As you probably already read in our SUMMARY OF TIERP DRIFT CHALLENGE last sunday, there was a lot to offer at TIERP ARENA this weekend.

Its time for step two in our event coverage, finishing things off with a video which might take a while. Just enjoy these pics freelancer Patrik KOMETFOTO Karlsson took during the event and was kind enough to pair up with our blog!

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(Save the best for last, or start with it? This extremely close battle between our own Daniel Asp in the Rocket Bunny LS2 powered S14 and Jim Olofsson in his old BMW E30 had everyone talking. Are you uncertain why?)

(This R32 Skyline driven by Martin Poorhamidi was one of those ”I need to take a closer look” kind of things I never ended up doing. Shame as the constantly hassled Dane looked to run an impressive custom body kit and a screaming single turbo RB20 engine…)

(One of our favourites in the lower class, but the only thing stopping this 2JZ-GTE powered IS200 from running with the big boys is a roll-cage. Great workmanship and driving skill gave Jens Stark the overall win here!)

(We’ve ran into a small and enthusiastic guy on more then one occasion nicknamed ”The weasel”, so it was fun to see his ”Grassroot-ish” 200SX with a 1JZ-GTE in action finally. Top 16 was all she wrote though.)

(Good proximity didn’t matter as Mr.Skogsby in the silver S13 got eliminated by veteran Mikael Svensson in this Top 16 battle. It does impress us though that only one of them is street-driven… guess which one?)

(The Superior S15 owned/driven by Thompa Pettersson has a biiig ”need for speed” and really didnt cut loose until twin-drifting with the best in Sweden. Although the car has heritage from Formula Drift and more, its still an underdog in competition.)

(Another car from the lower class, with someone who deserves acknowledgement for his dedication as a rookie in the sport. Fredrik ”LoFet” Löfmans Supra will with more power and experience for its owner be a force in the future.)

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(90’s Camaros competing in Drifting, with heritage from purebred racing…? Pelle Erikssons ”Swedish Drift Force”  team have slowly stocked up on resources, and just like us been patient competing. Martin who drives this car was eliminated in a typical ”refs got it wrong” battle with ”Tokan” of Raidopower Motorsport but; we’ll leave more then that unsaid and say we want to see more from the ”primer grey” US cars!)

(Tokan of Raidpower was once again involved in a controversial judges call against red-hot Daniel Björck in his monster RWD V8 Golf. I actually believe firmly they did the right call here, but a real winner creates his own luck and Anders aka ”Tokan” is doing his ’thang while others focus on whining…)

(Slap that clipping point Mr. Asp! After securing good enough points to qualify, Daniel decided to gamble a bit and went ”all in” which nearly paid off. But since drifting is about putting on a show, I doubt he has regrets about the low score from this run.)

(One of the most consistent but yet a bit ”un-sung” drivers in the Swedish drifting scene is Mercedes E190  lover Dennis Martinsson. We really like his odd choice of car, and its a sweet sounding machine too. Almost took him to third place, but Daniel Björck nudged him away unfortunately. Still very highly ranked and a favourite of ours.)

(…and here ladies and gentlemen, you see the top two drifters in Sweden at the moment- fittingly facing off in the final of this event. ”Tokan” of Raidopower could not match a Johan Halvarsson of Team Jspec thats focused to win. Congrats!)

(The podium, from the left: Daniel Björck, Johan ”Hollywood” Halvarsson and ”Tokan” Bielkelöf. A very fair Top 3, except we would have loved to see one of our guys there too… 😉 ).

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Again, big thanks to the awe-inspiring TIERP ARENA (go ”Like” ’em!) and their staff who made this a stress-free event for us to debut at.

If you want to read more about drifting them check our the SUPERIOR FACEBOOK and also the one specifically for OUR DRIFT TEAM. Appreciate KOMETFOTO for the pics too!

Det känns som att Gatebil Mantorp är redan så oaktuellt.. Trots att det bara var för någon helg sen.. Men dels så händer det så så mycket hela tiden nu under sommaren.. Och dels så har vi sedan den söndagen på Mantorp redan sett fram emot Gatebil Rudskogen.. Så därför har vi redan avslutat Mantorp helt och hållet.. och allt det materialet som vi samlade på oss insåg vi att det gör mer nytta under det kalla, stillastående halvåren än nu under dagarna precis innan mäktiga Rudskogen.

Vilket som.. När vi var på Mantorp under Gatebil helgen så som vanligt missade man det mesta i all stress..

Men nån gång mellan varven då jag sprang till min bil i Superior Campet så såg jag en rätt så fräck Evo rulla in och ställa sej mitt emot mej.

Ok.. En mattgrön Evo.. Rätt så fräckt..
Det tar lite emot att erkänna att matta färger är faktiskt inte utdött ännu..
Bara mycket mycket (mycket) vanligare..

Det är fortfarande snyggt oavsett.. Även om jag dömde ut det.. Eller just mattsvart iallafall för 1-2 år sen.

Vilket som.. Matt gäller fortfarande.. Bara i annat än svart..

Så en mattgrön Evo.. Det var väl nice..

Timmarna och stressandet fortsatte.. Och det snackades om nån tjej med Evo hela tiden.. Men jag kopplade inte alls vad det gällde just då..

Jag förstår senare att det var just den mattgröna evon som grabbarna snackade om..
Yeah yeah.. Så vadå? Ännu en snusande manhaftig ”tjej” eller?

Något senare när jag stod i depån så ser jag bilen rulla ut..

Slicks.. Åhfan… Tjejen är seriös..

Springandet och stressandet fortsatte.. Och jag bestämde mej för att ta en närmre titt på bilen när jag hade vägarna förbi..

Fullbur.. Rensad.. Och slicks som sagt. Inte illa..
Och då plötsligt var det plötsligt lite lite mer intressant just över att det var en tjej.. Oavsett hur mycket flata/manlig/ful hon nu kunde vara..

