[COVERAGE] Carlisle Import & Performance Nationals
May 22nd, 2022 by Elusive MediaCarlisle Important & Performance Nationals is back! This year officially reached 1,802 cars that were on the showfield; which makes it the 3rd largest show to date! This has grown to be one of my favorite shows to attend and cover. Not only does it start off the car season strong, but there are so many unique vehicles that you just don’t see anywhere else. For example, the new 2023 Nissan Z was on display, one of the first outside of the auto shows. The Citroën 2CV is on a LA to Rome Roadtrip, 6,000+ miles, made a stop at the show. Another was the 1964 SER IIA 109 Dormobile Land Rrover, has travel the world. What great group to chat with! Be sure to take a look at the photos in the gallery! While not new this year, the passport check-ins are a great way to make sure you’ve explored the extensive fairgrounds and buildings. Drifting, Limbo, a new rolling burnout, passport models, onsite parades and tons of cars to check out….enjoy the photos!
Date: May, 13-14th, 2022
Location: Carlisle Fairgrounds, PA
By: Erik & Neil
Gallery – Click Here
[COVERAGE] FormulaDRIFT: New Jersey The Gauntlet
June 30th, 2021 by Elusive MediaFormula Drift returns to Englishtown! But it’s no where near how you remember it. A few years back, the drag strip was no longer allowed to be used. Raceway Park does have a road course, which is used for many drift events, but FormulaD and Raceway park built it’s first dedicated drift track! It combines the track layout of Wall Township Raceway, but without the high banks. The figure eight now crisscrosses over what is left of the drag strip and drivers have to adjust to the different pavement changes. This would of been the second year, but due to Covid and NJ restrictions, the event had to move to 2021.
Arriving at 9am, the temp was already above 80 and sunny! It was going to be a scorcher and a long day of drifting! The paddock stretched all the way around the track with a car show taking up the front entrance. Round 2 of ProSpec battle was the first part of the day. They put on some epic battles with a dramatic ending for first and 2nd. Dmitriy Brutskiy taking 1st, Austin Matta taking 2nd after slamming into the final wall and his wheel getting ripped off! Nick Noback finish up 3rd in his E46 M3. With a short break between competitions, the Pro was up as the sun started to set. As we finish the driver introductions, national anthem and swore in cadets into Space Force(congrats to them!), no longer than 2 minutes after, light drizzle falls from the sky.
The Pro are about to start with a damp track that was dry all day. We all hoped that it was going to be short lived, the rain continued until the top 6 and it only started to dry out on the last battle. We all hoped for many close battles, but with the damp to soaked track, it was all about who could keep up the speed, angle, and without spinning out. The smoke was absent until the last battle, but sadly Christ Forsbergs NOS Energy – GT Radial Nissan 370Z was littered with issues this weekend. Replaced engine before qualifying and during the final ends up with electrical problems. It was amazing he made it, but still comes away with good points to keep the championship alive . Matt Field takes the win which makes is first FD Pro win in the Falken Tire – Drift Cave Chevrolet Corvette! With this win and points previous points leader finishing 9th, Field now leads the championship. Fredric Aasbo in his Rockstar Energy Drink Toyota GR Supra finishes the podium in 3rd. Looking forward to exciting next round in Erie, PA! See you there!
Date: June 18-19, 2021
Location: Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ
By: Erik
Gallery – Click Here
[COVERAGE] MPACT Motorsports Festival – 10 Years
August 13th, 2020 by Elusive MediaMPACT East has officially turned double digits! MPACT Motorsport Festival and Car Show takes place in the Pocono Mountains at the iconic Pocono Speedway. It is August and it’s officially my first event of the summer! Yes, Covid-19 had cancelled all my previous events, but thankfully as the summer continued, rules allowed for outdoor venues to open, and the speedway was the perfect place to space everyone out! For a quick history lesson, MPACT started in 2011 and the first 3 years were located downtown Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland. It was also a show where you could also run your car, not just park it. Taking place at the M&T Bank Stadium parking lot, half the lot was show and the other half was setup for Auto-X. In 2014 the show moved to the Pocono Mountains at the 2.5 mile Pocono Raceway. In my eyes this is when the show really became the Festival as we know it today. Drifting, Multiple track configurations with NASA HPDE, 1800′ Roll Racing, burnout, and of course a Judged Car Show. And don’t forget the fantastic drive to the raceway, 2hours from Philadelphia and New York City. Many caravans to join in on the drive up! Now Back to 2020, This year is number 10! And with Covid still keeping many restrictions, this was the first event for many people to attend. By early afternoon, there were drivers waiting hours to get in! But once you filled out your covid and safety form, you were greeted with those sweet engine noises, that we all missed as you came out of the Pocono Raceway Tunnel. Fantastic work from the MPACT team for pulling off this event during the extra challenging times. I’m happy to say I’ve been to all 10 and looking forward to see what they have planned for the future!
Be sure to check out the last 10years!
