Hawthorne, CA—Andy Lee started from the Motul Pole Position and came away with the win and a record fast lap of 1:40.720 (82.208 MPH) at Circuit of the Americas in Round 5 of Pirelli World Challenge GTS racing. The Best IT Racing/Crown Seven Camaros completed testing with newly installed AEM Infinity ECUs a week prior and these were the first two races with both Lee’s and team owner Harry Curtin’s (Best IT #29 Camaro) LS engines under control of the Infinity. Lee finished in second place in Round 4 and also recorded the fastest lap of round 4, a 1:41.032 (81.954 MPH), earning him the pole position for Round 5 competition. This was Lee’s fifth career win in GTS and first of the season.
“The two weeks leading up to this race have been nothing but a mad thrash. All of my guys put their hearts and souls into these cars, and they gave me a car that was good enough to win,” stated Lee. ”In the extreme heat at COTA the Infinity helped us maximize our engine’s performance to edge the rest of the pack. The engines ran perfectly all weekend and helped us secure our first win of the season!”
The AEM Infinity-8 ECU installed in Andy Lee’s #20 Best IT Racing Crown Seven Camaro.
The Best IT Racing Camaros also utilize AEM’s High Output Smart Coils for reliable spark energy.
Two weeks after taking 6th place at the King Of the Hammers race in CA, Derek West of Crush Motorsports (Springfield, MO) headed to the Superlift Off-Road park in Hot Springs, AR for the Hog Wild Shootout put on by the Southern Rock Racing Series. Derek’s Crush Motorsports Rig uses AEM’s needle-style Analog Gauges.
This event is a standalone event with a 5 race points series to start April 6. Derek coming off of a week long illness had not even unloaded the race car from the KOH race, feeling the car was still in pretty good shape he took it out of the trailer in the Superlift parking lot to start surveying the damage from the 185 mile race. Immediately the car was not running quite right so a quick spark plug change took place minutes before the drivers meeting took place early Saturday morning. Typically the team would take off the spare tire and all other spares, oil and tools to shave weight but with time being short the extra weight was left on.
Derek was staged towards the back of the 35+ competitors waiting to get his turn in front of the 3,300 people attendance for the event. The race was a singe course, fastest time wins and at the end of the day Derek had been edged out for first place by less than one second!
Derek had this to say about the race, “For the most part we did pretty good today, I made one mistake and got of course a little which most likely cost me the win. I also had the wrong gearing in as I usually go a little lower for these races but overall I am happy with how I did and I can’t wait for the next one!”.
Photo credits: Adam Scherer and Lisa Horton
Aasbo Qualifies #1, Saito Victorious, Aasbo and Powers Finish Top 8 in Infinity-Controlled Drift Cars
Hawthorne, CA—It was a strong showing for the drivers of AEM Infinity ECU controlled cars at Formula Drift’s 2013 Round 2 “Road to the Championship” event in Atlanta on May 11th. Fredric Aasbo qualified #1 driving the Hankook Tire/Scion Racing tC and finished in the Top 8 along with fellow competitor Matt Powers , who qualified 7th in his Infinity-tuned, Katech LS7 powered, Nitto Tire/Fatlace Nissan S14. Formula Drift 2012 Champion Daigo Saito, who qualified 5th in his Achilles Radial 2JZGTE-powered Lexus SC430, was again in championship form, battling his way to the top spot on the podium as weather conditions and close competition made it a challenging weekend for all drivers.
“From qualifying through the tandem battles it was the bottom-end response that made all the difference. The gain of power in the mid-range through the variable cam control made us competitive as we advanced through the rounds,” stated Gary Castillo, Achilles Radial Drift Team Crew Chief.
“This weekend we had rain, heat and lots of stresses on the Infinity, but it kept its cool and helped us finish 6th overall,” added Matt Powers.
“The car was running strong and Fredric was set up to win with the top qualifier. Unfortunately in Top 8 Fredric got hit by JR and we lost 3rd gear on the next run which made it difficult to advance,” commented Stephan Papadakis, Hankook Tires/Scion Racing Crew Chief.
The Infinity EMS delivers high-end engine control for the racing masses at a fraction of the cost. Built around a latest-generation 200MHz automotive processor, the Infinity is capable of processing 400 MIPS (millions of instructions per second). For a limited time, all Infinity systems come fully enabled without the need for feature add-on purchases. Combined with AEM’s industry leading after-purchase support system, including free technical support, the Infinity is the ultimate engine control solution for both professional race teams and weekend track cars.
