Taking a short flight from L.A.X. the Federal Tires Team arrived late Thursday night in Monterey, Mexico.  No one was expecting how welcoming the folks in Monterey would be.  The environment was lively and festive and the track was well organized; each driver even had their own paddock. 

  The local magazine Maxi tuning had some information about us Formula D drivers…

On Friday the team arrived early at the track to unload the rig, set up their work area and got the car ready for practice.  The track layout began at the end of a drag strip that led into a Nascar style banked right handed oval, that quickly led its way into an elevation changing chicane.  The hot and humid climate had minor effects on engine performance, after reviewing a few data logs thanks to the internal logger of the AEM engine management we found that the engine was running under optimal conditions.  Practice was looking good and only a few adjustments were needed to cope with the high speed bank.  Practice ended on a high note and the car was ready for the main event. 

Saturday a lot of the locals came out to watch drifting.  Many posters were signed and pictures were taken with Henry Schelley.   Excited to drive Henry would be paired up against Ross Petty a Falken driver in the first round.  Ross would lead first as Henry mimicked every motion that Ross made, giving him the advantage.  As the drivers switched positions, Henry came out with blistering speeds with a 4^th gear entry on the bank.  Eliminating Ross and putting Henry in the top 8 against a former Formula D champion Samuel Hubinette in the powerful Dodge Charger.  Henry pulled out all the stops even dragging the rear bumper along the wall while full throttle on the banked oval, but Sam barely edged out Henry to take the win.

This top 8 finish marked Henry’s best finishing spot.  More importantly, this event gave Henry a taste of tandem competition.  The car is now back in the states where some more testing and development will be done before Sonoma, California.  We are expecting to extract more power from the engine and work more on suspension tuning to make up for the power deficit.  We are eager to see if the hard work has paid off as we get ready for round 6 in Sonoma.

We can’t express our gratitude enough to all our sponsors who have made competing in Formula D attainable.  The high quality products has allowed our car to remain durable through out the season.

Federal Tires, AEM, Arias pistons, Brian Crower, Griffin Radiators, Burns Stainless, TCSportline, ACT clutch, DG-5, HPS Racing, Baker Precision, Neo Synthetic oil, AIT Racing, DriftSpeed, XXR Wheels, AMSperformance.com, Just Drift, Victor Reyes, Sami Sharaf, and Greg Nakano

Thank you,

Schelley Racing/Federal Tyres 

Formula Drift Sonoma September 12^th&13th 

The track at Sonoma began with a fast straight away which lead into a narrow right handed loop that quickly switched back into a left handed tear drop.  Entry speeds were getting close to triple digits and a lot of the cars were relying on their emergency brakes to slow the car down.  Due to the popularity of the track there was no practice on Thursday.  The only practice was on Friday right before qualifying.

 Our first qualifying round we scored 75 points placing us in the middle of the pack.   Henry knew that his score would not hold its position after the second round of qualifying so he had to go all out.  His entry style was unique catching the breath of both the fans and the judges.  With entry speeds near 90 mph Henry was clutch kicking into initiation using less of his emergency brakes. 

Despite barely missing the top 16, the car and driver were still on display handing out posters and autographs.  Next event we hope to debut the new manifold design and higher compression motor.  We hope to place a lasting impression for the 2008 season at the last stop in Irwindale.

 Federal Tires, AEM, Arias pistons, Burns Stainless, Brian Crower, Griffin Radiators, TCSportline, ACT clutch, DG-5, HPS Racing, Baker Precision, Neo Synthetic oil, AIT Racing, DriftSpeed, XXR Wheels, AMSperformance.com,Victor Reyes, Just Drift, Sami Sharaf, and Greg Nakano

Thank you,

Schelley Racing/Federal Tyres

Arriving early at the track on Wednesday the car was ready to debut with its new face lift (thanks to Victor Reyes).  The metallic graphics really caught the eye of the crowd.  At the Monroe Evergreen Speedway in Washington, the track concisted of a long high speed bank turn that slows down into a series of narrow turns dubbed the power alley, for its slow yet full throttle section.  The bank required a fourth gear entry while hugging the outside wall.  During practice Henry was able to graze the wall and live to tell the story.  The car was fine but was missing a rear bumper, and by the end of the day it was a battle between balancing highspeed stability with low speed maneuverability.  The DG-5 suspension fitment was excellent and their response was perfect, showing the many hours of R&D that was put into this suspension for the S13 Chassis (thanks to www.driftspeed.com )  On Friday the weather was cloudy and ominous, but it would not begin to get wet until Saturday.

Qualifying day on Friday was looking promising.  The team felt the car was ready showing a balance poise.  Everyone was on point making for stiff competition for qualifications.  However, Henry was beginning to get comfortable with the track.  On his first run he pulled a score of 88 placing him 7th amongst the unseeded drivers,  giving him his best qualifying position yet.  The Schelley Racing/Federal tires drift car was a bit underpowered for the long 4^th gear turn but the balance between power and reliability is not to far away.