Men men..

Stressen mattade ut mej. Och jag tog mej en liten sista i verkstaden på dag 2..
Eller rättare sagt jag däckade..

När jag en liten stund senare vaknar upp av Danne DK´s stinkande strumpor så ger jag mej ut på lite frisk luft.. Och går mot min bil.

På väg mot vårt camp så står där en väldigt söt, blond tjej med stort leende och kollar på mej… Och hälsar trevligt..
Yrvaken som jag är så fattade jag noll.. Just då.. Och nickade bara till lite.

Det var t.o.m som så att det var som först när jag sa till Rani att vi skulle åka iväg lite avskilt och ta bilder på den där Evon, Med eller utan ”brud” som jag förstod att den där nätta lilla, blonda tjejen var både ägare och förare till den fräcka Evon…

Och som om inte det vore nog.. Så kändes det som om alla mina fördomar mot tjejer i bilvärlden och tjejer allmänt fick sej en fet bitchslap när det visade sej att denna tjejen var t.o.m ännu trevligare än vad hon var söt!

Och bilen var inte bara snygg utan helt seriöst byggd för att köra bana..
Och detta var första gången hon var ute på bana med bilen.. Och hon börjar med Slicks!!!

Snacka om att det är en brud som laddar! (Tråkig Turbo-hint)

Men jag bestämde mej för att varken ge eller dra ifrån pluspoäng oavsett om det var en stylingbil eller banbil.. Oavsett om det var en tjej, kille eller chichwithdick som ägde eller körde bilen..

Utan bara helt ta bilen för vad den är..

Cool helt enkelt!

Och om jag gissar rätt.. Så är det en bil vi kommer få se mer utav.. Mycket mer..
Och då menar jag inte att den kommer uppmärksammas en massa i media pga det är en blond tjej som kör den.. Vilket det absolut kommer bli en massa utav..

Utan jag vet nästan rätt så bestämt att detta är en bil som ni kommer få se på bankörningar, träffar och alla slags event..Givetvis också på TimeAttack-Eventen. 

Det ryktas om att hon körde konbana för första gången i helgen med Evo-klubben.. och gjorde rätt så bra ifrån sej..

Så… En banbil som bara råkar vara snygg..
Precis som vi gillar det..

Sen resten.. Vad och hur man ska tycka om det.. är upp till er 😉

Ja den ser faktiskt ut precis så.. Som jag sa till Rani.. Bilden är så bra att man tror nästan det är en fejk/TV-Spels bild… Han tog det som en diss men jag menade bara att den var bra =)

Såna hade tyvärr alla behövt på sina instegslister och sidokjolar.. Varför tror folk att ALLA bilar är Pick-Ups där man måste trampa sej in på ömtåliga kolfiberlister??

Riktigt fräck..

Och här har vi ”lilla” EvoCecilia själv.. Tycker du att hon ser malplacerad ut så är du bara en mansgris 😉

We’ve gotten a lot of variety in content from all our SUPERIOR SELECTED photographers that attended GATEBIL MANTORP 2012, and within that you also get a refreshing mix of ”styles” each guy brings.

Rani ”AUTOMOTIVE PHOTOGRAPHY” Giliana certainly has that, and it was a pleasure to have him over all weekend within the team. Among many ”feature shoots” still on the editing table, these are his general samples:

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(Yellow sure is an easy color to behold,  especially when its a BMW M3 E46 that has been prepped by SS Performance who are well known for their tuning-skills on Bavarian cars. Curious to see how the Gatebil 2012 movie will hold up too…)

(Getting a totally sharp picture of a car that has been built from scratch to slide madly from side to side with lots of smoke; is easier said then done. Its even harder when your machine spends limited time on the track, as poor Olle Hällström of RAIDOPOWER MOTORSPORT was; troubleshooting his pretty unique NA-tuned LS2 powered Nissan 200SX.)

(Rich mix of car cultures indeed. This Honda S2000 with a strong lenience towards stock/OEM refined look ahead of too crazy mods; really fit our taste well- and Rani did give it a deeper shoot as well to share in the future…)

(Camp Superior guest Ragnar ”Ragge” Cederberg with his BMW E36 LS2  *big* Turbo gives the grieving ”thumbs up” after getting an ”immediate nose job” on the front. No biggie though, as he was up and running for our ”Gatebil is All in” session sunday morning!)

(Team Insane Racing and their… well… insane fleet of Corvettes running in the Extreme class were also in the ”troubleshooting mainly” part of the crowd; but this 1000+BHP Vette will be deadly when all bugs are sorted out. Will be a joy to follow inTIMEATTACK.NU!)

(Mazda MX-5 with a bit more HP then stock I would say. Anyone got the specs?)

(Yellow yellow, this time a whole team of them. All very very sharp with the Nissan Silvia S14.5 being the car picked for the Gatebil All in session by them = Something to look forward to…)

(…and for the final pic of our blogtext; this is the car that killed one of our brand new GoPro Hero II cameras we had just gotten from RAIDOPOWER MOTORSPORT. Speed kills, but it was totally worth it as the ”ride along” videos of this full carbon Supra was h o t!)

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Only one photographer to go after Rani, plus another part coming from JalleGraphics. Maybe a trailer of the video we shot to finish our ”general coverage”…?

Always make sure to support our Selected photographers by checking out their own pages, GO HERE to click ”Like” if you are a fan of Ranis work!

With just a quick appearance on saturday for our dutch friend Hjalmar ”JALLEGRAPHICS” Van Hoek, I was expecting a low dose of pics added to our already big collection of GATEBIL MANTORP 2012 coverage. I was wrong.

We have two parts coming with mostly pit action, Mantorp Park has a way of looking monotone unless you dedicate lots of time on the circuit- but I believe this will be something good ”in between”.

