Mazda

I didn't mean to leave you guys without any new content yesterday but things have been a bit hectic at work which means more time spent there and less time spent elsewhere, however thanks to Mike Branco I've got even more event coverage from this past event filled weekend in the Toronto area. While I wasn't able to make it out to this years Summer Sizzle put on by Pur Secretz Mike happened to be showing at the event and was nice enough to snap a few photos for use here.

Here is the second batch of photos from the first Stretch & Poke meet of 2011. Over 150 cars turned up to this meet which actually dwarfed a few of the shows that day. I am really glad you guys chose Euros for Part 1 on the fan page because it gave me a chance to edit the rest of the photos I took for todays much more photo intensive post.

Before Stretch and Poke I swung by the Krown Lake Shore Charity Show & Shine put on by a friend of mine and fellow Toronto Mazda 3 member. The show was family run and family focused so it had a real positive vibe to it, and it's always great to see automotive enthusiasts getting behind Sick Kids Hospital as they do incredible things (I am living proof).

One thing that always bugged me about the show Family Matters (aside from the obvious) was the fact that in the intro Eddie (the son) was working on a car that never once appeared in any episodes I watched. In fact the only cars that ever saw much screen time in my experience was Frank's PD cruiser and Urkel's Iseatta, talk about real bait and switch.

I saw this Mazda 3 on Work Emotion CR-Kai's a few weeks back and it really reminded me why I was so heavily considering these wheels along with RPF-1s. The look really suits the Mazda 3 and the color these have been powder coated really helps them stand out among the many black and white versions that are floating around.

I'll be honest with you guys, when I started this Theme Tuesday I didn't really think it would come together as well as it did as it is pretty random. However Google never lets me down and it turns out people have been putting World War II type graphics on cars of all sorts for some time. Add to that the popularity of Rusty and the movie cars and cartoon mouths and you have today's collection of photos.

It's a good thing I am not really a gambling man (I don't consider lucking out at slots to be gambling) because if I walked into a casino and said 'put it all on purple' people would realize very quick I have no idea what I am doing. However if I had some money to throw behind Canadian drift teams one of them would be Drift Union. Awesome guys with great cars and even better attitudes. Check out the 2011 lineup.

A few months ago in the dead of winter I got to participate in a Sweetie Girl Racing Advance Driver Training event at Toronto Motorsports Park - Cayuga. The event gave me the opportunity to knock driving on a road course off my bucket list. In addition to popping my track virginity the course also served as a way for me to learn a few valuable tips for daily driving as its main focus is to make everyone involved a better overall driver, and not turn everyone into race car drivers.

So Fast Five opens today (here anyway) and I'm going to see it tonight with a few friends, I have not seen one in the theaters since the second so hopefully it's enjoyable. As I am sure some of you are going as well and because it's inevitable that the parking lot will be full of interesting cars I had an idea: Everyone who is going to a showing and wants to win something snap some photos of the most WTF worthy ride (good or bad) that you see and send them in for next weeks WTF Friday.

Last week the spotlight was on a couple of Canadian drift builds I've been following whereas this week I've got on a few daily driver and show car builds to share. Similar to part 1 the builds this week run the gamut of manufactures but two things remain the same, all of them are Canadian, and all of them should look very sick once the dust settles.

This past Sunday I got to do two things I have never done before. Check out local custom car shop Droptec, and cover/attend a car show while it was snowing. While I don't really want to cover show another again while it's snowing I wouldn't mind attending another Droptec shindig. The vibe at the event was incredibly positive (even with the -3 weather) and you could really tell the entire operation is a family, and close friend operated affair.

I've already shared a few of my favorite Mazda Speed3s here with you, SumThaiGuys white one on SSR Long Champs and the Fat and Flush black one on 17x9 RPF-1s, are two recent examples and I'm about to throw this one from Black Mamba Motor Sports into the mix because it's another speed3 I think looks really, really good. This car is a great example of what can be accomplished with a realistic budget, a healthy drop, and a little originality when choosing a paint color for your wheels.