to lose her chance at the title. This allowed Kenny Tran to walk away from the event with his first World Champion trophy after defeating Chuck Seitsinger. We're sure that this title win made Tran feel a bit better about missing the final round due to his Q Power/Nitto-sponsored Scion tC's damaged engine.

In the Honda Tuning Magazine All Motor class, Norris Prayoonto came into the finals leading in points. After his electric motor-less Clutch Masters Honda Insight pulled away from all-motor legend Jeremy Lookofsky, he too walked away with his first World Championship title. Titan Motorsports Scion tC driver Brad Personett already won his Pro RWD championship title two weeks prior to the big event in Pomona, so he could have slacked off a bit. But he didn't. In fact, Personett was running consistent mid-six second runs all day long, and in doing so cemented his overall event win.

No, that wasn't some lame joke we thought of off the top of our heads because as any SEMA attendee would know, the week-long celebration of all things aftermarket for most things automotive is a long week of running from booth to booth and hard on your wallet as you drown your sorrows within a stripper's implanted chest. But such is the price we all pay to play witness to the upcoming year's new products. These are just a few of our favorite things at the '07 SEMA Show...

Scion Tuner Challenge
Scion Brought Back The Scion Tuner Challenge to SEMA, pitting three of SoCal's top car builders against one another; each team received a new '08 xD and a budget of $15K, with which they could do whatever they pleased to the cars. Team Hybrid, represented by David Huang, came back to defend last year's win against Team Auto Concept Elite and Team Koshak, and came through once again with flying colors with their bright green xD.Sources: www.teamhybrid.com; www.autoconceptelite.com

Ridemakerz
One can never be too young to get into modifying cars, which is why Ridemakerz is opening a series of stores nationwide where kids can go in and build a toy tuner car of their very own. Scion is just one of the base platforms offered, and as you can see here, you can go just as crazy with these toys like real cars. Here's a limited edition 5Axis replica, hand-signed by Troy Sumitomo himself.Source: Ridemakerz, www.ridemakerz.com

Lexus: Putting The "F" Into Fast
Lexus stepped onto the SEMA scene for its first time, introducing a line of performance accessories for the IS250/IS350 called F-Sport, which include a ton of parts, like a carbon-ceramic big brake kit, exhaust, suspension components, wheels and interior goods. Troy Sumitomo killed it (again) with his dream rendition of the 5Axis IS-F, tricked out with a custom widebody conversion, sexy matte black paint and 5Axis' own Five:AD VS:F wheels - in 20s!Source: Lexus, www.lexus.com; 5Axis, www.5axismodels.net

Winning the Best Performance-Street Product award from SEMA was Nitrous Express' Octane Series bottle volume display controller. This digital gauge will tell you how much nitrous is left in your bottle and provides real time info to let you know if you're going to run out of the juice. Additionally, this gauge has an optional air/fuel display and can also control bottle heat.Source: Nitrous Express, 940.767.7694, www.nitrousexpress.com

Scene: Tokyo Motor Show; Makuhari Messe, Japan
Every two years, Japan has this little car show called the Tokyo Motor Show. There, every major manufacturer brings out its Sunday best, as it relates to the Japanese automotive market. 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of the Tokyo Motor Show and also a pivotal time for enthusiasts in Japan and around the world. TMS takes place at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan-the same place we visit for Tokyo Auto Salon. Henry happened to already be in Japan to get his helmet polished in Kabukicho, so we figured, what the hell-might as well get some work done on the company dime and have the guy shoot while we hit on hot Japanese chicks.

On a serious note, more so than years past, the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show proved to be a who's-who of high-horsepower, factory-tuned machines, including the Nissan GT-R, Lexus LF-A, Lexus IS-F, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Each and every one of these vehicles would have been considered a highly-modified car 10 years ago, and soon you'll be able to purchase each one of these as a showroom-stock vehicle.\

'09 Nissan GT-R
Nissan President Carlos Ghosn introduced the '09 Nissan GT-R, but didn't spend much time on the numbers that define the new monster. He was more interested in talking about the Pivo-2. Good thing we went to the GT-R Seminar days earlier (more on this elsewhere); now, if only we had taken notes. God bless overachievers; we managed to steal Sport Compact Car Editor Joey Leh's Hello Kitty notepad-he was busy hitting on the GT-R's data acquisitions engineer. The red crayon was difficult to read, but we got the gist of stuff. The '09 GT-R is powered by a 3.8L twin-turbo (VR38DETT) that isn't related the VQ37. Nissan has chosen Borg Wagner for its twin-clutch system (similar to the new Evo X) and the new GT-R is the first vehicle in the lineage to use a transaxle (with integrated diff and clutch assembly).

'10 Lexus LF-A
While Justin conned his way into Lexus' IS-F driving event at Laguna Seca, the much manlier LF-A was on display at Tokyo Motor Show. The word is that this will be the Lexus answer to all the European supercars and Nissan's own GT-R. The vehicle looks like it's all concept, but with the current trend of other design studies like the IS-F becoming reality, we can expect this one to appear in about two years as a 2010 vehicle. Nothing is confirmed, but we hear it'll be powered by a super high-revving V-10 powering all four wheels.

All Access: 2009 Nissan GT-R Seminar`
Against better judgment, Nissan invited 250 of its closest friends to an abandoned underground parking structure to see the unofficial unveiling of the '09 Nissan GT-R. We weren't invited so, naturally, we crashed, sneaking in as the hired help. And good thing we did. While the official unveiling would be days later, Nissan gave select media not only a look under the skirt of the new Godzilla, but the proverbial reach-around. The garage had no less than a dozen GT-Rs, both Black Mask and unmasked production models, as well as full cut-aways of the engine, transaxle, suspension and unibody.

By far, this was the most informative event Super Street hasn't been invited to. A GT-R fanboy's dream, the seminar was five solid hours of information with every person on the GT-R development team, including access to engineers, designers and GT-R suppliers. We wouldn't be exaggerating if we said that every piece of the GT-R was disassembled for the sake of having it on display. Nissan also had new, not-yet-leaked footage of the GT-R testing, as well as the G35-esque test mules we saw at Nrburgring in early '07. We have a boner just thinking about it all again.

'08 Lancer Evolution X
Mo said it would happen, and it has. The new '08 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is hotter, faster and more stylish than the model it replaces. Also shown, but not for the first time at TMS, was what will be next year's AWD sports sedan. After all the fuss at other shows, the Evo X was casually on display in the corner of Mitsu's large TMS booth.

'08 Mitsuoka Orochi
In Japanese mythology, Orochi is a giant snake, usually with multiple heads. The Mitsuoka Orochi is a two-seater sports car designed by Aoki Nakanori and is based on the body and shape of snakes and the mythological beast. Mitsuoka first built a concept back in '01 and it was redesigned for every TMS following. Based on the Honda NSX, the Orochi is powered by a 3.3L 230hp Toyota engine (the 3MZ-FE). Good luck getting one; Mitsuoka is only producing about 400 of these, each running around $90K.

'08 Subaru Impreza WRX STI
The STI is the Yin to the Evo X's Yang. Like the Evo X, the new Impreza and STI have gone the way of the four-door hatch, with a stronger focus on its WRC roots. In Japan the car will get a new 2-liter boxer engine (boosted to 14.7 psi by a twin-scroll Mitsubishi turbocharger). It'll make about 295 SAE horsepower and 299 lb-ft of torque. We'll have the full scoop on the USDM STI in next month's issue.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Demo Booth
Sony insists that the Gran Turismo is more than just a video game; it's a driving simulator. Whatever it is, the game is practically at every car show. Sony releases a free downloadable demo of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (itself a demo of Gran Turismo 5) on the PlayStation Store the weekend before TMS. The demo features seven playable cars (Nissan GT-R, Lexus IS-F, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, Daihatsu OFC-1, BMW 1, Mazda Atenza) and one track (Suzuka). Here's the crazy part: the Nissan GT-R featured the famous Black Mask UNTIL the Nissan press conference at Tokyo Motor Show. At that time, all the demos downloaded around the world received the final version of the GT-R sans mask. We watched this happen at the Sony booth, to the amazement of show media. The second day of the show, Sony unveiled the Subaru WRX STi, also to coincide with Subaru's preceding conference and unveil. By the time you read this, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be available for purchase and download at the Japanese PlayStation Store or at online game importers. Although a Japanese game, it'll run fine on North American PlayStation 3 models. Go get it.