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(Slammed Audi A4 with stickers and a intake kit in the headlight and an intercooler —> add +25HP or something. Or is there a deeper meaning spelled A L M to this car…?)

(One of the better cars in the growing Swedish stance scene, this Honda owned by ”Bolek” also represented well at ELMIA EXPO 2012 at OIJOIJ SOCIETY.)

(More equally good Honda love, which one compared to Boleks above one is your favorite?)

(Nicklas Björck is a character in the Audi 5-cylinder scene and always brings an entourage of quirky people. Read on…)

(…there will be funny moments to show as we captured him ignore black flag 4-5 times when his front part started to hang loose during the Extreme race. Despite the reason for being flagged being pretty obvious, he was still extremely pissed about it. All caught on tape too as I said.)

(Mikael ”Wunderbaum” Svensson is good at ”blowing”, which he proudly displays on his Rockstar sponsored Nissan 200SX with LS2 V8.)

(Our buddy and Camp: Superior mainstay Daniel ”Danny the detailer” Karlsson at his part-time job as a Skyline R32 GT-R driving Ninja!)

(Team Driftmonkey had invited Luke Wilson of  ZERO MEDIA over to shoot their shit at the event. Cool to see fellow filmmakers in person, turned out to be a big RX-7 fan as well which we like!)

(The practically only car we really regret did not participate in the Gatebil All in 2012 movie we shot at the event. Good thing there were 11 (!) other sick cars that did run though…)

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Saving the second part for tomorrow, time to do some work for TIMEATTACK.NU that has its premiere in 5 short days.

Know this is a nagging habit, but if you ”Like” the pics then check out JALLEGRAPHICS FACEBOOK and the same with OURS!

Someone who has raised his game on other fronts then pure photography, which he already had an extremely high skill set for- is Martin ”BILBILDER.SE” Persson. With new responsibilities within the SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHER team, you might see less pics of him- put hopefully seeing what he brings on many other areas/photographers. We are indeed moving forward at a far higher pace then the blog can keep up with, maybe as far as not catching up until 2013; but keep enjoying these galleries and the rich mix of different photo-styles + areas covered on events we visit! – – – – – (We see people ”backpedalling” more and more towards times where cars were built on dreams, personal character and not always sanitary business foundations. Ashamed of not exactly knowing what this is, I think we might see more and more ”hybrids” with shells from the 50’s and onwards- and I definitely don’t have a problem with that…) (I can see this pic being a highly suitable choice to show what Gatebil events are all about = Shredding tires in totally reckless style, and doing it proudly for people to enjoy. I just told you something obvious, but if you are reading these texts just move on to more interesting facts.) (Camp: Superior was busy all weekend, with a rich amount of guests and different styles of car cultures. Displayed here is crew manager Tony Wenngrens awesome Time Attack RX-7 built by us and refined by him; while Rickard Klarbys VW Golf on Rotiform wheels stays firmly slammed to the ground in the back.) (The rain was a on/off visitor the entire weekend. It gave opportunities for some interesting shots. Martins analysis of this twisty corner was ”there will be blood”; but no crashes happened… to his disappointment?) (A tribute to my bright red tan or to all the haters who keep inspiring us to stick to ”doing sh*t our own way” and not being too kind of their sore little toes? Nah, just a ”moment” and nothing more.) (Unless entirely mistaken, the car in the background was one of the wildest driving drifters all weekend; and with the ugliest behind on a Nissan 200SX I have ever seen. Not that it matters, when its usually covered in thick clouds of burnt tire smoke. We can confirm this dude as one of the Gatebil All in 2012 participants as well…) (David Johansson and Rani Giliana dancing while a cringing myself looks on with a bottle of beer filled with… water. This pic needs no further explanation.) (The fastest car of the weekend if you believe in Gatebil Extreme races as a way to measure. We made sure to do a more in-depth shoot of it as well, as some hipsters have said for a while wide body Porsches are in hot trend.

We’re just late to the party.) – – – – –

HENRIK OULIE MEDIA, the young man that took the free-styling role in our group of SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHERS at GATEBIL MANTORP 2012 gives us Part II of his ”just having fun” sessions.

Decent amount of people, life in pits and of course some cars. Enjoy and check out OUR FACEBOOK for the general spamming of cool pics and requests for ”Likes” we all appreciate!

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(… … … speechless. Not that Christoffer Geiros Audi A4 that was in our camp all weekend is hard to make look good but… … this is epic.)

(Me be very good automotive journalist, me do great pics many people press ”Like” on with my iPhone. True story bro.)

(Compare the above with this Irish chap. Who is the pro and who is the amateur? Clearly its this Irish fellow who could use a tip or two from a veteran in the automotive media scene. I was trying to give him pointers all weekend on how to improve his results, and HIS COVERAGE (PART ONE – – TWO – – THREE) turned out decent IMO.

All kidding aside, we really appreciated having this full-bloodied pro staying with us for the full weekend. We were even kind enough to not rib him about the Irish goalkeeper Shay Givens efforts in the Euro cup…)

(On to some cars! This is a small package with a big heart, just like owner Mikael ”Diket” Borggren. They both combined pack a damn heavy punch, and he effortlessly placed second in the Extreme race despite not running on pure slicks like the rest. Can we see the destruction of norwegians at Rudskogen…?)

(Team Yellow doing what they do best in their mad Silvia S14.5 build that only sports the best bits directly from Japan. We will see them do a lot of this in our upcoming Gatebil is ALL IN 2012 movie coming… somewhere in the future.)

(…we take a short break to inspect the pit crew; hard at work.)

(This Cobra V12 which is also supercharged was FEATURED BY US last summer, and got crazy attention as usual.)

(And here is the owner, builder and general car building genius Magnus Jinstrand which has done 100% of the work on the above Cobra V12. Here inspecting a fellow friends car, which in hindsight we should have taken a closer look at…)

(Looks like Photographer Camilla from Norway had better luck to get a piece of Daniel ”Limmet” Liimatainens BMW 1-series for a feature then we were! Daniel or crew, if you are reading this; ”no soup for you next time!”.)

