Grip: Jason and the people at Grip Video go from tuner-to-tuner, show-to-show and event-to-event to find the best cars and the fastest drivers. Always an industry staple, RJ Devera (off The Fast and the Furious) pops in and out throughout the DVD to give his thoughts on everything going on around him; aside from having some killer rides, he's a nice guy. Later on in the DVD Grip takes a look at Re Works yellow Toyota MR-2; Harbor Patrol isn't as happy to see it as we are. Grip also travels to Extreme Autofest to check out mostly the cars and a bit of moves from the breakers. Not much from the ladies, but we don't mind. Sometimes we don't see enough of the really nice cars, but Grip provides good footage from the event. Some footage that isn't the most adrenaline pumping, but a good watch is an interview with Mani Jayasinghe. He's the owner of one 800+ hp Toyota Supra. The man's done a lot of work to the car and he's not scared to drive the JZ like it should be driven, hard. So hard has he driven his baby that the police "borrowed" the vehicle for about 30 days in the impound station. It's really a work of art. Motorex is the only company authorized to sell these rare breeds in the U.S. and also finds its way into the DVD with its R33 GT-R and the Tommy Kaira WRX. Grip rides along with the super fast R33 and WRX. Ken Takahashi is at the wheel.
On the sound, there are a few rough spots. Most of the audio tracks selected are okay, but where does the hard rock fit in? Especially in segments like the Signal Auto. It doesn't match. We like the idea of music to segments, but without narrated voice-overs or a host Grip starts to lose points in terms of personality. Later on in the DVD we do see some of the faces behind the scenes, so that does help, but it should be more frequent. Grip Video is done well. It feels like it's a few guys who love cars and know what they're doing putting this together. With a bit more experience under their belt this series could be a serious contender in the DVD video magazine race. We just want more people on camera and less music over the top.
-- Tyrone Rodriguez | 
