Formula Drift 2012

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Omar A.

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

Monster Falken 2012 Mustang

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Omar A.

Working here at TEIN USA, I’m usually getting picked on because I would rather drive American muscle vs. a Japanese import. Now don’t get me wrong, Japanese import vehicles are reliable cars that can be tuned to perfection. But I’m more of a supercharged, convertible Roush Mustang with a Dual Flowmaster exhaust system type of guy. The 2012 Monster energy/ Falken Tire sponsored Mustang is a very good example of what I’m talking about. It has a roaring 800 horsepower 6.7-liter V8 engine. It also sports a set of Azenis RT615K tires and HRE Wheels Competition Series C21. I bet you guys are wondering, “OK, it’s a beast of a car, but what does it have to do with TEIN”, right? Well of course I wouldn’t be blogging about this beauty just because of its performance tuning and RTR body kit if it did not sport our TEIN 2-way adjustable coil overs with dual EDFC custom made to maneuver this pony 🙂

Falken Tires’ New Commercials!

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Paul P.

Falken has made a new commercial for 2012 focusing on their participation in AMA and ALMS. But they also put in some nice clips of their Formula D cars in action!

Falken has built up a nice history in motorsports Stateside over the past few years, making a mark not only in drifting, but in American Le Mans and the aforementioned AMA. They don’t seem to be slowing down their pace, either.

As some of you may know, we get to work side by side with Falken’s drift car builders Autosport Dynamics. I can say, with certainty, that Falken is fully vested in making competitive vehicles with the sole purpose of winning. I’m sure this directly translates into developing a great product readily available to the consumer. We are more than glad to get to work with such a company in their Formula D program.

When you have time, check out their website, they have a great page detailing their motorsports side and some information on their drivers and their cars. Not to mention, some great info on their ALMS Porsche GT3 RSR car. OH MY…..

Congratulations To Falken For Their WIN!

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Sergio M.

Congratulations to Falken Tire for there Formula Drift Round 3 Podium Sweep in Palm Beach, FL.

Falken Tire Podium Sweep

Justin Pawlak takes the Victory and the Lead in the Championship.

Congratulations also go to Vaughn Gittin Jr. for his Second Place finish and Darren McNamara for taking 3rd.

All of the Falken Tire vehicles prepared by ASD run custom TEIN coilovers. Some kits are from our normal offerings while others are custom. Each kit is then tailored to the ASD chassis setup and driver.

Tyler in his Falken Tire Nissan 350Z vs. Jeff Jones

Mustang (JTP) vs. Mustang (JR)

Falken (JTP) vs Falken (D-Mac)

Congratulations to all the drivers. The event looked like a lot of fun in the sun.

Photos taken from: www.speedhunters.com

A look back at US Drifting, Part 1

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Philip C.

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.