(…meanwhile the pit crew are still at hard work at the track.)

(We had to take out the old Skyline DR30 on the track after hours, since its so fast… nah, not even the biggest imbecile would buy that. We just let Nils Gunnarsson take some cool pics of it!)

(The Simpsons have Disco Stu, but we trump that with Disco ”Danny the detailer” who was shaking things up friday evening in the Superior Camp!)

(Apart from obviously being an Ove Harlem loyal customer with his DC gear, he took ”being bling” to a whole other level with the four Audi rings gloriously hanging from his neck…)

(Fellow Superior Camp members Ragnar aka ”Ragge” and Calle Linnarsson looking a bit akward fixing up the BMW E36 with LS2 twin-turbo engine transplant. Great guys who might become more then just guest of our camp in the future…)

(Final pic is a classic ”live in the pits” one, its a big part of Gatebil events to mingle around and taking a closer look at the sick cars that just tore up the track. Kai Roger Bakken anyone?)

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Great coverage by Mr. Ouuuulie, who has a bright future in our team- as long as he gets some proper sleep before the events! 😉

As usual, a simple ”Like” of HENRIKS PAGE and also OURS is good enough to keep the galleries coming. Deal?

When I recently went to Norway to sign longtime dynamic soundboard Daniel Hovdahl aka O’SNAP as a part of SUPERIOR MEDIA, I got a ”two for one bargain” with another young photographer who often tagged along whenever they went to events.

This norwegian gentleman’s name is HENRIK OULIE (FB FANPAGE) and this is what he was up to at GATEBIL MANTORP 2012 ”just having fun” with the camera. Enjoy!

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(We open this up with some some crew love. Rani Giliana to the left was one of the ”weekender” photographers while the fresh dude in the middle Pierre SIR_PIERRE Ingelsgård was making everyone happy in the Superior Drivers Club. The guy on the right of things in the gay shirt… just ignore him.)

(One of the most entertaining things about Gatebil at Mantorp is being able to see the carnage up close from this start – finish wall. But not anymore! Some members of the press there decided to ban people from there, so they could take better pics. Big mistake IMO, not the only one either…)

(Our DR30 Skyline has gotten praise left and right but… Isn’t it ”charmingly ugly” from certain angles as well? BTW, check out the latest issue of Banzai Magazine!)

(The Superior Drift S15 owned by Thompa Pettersson was making some noise all weekend even though it was just practicing. Credit to ”Thompa” who finally seems to have cooled off a bit since buying a ex-Formula Drift car and is now working more relaxed trying to improve his driving.)

(…there is a reason this Gulf designed S15 from Norway follows a pic of our own livery. We are flattered when people say we have similar style to the classic brand, but yeah- obviously something completely different when side by side.)

(The face of a madman!?! Um… Looks like the nicest guy in the world? Would you be surprised if I said this could be one of the worlds most fierce tire slayers with his 4WD Audi…?)

(One of our specially invited guests for the weekend in our camp was the King of the Swedish VIP scene: Christoffer Geiros. Obviously, this is the worlds most easy car to take stunning pics of!)

(I know people rage on about a Formula one start being a thing to experience before you die, but I don’t think Gatebil Extreme and their road race comes that far away either in terms of orgasmic engine experiences.)

(We were filming. A lot. And it really takes a team effort to do it. Here you can see David Johansson doing all the easy work while I do the excrugiating effort to just point and say what to shoot. Life as manager of the Superior brand is tough indeed…)

(Here is a guy who has grown on me ever since he while being interviewed by me said in my face ”everything Japanese is crap”. Since I have spend most of my adult life importing these cars, I found it quite funny- but pretty sure he meant no harm and with a generally nice attitude and drifting skills to match… Well its east to just like Dennis Martinsson. Bonus points for giving me a wild ride in a Golf cart one late evening too!)

(Final blogpic is that of Kenneth Groth who is always taking good care of Henrik and Daniel Hovdahl during events. Also someone who will lead the frontier when Drifting as a sport starts growing bigger, very well spoken and with a ”no whining” attitude. Something many Swedish drifters could learn from. Chap next to him is Stian Sörlie who is a prominent GT-class racer himself…)

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Almost one week from the start of the event we are just getting into the ”after talk” spirit here in the Superior-blog. Also like to thank GATEBIL EVENTS for having us here.

Tomorrow we’ll have Part II up of HENRIK OULIE MEDIA (CLICK!) pics, and we urge you to check out OUR OWN FACEBOOK for everything in-between until then!

Finally we are back in our own drivers seat, the huge pile of E-mails and the critical evaluation of how we executed GATEBIL MANTORP 2012 are over with. Now lets just show you some of the good stuff!

Christoffer Talvis is one of our SUPERIOR SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHERS who relies less on editing and more on capturing the moment. We really hope you like his style, he is a regular mainstay at Swedish online automotive magazine GREENLIGHT so if you like this then go and check it out!

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(Mean, meaner – Kai Roger Bakken! This borderline spaceship Audi S1’ish Gatebil Extreme mainstay gives you emotions just by standing still in the pits. He was unfortunate to blow up his engine far

up to cosmos; but is definitely an iconic build for these events.)

(Alvin Laegreid brings like many nuts norwegians like him; the ”bread and butter” of Gatebil events = High-powered cars built only for reckless driving and tons of smoke. It was a shame teammate and personal favorite Öivind Översveen were left at home with a broken gearbox- but instead he had equally nice and playful teammates who also were very generous with the Rom & Coke during the after tracks!)

