Tag Archives: tC

The End of The Scion Era

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It’s sad to hear that the Scion marque has reached its end. With just over 13 years of production, the brand made a huge impact on the sporty compact car market, and has helped manufacturers like ourselves by being able to offer suspension packages for very customizable platforms. After all, that was the appeal of the Scion line- customization. And affordability.

However, with our economy hitting another rut, it seems to not be in Scion’s favor. So, as of August this year, we will no longer see Scion badged vehicles. Toyota will be carrying over a few of their current and new platforms. Whether that affects the model names is not known yet. Regardless, it will be great to see the continuation of some of these Scion vehicles under the Toyota marque.

Let’s take a look back at some memorable Scion projects we had our hands on.

How about our very own Scion xB widebody, built by our previous Marketing Director Philip Chase

DSC_0013v2_printDSC_0030v2_printPhilip had a completely custom, steel fendered widebody kit made for this xB. From what we last heard, this car is still roaming around at several car shows. This xB used a set of our [now discontinued] Hybrid Dampers, which was a ride height adjustable damper kit, but also had a hydraulic setup that allowed you to adjust ride height ~2 inches on the fly. Definitely useful considering this custom body kit gave the car very little ground clearance.

Then we also have our R&D Engineer’s personal Scion FR-S which first used a set of MONO FLEX dampers, then eventually used our SUPER RACING dampers. Shu was a regular attendee for local track days. Originally owning a Honda S2000 with our SUPER RACING dampers, he eventually wanted to get an FR-S and try to develop it into a great street and track car. It was actually his daily driver for a while. While he was using our SUPER RACING dampers, it eventually became a test bed for us in developing damping for this setup.

shu bw

We also have the Rally xD, which was a Scion Racing program vehicle spearheaded by Gordon Ting

xd pikes 3 (Custom)xd pikes 2 (Custom)The Rally xD used dampers made through our SPECIALIZED DAMPER Program. Since rally type suspension wasn’t readily available for this car, this program was the best solution. In total we made two kits, one based around our HG type dampers and one loosely based on our Gr.N dampers.

Its final iteration was a take on some classic Toyota rally cars from the good ol’ days

xd nefr 3 (Custom)xd nefr 1 (Custom)

We also have the Scion tC of Edgar Coria and his wife Tiffany. They use our STREET BASIS dampers for their widebody 2nd gen tC.

Edgar Coria

One of our good friends, Five Axis Designs, has been involved with Scion since their inception, and they were responsible for prototyping a lot of vehicles for the Toyota group. Being that we’ve had a great relationship with Five Axis, a lot of their projects had TEIN suspensions.

Troy, owner of Five Axis was one of the first to get our TYPE FLEX dampers for the then-new FR-S

Troy's FR-S

Before the Scion iM reached the US shore, we helped Five Axis with suspension for this concept iM

proto scion im

Another FR-S built by Five Axis for CAPCOM. Yes, the producers of the Street Fighter series of video games! Also on one of our FLEX damper setups.

capcom fr-s

Five Axis has also built some pretty crazy concepts around the tC, xA, and xB platforms, such as these cars

tC 2 tC

xA 2 xA

We’ll be sad to see the Scion name disappear. However, for many of us, we were able to witness something pretty great for our generation of automotive enthusiasts. We got to see the era of customization grow into something never really seen before for the sport compact car market. It pushed the envelope in both show and race, with builders thinking way outside the box (like the guys at Five Axis!). Kudos to the Scion marketing team on getting their name spread all throughout North America and beyond. For us, Scion will be in some of our fondest of memories.

Congrats to the Rally xD Team for Reaching the Summit!!!

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In its second year contesting the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the Rally xD team successfully reached the top (a breathtaking 14,110 feet in elevation) for 2013! They placed a 12:39 ET, making them the fastest front-wheel drive vehicle for this event!

xd pikes 2 (Custom)

Crew Chief Philip Chase reported that conditions changed constantly, from snow, wind, hail, and whatever the gods of racing can throw at them. Traction would prove to be difficult, especially as the xD’s turbocharger started to build full-boost. Wheel slip was nearly unavoidable.

