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Drift
Drifting remains a huge topic in the sport compact performance community and companies, drivers, and enthusiasts made the buzz bigger than ever in Las Vegas.
Falken Drift and Azenis Product Launch
The biggest drifting news came from proactive drift supporter Falken Tires. Falken announced the biggest sponsored group of drifters to date – with 12 prominent and up and coming drifters to burn Falken rubber at drift competitions across the country.
The big surprises in the lineup included Vaughn Gittin Jr. in a second 2005 Ford Mustang to attack the drift tarmac (Toyo Tires announced Ken Gushi in a ‘Stang a day earlier). Gittin’s Mustang will not feature the supercharged Cobra motor like Gushi’s car though, but a supercharged factory engine is expected. Other surprises include Calvin Wan jumping from 240SX to Infiniti G35 and Chris Forsberg switching from his trademark 350Z to a S15 Nissan Silvia.
The twelve factory-supported drifters for 2005 are:
Seigou Yamamoto in a Mazda FD3S RX-7
Calvin Wan in an Infiniti G35
Hubert Young in a Nissan S13 240SX
Ben Schwartz in a Nissan S14 240SX
Hiro Sumida in a Toyota AE86 Corolla
Casper Canul in a Nissan S14 240SX
Vaughn “JR” Gittin in a Ford Mustang
Tony Angelo in a Mazda FD3S RX-7
Ryan Hampton in a Nissan S13 240SX
Chris Milano in a Nissan S13 240SX
James Bondurant in a Nissan S13 240SX
Chris Forsberg in a Nissan S15 240SX
Tied into the mega-drift program, Falken unleashed a world debut of a World Spec Azenis RT-615 tire designed to go toe-to-toe with premium JDM race-spec brands like Yokohama’s Advan and Bridgestone’s Potenza. The 615 is billed as a no compromise tire premium pure sports tire and has one of the most aggressive production tread patterns we’ve ever seen to match. The Azenis 615 will get the real world test on all of the sponsored drift cars mentioned above.
Falken also announce the start of a Formula D contingency sponsorship to award competitors running on Falken rubber.
Yokohama Tire ADVAN Product Launch
Yokohama Tire President and CEO, Mr. Norio Karashima, announced that their 25-year old global flagship brand, ADVAN, will be brought to the U.S. market. Yokohama will bring over three lines of the ADVAN family which consists of the ADVAN Neova, the ADVAN Sport and the ADVAN S/T. The Neova will be available in sizes that will fit high-end performance sports cars and is designed for maximum grip under wet and dry conditions. The Sport is ADVAN's new flagship tire, which offers ultra-high-performance with ultra-high speed capabilities. The S/T is engineered for the ultra-high performance SUV market.
Yokohama also unveiled the Avid TRZ, an ultra premium touring tire and expanding the Parada from a single tire to a three tire lineup of tires. The Parada Concept-D, developed with D1 drivers, is engineered specifically for drifting. The PARADA Concept-SUV is geared for the new generation of SUV owners with big appetites for high-end custom wheels. The two concept tires can be seen along with the famed PARADA Spec-2, Yokohama's tire geared fpr the tuner market.
That’s it for now as we keep pounding the floors of the biggest SEMA Show in years. Check back for more coverage as we continue our daily updates from Las Vegas.
Drift
Drifting remains a huge topic in the sport compact performance community and companies, drivers, and enthusiasts made the buzz bigger than ever in Las Vegas.
Falken Drift and Azenis Product Launch
The biggest drifting news came from proactive drift supporter Falken Tires. Falken announced the biggest sponsored group of drifters to date – with 12 prominent and up and coming drifters to burn Falken rubber at drift competitions across the country.
The big surprises in the lineup included Vaughn Gittin Jr. in a second 2005 Ford Mustang to attack the drift tarmac (Toyo Tires announced Ken Gushi in a ‘Stang a day earlier). Gittin’s Mustang will not feature the supercharged Cobra motor like Gushi’s car though, but a supercharged factory engine is expected. Other surprises include Calvin Wan jumping from 240SX to Infiniti G35 and Chris Forsberg switching from his trademark 350Z to a S15 Nissan Silvia.
The twelve factory-supported drifters for 2005 are:
Seigou Yamamoto in a Mazda FD3S RX-7
Calvin Wan in an Infiniti G35
Hubert Young in a Nissan S13 240SX
Ben Schwartz in a Nissan S14 240SX
Hiro Sumida in a Toyota AE86 Corolla
Casper Canul in a Nissan S14 240SX
Vaughn “JR” Gittin in a Ford Mustang
Tony Angelo in a Mazda FD3S RX-7
Ryan Hampton in a Nissan S13 240SX
Chris Milano in a Nissan S13 240SX
James Bondurant in a Nissan S13 240SX
Chris Forsberg in a Nissan S15 240SX
Tied into the mega-drift program, Falken unleashed a world debut of a World Spec Azenis RT-615 tire designed to go toe-to-toe with premium JDM race-spec brands like Yokohama’s Advan and Bridgestone’s Potenza. The 615 is billed as a no compromise tire premium pure sports tire and has one of the most aggressive production tread patterns we’ve ever seen to match. The Azenis 615 will get the real world test on all of the sponsored drift cars mentioned above.
Falken also announce the start of a Formula D contingency sponsorship to award competitors running on Falken rubber.
Yokohama Tire ADVAN Product Launch
Yokohama Tire President and CEO, Mr. Norio Karashima, announced that their 25-year old global flagship brand, ADVAN, will be brought to the U.S. market. Yokohama will bring over three lines of the ADVAN family which consists of the ADVAN Neova, the ADVAN Sport and the ADVAN S/T. The Neova will be available in sizes that will fit high-end performance sports cars and is designed for maximum grip under wet and dry conditions. The Sport is ADVAN's new flagship tire, which offers ultra-high-performance with ultra-high speed capabilities. The S/T is engineered for the ultra-high performance SUV market.
Yokohama also unveiled the Avid TRZ, an ultra premium touring tire and expanding the Parada from a single tire to a three tire lineup of tires. The Parada Concept-D, developed with D1 drivers, is engineered specifically for drifting. The PARADA Concept-SUV is geared for the new generation of SUV owners with big appetites for high-end custom wheels. The two concept tires can be seen along with the famed PARADA Spec-2, Yokohama's tire geared fpr the tuner market.
That’s it for now as we keep pounding the floors of the biggest SEMA Show in years. Check back for more coverage as we continue our daily updates from Las Vegas.
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