Racers Corner

Wild ride for Cline at Sno*Drift Rally

EXEDY — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:49:01 +0000

Cline and Dorman finish Sno*Drift, complete their goal

Lewiston, MI, January 29th 2011: Cline Racing Sports / Exedy Rally Team own, Evan Cline and Grzegorz Dorman piloted their 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX to a 14th place overall and 6th place in Super Production class during the opening round of the Rally America National Championship Series presented by RallyCar, Sno*Drift Rally.

The team, based in Brighton, MI fought their way thru snow and ice on the road of northeastern part of lower Michigan state improving their times throughout the entire event.

This year’s conditions were a lot better than previous years. Even though there was not much snow in the area, it covered over 130 competitive stage miles, divided onto 18 stages. Cline Racing Sports was one of the 47 teams that began the rally on the Friday afternoon from Lewiston, MI. Their stage times continuously improved on Friday and although they had two spins on Friday stages they finished the seven stages planned for the day with total result of 8th overall and 4th in Super Production (SP) class.

While other teams continued to have problems going off the road on the icy sections of the stages, Cline drove exceptionally well and by the end of stage 11, the team was sitting 5th overall and 2nd in SP. Unfortunately during one of the special stages on Saturday, their Subaru encountered problems with air delivery to the engine and the American – Polish crew had to stop on special stage 15 for over 13 minutes. After stopping on the stage and cleaning the snow out of the airbox, Cline and Dorman got the car to the last service of the day in Atlanta, MI.

Cline came out of this “unscheduled” stop on a mission to get back the lost time and to improve their position in class on the last two stages. He put in the 5th best time overall on that stage. Cline Racing Sports ended the rally in 14th place overall and 6th place in the SP class.

Special Stage 17 – “Thunder River” – 5.96 miles

Cline commented: “As a team we gained a lot of experience during this difficult event. I even thought this was our very first ride together with Greg and we seemed to be working great in the car and only expect to improve from here on through the season”. Team would like to thank local businessman Jeff Evans and his wife for having the team as a guest in their heated garage in Lewiston, MI. Jeff, owner of local business in Lewiston, MI, AMI Industries.

Cline Racing Sports next event will be at 100 Acre Wood Rally based in Salem, MO on February 25th and 26th, 2011.

Cline Racing Sports team driver, Evan Cline is sponsored by:
EXEDY Clutches, Recaro, Disc Brakes Australia, Hawk, Carbotech, K&N, JE Pistons, Magnus Motorsports, Innovate Motorsports, KSport and Mobsteel.

Mohan takes Mazda rotary power to Gymkhana Grid

EXEDY — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:13:03 +0000

August 12, 2010 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – If it involves sliding around and lighting up his Nexen rubber, Kyle Mohan will be there. In the case of this past weekend, Mohan took the Mazdatrix / Nexen Mazda RX-7 to the Gymkhana Grid Media and Test day at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California.

Gymkhana is a motor sport where a driver negotiates a complex designed course with obstacles such as, cones, tires, barrels and K-rail, with 180 degree spins, parking box maneuvers, figure 8s, and other advanced skills. Two side-by-side courses are set up to provide for head-to-head competition between two cars.

Made popular stateside by Ken Block’s Gymkhana and Gymkhana 2 videos, which have been viewed millions of times on YouTube, this was the sport’s official unveiling as a dedicated motorsport in the United States. As far as Mohan saw things, it was a lot like drifting except now there was a stopwatch involved and a car that he had to beat.

Other than some fresh rubber, Mohan took his car to Gymkhana Grid essentially unchanged from its last event which was the Redline Time Attack event at Willow Springs. The car, as it turned out, was ideally suited to the Gymkhana Grid layout, and Mohan adapted well to the driving techniques required to get around the course quickly.

“The Gymkhana Grid course was challenging since it required me to use drifting techniques and time attack skills that I have been learning all year,” said Mohan. “I can almost drift the whole course but that wouldn’t be the fastest way. But if you don’t use the e-brake and slide the car around some of the obstacles, the car will just understeer and you’ll be slow. So I really had to use both skill sets to go fast.”

As one of the quickest cars to lap the Gymkhana Grid course on the weekend, Mohan now plans to enter the next Gymkhana Grid event, the Ken Block Invitational, scheduled for December 3-4 at Irwindale Speedway.

In car video from Gymkhana Grid

Mohan’s next event is the fifth round of the Formula Drift Pro Championship, next weekend, August 20-21 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Source: www.kylemohanracing.com

Vaughn Gittin Jr. takes 2nd place Formula Drift New Jersey

EXEDY — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:43:47 +0000

Over the weekend, Vaughn Gittin Jr. rolled out to Formula Drift Round 3 at Wall Stadium in New Jersey with high hopes of maintaining his sizable points lead by landing on the podium. He accomplished that goal when he finished the event in 2nd place and took to the podium for the third time consecutively in his Monster Energy/ Falken Tire 2011 Ford Mustang.

EXEDY's Vaughn Gittin Jr. takes 2nd place

Before the weekend’s intense competition, Vaughn participated in the annual “Throttle Thursday” hosted by Gary Gardella and X Games BMX Gold medalist Scotty Cranmer. Vaughn took Scotty for a ride-along in his Mustang at Wall Stadium on Thursday afternoon, allowing him to get a good feel for another type of action sport. Later that evening, Formula Drift drivers and teams were invited out to the Incline Club – a skate, bike, and scooter park owned by Cranmer – to have some fun and watch some professional BMX demos. The event was a great way to bring together different action sports communities and allow the Formula Drift drivers to have some fun before the busy weekend.

Vaughn qualified in 5th place on Friday and was set to match Robbie Nishida in the battle of the top 32 on Saturday’s main event. After a fan-filled autograph session and a final night practice, Vaughn was ready to do battle on game day.

On Saturday, Vaughn dominated his way through Robbie Nishida in the top 32, as well as Falken Tire teammate Tyler McQuarrie in the top sixteen. Vaughn was paired with Drift Alliance brother Justin Pawlak, driver of the 2010 Falken Tire Ford Racing Mustang, in the top eight. After two strong runs from both Mustang drivers, it was apparent that Vaughn had the advantage over Justin and would be moving on to the final four.

Vaughn was faced with two-time Formula Drift Champion Tanner Foust in the final four. Vaughn led first, with a high line on the bank. Tanner tried to mimic his high line, causing him to hit the wall and disrupt his drift. Vaughn maintained his line, angle, and speed throughout the course as Tanner struggled to keep up. Vaughn gave chase next, and kept close to Tanner throughout the course. The advantage was given to Vaughn, and he would move on to an automatic podium position.

It was déjà vu for Vaughn when he was matched up against Falken Tire teammate Daijiro Yoshihara in the finals – as the two had battled for 1st place at Round 2 in Atlanta a month earlier. During the final battle of the night, the Falken RT615-K tire smoke filled Wall Stadium during two amazing runs from both competitors. After the smoke cleared, Dai had once again been deemed the winner of the battle and the event. Vaughn would finish the night in 2nd place, rounding out his third consecutive podium of the 2010 Formula Drift season.

After three rounds of Formula Drift, Vaughn remains the Championship points leader; 21 points ahead of Dai in 2nd place, and 63 points ahead of Tanner in 3rd place. He moves into the northwest next for Round 4 July 9-10 at Evergreen Speedway, where he hopes to keep his podium streak alive while maintaining his Championship points lead.

Source: www.vaughngittin.com