Behind The Wheel Podcast: FD Edition – RD 6 St. Louis

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Konig Gfx

In this episode of the Behind the Wheel Podcast, Formula Drift edition, we talk about Formula Drift’s first ever event at St.Louis’s Gateway Motorsport park. This is a heck of a technical course and with such high speed, this is arguably one of FD’s most exciting events of the season so far!

Things really heat up in the Pro 2 Championship race while the actual heat brought some challenges that pushed drivers and teams to the limit, and many to their backup engines, while they all learned a new track. Tune in, we will give you the highlights and throw some smack talk in along the way!

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…. (details/cheat sheet below! – Audio )

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1st place finish at FDSTL!!!

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Konig Gfx

FORMULA DRIFT PRO 2 ST. LOUIS – ROUND 2 | August 10th and 11th

With great match-ups and some sick shredding, FDSTL was definitely an awesome watch! Even more excited for us was watching our friend, Travis Reeder leave St. Louis with a 1ST PLACE FINISH in the Pro-2 series. Check out below as Travis breaks-down how he came out on top at FDSTL! Congratulations Travis!

“While sitting here on my couch, stuffing my face with Oreos, I’m trying my hardest to figure out how to sum up Formula Drift St. Louis without writing a novel. An insane event with even more insane results, I don’t know where to start to explain the madness that was FDSTL. And After an exponentially long break between Atlanta and St. Louis, I was chomping at the bit to get back behind the wheel of my car again. A new track and even playing field had me excited to see how the weekend would unfold.

After arriving at the track my team and I jammed through the process of unloading the car, prepping it and getting the pit space organized for the coming week. Later that day with the sun out and the humidity high, we jumped into practice. Right out of the gate we were struggling to find our gear ratio and alignment setting that worked well for the track. The track was extremely fast and had a ton of grip in it, which was difficult at first for the car and I to navigate.

After minimal practice time and not having a setup we were very comfortable with, it was time to go into qualifying. I pulled up to the start line slightly nervous, made my pass and awaited my score. I had been given a 72, which at the time was in the 14th position with a few drivers sitting on lower scores or zeros. As we made our way through the list the scores got higher and we quickly dropped below the 16th position, meaning at that moment, we were not qualified for the top 16. With the pressure now on I took off for my second qualifying run. A score of 78 was given which seeded us in the 14th position for competition the next day. We had barely qualified but the team was glad we were in the show.

My team and I spent some time the night before brainstorming ideas to make the care more drivable for competition and had it buttoned up and ready for top 16 practice. I pulled up to the burnout box to warm tires and had noticed some rain on the windshield, and by the look of the clouds, we new this was just the start. I made a few passes in the rain during practice but before we knew it all hell broke loose. 60+ mph winds, hail and lightening were tearing through Gateway Motorsports Park. We rushed to get the car back to the pits and under cover and during that process almost any equipment or belongings left outside were taking quite the beating. To no one’s surprise, the event was shut down for the rest of the day and pro2 competition was rescheduled for Saturday morning bright and early.

Its 8am Saturday Morning, were on the hot grid and ready to finally kick off top 16 competition! After a couple practice laps we were happy to know that our changes to the car worked and I was feeling confident and ready to get the party started. Our first battle in the top 16 was against Ola Jager, who was the winner of Rd 1 in Atlanta. So, I knew if I wanted to catch him in points, I had to push hard and try to move on to the top 8. I was in the chase position first as I had a lower qualifying score. During my chase I had stayed on his line with a consistent 1-2 car gap and matching angle. In the lead I made a high scoring qualifying run and Ola ended up making a large mistake and straightened off of the touch and go. I was awarded the win unanimously and was moving on to the Great 8!

Coming into the top 8 I was paired against Hooman Rahimi and he was set to lead first based off qualifying position. During my chase run I initiated on his line with good proximity but coming into the power alley towards the touch and go I got lost in the smoke and transitioned slightly late. I ended up putting three tires off in the dirt and receiving an incomplete on my chase run. Luckily during my lead run Rahimi had made a mistake leaving the start line and fell back roughly ten car lengths in the chase position. He was given an incomplete as well for his chase run so it was up to the judges to find a winner based off of lead runs only. The judges had concluded that I had laid down a higher scoring lead run and I was awarded the win, on to the final 4!

