SATS Cosworth at Round 2 of the British Drift Championship from Ciaran Smith on Vimeo.

Team SATS Cosworth headed off to the Norfolk Arena, in Kings Lynn, for the second round of the Maxxis Tyres British Drift Championship which was held last Saturday, 21st May.

The team were looking to repeat their success at round one, which seen them take 1st place. However, just after this, the team had a problem when they realised that the track at Norfolk wasn’t quite suited to the Supra’s setup. After several meetings and phone calls, the team decided that it would be best to arrive at the track with the same setup, and make a decision on how to adjust the car then.

On the day before competition, the car rolled up to the start line, and the team looked nervously on as driver Mark ‘Sidewaysbuff’ Luney proceeded to try and drift the car around the track, accompanied by Cosworth Liaison Brad O’Nians in the passenger seat. At the end of his first run, Mark knew straight away that the diff would need to be changed to a shorter one, which thankfully the team had on board the truck. So it was overalls on, and everyone got down to the task at hand, which was completed quite quickly. This gave the team the chance to get the car back out on track before the end of the open practise session.

As everyone crossed their fingers, Mark put the power down, and the Supra drifted gracefully around the track. With smiles on their faces, the team knew that they were back in the competition.

The following morning, the practise session was about to begin, and the team were confident that Mark could get a good score. In his first run, he perfectly drifted around the track, with plumes of smoke emanating from the Maxxis MA-Z1 drift tyres. However, on the last corner, Mark spun. Everyone, from the team to the spectators, was left scratching their heads at such an uncharacteristic display.

Luney had two more chances, and on his second run he left a trail of smoke the entire way around the track, and received a massive round of applause from the crowd. With one run to go, Luney gave it his all, and coming out of the long sweeping corner he once again spun. At that point, the team knew that something had to be wrong.

When the car rolled back into the paddock, it became clear that the front tyres were rubbing against the wheel arches, which was causing the spins. However, whilst Mark was away receiving the good news that he was once again the top qualifier of the day, there was bad news waiting for him back at the Supra. It had become evident that there was an issue with the engine.

Brad O’Nians explained what the problem was.

“After Mark came in from qualifying, we noticed that the engine was breathing a little heavy than normal. We run a compression test and found that we had a little less compression on number one cylinder than what we should have.”

He added,

“Unfortunately, it’s one of those things. It was going beautifully, we qualified first, but that’s motorsport.”

So the team got their thinking caps on to try and come up with a temporary fix, and that came in the form of an overflow tank and a bung!

It was a big risk to take, but it was a risk worth taking as the team knew that Mark could get a spot on the podium.

In the competition, Luney’s first opponent was Shane Lynch in the Japspeed V8 powered car. In his first run, Luney who was chasing, as usual, put the pressure on and forced Shane to make a small mistake. In his leading run, Mark put the foot down, and as well as pulling a gap from Lynch, he also drifted elegantly around the track, which was a pleasure to watch. He was through to the next round.

Mark then came up against an opponent who he hasn’t driven against in five years, and that was Steve ‘Stiggy’ Evans in his AutoGlym sponsored Cosworth powered Toyota Starlet. In Mark’s first run, he led, which allowed him to pull a huge gap between himself and his opponent due to the huge power difference between the two. But this is an issue when Mark chases, as he has to back off so as not to drive into the back of the leading car. With this in mind, he drove superbly, mirroring Stiggy’s every move. Once again, Mark was the better driver, and he was through to the semi-final.

His next run was to be a repeat of the final from the first round, where he faced Matt Carter. In their first run, both drivers put on an amazing display of world class drifting, with plenty of smoke and angle. In the second run, Mark was chasing, and coming out of the long sweeping corner, Mark overdid it slightly, and the rear wheels of the car went slightly off the track. A small mistake, yes, but when two drivers are so good, it’s enough to go against you. Therefore Mark was out of the running for first place, but he still had a chance at third.