BMW TII Concept
Remember the BMW 2002? Of course you don't. Well, maybe you do, but if you don't, think of the 2002 as the German version of the Datsun 510 (Hey genius, it was the other way around -JW). For the Tokyo Motor Show BMW managed to pull a little bit of racer into its 1 Series coupe. What we end up with is a concept that's heavily inspired by the old 2002, with 2007 technology. If there ever was a M1, this would be it: carbon-fiber exterior, custom white paint, racing stripes and a hooked-up interior. We want it, bad.

Honda CR-Z
Anyone who bleeds Honda can instantly recognize this concept hatch as the future CR-X replacement and love child of the Insight and aformentioned car. Honda has confirmed that a production vehicle based on this design will be produced. Mostly concept, we'll see a lot of changes to the CR-Z before it makes it to showrooms in the next year and a half. Expect the large front snout to change and the overall dimensions to look much more Civic-like (the platform it'll be based on). Honda claims the concept and production car will have hybrid power, but we can't see why. And the K20, again, will be the engine of choice for this two-seater Civic Si hatch. Yeah, they'll call it the CR-X, probably. Chrome wheels gotta go, though. Straight up nasty.

Tokyo Motor Show Models
Where there are cars, there are beautiful women. Tokyo Motor Show does it up with class. Even if we spoke Japanese, we still wouldn't have a chance in hell at getting a Japanese babe. The thing about Motor Show is that the women are far too classy for our taste; we'll have to wait until Tokyo Auto Salon for some nice, skanky girls. C'mon, who really needs wholesome, right? Here's a selection of Henry's TMS girls; these are the girls that Henry would give his anal virginity to get to know.

In essence, the Super Street Tour-despite what you think-has never really been about us, the staff, although it always seemed to be a big celebration about our self-serving ways. Really though, the Tour has, is and always will be about you and for you, our beloved readers. The Tour is our way of giving you a unique opportunity to meet like-minded individuals who share a love for modifying cars so that we can take to the highways together on a journey to one of the country's biggest outdoor car shows. As a post-game ritual, you'd find our own written memoirs describing the debauchery only we could serve best. This year, we've decided to let you tell the story-it was your hard earned money spent to travel thousands of miles to party with the greatest family of all time, and we thank you for your undying support. Without further ado, we pass the mic on to: you!

Here's what we wanted to know:
1How many years have you been going on the Super Street Tour?
2 Why do you go on the Tour?
3 What do you like best about going on the Tour?
4 Anything funny or interesting happen to you on this particular tour?
5 Anything else you want to say? Shoutouts?

Diallo David
* I've been going on The tour since 1999. My friend and I rented a Ford Mustang to make the Tour that year. Rich Chang mentioned us in the mag. Unfortunately, some of their equipment had been stolen, so there were no pictures.

* I/we go on the Tour because it's great to roll with a bunch of like-minded individuals. There's nothing more sick than the sight of a bunch of modified cars riding together on the road.

* I like the drive and it's a good chance to meet cool people. The hotties are a definite bonus, but I'm there for the cars.

* The funniest thing would be getting my Hamann rims put on at the last minute and then taking off to North Carolina for the start of the Tour. I didn't arrive until 5 or 6 a.m. I was so excited to be there that I couldn't sleep. I got out of bed at 8 a.m. and ran down to the nearest car wash to get the bug splatter off, and came back to the hotel to start the North leg.

* I don't know if my words will reach the mag. I would like to shout out my friends from Team Aggressive in Queens, NY. One member lost his job and had to sell his WRX. He was originally going to ride in the BMW, but backed out because of a last-minute job call. Another member crashed his 3000GT. He didn't want to come on the tour with only two people, so he backed out. The third member is building his Silvia from the ground up. He was working crazy hours and couldn't make it. It was my debut in the UN4GIV3N BMW, so I was DETERMINED to go. I was pretty upset that my friends didn't come out to support me. My girlfriend flew from a Florida business trip to Atlanta to show me support though. That was VERY cool. I would like to give a big I LOVE YOU shout to Shellee. I would also like to give a big SHOUT to Super Street for throwing the cool Tour. I would also like to give a shout to the Newburgh area Civic driver and his people. We didn't get a chance to exchange info. My last shout goes to Dre and Chris. Dre had the Black 7-series BMW on the tour. Lucky SOB even placed 2nd in his class at NOPI. Congratulations man.

Wanna share your Tour story? Log onto www.superstreetonline.com and post in our forum!

Special Thanks To:
Spec Clutch www.specclutch.com
HD Designs www.hd-inc.com

In essence, the Super Street Tour--despite what you think--has never really been about us, the staff, although it always seemed to be a big celebration about our self-serving ways. Really though, the Tour has, is and always will be about you and for you, our beloved readers. The Tour is our way of giving you a unique opportunity to meet like-minded individuals who share a love for modifying cars so that we can take to the highways together on a journey to one of the country's biggest outdoor car shows. As a post-game ritual, you'd find our own written memoirs describing the debauchery only we could serve best. This year, we've decided to let you tell the story--it was your hard earned money spent to travel thousands of miles to party with the greatest family of all time, and we thank you for your undying support. Without further ado, we pass the mic on to: you!

Here's what we wanted to know:
1 How many years have you been going on the Super Street Tour?
2 Why do you go on the Tour?
3 What do you like best about going on the Tour?
4 Anything funny or interesting happen to you on this particular tour?
5 Anything else you want to say? Shoutouts?

And you said:

Tony Davis
* My first on the Tour; my fourth year going to NOPI though.
* Love riding out with all the cars and networking with other car enthusiasts.
* Great bunch of people!
* Broke in my H22, had a ton of fun and met a lot of people!
* Shout out to Monster Motorsports and Super Street!

Jason Aponte
Team Street Images
Stamford, CT
* This is my second year on the tour and I hope it's not the last.
* My team participates every year and we were bummed this time that the North leg was only one day.
* The best part about going is driving down with all those other hooked-up cars, the road trip down there and trying to get into Super Street.
* We had to change wheel bearings on the side of the highway, as well as roll fenders with a
MagLite, which worked perfectly. We bothered the Super Street staff for tour bags; even Elliott said we were guaranteed them. The staff took a pic of my teammate's prehistoric VHS recorder. It was a lot of good times.
* Shoutouts to Team Street Images in CT; we've represented every year for the past eight. Also, when people are trying to race up to the lead car for photos, try not to disappoint them by SLEEPING and not taking one! This is the second time this has happened to me! By the way, we love the mag and the new layout; keep it up!

Terence Gamble
* This was actually my first and most certainly not my last!
* The reason why I went on the Tour is that my teammates have been doing it for eight years. I wanted to experience the madness and meet THE STAFF of Super Street magazine!
* Having my photo taken!
* I tried my hardest not to get a ticket!
* I'd like to shout out Super Street magazine, of course, for doing the Tour! My car club Street Images, and I just wanna add: my dinosaur VHS camcorder made a really nice drifting championship video--the first in existence ($19.99 plus shipping and handling; just kidding!).

Eddie Velez
* I have been on the Super Street Tour for the last seven years.
* I go on the Tour to meet new people and check out new rides.
* It's a nice way to break up the long drive to NOPI.
* On this tour I blew a rear bearing in New Jersey and had to fix it at a rest stop.
* Would like to shout out Super Street for a grand time and my car club Street Images.