Alec Robbins was my opponent coming into the final 4. I knew that if I wanted to get to the podium I had to beat Alec, as he was the highest qualifying driver in the final 4 and would get the third-place trophy no matter what. Once again, I was in the chase position first due to a lower qualifying position. I chased him off the line and initiated a few feet from his door and carried that proximity through the first 2 inner clips and the touch and go but fell off slightly in the last outer zone near the finish. In my lead run, Robbins had fell back on the start and was unable to gain proximity throughout the course. That mixed with my lead run that had minimal mistakes was enough to get me the win and move the team and I to the finals!

Were in the finals! And with no one other than my good friend Dylan Hughes. Dylan had taken me out in the great 8 in Seattle last year so I was looking to level the playing field. In my chase run I knew I had to apply some pressure because Dylan’s car is fast but consistent. I did just that and chased him down on his line with a car length gap for majority of the run. In the lead at the touch and go Dylan had fallen back slightly and wasn’t able to catch back up before the last outer zone and inner clip.
My team and I had won formula drift St. Louis! After struggling with car setup, weather and other unsuspecting variables we had gone from the nearly not qualifying to the top spot on the box! It was an amazing overall event and I can’t wait for Texas next month. Thanks to all my amazing family, friends and sponsors for believing in me and giving the team the support that’s needed to do what we love! As I could not do it without you all.”

Travis is running Konig Ultraforms in 17×9 et 25mm front and 18×9 et 25mm rear. The Konig Ultraforms is Flow Formed.

Podium finish for Robbins at FDSTL!

Posted on August 21, 2018August 22, 2018 by Konig Gfx

We are super excited for Alec Robbin as he placed 3rd at Formula drift ST.Louis! Here is his recap on of his climb to the top 3 of the night!!! Congrats!

“It was a great weekend for our team! St. Louis is like a hometown track for us. Coming from the Midwest.. it is the closest event to us and was also the first track I competed on in 2016. Being somewhat familiar with the track and layout, I came out swinging a little too hard in the first practice session. As I came around the last outside zone… I dropped a tire in the slick grass, lost traction and slid into the tire wall. When we got back to the pit we assessed the damage.. finding a broken tie rod and bent tie rod spacer. The tie rod was an easy fix, the spacer, however, was a different story. We did not carry a spare and finding one proved difficult. After spending the remainder of the first practice session asking around for parts, Austin Meeks came through and had a set from his s14. After modifying the S14 spacers for the 350z rack and a quick alignment.. we were back and ready for the second practice session! The first qualifying run we played it conservative, a little too conservative… scoring only a 56. I knew I had to put down a good 2nd run.. which we were able to do. Scoring an 82 put us in 7th place for top 16 competition. Our top 16 practice on Friday was cut short due to rain and a storm that rolled through, but we were ready to go bright and early on Saturday for competition. Our first battle put us up against fellow Midwest driver Garrett Denton. I put down a solid lead run like I had been all weekend but I was a little hesitant on follows, having no practice all weekend. I was able to make a follow run with a few mistakes, but ultimately getting the win. Our second battle was against Crick Fillipi. Going in with the same plan.. the run started out strong, but going into the outer touch and go I dropped a tire in the dirt. Normally not a big deal.. but the wheel scooped up the soft dirt and at 130+ mph wheel speed, it ripped the valve stem out of the wheel. I was able to hold it together and finished the outside zone and last clipping point with a shallow line and one flat tire. Because it was due to damage we were able to call our 5-minute timeout and change rear tires. On our follow run Crick straightened and we were awarded the win. In the final four, we were up against Travis Reeder. I was able to put down a decent lead for Travis and he stayed right there with us, keeping proximity the whole run. On my follow I gave Travis just a little too much room and lost proximity. Trying to chase him down… I dropped a tire in the touch and go and lost yet another valve stem. I took a shallow line and did what I could to keep up on one tire but it was not enough and Reeder earned the win going into the finals. Our team is beyond happy with our 3rd place finish and it was our first time on the podium! It couldn’t have happened at a better track with a lot of friends and family in attendance. My daughter was perhaps the most excited about “her new trophy”. It was a great feeling making it on the podium and hope to be back up there again soon!”

Make sure to follow Alec Robbins on Instagram at @alecrobbinsracing for more!

