Tag Archives: Drifting

Formula Drift 2016

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The drift season got off to a start earlier this month, and what an event it was! The city of Long Beach, CA. hosts the season opener for Formula Drift, and around this time, the city prepares for the Long Beach Grand Prix and the Celebrity Grand Prix, the later of which had the final race for the series.

Weather seemed to be the only detriment to the Formula Drift season opener, and an apparent downpour was the biggest threat to what is essentially always an outdoor event. We figured the wet weather was enough to keep spectators out of the stands and staying at home instead.

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But, we were proved wrong! Fortunately for us, we came prepared with our typical TEIN merchandise. However, missing for nearly two years was a full-size parasol (umbrella) from the TEIN Goods lineup. This time around, we were prepared with a new design. This bad weather proved to be one of the biggest favors we could have asked from mother nature, as we had a flock of customers NEEDING our parasol!!! We also had our smaller fold-up umbrella, which also sold well!

At any rate, the racing action also proved to be very eventful. As you can imagine, quite a few accidents occured on track, and any type of contact in drifting is usually met with cheers from the crowd.

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We’re glad to see the 2016 race season off to a great start! Next weekend is Formula Drift at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA! We look forward to being there and seeing all of you race fans!!! So stop by the TEIN booth to say hi, and check out our booth car (and FD3S owned built by Phil Sohn)!!! And yes, we’ll have parasols with us 😉 !!!

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Pics from: Speedhunters (by Larry Chen), Formula Drift, Phil Sohn

Formula Drift Rd. 7 (Irwindale Speedway)

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We’ve been attending all the California Formula Drift events for the past few years now. This year we decided to attend all U.S. events. While quiet on our blog about this, we’ve kept followers up to date on our Facebook and Instagram feed (@teinusa). So of course we’re looking to go to the final event for the 2015 season!

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An old-school picture of the Irwindale Speedway, probably in its prime and definitely well before drifting ever became a thought.

As we understand it, and as it has been a threat looming over this particular event, this may be the last Formula Drift event at Irwindale Speedway, as the current owners/investors have plans to bulldoze the facility and track and make way for a,,,,,,,,, shopping center?

 

Kinda BS if you ask me. Anyway, if this is true, we hope the race will truly be a memorable one. This season’s Formula Drift was full of unexpected turns (semi-pun intended??), and almost every event has had its own controversial matter. We’re almost guaranteed a big bang finale.

In terms of exposure in the drifting scene, TEIN has been relatively quiet. There are two cars out there using our suspension, but we’re not inclined to say who. Last season, we had Geoff Stoneback on board with TEIN, but for 2015, being his first year full-time in the Pro class (was Pro 2 last year), he was picked up by another sponsor. To be honest, we’re quite proud of that. It goes to show that Geoff is truly a talented driver, and now he has the backing of quite a few sponsors! We know he’ll only be doing bigger and better things for years to come! Fortunately we keep in touch with him, and he’s kind enough to pay us a visit at the TEIN booth for every event so far! Truly a great friend of ours!

Go Geoff!!!

Go Geoff!!!

Anyway, like always, we’ll be there and will have TEIN goods on hand. So stop by and say hi! We’ll also have our good friend Reginald Cunanan and his beautiful Mitsubishi Evo X on hand.

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Rd. 7 for Formula Drift is on October 9-10, 2015! Get your tickets at the Formula Drift Webpage

 

Formula Drift Finals!

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The Formula Drift season will soon come to a close. On October 11-12, Irwindale Speedway will be hosting the final race for the season (Round 7, Final Fight)

We will attend this year’s last event for the season, as we normally do.  Last year we also attended the first and last event. I can’t deny we got a little overwhelmed with how many spectators attended and stopped by our booth.  This year we expect nothing less.

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So get your cash ready and stop by our booth. We will have all kinds of TEIN goods, and several other products for sale. Along with knowledgeable TEIN staff to answer any product or technical questions you may have.

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Hope to see you there!!!

Geoff Stoneback goes to US Drift Rd. 2/Hyperfest

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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

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