The AMS/NOS Energy Drink Time Attack Team headed to the Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Nevada for the 7th round of the Redline Time Attack series.  The team hopes that the saying “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” rings true as the weekend was filled with unusual and unexpected problems.

This was Paul Gerard’s first time driving the new race car and the team was hoping to give him a lot of practice time to acclimate to the car. From the very first practice session the problems started and continued throughout the weekend. From brake master cylinders, shifter cables, to alternators breaking off the car, it was challenge just to keep the car running.

The car has been very reliable this year and the team was surprised but worked through all the strange issues that came up.  The car severely overheated on Saturday when the alternator bracket broke causing the belt and water pump to stop running.

After patching things together for Sunday it was determined that the engine was running on 3 cylinders due to the overheating on Saturday.  Having traveled almost 2000 miles the AMS/NOS Energy Drink Team wasn’t about to give up.  Tuner Martin Musial tweaked the tune trying to extract more power out of the hurt engine and a fresh set of BFG tires were put on for the first timed session.

Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard and his NOS Energy Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX took a decisive win this weekend at Rally Colorado, the 8th round of the national Rally America series.

“I love it when it’s a battle,” said Comrie-Picard. “We were fighting tooth-and-nail with Travis (Pastrana) early in the rally and that’s really satisfying.”

ACP at Rally Colorado

The challenging Colorado rally through the high-desert roads around the Yampa Valley is fast and often features widely variable weather. This year was no exception. Dry, dusty conditions on Day 1 were replaced by driving rain that turned the roads slick with mud on Day 2. The rally ended under a rainbow. A ferocious early battle shifted gears on Day 2. Comrie-Picard and co-driver Jeremy Wimpey found themselves holding position at the front of the pack for the second half of the rally after Subaru Rally Team USA rival Pastrana barreled through a chicane – taking huge penalties.

“We would have preferred to have raced hard in a close fight right to the end,” said Comrie-Picard. “But to finish a minute and 46 seconds in the lead is an accomplishment to be proud of after 100 miles of racing.”

The team took the most stage wins of any team, winning eight of the 16 stages. The first-place finish moves Comrie-Picard into the top-three in the overall Rally America series — ahead of Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block — and extends his lead in the North American Championship. With one round remaining in US competition, the driver is assured to at least tie Block for third place in the 2009 season.

Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block will not be behind the wheel of his usual Open Class 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI at this weekend’s Rally Colorado and instead will pilot the Super Production class Subaru Impreza WRX STI of fellow Subaru teammate Dave Mirra.   Mirra will not be competing at Rally Colorado due to a schedule conflict with this weekend’s Dew Tour  BMX event in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Block crashed his Open Class Subaru heavily at the previous event, The Ojibwe Forests Rally.  Although Block and his co-driver Alex Gelsomino walked away unharmed their Subaru rally car was terminally damaged.   With insufficient time to prepare a spare rally car, SRT USA has opted to provide Block with the team’s Super Production class Subaru in Mirra’s absence at Rally Colorado.

The Super Production (SP) class, a new category in the 2009 Rally America series, features minimally modified, production-based cars.   The SP class features much more restrictive regulations on modifications than the Open Class, where Block has been driving for the past three seasons.

Rally Driver Andrew Comrie-Picard and his NOS Energy Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX will make a return to U.S.
rally competition this coming weekend, following a tough event in Canada. Comrie-Picard is in a tight battle for the top three in the 2009 Rally America championship as the series winds up. He is currently in fourth place, just two points behind Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block, but he is confident he can move up.

“There’s going to be some great racing in the final two rounds,” said Comrie-Picard. “We’re playing catch-up to the other guys, but we’re going to make every round count this season and claw up the rankings.”

Rally America allows two event drops in the season, counting seven of nine rallies toward the championship. While some teams, like the factory-backed Subaru Rally Team USA, run all nine events, the ACP Rally Team is able to contest seven rounds in 2009 — so every rally counts for the team’s points standings. Comrie-Picard will be accompanied by guest co-driver Jeremy Wimpey in Colorado.

The AMS/NOS Team has been anxious to break the world record once again for the quickest EVO 8 after the last outing in Englishtown. With the crank trigger repaired the AMS/NOS Drag EVO was ready for action. The team headed to their home track, Great Lakes Dragaway (Da’ Grove) in Union Grove Wisconsin on Labor Day to make another attempt to break their record. The team met friends and customers at the track and the weather was beautiful.

On its first run the Drag EVO left the line hard but when shifting into 2nd gear driver Eric Jones realized the clutch was slipping and aborted the run but rolled through the traps at 11.5 @ 100mph. Eric brought the car back to the pits where a quick clutch adjustment was made.

The second run was being made as a test on the clutch adjustment. After an easy launch Eric continued down the track shifting easier than normal to test the clutch. As he short shifted into 3rd Eric was confident that the EXEDY clutch was holding and he charged on down the track.

AMS Performance traveled east for the 7th race in the Redline Time Attack Series. Englishtown is host to a short 1.35 mile technical road course that is quite different than what the team is used to. The track is relatively new but it’s known for its bumpy surface and rough transitions.

