Maxxis-sponsored Team Japspeed experienced success with driver Danny Eyles winning Round Three of the Prodrift Super Series at Donington (held back on 8 August), setting up an exciting series climax to be held at the end of the week (6 September).
Following on the from the company’s three-year deal with Liverpool FC, sponsorship of the 2009 Isle of Man TT Races, ongoing role as title sponsor of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship and increased involvement in professional drifting tend to make the biggest headlines, Maxxis has reiterated grass roots sport.
At the end of June the company announced it has sponsored two Kenilworth Wardens youth teams, which play matches every Sunday in the Mid-Warwickshire Football Leagues. Last season the Under-9s were among 66 teams competing in the Mid-Warwickshire Junior Football League and they finished fourth in Division 1 and made the quarter final stage of the League Cup.
Representatives from the custom, tuning and motorsports industry have met in Dubai to discuss the Barbican Turbo show, which will be held between the 8th and 10th October at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. Last year’s inaugural show was attended by more than 19,000 enthusiasts, a very respectable headcount for a first-time show. Critical to the show’s ongoing success, believes organiser United Business Media, is direct input from the industry about Barbican Turbo’s future development and how it can meet the needs of participating companies.
“We are especially pleased the organisers have decided to involve us and other companies in the event process as it allows them to produce an event that we actually want and need to support our businesses goals,” stated Foilacar managing director Swen Roters, who was present at the Dubai meeting.
Praise for Federal Tire’s 595 RS-R has been handed out by Japan’s Rev Speed magazine. The popular performance and tuning magazine recently described the semi-slick tyre as a “a high-performance offering features a sporty personality, with a genuine bargain of attractively and affordable price.”
In testing the tyre, Rev Speed sent a team of evaluators to the Nikko Circuit in central Japan, where they spent a full track day behind the wheel. The Federal product was pitted against four competitors from the UHP tyre sector. Testing on the 235/40R18 size tyres was carried out using a Subaru Impreza GRB, which performed numerous time attack and drifting manoeuvres.
Maxxis has announced that its speciality drifting and track racing tyre, the MA-Z1 Drift, is now in stock in an expanded range of sizes. The tyre has been praised by Maxxis-sponsored professional drift driver Declan Hicks, who declared the difference between the specialist drift tyre and standard road tyres to be “quite astounding”. E-marked and fully street legal, it is now available in the following sizes:
•195/45 R16 MAZ1 DRIFT 84V XL
•195/50 R15 MAZ1 DRIFT 86V XL
•205/40 ZR17 MAZ1 DRIFT 84W XL
•225/40 ZR18 MAZ1 DRIFT 92W XL
•225/45 ZR17 MAZ1 DRIFT 94W XL
•235/35 ZR19 MAZ1 DRIFT 91W XL
•235/40 ZR18 MAZ1 DRIFT 95W XL
•245/40 ZR17 MAZ1 DRIFT 95W XL
•245/40 ZR18 MAZ1 DRIFT 97W XL
•255/35 ZR18 MAZ1 DRIFT 94W XL
Indonesian tyre manufacturer PT Multistrada has won the contract to supply the Sepang 1000km race on 4-6 June at the prestigious Sepang International Circuit. Multistrada will supply 1400 of the company’s Achilles 123 model, which has been named as the official tyre for the race a compulsory requirement for all competitors. The 195/50/15 semi-slick medium-hard tyres can be used in both wet and dry conditions.
“Despite being low in cost the tyre has met the standard at other events,” said SIC CEO Razlan Razali. “Although it is the first time SIC will be engaging Multistrada as the official tyre provider, the brand is a well known name in Indonesia, particularly it’s rallying scene.”
Continental Tire Canada said it is continuing sponsorship of the BMW Winter Driver Training programme. The programme includes the BMW Winter Driver Training, recently held at the International Club Academy Racing (ICAR) in Mirabel, Quebec, which teaches participants key maneouvres such as emergency braking and avoidance, front and rear wheel skid control, 180-degree turns, and drifting.
“We are very proud to support BMW in its new programme”, said Maiti Leinss, Continental Canada’s marketing coordinator. “We see this programme as a great initiative for more safety on Canadian roads by promoting the importance of a good winter tyre and a trained driver.” (Tire Review/Akron)
Toyo Tire USA announced today that Drifting World Champion Rhys Millen has become the newest member of Team Toyo. Millen will compete for the Formula Drift championship in a 550-horsepower, 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe equipped with extreme performance Toyo Proxes R1 tyres. In addition to the Formula Drift series, Millen plans to compete with the car in the Pikes Peak Hillclimb as well as Redline Time Attack events.
Since its release in 2007, the Proxes R1R has won two Formula Drift championships, the D1 GP championship and the Street Touring S class championship during the 2008 SCCA Solo National Championships as well as many time attack competitions.
The relatively new motorsport known as drifting, whose championships have been reported on these web pages recently, is about to get its own track days thanks to Santa Pod Raceway in Northamptonshire. Emerging from its origins as an underground recreation, drifting is now described by the track’s administrators as “a mainstream art-form,” boasting its own championships, computer games and dedicated Scalextric set. Thanks to Santa Pod, becoming a drifting virtuoso, or at least being able to hold your car in a controlled slide, has become a much more attainable goal.
