The Scion FR-S has been the biggest buzz of the import car scene in quite some time. Formula Drift announcer Jarod DeAnda went behind the scenes of the commercial shoot and captured all the action from flat black Mercedes SUVS to helicopters with huge cameras on them. Follow the jump below to see a ton of photographs.

You can notice in the last photograph it appears the Scion FR-S is drifting in the commercial screen previews!

“TAngelo Racing is happy to announce a return to drifting in 2012 with factory support from Scion Racing. After three years as a Formula Drift judge and technical manager, Tony’s long awaited return to competition is met with personal excitement and lots of hype from his fans.

Tony will be driving the #33 Scion Tc from 2011, with a whole new look and feel. The crew will consist of drifting favorites, “DA Aces” Lindsay Ross as spotter, and Mike “Carluch” Edwards wrenching on the car. While Tony has been keeping active in overseas competition and driving with “Bloodmasters,” a drifting gang producing explosive missile car videos out of Englishtown, NJ, he’s psyched to return to FD competition.

“I couldn’t be more excited to get back into the drivers seat for 2012,” Tony said. “Scion is a brand that is very active in drifting, and is doing really fun things for 2012. I’ve always been impressed by their presence in FD, and I am totally pumped to be part of the Scion Racing Family.”

We have been covering the Scion FR-S over and over again over the past few months but it really is the best new release of a drift ready chassis. Ken Gushi when he was in Japan made his own personal video of drifting around in the Scion FR-S. You cannot really hear the audio of him talking very well with his personal camera he mounted on the car. Ken does note that he was asked to not beat on the car very hard so he did take it a little easy. Check below for the 5 minute in car view of Ken Gushi drifting the Scion FR-S (with ease) around this track in Japan. Follow the link below to check out the video.

The two Toyota 86 (Scion FR-S in America) heading to the D1 Grand Prix series next year have already been seen doing tandem at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon. The car is gaining more and more hype by the minute and it might even convert into car sales. I just love this old school HKS look that NOB will be driving in 2012. The Hibino car also marks the return of Falken Tire to the D1GP series. Check the link below to watch the videos of these two Toyota 86 cars doing tandem!

If you think these slow speed tandem videos look awesome then get ready for D1GP which kicks off in April. If your stuck stateside for all of 2012 then you can always check out Ken Gushi in his Greddy Scion FR-S for all seven events of the 2012 Formula Drift season.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61300566@N05/

The first snapshots of the Greddy FR-S from the NAIAS are popping up on social media sites. Here is the first look at the actual vehicle Ken Gushi will be piloting on display in Detroit. The blue graphics on white displayed on the test mule that Motor Trend caught at Laguna Seca appear to carried over. We notice a Cosworth logo on the side of the vehicle, and can only hope that a cosworth built boxer lay underneath the bonnet shown below.

What do you guys think? Do you think Ken Gushi will be a contender for the championship in this new chassis?

Source: Scion.com

While we are not at the 2012 NAIAS show (Detroit Auto Show) this week we did get an eye raising press release this morning from Scion. A very quick skim of the e-mail should bring you to the fourth paragraph where all of our rumor-mill posts have been confirmed! Back on November 21st we made a post reporting that Ken Gushi would be moving to the new Scion platform with support from Greddy. Well we are super excited to announce that we hit the nail on the head with this one! Sadly I combed the Scion Media website this morning and couldn’t find any pictures of the Greddy project but here is the text copied from the PR.

“The FR-S is an amazing display of Scion’s ability to produce an
affordable performance vehicle. Until now, the Scion tC has been the
main platform for motorsports and racing. We’re excited to announce
that Scion Racing and GReddy Racing have teamed up to create the
ultimate FR-S drift car for the 2012 Formula Drift season! Make sure
to keep your eye on Ken Gushi and the Scion Racing team, who will be
piloting the FR-S in the upcoming season.”

The guys at Motortrend.com don’t really seem to know what they stumbled upon at Laguna Seca this week but it appears they found a turbo Scion FR-S. They have some speculation that the car might be the new Formula Drift car for 2012 or perhaps they were testing/shaking down a new turbo OEM model? Either way we are sure Ken Gushi is at the wheel having a much more fun time than most of us kicking off 2012. Follow the link below to find out more on what Motortrend thought.

Source: http://www.motortrend.com/

The guys at Super Street Magazine are out in Japan with the new Scion FR-S. They are currently at Sodegaura Forest Raceway with Ken Gushi and other media getting to drive the Toyota 86 (our Scion FR-S). Ken Gushi told the guys at Super Street that the car is  ”it’s lightweight, smooth and is perfect for drifting.” Personally we cannot wait to see Ken Gushi in the 2012 Scion FR-S which we hear will be built by the Japanese tuning powerhouse Greddy. It is great to see that Ken is getting some seat time already in the car.

It should hit dealerships in the USA early spring 2012. While Scion is being tight lipped about details on the car we have heard Subaru telling people that the car will get 30mpg. We can only assume that the Scion with the same engine and package will get something close to this.

They won’t say anything about price other than “affordable” but I would venture to guess more than a Scion tC but less than American muscle cars such as the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang. I am dieing to know MPG numbers but they cannot be released yet (I am guessing New York Auto Show). Here are some things about the factory Scion FR-S:
-Factory Aluminum Hood
-12:5.1 Compression
-Toyota Direct Injection
-86 mm x 86 mm Bore and Stroke

Then the photo above features the modified one from Greddy. Here are some of the modifications found on this aftermarket FT-86. This makes us feel like our Ken Gushi x Greddy Scion FR-S partnership for 2012 Formula Drift is even more true or confirmed. At least a step in the right direction with that partnership. Here is the modification break down:
-Rays Progressiv Forged 19×8.5 +45 (front) x 19×9.5 +45 (rear) Wheels
-Greddy Four-Piston Brake Calipers
-Greddy Twin Exit Titanium Exhaust
-Greddy Coilovers

We have more information on this Scion FR-S build happening with Ken Gushi next season! It sounds like RS*R is taking a backseat like we posted a rumormill of earlier and they have a new company taking over building of the Scion. The Toyota GT-86 has been everywhere this weekend and we documented some production photos of what the car looks like as a production model. With a relationship already in place between Scion Racing and Greddy (see the Scion tC above) it sounds like they are going to call on them to complete the 2012 Scion FR-S build for Ken Gushi. We cannot wait to see what they will cook up for the new drifting season.