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The one thing that continues to amaze me in this industry is the amount of great, down to earth people there are. No matter the discipline, whether you’re a driver, a spectator, a mechanic, or involved in media coverage, it just seems hard to come across a person you won’t get along with. Case in point; Joe McGuigan. Joe drifts in the Thunder Drift: Pro Am series here in Northern California. The series basically serves as a gateway for amateur drivers looking to get into national series like Formula D. As this season comes to an end, Joe is already looking to next year where, with an all new engine setup, will be shooting for his Formula D license. Let’s take a closer look at his weapon of choice past the break.
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It’s actually a strange story as to how I came to do this shoot. If you remember a few weeks ago I wrote an ‘Encounter’ post on this totally random drift looking IS300 I saw cruising down the 101 last time I was up North. Well, turns out Joe saw the post, realized it was his car, and hit me up for a legitimate shoot; small world eh? So I flew back up to San Francisco the next week, found a spot in the city, and here we are today. It’s not too often you see an IS used as a drift chassis, and I’m actually a huge fan of the car.
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The Stance GR+’s can be thanked for providing the aggressive ride height, and if you look closely a fairly aggressive amount of rake as well. Custom over fenders in the rear hug the 18×9″ MB Weapons quite nicely and give us a nice view of the rear rubber.
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The combination of Vertex side-skirts and a VIS rear lip go together well.
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The VIS vented carbon hood administers a dose of seriousness to the front of the car. The car used to rock a Vertex front end as well, but Joe managed to run it over during one of his runs. That, along with the rest of the battle scars, isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s just proof of how hard he drives. You can see that the sun was starting to come out at this point by the car’s shadow on the left. I wanted to get there about an hour before we did, but my ride was late picking me up from the airport – thanks Scott, you d-bag. Bro love.
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A little Japan love in the form of an Altezza front grill.
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Concave 17×9″ XXR’s reside up front – and if you are a regular reader of the blog, you’ll know I’m a sucker for mismatched wheel combos. I apologize for the wheels blinding you in this pic, but the sun was out in full force now. URAS steering angle spacers give Joe the angle he needs to push the rear end out.
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A closer look at the MB’s. Like most drift cars, all the important modifications aren’t visible from the outside. A plethora of FIGS Engineering parts give structure to the under carriage and suspension components. Not to mention the TRD sway bars, Tanabe underbrace, and Ikeya Formula subframe spacers.
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Extra safety comes in the form of a Pro Am spec roll cage in vibrant orange. Next year, this will be updated with a Formula D regulation piece.
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Not much left to the interior; but that’s to be expected in a race car. The most notable being the Personal steering wheel and the bucket seat with Crow harness. The Apex’i S-AFC2 which provides the tuning for the factory 2JZ, site atop the center dash.
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One of Joe’s sponsors, FatLace, is responsible for providing the vinyl livery to the sides. I used a washed out, desaturated look for these photos, mainly because of the background, but also because I think it matches the personality of the car.
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I’m glad I got the chance to meet Joe and shoot his race car; he is definitely one dude to follow closely. If you don’t believe me, just watch him in action. I can’t wait to see the finished result of an off season spent wrenching, and look forward to my ride along at the start of next season with the new engine setup. I’ll be hitting you up next time I’m in the Bay area for a beer and some F1 chat!
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