QUICK SHIFT: Kevin Lawrence!!!

On this episode of The BEHIND THE WHEEL PODCAST: QUICK SHIFT edition, we are joined by none other than Formula Drift Pro and Pro 2 driver, Kevin Lawrence!

After a successful 2017 season and being crowned PRO2 CHAMPION, Kevin Lawrence returned primarily as a rookie in the FD PRO Championship series! Kevin is running both Pro and Pro2 seasons at the same time in 2 different cars (S14 and R32) and he gives us feedback on the differences in both classes. Also, drops some knowledge to the pro-am, grassroots drivers on what it takes to run a successful and competition ready program!

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!

Quick Shift Ryan Litteral

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

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Thanks for listening!

FOLLOW:
Kevin Lawrence: @k_lawrence352
https://www.instagram.com/k_lawrence352/

Enjuku Racing: @enjukuracing
https://www.instagram.com/enjukuracing/

Scott Weiss (Konig): @scott_Konig
https://www.instagram.com/scott_konig/

Speed Academy’s PETER TARACH on Behind The Wheel Podcast!

On this episode of the Konig BEHIND THE WHEEL PODCAST we chat with former editor-in-chief of Modified Magazine and current co-mastermind behind the online and YouTube automotive content source Speed Academy, Peter Tarach!

After the closing of Modified Magazine in 2014, Peter was at a stand still. In this podcast he gives us his journey onto how he co-found Speed Academy with Dave Pratte. As well as gives us insight on being a YouTuber, the automotive industry, the marketing world and much more!

Stay tuned because this one is for sure a good one! You can head to the podcast page below and see the timecode cheatsheet to jump around!

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

Behind the Wheel Podcast

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

itunes google play youtube sound cloud

Thanks for listening!

FOLLOW:
Speed Academy: @speedacademy
https://www.instagram.com/speedacademy/

Speed Academy Website:
http://speed.academy/

Speed Academy Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/spdacademy

Scott Weiss (Konig): @scott_Konig
https://www.instagram.com/scott_konig/

Konig Wheels USA: @konigwheelsusa
https://www.instagram.com/konigwheelsusa/

Wiborg breaks record at TANU RD2!!!

TANU: Kinnekulle Ring – ROUND 2 | June 9th and 10th

Win and a track record at Kinnekulle

This weekend it was time for round 2 of the TANU series at Kinnekulle ring. The team came in to the round with one goal, to break the track record (currently held by a DTM car). The car was rolled of the trailer Saturday morning and with the new EPAS solution installed as well some replaced parts to fix the boost pressure issue that also haunted the team at round 1 it was now time to see the true potential of the Evo.

However during the Saturdays early practice heats the boost pressure issues from Knutstorp was still there and the boost pressure did not go above 1.1-1.2 bar (should be 2.0) leaving the car with 150-200hp less power. For the 5th and final heat the issue was finally found, however the joy was very short since running at full boost now caused the engine to misfire.
Returning for race day on Sunday we thought the problem with misfires was resolved after we found that the connection between the ignition coils and ignition cables was not perfect. However during the warm-up this was found not to be the case. To make matters worse the car now did not run on low boost either. So before Q1 more or less all cables and parts around the ignition system was replaced as well as the spark plugs and injectors. However the car still suffered badly from misfires as soon as the boost pressure increased. The team figured out it was bad sparks causing the misfire and with no real fix available a last shot was to decrease the spark plug gaps to improve the sparks slightly. Although not solving the issue it made it good enough to run low boost settings at 1.1-1.2 bar boost pressure.

Now being into Q2 we went out on the track and started to step up the pace, after only 2 laps on attack we got a technical flag due to sound levels being over the regulation 95dB and we had to abort Q2.

So for the final an extra silencer was fitted and we headed out again, although running on low boost the record was still within reach and on the first full attack lap a time of 49.768 was put down beating the old record with 0,15 sec and winning the round.

The team now has 3 weeks to solve the engine issues as well as implementing some other small improvements for round 3 on Mantorp Park. .

Also big thanks to everyone joining up and helping out during the weekend, without you we wouldn’t have made it this time.

Now it’s time to go brake some more records….

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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Scott & Joey talk FDNJ RD4 on Behind The Wheel Podcast: FD Edition!!!

Scott and Joey take us into Formula Drift New Jersey and discuss FD Point System, Pawlawk coming in guns blazing, Vankirk showing he deserves rookie of the year, Pro 2 Smoke line affects and more in this Edition of BEHIND THE WHEEL PODCAST FD EDITION! Tune in and give us some feedback!

Behind the Wheel Podcast

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

itunes google play youtube sound cloud

Thanks for listening!

FOLLOW:
Scott Weiss (Konig): Scott_Konig
Joey Redmond (Wrecked Magazine): joeyredmond
Konig Wheels USA Instagram: @konigwheelsusa

RYAN LITTERAL joins us on QUICK SHIFT!!!

Scott and the Konig team were able to catch up with Ryan Litteral at Formula Drift New Jersey at Wall Stadium. On this edition of The BEHIND THE WHEEL PODCAST: QUICK SHIFT edition, we are joined by none other than Formula Drift Pro and Pro 2 driver, Ryan Litteral!

