Friday was the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge and which I entered the #88 Exedy Integra. I had a great battle with a Porsche 968 all day sharing the top spot in our class but came up 0.3 short in the end. I finished 2nd in class but was pleased with the finish overall. I’m certainly proud of the fact our #88 Integra has placed first or second in all three GRM UTCC events since 2007.
The other news is the 2nd Hondaworks Acura had it’s debut weekend. Kevin spent countless hours getting the car ready and we WILL be at Mid-Ohio, August 6-8 for the next round of SCCA World Challenge. The car was good right out of the box. We made a number of changes during the weekend but still have a list of things to do before the event.
Highlights:
The new Hondaworks engine set a RLZ Dyno record for n/a K24′s. The combination of Kelford, Wiseco, Hondata and Skunk2 made fantastic power. We were thrilled with the numbers and we are still waiting on a few important parts!
The brakes on the new RSX are wonderful. Again, the combination of DBA rotors, Powerbrake calipers and Carbotech pads has provided us what we think will be an advantage over our competitors.
The handling is coming along with help from Brain at AST. The RSX is certainly a lot different than the other Hondaworks cars but, in time it will be just as fast. Thanks to Brian for tech help over the phone all weekend.
The Hoosier Tires held up in the extreme heat well! We ran Hoosier A6′s all weekend with track temps over 130 and they performed great!
Koyo kept both cars cool at 100+ degrees all weekend.
Exedy’s Hypersingle clutch was flawless. Thanks to Evan and James for coming down for the weekend.
Thanks to all our other supporters, too. The products from Seibon, Enkei WHEELS. Hasport, Quaife, Ksport, FAL, APR, ASR and Sparco all performed perfectly. We are thrilled to have built a car with this many great partners and a special thanks to Motovicity for introducing us to many of you. Thank you again.
We are excited to announce Andrew Comrie-Picard will be using the Enkei RC-G4 on the NOS Energy drink EVO this weekend at the summer X-Games in Los Angeles. If you are not familiar with Andrew Picard, check out the video below from X-Games 14 where he flipped his car! Though Andrew did not win, he was ahead when he crashed and it made for a really exciting race. Photos from yesterdays X Games media day coming soon! For more info on this years Summer X Games, CLICK HERE. – Alex
Michael Essa and the GSR Autosports crew head to Georgia for round 2 of the 2010 Formula Drift championship. See how far the 350R makes it in this episode. Jarod DeAnda stops by to speak with Michael, and the Atlanta fans show some impressive devotion. ESSAS FORMULA DRIFT BMW IS EQUIPPED WITH ENKEI PF01 RACING SERIES WHEELS. Also spotted on SpeedHunters.com
Dave Briggs is proving himself to be quickly becoming one of the top driving talents in Canada, and the States as well. This vid showcases Dave’s weekend at Drift Mania Canadian Championships Round 2. Dave Briggs uses the ENKEI RPF1 (SBC).
Charles Ng uses the Enkei PF01 on his Mazda RX-7 FC.
“We did very well this weekend, I beat Taka Aono at Top 32, took Seattle local drifter Nickolay out with a one more time in Top 16, moved on to top 8 and only barely lost to Ryan Tuerck after one one more time. The wheels got a lot of compliments from the fans and they loved the color, style and fitment on them.” – Charles Ng
From Stephan Verdier: The seattle event started pretty good. It’s a really fast entry course, 4th gear into a right long bank then into the infield for 2 more turns. The finish is a 180 really sharp turn in 2nd and you exit right by a wall. Practice on Thursday went well, it was 95 degrees but the car never overheated, not like me. I was struggling a bid at the beginning with our set up but after Costa made a few changes the car was perfect. Going into Friday practice before qualifying i was really confident that it will be good. The practice went according to plan until the last 10 min when i felt a big vibration coming from the gear box. First we thought it was the drive shaft, we changed it but no difference. We couldn’t change the gear box on time for qualifying so we decided to run it like this and hope it last. 1st qualifying run: i wanted to put a nice run down to get a score on the board but not take too much risk. It started well, i was a bit low on the entry of the bank but brought it back up, in the entry of the infield you need to use the ebrake and when i did it broke. I was without ebrake for the rest of the course and you need it 2 more time. I manage to get a score but it wasn’t a really good one. Before the 2nd qualifying run we were able to replace the master cylinder for the ebrake and the gear box was still holding. 2nd run: This time i had to go for it. It started perfect right by the wall, going into the infield the ebrake worked perfect, next turn perfect, last turn i got on the gaz hard to finish with a bang, I came a bit to close to the wall, hit it with the rear witch sucked the front end in it too, and lost the drift 5 feet from the finish. No score. Luckily my first score was good enough to put me in the show.
