Monthly Archives: October 2014

GTA Super Lap Battle

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Following SEMA this year is the much anticipated Super Lap Battle by the Global Time Attack series which takes place at Buttonwillow Raceway in Buttonwillow, CA!

We’re pretty excited about it. We always attend when we have some sponsored teams to support trackside. Fortunately, we typically don’t have to do much since the teams and their associated cars are very well prepared.  Don’t tell our boss, though. He might make up some job for us to do while we’re at the track.

Anyway, we expect to see the usual suspects at the track- Sportcar Motion, Bobby Lane Racing, and Evasive Motorsports. Hopefully we’ll see quite a few more TEIN equipped vehicles we can assist while we’re there.

Pradana “Ping” Wilianto’s Acura CSX on Mono Flex coilovers:

ping csx

Bobby Lane Racing’s Honda Accord on Mono Flex:

grocery getter

Sportcar Motion’s Acura Integra Type R on Super Racing:

SCM Integra

And the much anticipated Evasive Motorsports Nissan GT-R on Super Racing coilovers:

evasive gtr

Above all, we expect to see some new track records for each respective class!

GTA Super Lap Battle takes place November 14, 2014.

We hope to see you there!

 

SEMA 2014

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The SEMA Show (Specialty Equipment Market Association) is right around the corner. Actually, it starts next Tuesday (Nov. 3) through Friday (Nov. 7).

It is a great opportunity for both distributors and retailers for automotive parts, especially performance parts, to meet directly with the manufacturers they promote, and new manufacturers they would like to meet. SEMA show is a great way in how the performance parts industry can stay alive and continue to grow. We’re glad to be members of this association!

If you have the opportunity to make it out next week, or if you’re already going, please stop by our booth! We’ll be in South Upper Hall, booth #34291.

See all the latest products from manufacturers, including us! You might also meet some familiar faces seen on tv, especially race car drivers from NASCAR or Indy. Plus, it’s Vegas. So you’ve got a lot to do after the show!

We certainly hope to see you there!

sema show (Custom)

Geoff Stoneback’s Report on FD Texas

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 Our good friend Geoff Stoneback has made a pretty great impression on his rookie year under the Formula Drift series, especially in the Pro 2 category, which he currently leads.

It has been far from easy. Geoff and crew have had to learn along the way just where they stack up against the heavily funded teams we all cheer for and are familiar with. Newcomers never have it very easy in this competitive sport. We’re glad to see Geoff sticking to it and giving it his all.

Round 6 in Texas was another tough event. Here’s Geoff’s report:

 gsd fd tx 2 (Custom)

“After a tough defeat at Round 6 Formula Drift, we brought the car back to R/T Tuning to fix our drivetrain issues and make the car 100%. We had enough time to get the car working perfect while also adding a 100 shot of nitrous to keep up with the horsepower wars. We headed to Texas, hitting some scenic routes and stopping at skateparks to ride our BMX bikes. We arrived on Tuesday, hung out with our friend Nate Hamilton and did another once over on the car.

Since we did Pro-Am with Lonestar Drift last year, qualifying first and finishing on top of the podium, we felt very confident going into this round. However, this year the course was changed a little bit with the run up being cut about 100 ft. The clipping points were all moved up 20 feet for the first outer and the second outer clip. They added a second inner clip around the big sweeper, which would drastically change how tandems would be run. A third outer clip was added at the end of the sweeper as well. I didn’t think this would be a drastic change but it took a couple runs to get used to it, but it didn’t flow as well as the previous year.

We made tiny adjustments on the car during early practice and headed into pro 2 practice and into qualifying. The weather was very odd during Texas, with temperatures in the 70s, totally different from last years 110 degrees. During Pro-2 Qualifying it started to rain and we went out to make our first pass. We landed with a score of 68 landing us in 2nd place. Before our second run we were bumped out to the 6th seed and I was ready for the second run! The run started out perfect hitting every clip just how the judges wanted it. As I was entering the sweeper my serpentine belt ripped, I lost power steering and ended up off track getting a 0, ending with qualifying in 6th place. The team and I stayed late, fixed the issues from going off track and put on a new belt after inspecting each pulley.