Alec is running Konig Hypergrams in 18×9.5 et 25 on the front and rear in RED OPAL. The Konig Hypergram is Flow Formed.

Kevin Lawrence recap of FDSTL!!!

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Konig Gfx

With a weekend full of stacked match ups, we are super excited to get Kevin Lawrence recap on how it went down in Formula Drift St. Louis!

“Thursday.

Freshly rested after arriving early in the week we head to the track to setup our pits and get ready for our practice day. This round since it was a new track FD allowed each driver to have up to 16 laps of practice before qualifying instead of our normal allotted 12. We planned it out to take up to 10 laps Thursday if everything was going well and we were getting the car dialed in. First session we got in 5 laps and were making progress on the car. We did a large change in final drive gear before the next session that really helped a bunch as well as went up quite a bit in tire pressures. This round we decided to do bigger changes in our setup rather than smaller ones to help dial the car in faster and I am glad we did. The second session was going well and car was much better than the first. We tweaked the BC Racing shocks a bit and played with tire pressures a bit more but knew before tomorrow we were going to need one more minor gear change to get the tires to last a complete 2 laps for battles. After practice session 2 was all done I was feeling really comfortable in the car and we got right to doing our bolt checks and did our last gear change of the weekend to have the car all ready for Friday morning practice and qualifying.

Friday.

Early to the track to setup for the day, we get one more practice session before going right into qualifying. I spent my goal of 10 laps on Thursday so I had 6 more allowed that I was eager to get in before qualifying to make sure our last setup changes were ideal. After 4 of the laps the car was performing just how I wanted it to, we did a quick tire change with in the last 45mins of the session and rushed to get our last two laps in. I pull up to the line for the final lap in practice, which I was to follow last seasons champ James Deane. I wanted to really see how my car would compare to his so I ran a bit aggressive lap with him to try and see if I was able to even keep up. His car is quite fast so I was forced to cut line some to keep up but was able to keep up which I was stoked about. I started to reel him in a bit on the final turn and was just focusing on his car and not the final clip, so when he adjusted his line to dive into the inner clip I was still on a sweeping arch and ending up dropping tires off track that I wasn’t able to recover from. This sent me off track backwards through the slippery grass and backing the car into the tire barrier.

Knowing qualifying was coming up soon we rushed back to the pits to check for any damage, I was able to drive the car off the track, which was a good thing and saved some time. I had to replace a rear taillight as well as the rear bumper. Also, after checking our alignment and seeing it was off in the rear we found a bent Heim Joint on the rear lower control arm. Once we replaced this and got the car on the ground Kevin Wells (the man with the 5 min clock) informed us we need to decide now if we were going to run the car or take our 5 to give the car a once over. The team and I decided it would be best to take our 5min call so we would be able to make both qualifying passes just incase there was something else up with the car we may not have seen. We used our 5min call to adjust our toe back into spec on the rear and off to the line I went. My first run out I was a bit off the first 2 clips and had a bit of a slow transition going into the final sweeper and also took out the final clip. This run I was scored with a 76 and I knew I could clean it up on the second pass. Second pass I pushed to be tighter on the front clips which I achieved, I lifted front tires up on the rumble strips by the first clip but was able to avoid taking the clip out, made it a bit tighter on the second clip and kept the car pinned through the power alley into the final sweeper. I had a better transition into the final sweeper and a much better wider line through it all while banging the rev limiter through the finish. This run I was given my highest score so far this year of a 83 and qualified me in 18th position, again my highest qualifier of the year! After the qualifying meeting I was excited to see that for Saturdays battle I would be up against Forrest Wang.

Saturday.

After a quick tandem practice session it was time for battles, Car was feeling good and I was ready to go! At the line I was to follow Forrest first, Off the line we go and initiate into the first corner. I had good proximity going into the first turn but quickly got lost in his smoke and transitioned into the second turn too early causing me to plough the inner clip, I quickly got myself back into composure and got back in line with Forrest and finished out the run with good proximity. Switching to the lead position I knew in order to get a win I would have to lay down a near 100 point run and that’s nearly what I did. I entered into the first turn and maybe left about a half foot on the second inner clip, I went deep into the touch and go slightly dropping 1 tire before running a tight line on inner clip 3 and getting on to the wide line through the final sweeper. This was probably my best lap of the weekend as my line was nearly perfect, fast, smokey and big angle. Pulling up to the track official the judges took a few mins to review and Ryan voted me for the win but both Brian and Andy voted a OMT so Forrest and I were to battle again.