In a post I made last year, I mentioned a little on how hard that actually is for both man and machine. You not only have to battle uphill (or upmountain, if that makes more sense), but the higher up you go, the thinner the oxygen supply in the air is, making it difficult for the driver and car to breathe as if it were at sea level. At least the Rally xD relies on some turbocharged assistance to get the most oxygen into the engine. Can’t say the same for driver Andrew Comrie-Picard, unless he was hooked up to some oxygen tank. Even then, power output is cut drastically by the time they cross the 10,000 ft mark.  Water and oil temperatures also suffer the higher up you travel, and if you’re hard on the brakes, the boiling temperature will also drop. So many things to factor in that can go wrong while driving.

Needless to say, the team didn’t have it easy. And this xD being their sole chariot for racing duties during the 2013 Rally America season, they’d  have a lot to lose if this car found itself over the cliff.  But, we’re talking about seasoned rally veterans. They know what they’re doing. Again, the xD saw the finish line under its own power. Some teams weren’t so lucky. The Love Fab NSX, for example, crashed during practice and went up in flames cutting their weekend short. Mechanical failures are to be expected to varying degrees. Drivers are pushed to their very limits. We’re  just glad to see that nothing major went wrong for the xD crew.

xd pikes 3 (Custom)

It goes without saying that the highlight of the event was seeing Red Bull and their Peugeot 208 T16 with 875bhp and all-wheel drive, commandeered by WRC veteran Sebastien Loeb, break the record by a large margin. How about 8m:13.878sec to the top?! Last year’s record of 9:46 by Rhys Millen in his Hyundai Tiburon was still quite an achievement considering that was the first year of an all-paved course, and in rear-wheel drive only. To his acknowledgement, Rhys bested his own record with a 9:02.192 in his Hyundai PM580T.

Oh, and our good friends at Evasive Motorsports broke the 10 minute barrier (10:59)  in their Time Attack Scion FR-S! Way to go, guys!

The 2013 event also saw a return of the Electric Car class. Say what you want about it, but a race car’s a race car no matter how it sounds. We should truly embrace this form of racing technology.

All in all, a great event. New records have been set, and we should all look forward to another record-smashing year in 2014!

 

 

 

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

SEMA 2010

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TEIN returned to SEMA this year after a one-year hiatus. Our booth was more focused on TEIN and SuperPro products.

A gamut of TEIN products were on display which included our new STREET BASIS damper (more info. on this in a future post).

TEIN coilovers were used on some high profile booth vehicles and on a few feature vehicles.

TEIN FEATURE VEHICLE

Abe Ko’s LS430 sitting on FLEX Sedan coilovers, special order from Japan. These coilovers feature a maximum drop of 4.5 inches. Coupled with the Platinum VIP Cup Kit this LS is literally on the ground. Full feature on this car and suspension system in a future post.

LEXUS BOOTH

0-60 Magazine GS450H Racer featuring custom Super Racing Coilovers and dual EDFC.

SCION BOOTH

Scion booth. 0-60 Magazine built Scion xD Rally v.3 using Specialized Damper.

Crawford 2011 Scion tC with Super Street coilovers. More on this car later as it will be running at Super Lap Battle on 11.10.10.

HONDA BOOTH

Honda Tuning Magazine built Honda CR-Z sitting on Mono FLEX coilovers.

Wraptivo Honda CR-Z with Super Street coilovers.

MACKIN BOOTH (RAYS WHEELS)




TEIN authorized dealer RallySport Direct built Subaru STI Sedan. One of the first modified STI sedans in the US. Featuring Mono FLEX coilovers and some aggressive TE37 SLs.

DC SPORTS BOOTH

DC Sports collaboration with Import Tuner Magazine. More on this car later as it will be at Super Lap Battle Finals with Tarzan Yamada behind the wheel.

There is no stop this week as we prepare to go to Super Lap Battle Finals at Buttonwillow Raceway. One of our engineers and a couple staff members will be out there supporting TEIN users.