Top Ten: 2015 Drift Photos

2015 marks the first year I consistently took photos of drifting. I learned a whole bunch about my camera and about the limits of what I can do with it. I went from taking thousands of photos at an event and getting maybe twenty decent photos to taking closer to five hundred and getting fifty or sixty. I still have much to learn, and look forward to the opportunities in 2016 to stretch myself and my equipment even further. Now these may not be the very best photos I took at each event, but there is more to them than just the photo. Some of them may be redundant from previous posts but I took the time to re-edit each of these photos, one so they will be a bit more of a set with each other for this post, and to have an opportunity to readdress each one having learned so much about the software I work with since the first event of the year. So here is a little compilation of my favorite photos of drifting I took in 2015. In no particular order and with some words and maybe a story if I feel like it.

This feller was taken at the 6th round of Japanese D1GP at the Odaiba Special Stage in Tokyo Bay. Now I know that's a mouthful, but even being able to type that seems surreal. Realizing again that I had the opportunity to shoot at this event is just incredible. Also this image is special because it marks the first photo I took of a super car drifting. I really like the pull in Japan to use even more and more expensive Pumps in drifting. I mean who would have thought back when drifting was just starting to surface in the States that a few short years later half a million dollar super cars would be drifting with the same classic cars that started it all like the Toyota Corolla. It really makes you think about where the sport has left to go.

 This photo is from the same event. It is the Final battle of the event and the second to last battle between the Supra and the GTR of which the Supra took the win. This photo along with the ones that accompanied it in the original post are some of the most exciting shots I've ever taken. The challenge of keeping the grain in the photos low but having enough light with a slow shutter speed to show the cars and keep everything in focus was such a fun challenge to take. I think I passed the challenge, but if I was better prepared for the event with better equipment my results could have proven to be better.

 This was taken at the year end bash of what I now call my home for drifting, Stateline speedway. This Cressida made the trek to the Spokane Coure d'alene area from Seattle as a street car. Not only was I thoroughly impressed with the skill level at which he drove but also the commitment to drive his stiff harsh Cressida all the way from Seattle. I really wish more locals would have this level of commitment. It would make the local scene so so much better, and events so much more fun to shoot and watch, and drive for that matter.

 These next four shots were all taken at VIP (Villains Invitational Project) an event hosted by the Villains in one of my favorite venues I have ever shot at. Granted I haven't shot at the legendary PARC go-cart course or at Final Bout in Shawano WI, but the proximity the crowd had with the action at VIP was incredible to say the least, and the photographers could literally reach out and touch a car flying by in full drift if they felt so inclined.

 Because of the close proximity at this event, it made for some unreal shots showing a bit more of the intimacy and emotion of drifting.

 Something I've been playing around with this year is panning shots. As the year progressed I got more confident with lower shutter speeds and after shooting maybe fifty shots similar to this at VIP that turned out blurry I finally got one successful eighth second exposure in decent focus. Opening this up and seeing it for the first time in full size on a computer screen had me pretty excited.

 This photo is not only one that ended up with a good deal of mood and some dramatic wheel drop rock flinging dust kicking action, it also shows the barrel jumping Miata in full glory. Now, throughout the first day at VIP this Miata was struggling with some understeer problems. With the track setup at VIP a lot of cars would, instead of making this corner and turning in like the Miata successfully did in this shot, they would understeer and careen strait for the blue barrels or for the wooden loud speaker pole in the background of this picture (which was later knocked down by an ugly understeering s13). Anyways, From what I picked up, one of the fixes to get the Miata to stop understeering was to throttle on and off and initiate some weight transfer and make the front wheels grip up a bit more and make it into the next corner. Later on in the day after this shot I was doing some really low perspective shots about 75 yards to the right of this photo. Just adjacent to where the understeerers would end up stopping. Now as the first day really got going and the drivers got more confident the Miata driver took the corner before the one pictured and began understeering into the barrels. I distinctly  remember hearing the Miata throttle on into the understeer and towards the barrels. I'm not sure exactly what happened to make the driver keep throttle on, but despite efforts from the driver the understeer continued and the Miata hit a barrel knocking it over. The Miata then caught the underside of its front bummer on the bottom lip of the barrel and ended up having its front end thrown some six feet into the air. Now I'm used to seeing the bottom of a car when I'm laying on my back and it is safely placed on jack stands, but seeing the bottom of a Miata flying over a barrel caught me a little off guard especially considering I was laying on my chest with my backpack in front of me as a camera rest. Evasive maneuvers were first on my list of to do's in this situation so I unfortunately dropped my camera on my backpack and got ready to pick a side to dodge the flying Miata. Fortunately I was far enough back in the run off and low enough into the next turn that I didn't have to move at all before the Miata came to a stop on top of a blue barrel. None the less I missed an opportunity to capture an epic once in a lifetime photo of the bottom of a miata flying over an unsuspecting blue barrel. After the Miata came to a stop on the barrel, the event coordinator drove his pit rig to the scene with some buddies and they all burst out laughing. After being lifted up off the barrel by a bunch of willing drivers and crew mwmbers the Miata was back out on the track tearing up the asphalt with the best of them. This, was by far my favorite moment of the event. The whole proceedings; the barrel hop, the reaction of the event coordinator, the help from fellow drivers and crew to lift the Miata and pull the barrel out, and the fact that fifteen minuets later the Miata was back out on track.