On Saturday’s main event the track was wet but quickly dried up and the HEAT started to make us sweat!  Henry knew he needed to get closer to the wall to achieve an even higher score.  Henry acheived his highest speed on that course but was still not enough  to obtain a spot on the top 16

Although Friday began late afternoon the air temperature was still in the triple digits.  The car remained cool with the help of the Griffin radiator and AEM methanol injection kit.  The team was surprised on how well the car cooled.  While everyone else was externally spraying water on there intercoolers and radiators the AEM methanol injection kit automatically kept intake temperatures down on the Federal Tires’ drift S13.  Qualifying was held at the end of the day, just before the thunderstorm rolled in.  Henry Schelley laid down consistent runs leading him to qualify for the main event on Saturday.

Saturday’s practice for the main event began early.  Henry was laying down strong runs.  The car was consistently laying down a lot of smoke.  He was able to get a score of 82 with an 84 mile per hour entry speed which was a hair short of the 85 mile per hour speed that the judges were looking for.  He ended the day in 22^nd place out of 54 contestants, but most importantly, Henry has received enough qualifying points to keep his Formula D competition license for next season..

Special Thanks to:

Federal Tires, AEM, Arias pistons, Brian Crower, Benji @ GriffinRadiators, TCSportline, ACTclutch, HPS Racing, Baker Precision, Neo Synthetic oil, AIT Racing, DriftSpeed, XXR Wheels, Chris @ AMSperformance.com , Victor
Reyes, Hoa Tran @ AEM , and Scott Borg @ AEM.

June 14th 2008 marked Team Federal Tires’ third round of their Formula
D season from Englishtown Raceway in New Jersey.  The team arrived on
Wednesday welcomed by hot and humid conditions.  The heat was
unbearable but the team knew it would be a good test for the next
round in Las Vegas which is expected to be easily in the 100 degree
temperature range.

           On Wednesday the team took the time to give a once over
changing the spring rates, as well as alignment and a full inspection
of the car.  Every bolt was checked according to torque spec and
careful monitoring of the engine was taken care of by the AEM EMS.
The team was also excited to try the new RS-R tires for the first time
since being approved by Formula D officials.

           Thursday was practice day.  The track was faster than we
expected, putting the Federal RS-R tires to the test.  The track
demanded a 4th gear entry sending the car into the corner at well over
85 miles per hour, with a mid drift speed of approximately 70 miles
per hour, this marks the highest speeds that the car has seen since
being built.  Henry was happy with the grip and stability of the tires
and realized that the first transformation/R&D of the 280 wheel
horsepower KA24DE engine is complete.  Instead of recklessly pushing
motors for peak power from the get go Team Federal Tires have stuck to
their strict belief in reliability.  The team wanted to test the
engine under mediocre power levels for a few events to test
reliability.  After New Jersey the team is content on massaging the
engine and tuning to begin the process of flirting with the 3 to 400
horsepower range.

Qualifying!  Friday was an eventful day; it gave the team a good idea
on how the venue was set up.  Little had to be changed to the car
before qualifying.  Tire pressure was increased to help cope with the
amount of grip the RS-R tires were putting down on the hot asphalt and
the same walk through on suspension components were done to remain
reliable and consistent. Henry laid down a good enough run to achieve
an 11th place qualifying spot a few tenths off from qualifying top 10.
 The team was ecstatic to see the continued improvements as the events
move on.  Little time was taken to celebrate, because after the
qualifying spots were announced the team was quick to setup displays
and posters for the main event.

           Saturday was the day of the main event.  It also was the
debut of the Federal Tires/Motorsports poster for the autograph
session.  We were happy to say that the posters were a big hit.  Tons
of fans lined up just to get a poster and each person asked for an
autograph.  The fans loved it and because the venue was small it
offered a close enough relation for drivers to communicate with the
fans.  Some of the drivers sought shelter from the heat, but the
Federal Tires crew including Henry remained busy answering questions
about the driver, tire choices, engine management and the engine
including the internals.  The KA24DE seemed to be the topic of
conversation.  Most of the fans and enthusiast appreciated seeing
something other than the common SR20DET engine and were amazed by the power band Henry was capable of squeezing out of the engine using the AEM EMS.  On the track Henry was able to continue with the fast entry speeds but because the driving line was changed, Henry had a hard time compensating for the lack of power on the long sweepers.  Henry’s efforts were still good enough for 20th place, and the team took notes on the things that needed to be improved upon so that they can match the pace of the rest of the field for the super fast track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

All in all we believe the event was a huge success for exposure.   We
have noted improvements that are needed to be made and are excited to
begin work on the vehicle and we expect an even higher
qualifying/finishing position.  Lastly the Federal Tire Team would
like to thank everyone that was involved with this event and would
like to thank everyone who has made it possible for us to compete.