Santiago Ortiz
* This was my first year doing the Tour and it won't be my last.
* I was already on my way to NOPI and was told it would be the time of my life.
* I liked the drive down the best and meeting new people and seeing their cars.
* The funniest thing was getting pulled over on my way to the Tour and having that cop car drive away on its own.
* Thanks, Super Street, for an awesome time and Tour.

Nathaniel Whitenack
The Tour this year was awesome, as usual. I could not get off work this year but I had to go, so I came up with a plan. I waited until the weekend before and started spreading around the work place my uncle had a heart attack and was in bad shape (Shame on you. -SS Staff). Then, the Tuesday before the Tour, I relayed the bad news to my superiors that my uncle had passed away and I had to go to his funeral that weekend and could not attend work. I know it was kind of wrong to do that but I mean, I just couldn't miss the Tour and NOPI, so in my mind it was completely justified.

I drove from school to my hometown of Fredericksburg, VA and met up with my buds that were coming with me on the Tour. We set out from Fredericksburg at about noon and began the tour on the way to Greensboro. We arrived at the Sheraton kind of early, but there were still a few people there, awaiting the fun night. Like every year, we packed our crew of Honda lovers into one room to save a few extra dollars. There were a lot of cars to look at and tons of good chatting with fellow import lovers `til the late hours of the night. The next day we headed out early with a few cars to Sonic to catch breakfast before the Tour left Greensboro. We made it in time to leave with the Tour, which was a blast, and for some reason I just love being in a line of 50 imports and looking at all the innocent motorist's faces as we go past them.

We hit the usual Atlanta traffic in the afternoon, where I believe the morning's decision to have Sonic finally caught up with my passenger who, by God's good graces, was blessed with IBS. Just imagine this: We are in gridlock traffic in the pouring rain in Atlanta and my friend Mike is groaning in pain, telling me to get off so he can do his business (but it was impossible; we were not moving). Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of bitching by my passenger, we were able to exit. The S2000 I was traveling with pulled over at some sketchy Chinese food place right off the exit and my friend rushed inside; it wasn't too long after that the owner came out and made us move our cars because we were bad for business and blocking deliveries. So that was interesting; stuck in Atlanta with no idea where we are while my friend is shitting his brains out and this Chinese lady who we could barely understand is yelling at us. Later that day, we made it to NOPI Nationals safe and sound. Over all, our entire trip to NOPI was great, but every year I look forward to the Super Street Tour.

Trey Chavis
As usual, I hung out at the Sheraton for the annual Tour kickoff party that happens every year. I usually attend this event since a lot of my friends in the scene make the pilgrimage for the event just to hang out. After cleaning and waxing my ride, I arrive at the parking lot early so I can get a decent parking space. I walk around and see the North Leg cars and take in the sport compact scene. As I tape the vehicles, I see a familiar face from my favorite rag: JDM Wong. He waves and walks up to me and I ask, "Do you remember me from last year"? He says, "Yes, and I got your email about seeing me walking down the road with Carter." We laugh and chat some more, then part ways. Slowly but surely, the locals roll in, as well as the late out-of-towners; the scene is thick with culture and automobiles, and the air infused with the fumes of gasoline.I make my rounds greeting my pals who have dispersed themselves all across the parking lot. Then before too long, the burnout contest begins, which I care to mention, is never organized and is always complete reckless abandonment. What topped the night was going and picking up my beautiful girlfriend from a friend's wake to join me and take in the sights. Eventually we go home and prepare for the tour to Atlanta. We woke up the next morning ready to join the tour. After it kicked off, I left the majority of the Tour behind due to my lead foot, but we always traveled with a new group every part of the way: the Kentucky boys, the New York boys, the twin turbo 350z from Maryland, a yellow Civic coupe and myself was the perfect mix for misbehaving. We finally make it to Atlanta after turning a four to five hour trip into an almost 10-hour highway rampage of a road trip because of all the rain. We didn't get our lap on the track and got split up from everyone in traffic, though. Overall, my girlfriend and I had a blast. We met a lot of cool people who we will remain friends with for years. We will be sure to continue on the Tour as long as it keeps going.

Bryan Spencer
Well this was my first time on the Tour, and the reason was that I finally finished a fairly unique car and had to show it off at least one time. I had a great time and I got to know lots of great people. The drive was pretty good; a little bit of rain, but it was no problem. I look forward to next year's Tour if I can make it, and I will try to get my car club to join me next time. Please feel free to check out our website: www.teammiskonception.com.

Diallo David
* I've been going on The tour since 1999. My friend and I rented a Ford Mustang to make the Tour that year. Rich Chang mentioned us in the mag. Unfortunately, some of their equipment had been stolen, so there were no pictures.
* I/we go on the Tour because it's great to roll with a bunch of like-minded individuals. There's nothing more sick than the sight of a bunch of modified cars riding together on the road.
* I like the drive and it's a good chance to meet cool people. The hotties are a definite bonus, but I'm there for the cars.
* The funniest thing would be getting my Hamann rims put on at the last minute and then taking off to North Carolina for the start of the Tour. I didn't arrive until 5 or 6 a.m. I was so excited to be there that I couldn't sleep. I got out of bed at 8 a.m. and ran down to the nearest car wash to get the bug splatter off, and came back to the hotel to start the North leg.
* I don't know if my words will reach the mag. I would like to shout out my friends from Team Aggressive in Queens, NY. One member lost his job and had to sell his WRX. He was originally going to ride in the BMW, but backed out because of a last-minute job call. Another member crashed his 3000GT. He didn't want to come on the tour with only two people, so he backed out. The third member is building his Silvia from the ground up. He was working crazy hours and couldn't make it. It was my debut in the UN4GIV3N BMW, so I was DETERMINED to go. I was pretty upset that my friends didn't come out to support me. My girlfriend flew from a Florida business trip to Atlanta to show me support though. That was VERY cool. I would like to give a big I LOVE YOU shout to Shellee. I would also like to give a big SHOUT to Super Street for throwing the cool Tour. I would also like to give a shout to the Newburgh area Civic driver and his people. We didn't get a chance to exchange info. My last shout goes to Dre and Chris. Dre had the Black 7-series BMW on the tour. Lucky SOB even placed 2nd in his class at NOPI. Congratulations man.

Andre McDonald
This year was a blast. It was off the hook, if I might say. The tour was fun all the way, and I'm looking forward to '08.

Wade
03' Accord V6 6SP
* Fifth year in a row, in two different vehicles.
* To get the *&%$ away from boring people in my normal life and hang out with some dank tuners.
* Eat. Sleep. Race.
* Witnessing a classic NJ free food scam at our lunch stop (you know loudmouths get their comps).
* Shoutouts to enTOURage for making it happen!

Kyler Calera
AKA the "Tintassassin"
President of RPM (Richmond Performance Modifications), RIMPROS, Advanced Tint, Co., and the XM Cafe "The World's Only Import Performance Edy's Ice Cream Parlor" www.rpmsuperstore.com
* Off and on since `99
* It's a break from the grind, an awesome road trip with like minds. $20k in my vehicle; $8k of it in custom Alpine audio blasting away to XM radio and my iPod. I get a scenic view plus viewing all the other tuners who tirelessly prepared their vehicles for the Tour; doesn't get any better than this. Last year I wanted to go, but could not complete my vehicle in time. All in all, the personal satisfaction of all the hard work that I put into my vehicle is complete when my fellow tuner gives me a thumbs up.
* As a shop owner, I pick up and share so much information on trends, styles and individuals who display their vehicles to go above and beyond to test the limits and create new ideas to try something new.
* My only disappointment was that the many times I have participated, one of my goals was to finally end the trip with the circle around the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and when we arrived due to the rain, the gate keeper said he was just instructed not to let anymore vehicles enter due to safety reasons. We were a minute late! Anyway, now it gives me a another goal and reason to return, not that I need one for Super Street.
* Google maps Atlanta Motor Speedway to Richmond, VA: 10 hours and 35 mins ($300 for entire trip); finely tuned V8 SC400 with Soarer Badges: 7 hours and 40 mins ($20K); K40 Baby! (Priceless!)