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 14, 2013) –Fredric Aasbo and the Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC bested defending champion Daigo Saito in one of the most exciting rounds of the Formula Drift season opener in Long Beach this weekend. The battle went two one-more-time rounds and brought fans in the sold-out grandstands to their feet.
“It was the most fun drifting I’ve ever done,” said Aasbo. “Winning such a close battle is very satisfying and it took me back to my days as a kid, hooning on frozen lakes with friends in Norway.”
The Top 16 fight saw both drivers sliding inches from the walls of the Long Beach street course, lighting up clipping points in an impressive show of precision driving. It was too close to call match after match, but Aasbo kept his cool and performed flawlessly under pressure. He finally claimed victory in a third head-to-head battle, when Aasbo put in a lightning fast lead run and Saito couldn’t close the gap.
It was the kind of performance Aasbo has become known for. Early in his career, he earned the nickname the “Champ Killer” for his consistent ability to best championship drivers. It’s a skill that will serve him well in 2013, as the team faces one of the most talented Formula Drift fields assembled in the series’ 10-year history in the United States.
“At this level, you have to be able to beat every driver out there,” said Aasbo. “Facing down the defending champion in the Top 16 is what happens when you’ve got so many competitive drivers fighting for the win.”
Aasbo advanced to the Top eight, where he was defeated by the weekend’s overall winner, Daijiro Yoshihara. He scored an 8th place finish.
Papadakis Racing continues to lead the sport’s progression with innovative technical development. At Long Beach, the team unveiled their 2014 Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC, featuring a redesigned front end.The team has made changes under the hood for 2013, including the addition of an AEM Infinity ECU and a nitrous oxide system and power boosted to 700-plus horsepower. The team moved the radiator to the rear, to redistribute weight over the driven rear wheels and maximize grip from the sticky Hankook Ventus R-S3 tires, and also made advances in suspension tuning, with the addition of new components from RS-R.
“We’re pushing everything we’ve got, but it reliably goes rounds and rounds, as we saw this weekend,” said team owner Stephan Papadakis.
Aasbo and the Hankook Tire Scion Racing tC will return to the Long Beach streets course next weekend (April 19-20) for the Motegi Racing Super Drift challenge. Aasbo is one of 16 drivers invited to compete for the $25,000 prize purse at the first night race in the history of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Formula DRIFT presented by GoPro continues at Round 2: Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta on May 10-11, 2013.
2013 saw Berk Technology steer their motorsport activities in a completely new direction; professional drifting. With team driver Carl Rydquist and his Champion sponsored Rydquist Racing Nissan 350Z, Berk Technology joined the 10th season of the Formula DRIFT Pro Championship at the Round 1 season premiere held at the Streets of Long Beach.
With over 60 drivers present, many of whom are factory backed teams, reaching the main event competition (Top 32) is an accomplishment on its own. With the diligent car preparation, combined with focused testing and setup, Rydquist was able to navigate the challenging Indy Car course laid out by the Formula DRIFT judges with a score high enough to win a Top 32 spot during Friday’s qualifying session.
Entering the Top 32 elimination rounds, Rydquist faced 4th place qualifier and eventual 4th place finisher Chelsea DeNofa. Despite Carl’s attempts to make up for a large horsepower deficit with his “go fast” racing skills, a Top 16 advancement will have to remain on the team’s to-do list for a future Formula Drift round.
The Rydquist Racing / Berk Technology Nissan 350Z utilizes an AEM Series 2 standalone ECU that allows full control of the Garrett GTX turbocharger, which up until now, has been running low boost. The team will now focus on suspension geometry optimization and engine internals, to be able to extract the power potential available and put the added power to the ground utilizing the venerable Hankook Ventus R-S3 tires.
Carey Bales, owner of the quickest and fastest car in NHRA Super Stock history, is optimistic coming off his first race of 2013 using the Infinity ECU.
“We made some changes to the car beyond switching from AEM’s Series 2 EMS to their Infinity ECU” stated Bales. “Although we wanted to get a win we knew there would be some sorting out since this was the first time we’ve been on the track this season.”
The highlights? Bales reported 30 degree temps and when he pressed the start button on the World record-holding drag car it fired up and idled like it came off of a dealership lot. During eliminations fuel pressure dropped dramatically on the top end of the track under high boost—about 20 PSI. The Infinity caught the pressure drop and adjusted the maps accordingly based on the program’s target AFR, which likely saved the engine.