With a lot of experience and seat time, Ryan gives insight and tips to upcoming drivers on how to run and market a successful program. Ryan also gave us some insight on what the Koruworks team was doing to prepare the 350z for Formula Drift’s 100th competition round at Wall Stadium!

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!

Quick Shift Ryan Litteral

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

itunes google play youtube stitcher

Thanks for listening!

FOLLOW:
Ryan Litteral: @Ryanlitteral
https://www.instagram.com/ryanlitteral/

Koruworks: @Koruworks
https://www.instagram.com/koruworks/

Scott Weiss (Konig): @Scott_Konig
https://www.instagram.com/scott_konig/

Travis Reeder joins us in Episode 3 of Behind The Wheel Podcast!

On this episode of the Konig BEHIND THE WHEEL PODCAST we sit down with Travis Reeder, 2017 Formula Drift Pro 2 Rookie of the year and 2nd place finisher. Travis doesn’t hold anything back providing very specific details about how he moved his way up in competitive drifting.

If you or anyone you know is into grassroots drifting, grassroots racing and building a reliable, extremely efficient program that can operate on a budget, YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE! Travis goes into what skills and vehicle modifications are needed for every level of competitive drifting as well as all of the aspects of operating a program.

So much of the information Travis supplies extends well surpass drifting and really is a solid takeaway for anyone that is building a race program. You can head to the podcast page below and see the timecode cheatsheet to jump around!

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

Behind the Wheel Podcast

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

itunes google play youtube sound cloud

Thanks for listening!

FOLLOW:
Travis Reeder: @Travisreeder
https://www.instagram.com/travisreeder/

Scott Weiss (Konig): @Scott_Konig
https://www.instagram.com/scott_konig/

Joey Redmond: @joeyredmond
https://www.instagram.com/joeyredmond/

Formula Drift Atlanta ’18 Gallery!!!

FORMULA DRIFT ATLANTA, GA – ROUND 3 | May 11th and 12th

Formula Drift Atlanta brings the heat with Round 3 of PRO and Round 1 of PRO 2 as both series hit the track at Road Atlanta! Below are images of what went down in Formula Drift Atlanta brought to you by Konig Wheels in collaboration with Wrecked Magazine!

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Ryan Litteral finishes top 4 at FDATL Pro 2!!!

KORUWORKS takes us up-close, personal and gives us a behind the scene look of Formula Drift Atlanta. Capturing amazing footage of the teams hard work and dedication. Koruworks faces a few issues early on and races the clock on getting the build in tip-top shape for competition. At the end, the team succeeds with an amazing performance in Pro 2 with Ryan Litteral solidifying a TOP 4 Finish at FDATL!

We are super excited for the future rounds and from all of us here at Konig, go get’em fellas!

Ryan is running Konig Ampliform in 18×9 et 15mm front and 18×10 et 20mm rear in DARK METALLIC GRAPHITE. The Konig Ampliform is Flow Formed.

For more on Koruworks follow them on instagram: @KORUWORKS

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Podium finish for Travis Reeder at FDATL 2018!

FORMULA DRIFT PRO 2 ATLANTA, GA – ROUND 1 | May 11th and 12th

New year, new team and a whole new energy. Coming into the 2018 formula drift pro 2 Season, I was uncontrollably excited, anxious and hungrier than ever. After an extremely successful 2017 pro 2 season and a relatively uneventful off season I was more than ready to jump in the car and throw down at my favorite track in the formula drift series, Road Atlanta.

Coming into our first practice of the season the team and I had our data from last year collected and set up the car quickly. We immediately found out that having previous experience at a racetrack, especially one this challenging was more valuable than anything in this sport and it showed after executing a very strong first few laps in practice. The car was fast, settled and extremely drivable right out of the box, which allowed us to really dial in and fine tune the setup efficiently as well as develop a good strategy for the weekend.

With qualifying coming up quickly Thursday night, I knew I needed to improve on how I performed last year drastically considering only a few qualifying points had cost the team and I a championship in 2017. My first qualifying run was a conservative one, only to try and guarantee a spot in the big show Friday night. I had been a little shallow in outer zone 2 in the keyhole but hit all my clips, touch-and-go’s and zone the rest of the run. We were given a 91 and a second position seeding at that time which guaranteed the team a top 16 showing the next day. On qualifying run 2 we pushed harder as we had nothing to lose. I was deeper into the 2nd outer zone and was extremely committed and on throttle 99% of the lap as well as hitting all my clips with angle. The judges awarded the team and I a 95, which earned us the top qualifying position for the event!

After practice and opening ceremonies, the team and I were excited for top 16 and to put on a good show for all the awesome fans Road Atlanta attracts. My first battle was uneventful as I was set to battle Crick Fillipi but he had unfortunately broke minutes before, giving me a free ride into the top 8. So, I had taken advantage of the opportunity to practice putting down my closest rendition of a perfect qualifying run. On to the top 8!