His final opponent was Simon Perry in his Nissan Skyline. There was some friendly banter between the two the previous night, where both drivers stated that they would win a battle between them. Now was the chance for them to prove themselves, and in his first run, Mark pulled a big gap between the two, but Perry was still behind, drifting his car superbly. In the second run, Mark knew that it was all or nothing, and piled the pressure on from behind, which was enough to secure him the last place on the podium.

Speaking afterwards, Luney explained how third place was a great result for the team,

“We had a much better run than expected. The car turned out to be tremendous, we qualified first, which surprised the whole field, and it certainly surprised ourselves. We knew the car could be good, but in a small venue like this, it was incredible. All we really did was alter gear ratios.

He continued,

“We did have engine problems which developed after the qualifying runs. We don’t know what is actually wrong with the car, but we don’t think it’s too serious. We weren’t going to run the car at all, but the team decided to run it and see how long it lasts because it was worth the points, so we did, and third place is fantastic.”

So the team will be working hard between now, and the next event in July, to make sure that the car is back up and running so they can once again take a podium spot.

-Prepared by SATS Cosworth

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To celebrate the Memorial Day weekend, we are offering discounted prices on many GoPro items including the HD Helmet Hero, HD Motorsports Hero, HD Surf Hero($215.99), and HD Hero Naked ($207.99), to name a few. What better way to catch all the crazy Memorial Day action then with your very own HD GoPro.

Titan Motorsports and Bergenholtz Racing have formed a technical partnership to further develop their Formula Drift RX8 driven by Joon Maeng. We’ve had the pleasure of racing with the Bergenholtz team for over a decade through our backgrounds in Import Drag racing and look forward to expanding this partnership, and get our own feet wet in drifting with an established team. The RX8 is currently at our shop being prepared for FormulaD’s first Florida event, the Invasion, coming to Palm Beach International Raceway June 3-4th.

Turbo owners rejoice! The fourth generation HKS Super Sequential Blow Off Valve has been officially announced! Building on years of leading the industry with their previous Super Sequential Blow Off Valves, The HKS Super SQV IV utilizes a revolutionary pressure control system to achieve a wide operating range of pressure. In addition, to ensure proper fitment in any car, the body has been redesigned into an even more compact and attractive package which is sure to compliment any engine bay.

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Titan Motorsports is proud to bring the Tilton Triple Carbon clutch to the performance Lamborghini Market. We developed this kit in our personal Lamborghini Turbo to make sure it was right before releasing it to the general public. After months of developing we had produced all the components necessary to fit a Tilton into your Lamborghini for street applications. The reduced clutch diameter size in addition to the carbon properties allow smoother shifting at high RPM and gear engagement.

The clutch pack itself is the same version we run in our drag and street Supras, most of which are pushing anywhere from 1,000-1,500whp and drag raced frequently. The clutch pack is rated at 1260lb/tq so you will have the highest torque capacity of any clutch offered for the Lamborghini market. In addition to its massive torque rating, the clutch is also serviceable and includes 3 wear spacer plates to extend the life of the clutch, beyond that it can be sent back to Tilton for rebuilds for a fresh start.

If you are looking for the end all clutch for high horsepower applications that can be used to it’s fullest on a drag strip, road course, and your favorite highway, then this is the clutch you’ve been waiting for. The kit comes complete with flywheel, clutch pack, starter gear, and hardware for a complete bolt-in installation. This package is produced exclusively for Titan Motorsports.

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E.Kanoo and the fellas found a little more left in the Supra… 7.676 @ 182mph!!

Enjuku Racing brought their S13 over to get tuned on our DynoJet 424 LC2 dyno in preperation for this weekends Xtreme Drift Circuit event. XDC is holding the event at Central Florida Racing Complex, just a few short miles from our shop. The event takes place on Sunday from 11-6PM and will also feature the Remix Car show tour presented by Scion.

