Tag Archives: EVO 9

Super Lap Battle Final 2011

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Time attack season has began from couple weeks ago.

Temperature is getting cool down but still see the sun during the day, there should be a no negative effect for the engines and all of the time attack vehicles.

We went to Super Lap Battle Final at Buttonwillow Raceway for our supported vehicles for 2 days.

Luckily both 2 days were good weather.

and some of the vehicles break their own record.

One of the our support vehicle Crawford Perfomance’s STi driven by Tarzan Yamada

This vehicle outputs 800+hp…

and beauty of the function.

And also, Crawford Performance brought 2 Scion tC.

2 cars from Evasive Motorsports.

Their Evo marked 1:49.124 and got 1st place in Limited AWD class.

And S2000 marked 1:57.887 and got 1st place in Street FR class.

Congratulations to Evasive!

Our ex-marketing manager Philip Chase’s Evo marked 1:57.735 which is his record and 1st place in Street AWD class!

TEIN damper on Philip Chase’s Evo

And another winner with TEIN damper vehicle is Sportscar Motion DC2R.

This car marked 1:54.789 and winner for Limited FF Class.

This clean JDM converted Civic Si is one of my favorite vehicle at Super Lap Battle .

The driver Renzo Marsano break his own record today with TEIN damper!

Another TEIN user vehicle APM Racing’s RSX.

 

This is another well track prepped S2000.

Driver maked 1:59.066 with TEIN Super Racing damper.

It was very busy 2 days but we are glad that most of our support driver break and got 1st place in this event.

 

Track Day

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Two weeks ago I took my EVO 9 to a Speed Ventures track event for a fun day with friends. I had not driven on a track for almost 8 months. In fact, I had not driven my car more than 100 miles in the past 8 months.

I took the car to Tint Factory on Saturday to get a 3M clear bra installed to protect my newly acquired C-West hood. Special thanks to Garrett and Frank at Tint Factory. Packed up various tools and my car was ready by Saturday 9PM. Left to the track on Sunday at 5AM.

Arrived at ButtonWillow raceway and met up with a few buddies including Joey L. (ex-Sport Compact Car Chief Editor), Jay C. (ex-Sport Compact Car Technical Editor), Wes H. (Honda employee and Time Attack racer) plus a few new friends.

Jay’s Turbo KA S14.

The config. was 13 CCW which is a layout I had not driven in 3-4 yrs. My first session was kind of a rust remover session. I had not driven on track in awhile, the car had not be driven and the course layout almost seemed foreign. Before my next session I went out with Joey in his almost all stock EVO X GSR. That was a blast since Joey is a great driver and the EVO X is an awesomely fun car.

Joey’s EVO X GSR.

My next session out was much cleaner and I pushed a little harder. I was still only driving at partial throttle, super early braking and only bursts of full throttle at certain areas. When entering a corner at high speed a few too many thoughts race through my mind like:
If I go off, what will get damaged and more importantly how much will that cost me.
I wonder if my car will be able to get on a flat bed if I need to get towed home.

After I cleared those thoughts from my mind I began to push a little harder but still keeping it very chill. After all this was just supposed to be a fun day at the track. No timing, no competition. Just driving. I probably drove at 6 or 7/10th and still had lots of fun.

My EVO 9 SE

Next track event I will push harder and start to dial-in the suspension.

After arriving home and parking the car I thought about what needed to be done:
A good car wash to remove the 50+ dead bugs on the front of my car
All fluids change including engine oil, trans fluid, center diff., rear diff. and brake/ clutch fluid.
Rotate Tires, re-torque various bolts and a thorough inspection of brakes, suspension, etc…

SPECIAL THANKS to Wes H. for the photos.

NFS SoCal Meet

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The Need For Speed SoCal meet held at the Source Interlink Media offices in El Segundo, CA was a quality event. There were nice cars, free raffles, delicious taco plates and plenty of game stations to try out NFS Shift2 Unleashed.

Source Interlink opened up their garage and photo studio area for the public. They had some awesome cars parked throughout the building including Rado’s Time Attack tC, Evasive Motorsports EVO 9,  Twin Turbo built Viper, JR’s NFS Mustang and a bunch of other projects.

Source Interlink’s Garage area which has multiple car and motorcycle lifts, Snap-On tools and full bar. Yes, a full bar with LCD screens, and lounge area.

Evasive Motorsport EVO 9 Time Attack car parked near the photo studio. NFS Shift 2 gaming consoles were placed throughout the building for people to try.

Inside the photo studio area.