 Back to the photos. This one was taken at the second event I shot in 2015 and presented itself with some good drivers and fun shots. This shot was more of a mistake than anything else. Yes I planned on getting half of the car and some front wheel poking out with some wild smoke and spark from the tires and undercarriage, but what was accidental about this shot and what surprised me when I pulled it up to edit it for the first time was the face that is perfectly framed in the mirror. Now if the driver was wearing a closed face helmet a lot of the mood of the photo would be lost. Fortunatly he wasn't and the photo displays a great look at what a driver's focused face looks like in the middle of a drift.

 These last two photos were taken at the Spokane County Raceway road course. For the one above I was feeling like I needed more to work with on my photos because of the somewhat boring scenery around SCR. So I found a tree on the first corner of the course (one of like five in the whole complex), climbed it and hoped for the best. After some failed attempts with really slow of shutter speeds I found a sweet spot and ended up with some nice captures.

 This last shot was at the first grassroots drift event I ever attended. I had never been to one and had no idea what to expect. I got to the event, scoped the course and picked out some spots I thought would foster some decent shots. After testing out some of the first locations, I arrived at this one and sped up my shutter speed to guarantee some sharp shots to work with. Luckily it was just in time to get a crispy shot of this kouki s14 using up all of the best drifting section at Spokane County Raceway. This being my first event at this track, I got stoked out of my mind on this one photo, and it very well may be the reason I kept coming back to more events.

So looking back I'd like to give a huge shout out to Treis and Trevor at Stateline for welcoming me into their drifting community, Nate and Jason of the Villains for putting on a Wild VIP  and all the drivers for constantly putting on a show and letting me point my camera your way. This next year is gonna be another good one.

Joshua Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo

Matsuri: Drifting And Other Fun Things

 This year marks the first year that I have gone to a boneified local grassroots drifting event. This particular event was, in my mind, the showcase event for Stateline Drift. It was, as of now, one of my favorite drifting events I have attended. This particular event was in early July at Spokane County Raceway

This could have been one of the best events id been to just because of the number of people that traveled from different areas of Northwest drifting community. The two in the above picture are both from Seattle, which is very well known for Evergreen Drift and Formula Drift's round 5 Throwdown.

Another feller from the Seattle area. Being from the US and not getting the s15 Silvia from the factory over here its always very special to see one drifted at a grassroots event.

Here is a picture of Cody Hall's door with a guy holding a towel in the background right before the parade lap.

The culture at these events is very respectful, very fair and very self sustaining. I swear these guys, and gals, could all be stuck on a desert island with a race track and everything they needed to drift for thirty years, and never have any fights, and quarrels or qualms, just happy drifters drifting. It's really like a family out here in the drifting world, and that, I love. Here's Nate Schewick, Mr. Antonov and a buddy of his looking savage.

There were some grassroots drifting favorites including the Drift Union Subaru Legacy and the Villains rigs which I didn't get any shots of because I had to bail for the second day of the event but no doubt always put on a show, additionally there were some Seattle folks and one feller all the way from Canada, what a trek and what a worth while trip he must have thought he made.