Kelsey Rowlings was our opponent for the top 8. I lead first and put down a solid lead with minimal corrections and had pulled a bit of a gap on her after the first front clip. Going into the second run I was in the chase position and new I had to apply consistent pressure and maintain proximity to get the team into the final 4. Rowling’s was on fire for her lead run, which allowed me to really attack in the chase. I followed close with great proximity and it was enough to give me the win, the final 4 was set!

Our final 4 Battle was against Ola Jaeger, who was on an absolute war path all weekend. I led first and had a killer lead run hitting all my clips with angle and smoke and only sacrificed a few points in outer zone 2, as well as pulling a couple car lengths away from Ola in the chase. Going into the second run I knew he had a unique and difficult entry style to adjust to, so I had to try my best to match and apply pressure in the chase position and not lose ground. I was close on entry and on his door after our first transition up the hill, but he was fast and pulling away. I sacrificed angle and line slightly to gain proximity in the keyhole and throughout the rest of the run. Blazing across the finish line a foot off his door we came to a stop at the top of the hill. After review from the judges they had concluded that my correction in the chase position had outweighed Ola’s falling back during my lead run and he was awarded the win and moved on to the finals.

Thankfully, by qualifying p1 in the event, I was guaranteed a 3rd place podium finish if I had made it to the final 4. So not only were we the top qualifier but we were still able to go home with a carbon fiber trophy! I can’t complain about one thing over the whole entire weekend. The car ran flawlessly as did my crew! With round one being in the books, and the team and I in the chase for the championship, I can’t wait for St. Louis as well as more great times at the track.
I want to give a massive thank you to all my family, friends, fans and amazing sponsors for the support to chase a crazy dream that is professional drifting. Without you all I wouldn’t be able to do it. Period!

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

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Federik Wiborg recap of TANU RD1 at Ring Knutstorp in Sweden!!!

TANU: Ring Knutstorp – ROUND 1 | May 11th and 12th

After pulling of somewhat of a miracle the team lead by Mikael W managed to have the car finished and engine started for the first time after returning from the dyno at 20:00 on Thursday evening, this came after working more or less 24/7 for 3 months to catch up to the first round.
So on friday 05:00 the team headed towards Knutstorp to take on round 1 of the 2018 TANU championship.

Knowing that the car was more or less completely new there was for sure gonna be issues during Friday free practice, amazingly during the first heat cruising around for 3 laps everything seemed to be working flawlessly, all systems were running ok and the car seemed to behave as supposed. After going over everything the team headed out for free practice nr 2, on just the second lap upping up the phase the power steering went down, the coming 4 heats where just about trying to figure out why the power steering did not work. After the Friday practice and only running 10 laps at cruising speed the power steering issue was still not solved.

Entering Saturday and race day all hoses, pump reservoir had been exchanged, rerouted and the pump reservoir had a bigger return valve welded on. However this still did not fix the issue and the warmup was aborted after just 1 lap. Coming in to Q1 help arrived after JapTuning and Stefan Påhlsson had brought a backup power steering pump, pump reservoir and hoses. Although replacing all this parts the power steering was still not working so Q1 was aborted with no real time set. Coming in to Q2 the team started to realize there where probably no issues with the power steering system itself, the issues was more due to the steering forces on the rack being to high this year causing the belt to slip on the pump demanding to much pressure. So as a last attempt to at least make it better a new “to short” belt was forced on causing higher tension on the belt then intended by the belt-tensioner.

However going out in Q2 it was soon obvious this wasn’t working either. So knowing there was nothing else to do for the final it was just to accept the situation and deal with it best possible. After only runing 15-20 laps at cruising speed and without a working power steering it was just about trying to get a time set. Although not having driven the car on attack and having to roll through the quick section and overall struggling to turn the car a 59:0 time was set taking the overall win and being less then 0.5 sec slower then current Time Attack track record, showed som real potential in the car. Now the team has 3,5 weeks to fix some small issues and most importantly fix the power steering issues before round 2 at Kinnekulle. I would like to take the opportunity to thank some people involved in this build making it possible to do what we are doing.

Mikael Wiborg – The mastermind (and most likely Swedens no 1 chassis manufacturer) behind putting this incredibly vehicle together, putting almost every free second for the last 8 months into building this beast from scratch. Not only is it incredibly light and strong and fast but if you have the chance to take a look at the car in real life. Make sure to pay attention to all the small details and amazing solutions to shave of a few grams here and there.

Stefan at KBM Racing Engines – Amazing work in making the engine mapping during the winter and the support for the 2018 season.

Patrik at Street Performance – Our first sponsor on board this project supplying us with great parts from D2 and AEM.

Scott at Konig Wheels USA – For providing us with some amazingly light and strong racing wheels.

Pelle at Würth Svenska AB – Tools, bolts, machines, glue, paint whatever you might need in the garage there is nothing Wurth can´t solve.

Stefan at JapTuning – Although not been a partner of Wiborg Engineering Stefan always helps out when in need of spares or just having questions regarding the Japanese tuner engines.

Not to forget is, Martin, Jimmy, Lucas, David, Adam, Marcus, Helge and Peter helping out in the garage.

See you at Kinnekulle in 3.5 weeks.

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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