EA ran a contest for the fastest driver on the DBox setup. Winner got a Logitech prize pack.

In the morning the sky was gloomy but it cleared up later in the day. There was a wide variety of quality cars on display.

Loi from SportCar Motion brought up their monster DC2. Going to Arizona later this week for Modified Tuner Shootout.

My EVO 9 parked next to Brian’s (Mackin Industries) EVO 10.

Two more Evasive cars. Mike’s Civic Si with Type R conversion and Ken’s Voltex kited S2000.

Big Thanks to EA and Source Interlink Media for throwing the event. Check out Speedhunters.com for more coverage.

Super Lap Battle Finals 2010

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So SLB 2010 is over. TEIN engineer, R&D assistant and myself spent 2 days at Buttonwillow Raceway helping our sponsored vehicles. This year there was a smaller field but I think the level of competition and caliber of car was high.

Now on to the cars that we sponsor.

EVASIVE MOTORSPORTS

EVO 9 – Limited AWD
Driven by Mike C. co-owner of Evasive. Mike and the Evasive crew chased down minor gremlins throughout the event and never really got a chance to set a clean hot lap. Super Racing coilover with special 3-way rears. Best Time 1:51

Civic Si – Street FF
Also driven by Mike C. Testing out his newly modded engine and some aggressive suspension settings on his customized Mono FLEX dampers. Look for this next year after Evasive gets more testing done. We think it is capable of sub 2 min. lap times in the Street class. This year Best Lap 2:02

S2000 – Street FR (Evasive Sponsored)
Owned and driven by Tim Kuo. Very quick lap times considering the amount of modifications (almost stock NA motor) and no crazy body mods. Super Racing suspension and specifically chosen menu of mods. Best Time 2:02

CR-Z – Hybrid Class (Honda Tuning Magazine)
Also driven by Tim K. Very light mods since the car is so new to the US. Running our US spec. Mono FLEX coilovers and Falken 615K. Best Time 2:18.

Crawford Performance


2011 Scion tC – Limited FF
Driven by new up and comer, Michelle A. Quirt put this car together in just 2 weeks. Right now the car sports only a few light modifications. Running our proto-type Super Street coilovers. Best Time 2:14.

DC Sports


S2000 – Street FR
Owned by Mr. Will Law and driven by Tarzan. This project vehicle (see the build in Import Tuner magazine) needs more testing. This was the first time the car has seen the track since being modded. Modified Mono FLEX coilovers which Tarzan praised for making the car easy to control. Ran 2:02 – 2:03 in practice but had some gremlins come race day.

GMR Racing


S2000 – Unlimited FR (bumped from Limited due to mods)
Driven by Casey Dennis. GMR just recently installed the Super Racing coilovers. I am sure this car will go faster as they get it dialed in. Best Time 1:58

Have to mention that Sierra Sierra Enterprises broke the all time record with a 1:41.046. Watching the EVO carry speed and accelerate out of each corner was amazing.

Tim’s S2000 photo from Speedhunters.com

TEIN Online Specials

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If you did not already know. The TEIN USA homepage has an Online Retail Shop where replacement parts, goods and specific products can be purchased.

It was recently updated with a host of coilover kits, single replacement dampers and Fujitusbo Titanium exhausts. Check it out, it could save you some money. Look in the “Special Offer” category of the Online Shop.

SAVE $350-400

Average savings on selected coilover kits is $350-400. All kits are brand new in the box.

Applications include: Audi, BMW, Ford, Lexus, VW and more…

SAVE $1000

Average savings on a full Titanium exhaust $1000.

Applications include: S2000, EVO 9, STi, Supra

Employee owned: EVO 9

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This car has been in a few previous posts. It is owned by one of the staff here at TEIN USA. Originally bought brand new to be a fun daily driver / occasional track toy but soon took on a life of its own. Since we are the exclusive distributor for a variety of top brands (Carbing, Fujitsubo, Defi, SuperPro, and Takata) it was easy to build a quality car, plus employee discounts never hurt.

The exterior is comprised of Voltex bodykit and wing. Volk TE-37 18×9.5+12 with 8mm of spacers on front and rear wrapped with 275/35/18 tires.

Sitting on Super Racing coilovers with 14kg front springs and 12kg rear springs. The dampers have also been revalved with a few “special” parts to test out. Could be lower for appearance sake but this ride height works well for performance reasons.

Power is provided by Tomei ARMS turbo, Cosworth head and top end internals, plus a few HKS parts. You can find out HP/TQ and power curve in the current issue of Import Tuner magazine (July 2010) which go into detail about the Tomei Arms M7960 turbo, Cosworth 272 cams, and Okada Projects Quad Pac ignition coils. Drivetrain is comprised of Carbonetic carbon fiber clutch and carbon differentials.