(All I ever hear from people not too familiar with Gatebil is ”how the hell do you define an event like this, what is it all about?!”. You’ve basically answered your own question by asking that, since the sick mix of different car cultures that remind you of that ”holy shit I have to get my friend really drunk really fast” at the end of a pre-party translates into insane builds like this Chevy Truck that is in fact a Corvette C5 base with the pick-up truck body on top of it?! Photoshoot coming…)

(If tire smoke was a religion, Gatebil would be its Jerusalem for sure; as people pilgrimage many miles only to lay waste to rubber. This 1200+HP BMW E30 owned by Rikard Ivars did not have to travel that long, but still did his routine prayer to the tire slayer gods like a good believer…)

(The carnage and savage nature of how cars are used is another one of those ”caveman entertaining” things these events offer. Pretty sure its fun while it lasts, and many importers of cheap body kits from China are rubbing their hands every time this happens.)

(…not to mention that engines with sometimes double, triple or even four times the factory engine power being driven like these… can lead to certain meltdowns. Here you can see a manifold having cached fire, shame on such a nice build!)

(Although most of them stick in the pits, I find it extremely ballsy of owners of exotics such as this Lamborghini Murcielago also being taken for a spin on the track sometimes. There is at the Norwegian events a ”exclusive” session, but here in Sweden it had to mingle with the rest of the streetcars. Bold indeed.)

(Drifting in Sweden is still pretty small, and very poorly organized- but there are some drivers with heart and soul that more then make up for that. Andreas Jansson in his BadAssparts sponsored Nissan 200SX was unlucky with some fuel pressure related issues, but we hope the SR20DET loyal drifter rebounds at his next event!)

(Another team thats also in the frontline of Swedish Drifting is Raidopower Motorsport who have been rocking the scene pretty much alone for many years. For this season they signed up quite the talent in Joel Yveborg from the northern regions of our country; and he was there to do some testing in his recently supercharged LS2 powered car. Nice guy as well!)

(We end this gallery with one of ”our own”; Danny ”the detailer” Karlsson who drives his Superior Imported Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R like there is no tomorrow. Only one setting on his Boost-controller… Highest!)

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We are trying to keep you more updated with teasers and such on OUR FACEBOOK, so please go there and have a look as well.

Thanks to Christoffer who is first out of our photographers. We’ll have a new one with slightly smaller galleries daily from now on…

After a long silence, we will give you quite a treat to forgive us as we give our SUPERIOR SELECTED guru photographer Martin ”BILBILDER.SE” Persson the honors of releasing the first official photo of Superior Drift 2012! We spent almost 24 hours a few

sundays back shooting three of the official team cars, and also had some track time testing them out. But info about that is coming at a later stage (we love saying that these days) and we focus on this gorgeous sample Martin was kind enough to release if you promised you would LIKE HIS FACEBOOK PAGE and continue to support him. Not too much to ask, but we’ll still leave it to you if its worth the effort if you really like the pic: Martins own comments on this specific setting were that the environment was a pleasant surprise in the dwindling light of dusk: ”I didnt have the occasion to prepare much before (which is something you have to be used to as a photographer), but seeing the temple with its surrounding area- I just felt it was the best place symmetrically with many contrasting textures. Having the morning light available for the threesome was a real blessing. Very satisfied with the result!”

– Martin ”BILBILDER” Persson

We are very happy to bring you this desktop sized picture free from any watermarks (I guess the message of the pics is still kept quite clear). If you do want to ”share” it, we would be extremely happy if you linked to SUPERIOR FACEBOOK and also BILBILDER FACEBOOK. Thanks in advance!

A pleasant surprise is coming as RANI GILIANA gives us one more SUPERIOR SELECTED gallery from BILSPORT PERFORMANCE AND CUSTOM (or in commoners own words ”ELMIA 2012”).

Swedish premier track/raceway MANTORP PARK had a really sharp display this year, throwing a bit of everything into the mix to show people they were down; but now are far from out.

Because if you didn’t know yet, our countries most recognized and always ”first that comes to mind” when it comes to either dragracing, track days and festivals- went bankrupt this winter.

It quickly found new owners in publishing company FABAS that among many magazines publish the biggest automotive enthusiast magazine called BILSPORT.

This is on paper a perfect fit, since many of the big events like Gatebil Sweden, Action Meet and more have been organized by said organization for many years.

It was only logical then, and we hope they will bring new life not just to the track itself; but give the whole scene a vital injection…

Judging by the cars they had handpicked for their stall, they have the right feeling on whats hot right now. Johan ”Hollywood” Halvarsson and his Kermit green S15 2JZ-GTE drift car was a bit early from its livery of the season.

So we give you the pleasure of his recently released promo-video to show you how it looks right now, the man with the manly mustache will surely head into the season as someone that can snatch a Top 5 finish in any event he participates in…

Two really sharp E30 BMW’s also proudly took a lot of space in the stall, where one of them belongs to a very likable guy named Rickard Ivars.

His builds  on various ”Bimmer-chassises” have always resulted in the same thing; dreadfully fast in the 1/4mile!

This might have the look of an ordinary tuned car, but under there lurks 1020 RWHP ready to thunder down the quarter mile in under 9 seconds…!

Rouding things off was this amazing US-build, with a properly sized Supercharger not too violently hidden…

Hats off to the organizers, and RANI (CLICK FOR HIS FB FANPAGE!) did an awesome job shooting it.

We have been more then pleased with what we’ve produced from ELMIA 2012 EXPO in the photography aspect of covering it. Wouldn’t mind feedback from our readers about what you think?

We are doing some big changes in the near time here at Superior, so we hope you keep an eye out on OUR FACEBOOK for ”small nuggets” being released and hints of whats to come as well.

Sadly, we might be in for some sacrifices to make; but always for the great good. Hope for your continued support and enthusiasm!

As a new spice to the Superior-blog which is hideously slow these days due to so much behind the scenes work, we add our friend in Japan Seiji Ishikawa @ REVOLT-IS as a partner.

He frequently visits different meets in Japan as well as tuners directly, and continues to share his adventures with us.