Friday practice went around and the rain still came. We kept our rain setting on and went out for our practice runs. We felt good going into it and as we did our first Pro-1 qualifying run I ended up with a 69. The rain dried up and the track was getting gripper and people started to make some smoke. We switched to our dry setting and prepared to lay down a solid run to keep us in top 32. We qualified a lot better than some of the top guys so I knew that I had to step it up and secure a good qualifying spot. Our second run landed us in 17th place with a 76. We were set up to go against Conrad Grunewald in Pro-1 Top 32.

After hitting the Pro-1 drivers meeting, it was time for Pro 2 Top 16. Our first battle was against a long time friend and old Team mate Dennis Mertzanis. We led first and on the first turn, Dennis went off track giving us a huge advantage. During our chase we applied pressure throughout the whole course and got the win. Our second battle in the top 8, would be against Jeff Jones. He beat me last time in Seattle, so I definitely needed this win. He led first and we put great pressure on him especially in the sweeper. In our lead run, we laid down a great run, gapping him a couple car lengths and got the win. Moving up into the final 4, we face Brandon Witnick. I led first and had the advantage with him barely anywhere close. In our Follow run, I had to play catch up and went to aggressive into the sweeper, almost spun, giving him an easy win.

Saturday was another day. We wiped the slate clean and stayed positive. Practice went well and we were up against Conrad Grunewald in Top 32. On our follow run, he left us off the line but caught him through the first outer zone and was door to door the entire run. I felt amped and was ready to lead. On my lead run, I came off of the inner clip weird and shot me off line through the whole track. Entering the sweeper I threw too much angle and scrubbed too much speed and Conrad made contact with me. It was deemed my fault and Our weekend was ended.

Although we had a tough weekend physically and mentally, I had a great time hanging out with fans signing autographs and taking pictures. We finished Pro-2 in 4th place, still keeping 1st place in the standings. in Pro-1 we only lost one position and are currently in 24th place. We have a great chance in winning the first Pro-2 championship as well as Rookie of the year!

Thank you for support!”

We now go into the final round at Irwindale Speedway on October 10-11. We hope to see some great results from Geoff. Most importantly, we hope to get to hang out with this swell guy!

Here’s a great in-car from Geoff at Texas!

TEIN Brings Quality Manufacturing Overseas!!!

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We’re very proud of how far we’ve come along as a manufacturer for high performance suspension. It definitely has not been easy to do over the almost three decades of our existence. We’ve seen huge economic swings, some of which could have, and did, bankrupt many companies. When you think of well established marques such as Bilstein, Eibach, Koni, and such, it seems like TEIN is quite foreign a name, especially in the U.S. Even today, it seems that well-respected Japanese manufacturers are disappearing.

However, TEIN has made its name well-known in Japan and in other overseas markets. It wasn’t until TEIN decided to branch out into the U.S. in 2001 that business really started to bloom. The U.S. market opened a new realm of customers, demanding customers, and TEIN was ready to accept that challenge. And we did, with great success.

Now, the TEIN group is proud to announce its expansion into China! It is a huge undertaking for the group, but one that we are quite confident will be a successful endeavor. With this all-new, state of the art manufacturing plant, we will introduce a few new lines of suspension. The most exciting is the performance replacement damper line! Compatible with stock springs or our S.Tech or High Tech line of lowering springs, these will be a huge hit for customers looking for simple upgrades at an affordable price. We will also be manufacturing a more affordable series of coilovers for customers on a tight budget that still want great handling performance.

Again, TEIN’s growth over the years has been far from easy. We’ve had to adapt to the times. We’ve had to change the customers’ perception of foreign manufacturers. Our company founders once said “We are confident in the era of globalization that we can overcome any international boundaries as a ‘made-in-Japan’ brand.” A boundary they took head-on when they created the TEIN brand and looked to change the overseas reception of Japanese manufactured parts. Now they look to redefine the “Made in China” label, a label synonymous with cheap quality goods. We want to show that quality can be had from Chinese manufacturers using TEIN technology and TEIN engineering.

TEIN Japan will continue doing a majority of product manufacturing out of the Yokohama plant (a building which was also new for the company in 2014!). However, we will have many of TEIN Japan’s in-house engineers traveling and living in China to get the new plant going smoothly.

Our new manufacturing plant is almost complete! We look to start manufacturing by end of this month and have the new products available first quarter of 2015!

 

 

photo (Custom)