Street Life Auto Club

Back for the 14th time in as many years, T.O.R.C. welcomed owners/fans of anything Toyota out to Long Beach, CA's Queen Mary Park for its latest, free-to-the-public show-off of the absolute cleanest modified and restored Toyota/Lexus/Scion rides you'll likely see anywhere in the world. Once a show held for owners/restorers of pre-1985 model-year vehicles only, this year's show saw just as many modified late-model whips as fully restored old-school rides. Flared and outboard-oil-cooled, Boso-themed Cressidas sat next to turbo, widebodied Scion show-winners; bagged and dubbed LS and GS Lexus VIP rides next to vintage RHD Crown and Century reclamations; race-prepped, upgraded twin- and single-turbo converted MKIII and IV Supra street cars, next to all-motor ITB'd Hachi, Celica and Starlet road racers. Even a few OG Land Cruisers prompted double-takes from the Jeep community, and a modified '60 Crown harkened to the days before the manufacturer at hand came into its own, with blatant domestic-inspired styling a V8 swap.

Photo Gallery: 2009 Toyota Owner's and Restorer's Club - Car Show - Import Tuner Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2009 Toyota Owner's and Restorer's Club - Car Show - Import Tuner Magazine

In case any of you thought D1GP and JDM Option magazine front-man Daijiro Inada only comes to town for cameo appearances at the D1 events, guess again. Not only did Dai, himself, drive Friday and Saturday of the Anaheim event, but he also rented El Toro airfield in Irvine, CA, the very next day, for a come-one, come-all grip/slip instructional track day. With help from Shogun Style Performance (Course Management), Garage Boso (rental and demo cars), Ross Petty (driving instructor/translator), and Taka Aono (driving instructor/translator), Dai invited any and everyone to learn the tricks of high-performance driving on a drift skid pad, intermediate and advanced drift courses (that offered triple digit speeds, for the brave), a Gymkhana course, and an autocross course.

Photo Gallery: Drift Driving Academy - Daijiro Inada - Import Tuner Magazine

Photo Gallery: Drift Driving Academy - Daijiro Inada - Import Tuner Magazine

After a three-year hiatus, D1GP brought its unique blend of competitive drifting back to U.S. tarmac, with the first of four nation-wide stops scheduled for the 2009 season. Under new management, with new judges and judging format, and with the addition of a vendor area, car show, VIP services, food court, stunt bike demos, RC car drifting, live music and the official Gumball 3000 kick-off, the Anaheim event became a sharp departure from "just drifting"-themed events of events past, and, combined with drastic last-minute schedule, format and track changes - along with the addition of the infamous "DriftBox" - a bit of a controversial one.

Photo Gallery: 2009 D1 Grand Prix, Anaheim, CA - Drift Cars - Import Tuner Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2009 D1 Grand Prix, Anaheim, CA - Drift Cars - Import Tuner Magazine

Stroll down Pine Avenue in Long Beach toward Oceanfront blvd. at 9 A.M. on any other Saturday of the year, and not too much would jump out at you. A few European-style bars and restaurants that come alive by nightfall, and blend in with their surroundings by day, serenaded by the hushed bustle of commerce at work - distant sirens behind hurried motorists in their daily commute; the sounds of business as usual, in a city that doesn't sleep. But for the past four years, pedestrians during the first weekend of the Long Beach Grand Prix have been met with an entirely difference ambience: that of burning R-compound rubber, unfiltered C116-laden exhaust fumes, and the mightly, uncorked din of squealing tires under boosted SR20DET- and RB26DETT-, blown VK56- and LS1-, and bridge-ported 13B-powered race machines roaring off the condos, hotels, and fine upscale eateries that line the otherwise tranquil Long Beach oceanfront. It's a shocking experience - witnessing the tranquility of the early morning streets being shattered by vehicles and driving that would otherwise prompt an all-out national guard assault - but one that seems a perfect fit for enthusiasts that never stop pushing the boundaries of ability and legality, in a city that sets the pace for the world to follow. Wake up! Round 1 of Formula D: Streets of Long Beach just blew the f-- up!

Photo Gallery: Formula Drift Round 1 - Streets of Long Beach - Import Tuner Magazine

Photo Gallery: Formula Drift Round 1 - Streets of Long Beach - Import Tuner Magazine