Stateline Drift is just coming into their better years of drifting in my opinion, starting from humble beginnings with a Facebook page that sprouted the occasional parking lot rental to lay some skid marks to now having full access to a 2.4 mile road course, with some of the best third gear corners in the northwest.

This AE86 was a fun one to see out on track and was the first of the 86's that I saw in person to have an SR engine swap. He was having a good time out there and showing many his great driving skills with a difficult chassis.

This corner seems to be one I shoot a lot at SCR the corner marshal stand adds some more interest and solidifies that we are indeed at a racetrack and not some open country road which is sometimes the case with the track as you have well seen and will see more of later in the post. The blue car above is the one from Canada.

This 86 is a bit more well known especially in the Seattle area for its Lexus v8 swap which has a very peculiar exhaust note and keeps the Toyota guys happy by keeping their Toyota Toyota and not turning them Nissan or Honda.

This RHD rx-7 from Garage52 always looks good out on track but always seems to run into mechanical problems at every weekend I've seen it, Ive only got a few decent pics of such a pretty car.

Another one from Garage52 that is now growing on me, this car looks great from some angles and kinda like garbage from others, no idea why but it does.

Another shot of the Shinchoku car from Seattle. This Shinchoku s13 is competing in the evergreen Pro-Am and is doing pretty well last time I checked the grassroots event coverage pages.

Later in the day I was getting kinda hot and needed some shade but really wanted to keep shooting so I found a tree, one of like three in the whole racing complex, climbed it and turned out to get some interesting shots, not sure if its to distracting or captures the oh so important element of interest we photographers fight for.

This is probably the best one I got from the tree, really did my best to use a slow shutter speed to have blur the trees, but still have the car sharp to keep a good focal point, to bad, aside from the actual drifting of this car it looks like a drifting junkyard on wheels.

Another one of a pretty good looking cressida at the event. this was the only Cressida at the event and I am glad it showed up, the ratio of s13/14 chassis cars in the Inland Northwest is almost unhealthy. so props to the driver for showing up and off.

This feller was one of the better looking Pumps on the track, unfortunately at the end of the first day during the tandem competition, it got in a bit of scuffle and lost some front end, I almost wanted to cry because its such a nice car.

from what I picked up the two involved in the collision were both in drift and the car behind, hit this car as it had to much speed and drifted into this car slowing down to avoid another collision in front of it, merely an accident of drifting.. as unfortunate as it is.

As you can see the front end is a bit tweaked and the upper right frame did end up getting bent from the collision. Its good to see that this guy wasn't to butt hurt and got it back to the pit without to much trouble.

As you van see the other car came away unscathed and drove to the pits under its own power.

After the little mishap with these two S-chassis cars the tandem competition continued for another 10-15 min until the first days award ceremony.

Cody Hall is always looking good out on track and knows how to drift this corner pretty dang well.

These are some of the earlier images from the practice of the whole course. The waste gate on this yellow s13 was to die for, every time it came by I got shivers down my spine.

This is the other Seattle guy that showed up. I've never seen this set of over fenders on an s13 before and I have to say at the right angle it looks pretty nice. This Shinchoku rig is driven by Matt Vankirk. he also participates in evergreen pro-am

Here's that pretty looking s15 again.

And the V86 shot from the tree on the back corner, I really liked this angle but getting a good shot was pretty hard especially considering because only a third of the cars had the power to link this corner from the previous one.

So that sums up the highlights and general info from the matusri, next year hopefully i can make both days and get full coverage on it!

Josh Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo

Stateline Drift: 2015 Kick Off

Drifting in the Inland northwest is starting to become more widely recognized. Initially Stateline Drift drifting started out as some kids getting together, calling up a business with an open parking lot, and seeing if they could rent it out for a day and lay some tire treads on it.

Now, as successful as this was... there needed to be some more concrete organization of events.

So after the parking lot rentals came and went, the local guys had the idea to talk to the local track, Spokane County Raceway in this case, to see what it would take to get their cars on the road course.

After some talk the track was open for them to rent, and this step is what initiated, and solidified the staple in the  Inland Northwest Drift that the organization Stateline Drift is today.