To really put things in the limelight they deserve, we let our own SUPERIOR SELECTED pro Martin ”BILBILDER.SE” Persson give all his pics a little ”brush” to get the final presentation quality that they deserve!

This means we have something genuine JDM for our followers to bit on from time to time. And we will continuously post previews at OUR FACEBOOK before getting the whole gallery here in the Blog.

We are as mentioned in some major overhauls when it comes to the blog and media, so just enjoy it and continue to give us feedback and we’ll reward it many times over!

We are very grateful to be handed this material exclusively, and you can feel free to visit REVOLT-IS on Facebook to become a fan of Seijis different adventures.

Likewise we would like to flag BILBILDER.SE as another place to ”Like” if you like to see a professional photographers work on a daily basis…

There is no denial that the JDM Pro-drifters have builds in a class of their own, and you get astonished by every little participant. This years field looks sharper then ever, with the introduction of the new FT86 from Toyota/Subaru really making an impact on the series.

Really wish we could give you more background on each car, but if you FOLLOW OUR FACEBOOK we might give you some fun facts about each of these masterpieces there!

Do you have a personal favorite in the D1GP circus you would like to read more about?

Don’t be shy to comment below if there is anything catching your eye and extra curiosity!

Today we bring you more in the aftermath of the ELMIA 2012 EXPO which we are far from done with.

We at Superior are proud to say that quality over quantity is something we are able to live up to on many occasions, and this some Stance/Lifestyle community OIJ OIJ SOCIETY truly made our job easy to maintain that principle.

They had two head and shoulders above the best stand (ever?) at the expo, and can be very proud of themselves for the result.

Something worth to also credit, is that the organizers of the expo = BILSPORT MAGAZINE finally gave a growing trend a shot at glory and look what happened:

We hope this is a breakthrough, and they will continue to hand out confidence in creative & driven groups to create stand-out things like these on Scandinavias by far biggest and most historic auto expo!

Therefor, instead of leading you by clichés and explaining things that are obvious looking at the pics- we simple present you the gallery and let you enjoy it:

If you think this is what we should devote our energy from, and you also feel the pics by RANI GILIANA AUTOMOTIVE PHOTOGRAPHY excels- don’t be shy to comment below about it!

Also support OUR FACEBOOK where we often drop teasers for our SUPERIOR SELECTED galleries. Thanks!

When a guy has over 30 car builds in his trunk, ranging from every kind of car culture possible- you know something epic will happen more often then not every time a new project is started by that very same person.

Our own co-host SIR_PIERRE can tell after many years admiring; and pondering to buy some of Roland ”DubRolle” Zetterström builds the past couple of years- that he is the real deal.

Anyway, this year he did so well that he is without further ado, our Superior choice of ELMIA 2012 EXPO with this ”bastard” Toyota KE70:

Its hard to know where to start trying to describe this old school beast that is more stuffed with different trends then you can probably count. The easiest way to brand it is… fun!

”DubRolle” said plenty of memorable things when we interviewed him about it, and on top of the list a quote like ”I was hoping to build more of it in carbon/kevlar, so it would be easy for tire explosions that ripped through the bodywork”. And the big bits of this precious (and very strong) material is definitely a good starting point to talk about:

Its something thats usually found on hardcore race cars, and the same can be said about the 36 metres of material roll cage that ”Rolle” has custom built = its not built to just shock and impress fanboys– its built to be used as well:

We were already from our first meeting trying to persuade him to hit up either a TIME ATTACK EVENT or possible one of the Swedish drift meets to prove his point. And I don’t think he was kidding when he said he would definitely do it.

One of the keys for it to finally run properly and without being scared of wrecking it; was the engine. Which also deserves a bit of extra attention as its not what you’d expect from such a hardcore JDM build:

”Is it a 1JZ-GTE?” or maybe something cool and odd like a turbo converted old AE90 engine to keep things strictly JDM… But you will be disappointed if you are a purist.

In fact, its one of the most common engines you can find on Swedish road, a 5 cylinder Turbo from a Volvo V70R!

Its been a bit modified with a larger turbine, better camshaft and general ”boost up” modifications. But talks are leading towards a more serious 450HP engine build which most skilled Swedes can do in their sleep with this trusted platform…

If you are not obsessed with these details, you will forgive the ”non-JDM” engine and look closer at everything else that will make even the most diehard fundamentalist twitch. Such as the front lights, exclusive for the Japanese Domestic Market.

Rolle kept his crosshair to the far east, and even incorporated some mainstream yet still not entirely cleared significant details such as the ”Idlers” markings on the tires:

They truly earn their place as the founding father of Rauh Welt, ”Nakai-San” would probably gladly accept ”Rolle” into the club circuit freaks in his clientele are a part of (Idlers).

The Compomotive wheels also do their best testing the eye of the beholder if they are old and plain or just fit the build perfectly.

To sum this up and end things with a bit of a motivation to why this ”Cocktail of car culture” freak of a build caught our eye and also persuaded our photographers RANI GILIANA and MARTIN PERSSON– I think all you need to do is re-read the text and understand there is (once again) not an advance reason.

We just… like our stuff mixed! Like people using their imagination, well beyond the ”set rules” some far more boring car builders waste yours and our time with!

A huge congratulations to Roland ”DubRolle” Zetterström for such an impressive build, and a highly fitted choice as a genuine car builder + enthusiast that can take the title Christoffer Geiros Audi A4 took last year with pride.

You are more then welcome to see the REST OF THE LIST HERE and give us your feedback on how you liked our picks on OUR FACEBOOK. Thanks again for sharing our work if you really enjoy it!

To visit the BILSPORT PERFORMANCE AND CUSTOM MOTOR SHOW means you will get a sample of every possible dish out there within automotive culture. ELMIA 2012 was no exception, and we’ve had some big surprises on our TEN OF THE BEST list thats reaching its end quickly now.