OMT.

I knew to get the win I would have to turn up my driving a bit and that Forrest would probably do the same. We leave the line and to make it a good show I smoked the tires on the run up and entered a bit early behind Forrest. He ended up taking a different approach to his initiation and entered later than before with hand brake rather than a flick that he normally does. This led him to immediately pull a big gap on me as he kept more speed in the car. I did my best to try and cut some line through the first 2 turns but not hit any clips, which worked out well. Forrest took a bit tighter line through the whole course which made it harder for me to catch up so I cut the line even more after the touch and go and into inner clip 3, unfortunately I pinched myself off and made a big correction to avoid hitting the inner clip which let Forrest pull more of a gap on me. We transition into the final sweeper and I did my best to gain some ground but Forrest was on a bit tighter than ideal line and even though I cut the line a bunch he still had a big gap on me. We round the final clip and through the finish line, with me only gaining a few feet of proximity. Again I knew when we flip positions that I will have to do an amazing lead run and hope for an error by Forrest in order to get the win. I aggressively huck the car into the first turn dropping a rear tire in the dirt. I run a tight line on the first 2 inner clips before swinging out wide into the power alley before running a deep line into the touch and go with big angle. Big angle and tight to inner clip 3 before flicking the car on a wide line into the sweeper. Forrest is still tight on my tail this entire run. I run a wide line early in the sweeper before tightening up for the final clip and through the finish line. Again Forrest was hot on my tail the entire time and as I watched the replay on the big screen we got word from the Judges that Forrest would be awarded the win, ending my weekend in St. Louis. I cant express enough how awesome the weekend was and how well everything went at the new venue, how we quickly got the car dialed in and how the whole crew worked quickly to get the car fixed and back out after my run in with the tire wall. Big shout out to everyone apart of our program, I am super excited for the Texas round I think this will be the round I can get a top32 battle win and am hoping to even qualify higher than our 18th position in St. Louis.

See you all in Texas!”

Kevin is running Konig Dekagram in 17×9 et 25mm front and 18×9.5 et 25 rear. The Konig Dekagram is Flow Formed.

The new KING OF MANTORP!!!

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Konig Gfx

Time Attack Festival at Mantorp Park

The new King of Mantorp!

Last week saw the biggest event of the year for time-attack, the Time Attack Festival and King of Mantorp event in Sweden. The lineup for this years event was the best ever seen with 17 entries for the fastest Unlimited class, among those 17 was some of Europes fastest Time-attack teams including the King of Mantorp 2014 and 2016 European champion Valtonen Motorsport leading the Finnish teams assult, also featured was SMR Porschen that hold the tintop record for 4 years until it was broken by us at the last TANU round.

In between TANU Round 3 and the Time Attack Festival the car saw an upgrade package being launched including new bigger D2 front brake discs following the overheating issues seen at Rd3, new front knuckles with lower weight and further adjusted geometry. The rake angle and overall ride height was changed as well as some minor aero updates. Also a late decision was made to scrap the current boost control strategy that had seen issues all the way from round 1 and never worked to ouor satisfaction. The new boost control Strategy/setup and wastegate settings where implemented on friday/saturday before the race and the car loaded and shipped of to Mantorp.

