Tag Archives: Drift

Formula D Rd. 7 at House of Drift

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This past weekend turned out to be one of the biggest and best turnouts for the Formula D series for 2011. As with past Formula D events, the Irwindale, CA event is a special one- It’s the last event for the year! So most spectators expect teams and drivers to go all out, because they know that for the driver, going home with the win is a big deal.

This year’s finale for Formula D was a sold out event. Again, there are normally some high expectations for this round. And, anyone who was following the series points knows how tight a race for season championship it really was. Drivers such as Justin “JTP” Pawlak, Daijiro Yoshihara, Chris Forsberg, and Darren “D-Mac” McNamara looked to be all in contention for the championship. Talk about keeping competition tight!

But this year, the event win goes to Tyler McQuarrie in the Falken 350z. A big congratulations to him, as well as to the crew at Autosport Dynamics (ASD) who prep and maintain his car. These guys are truly a hardworking team!

Photo courtesy of Formula D

Also, another big congratulations goes out to Daijiro Yoshihara for his season championship! Everyone who’s followed Formula D since its infancy knows that “Dai” has been there from the beginning. After putting in over 8 years into this, I’m sure the title of “champion” makes it all worthwhile. Our hats off to him and the Falken/Discount Tire S13 team!

Photo courtesy of Formula D

Let’s all look forward to an even better season for 2012!

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.

Formula D Rd.1

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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.

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.

When life gives you lemons.. be adventurious & build a drift car

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I remember back in the day my family would always be amazed when I would build Legos or my R/C cars exactly how it was shown on the box without looking at the instructions. Let me tell you that was skill (brushed a little dirt off my shoulder), but the drift build that I came across and am about to show you just amazes me.

(Note the low ride height in this picture. TWO THUMBS UP & Ryan approved!)
The vehicle being built is not your common drift vehicle, its a Toyota UTE (Toyota Tacoma here in the states). It has been stripped to the bare single cab.

As you can see the modifications have begun. S15 SR20 transplant, ARC radiator, Cusco Strut Tower Bar, Bride seats and TEIN HA coilovers (discontinued model, similar to currently available Super Street coilovers).

The rear end looks to have deleted the shock and leaf spring combination to a solid frame. Now if someone could just teach me to weld this well..

For more updates on this build, visit the following link.

Do not try this at home!

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I came across this rad video over the weekend of a custom built Kawasaki vs. corvette powered RX7 as they drift battle it out around the track.

Now what does this have to do with our company you may ask. Well its rad for one, it has some insane drifting and check out around 1:50. Yep, I spy some TEIN coilovers. This V8 RX7 driven by Jim Guthrie (professional race car driver) is using our Super Racing coilovers. Overall its a dangerous and awesome video. RC car camera=win, The End.

A look back at US Drifting – Part 2

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From 2003 to 2009 TEIN USA supported the following cars/drivers:

TEIN 350Z – Murao                                                              TEIN/ OS Giken S14 – Murao

TEIN JDMRice S13 – Murao                                                  DRFT FD3S – Utsumi

DRFT S13 – Utsumi                                                              Team Falken S13 – Koguchi

Team Falken S14 – Yamamoto                                            Team Rotora S13 – Ken Gushi

Team Rotora S13 – Ernie Fixmer                                         Team Falken S13 – Gittin

Team Falken/ Discount Tires – Young                                 Team Falken EF – Hatakeyama

Team Falken Camaro – Hampton                                         Team Falken FD3S – Yamamoto

Team Falken FD3S – Angelo                                                Team Falken G35 – Wan

Team Falken Mustang – Gittin                                              Team Falken S15 – Forsberg

Star Girl Racing S13 – Mei                                                   Team X Mustang – Beckford

Honda R&D Element – n/a                                                    Milano Auto – Kregorian

Team Falken/ Discount Tire IS300 – Sumida                       Team Falken/ NTB RX-8 – Yamamoto

Team Falken/ Boso Garage S13 – Petty                              Team Falken Sky – McNamara

Team Falken 350Z Convertible – McQuarrie                       Team Falken 2010 Mustang – Pawlak

Monster/ Team Falken  2011 Mustang – Gittin

Ross Petty’s ride back in 2007 which used custom valved Super Drift coilovers.

Falken IS300 from 2007 which was driven by Hiro Sumida. Utilized mono tube TEIN coilovers and EDFC.

2008 Falken Sky driven by D-Mac. Using TEIN Super Street coilovers and EDFC.

2009 Falken 350Z convertible driven by Tyler who finished third overall in FD last year. Utilizes a Super Racing coilover kit with custom valving and dual EDFC.

2010 bodied Ford Mustang driven by JR in 2009. TEIN 2-way coilovers and dual EDFC.

For the 2010 FD season TEIN will be used on 4 Falken drift cars which include:

Falken Sky driven by D-Mac

Falken 350Z Convertible driven by Tyler

Falken 2010 Mustang driven by JTP

Monster Engery/ Falken Tire 2011 Mustang driven by JR

A look back at US Drifting, Part 1

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As the 2010 Formula D season opener soon approaches I took a look back at when TEIN USA starting to get involved in the US drifting scene.

For TEIN USA it all started back 2003 when D1 first came to the US with a non-points event. We sponsored a few cars that came over from Japan including the DRFT FD3S, Falken S13, Falken S14 and we even entered our almost stock 350Z street car. Way back then Falken Tire boss, Nick Fousekis, saw the potential in Drifting and put together a small team and TEIN jumped on board as a product sponsor. Over the years TEIN has sponsored a few other teams, entered a few cars of our own but has mainly supported the teal and blue.

TEIN 350Z lined up against DRFT FD3S at the Inaugural US D1GP in 2003. 350Z driven by Murao and DRFT FD3S piloted by Utsumi. The sunken in wheels and skinny tires on the rear of the 350Z were the only way it could keep a decent slide since the only power adders were a K&N intake and Greddy exhaust which still got the car into the top 16.

Koguchi’s Falken sponsored S13.

Back in 2004 Team Rotora had a multi-car team and one of their drivers was a high school student named, Ken Gushi.

TEIN USA’s 2004 US D1GP entry. Driven by Murao and KA Turbo power.

This is JR’s original S13 in the old Falken livery. TEIN has been a proud sponsor of JR since 2004.

TEIN USA’s 2005 D1GP entry. Richard’s S13 aka JDMRice. Driven by “Gui Gui” Murao.

First FF Drift car in the US driven by Hatakeyama and Seigo Yamamoto’s S14.



One of two Falken RX-7s. This one was driven by Seigo Yamamoto and in the background is Hubert Young in the Discount Tire/ Falken S13.

One of the more unique FD entries was the Falken Camaro which one of the first iconic Muscle cars to drift. Driven by Ryan Hampton.

Falken Mustang S197 driven by none other than Vaughn Gittin.

Soon to come is part two.

Falken Tire Drift Sky Testing

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Falken Tires recently posted a video of D-Mac practicing with his newly modified Sky which is now producing 800HP. The video speaks for itself.

You can see the dual EDFC controllers in the dash board which Darren adjusts at the 53 second mark.

TEIN has been a proud sponsor of the Falken Drift program since 2003. In 2010 we will be supporting 4 Falken Drift cars. More on this at a later date.