Ryan Dino
Middletown, NY
* This past year was my third straight year and I can't wait for next year.
* Every year I put in my vacation time at my job, my coworkers always ask me, "Why are you driving all the way to Georgia for two days? Are you crazy?!" (I am from upstate NY.) I tell them we take about 100 cars from all over the East Coast put them in a big parking lot, give all the drivers unlimited NOS Energy Drink, hit the road and become friends on the way down. There's no feeling like pulling in to Atlanta Motor Speedway representing the North!
* Favorite part about the Tour has to be the Sheraton in Greensboro. When you tell your friends how much fun you have before you even get to NOPI they seem to want to go the following year.
* This year went very smooth; met a lot of new people, went through a lot of rain like every year. We left our town in NY at about 11 p.m. the night before so we could arrive in Greensboro by 1 p.m. Thursday with no tickets.
* If anyone has the chance to be a part of this, you should put it at the top of your list for sure. Thanks to Super Street again for putting this on and all the sponsors who made it possible. Let's make next year the biggest yet; represent the North Leg!

BIG DADDY
For over six years, Ron and his crew have been making the journey to the NOPI Nationals with the Super Street Tour from Longview, TX to meet other people from around the U.S. who share the same passion for cars. He has become like a second father to our West Leg and, in fact, he gets kidded about having the largest extended family in Longview.

Ron's list of current cars includes a `92 B-18 powered Civic putting down 430hp, an 01' JDM Type R, an 03' Accord (which also belongs to his daughter and took first in the Accord class at NOPI this year), an 05' Ford F350 (trucks are mandatory if you live in Texas), an 05' STI with 330hp and his newest toy, an 06' CLS AMG 55. All of which have been on the Tour at one point or another

When asked what his favorite experiences from the Tour are and why he returns each year, Ron stated, "The people, celebrating my 50th birthday, driving the Barber Motorsports track, sharing stories and making new friends, some of whom I only see once a year." We'll see you next year, Ron!

WE NEVER GOT A TOUR BAG--WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?
For all of you who didn't get a chance to pick up a 2007 Tour bag--well, that was our fault; half our expected shipment was held up during transit, and that means we still have a lot of bags to unload. If you're looking to add to your collection of Tour memorabilia, please visit Pacific Rim at www.iloveracing.com to order your Tour bag. These will not be sold on our website or anywhere else; get yours today!

Special Thanks To:
SPEC CLUTCH www.specclutch.com
HD DESIGNS www.hd-inc.com

Formula Drift ended its 2007 season at the House of Drift, Irwindale Speedway. Drivers came from all corners of the globe for a chance at Formula D victory, with two American drivers trying extra hard for that first place podium finish. Only 26 season points separated series leader Tanner Foust from his nearest rival: Drift Alliance member Chris Forsberg. To win the series, all either of these drivers had to do was get on the podium.

But as we all know, getting to that podium isn't easy. A simple spin or knocked-over cone can disqualify one from competition, as was the case with Irish drifting sensation Darren McNamara. Drivers also have to pray that their cars don't detonate from the abuse that drifting puts on all of a car's components. During qualifying, the JIC/Hankook Porsche of Tyler McQuarrie blew its engine at the start line, and Mitsuru Haraguchi's Silvia ate through its clutch. Would mechanical gremlins such as these knock Forsberg or Foust out of the competition? Or worse, would an unexpected meeting with the wall prematurely end any hope of a season win?

Top 16
Right off the bat, a spin by Tony Brakahopia gave first place qualifier Tanner Foust his first win of the night. Ryuji Miki and Ryan "Hampshaa" Tuerck took turns pace jumping as they led, resulting in the first One More Time of the evening. The second time around, Ryuji's A'PEXi RX-7 took the win, bumming out the chowdah fans in the crowd. Kenji Yamanaka was able to out-maneuver the big blue charger of Sam Hubinette. Haraguhi simply said "f*** it" and didn't even try to drive well in his battle with Falken teammate Vaughn Gittin, opting instead to get up close and personal with the photographers.

Forsberg started off strong in the evening and took out John Ruskakoff; Robbie Nishida almost bested NOPI series champ Bill Sherman, but spun at the very end giving Sherman the win. In the battle of the factory drivers, Rhys Millen had severe car troubles and immediately retired to the pits, allowing Ken Gushi to advance to the Top 8. And in the final Top 16 battle, Casper Canul took out one of the clipping points, handing the win to Dai "Grab Ass" Yoshihara.

Top 8
Ryuji Miki went head-to-head with Foust, and both drivers corrected while chasing the other. "One More Time" was called, and while this second run was very close, the win was given to Foust. Gittin pitted his Mustang against the S15 of Yamanaka, but ended up tapping his `Stang against the wall in his first run and spun his second; Yamanaka got the win. Bill Sherman went up against the big smoke show of Forsberg, who drove more than well enough to advance to the next round. In Gushi's Top 8 battle with Yoshihara, Gushi hit a barrier, allowing Dai to advance to the semi-finals.

Semi Finals
With both Forsberg and Foust in the semi-finals, there was no doubt that one of them would walk away with the season championship. Things were looking good for Tanner: his semi-final rival Kenji Yamanaka suffered a heavy hit of bad luck when he hit the wall. Foust once again walked away with the win and now had a guaranteed spot on the podium.

It looked like Foust could take it all, but he didn't have the win just yet. Forsberg went up against Yoshihara, and both drivers delivered what may very well have been the most exciting run of the night. Both cars threw big smoke, crazy angle and even briefly made contact with each other. This first battle was too tough to call, so both drivers were sent out to fight it out one more time. Forsberg took the win the second time around, putting the first and second-place drivers of the season head-to-head in a winner-take-all battle.

FINALS
Foust and Forsberg both delivered solid runs, but the judges gave the win to Foust. Tanner took both first place in the final round and the season overall. Forsberg and Yoshihara took second and third place, respectively, for both the event and overall season.

Forsberg Wins Tires.com Triple Crown
Chris ended his season in second place, but don't feel bad for him: he won the Tires.com Triple Crown championship, pocketing an extra-fat check and a sweet electric guitar. In other award-winning news, privateer Joon Maeng won Rookie of the Year--quite the accomplishment considering he ran the entire season with no sponsor support. Congrats, guys!

Every year we say that the NOPI Nationals (conveniently held at the Atlanta Motor Speedway) is the biggest car show in the land because... well... it is. Once again, we took a long ass flight, followed by a slightly shorter drive, just so we could check out the best automotive event the East Coast has to offer.

This year's show--while still an overwhelmingly massive spectacle of sick rides, drifting and Asian models shouting "Me so horny!"--was a little bit smaller than the NOPI Nationals of the past. With only two Super Street staffers on hand to cover the shenanigans, this slightly scaled-down NOPI was much appreciated.

But not all was well in the land of greasy turkey legs: The fact that half of our tour bags never made it to NOPI threatened to put a damper on our spirits. Bummer for the crowd, but it meant less work for us. It's not like we worked that hard, anyway; Jonny blew off his duties so that he could sign autographs for every single person (all three of them!) who bought the Super Street t-shirt with his face on it. Publisher Howard Lim rocked the only XXXL shirt we had in an attempt to look more gangsta. And new fish Token (that's me!) spent his day fighting the crowd for T.I. shots, missing Skid Row and jocking that Civic with the Hello Kitty livery. Good times.

NOPI Drift Finals!
The final round of the inaugural NOPI Drift Series was conveniently held at the NOPI Nationals. With upwards of $30,000 up for grabs for the person that could win both the round and the series, all the drivers came to the ATL with their A game.

But just as Highlander tells us, there can be only one. And that "one" was Enjuku Racing's Bill Sherman. Bill won both the final round and the world championship, putting an assload of cash in his pocket and making his sponsors very happy.