 Special Thanks to:

Federal Tires, AEM, Arias pistons, Brian Crower, Benji @ GriffinRadiators, TCSportline, ACTclutch, HPS Racing, Baker Precision, Neo Synthetic oil, AIT Racing, DriftSpeed, XXR Wheels, Chris @ AMS, Victor
Reyes, and Sami Sharaf

Greetings,

Round 2 Press Release 

Last event was full of surprises!  This nearly40 year old beautiful and historic motor sports facility is situated on 750 park-like acres in the rolling hills of Northeast Georgia.

Seeing the track for the first time on Friday (qualifying) we realized this long race track surface would require a lot more power. The team has also switch to 18inch wheels from XXR.  Using the AEM EMS engine management system Henry Schelley decided to add more boost at the higher end of the rev range.  It was the first time that the Federal Tires S13 would see this amount of turbo pressure, and the Arias pistons held up to the abuse with ease and after 2 qualifying runs we were able to grab 14th place enough to compete in Saturday’s main event.

  At Saturday’s main event there were tons of fans.  Driver, Henry Schelley, was present for the large autograph session signing Federal Tire flyers, shirts and hats.  It was incredible to see the fans response.  We hope to have posters made of the Schelley Racing/Federal tires S13 for Round 3’s autograph signing in New Jersey. 

During the first run for qualifying, the cars massive torque was too much for the transmission and all the gears were lost.  Against the clock the Federal Tires team quickly sprung into action swapping out the transmission in less than 40 minutes with hand tools and floor jacks.  Luckily the hustle of the team was quick enough to give Henry one qualifying run. Exhausted, Schelley managed to pull off a score of 84 points which was 3 points shy of the qualifying top 16.

For the next round in New Jersey, we plan on having a new 300zx transmission as the replacement for the stock transmission.  With this modification we expect a cure any chances of a broken transmission.  Round 3 takes us to Englishtown, a new track to the tour. We are very excited and are looking to do well since this will be a new track for all, including returning competitors from 2007.

We’d like to thank everyone who has helped us out throughout the tour, and we look forward to updating you all with race information as we compete in New Jersey! 

Special thanks to:

Federal Tires, AEM, Arias pistons, TCSportline, ACTclutch, HPS Racing, Baker Precision, Neo Synthetic oil, AIT Racing, DriftSpeed, XXR Wheels,  Chris Black @ AMS, and KW suspensions  

Sincerely,

Federal Tires Drift Team
]]> http://schelleyracing.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/formula-drift-round-2-road-atlanta-raceway-georgia/feed/ 0 schelleyracing http://schelleyracing.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/formula-drift-round-1-long-beach-ca-april-11th-12th/ http://schelleyracing.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/formula-drift-round-1-long-beach-ca-april-11th-12th/#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:39:16 +0000 schelleyracing http://schelleyracing.wordpress.com/?p=6 ]]>

Greetings,

 
Here is a brief update of last week’s events at Formula D held in Long Beach.  After an arduous week of preparation Schelley Racing coupled with the help of Federal Tyres arrived early on April 11^th for tech. inspections and qualifying for the main event that was to be held the following day.  After passing tech inspection, minor alignment adjustments using the old fashion string and plates were performed on the freshly built drift car.  Quickly the car was put on the track to get as much practice as possible, but was cut short after three runs due to track clean up.  Back in the pits the car underwent more minor suspension adjustments in attempt to squeeze as much traction out of the car as possible.  After 2 qualifying laps Henry was able to grab 18^th out of the 32 cars which competed for the unseated positions, but due to mechanical failures from 2 competing cars, we were bumped up to 16^th place enabling us to run in the main event.

Saturday’s main event was sold out! The stands were packed and stayed pack despite the hot weather.  After more practice runs and even more suspension tuning we were able to get the car dialed in for consistency.  We were able to grab a respectful 22^nd place scoring an 85 amongst the 60+ cars that competed this weekend.

Currently, the team is working on the car to further improve its performance and endurance for round 2 held in Atlanta (aka. Hotlanta), Georgia.

The team would like to this the time to sincerely thank: Federal tires, AEM, Arias Pistons, Baker Precision, Neo Synthetic Oils, HPS Racing, TC Sportline, ACT Clutches, AIT Body Kits, Drift Speed, Frank Yeung & GP Motorsports, Tsuyoshi at 5zigen, JC at AEM, Hoa Tran at AEM , Greg Nakano at AEM, Tyler Hara, Mitch Peterson, and Victor Reyes

 
 Sincerely,
 Schelley Racing / Federal Tyres