Hahaha!
This guy doesn’t cease to amaze us all at any point. The Formula Drift veteran is out in a new video once again, this time at the Ford factory taking a spin in one of his Monster Mustangs. Pretty awesome shenanigans, as expected!
Monthly Archives: October 2012
URT are Russsian Rally Champions for 2012!
We received an email today from one of our friends from Uspenskiy Rally Tecnica (URT) in Russia. They operate a rally team that has competed in PWRC, and we have supported them as their suspension suppliers with our Group N dampers. For the 2012 season, they are the champions for the “Russia 2012” series!
From the email:
“The team of Sergey Uspenskiy and Marina Danilova triumphal acted in Russian Rally Championship “Russia 2012” in Novorossiysk. They managed to win the stage and become absolute champions of Russia.
The final stage of Russian Rally Championship “Russia 2012” was held from 28th to 30th September. 34 crews from Russia, Estonia and Latvia compete on the track settled near by the Novorossiysk city.
This is not the first time for such big tournaments held in Novorossiysk, two years ago on this track took place the final stage of East Europe Cup. For the final stage organizations chose well known settlement Abrau-Durso which became a “capital” of the final stage in the championship.
The race happened to be very strained both for sportsmen and cars. The last 80 high-speed kilometers of the track which racers passed in the final day of rally was the most complex ones. It was not clear who will be the winner of the stage and absolute champion of the rally until the last special stage. The results are striking! Such a tight battle and this exciting final!
Sergey Uspensky – 13-time champion of the Russian Rally, Head of URT Team and CEO of the Group of Companies “U Service +”, raced clean and accurately which left no chances for the rivals.
The victory on the last stage brought to the crew of Sergei Uspenskiy and Marina Danilova title of absolute champion of Russian Rally Championship meanwhile Subaru Impreza R4 – the first victory on the stage of the national championship.
Three medals of the Championship – in four points! And Sergey Uspensky wins 14-th title of the champion of the country.
Young pilot from St.-Petersburg Nikita Filippov in a duet with co-driver Sergey Gerasimenko and Grigory Tregubov with his co-driver Elena Vasilenko made a company on a podium to Sergey Uspenskiy and Marina Danilova.
Sergey Uspenskogo and Marina Danilova crew raced on rally car Subaru R4 built by «Uspenskiy Rally Tecnica» on the basis of Subaru impreza WRX STI Spec C. R4 was service and carried out by the team of mechanics from URT.
Russian Rally Championship “Russia 2012” in Novorossiysk was prepared with the support of Group of the companies « U Service + » and “URT” which took part in the organization of the stage.
Fabulous result and fabulous final!”
Congratulations to the URT team for their hard work and for their victory in Russia!
Formula Drift 2012
The last event for Formula Drift 2012 was this past Saturday, October 13th. Luckily I attended the event not only as a spectator but also an employee of TEIN, as we had our own booth. Unfortunately I only got glimpses of the actual drift event as most of my time was spent behind the counter. It was a very busy, busy, busy event I must say. However I did get a chance to walk around and take a look at all the hard working models (wink wink) and attending show cars.
Customers came in by our booth throughout the day. It was nice to meet and speak with many of our customers.
It seems as though everywhere I looked there was a lowered FRS/BRZ plastered with sponsor stickers, body kit, and/or graphic designs. Of course there were other vehicles like Fords, Honda’s, Mitsubishi Evo’s , Mazda’s, Toyota’s, etc., you name it. One car that stood out to me the most was our very own United States Air force project car. This Dodge Challenger was more beefed up than a plate of sloppy joes, with a double cheeseburger, and a side of carne asada. Ill spare detailing the modification as I’m sure most of you can look that up.
United States Air Force built this Challenger. Looked and sounded mean.
In a nut shell the event was great. Daigo Saito and his Lexus SC430 were crowned the winner of this season. Unfortunately Vaughn Gittin Jr. and his Mustang (rocking our coilover’s) came in second. Still, a great season for Vaughn.
One mean looking ride- Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s Monster Mustang.
Justin”JTP” Pawlak also had a good race this past weekend, taking second place for the closing race of the season.