Sunday – Race day
The warmup was used to fine tune the new boost control at a lower boost setting, after a few visits to the pitlane it was all working fine. For Q1 the boost level was increased to normal setting and some fine tuning was done also here. It was now time for Q2 (3 qualifying rounds in total and then the top 5 would advance to a superlap final deciding the winner). In Q2 the goal was to set 2 quick laps and then do some fine adjustment for Q3 where the record attempt would take place. Due to some incidents on track a full lap on attack could not be completed but at least it was enough to get a feel for the setup.
Coming in to Q3 the boost was raised to the “lap-record” setting new tires where fitted and the car left the pitlane for a 1 lap shootout for a new record. The lap was put down and coming to the line the clock showed 1:13.4 a new lap record by 0.15 se and by far the quickest time of the day so far. However the goal was to go sub 1:13 and the car was much quicker this time around then at Rd3 when the 1:13.5 record was put down. When reviewing the logs from the lap compared with the old record it was obvious that the extreme headwinds down the long Mantorp straight was the cause, the top speed had decreased by 25km/h and almost a second was lost over the straight alone.
Time for the superlap final. At the courtesy of being quickest in qualifying we were the last car to go out on track. Due to a runoff in the lower class before the Unlimited class the finals were running late and the 2 warm up laps where shortened to only 1, also the headwind was still super bad although slightly better than in Q3.
The lap was started and by the first sector the delta showed -0,1 sec. Coming to the end of the long straight the headwind was obviously less and the delta showed -0.4 sec. Coming to the braking after the long straight the wind gusts had been causing issues all day with some big aero instabilities during braking so some margin was left for the hard braking zone not to risk throwing the overall victory away. Entering the final sector the delta showed a estimated laptime of -0.35 sec (1:13.2) when coming up to the line the timing showed a laptime of 1:12.6 crushing our own record by 0.9 sec after a mega last sector. The time also meant we won the overall event by almost a 2 second margin.

The feeling after the final was great, this was the first event when the car performed 100% without any issues all day, also the boost control was now working perfect and the upgrade package launched before the event did what was intended. All in all a perfect race day (disregarding the windy conditions).

It´s now two races left this season and we dare to promise two more lap records if the weather is on our side.

Frederik is running Konig Hypergrams in 18×9.5 et 25mm all around in Matte Grey. The Konig Hypergram is Flow Formed.

Scott & Joey are back for FDSEA on Behind The Wheel Podcast: FD Edition!!!

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Konig Gfx

On this special edition episode of BEHIND THE WHEEL PODCAST, Scott and Joey Redmond of Wrecked Magazine discuss what went down at Formula Drifts Seattle Round 5 in Evergreen Speedway and much more! Tune in and give us some feedback!

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Lawrence battles it out at FDSEA!!!

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Konig Gfx

Kevin Lawrence takes over the blog as he recaps how it all went down for him and the Enjuku Racing team at Formula Drift Seattle in Evergreen Speedway!!

“Thursday.

Thursday is a easy practice day for the Pro1 group as we don’t have to worry about qualifying till the following day so this gives us time to get in some vial practice laps and dial in our cars. Practice was running smooth and I was able to get in 5 laps in our first session, We opted to do a minor gear change to take out some wheel speed and get some grip in the car for the infield section. Practice session 2 went great and the gear change was exactly what I wanted but caused a bit of push in the front end. At that time we realized my front tires have been on the car for more than one round so first thing Friday was to get on a new set of fronts for practice. After the 8 laps on Thursday I was feeling comfortable just needed to work on my line a bit on the bank but figured the front-end push was most of my issue.

Friday.

After swapping on a new set of front tires I had 4 laps left allowed before I was up for qualifying. The new tires did help massively with my front end push issue, and I was able to get my line dialed in better than Thursday but was still struggling with keeping the high line on the bank all the way through but was ready for qualifying none the less. Now up to the line for my first qualifying pass I get the thumbs up to go and I’m off. Saw through the gears on run up and get into 4th as I break the tires loose and huck the car towards the wall and stab the throttle. I’m running a relatively high line but start to come down about 70% through the track. I throw angle to slow the car as I enter the touch and go and transition into the power alley wall. Tight on the first inner clip as well as the final after the transition and through the finish line. Judges awarded me a score of a 76 on that pass and I knew I could do better. Back up to the line for pass 2 and I knew I had to clean up my line on the bank if I wanted to gain a higher score. I enter again on the high line and persuade the car to stay on the higher line longer but still come up a bit short just before the end. I built up more speed on this run and pitched big angle going into the touch and go, This however was the demise of my run as the additional angle slowed me down too much and I didn’t make it into the the touch and go which threw off my lines flow going into the power alley. I exited the power alley rear zone late and was able to tighten up the rest of the course well but knew the miss on the touch and go would hinder some points. I did end up with a score of a 78 which bettered my first, I just wish I had gotten to that touch and go to get a score in the 80s to get me a higher qualifying spot. I ended up qualifying 23rd, which put me up against 10th place qualifier Dai Yoshihara for my top 32 battle.