Date: August, 8th, 2020
Location: Pocono Speedway, Long Pond, PA
By: Erik
Gallery – Click Here
[COVERAGE] MPACT 2019 Motorsports Festival and Car Show
August 22nd, 2019 by Elusive MediaPerfect weather and sun graced this years MPACT Motorsport Festival and Car show! We hit mid 70s and no sign of rain anywhere! Fluffy clouds filled the sky for a great backdrop for the photos at Pocono Speedway! This is MPACTs 9th year and each year you see the same faces you expect plus many more new ones that comes to the event. With a car show, high speed runs, and track running hot nearly all hours of the Festival there are really no down time; unless of course you need one! But then you can take the opportunity to sit back relax and watch the cars queue up for track or grab a seat to watch the high speed runs fly by! Its an event that once you’re there, you don’t want to leave!
Enjoy the 400+ photos!!
Date: August, 10th, 2019
Location: Pocono Speedway, Long Pond, PA
By: Erik
Gallery – Click Here
[COVERAGE] FormulaDrift World: Canada Round8
September 14th, 2015 by Elusive MediaWhat an exhausting, exciting, & fun filled weekend! I was lucky enough to get invited to cover this year’s inaugural Formula Drift World Championship in Canada. The event took place at the Autodrome St. Eustache, just 30 or so minutes north west of the beautiful city of Montréal. I’ve been covering FormulaD events for the past 10yrs in New Jersey and the crowd and atmosphere at this event like no other; a very European feel. Arriving early to kick off the two day event, we were greeted by eager drift fans that had been camping out the night before at the track. Everyone had their campers and tents all setup to enjoy the whole race weekend, amazing! From the fan turnout the first day, you would of thought it was the start of the top16.
Nearly 40 driver from 8 different countries showedto compete in Round 8 of Worlds. Out of those 8 countries, Canada had a strong showing in drivers and they weren’t going to make it easy for anyone to walk in and take the top spot. Kevin Morin trying to battle for the top 32, gave Veteran driver Kean Kearney in his Oracle Lighting/Achilles Motorsports Dodge Viper a run for the next round as the judges and crowd went for “One More Time!” twice before it was decided that Kearney had won the battle.
The crowd was already on cloud9 from the exiting and some nail biting battles, but GoFast Energy Drink & FormulaD want to step it up with a tricked out Semi-Truck, carrying a guy with a Jetpack! Before the start of the top16, this guys shoots into the air and circles the track and lands safely back onto the Semi-Truck. Wow…what a way to start off the final part of this weekend! Now lets get on to some exciting Battles! Canadian drivers continue to impress and you can hear the locals cheer loud and together when one of their drivers enters the track. Tho Toronto driver Pat Cyr driving the Eneos Oil/Yokohama Tire Scion FR-S battled hard, has mechanical damage from a previous battle and is forced to retire claiming 10th.
As we work our way up to the podium battles, Canadian driver Tomy Boisvert-Bellemare(Canadian Local) in his Signature KCS Nissan S13 give Marc Lanreville and Matt Field a great battle and ends up winning and continuing to race for top position, WOW… Canada could take this!! While the final battles came down to the wire, and with all of Canada routing for Tomy, Fredric Asabo in his Rockstar Energy Drink/Hankook Scion tC take the final top step on the podium. It really was a fierce battle and props to both drivers for finishing the weekend as it started.
I can’t wait to cover another Canadian Round after this weekend. Well worth the drive! Check out the nearly 550 photos in the gallery for you enjoyment!
Date: September 6th-7th, 2015
Location: Autodrome St. Eustache, Québec, Canada
By: Erik
Gallery – Click Here
[COVERAGE] Carlisle Performance & Style ’15
July 31st, 2015 by Elusive MediaCarlisle Performance & Style returns after a 14 month break. The show has always been on mother’s day weekend, but with the absents of Bike Fest, Performance & Style had an easy spot in July to fill it in. Plus over the past few year, having P&S in early May, weather was always questionable; with the last few years cold and rainy. While we didn’t have an rain free weekend, Saturday did have a heavy down pour that lasted about 60 minutes. The rain did give a nice relief from the heat, as it was in the 90s. Performance & Style changed the way the exhaust competition worked this year. Instead of every other show I know, the car sits in place and revs, while this event had the driver drive off from a standstill. While I think it worked pretty well, they could of used a bit more room to get the rpm’s higher in 2nd gear before breaking to turn around. Look forward to see how they modify this next year. As past years, burnout is the crowd pleaser and they seemed to have a record amount of entries of fans that wanted to abuse their car for the title. Here’s a first after all the years, a surprise proposal. The first burnout contestant and the announcer had an “issue” with the insurance papework, and in the middle of getting it all sorted out, the guy gets on one knee in front of the whole grandstand, and asks his girlfriend, “Will you marry me”? …. Well done! And Congrats to both!! They also had 2 round of the beauty contest along with NICOFest drifting on the auto-x all day long. P&S also has a strong showing of car clubs, so between all that, you had your weekend full!!
