Having retired their time attack Evo VIII, AMS started developing the new Evo X replacement. Judging from the preparation, design and lots of carbon fiber goodies in these images, this new Evo X is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated car at SEMA this week and the upcoming Super Lap Battle at Buttonwillow on Nov 12th.

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Long Beach, Calif. - November 16, 2008 - Rhys Millen won the title of "World Champion" at the inaugural Red Bull Drifting World Championship. History was made with the top drifters from around the world competing for the largest prize purse in drifting history at the Port of Long Beach.

17 past and present drifting champions from the top drifting organizations in the world gathered in Long Beach, CA for the first Red Bull Drifting World Championship. First place qualifier Rhys Millen and his Red Bull Pontiac Solstice outperformed the competition to win the largest single prize of $25,000 in drifting history. Teammate Daijiro Yoshihara and his Bridgestone / RMR Pontiac GTO took home the 2nd place prize of $15,000 and the 2007 and 2008 Formula DRIFT champion, Tanner Foust and the Rockstar / AEM Nissan 350Z took home 3rd place overall and $10,000.

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Long Beach, Calif. - November 11, 2008 - The Red Bull Drifting World Championship prepares for a historical drifting weekend. The city of Long Beach will play host for the event and activities have been scheduled throughout the week including a parade of cars through the downtown area and a draw party at the local establishment, "Smooth's Sports Grill" on Thursday, November 13, 2008. A special purpose built drifting track will be created on the Port of Long Beach for this event.

Pre-event activities for the Red Bull Drifting World Championship include a parade of the competition drifting cars from the Port of Long Beach and through to Downtown Long Beach on Pine Ave on Thursday November 13 at 5:45 PM. The cars will be displayed until 9:30 PM on Pine Ave. A driver autograph session will be held before the draw party on Pine Ave at 6:00 PM featuring the Top 32 Drivers. A "draw" party will be held immediately following the parade of cars and the autograph session inside of Smooth's Sports Grill and will feature the official announcement of the qualifying order for the main event on Sunday, November 16.

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Our friends over at Mad Media pointed us to this clip that they cut for Ken. I don't know about you but gymkhana never looked this fun before. Good job guys.

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The FUJI GT 300km RACE, 9th and final round of the 2008 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held on Nov. 9 at the Fuji Speedway (one lap 4.563 km) in Shizuoka Pref. The winners in the GT500 class were the CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R team of Tsugio Matsuda and Sebastien Philippe. The winners in the GT300 class were the YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE team. The season title for drivers in the GT500 class was won by Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer (XANAVI NISMO GT-R). This gave the Nissan GT-R the title in its GT debut year. The driver title for the GT300 went to Kazuki Hoshino and Hironobu Yasuda (MOLA LEOPALACE Z).

Rain began to fall just before the start of the race, and while many of the teams switched to rain tires, manager Kazuyoshi Hoshino of the CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R team chose to stay with the dry tires they had chosen before the rain. In fact, the rain let up soon after the start and the track began to dry. This sent most of the leaders back to the pit to change to dry-condition tires. This left the CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R alone to take the lead and run away unchallenged to its second victory of the season, following its win in round six. This victory was also the seventh of the season for the new GT-R. It also gave Nissan the record for the most wins ever by a single make of car in a single GT season.

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - (November 06, 2008) - Discount Tire/America's Tire, a long standing North American Drift supporter, is proud to announce its new 2009 team driver. Beginning at Round 1 of Formula Drift in Long Beach California, the unmistakable Discount Tire/Falken Tire Lexus IS350 will be piloted by none other than the internationally known and highly regarded Daijiro Yoshihara. Affectionately known as "Dai," he has proven his ability to not only win, but to seamlessly adapt and perform at the top tier in a wide array of vehicle platforms. For five years running, Dai has consistently placed within the top 5 standings for the Formula Drift Professional Championship Series.

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Las Vegas - November 5, 2008 - Today at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced Need for Speed Live, a unique festival and competition that celebrates car culture. This first-time event will be open to the public and will be hosted next summer at the world famous Brands Hatch Circuit* located near London, England. The weekend-long experience will be a showcase of entertainment, videogames, music, car shows and displays designed to appeal to fans of racing games, proud owners of hot vehicles, fans of exotic cars and motorsports enthusiasts.

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We are excited that Ueo will be back on US soil at the Red Bull Drifting World Championship. He always killed it in the AE86 and it will be interesting to see him behind the wheel of the S15 that he has been competing with in the D1GP series in Japan.

Here's some vintage footage of Ueo in his hachi in the touge from one of the old Option videos. For more info on the Red Bull Drifting World Championship, check out the Official Website.

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We attribute it to the slow economy but, this year's crop of models was a little thin. A bunch of wheel/tire manufacturers didn't even display at the event but we did happen to get a few on camera for you.

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Here are some of the more unique cars that we have seen here at SEMA. We had to do a double take at this Cusco G37. It barely looks like the stock model and had all kinds of goodies under the hood.

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