Formula D Las Vegas

Ahh Formula D, something I’ve had the itch for it ever since it started. I’ve seen plenty of photos from speedhunters, motormavens etc., and I had always looked at my photos from firebird, but they could never compare. I wondered why… I thought I was lighting and colors, but I had my doubts. But I was damn right about it.

This event was being held in Las Vegas. With this in mind, I knew it was going be in a parking lot. I was kind of bummed about it, but what can you do? I was just excited that I was getting a chance to go to Formula D. The trip got off to a rough start. A few hours before we were scheduled to leave, I was walking towards the Integra we were going to take, and it happen to have a flat tire… so I pulled some strings and got an extra pair of rims for the trip.

The trip didn’t feel too long, but I was happy to see the Vegas lights.

We spent the night at a friend’s house; the next morning was full of anticipation for the event. But of course, seeing as how I’m a chubby kid, I had to get my eat on before the event. We stopped at a nice Mexican restaurant called “On The Boarder”, where I had the most AMAZING fish tacos of my life!

Finally it was time to head to the event. We got there fairly early; so parking wasn’t bad at all. Now this is where things began to go downhill. First off, I was already pretty upset about that fact I didn’t get a media pass, and on top of that that it was hot, very hot.

We did a ton of walking around before the drifting even began, and I’m not gonna lie, the event felt like SPOCOM, but outside.

The biggest problem though out the entire event was location, location, location, oh and did I mention LOCATION? There was only ONE good spot to shoot from, and my 200mm just didn’t have the reach. Oh did I forget to say there were at least 50 people I had to fight though to get to the front? Not the mention the RUDE people that would purposely stand in front of me. The shots came out OK at best, but if I’d had a media pass, I’m sure I could have gotten better.

The last hours were just frustrating, I kept getting bumped into, and people were just being flat out annoying. Their comments were just ignorant as hell and some guy had this clapper thing that he’d hit every time they would drift. Let’s just say I wasn’t the only one getting annoyed by it.

I expected a little more, but the course was just so short and not technical at all. I guess they did their best with a parking lot. Overall, the event was ok.

Edited by Fiona Gregory

Tony & Glenn's Cobras

Oh man, another 6 am shoot; I wish I had a dial to tell the sun when to go up or down. It’d be really convenient and quite awesome :D ANYWAYSSSS haha, Tony, A friend Andrew Vicars, who I have helped with his photography and such, contacted me on Facebook wanting to do a shoot. I saw the pictures of his car and definitely was down for some pictures. The location I had chosen was back out at Papago Park near Tempe, AZ. I find it to a perfect spot to catch the sun rise. I usually park the cars on a roadway going to the Botanical Gardens, but this time they got pretty upset. We had 10 minutes to shoot the car and get out. I am completely not satisfied with pics, all are under exposed or the flashes didn’t have enough power to them. Seeing as we only had 10 minutes there, unfortunately, I didn’t get to shoot Glenn’s car at that location.

Next was a parking garage, Tony had mentioned he loved garage shots regardless of what people say. We were only minutes away from the ASU garage on the south side. I always shoot at the very top of the garage, but too my luck again, the top gates were closed. So I had to work with what I had, I noticed way back when, the scenery looking out though the garage, is breathe taking, especially during the morning. I am about 50/50 satisfaction with this set in the garage, again, not enough flash power…making rookie mistakes.

Next was another garage, but something unique, oh and did we find unique, we found a parking garage near ASU that was comprised of solar panels on the top level. I am really pleased on how these came out; I had plenty of light to work with, and not to mention plenty of room.

To sum it up, it was a great time and good learning experience for me, which every set is. As you can tell, I used all 3 lenes that I have, which is a first time for me. I just need to turn up the flashes next time!

Tony’s car is a 2003 Ford Cobra SVT. The mods are

Mods:

Engine:

-Steigemeier stage 4 ported and polished supercharger
-Kenne bell Boost a pump
-Siemen deka 60lb injectors
-SCT 2600 maf
-Reichard Racing blower spacer
-Metco 2lb lower pulley
-Billetflow 2.76 upper pulley
-SCT chip
-Custom tuned by Devin @ Performance
Solutions (515rwhp, 522rwtq)
-JLT Hi-Boost Intake
-Bassani ss x pipe with high flow cats
-SLP Loudmouth 1 exhaust
-Fluidyne radiator
-Fluidyne heat exchanger
-LFP ice box
-Moroso Radiator Expansion Tank
-Accufab throttle body and plenum
-Optima red top battery
-Billetflow 3 piece pulley kit
-Energy Suspension Poly Motor Mounts
-EGR Delete
-Mishimoto Radiator Brackets

Suspension and Tires&Wheels:

-Performance Solution Racing Lightweight K-member
-Maximum Motorsports Caster/Camber Plates
-MMR Coilovers
-Upr Extreme upper control arms
-HPM megabite Jr lower control arms
-Maximum Motorsports full length sub frame connectors
-Lakewood 90/10 front shocks
-Tokico Illumina 5 way adjustable Rear Shocks
-Welded upper and lower battle boxes
-10th Anniversary Red Calipers Front and rear
-Powerslot Front and Rear Rotors
-Weld prostar drag wheels for the track
-BBS RK Plamsa Wheels. 18x8.5 up front with an 18x10 out back.
-Nitto 555 Drag Radials in a 335/30/18 for the street, and M/T ET Drags with tubes and bead locks for the track
(26-10-15)
-Ride rite rear launch air bag
-SLP Line Lock

Transmission and Rear End:

-Spec Stage 3+ clutch
-Fidanza flywheel
-26 spline trans input shaft
-LDC clutch freeplay conversion
-Cobra bob stang shifter gasket
-Pro 5.0 shifter
-Solid axle conversion
-Mosier 31 spline axles
-Eaton True Trac diff
-3.90 gears
-TA Performance diff cover
-drive shaft loop
-Sperical Housing bushings

Interior and Apperance:

-LDC underhood Light
-Smoked,Clear corner headlights
-Tinted rear taillights
-Mcullough 5k HID's
-Raptor shift light
-SOS guage pod
-Autometer pro comp boost guage
-Autometer pro comp coolant temp guage
-Custom "SVT" Door Panel inserts
-Sequential Tailights by Webeletric Products
-Kenwood DVD/NAV Head unit

Glenns car is a 2003 Ford Mustang GT