I drew the Falken Sky for my first battle. By Saturday morning we had he car back 100 % ready for battle. The morning went great, no issue, the car was fantastic. I knew it was going to be hard to beat the Sky. The car is 500 pds lighter than mine and has 200 more horsepower. But I knew there was a chance to beat him.
1st run: I was following, I entered the bank a car length behind and keeped that distance all the way into the infield, i closed the gap a bit in the braking but he was able to put some gap on me on the acceleration. Slight advantage for him.
2nd run: I was leading. Perfect entry on the bank and he was a car length behind me. Fast entry on the infield and that’s where he was able to close the gap and stayed glued to me for the rest of the run. He won, I went home. He ended up finishing 3rd in the ompetition.
We are back in Los Angeles now, changing the car into rallycross spec for the X-Games. Our next event for drifting is Las Vegas end of August.
Lewis Hamilton extended his Formula One drivers’ championship lead after finishing second behind Red Bull’s Mark Webber at the British Grand Prix. The McLaren Mercedes team leads in points for the season with 278 points.
Lewis Hamilton (2nd) driver quote
“It’s been a phenomenal weekend – and this result is a near-perfect way to finish it. I’m so happy: considering how far behind we were in practice, we really didn’t expect to be this far up today. I’m very proud of the team and the effort they put in, as always. At the start, I was able to jump Fernando [Alonso] and take a step forward. After that I chased Mark [Webber] for the whole race, but the Red Bull was about four or five tenths a lap faster than our car, so it was very difficult to stay close to him. Still, the most important thing is that we scored a lot of world championship points once again, so this is another great race result for us. It’s been the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen here. And the support from all the fans has been incredible, I couldn’t ask for more. You can’t hear them cheering their support in the car, but you can feel it; and I carry every single one of them with me in the car. They give me a huge boost of confidence on every lap. We’ve got two weeks to work on our upgrades before the next grand prix. I won the last race at Hockenheim, in 2008, and if we can get the new floor there, we should be looking pretty strong. We’ve just got to keep pushing: this world championship is still all to play for.”
Jenson Button (4th) driver quote
“That was a great race, and I’m so happy to have made up 10 places. But it’s hard to overtake around here, so I knew I had to make up a lot of places off the start-line. In the event I made up six places, but I then had to push really hard on the Option tyre in the first stint. That strategy worked for us and I came out behind Fernando, who had a drive-through, so I picked up fourth. It’s a pity I couldn’t have overtaken Nico (Rosberg), but this is still a fantastic result for me. It’s a pity I couldn’t get onto the podium in front of my home crowd, who have been absolutely amazing all weekend. You can never forget the fans around here – I genuinely think they helped Lewis and me to a good result today. And they got to see and cheer Lewis on the podium too, so it’s not been a bad weekend for them overall, I hope. After Friday, to pick up second and fourth today is great. I’m still second in the drivers’ championship, and the only pain is that Lewis has pulled away a bit. But we’ll try and get that back at the next race. I reckon we’ll turn up at Hockenheim with a stronger car, and that therefore we won’t be fighting from the start of the weekend. I hope we’ll have a good race there and can really take the fight to the Red Bulls.”
ENKEI is the official wheel supplier to the McLaren F1 Team.
Here’s another 2011 Mustang GT with 20″ ENKEI FALCON Performance wheels!
ENKEI FALCON
The ENKEI Falcon has a strong, old-school five-spoke design & comes in stylish Hyper Silver with a shiny machined lip or in an able-bodied Matte Gunmetal color with a subtle machined lip. The Falcon is perfect for both import and domestic car enthusiasts. Available in 16×7, 17×7, 17×8, 18×7.5, 18×8, 20×8.5, and 20×10 and is made with the same high quality & advanced technology you’d expect from the ENKEI brand.