That's right, son!" Hot Import Nights comes back to the city where it all began-Los Angeles. Ask anyone about the automotive tuning and modification scene and the first thing they think of is the west coast-Los Angeles to be precise. I would guess you could also thank the Fast and the Furious movies for that too. The automotive scene and Los Angeles go together like peanut better and jelly, fat kid and cake, and import models and photographers. Chrome, neon lights, mirrors, ice, bling and hotties are what you can typically see at any Hot Import Nights-and The Los Angeles Convention Center wasn't short on any of these. One of the finest things about going to an HIN show in Los Angeles is that the best of the best comes out to show off what they got-that's including the cars and the models. The show had something for everyone's tastes-from iced out to riced out. If for some reason that doesn't get your taste buds wet, then the booty shakin' on the main stage will.

The day of HIN Los Angeles started with phone calls to all our friends-we had to make sure that our peeps in the industry were going to be in attendance. Actually, we just wanted to see which models were working at which booths. We needed some company for the several hours during the show. We arrived right at 5 p.m. and the line of cars waiting to get into the parking structure had already wrapped around the block. We would recommend anyone interested in attending the show to arrive slightly before the doors open, because the line was ridiculous. As we entered through the doors into the Convention Center we were greeted with a gust of cool A/C-a much needed refresher from the blistering triple digit weather outside. It wouldn't be called HOT IMPORT NIGHTS for no reason.

The show featured an array of different tuning styled automobiles. There were a few clean JDM and Drift spec cars, but when we talk about cars at a HIN show, it's all about going over the top. The Scion xB seems to be the car of choice to "trick out," much like how the Civic EG(s) were back in the mid-'90s. It's not just about the exterior appearance with sick paint jobs, slammed suspensions, under neon glow kits and chromed wheels, but also the interior. Installing video game systems into your car isn't a new thing, but now with Nintendo Wii video, gaming in your ride just got a lot more interesting. We wouldn't recommend trying to play the Wii while driving, though, for obvious reasons.

There were also quite a few different on-stage performers at the show, along with appearances by models. Headlining on the main stage for HIN LA was hip hop artist Eve; on the other side of the Convention Center was the Boost Mobile stage, which featured acts like Seattle's own On-Fire Entertainment, an MC throw down and a B-boy and B-girl dance off hosted by extreme BMX rider Rick Thorne. Adult film actress and entrepreneur Tera Patrick was present, signing autographs and taking photos with fans. Unfortunately we couldn't get close enough to get any good photos because some guy wouldn't let us cross the velvet ropes... WTF?! No biggie; we just cruised around saying "hi" to our favorite models-Melissa Reign at the Babe Blvd booth, go-go Queen Jeri Lee (a.k.a. Mama Lee), Lisa Kim Fleming and all the other girls of HIN.

Hot Import Nights Los Angeles was everything you would expect from any other HIN city stop, but it's always something special when it comes back home.

Ever go by a shoe store late at night to see a bunch of guys waiting in line to get the latest Nike retro release? These guys are hardcore; they know there is a limited quantity of shoes being released and they are willing to spend a night on the sidewalk to get them. Much like them, the guys that came out to our final Super Lap Battle qualifying round are hardcore.

Road Atlanta marked our final stop for our Super Lap Battle qualifying round; this was the last chance for the East Coast guys to get a spot at our November 7th Finals in Buttonwillow, CA. To mix things up a bit we had the resident Scion expert, Chris Rado, on hand with his World Electronics Scion tC showing the East Coast guys what's up with some FF driving. To represent FR tuning, David Norton from SPEC Clutch brought out his S14 to do some shakedown runs.

At the end of the weekend, the battle came down to Rado's FF Scion tC taking on the giant of the Autobahn, a Porsche 996 twin turbo driven by Ed White. The Porsche ran a blistering time of 1:35.6 on Saturday for the fastest time of the day, making Ed the one to beat. Rado had been working on a new JIC suspension setup as well as tweaking his aerodynamics all of Saturday, so the table was set on Sunday for him to take on Germany's finest. During his testing he had been running low 1:40s but on the first session of Sunday morning he was able to bust out a 1:36.0. With only 0.4 seconds between him and the Porsche, it seemed like Rado was poised to take the win, but with Murphy's Law taking effect, it was not to be.

During Saturday's sessions the tC had ripped off its front splitter and damaged the drive shaft; subsequently, they had spent the rest of Saturday getting these fixed. However, even with the new drive shaft, the 500-plus hp the tC was putting to the ground was too much for the drive shaft to handle, causing Rado to call it an early day on Sunday.

While Rado's Scion was only 0.4 seconds away from taking out one of the premier sports cars, it shows you how much potential these "little" cars can do. Next up will be our Super Lap Battle Finals and this year will be the biggest ever to hit a track in North America.

Results
Super lap battle Road Atlanta
POS	Driver	Best Time	Car
01	Ed White	01:35.6	Porsche 996 TT
02	Chris Rado	01:36.0	Scion tC
03	James Clay	01:36.1	BMW M3
04	Douglas Wind	01:38.5	Dodge SRT4
05	James Elterman	01:40.1	Subaru STI
06	David Norton	01:45.7	Nissan 240SX

Out of all the cities I've been to in the world, Honolulu, HI, ranks in the top three. Beautiful beaches, warm turquoise waters, rolling surf, great food and about the warmest people you'll meet anywhere, it truly is paradise. Plus, any municipality where Spam is readily available-like in three out of four of the island's restaurants-is Shangri-La in my book.

So when Import Showoff and Falken Tires sent out an invitation to their annual Streetcar Showoff at the Blaisdell Center, minutes from Waikiki Beach, I had to think long and hard. For half a second. Not that I had anything better to do, but because I couldn't imagine an import car show in Hawaii. Sure, the population is skewed Asian and it's closer to the island of JDM, but come on, why would anyone want to fix up a car when the farthest from point A to point B is 44 miles? It's like buying a Segway just to get your mail. Overkill. But hey, if anyone can throw an import shindig, it's Falken Tire and Import Showoff.

So when I got to the show, I really didn't know what to expect. Were the cars going to be mack or wack? All done up nice or full of rice? In fact, for once, I showed up early. The doors weren't even open yet. Curiosity, as they say, got the best of me. Three steps into the hall and I got an answer that was clearer than the plot of Lost: The Hawaiian rides were sweeter than a Leonard's malasada stuffed with custard.

From JDMed-out Hondas to drift-ready Corollas and 240SXes, Streetcar Showoff had the best of everything. The super cool Hawaii Chapter of Scion Evolution brought out some of the wickedest xBs, including chapter liason Marshall Lum's already VIP'd second-gen xB. Bippu went beyond the B-spec with many big-bodied sedans, rocking clean body kits dumped on huge wheels. In one corner of the show however, there was a whole lot of rice. A food stand was selling plate lunches. Loco Moco, anyone?

Besides a hall full of hot cars and music blaring from the Falken and Vertical Junkies booths, there were other forms of entertainment. Namely, girls. Let's face it, a car show without the requisite booty-shakin' and bikini contest isn't quite a show. A suggestion, if I may, for next year: wet hula contest! Actually, nevermind. Moistened leaves don't have the necessary translucent effect. And the chafing? Ouch.

Grass skirt rashes aside, the best part of Streetcar Showoff was something you can't see in these pictures, and that's the vibe of the event. Take a collection of some of the most cleanly built rides, avid enthusiasts and chill locals and mix it with the Aloha spirit, and the event was postcard perfect.

Wish you were here.

In the beautiful Rocky Mountains, where cliffs higher than Lindsay Lohan tower over tight corners and hippies come to hug trees, there's something very special that happens in July every year-the pinnacle of racing madness.

Motorsport can be a bit of a crazy pastime at the best of times, especially when drivers get to the sharp end-six second passes, high-end drifting and let's not forget the borderline insane top fuel guys.