Justin Pawlak in the Falken Mustang. This guy, as well as all the Falken backed drivers, are crazy talented in what they do!
Nevertheless the turn out was exactly as we anticipated (sold out). It was a great day for us and we look forward to attending next year’s season.
Just a small view of the sold out event. The grandstands were literally packed with fans. Pretty crazy to experience that!
HRE Wheels had a nice display, showing an old school Toyota 86 next to the new school 86 (Scion FR-S).
Brian from Mackin Industries (Distributor of Volk Racing and Advan Wheels) Scion FR-S. He uses TEIN Flex dampers on this setup.
To all the fans, drivers, teams, and organizers for Formula Drift, thank you for another great season! See you all next year.
*some pictures sourced from Speedhunters.com
Another Great Season for Rally xD!
As you may have read from our previous posts on the Sparco Rally xD team, they held a good lead on their competitors for most of this season. But no good season is without its own ups and downs. Like any team, the Rally xD crew hit their own set of hurdles to overcome. And as always, they persevered. The final tally brought them a Second Place finish in the 2wd class for Rally America.
Big congratulations to the team for their hard work in getting the car as reliable as it can be!
As I’ve mentioned before, rally racing isn’t easy. This has to be the best, and most brutal form, of automotive parts testing. Many man hours go into prepping a commuter car into a racing platform, ready to take the abuse mother nature can dish out. I’ve seen the beating this xD has taken over this one season, and to say it is an incredible feat to keep it running is an understatement.
It takes a passionate team to keep a car competitive. These guys have spent every opportunity to keep this car going to good use. And I imagine many late weeknights, and some weekends, which would otherwise be spent with family and friends, went right into this xD.
But, as you can see, persistence pays off. BIG TIME. This isn’t just a hobby. This is work. And these guys work hard to get that win.
It doesn’t mean that they can’t have fun, though!
I know I blog about this car a lot. It really is incredible what this small team has done and continues to do. Without a doubt, the next season will be even better. Be prepared for big things from this team to come. I’m referring to you, the reader, to be prepared. Because these guys are clearly ready for the next season!
pics sourced from Scion Racing’s Facebook page.
Spring Seat and Seat Lock Evolution
Since the beginning, spring seats and seat locks have been a necessity for the systems ranging from our Type NA coilovers systems utilizing a three position adjustable perch on the shock body with locking snap ring to maintain the seat position, similar in design as the Koni and Ground Control set ups, all the way to the Street Advance coilovers which utilize a spring seat lock with a delrin thrust washer and seat lock to maintain the ride height position on a removable threaded sleeve which is ZT coated.
The photos below detail the different changes made to the spring seats and seats locks over the years.
The Image above is of the spring seats for the Type NA damper which, as mentioned, used a c-ring that would be placed in the desired ride height setting.
This style which utilized a spring seat, seat lock, and aluminum thrust washer as shown in the photo above was the second design released for multiple coilover kits ranging from the older style Type H2, Type HA, Basic, and Super Street, all the way up N1 coilvers as shown in the photo.
This third design which is still used with some of our coilovers today utilizes two seat locks and 1 rubber spring seat.
This photos show the newest type of spring seats and delrin thrust washer in conjunction with the previous style seat lock which are found on the Street Basis, Street Advance, and other coilover kits both currently available and future release.
Although the material and coating has changed over the years, it would still be recommended to periodically clean and lubricate the locks, threads, and locking rings, depending on the model type. This will ensure years of trouble-free height adjustment for your TEIN coilovers.
2012 HONDA CIVIC / ACURA ILX COIL-OVERS SOON TO ARRIVE!!!!!
Hey all 2012 Honda Civic Owners,
We are [FINALLY!] receiving the anticipated Street Advance and Street Basis coil-overs for the 2012 Honda Civic, which are also compatible with the new 2013 Acura ILX.
We appreciate your patience. To all those who have waited for the products release, it has been a product long in the making for this vehicle, but we will finally have them in stock by mid October. These fit on both the regular models and Si versions. For the ILX, we tested on the 6 speed Premium model.
Street Basis GSHC0-1UAS2 Retail $950
Street Advance GSHC0-2UAS2 Retail $1,150