Learning to drift can be quite tricky and expensive, particularly when a learner gets it wrong. Santa Pod states, “Drift competitions require a pretty high standard before you can enter, most drift-schools add a considerable cost, and neither the local constabulary nor your local Tesco will appreciate you doing it on their turf.”
Falken has enjoyed considerable success in the comparatively new motorsport of drifting, with teams performing in vehicles shod with Falken Azenis RT-615. In fact, Falken was the first tyre manufacturer to back drifting when it was introduced to the USA in 2003.
In 2008, the company broadened its motorsports horizons when it took part in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) competition. This is unusual in the fact that open tyre competition is encouraged and there are six manufacturers currently in competition, developing tyres specifically suited to the 11 different tracks in the series.
The 2008 Toyo Tires Drift Australia Series may only have finished in September with its fifth and final round at Oran Park Speedway on 20-21, but Federal Tires – which supplies some of the participants’ rubber and sponsorship – is already looking forward to “an even bigger year in 2009.” The Federal brand is heavily represented by the rides of Khudar Elhaouli, Tom Monkhouse, Eugene Arendsen and Nathan Weissel. The latter two drivers have also represented Team Federal alongside Trent Whyte in the Team Drift competition, which the Taiwanese manufacturer singles out as a particular highlight of the series.
Federal has been pleased with its progress in the competition and with the brand development opportunities it has had through participation in the series. The brand is particularly keen to raise awareness of its products in the high and ultra-high performance sectors, and the audience of Drift events – which involve throwing cars into spectacular slides to gain points for style rather than just speed – is typically made up of willing consumers of products in this sector. In terms of results, Elhaouli’s overall series fourth place, alongside the eighth, ninth and tenth placements of Monkhouse, Arendsen and Weissel, reflects the relative success Federal-shod competitors have experienced, allowing them to finish the year, in the company’s words, “at the pointed end of the field.”
The performance of Team JDS and in particular driver Khuder Elhaouli in Round 4 of Toyo Drift Australia was of particular interest to Federal Tire, who supplied the tyres for the driver’s final push. Due to the power of his 6.0 litre V8, Khuder quickly wore out his tyres and the decision was made to swap to Federal’s 595RS. Federal reports that “the change of tyres led to the driver dramatically pulling out a quick lap in qualifying and the extra grip delivered some strong and fighting performance which helped him to exploit fully the tactical potential of the tyre.
“Racing highlights included a Top 16 stage in which Khuder was paired against Trent Whyte with both cars running on Federal tyres. Each car was squeezing hard with big power to the ground. The duo proved to be scary fast and very even, thus both were put under pressure when a re-run was called by the judges. Since the first run has poised the couple by finishing a 5 to 5 points score, Khuder had then managed to chalk up the lead as he took an advantage with a clever, well recognized individual drifting style that drove him straight into the top 8.
2006 Formula Ford Champion and Indy Lights Racing competitor Nathan Freke who recently successfully completed the Nürburgring 24 Hours in a Marangoni Fiat 500, added yet more success for the Italian tyre manufacturer in the Ten of the Best at Elvington Airfield. Ten of the Best is a unique speed event where all competitor vehicles have to be road legal with MOT, Insurance and Tax. In his self-prepared Toyota MR2 Turbo fitted with Marangoni Zeta Linea tyres he followed his 2007 European best time in the Mile Drag section with another dominant Class win of 10.84 seconds@ 129mph.
The only rear wheel drive car in the Top 20, Nathan posted the 12th fastest time overall against 4-wheel drive competition, netting a haul of: Fastest RWD time, Fastest RWD Turbo car and Fastest Japanese RWD in addition to his RWD Drag Race Shootout Championship. Putting his Marangoni Zeta Linea tyres against the opposition in the Standing Kilometre, Nathan and the MR2 posted 7th overall across all classes, finishing with a run of 169.9mph in 20.36 seconds.
British Drift Championship driver, Chris Bradbury is now sponsored by Marangoni for 2008. Recently the driver lauded the Italian manufacturer’s Mythos line of high performance tyres. “The Mythos is an unbelievably good drift/grip tyre and in five years of drifting it’s the only tyre I have ever run on that gives consistent, high levels of linear grip at any temperature, without delamination, chunking or any other malfunction to the tyre. They will run evenly, right down to the core. Truly awesome.”
“We have been extremely pleased, not only with the performance of the tyres, but with the opportunity to show our brand to a new and enthusiastic audience. Brand recognition and consumer awareness can only be enhanced by our participation in this fast growing field of motorsport,” said Derek Carruthers, Marangoni (Car Tyre Division) Global Sales & Marketing Director.
Federal has secured its sponsorship of this year’s Top Drift competition, giving its name to the trophy. The Federal Cup is one of drift racing’s premier contests, and is held on the West Coast of the USA. This is the third consecutive year in which Federal is the contest’s key sponsor, and the company has entered into the spirit of the exciting contest, in which drivers are judged on their ability to handle high-speed, long-distance slides around the racetrack.
Round Three of the Championship will take place towards the end of September and represents the beginning of the back straight of the contest in which Federal’s US dealer City Tires continues to service 13 of the 16 top drivers.
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