But one of America's longest motorsport spectaculars is the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado Springs, which is by far the most hardcore. An impressive 85 years running, it's become a world-renowned icon, attracting some of the best dirt drivers that want to fire themselves to the thinner part of the atmosphere where horsepower is starved and, as a result, handling realistically needs to be a known quantity. And when there's 12.4 miles of road split between cliffs, tarmac, dirt, and a 156-turn course, it takes a special blend of grunt, fearlessness and experience.

There were some big names in the field in 2007-including Mike Ryan in his massive Freightliner truck, doing what only the incredibly brave would in a big rig. Motocross personality Mickey Diamond did his best on a BMW bike, but failed to take out the hard-fought class that runs side by side up the Peak, broadsliding all the way. Perhaps the most spectacular off in the event was drift icon Ken Gushi in his Open Class Subaru WRX STi, spearing off into the trees at very high speeds on the infamous Engineers Corner.

There was, however, a genuine hillclimb hero on the mountain, as he is most years. Japan's Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima delivers a power-hungry cocktail annually, and with real force. This year his lightweight Suzuki Sport XL7 Hillclimb Special was toting a twin turbo 3.6 liter V6 with variable valve timing (VVT) producing a huge 1007ps and 102kg-m of torque. It also uses its massive rear wing, deep front splitter to increase the downforce to cope with the uber smooth new asphalt sections plus a top secret hydraulically controlled AWD system to help with the tricky transitions back to the loose dirt sections. Monster was chasing a goal set by dirt racing legend Rod Millen in his 1,000-horsepower Toyota Celica-it's held firm for a massive 13 years, since 1994-and this year Tajima knew he had the package to break the record.

With the severely potent, purpose-built XL7 he pushed hard from the 9,420 ft. start line to the 14,110 ft. checkered flag in an awesome 10:01:408, just shy of the all-important 10-minute barrier, but taking out Millen's 10:04.06 outright record in the process. "It just means I have to come back next year to break 10 minutes," he joked with us after the race; his massive smile is very hard to miss.

But the 57-year-old Suzuki Sport boss said that the dirt sections of the road were difficult this year after rain a couple of days before the event. "To finish, yes, of course I'm happy. One more second and I have my goal," he says. "My thinking is that I can run nine minutes and 59 seconds here. I'm honest-with the conditions here today, it's a very slippery run but more traction was needed for under 10 minutes."

Drifter Rhys Millen was also pushing very hard in his Pontiac Solstice GXP drift car. "We thought that with my 14 years experience running up the mountain, the new drift car, the Solstice, had the perfect package for the new Time Attack class," he says. "It's got the power and the torque." Very keen to post a time that would set a solid record for the new class, Millen in the 550hp 2.4 liter, ECOTEC-engined, Pontiac, Millen took out his class to notch up his seventh win at Pikes Peak.

With just 1:55.189 to the checkpoint at the picnic ground, he was the one and only car in the class to break the two-minute mark. "The checkpoint is right as you go through Picnic Ground straightaway, right as the pavement finishes and it turns to dirt. At that point I was just like, 'This thing is flying, this is going to be an incredible time.'" But on the same slippery dirt that hampered Monster, that was not to be, and Rhys had to be content with a time well under his expectations. Another blow was watching the outright record finally fall. "Dad's record stood for 13 years," explains the New Zealand-born race driver Millen, Jr. "It was set on an all-dirt road, and this road is now 50- to 60-percent paved. It really puts me in a mindset that I want to come back and put that record back in the Millen name." Millen may have plans to build a faster, more competitive car for 2008, which should be better suited to the increasing asphalt sections that are slowly but surely advancing year by year towards the top of the mountain.

The Sierra Club has a mandate that will see the road 100-percent paved by 2010. This new Time Attack class will surely attract a large number of vehicles developed for road and track work with the challenge of the legendary Pikes Peak course beaconing. But for now, plans are being laid for another great battle between the clock, the mountain, Monster and Mr. Millen, not discounting a number of other parties eyeing up that elusive 10 minute barrier; 2008 is sure shaping to be a stunning competition. The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is as challenging today as it was the first time, back in 1916, and remains one of the most spectacular places on Earth to view incredibly fast racecars, bikes and ATVs sliding their way up a mountain.

Pikes Peak Highway: A Long and Winding Road
Way back in 1873, a primitive road opened on Pikes Peak. Horses dragged the passengers up the first half of the mountain, then altitude-hardy mules took care of the rest. It wasn't until the automobile became more common that local entrepreneur Spencer Penrose, owner of the luxurious Broadmoor Hotel, widened and improved it as a tourism scheme to attract more people to the region and eventually held the first hill climb race in 1916.

B Happy
When the evil powers that be of international rallying banned the no holds barred Group B formula in 1986 after a number of driver deaths, manufacturers like Audi and Peugeot had the perfect excuse to make a series of trips to Pikes Peak.

There was nowhere else to race these fire-breathing machines, and not driving them was probably a sin. This is perhaps the reason that the event has gained infamy across Europe. Climb Dance, an incredible video of Ari Vatanen's Peugeot 405 T16 setting a record in 1998, was so widely watched around the world that Pikes Peak instantly found legendary status. Watch it at www.ifilm.com/video/2674471.

Robot Uprising
The first robot version of Pikes Peak will run later this year. Modeled after the real thing, it is basically a race for full-sized radio-controlled cars. A video of the course can be found at www.driverlessmotorsports.com/pprhc.

Bust A Move
The well-known slogan Pikes Peak or Bust, painted across many of the prairie schooners, is a reference to Colorado's Gold Rush. While there was a lot of rushing done, there wasn't a great deal of gold. Other local areas like Cripple Creek, strangely, were packed with the stuff.

Get On Up
More than 400,000 people go up Pikes Peak's 14,110 ft. annually. Pikes Peak is the second most visited mountain in the world after Mt Fuji.

Not The Remix
Katherine Lee Bates wrote "America the Beautiful" after being inspired by the view from Pikes Peak.

Old Skool Climber
In 1916 Floyd Clymer set an overall record at Pikes Peak on an Excelsior motorcycle of 21 minutes, 58 seconds. This year, Eddie Mulder set a new vintage bike class record of 13:23:250 on a 1969 Triumph Bonneville.

Popular Hill
Pikes Peak is the second oldest motorsport event in America, behind the Indianapolis 500 that started in a brickyard in 1911.

Thanks to:
Susan Apgar and Bob Gillis-Pikes Peak International Hillclimb-Nobuhiro Monster Tajima-Suzuki Sport, Rhys Millen and Eric Cantore-Rhys Millen Racing and Mike Ryan-Mike Ryan Motorsports.

We almost got away with having a mild summer as far as temperature goes (at least in LA), but out of nowhere, the driest and hottest heat to hit came on the one day we could've done without it at the annual Nisei Showoff. For the JDM purists-and we're speaking on behalf of those who are reppin' Hondas, Nissans, Subes, the whole nine yards-this is where dust covers are pulled off and engines are turned over from months of rest so that they can be polished off to a brilliant shine. It's a long-standing tradition where the best of the best come to parlay and is consequently one of the hardest shows to win, considering the company you're with. In the immortal words of every guy who's wanted to ball me up, it's the proverbial, "You better bring your A-game, 'cause it's gonna be raining threes!" scene.

While a majority of the Hondas were something you'd regularly see on Honda-Tech or from the Eibach meet a few months earlier, there were a couple of new gems, like the Web Camshafts-sponsored EG with one of the cleanest B-series swaps we've seen in a minute or the PasswordJDM Civic sedan that has a complete JDM front end conversion, Mugen body kit and Spoon brakes. Performance Nissan paraded a couple of Nismo tuned Zs and had one of the Pacific Rim drift S13s on hand, which broke plenty of necks throughout the day. The VIP and B-spec movements brought plenty of heat as there were a few decked out Lexus sedans airbagged on dubs and first gen xBs that ran ridiculously low offset wheels. Old schoolers didn't roll super deep this time around, but the usual suspects, like Ernie Uy and his Super Fin-rollin' Integra, Marcus DiSabella's classic CRX with rare HKS turbo goods and recent "Back In the Day" (April '07) feature, Ted Lo's tangy Bluebird, are always a welcome sight at Showoffs like this.