Saturday’s practice started with a slight drizzle that turned into a heavy downpour. The weather for Sunday was looking good with sunny skies in the forecast so practice was abandoned as there was nothing to be gained from running the wet conditions. The rain continued into the night but as the weathermen predicted Sunday morning brought clear skies.

The team opted from running its traditional aero package as the front splitter would be damaged by the rough track conditions. The first practice session went well but after a few laps Mark Daddio brought the car in complaining of a loss in power steering. A quick diagnosis revealed a ruptured high pressure power steering line. The team moved into action and found a quick fix by splicing the line with a barbed hose fitting.

In the second practice session the line developed a leak again and the team found that the high pressure line was too much for the fixed connection. It was a risk to run the car because losing the line meant an oil leak that would get on the track and rear tires along with a loss of power steering. This already caused a pucker moment when Mark lost the line coming out of a corner and had to fight a sliding car without power assist. The team knew that the AMS/NOS Energy Drink EVO X only had a limited run time to set a fast lap in competition.

Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana has mathematically secured his fourth consecutive Rally America National Championship with a dominating win at the Ojibwe Forest Rally in northern Minnesota this weekend. Pastrana and his co-driver Christian Edstrom cruised to victory in their 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI after several of their closest rivals hit trouble. The win, his fifth of the season, hauled in sufficient championship points to place Pastrana mathematically out of reach to his closest challengers and thus securing his fourth consecutive Rally America national title. Pastrana has won each of his Rally America championships (2006-2009) behind the wheel of a Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car.

Pastrana wins the 2009 Ojibwe Forests Rally

The Formula Drift Series: Round 6, would play host to thousands of avid race fans, as this stop would also be held in conjunction with the Indy Racing League (IRL). Teams and drivers alike would be able to showcase their efforts, programs, and sponsors to a fan base that were new to drifting and realize extensive media coverage and marketing exposure.

Ryuji Miki's RX7

With consistent Top 16 finishes and a 2nd place podium finish in Round 4: Las Vegas, Ryuji Miki and the A’PEXi / Hankook Tire RX-7 team would be motivated and set their sights on getting back on the podium. Ryuji Miki’s experience would prove to be an essential factor for qualifying, as much of the practice was missed due to logisitical delays, Miki was able to pilot the FD3S RX-7 on Hankook Ventus R-S3 tires to the 2nd overall qualifying position on minimal practice. Ryuji Miki would face off against Taka Aono and his AE86 Corolla, and would be able to create a gap and follow Aono’s line, advancing into the Top 16 round.

In the Top 16 Round, it was a battle between the rotaries as Miki would face off against Kyle Mohan in the Mazdatrix RX-8, both powered by a 13B-REW rotary engine, it played out to be a good matchup. Ryuji Miki would keep to his aggressive style while leading and enter the first corner initiating at 89mph, he would take an advantage as Mohan would go slightly wide. During the chase, Miki was able to close in on the RX-8 of Mohan and advance to the Great 8 round. The next opponent would be a face-off against former champion Samuel Hubinette in his V-10 powered Dodge Viper. It was a close battle into the tear drop section of the course where Miki would then pull away from Samuel Hubinette and the Dodge Viper giving him the edge. In the chase round, the A’PEXi driver would be propelled by the Ventus R-S3 tires keeping right on the bumper of the Viper, moving into the Final Four semi-finals.

This past weekend Vaughn Gittin Jr. came to Sonoma’s Infineon Raceway with hopes of a podium finish, which he has achieved twice before at this track. After a close top eight battle, he rounded out the event in seventh place, moving him up to third place overall in the Formula Drift Championship with one round left to go.

Vaughn qualified in a respectable sixth place and was ready to battle it out in the top 32 with Falken Tire teammate Ross Petty. Vaughn led first, while Ross attempted to keep up with the 2010 Falken Tire Ford Mustang, but consequently spun instead. Vaughn gave chase next, glued to his teammate’s door throughout the course. He was awarded the win and was ecstatic to move on to the Sweet Sixteen.

Vaughn was matched with Drift Alliance brother Justin Pawlak in the top sixteen. Vaughn held a perfect line while leading, maintaining the same intense angle and massive amount of Falken Azenis RT615 tire smoke as he had been all weekend. When the roles reversed, Vaughn followed Justin close, mimicking his every move. The judges decided Vaughn the victor of this battle.

In the Great Eight, Vaughn was up against Stephan Verdier, who had knocked out the FD Championship points leader, Chris Forsberg, in the previous round. It seemed to be Stephan’s day to shine, as after two close runs, he took the win of the round, and went on to win the entire event.

Vaughn finished Round 6 in seventh place, and was able to move up two spots to third place overall in the points chase for the Championship. Next stop for the Formula Drift nationwide tour is Round 7 at Irwindale Speedway, better known as the “House of Drift” and the venue at which Vaughn has won two World Championships and one FD round. With only one event left to go in the season, Vaughn hopes for not only a podium finish at Irwindale, but an overall podium finish in the 2009 Formula Drift Championship.