Category Archives: Motorsports

Pikes Peak Hillclimb is around the corner

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The 2011 Pikes Peak Hillclimb is just a little over a week away. There are a few big teams going out to the 89th running to break the unlimited class record. You might have already seen a bunch of the testing videos of Rhys Millen, Dallenbach Racing, Dancia Duster, etc… if not you might want to search on youtube. Some amazingly fast cars.

I love the unlimited cars for their technology and sheer craziness but I what is really interesting to me are cars that are modified production vehicle. Zenkai Motorsports’ STi is one of those cars. It has previously competed in Time Attack and Gymkhana. For PPHC it will be driven by Stephan Verdier. Stephan will actually be pulling double duty. Competing in Global Rallycross on June 17 and 18th, then attacking the mountain on June 24th.

Check out the serious front splitter. Not unusual for a Hill Climb car.

For the Rallycross Stephan will be behind the wheel of his STi equipped with TEIN Gr.N dampers. The following weekend he will be behind the wheel of the Zenkai STi which is has TEIN Super Racing dampers.

We wish Stephan the best of luck in both events.

Here are some videos from last year.

Patrik Flodin Places 2nd in Rally Argentina!

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Patrik Flodin and the Uspenskiy Rally Tecnica fought a tough battle during this year’s Rally Argentina. However, team and driver efforts garnered a 2nd place podium finish for the team.

The URT rally team chased down some electrical problems after SS6 that retired them from competing the remainder of the day. Once they resolved the issue, Flodin continued his charge, quickly closing the gap on first place driver Hayden Paddon.

Repairs continued throughout the rally.

Tire preservation proved to be difficult for many teams
Tire preservation proved to be tough for many teams this year.

Flat-out, and nothing less!

We congratulate both Flodin and Team URT and their continued push to see this event through. It was a great result for an otherwise terrible setback! Way to go, Patrik and Team URT! We wish you all the best this season!

Looks too easy

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Came across this new video of MadMike Whiddett’s newly rebuilt Mad Bull FD RX7. He makes this car slide like its on ice.

All I gotta say is… Rotary > V8 (yea.. yea.. hate it or love it). Hear it scream and spit fire!
Mike is running TEIN Super Drift coilovers on his Mad Bull RX7 & his Bad Bull RX8. Its unfortunate he didn’t make it out to the US for Formula this year, but we will look forward to hearing how he does at the International Drift Challenge held at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney Australia later this year.

The Little Engine That Could/Can/Will

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I seem to never get tired of this car. It’s proven to be quite a competitor in Rally America. In a sport largely dominated by high horsepower, all-wheel drive platforms, this little box has really held its own.

The team is relatively young in comparison to many competitors within the series, regardless of vehicle class. But their professionalism really stands out. We are more than happy to be a part of this team, as their suspension provider, as well as Philip Chase, our Marketing Director lending a helping hand as a Crew Chief.

And this team only seems to be getting better! Check out their up-to-date blog

http://rallyxd.com

As if running a rally team wasn’t enough, they make sure to update their blog with the latest information- rally events, vehicle development, as well as awesome in-car video clips and amazing rally footage.

Here’s one of my favorite pics of our suspension. I think it looks better with the dirt on it. How say you?

In case you’ve missed out on previous posts on this car, our HG damper kit was a custom setup, developed through our Specialized Damper Program which is also available to the public.

And with some newfound turbo power, they’ll sure to be hard to chase.

Testing at DirtFish Rally School in WA.

Ready for the Olympus Rally to start in Ocean Shores, WA. New driver Andrew Comrie-Picard (ACP) and co-driver Robbie Durant.

We wish the Scion rally team the best in their efforts in 2011! Oregon Trail Rally starts tomorrow at Portland International Speedway.

Tradin paint and fiberglass plus Big Air

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Rd. 2 of the Global Rallycross took place this past weekend at the Old Mill Adventure Park in Snoqualmie, WA (also home of the DirtFish rally school). The 2 day event is broken into two style of races. The first, held on Friday is SuperRally. Basically one on one battles with a bracket system finishing with an overall winner. In SuperRally, Stephan finished 3 overall but had an awesome battle with Dave Mirra in one of the rounds. Check out the video.

In case your wondering, Stephan went on to win a third and deciding race against Dave to advance.

In the Saturday RallyCross, Stephan qualified first and finished the AWD final in 4th due to a punctured tire. You can see the recap below.

The mixture of surfaces including wet tarmac, mud and gravel make for exciting racing where all competitors have a chance to take home a win. You can watch a rebroadcast of all the action on ESPN. Check you local listing for exact time and dates or check, www.global-rallycross.com

Image courtesy of Mr. Sean McDonough.

Autosport Dynamics Inc.

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To those of you who follow the drifting scene, particularly the Formula D series that has been receiving nationwide and international coverage, many of you may already be familiar with the Falken and Monster Energy Falken Tire livery. We are very fortunate to be the suspension suppliers for quite a few of their vehicles, such as their Saturn Sky driven Darren Macnamara, Nissan 350z driven by Tyler Mcquarrie, and the Ford Mustang’s of Justin Pawlak and Vaughn Gittin Jr.

Ever since Falken’s entry into Formula D, they’ve been placing themselves quite high among most contenders in this series, claiming many 1st place victories, as well as a championship title. But their full-fledged attack came about with the enlistment of Autosport Dynamics, Inc. (ASD) who handle all the vehicle builds for the aforementioned cars, as well as all vehicle maintenance.

Mind you, Autosport Dynamics expertise goes well beyond their experience with Formula D. They’ve also had their hands in NASCAR, SCORE, F1, SCCA, NASA, and British F3.  That’s quite a resume for a company that started in the 1980’s. And, these services aren’t limited to teams, either. Yes, they offer their services to the public!

Check them out on their site

http://www.autosportdynamics.com/about.html

They also keep a great up-to-date blog on the Formula D series, filled with pictures and videos from both races and test sessions. Pretty cool.

http://www.thejackstand.com/

Vaughn Gittin Jr. in the Monster Energy Falken Tire Mustang

Darren Macnamara in the Saturn Sky

Falken Team Video

2011 Falken Formula Drift Test from Falken Tire on Vimeo.

And, as if that wasn’t enough to keep their hands full, they operate a retail site, www.asdmotorsports.com

Geez. All work and no play makes Autosport Dynamics a,,,,, wait, their work is THEIR play! Forget it.

S. Verdier Podium Finish with Video

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A big congratulations goes to Stephan Verdier and his crew for the 3rd place podium finish at Rd.1 of the Global RallyCross Championship.

Stephan finished behind Marcus Gronholm and Tanner Foust in the Saturday final which is outstanding considering many of the other competitors have HUGE budgets and some are factory backed.

From watching the in-car videos it looks like Stephan had a lot of fun on the Irwindale Speedway course which featured a 70′ gap jump and 50/50 tarmac to gravel road surface.

Our own engineer, Mr. Katsuma Nakai, was on hand for suspension support. A few minor tweaks were made to the Gr.N dampers which performed flawlessly.

Check out the in-car video from MotoIQ and Saturday’s final.

Images taken from MotoIQ, Urban Racer and Subie-Life.com. Video taken from MotoIQ and XGames.

Rally xD at SnoDrift 2011

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I just got back from the first round of Rally America – Sno*Drift. The event is held about 4 hours North of Detroit in Atlanta, MI. The area is beautiful and the people are friendly BUT the weather is really cold. Coming from sunny and warm Southern California means that I am used to 60 degree Winters with an occasional rain storm. 10-20 degree temps and wind chill put most of the California based team into survival mode.

2010 2WD Champions are back in a new Scion xD.

2010 Champion Driver, Chris Duplessis getting ready for battle.

2010 Champion Co-Driver, Catherine Woods who is usually is all smiles is in competition mode.

The xD was already in Detroit when the crew arrived to Michigan as it had been on display at the Detroit Auto Show the week prior. If you cannot tell this xD is not the same as the car that was run last year. This is a brand new xD which was built just before SEMA. It only had 50 miles on the odometer when the Rally started.

The brand new car needed a thorough tech inspection.

The engine remains almost stock with the only additions being a TRD drop in filter, aftermarket header and Greddy exhaust. The transmission has been upgraded with a Quaife differential which was installed only two days before the event. Coilovers are a custom application HG which have 2-way damping force adjustment. Light weight Volk CE28 wheels and BFG snow tires round out the performance mods. This new car is lighter with various carbon fiber body panels, lexan rear windows and chassis weight reduction. Seats, belts, steering wheel, in-car comm., helmets and driving suits are all Sparco. The guys at Design Craft Fabrication did a great job building the car and getting it ready for the event.

The rally started on Friday in the early afternoon. After the first 6 stages Chris and Catherine pulled out a solid lead in the 2WD class. There was only one service during day one in which the xD came back missing both light pods. Going into the night stages the service crew scrambled to get the recovered pods back onto the car but only 1 made it back on in the limited service time. The lights only lasted about 5mins until the relay blew out forcing Chris to drive with only the OEM lights. A flat tire on stage 7 put Chris and Catherine about 10mins behind the 2WD leader at the end of day one.

After day one the service crew repaired all damage, checked over the car and made preparations for day two. Luckily the folks at a nearby resort allowed the crew to use their heated garage.

On the start of day two Chris and Catherine were determined to make up the lost time and fight for the top podium spot. The next two services went smoothly and the only damage to the car was cosmetic. Chris’s skill on snow and ice served the team well as he was able to make up about 9mins. in 7 stages (truly amazing). There simply were not enough stage miles for the xD to make up all the lost time.

The Rally xD finished in 2nd place in the 2WD class which is a great finish considering this car had ZERO testing.

Great job Gordon Ting and the crew of the Rally xD.

Photos courtesy of Duane and Joey of the Octane Report. See more event coverage at the OctaneReport.com