Despite the wicked heat, Nisei Showoff drew a sizeable crowd in addition to the show competitors who come out regularly to support this must-attend event. We always know it's going to be hot, but damn, why'd it have to be that hot? Minor!

Remember when you were a kid and for your birthday parties you'd always have to invite your entire class so no one felt left out? Well folks, we're all grown up now and the truth is, you never get everything you want. The Super Lap Battle (formerly called Time Attack) Finals in November is an invite-only event; we're not trying to make anyone feel left out, but we're looking to get the best of the best to compete in our event. So that's where our qualifying rounds come into play: If you think you have what it takes to play with the big boys, come out and put your money where you mouth is.

Starting last year we traveled across the country to select NASA events inviting the fastest guys to compete in our Finals. This year we went out to NASA's Virginia International Raceway event to see what the East Coast has to offer. This was our first time coming out to VIR and it truly is one of the nicest tracks in the country, albeit a little too far from civilization for our liking. Driving to the track, you actually go into North Carolina and then back into Virginia. The competition was pretty fierce over the weekend but Subaru's seemed to be the dominant AWD platform, with the first place finisher going to Element Tuning's STI driven by Phil Grabow, who beat out David Fazzino's Mitsubishi Evo 8. On the FF side of things, there was a K20 swapped DC2 Integra and EK hatches tearing it up, but at the end of the day the top three spots went to AWD cars.

Our Super Lap Battle event was designed to be like an All-Star game; get the biggest name tuners from the U.S., Japan and Europe to come together and show the world what they can do. Since 2004 when we held the first event, it's grown to the point where it's not just tuners wanting to compete--it's readers like you wanting to get involved. It really is a lot easier than you might think. If you're someone like me with little to no track experience, all you need to do is sign up for NASA's HPDE program. NASA is a nationwide organization so wherever you live, they'll have events for you to run in. You'll start off in HPDE 1 with an instructor to ride along with you and, once you get some more experience, you can graduate to the HPDE 4 and Time Trial group, which makes you eligible to run in our qualifying rounds with NASA.

Our Super Lap Battle Finals will bring out the fastest tuner cars in world; spaces are very limited and this isn't like when you were a kid. If you don't qualify you're not going to get an invite.

Things were hot and heavy at our recent Time Attack qualifiers in Willow Springs in sunny California. With the help of NASA, more than 160 cars registered for the very hot and windy event. Besides our Time Attack's new name, sunburn, and dehydration, here's what you missed out on: The huge battle between HG Motorsports' Mitusbishi Evo (driven by Dieter-Heinz Kijora), Crawford Performance's Subaru STI (driven by Russell Warr) and Evasive's Mitsubishi Evo (driven by Robert Walker). All were within tenths of a second of each other. HG Motorsports ran a 1:28.185, Crawford a 1:28.437 and Evasive a 1:28.530.

Stina Hubinette, wife of Sam and last month's cover model, showed up in Super Street's Dodge SRT4 and ran impressive times. So much so that she advanced to HPDE 3 and whooped a whole bunch of boys' butts. This time, luckily, my ass cheeks weren't one of them.

Chris Rado and his Super Lap Battle Scion tC, crack crew and gorgeously-conditioned hair were there. He clicked off some quick times in his FF, running only a second behind the AWD boys at 1:29.550.

Kure International debuted its S15 at our Super Lap Battle with Ernie Fixmer shaking down the car. They're looking to, ahem, cure the long standing Buttonwillow record.

Nakai from Tein tuned our project STI's suspension on the track. For his ultra-secret EDFC STI settings, send cash payments to either Elliott or myself. PayPal accepted.

Speaking of Tein, Phillip Chase from Tein drove his Evo, smoking Nadsy in our project STI like he was an Iranian terrorist. On Nadsy's behalf, the windshield was cracked during a Saturday test run (shhh, don't tell Subaru) and his manboob ballasts were weighing him down.

Our newly adopted editorial stepbrother, Peter Tarach from Modified, showed up to Willow Springs. Being his first exposure to Cali's desert climate, Petey's fair Canadian skin didn't fare so well.

Andy Hope, however, did do battle in a Password: JDM Honda Civic. He was looking good, even with fuel spewing from the gas tank. Petey and myself, however, had a hard time looking at all, with the fumes nearly blinding us.

Last but not least, what you definitely did not miss out on was the huge fire on Highway 14 that closed all southbound traffic back to LA.

Unlimited
1.Scott Bush (Team Relentless), Nissan 350Z; 1:31.17
2.VRT (Michael Alvarez owner), Nissan 350Z; 1:31.68
3.Jim Pierce (Janos Garaczi owner), Dodge SRT4; 1:34.17

Limited
1.Michael Bonanni (Team Relentless), Nissan 350Z; 1:31.95
2.VRT (Tanner Foust Driver), Nissan 350Z; 1:32.22
3.Ed Nazarian, Mitsubishi Evo 9; 1:35.92

Super Lap Battle 2007

PRIMEDIA INTRODUCES THE EVOLUTION OF TIME ATTACK EVENTS;
THE SUPER LAP BATTLE,

Primedia's International Automotive Group is excited to announce to evolution of time attack events with the formation of the Super Lap Battle series presented by Super Street, Modified, Import Tuner, eurotuner and Siphon magazines. The Super Lap Battle series will be taking the place of the existing Time Attack series format and event dates. This formation allows the growth of this time trial based event series to have increased media coverage and participation of tuners both domestically as well as internationally.

Super Lap Battle at its essence is very simple; it is you versus the clock. It is not drifting, its not wheel-to-wheel racing and for sure it's not for all-show and no-go cars. Look for our 2007 Super Lap Battle Series to showcase the fastest cars from US tuners as well as the best from Japan and Europe.

Because you guys are so money and you don't even know it we've decided to throw out some incentives for 2007. At our August Road Atlanta event the team that gets the fastest time of the weekend will get their transportation to our Finals in California paid for! On top of this we're also going to give away a little prize money. For any team that beats a Buttonwillow class record at our November 7th Finals we'll give them $1,000.00 and for the fastest team that beats Sun Auto's Buttonwillow overall record of 1:48.906 we'll give them $2,500.00. So what do you have to do to win this money besides beat some very fast lap times? All you need to do is be in the top 3 Unlimited cars or top 3 Limited/Street cars at one of our Super Lap Battle/NASA TT qualifying rounds to get invited into the Finals at Buttonwillow, once your at the Final's you'll be running with the big boys for some pocket change. In addition to our four qualifying rounds we are partnering with NASA's Time Trial Series to offer at select NASA events a chance for the two fastest cars at each event to also get an invite to our Final rounds. For more information about the NASA Time Trial Series you can click here: www.nasa-tt.com

Download the 2007 Rulebook Here! 2007 Rulebook

To register for the qualifying rounds: REGISTER HERE.

Super Lap Battle Qualifying Rounds (Four events)
May 5th-6th
Phoenix International Raceway
7602 S. Avondale Blvd.
Avondale, AZ 85323-9514

July 7th-8th
Willow Springs International Motorsports Park
3500 75th Street West
Rosamond, CA 93560

July 28th-29th
Virginia International Raceway
1245 Pine Tree Road
Alton, VA 24520

August 11th-12th
Road Atlanta
5300 Winder Highway
Braselton, Georgia 30517

SUPER LAP BATTLE FINALS
November 7th
Buttonwillow Raceway Park
24551 Lerdo Hwy.
Buttonwillow, CA 93206

E-mail Elliott at elliott.moran@primedia.com for up-to-the-minute-information

View the most frequently asked questions on page 2

Time Attack Classes

-Unlimited FF (front-engine, front drive)
-Unlimited FR/MR/RR (front-engine, rear drive. Includes mid-engine, rear drive and rear-engine, rear drive)
-Unlimited AWD (all-wheel drive)
-Limited FF
-Limited FR/MR/RR
-Limited AWD
-Street
-Micro

In addition to these classes we will have awards for:
-Fastest NA (Naturally Aspirated) in the Limited and Unlimited Class.
-Team Participation
-Manufacturer Participation

Super Street/eurotuner Time Attack FAQ

Here are some frequently asked questions, if you cannot find your answer here please consult the Official Time Attack 2007 Rule Book.

