Words by Tim Wong

Last weekend, Nitto Tire held their first annual Auto Enthusiast Day at Auto Club Speedway. The event was completely free for everyone including to show, to spectate, and to be a vendor. If you got there early enough, there were Nitto goodie bags handed out which included a event shirt and a raffle ticket. This is a really great event overall even though there was on and off rain. Though I don’t really mind rain even when I’m out shooting an event, many people either didn’t know about the event or didn’t want to deal with rain. It was a pretty small event for the venue, but this is only year one and Nitto says they will be hosting more events in the future.

Savini Wheels had several vehicles on display and some being pretty impressive.

This BMW M3 had a interesting vented widebody.

Road Race Engineering had a range of performance vehicles out.

Aerowerkz featuring a line up of wrapped vehicles. These vehicles wraps have come a long way since they first started getting popular. It’s hard to tell what’s paint or wrap anymore without looking closely to the edges. The variety of vinyl designs have become so many and come very close to mimicking real paint.

Liberty Walk / LTMW line up from SEMA 2013 was present with all their over fender madness. Seeing it here in the open is much nice than seeing it indoors at SEMA though.

The Liberty Walk / LTMW BMW M3 E92 showed up with a new wheel design. It appears to have a new wheel face mostly likely hydro dipped.

Rocket Bunny Version 2 kitted Subaru BRZ

Interesting headlights on what appears to be a Dodge Stealth.

Ranz Motorsports / Heavy Hitters 1973 Mercedes Benz 240 coupe

Pair of Hylighter Hyundais from SEMA.

Global Time Attack Subaru Impreza WRX STI

Along side the show, Nitto Tire had drift demonstrations throughout the day. Ride-a-longs were raffled along with other prizes like free tires. Considering the small crowds, the opportunity to win was pretty high. On that same note, since the event was at the track, being trackside was available to everyone too. Even better for us media people, there was a media tower where we could shoot from making things easier for us.

Drifting in the rain was enjoyable to see, but lacking the smoking tires.

Didn’t look like anyone was holding back even with the rain and driving hard. Some came out with some battle scars.