Every year Final Bout throws some of the best events in the Midwest. This year was Final Bout Gallery, a collection of awesome cars and drivers from not only across the country, but the world. Not only were the Hoonigan’s Rob Parsons and Hert in attendance with their cars, but Final Bout brought over the Sexy Knights, one of Japan’s legendary drift teams. Unlike prior Final Bout events, this was not a team based event, it was only a showcase of individual drivers skills. The driving level was incredible and exactly what Final Bout has come to be known for. To give this set of photos a bit of a different look than my usual work, I reduced the shadows and gave it more of a faded feel than the usual contrasty editing I typically do. Sometimes its fun just to experiment.
Twin Sexy Knights RX7’s.
While I did get a decent amount of photos, this weekend I focused on other priorities. On top of helping a friend learn how to shoot drifting and on track action, the majority of my Saturday was spent shooting a special car away from the track. You will get get to see the reason why soon, but below is a quick preview.
Details.
It’s kinda rare to see FD’s out at “Grassroot” drift events, but they are such beautiful cars.
I will say this every chance I get.
4 door > 2 door drift cars.
There is something about a simple and clean s13.
It’s rare to be able to shoot up at drift cars, so this was a unique angle to shoot.
It’s always cool to see Rob Parsons out there shredding. If you don’t know Rob’s story, go search it out. It’s always an inspiration.
No better photo to end this than with one of the staples of the Midwest drift community, Simba.
It’s always tough at USAir raceway to get great shots without a media pass. Some areas towards “Advanced” are easily accessible from the spectator areas, but the first half of the course just doesn’t turn out well unless you have access. Due to some scheduling conflicts, I wasn’t planning even being at the event, so it was too late to request media access by the time I decided I was going. Even with that, it is always a blast to shoot at Shawano.
It will be interesting to see what Final Bout does next year. Whatever it is, I am already excited for it and can’t wait to mark it down on the calendar.
– Andrew