Monday I had the pleasure of heading to Palm Beach International Raceway for a very special event put on by Michelin called The 25th Hour. Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of sampling a vast array of tires on different vehicles and have always regarded the Michelin PS2 as the “benchmark” performance tire. The PS2 provides great handling in both the dry and wet, exceptional braking, all while keeping road noise to a minimum. When I first heard that Michelin was working on an even better tire featuring compounds tested in endurance racing to replace the PS2, I was anxious to see if they could deliver an experience better without sacrifices. My desire to test this new tire our grew exponentially as I watched Leh Keen click off a 1:55 lap at Daytona in his GTR last week, a time very close to Rolex GT race pace in a full weight car on a street tire. A few days after returning from Daytona my invite to the 25th hour arrived and I sent off my RSVP immediately. The 25th Hour was setup to give educated drivers a chance to experience the tire in various scenarios versus the competition in order to make their own conclusions on whether Michelin had achieved their goal to re benchmark the PS2. Michelin had their engineering staff on hand to gather feedback from participants and answer any questions we might have. In addition they also gathered rear world data using Performance Boxes to further evaluate and test the tire with end consumers who could provide inside outside their normal proving grounds testing.

Michelin implemented some great technology with the Pilot Super Sport with a goal in mind to improve on all aspects of the tire without sacrifice. They wanted to create a tire that cornered better, had great braking in the wet and dry, all while providing great wear and limited road noise. Those are some stiff goals when you break them down individually, when you make a softer compound wear normally suffers and noise goes up, a harder compound normally sacrifices grip. Michelin Compounded these issues with various solutions to achieve great overall results without sacrifice. The first and likely most important is a dual compound, the outer edge of the tire normally reserved for heavy cornering uses a compound found in their endurance racing tires, while the inner portion of the tire remains a wet compound very similar to that of the PS2. This allows for great wear and rain channeling, while providing the requires grip in cornering. They combined this with a variable contact patch that allows the tire to use the maximum surface area required for each application. Combining these 2 technologies the tire is able to better handle water channeling as well as heat, helping maintain a consistent feel. Twaron belting on the insides of the tire combined with the dual compound allows for a better performing tire, that handles 12% better than it’s leading competitor all while twice as long (a 30k mile wear warranty further backs up these claims).

The first exercise we got to do was an autocross using BMW 3 series on an course setup inside the facilities kart track. I’ve spent many days on full circuit road courses, but must admit I’ve never autocross in my life, making this exercise even more interesting. We tested the PSS against a comparable Continental Extreme Contact DW. Within the first lap the difference was quite apparent, the PSS took everything I threw at it no problems, including some mistakes as a result of my lack of autocross experience. The DW performed quite well, however compared to the Super Sport it felt very floaty and inconsistent. After 3-4 laps on each tire we pulled the cars in to review our opinions and perform a visual inspection on the tires. The Continentals looked as if the outer portions had been hit with a grinder and showed chunking across the outer tread blocks and some light initial blistering. The PSS showed some scuffing, but nothing beyond what you would expect from a tire that was just broken in fresh with 15-20 hot laps on an autocross course.

After the autocross we headed to the drag strip return road for a wet and dry braking test. For this test the comparison tire was the Goodyear Eagle F1, what I consider to be one of the better rain tires out there. We accelerated to 55mph and then panic braked in the dry, followed by a duplicate scenario starting from 45mph in the wet. During these tests a VBOX Performance Box would record the stopping distance, which was entered into an excel spreadsheet on a nearby iPad. After making a few runs on both tires it was difficult to visual tell the difference between tires in terms of visual distance, as a few inches or feet is tough to see format he passenger seat, however in terms of overall feel the PSS shined through once again. The biggest difference was the continued consistency towards the end of the brake, as the F1 fell off the PSS continued to provide valuable feedback until the point the vehicle was stationary. Once the group had finished their runs the Excel sheets where tabulated, the end result was an average of 3.5 feet shorter stops in the dry, and almost 3 feet in the wet, an incredible margin for a brake test. On the street these few extra feet could provide very valuable in a panic situation, on the track it would surely allow for quicker lap times with consistent braking at the limit.