Q: Are your Finals invite only?

A: The Super Street/eurotuner Time Attack is an invite only event however with our qualifying rounds we offer you the chance to win an invite to our finals.

Q: How do I qualify for the Finals?

A: We have limited spaces open for our Final event, to gain one of these invites you'll need to qualify at Time Attack/NASA qualifying round, we will take the 3 fastest cars that use DOT approved tires with a UTQG of under 100 and the 3 fastest cars that use tires with a UTQG of 100+. There are a total of 6 spots available for each of the 4 qualifying rounds. The only other way to win an invite is to compete in selected NASA events.

Q: How do I register for a qualifying round?

A: NASA will handle all registrations, timing, tech inspections and on track activities for the qualifying rounds. To register you must go to NASA's site (http://www.nasaproracing.com/nasa_event/list_events/)

Q: What class do I run in the qualifying rounds?

A: Because registration goes through NASA you will need to register under their classification system. However NASA TT run group classification (TTA, TTB, TTC...) does not effect qualifying. For more info on qualifying rounds please refer to the rule book.

Q: Do I need a helmet?

A: Yes, please refer to the rule book for current SNELL rating required.

Q: Can I use a 4 point harness in place of the stock OEM seatbelts?

A: NO! We require at the very minimum of a 5 point harness if you are replacing your stock seat belts. However for Street and Limited Classes use of stock seat belts is allowed.

Q: It is unfair for my NA car to compete against a turbo, why don't you have a separate NA Class?

A: Because space is limited at our Finals there are not enough Naturally Aspirated cars to constitute a separate class. However new for 2007 we are going to have Fastest Limited NA and Unlimited NA Awards.

Q: How are times being determined?

A: All timing is done by NASA using a transponder system. Transponders are only provided for the Finals, they are NOT provided at the qualifying rounds. Some NASA regions have transponders available for rent but you should check when you register. It is your responsibility to have a working transponder at all qualifying rounds.

Q: Do I need a roll bar to be able to run?

A: Roll bars are not required to run in our Street or Limited Class; however for the Unlimited Class they are required.

Q: Can I run slicks?

A: No, all vehicles must use tires that are legal for use on all public roadways in either the US, Japan, or European Union.

After a long hiatus, NOPI returned to the heart of it all, SoCal, to bring their version of drift in a series called, wait for it, NOPI Drift. Held at the Home Depot Center, the site of the Summer X Games, the event blended the usual NOPI activities of bikini contests, car show, more bikini contests, music acts, and even more bikini contests with tire screeching action. Did we mention they had bikini contests?

When we weren't inundated by half-nekkid chicks parading on stage, we managed to make our way to the drift area, where we were greeted by many an accident. During practice. On solo runs. Hitting flimsy plastic K-rails that flapped around worse than Nicole Richie caught in an F5 tornado. Like Nick Hogan. After a few decent practice runs, Hogan hit the wall twice on Saturday, knocking him out of the competition. In his and all the other drifters' defense, the converted parking lot turned drift course was very tight. But waiting for the course to be reconfigured by forklifts after every crash was worse than watching paint dry on a really humid day.

On a serious, that-was-close note, however, was NASCAR driver Chris Cook's crash in his green Mopar Dodge Viper. Cook showed a lot of promise throughout the weekend, pushing his Mopar to the crowd's delight. But after pushing too hard during a Sunday practice run, Cook hit the wall and flipped the Viper on its roof. Paramedics rushed to the scene to find an unconscious Cook, who was eventually cut from his vehicle and rushed to the emergency room.

After the initial drama of the practice runs, the top 16 went without a hitch and surprisingly without many accidents. A crowd-rousing crash occurred, however, during the final battle between a pair of green-colored machines piloted by Forrest Wang and Justin Pawlak. After a close first run, Wang let his 240SX hang, causing the rear to bang against the K-rail as Pawlak sprang his way to the finish.

And that, mang, is the NOPI gang going out of L.A. with a bang.www.nopidrift.com

TOP 16
Alex Pfeiffer Nissan Silvia S13
Andrew Hateley Nissan 350Z
Forrest Wang Nissan 240SX
Damien Bagley Nissan 240SX
Stephan Papadakis Honda S2000
Hubert Young Nissan 240SX
Bill Sherman Nissan 240SX
Jayitr (Sammy Tiger)Sritonskham Nissan 240SX
Justin Pawlak Mazda RX-7
Chelsea Denufa Mazda Miata
Ryan Hampton Nissan 240SX
Lance Feliciano Nissan 240SX
Kenji Yamanaka Nissan 240SX
Daniel Willie Nissan 240SX
Blake Fuller Nissan 350Z
Chris Milano Nissan 350Z

RESULTS
Winner: Justin Pawlak Mazda RX-7
Second: Forrest Wang Nissan 240SX
Third: Kenji Yamanaka Nissan 240SX
Fourth: Bill Sherman Nissan 240SX

Another X Games has come and gone, and while we didn't see the return of our beloved Sky Surfing and Street Luge competitions, we still saw enough extreme action to satisfy our inner Mountain Dew Code Red-loving extremely extreme dude. Bob Burnquist took the gold medal in the Skateboard Big Air contest while Kevin Robinson accomplished the same feat on a BMX bike. In higher-flying news, X Games Moto-X newbie Kyle Loza unveiled his new trick, "The Volt," and took home the Moto-X Best Trick gold. That stuff is all well and good, but we cover cars here at Super Street, not extreme athletes. Thankfully, LA's X Games 13 had some high-flyin' car action for us to check out as well, giving us an excuse to leave the office and check out tanned, blonde pro-hos in the name of "work."

The X Games Rally Super Special stage returned for a second year, and the big news is one of our own guys, Tanner "Foxy" Foust, took home the gold medal. Of course, Tanner's win didn't come easily; the man faced some very tough competition--namely, Travis "The Golden Boy" Pastrana, Ken "Mr. DC" Block and rally god Colin "McFlip" McRae.

McRae took himself out with an updated version of 2006's spectacular flip, this time high-centering himself on a water barrier, leaving Foust and his SYMS-prepped WRX to fight it out against the factory-built "works" cars of crowd favorites Pastrana and Block. Pastrana was on fire all day, and it was looking as if he would easily earn his second X Games Rally gold medal. But the Golden Boy came in a little too hot at the end of his semi-final race against Foust, crossed over his line, hit Foust and was subsequently disqualified, resulting in a deafening "boo" from the crowd. But since rally is a sport where fans don't get to make the final call, no matter how loud they boo, the DQ stood.

After his battle with Pastrana, Foust immediately headed to the final battle against Monstor STI of Ken Block. When we say "immediately," we mean it--Foust didn't have any time to rest or prep for the final race. Must have been a TV thing, we guess. As soon as the "go" signal was given, Block shot right out of the hole and basically left Foust four seconds behind. Most people would simply give up the race if they were four seconds behind a Works car, but not Tanner. Everyone was saying that Foust would need a miracle to catch up, let alone pull ahead. But "Foxy" Foust didn't need a miracle--he had more than enough skill to close that four-second window. Without a functioning e-brake, a necessity in rallying, Foust turned his driving skill up to 11 and managed to beat Block right at the finish line.

It was a classic photo finish; Foust literally won the race just by a nose and earned that X Games gold medal. Block walked off with a not-too-shabby X Games silver medal, and teammate Pastrana still managed to take home a bronze despite his collision with Foust. We're psyched that ESPN brought the rally cars back for a second year, and we're really hoping that the flying sedans come back for a third year. It would be a damn shame if the world's most exciting motorsport went the way of Sky Surfing...