Today we bring you another BIG slice of ”different” and our two SUPERIOR SELECTED photographers RANI GILIANA and MARTIN PERSSON fell head over heels over this one:

This is ”The Juxtapod” and is as much a piece of art as it is a Hot Rod build. In fact, when you browse through the creators HOMEPAGE (CLICK!) you get a feeling its more of the first then latter.

Besides a color that literally sucks you into watching it like the beautiful White Queen from Alice in Wonderland does; it also presents the unique (?) combination of handmade crystal to car building:

I think the definition of artwork and machine is once again more defined towards the first, as it would hurt my aesthetic heart to ever see the engine started up and let these crystal velocity stacks get dirty.

Besides the use of that we also see warm tones of wood coming back reccuringly, everything done at almost ridiculous finish:

We have to be honest and confess Hot Rods as this one is way out of our comfort zone, but our research tells us this is a beautiful bastard of different decades in automotive- with a bit heavier influence from the 60’s.

The chassis itself would be fair to say is a Ford Model AA 1928, and the thing that (was supposed) runs this is a Chevy 348 engine and 350 Gearbox.

Mattias LeBeef Andersson as the builder is exotically named, has together with Ludvif Löfgren built something truly unique; that no cliché can honestly explain.

For the first time in this TEN OF THE BEST series I feel we don’t have enough pictures to do The Juxtapod justice. But hopefully you will FOLLOW THEIR BLOG to get to know it more…

Tomorrow its time to pick our SUPERIOR CHOICE from the ELMIA 2012 EXPO, and if you have been following THE LIST you know its bound to be something very exciting.

Hit us up at OUR FACEBOOK where we will release some teasing shots of the top ranked build from the expo. You won’t regret it!

First things first. We are reaching the end of our TEN OF THE BEST list from the BILSPORT ELMIA 2012 EXPO, and we need to thank the two guys who have provided all the cutting edge pics for the series once again.

How to do that you ask? Well, just venture into RANI GILIANAS and MARTIN ”BILBILDER.SE” PERSSONS own Facebook pages and just click ”Like”.

Simple enough ey?

Whats not as simple to give a thorough review, is Albin Asks Honda S2000. But here we go to try and give it some justice in a few pictures and text:

This car was standing with the guys representing CLUB-JDM SWEDEN in the A-hall, and I feel embarrassed to admit I only gave it a few quick looks while rushing to the bathroom nearby a few times at the beginning of the weekend.

Fortunately though, both Rani and Martin catched it very early, and had plenty of time to shoot these a tad bit mysterious but delicious pics to let me know I had to take a closer look:

During the round-up of all the awesome cars we’ve had, this car went from a sleeper on the list; to crashing into the Top 3 in the end- much to the merit of how photogenic it was.

You can’t deny that even if you are not a big fan of chocolate brown metallic paint its still one hell of a grateful color to photograph!

Something that also makes it stand out once you admire these pics, is the bodywork. Albin explained during an interview (will be posted later tonight) that when he got the car, it looked like ”the fenders had gotten widened using a steel pipe” or something.

Now, after he went through them personally and added custom over fenders, its a whole different story:

Combining that with flawless and perfect stance on those wheels, we got ourselves the winner that deserves to be placed this high on this list.

But there is more. Authentic JDM-parts tend to give you a certain swagger that no replica parts can do:

The Powerhouse Amuse front bumper is one thing, hiding that big Intercooler quite casually; because this car is not afraid to admit its boosted.

Under the bonnet we find a full turbo-conversion with a Garrett 30/71R turbine that is capable of feeding air well above 400+HP!

Albin told us that soon after the expo, the mapping will be done and it will definitely have more then enough power to embarrass most cars not only in style- but in performance as well.

(I know those seats have most of you already hooked!)

As mentioned, we have an interview by SIR_PIERRE with Albin Ask coming later tonight. Check out OUR FACEBOOK not to miss that!

We would like to thank everybody who has shown appreciation for the TEN OF THE BEST series from ELMIA 2012.

The runner-up and ”Superior choice” of the entire expo will be up soon, we are thrilled to finally show you who we picked…!

The TEN OF THE BEST series is a classic ”Top 10” list, but without formal rules. I state this, because this pick might surprise most of you car enthusiasts out there. #4  is all about subtleness.

Owner Markus Karlsson has had a history of sweet BMW builds before, and now he puts his paws on a pretty much brand new base in a BMW 5-series F10:

The fact he started on something as new as this is very uncommon in Sweden. We see it all the time in the big US of A, where its basically a big ”bragging race” to do a ”tune” of a as new car/model as possible. Not so much here.

While again its no guideline for us either, the SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHERS Rani Giliana and Martin Persson got very attached by the above fact. Maybe its because they were among the lucky who saw a ”real” BMW M5 F10 when they covered THE FRANKFURT IAA 2011…?

The resemblance to the Münich top-model is impossible to miss, and a pack of ”M-sports” parts make this car what it is- not to mention the 21″ ADV 1 5 2 TS wheels that crown Markus car:

They are only temporary though, as 22″ Iforged CHA2 beauties are coming. Makes you wonder how us ”mere mortals” and boring people can go on with normal sizes like 18″…?

Again, this car will represent what less is more means and how much tasteful mods can equate to an awesome result as well.

We will happily accept if people think this car is too subtle, at least enjoy the pics and we promise more ”fireworks” in the Top 3- Markus Karlssons BMW is for all those purists out there!

If you want to know more about Markus Karlsson and his previous builds, I advice you to visit his GARAGET PROFILE (CLICK!) where there is more info.

As usual, if you appreciate our work; check out OUR FACEBOOK plus click a quick ”Like” for RANI GILIANA and also MARTIN PERSSONS personal pages. Thanks in advance!