Next on the agenda was testing the PSS in the most demanding environment yet, the full road course at PBIR, with 11 turns and a tad over 2 miles of track to navigate. In this test we would be piloting Lexus’s ISF, with the comparison tire being the Pirelli PZero Nero. I have never driven PBIR at speed so it took a few recognizance laps to get the line down, once I had things figured out I did my best to throw everything I could at both of the tires so I could get an honest assessment. This was also my first time driving the ISF as well and I must say while it’s obviously quite heavy, the power and refined transmission made it feel very comfortable quickly on track, all while providing seating for 4-5 plus groceries. After pushing the cars around the track and navigating the late apex of some of the more complex corners the one word that comes to mind to describe the difference between the tires was consistency. The Pirelli’s kept the car on the track and gave plenty of notice when they were at their limits. The PSS on the other hand was a dream and stayed glue to the track and provided a noticeable amount of additional grip. There were quite a few corners I stuffed the car into at significantly higher speeds than she wanted to go and the PSS tracked right towards the apex, lap after lap. The Pirellis pushed quite a bit driving the exact same line, at similar speeds. The Pilot Super Sports performed lap after lap with amazing consistency where the Pirellis began to get greasy as they got hot making you question if the car was going to go where pointed. This overall test provided the most significant overall testament to how great a tire the Michelin Pilot Super Sport was over the competition.

The day was capped of with hot laps in the passenger seat of various hero cars with experienced drivers behind the wheel. There was an array of exotics with fresh Pilot Super Sports on hand not limited to a Ferrari F430, Ferrari 599GTB, Lamborghini LP560, and a Jaguar XKR . I’ve been fortunate to drive each of these cars on the street, and with the addition of forced induction, but still looked forward to getting a feel for them on track. I was amazed at the consistency of the tires and the amount of grip they provided even after hot lap after hot lap with seasoned pros behind the wheel. Most max and extreme performance tires will get hot after 6-8 laps and get greasy, loosing their consistency. The PSS held up like a champ, even in the heavier cars like the 599GTB, a gentleman’s Ferrari designed for Grand Touring. They obviously did not have the grip levels of a slick, however for a tire that could be driven to the track over 500 miles and then flogged all weekend, the performance was better than expected even in these extreme examples.

After a solid day of testing, I am completely amazed at how great a street tire Michelin has produced. I’m anxious to get a set on my Z4M daily driver very soon so that I can explore their limits even further in a dual purpose track/street environment. I’ve always used Extreme Performance tires on my daily driver, however it will be nice to get similar performance out of a Max Performance Summer tire without sacrificing wet traction and wear as I do with my current tire. The best part of all, Michelin currently has the Pilot Super Sport priced below the PS2 in an effort to prevent consumers from having to decide between Summer and All Season tires based solely on price. The PS2 will eventually be phased out when the PSS is available in all current offerings and OEM replacement sizes. I want to thank Kim Kegler and the entire Michelin team for having me out at the 25th hour, and I look forward to seeing how they’re able to top this next generation tire in the future!

Weld Racing has just released the new Sportsman Drag line of forged aluminum drive wheels for drag racing. Intended specifically to meet the needs of the Sportsman racer, the Sportsman Drag wheel will be available as a limited offering of Weld’s most popular sizes, features, and options. The Sportsman Drag provides a competitively-priced wheel that includes many of the high line features of the Weld Racing’s dominant Pro Series resulting in a great value.

Drawing from the styling cues of Weld Racing’s “AlumaStar 2.0” professional drag racing design, the Sportsman Drag wheel will be available with a polished or machined black anodized center, in 15”x 16” and 16”x 16” sizes, with or without double Bead-Locs™. The Sportsman Drag is available in the popular 5×4.5” and 5×4.75” bolt circles at back spaces of 4” or 5”. The hot forged billet center is welded with a proprietary process to the cold forged inner and outer rim shells, eliminating the bolts used in the professional series Weld Racing drag racing wheels. This change reduces the cost so important to a sportsman racer while making the wheel easier to clean, polish, and detail.

Give us a call for pricing, sizes and offsets.