This is the first of their events that I shot, I had heard rumors of a drifting scene near the Spokane area but had never seen one or witnesses the organization of an event of said nature.

I did a whole bunch more research narrowing my search, and starting to even search Facebook for some sort of group that liked to slide cars around, because if you didn't already know drifting is one of my favorite forms of motorsport, and maybe even the purist form at its roots.

After tossing and turning many a night, I found myself looking at the official Stateline Drift Facebook page.

I found them early this January on my lookout for local automotive events to feature here on Air Pumps.

Initially I was Skeptical as to how legit these events were and what they had to offer. But I bit the bullet and went to an event, their season opener, test and tune at the Spokane County Raceway road course.

This was the first car that I saw when I got to the event that morning. I did a little story on it here and was  pretty impressed with the build. After seeing this pull out of the trailer I knew I was in for a good day, even if it was just to see a car like this smoke some Achilles rubber.

"Shredding Sideways"-jds041115_001

This is probably my favorite photo of the event. The undeveloped backdrop of the track gives the illusion of  a country road ready to be opened up on. And the fact that this Pump was street legal made it all the more authentic.

To buy prints of the above image click on the PayPal link below.

Poster Size Options (Matte)

Poster 17" x 8" $19.95 USD Poster 22" x 10.5" $29.95 USD

Stateline has some great drifting sections to offer. In the aerial photo of the course layout below there is a section of esses on the left that, with enough talent can be linked and produce quite the fluid series of skids.

The way the event was set up that day was super laid back, and produced a subject to shoot, or watch with little delay.

Hot laps were the choice of organization for lapping the track, there were cars sliding on all sections of the short course, as the full course only offers one more corner.

This was this first time I ever saw hot laps done at an event like this, I was more used to the formula drift style of runs to pit and repeat. I think everyone was really happy with it and the number of cars at the event, fifteen tech inspected cars total provided a great uncrowded number to keep everyone smiling.

the chassis of choice for the day was by a long shot the 240sx, but there were a couple others that chewed up the track including this happy little Miata.

"Big Sky Miata"-jds041115_002

I didn't get the chance to do a in depth shoot on this, but it had a cammed V-8 and pink paint, and anything that is pink is fast, and this was no exception.

To order a Poster of this feller click the link below.

Poster Size Options (Matte)

Poster 22" wide $29.95 USD Poster 17" wide $19.95 USD

later on in the day the lower section of the road course switched directions and a team tandem practice time was set up.

This team practice time produced some decent team shows, but considering this was the first event of the year there was some rust to shake off and confidence to grow.

I was very impressed with the organization of the event.. right after the lunch break, the track direction was switched and after everyone had had a fill of their team tandem, the direction was switched back to counterclockwise to finish off the jovial activity of drifting.

This shows the lineup for the parade lap, before the event kicked off, outside of this shot is a couple other Pumps including the extremely rare Merkur XR4ti. These cars are basically the equivalent to the European ford Sierra Cosworth. I thought it was great to see on of those out there doing something it was never designed to do.

The best looking team by far was the matching red S-chassis cars seen here with the Miata riding them.

They even took off their hoods together, if that isn't team, I don't know what is team...

One of these cars was suffering from some serious understeer, but when it did get the "o" so lusted after oversteer there was nothing to complain about.

This was another 240sx that showed up later in the day, got teched and hit the track, those taillights were the showstopper for sure, everyone wanted them by the end of the event.

If there was a spirit of drift award given out that day I'd have to say the characters that showed up with this junk yard swapped v8 240 would have won it.

 This was their set up for to and from the track. This dodge van used to be a camper that was then chopped in half and had the back of a cargo van welded to the back of it, that's right, see how the brown back is a different than the white front... spirit of drifting.

 Over all I loved the event. The feel of it, the organization, and the layout of the track. I will be back there this summer for the 4th of July Matsuri if not for another event at State line speedway. Another venue these guys host events at(on the poster below). 

Here's the photo I promised of the track layout, I took this out of my private helicopter last summer for an incognito assignment for the local police department. Fun case, turned out it had nothing to do with the racetrack so I never got to use this as evidence.

And here is their 2015 year poster!

Until next time..

Joshua Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo