Geoff Stoneback Takes Home the 2013 US Drift Championship!

Geoff had a pretty busy August, to say the least. He had to prepare for two events this month, both on one weekend, giving him very little room for any error. Fortunately, Geoff was prepared.

On the 15th, Geoff and his crew loaded up their S14 at their tuner, R/T Tuning in Lansdale, PA, which they had recently installed a new G-Force GSR 4-speed transmission to replace their T56 gearbox which had been experiencing a few issues in past events.

Leaving later than expected, they stopped over in Columbus, OH to the Kenda Tire warehouse to get stocked up for the events, then made their way to Detroit, MI for Midwest Drift Union on the streets of Detroit.

Upon their arrival, Geoff’s good friend, and fellow drift competitor, Mike Skudlarek, offered his house as accommodation for the crew, taking the team around the greater Detroit area along many of the scenic routes of the Motor City, giving Geoff and the team time to relax before a hectic race weekend.

With Geoff’s recently repainted S14, they had no vinyl for this event. So at midnight, at a parking lot of a grocery store (which provided them with enough lighting), they went right to work putting their sponsor decals on. Afterwards, it was a short night’s rest before the event.

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As mentioned earlier, the event took place on public roads around Detroit, and some portions were recently repaved and transitioned into older surfaces, giving the drivers a mix of grip and slip to deal with. The next morning, Geoff took the car out and gave it a 50% run around the course. After getting a feel for the layout during practice, Geoff was informed that his driving line would make it difficult for slower cars to follow him. So Geoff had to discuss and redo his driving line.

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During qualifying, Geoff had a spin on the older section of pavement, where there wasn’t much available grip. After another qualifying run, Geoff was placed at a disappointing 15th grid spot.  So it was on to battle.

The first run was against the  LS2 powered Pontiac GTO Shane Whalley. During Shane’s lead run, the judges deducted points for braking through the sweeper, giving Geoff the win.

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Through the Top 8, Geoff faced Dan Summers, which eventually went into OMT (One More Time), but on Dan’s lead run he crashed, destroying a wheel and some suspension components. Repairs were made in the allotted time for Dan to make another run with Geoff. However, Geoff was quick to strike, making a deep, smooth line giving him the nod once again.

Top 4 was about to get a bit tougher. Geoff faced the lighter, more powerful S13 of Andrew Lewis. Not deterred from the this fact, Geoff kept right up to Andrew’s door. Fortunately for Geoff, Andrew’s car suffered from a broken axle. Unable to repair the car in time, Geoff once again got the win.

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For the final battle, Geoff was up against Mike Skudlarek. Both runs weren’t exactly working in either driver’s favor. However, a few mistakes by Mike ( hard braking in the sweeper; not initiating drift on the follow run) went unnoticed by the judges, giving Mike the win.

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So, a tough and somewhat disappointing 2nd place finish for Geoff.

 

Next was a trip to West Virginia for the US Drift Rd. 4 event.

Already late in the day in Detroit, Geoff and crew hit the road just after 11pm, making as few stops as possible to make it to the driver’s meeting at 8:30am the next day.

Knowing that their 2nd place standing in the US Drift championship was a really close one (14 points behind James Evans), Geoff had to really step it up for this event. Making it to the drivers meeting with just a few minutes to spare, Geoff soon made his way out to practice.

The course was super fast, with entry speeds anywhere between 75-90 mph. Also, it was raining. To make practice difficult, Geoff had to bring the car in, make some suspension setup and tire pressure changes, giving him little time during practice to get a feel for the revised setup.

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Qualifying went relatively smooth for Geoff, and he placed a 3rd grid spot for himself. US Drift points leader James Evans qualified 7th, so Geoff’s earned points in qualifying were starting to get him towards the top.

With only 12 qualified drivers for this event, things were starting to look up towards Geoff’s championship. The first battle against the 2jz powered S14 of Charlie Tyson was actually easy enough for Geoff to get the nod, even with Charlie running extremely consistent and fast the whole day.

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Good news came Geoff’s way when James Evan was knocked out during Top 16, while 3rd place points holder Troy Manners, was put away in the Top 8. This mean an automatic 2013 US Drift championship for Geoff!

Not one to call it a day, Geoff went into the Top 4 against Dave Bellemo in his 1JZ powered S14. Slightly preoccupied with the thought of the US Drift championship on his mind, Geoff had a a somewhat difficult time getting focused. Fortunately the run went into OMT, and Geoff was able to get the nod once again.

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For the final run, Geoff faced ex-teammate Dan Savage. Dan, a good friend of Geoff, taught him tandem drifting, so Geoff knew that this run would be good fun. On the first run, with Geoff in tow, Dan spun on the last inner clip, just inches away from Geoff potentially crashing. On the second run with Geoff leading, Dan kept it close up until the second inner clip where Geoff put out a lot of angle, losing Dan who eventually spun off! Geoff took home first place for the event!

So there you have it, a second place finish in Detroit, a first place finish in West Virginia and a 2013 US Drift championship all in one weekend!

We’re certainly proud of Geoff and team and their accomplishment for this season.  But it is far from over- the final round of Midwest Drift Union, Clubloose Freedom Moves, Holley LS Fest in KY, and Formula D Pro-Am in TX are a few of the upcoming events that Geoff has lined up for him.  We look forward to his updates!

Congratulations, Geoff, on your 2013 US Drift championship!

https://www.facebook.com/GeoffStoneback484drift

http://www.usdrift.com/

http://mdudrift.com/

Geoff Stoneback at the U.S. Drift Round 3 Event

Our friend Geoff Stoneback and his team took off to New Jersey Motorsports Park at the end of July and gave us a full report. Here’s what he had to say:

” On Friday July 26th we loaded up the Kenda tire / TEIN s14 and headed to Clubloose’s friday night drift party to hang out with all of our buddies and see some awesome local drifting. We wanted to drive really bad but didn’t want to put any damage to the car, so we borrowed a couple of our friends missile cars.  After doing a couple runs and changing some tires we parted ways and headed to New jersey motor sports park for US Drift round 3.
I have never drifted this course and we heard that it is a fun, fast track.  We were lucky enough to get a suite on track so we could be up early for practice.
On Friday at 7am we headed to the pit area and went to the drivers meeting.  There were 16 solid drivers ready to tear the track up.  After our meeting, we headed out on course.  We got used to the track instantly and had fun laying down some solid lines.  With the course set up, our gearing was a little weird.  3rd gear was too short and 4th gear was a bit long.  We made some changes to tire pressures and sway bar settings to try and compensate for the gearing issue.
We were sharing the course with ARCA, which is a road race series so we had a huge time gap in between practice and qualifying.  On our first qualifying run we headed down the track, with a hard flick and clutch kick we entered into 3rd and up shifted into fourth.  We laid down a decent run and put points on the board.  On our second qualifying run, we pushed it even harder and entered in 4th gear.  We flicked really hard and had an aggressive entry and we were really tight on all of the clips.   With that run it secured us into qualifying 2nd.
On Sunday we geared up and had an hour practice session and track went cold for us until a couple hours later.  Around 3:30 we headed into competition.  Our first battle was against Ben Sarli in his BMW 540.  We put down a solid lead run which gave us the advantage.  In our follow run we kept it conservative and at the last clipping point, Ben spun.  We got the win!
In our top 8 battle we went up against a very good friend, Reese Marin.  Reese and I have been friends for years and go back to the street drifting days in Philadelphia.  Our battles are always neck-and-neck and very intense.  On our lead run we laid down a good fast line with Reese not far behind.  On our follow run we left the line hard, but missed second gear and Reese took off and we had to play catch up.  We closed the gap a bit, but during that period we dropped one tire into the dirt and he got the win.
We were bummed that we didn’t make it to the podium, however we finished the day in 6th place and are still second in the series trailing James Evans by 18 points.
So after Round 3, we brought the car to a buddy’s shop to get a little restoration, looks-wise. After the paint booth, we took the car to R/T tuning going over some alignment specs and doing some upgrades so we no longer will have any shifting or gearing issues.
Our next rounds are a double header and a tough weekend!  We have a 10 hour drive to Midwest Drift Union Round 3 in the streets of Detroit! We are really excited and eager to get back on the podium.  Right after Midwest drift union round 3 is over, we immediately have to pack up and drive another 10 hours to round 4 of US drift, the final round in the 2013 series.  Thank you to TEIN suspension for helping getting the car dialed in as amazing as it is and their outstanding support this season! Thank you to all my other sponsors, as well!  “
We’re always glad to hear of Geoff’s enthusiasm as he heads off against some stiff competition at each event. With the few hiccups he’s had along the way, he has seemed to take them in stride, and we know that he’ll do a great job for the remainder of the season! Thanks, Geoff!
Enjoy this video while you’re at it.

Geoff Stoneback Updates from Midwest Drift Union Rd. 2

Always staying busy, Geoff Stoneback and team set route for the Midwest Drift Union Round 2 at Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis, MO.

Prior to this, Geoff picked up his S14 drift machine from R/T Tuning  after they completed a new wheel alignment and check-up on the car, taking a midnight drive into Missouri. Knowing what to expect as the course layout, Geoff was already mentally prepared. He knew this would be a good event.

A full 25 hours later, he and the team unloaded car and equipment at the track, then back out for a short sleep stint before going through tech inspection and driver’s meeting the same morning. Happy with the S14’s settings, Geoff went out for practice.

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With 3 sets of tires already spent getting comfortable with the course, Geoff knew he had to conserve tires. At least he was able to dial in his settings for the best angle and tire smoke. Judging by the other drivers out on track (with crazy entry speeds and tons of smoke), he knew it wouldn’t be an easy set of battles to come.

On his qualifying run, Geoff went in really hot, getting the car into a backwards entry and scrubbing off way too much speed. Eventually, the front tire would knock the clipping point. Disappointed with that run, Geoff was glad to get points for it, which was most important to him.

For his second run, Geoff went in with even more speed and a backwards entry, netting him a 5th place qualifier. Qualifying was tight, with the top 6 drivers being within 1/2 points of each other sequentially.

Knocking out an LS3 powered Nissan 350z in his first round, Geoff advanced to the top 8.

The next heat would be tough- His friend, Andrew Lewis, with an LS powered S13 making 450whp makes more power than Geoff’s S14. So Geoff had to step it up if he wanted a tight tandem run. Nevertheless, Geoff’s consistency got him the nod, advancing him to the Top 4.

As you can guess, it was about to get even tougher for the team. Up next was a battle with another close friend, Mike Skudlarek in his 500whp s13. The first run with Geoff in chase kept him up to the door of Skudlarek, and a quick adjustment with a tug on the e-brake sacrificed a little of his angle. This gave Skudlarek the nod.

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Second run with Geoff up front, he was able to gain some distance as Skudlarek had a slight bobble. It looked like it was going into “One More Time.” However, judges ruled Skudlarek the victor.

Disappointed, but not deflated, Geoff had a chance to claim a 3rd place finish, but his competitor wasn’t able to complete repairs in time, giving Geoff a bye-run. Even with 3rd place secured, Geoff decided to give the crowd a smokey run.

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Although this event ended on a strange judging call, Geoff holds second in the points standing, leaving him a lot of time to rebuild and get focused. We’re still glad to see Geoff on the podium! Great job!

*BONUS*

Here’s a video link recap of the Midwest Drift Union Rd. 2 on Vimeo

http://vimeo.com/70345359

 

Geoff Stoneback Attends East Coast Bash

Our sponsored driver, Geoff Stoneback decided to take his talent to Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey for the Clubloose East Coast Bash event. With this event bringing a swarm of spectators and drivers alike, it was a great opportunity for Geoff and the crew to put on an amazing show.

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According to Geoff, about 180 drivers were at the Saturday festivities, most all of them being in the tandem class. Unfortunately, a saturation of drivers means very little track time. A few on-track accidents by a some of the drivers hampered driving time some more.

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Unfortunately for Geoff, a minor incident while following a train of other drivers sent him into the tire wall crushing his door, and also losing a headlight, radiator and front bumper. The cause of this incident being another driver with a locked up e-brake. With nowhere to go, this sent Geoff off course.

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Geoff turned to his friends at R/T Tuning in Lansdale, PA to get the S14 back up and running. Geoff used the remainder of the day practicing some new techniques and also some tight tandem runs.

By Sunday, only a quarter of the drivers stuck around, and Geoff was able to get it some more runs. That is, until the weather went damp. After about an hour of waiting pit side, Geoff and many of the drivers decided to do some rain drifting for the spectators that decided to tough out the wet weather.

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All in all, it sounded like Geoff and his crew had a great time, and they were able to put on a great show for the spectators, regardless of the weather conditions.

Geoff Stoneback goes to US Drift Rd. 2/Hyperfest

2 weeks ago, our sponsored Pro-Am/XDC competitor Geoff Stoneback headed out with his S14 to Hyperfest at Summit Point Motorsports Park in WV.

Prior to this event, Geoff was able to get his S14 tuned to crank out 430whp/420tq (~15% up from the last outing). So, there was no shortage of power for Hyperfest!

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Knowing that the race course was somewhat difficult for himself, Geoff took a paid practice run to get a better feel for the course and make the necessary adjustments to  both the car and mental prep.  This helped Geoff tremendously, as figuring out key pieces of track for shifting and accelerating gave him one of the fastest entry-speeds (80mph). His ability to adapt to the track layout relatively quick was about to pay off!

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But, racing isn’t with its occasional hiccups here and there. For Geoff, it happened to be a vehicle stall on his return to the pits. A quick diagnosis showed a damage o2 sensor wire as cause for the stalling. An easy enough fix for Geoff and his team, but a little bit of a setback in getting out for qualifying early.

Geoff reported that his qualifying run was set to be even faster than his practice run, but on approach to his clipping point, a catastrophic differential failure brought his S14 to a halt.

Back in the pits, the crew got right to work, and with only a welded diff available, got the car back out to get Geoff’s run in. It netted him 5th place qualifier.

By now, two setbacks can be enough of a distraction to anyone, especially the driver, but Geoff shook it off and went right to work, quickly advancing the Top 16, then Top 8, getting himself into the Top 4. Geoff was really turning his luck around!

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In the Top 4, Geoff’s opponent, and a good friend of his, James Evans had his own set of problems- a lower control arm replacement left the car with a slightly off-set alignment, but enough to get him back on the track to compete with Geoff. It happened to be enough for James to get the nod over Geoff. But Geoff still had a chance at 3rd place.

Another close friend/drift mentor of Geoff, Matt Waldin, was up next. With more power (almost 40% more) than his S14, Geoff had his work cut out for him. Matt kept close on the first run with Geoff leading, and on the second run, Geoff spun on the last turn, handing the win to Matt.

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What sounds like a series of unfortunate events turned out to be an exciting one for spectators. Also, all the hard work and efforts by Geoff and his team have kept them 2nd in points (just 3 points behind the leader James Evans).

We know that Geoff will be prepared for the next event and ready to take some more podium finishes. Great work, you guys!

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Bravo Whiskey has a great video recap of this event at the link below

Vimeo

 

 

 

Update: Geoff Stoneback Drifting

Geoff has been great in keeping us up-to-date on the progress of his drift season so far, and we must say that he’s really impressing us, along with his other sponsors!

On May 18, Geoff competed in the U.S. Drift   series at Englishtown, New Jersey, a track that Geoff is quite familiar with.

According to Geoff, track conditions were inconsistent with rain imminent. The eventual downpour gave Geoff some slippery conditions. And with a vehicle’s TEIN Super Drift dampers for the highest possible grip level, Geoff put his expertise of this track to good use.

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During his first run, he didn’t score any points. With the right mindset on his second run, Geoff found himself in second position.

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Only 14 drivers qualified. Again, rain prevented all drivers from practicing tandem runs. Going right into competition, Geoff made quick work of the other drivers, securing his advancement into the Top 4. His higher qualifying position put him in lead car position as he battled for either a 1st or 2nd place finish.

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A strong first run followed by a tight tandem in the second, up until the last turn when his opponent spun out, saw Geoff sitting atop the podium. Great 1st place finish, Geoff!!!

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Follow Geoff’s progression through the year right on his Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/GeoffStoneback484drift

Geoff Stoneback Drifting

We’re glad to continue to participate with motorsports events in the U.S.  One of the most exciting for us has been the drifting series. Each year seems to bring a new set of groundbreaking, purpose-built race cars, and all of them keep getting faster, louder, and even more entertaining.

With a sport experiencing some accelerated levels of growth over the past few years, it brings some great opportunities for future race car drivers.

For this year, we continue to support the Formula Drift Championship series through Vaughn Gittin Jr’s Monster Energy Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR. But we also support the guys in the Pro-Am series.

Geoff Stoneback of Geoff Stoneback Drifting approached us last year looking forward into the 2013 race season. Fortunately, we were able to work out a package for his 1995 Nissan 240SX he’s campaigning in the aforementioned Pro-Am series, as well as the XDC (Xtreme Drift Circuit). Geoff, who currently resides in Philadelphia, PA. has the talent, and we’re glad to be on board for his racing program this year. He’s making as many appearances has he can, mainly in the East coast. So, for those out in the East, keep on lookout for this guy!

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Geoff chose our Super Drift coilovers for his machine. Already familiar with the TEIN brand (he’s used our Type Flex coilovers, Geoff seems to already have the car dialed in pretty well with the new dampers.

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We’re glad to be supporting privateers such as Geoff. At 27 years young, he’s got a great future ahead of him, and he’s certainly showing that his skills out on the track will only get better, and we’re proud to be a part of that! Along with Kenda Tires, Geoff has the backing to show that he can do the job.

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We wish Geoff and his crew the best for the 2013 Drifting season. We look forward into watching him progress through the series!

Geoff and his crew also put out a great video on Vimeo

Please be sure to follow him through his website GSDrifting.com

You can also find him on Facebook

Looks too easy

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.

Formula D Rd.1

Only our engineer attended Friday’s practice and qualify. A few of us here in the office watched qualifying from live stream on various websites. We were disappointed that not all our sponsored vehicles qualified for the event but I guess that is how it goes. Part of what makes it exciting to watch. “Any Given Sunday.”

After Friday’s Qualify
DMac qualified the highest amongst TEIN users in 6th position.

Tyler McQuarrie qualified two spots behind in 8th.

JTP got the 11th spot.

Charles Ng qualified 20th.

2010 Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr unfortunately did not qualify. Hopefully JR tears it up at Rd. 2 in Atlanta.

Found another competitor, Guthrie on TEIN Super Racing coilovers. Guthrie unfortunately did not qualify but his FD3S looks pretty buff. Might remember this car from HERE.

Saturday’s Main Event
The weather was awesome with clear skies and a nice cool ocean breeze. Spectators filled all the stands around the track and between rounds there was plenty to see. Full vendor area, race pits, car show and of course food.

The stands were packed with spectators.

The vendor area had both products and vehicles on display.

Found a twin turbo Mustang from HESS Motorsports which we sponsor in the Exedy booth.

Lots of high quality cars on display for the FATLACE show.

Cruising through the car show area I found Abe K.’s Lexus on display. He is rocking FLEX Sedan coilovers and a Platnium VIP cup kit.

I was fortunate to get a VIP wristband from a friend at NOS who had a hospitality tent and their own section of bleachers. Here is the view from their bleachers.

CONGRATULATIONS to JTP, Falken Tire and ASD. TEIN Coilovers for the WIN!

Some photos taken from Formula D and ASD.

TEIN’S Black Box

In previous blogs we have discussed the difference between the old and new EDFC unit and motors, how to install the EDFC, how to read the error codes on the EDFC and featured vehicles with the EDFC installed.  However we have not discussed what this little black box does.

The EDFC, which stands for Electronic Damping Force Controller, controls the stiffness and softness of your suspension on the fly.  Whether you are on the track or on the street you can change your settings accordingly.  The unit has three presets for quick adjustments.  It has separate control buttons for front and rear adjustments, the ability to switch from 16 way adjustable to 32 way adjustable.  You can even change the brightness and volume of the control.  The EDFC DOES NOT lower or raise the vehicle.

If you have a Super Street (select applications), Super Street kit with Upper Pillow mounts, Flex, Mono Flex, Super Drift, Comfort Sport, Euro Damper and Super Racing Dampers the EDFC is compatible with your kit.

MSRP for Controller (EDK04-K4469)  $253.00

MSRP for Motor Kit (model depending on vehicle) $165.00

MSRP for Strut Kit (Recommended for vehicles with Strut type front only)  $33.00

EDFC Controller in Gordon Ting built Lexus ISF