Interior is filled with DEFI meters, Bride GIAS seats, Greddy boost controller, Alpine headunit, and of course dual EDFCs.

Having fun and testing at Willow Springs raceway in 2009.

2008 EVO vs STI Shootout at Buttonwillow raceway. Ran a 1:59 on config. CW13 with Rob Walker driving on Hankook RS-2 street tires.

Car on the cover of Modified magazine back in August 2008.

Photo credit for the action shot to Larry Chen at driftfotos.com

A staff of enthusiasts

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The TEIN USA staff is filled with automotive enthusiasts from different age groups, backgrounds and levels of interest.  Tuning philosophies, budgets and experience vary greatly but it makes for some interesting conversations. It also gives our product development section a chance to hear feedback from a wide range of opinions. Here are just a few of the staffs cars’.

Philip’s EVO 9 SE. Street/ track toy with the main goal being balance of all parts. Utilizes many parts in which TEIN USA distributes including Carbing, Defi, Takata, SuperPro and rocking Super Racing coilovers. Basically built/ tuned like a traditional shop demo car in Japan (trying something different than the normal US build).

Paul’s WRX. Custom valved TEIN FLEX with 8kg/ 5kg spring rates. Nothing crazy here but lots of bolt-on parts with total tuning in mind. Mainly a street car with an occasional track event.

Jon’s FC. A true do it yourself build including motor rebuild, tranny rebuild, paint and all the maintenance. Mono Flex dampers keep this a fun track toy while still maintaining good ride comfort for street driving.

TK’s Eclipse. Not the most popular model in the Eclipse family but purchased because this car was not offered in his home country of Japan. TK has previously owned an Integra DC2, JDM GC8, Skyline GTS-Type M, D32A, and Opel Omega. This daily driver uses Super Street dampers.

Ryan’s Civic Si 4dr. This daily driver features Super Street coilovers, Fujitsubo Legalis R exhaust, and a host of bolt-on parts. Ryan has been tuning his car on the local mountain passes and will be soon hitting the circuit for the first time.

Track Shakedown with Evasive Motorsports

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TEIN Engineer, R. Takizawa and I went to ButtonWillow raceway last Thursday, March 18th to test with the Evasive Motorsports CT9A. The EVO 9 will be running in this weekend’s Redline Time Attack at Buttonwillow Raceway in  Buttonwillow, CA. Normally the Evasive EVO runs in the Limited or Modified class which is on  R-Compound tires but for this event they will enter the Super-Modified Class wearing Yokohama slicks.

Mike of Evasive told us of his plans a few months ago so we revalved the dampers and suggested stiffer spring rates to match the grip of the slicks. Without having data on the tires our suggested spring rates and new valving were all calculated guesses. The actual track testing and driver feedback would let us know if the suspension needed minor or major adjustments (minor = damping force adjustments, major = revalving).

Pictured – Mike getting ready to go out for session 1.

In the first lap of the first session we witnessed Mike start a 25MPH parade lap and immediately knew something was wrong after the first few corners. Mike was getting a bad vibration  over 25MPH on acceleration.

His support team comprised of Kel, Brad and Hugh quickly went to work to diagnose and fix the problem. The culprit was worn axle tripod housings. Without having spares axles the crew went to work on a fix and the car was vibration free a couple hours later. R. Takizawa did a quick alignment adjustment and the car was back on track.

Pictured – R. Takizawa adjusting front toe while Brad and Kel take a much needed break after a scramble to get rid of the vibration.

After Mike got a feel for the car and a few semi-open laps we were able to gather some suspension feedback. At first there was slight understeer at corner exit so a front damping force adjustment was made. The change worked a little too well and resulted in a slight oversteer. So TEIN Engineer R. Takizawa made another slight change in damping force. Overall the stiffer spring rates, damper revalving and small adjustments resulted in a car that was predictable and easy to control. More suspension tuning is definitely needed but at this point the car is ready to compete for the first time in the 2010 season. During the next testing phase we may try stiffer sway bar or slightly stiffer springs, alignment changes, and of course more damping force adjustments.

Pictured – In the hot pits. Mike driving, R. Takizawa making damping force changes, Brad checking tire pressures, Kel taking tire temps. and Hugh recording data.

A look at the Voltex front aero which keeps this EVO planted.

We wish Evasive Motorsports the best of luck at the Redline Time Attack.