Saturday.

Just before lunch is our time for tandem practice before the battles begin, I was able to get in 4 laps 2 lead and 2 follow runs to try and gauge my cars speed against the rest and feel out the track conditions. Car felt good but was still fighting to stay on the high line on the bank but I was making it work the best I could as it looked like others were having the same issue. Pulling up to the line I was to follow Dai in his Turbo V8 BRZ. We leave the line and initiate on the bank, my car was rather gripped up and had much more speed on the bank, which hindered my driving. I made a few corrections trying to mimic his line on the bank as I kept gaining proximity and when I would try and slow down a bit with some left foot brake the car would bobble and it showed massively. I gain composure after the touch and go and am able to reel him in and finish the course with great proximity. Switching positions now we leave the line and I enter on the bank, nearly immediately I pull a gap on him and continue to do so most of the bank, 80% through the bank I start feeling the car get greasy in the rear and knew it couldn’t be a good thing. I pitch the car big angle coming off the bank towards the touch and go to slow down and then realized that all my side bite was gone, I did all I could to keep the car going but unfortunately it was either rotate the car or go head on into the power alley wall. As the smoke cleared and Dai came to a screeching halt just a few feet from me, Thankfully he was able to see I was in trouble and was able to avoid the collision. My left rear tire ended up getting too hot from our battles and coming apart on the bank, which caused it to loose its grip. Dai was awarded the easy win due to my spin, which would end my driving for the weekend on one of my favorite tracks of the year.

Seattle was a learning experience and an eye opener for the team and I our new 3.2l RB engine ran beautifully, The car has more speed than ever before so now its just a matter of time before we are collecting wins and working our way to the podium. Thanks everyone for all their help and support, St. Louis is just a few weeks out and is a new track for everyone so it will be interesting to see how quickly all the teams can adapt and have their cars performing at the new location.

See you guys in St. Louis!”

Kevin is running Konig Dekagram in 17×9 et 25mm front and 18×9.5 et 25 rear. The Konig Dekagram is Flow Formed.

Matt Vankirk takes over Behind The Wheel Podcast!!!

Posted on July 16, 2018July 16, 2018 by Konig Gfx

Matt Vankirk joins us on Episode 5 of Behind the Wheel podcast! Currently the leading FD Pro Rookie of the year, Scott sits down with Matt and talk the ups and downs of jumping from PRO2 to PRO, having to work a full time job while being a FD driver and also, will driving simulators a part of the future for the sport? All this and much more in this awesome episode!

If you like what you hear and see, please consider subscribing! We’re on iTunes, Google Play and of course the full video version of every episode is on YouTube! Thank you!

You can also, subscribe or download the podcast on our website, iTunes, Google Play, Youtube & Stitcher:

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Behind The Wheel Podcast: – EP05 – Matt Vankirk

Posted on July 16, 2018August 3, 2018 by Konig Gfx

MATT VANKIRK is a formula drift Pro driver and is currently leading the FD Rookie of the Year race. With half a season under his belt Matt discusses what it is like to compete with the best drifters in the world. VanKirk’s entire team operate on extremely tight budgets and without the safety nets of spare parts! Heck, the engine in his pro car right now is even a junk yard 2JZ. Even with all of that VanKirk and his entire team show so much love toward each other, their fans and the sport of drifting that its hard not to immediately become a fan after having some exposure to their program.

Matt also takes time to discuss his rise through grassroots drifting in to professional competition. One of the most interesting take aways from this conversation is Matt’s input and thoughts on the use of homemade driving simulators to learn, practice and even preview tracks with specific car setups. “ Drift Simulators “ are allowing drivers to enter the scene with an in-depth understanding of driving technique which fasttracks their progress.

Could driving simulators be the future of the sport and even lead to its growth in participation?

Make sure to take a few minutes to listen in and as always you can use our timeline cheatsheet to jump around in the podcast and hear what excites you the most.

Thanks for all of your support and listening!

And please, if you like the podcast and what we’ve been doing here, please consider subscribing! We’re on iTunes, Google Play and we always put the full video interviews on our YouTube Channel (links below)! Thank you for listening!

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Matt Vankirk Website:
http://mvkracing.com/

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Wiborg recaps TANU RD 3 at Mantorp Park!!!