Lost in the mix of ”Superior TV” clips and our ”Ten of the best” list, we bring a mixed gallery outside of what was exclusively posted on OUR FACEBOOK (which you should definitely check out if you haven’t yet!

This gallery is from Hall A + B from BILSPORT PERFORMANCE AND CUSTOM MOTORSHOW 2012 and are taken by Christoffer Talvis. 

(Our own little stall which was mostly about having a place where members of the Superior Family had a place to sit and chill, not to mention two cars you should recognize by now…)

(Wild colors and even wilder wide-bodies show cars is the expos bread and butter. Not to everyones liking, but still adds flair to the event.)

(Last year we saw Patrik Ljungs Volvo V70 V8 RWD car donning the Police livery, this year a Evo IX was doing the honors (!? saluting our long arm of the law…)

(The ”B hall” must be our favorite with a direct approach to tuning & performance cars. These two Speedsters renamed ”Badsters” look like they live up to their name any day at the track you want!)

(Peter Björck and his 88mm Turbo rocking it in this shot. Anything else? Oh year, 1200+ RWHP is where its at.)

(Richard Klarbys VW Golf R on Rotiform wheels made #8 on our TEN OF THE BEST LIST from this expo. Well deserved!)

(Like we said, the B hall has a much wider array of the best ”tuning-builds” and even some exotic that belongs to Mercedes styling guru ”Lars K”.)

Hope you enjoyed that, our coverage from this expo which is the definite starter of the season in Scandinavia will continue.

Also check out Mr. Talvis own ”online mag” (free!) GREENLIGHT MAG to also se a issue telling more about the ELMIA 2012 EXPO coming soon!

We don’t do fancy and ”hipstermatic” intros for our SUPERIOR SELECTED ”Ten of the best” lists, we just friggin do them.

But for this car there could be an endless amount of flamboyant intros and explanations for why we included it as one of our favorite cars on ELMIA 2012 EXPO. But…

Lets just say there were 250 reasons to pick this car over a bunch of other really fantastic builds:

Yes! That is 250kg of Marshmallows ”dressing up” the car on the ground! And as you can imagine, the owner Jani Lemberg having quite a few ”WTF’s” when he placed the order for all that candy.

But never mind that, as gimmicks is not what sold us in on this car. So what did, its as far from a rough drift or Time Attack car you can come- and lacks all the ultra-modern cool of something from the Hellaflush scene.

The simple reason this joker is on our list is photogenic ability and natural charisma! 

I can’t give any scientific explanation much as I can’t deliver more of the hip clichés, but I will say that if this car does not make you smile- you need to check if you have warm blood flowing through your heart- or maybe you need to find where it was you lost that childish enthusiasm along the way of becoming a stiff grown-up!

Our two SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHERS guilty for these yummy pics had nothing different to say then the above to why they ranked this odd Nissan so high in the rankings.

”Simply damn cool” said RANI GILIANA, and collaborating support photographer MARTIN PERSSON had a sick grin on his face as he said ”this is the joker of the bunch” when presenting me their picks. Fair enough!

We wish we could tell you more about the builder of this car, from the short research done online its hard to get a grasp of earlier builds etc. It is equally flattering as it is puzzling when in all honesty, a 14 year old girl could have done the outlining of this project?!

We appreciate the tender break from everything serious though, and hope you enjoy this car as well.

As you may have noticed if you have followed the TEN OF THE BEST list so far, the number of photos just increased; and will continue to do so for the next four entrants.

So please show your support to bring them out before the week is over by visiting Facebook fan pages of RANI and BILBILDER.SE —> To click ”Like” there… 🙂

Want to pick one enthusiast and his build to represent what the Swedish Hellaflush scene is with one swipe?

Look no further then Marcus Eisenhuts Honda Integra that for this season is nearing full marks in all areas within this culture of car tuning.

He was already leading the pack of US-trends here in Sweden, and has for this season put extra effort into the engine bay especially- so it was definitely the thing to focus on for our SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHERS shooting this ”Ten of the best” series from the ELMIA 2012 EXPO:

The car itself is mildly improved from last season, but we don’t consider that since its officially out in this expo representing how far along the ”Stance-scene” has come in just ~365 full days from last years expo.

Our two ace photographers RANI GILIANA and MARTIN PERSSON doing this series exclusively, seem to enjoy shooting this car- and its easy to get satisfying results with some privacy and extra flashes on it:

We also had time to let our Superior-TV co-host SIR PIERRE do a short interview with the man himself, explaining that it seems like things are going pretty well for the ”Stance scene” when even the countries biggest expo dares to invest in it.

Marcus car was just one of many very impressive ”Stance builds” and we shot a big feature of it that displayed what an awesome presence the OIJ OIJ SOCIETY guys had- by far the best stall of the ELMIA 2012 EXPO!

As usual we encourage you to FOLLOW OUR FACEBOOK and also pay a visit to collaborating Superior Selected photographers RANI AUTOMOTIVE and BILBILDER.SE. 

We appreciate any feedback!

This years PERFORMANCE AND CUSTOM MOTORSHOW celebrated esteemed automotive magazine BILSPORT 50 year anniversary. For that occasion they had an entire hall dedicated to different cars that had been published over the years, and this Mopar beast was what attracted our SUPERIOR SELECTED Photographers the most: This is Peter Holmerts Dodge Challenger that has gone the full ”Pro Mod” route, meaning it has a much more modern engine, drivetrain and interior. Say what you want about old US-muscle builds, but its very hard to argue a build like this hitting our list. Its just something that makes the current re-released Challenger quite ugly looking… We’d like to thank BILSPORT for giving us

the opportunity of providing you this series and many other things from the expo, and in the same sentence mention Johan Eriksson who writes for them- and show our appreciation for their continuous support. ”Like” this? Go to OUR FACEBOOK and if its not too much trouble, take a look at RANI AUTOMOTIVE and BILBILDER.SE if these kind of quality pics turn you on as much as us!