Date: July 17-19th, 2015
Location: Carlisle Fairgrounds, PA
By: Erik
Gallery – Click Here
[COVERAGE] Formula Drift: RD4 The Gauntlet
July 6th, 2015 by Elusive Media“Come Hell or High Water” is what the ForumlaD fans & drivers said to the race weekends forecast. Rain and at times heavy, plagued this weekend with track conditions changing every other battle. Since the heaviest rain was said to arrive in the evening, the schedule was bumped down one hour which really played in everyone’s favor. While we had some great battles in the Top 32, there was also many favorites that that “The Gantlet” forced an early exit.
Between the Top 32 and Top 16, heavy down pours soaked the dried out track, but within a few minutes of the opening ceremonies, the rain breaks and gives the fans a great start to the final battles. Tho the rain had stopped, the first couple of battles looked like they were in slow motion. Drivers had to be extra careful with the lack of grip and steep bank with the transition on to the inter-circle. The final 4 would end in a exciting fashion as a steady rain showing up for the final battle. The first battle (dry track), Dean Kearney defeats Ryan Tuerck. Ryan can only now hope that Yokoi would lose to Aasbo since he qualified higher and could then claim 3rd place on the podium. Luck was on his side as Yokoi makes a few mistakes and Aasbo moves on to the finals. At this point, the rain started to pick up. The drivers were allowed a test run to get a feel for track and then we were off! While the rain returns the drives back to slow-motion drifting, Aasbo is able to gain a lead on Kearney. Fredric Aasbo takes his second 1st place in 2015 while making this his 2nd win at wall stadium speedway.
The championship is now wide open, with the top 3 only a few points from each other… going to be an exciting 2nd half!! Enjoy the photos and see you at the next round or via the online stream!
Date: June 26-27th, 2015
Location: Wall Stadium Speedway, Wall, NJ
By: Erik
Gallery – Click Here
[COVERAGE] Formula Drift: RD4 The Gauntlet
June 25th, 2014 by Elusive MediaLast year’s event was sold out, and this year’s was no different(and yes, i saw many people get turned away trying to get tickets, another reason to pre-order from FD’s website!) Round 4 of the Formula Drift stands up to its name, The Gauntlet. Many veterans of the sport came hoping to leave on the podium or even a possible win, but while some got close, others met the infamous “wall” at the stadium.
While we all enjoyed the exciting close battles of this weekend, one of my favorites moments was when Chelsea Denofa goes a bit to high and hits the wall on turn one, unbeading his front and rear tires. Instead of coming to a stop, he continues to drift and give everyone a show until the tires roll off the rim and he can on longer continue. While some came victim of the high banked wall, others like top qualifier and local drifter Chris Fosberg continues his lead in the leadership with a second place finish in his Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z. Fredric Aasbo takes victory in his Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC over Fosberg in the final battle, but Aasbo still remains 59 points behind his Hankook teammate. The win at Wall Stadium marks Aasbo’s first career Formula Drift Win. Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis also has one of his first’s on the podium, making it into 3rd place in his Feal Suspension / Nitto Tire Nissan 240SX.
Formula Drift Championship moves on to Evergreen Speedway for Round 5. Be sure to pre-order your tickets and check out the live coverage via FormulaD’s website at www.formulad.com
Now on with the photos… enjoy!!!
Date: June 20-21st, 2014
Location: Wall Stadium Speedway, Wall, NJ
By: Erik
Gallery – Click Here
[COVERAGE] Formula Drift: RD4 The Gauntlet
June 25th, 2013 by Elusive MediaFormula Drift returns to New Jersey for another sold out crowd. The Gauntlet sure did stand up to its name; with multiple crashes in turn 1 and drivers bumping in each other as the they all were fighting to stay in the fight for the win, it surely kept the crowd entertained. For the past years, the track has been in a figure 8 configuration, this year it was changed into a “mirror like” configuration with 2 high speed clipping points in the center.
After a long 2 days battling it out, Chris Forsberg driving his NOS Energy Drink/Hankook Nissan 370z takes 3rd from Darren McNamara driving his Falken Tire Nissan 240SX. The final showdown was down to Daigo Saito & Justin Pawlak. Justin Pawlak in the Falken Ford Mustang was the number one qualifier, but Daigo Saito in his Achilles/Bridges Racing Lexus SC430 & Championship points leader puts the pressure on and Justin Pawlak spins out chasing Daigo Sainto, which gives him the win!
Round 4 is the halfway point in the championship, Dagio has a 60 point lead and having the top 6 only separated by less than 100pts, one bad weekend for one and good one for another could put a driver in the fight for the championship. Should be an exciting rest of the season! Round 5, Throwdown continues at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, WA on July 19-20, 2013. If ya can’t make it, remember to stream it live from http://www.formulad.com/!
Enjoy the photos!
Date: June 21-22nd, 2013
Location: Wall Stadium Speedway, Wall, NJ
By: Erik
Gallery – Click Here
[NEWS] Formula Drift: Rd4 The Gauntlet & The Winner is…
June 23rd, 2013 by Elusive MediaCongrats to Daigo Saito in his Achilles Radial Lexus SC430 on winning Rd4 The Gauntlet.
Stay Tuned for full coverage!