Posted on July 13, 2018July 20, 2018 by Konig Gfx

TANU: Kinnekulle Ring – ROUND 3 | June 29th and 30th

The Big Lap Record!

This weekend it was time for round 3 of TANU this time at the most legendary track in Scandinavia, Mantorp Park.

The team headed up to the track early on Friday morning after working late on Thursday to get the car ready (late arrival of parts for the new silencer setup). Having found and fixed the boost/missfire issue from Rd2 the team had big hopes for the weekend. Going out in practice session 1 the car felt good and the engine was running very nicely at full boost with no issues at all. However the joy was short as on the 3rd lap at full boost in 5th gear there was a huge boom noise and the engine lost all power. Coming into the pits it was found out that it was not to bad as it was only the pressure hose from the outlet of the turbo that had simply burst under the boost pressure. A new pressure hose was fitted and the team headed out for practice 3. However during the first full throttle run on the straight the same boom and boost pressure was gone again. This time however the hose hadn´t burst but simply slid of the pipe. The problem with the spare hose was that it was slightly shorter then the original hose that was secured by double clamps at each end. However this was not possible with the shorter hose. The team tried some different solution to fix it for practice 4 but to no affect so it was simply to pack it up for the day. Meanwhile in our hometown Street Performance had already prepared and delivered a big box of all different kind of premium pressure hoses from their shop for the team to bring with us on Saturday morning.

Saturday – Race day
With new (better) hoses fitted and secured the team headed out for the warmup, Unfortunately one of the Pro cars in the heat before had a engine failure and poured out oil on the track. The Xtreme Rescue Team that TANU uses during their events did a great and quick job (as usual) to fix the track but unfortunately the delay meant only 1 warmup lap could be done. At least it was enough to see that the hoses stayed on at full boost.
Now it was time for Q1.

Coming out to Q1 not a single complete lap had been run at full attack but fearing that more issues could occur there was no gambling and a fast lap was to be put down directly. Two warmup laps where done and then the first attack lap was started. The car felt amazing and coming over the finish line the dash showed the time 1.14.49 beating the old track record of 1.14,6. A second lap was started but in the second corner however the next issue arrived as the brake fluid boiled and all brake performance was gone. It was simply the fact that at the fast Mantorp and running at the higher power the front discs was simply to small to handle the engery put in and thus boiling the brake fluid (to much weight savings). The entire team was quite shocked that the (supposedly hardest to beat) record had been broken on the first attack lap. It was now time to crush it….

The car was pitted and prepared for Q2. Knowing we only had 1 lap to put in a good time the tire pressures was adjusted accordingly. However the troubles was not over as during the warmup lap something in the front suspension broke in a right hand corner. After coming back into the pit it was found out that the wheel bearing hub had split into two. The team went to work to get the car ready for the Final and it was rolled out of the garage just 5 min before the closing of check in.
Winning the race was ofcourse of big importance so to not risk it the brakes was not used at all during the warmup lap thus having cold tires starting the attack lap (impossible to get enough heat in the front racing slicks without braking). It was a full attack lap and coming up on half lap distance the time was almost exactly the same as the record lap from Q1. During the second half of the lap the tire temp came up and the lap could be finished of almost 1 second quicker meaning a new lap record of 1.13.525 destroying the old record. The second lap was started but in the last corner before the long straight the brake fluid boiled again and the lap had to be aborted. The time up on the previous lap in the first sector? A whopping 0.8 seconds.

The team is super happy with another win and to crush the overall tintop track record. Regards to the what could of been lap, don´t worry in 5 weeks time it´s time for the biggest event of the year at TANUs time attack festival at, you guessed it Mantorp Park.

So if you want to see a new track record be sure to save the date, also the rumors says an update package is being fitted for the time attack festival. Don´t miss it!

#UltimateEVO #No1 #TANU2018

A big thank you to all the amazing people involved in this Ultimate EVO build, without you this would not be possible!!!

Frederik is running Konig Hypergrams in 18×9.5 et 25mm all around in Matte Grey. The Konig Hypergram is Flow Formed.

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Matt Vankirk takes over Behind The Wheel Podcast!!!

Behind The Wheel Podcast: – EP05 – Matt Vankirk

Wiborg recaps TANU RD 3 at Mantorp Park!!!

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