Dave had arrived back from Chicago with a new engine, new rear diff and reinstalled wiring harness – all things that had been summarily destroyed in the unplanned CORE Evo BBQ (i.e. piston through the block resulting in fireball). We arrived for tech in Colorado Springs just in time. Passed with flying colors and headed in to the driver’s meeting. Excitement about the record breaking was already abuzz, particularly since another few miles of the road had been paved (from Boulder Park up to the summit); effectively resulting in a faster course.
Click HERE to read the full article on NOS website/blog.
ENKEI PF01 is now available in Matte Black (Special Order Only – Black RPF1 are only available in certain sizes and offsets.)
The already popular Enkei PF01 is now available in Matte Black! With its light weight and durability, the PF01 continues to be the hottest race wheel this year. The Wheel has been embraced by professional race car drivers such as Rhys Millen, Dan Gardner/Scion Racing, Joon Maeng/Bergenholtz Racing, and many others. It continues to pass the test of being a true high quality race wheel. Made with Enkei’s MAT technology, the PF01 is a light, racer-friendly wheel. The Matte Black PF01 is sized from 15”, 17” and 18”, with plenty of clearance for large brake calipers. The PF01 is a high quality, very lightweight wheel offered at a competitive price. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENKEI PF01 NEWS
Watch ENKEI sponsored teams drift at Formula Drift Round 2 in Atlanta. See Joon Maeng of Bergenholtz Racing and his Mazda RX-8 and Michael Essa and his brand-new BMW 350R both with Enkei PF01 Racing Series wheels.
Head over to SpeedHunter.com to read Joon’s DRIVER BLOG where he recaps his Formula Drift New Jersey experience. You also get to read and see a more personal side of Joon off the track. CLICK HERE to check it out!
The Enkei NT03+M (17×7.5 +45) Racing Series wheel is featured in this summer’s issue of 0-60 Magazine! Make sure to grab a copy when it hits news stands and keep up with the Mini Cooper S 0-60 project build. As you can tell by the photo above, looks like it’s going to be a another great build by 0-60!
Also, don’t forget, the same 17×7.5 +45 NT03+M is being used on the Mini ABFYokohama Ride and Drive Mini Coopers! Check out a couple pics from the Mini Cooper Ride and Drive here —-> (more…)
If you have been looking for a great wheel for the 2010-2011 Mustang GT… your search is over. Introducing the already popular Enkei Falcon in 20″! Thanks to Dan of Out Performance Shop we had the chance to photograph this 2011 Mustang GT on the 20″ Falcons. Dan and the Mustang on their way to the Los Angeles area today to begin huge modifications including twin turbos. You can see the final version of the car at this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas. The wheel also looks great on the 2010 Camaro SS and it clears the big brakes! Camaro SS pics and blog post coming soon!
ENKEI FALCON
The ENKEI Falcon has a strong, old-school five-spoke design & comes in stylish Hyper Silver with a shiny machined lip or in an able-bodied Matte Gunmetal color with a subtle machined lip. The Falcon is perfect for both import and domestic car enthusiasts. Available in 16×7, 17×7, 17×8, 18×7.5, 18×8, 20×8.5, and 20×10 and is made with the same high quality & advanced technology you’d expect from the ENKEI brand.
Lewis Hamilton takes 1st and Jenson Button takes 2nd at Formula 1 Grand Prix Du Canada 2010! Enkei Wheels on both McLaren-Mercedes!!
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in their McLaren MP4-25s turned the world championship fight on its head in Montreal on Sunday afternoon, when they scored the team’s third one-two of the season after a tense race in which nobody was able to relax. It began with second fastest qualifier Mark Webber being moved back five grid places after Red Bull replaced his gearbox, then a collision between Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi which split the field up and put some unfancied runners in places you wouldn’t have expected in the midfield.
Stephan Verdier uses the 
(on 
Bergenholtz Nitto RX-8 equipped with 
Falken ASD 350z equipped with 
GSR Nitto Tire BMW equipped with 
Red Bull Rhys Millen Hyundai Genesis equipped with Enkei PF01 Racing Series Wheels