Bales missed the 1st qualifying pass due to a bad battery and experienced issues with a faulty clutch switch during the second pass, netting a 10.72 second pass in its first run of 2013 at the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL. During the 3rd qualifying run Thursday (the car’s second pass), a boost issue at the line caused the car to bog but Bales was still able to record a 9.80 @ 158 MPH and move on to eliminations.
In the first round of eliminations Bales lined up against Brad Zaskowski (1987 Camaro) and with low boost issues off the line still managed to go quicker with a 9.17 @ 166 MPH despite a major fuel pressure drop on the top end. It wasn’t enough to advance though, ending the team’s weekend.
“I don’t like to quote numbers we haven’t run, but what I’ll say is that our back-half times were similar to where we were at the end of last year at considerably less boost, and it took us all season to get there last year,” commented Bales, who holds the class record with a 7.92 @ 174.39 MPH from the 2012 US Nationals in Indy. “We’re still sorting the car but despite some of the mechanical problems we had I couldn’t be happier with the new Infinity. We’ll take this weekend’s efforts and look to improve everything for the next race.”
Bales was also pleasantly surprised with the buzz around his car in the pits. “Its presence gets attention because it’s so different. People kept coming by mentioning that they had to see our car because they had heard about it somewhere else, or a friend told them to check it out, which was really cool!”
All four of the Vipers you see in this picture feature twin-turbo set ups and will be tuned using Infinity-10 stand-alone ECUs. Two are slated for power levels at or above 1,500 HP.
Tuning and fabrication specialists Nth Moto has developed a Plug & Play soultion for the Infinity-10 ECU for 3rd gen Dodge Vipers that is impressive to say the least. If you haven’t seen any their work, check out their Facebook page. Thier fab work could pass for museum art.
We got an email from Aaron after they got the program up and running and he shared an image of a dyno-session on a ‘mild’ tuned Twin-Turbo Viper on 9 PSI of pump gas that spun the rollers to 836 HP. Aaron from Nth Moto told us “The Infinity system just works incredibly well. We’re in love with it, ha!” The feeling is mutual Aaron, and we’re proud to work with a facility that delivers premium vehicle development in Nth Moto.
Nth doesn’t do just Vipers though. They can build, design wire just about anything and even handle a groud up racecar build from start to finish. We’ll keep you posted on more of their projects as we get them in.
Above is a teaser shot of the Plug & Play wiring harness that Nth Moto developed for the Infinity-10 for 3rd Gen Dodge Vipers.
Aaron sent this pic along and we had to post it. Power and sex appeal go hand in hand!
Photo by MotoIQ.com. Olsberg’s MSE Supercar Lites Using AEM Infinity Standalone ECU and Ignition Components
The Global Rallycross announced the addition of the GRC LItes Class for 2013 and AEM is proud to announce that its Infinity Programmable ECU is the spec engine management system for these potent, purpose-built rallycross machines. In addition to engine control, the cars will use the Infinity’s data logging capabillity and AEMdata, and the Infinity’s on-board wideband air/fuel control.
The official release from Global Rallycross states that: ‘The GRC Lites series will campaign alongside the GRC SuperCar championship in its five American races. The 300-horsepower, spec cars are built by Olsbergs MSE, which has won the past two SuperCar championships with driver Tanner Foust, and are ordered directly from the team. Races will follow a similar format to the SuperCar events, with a 60-minute free practice session, 30-minute qualifying session, a number of heat races dependent on the entry list, last chance qualifier, and final. There will be two driver classifications—the overall standings, and the GRC SuperCar Lites Rookie Cup, for drivers who have yet to complete a full schedule of racing. Both will feature separate points and money distributions, while Rookie Cup drivers are eligible for both classifications.’
Praise of the vehicles was universal from all of the racers who came out to test them, which is a testament to the thorough vehicle development and build by the Olsberg’s team and also the hard work by AEM Electronics in tuning the new vehicles. Read what Jonathan Summerton and other popular racers had to say.
Leading Motorsports and technical information resource MotoIQ.com was on hand during the test session and provided an in-depth look at the Supercar Lites on its website.
An in car view of the Supercar Lites test from driver Mike Bonanni.
Stay tuned for more information on this exciting new class of Global Rallycross!
2013 Pikes Peak Two-Car Program Focuses on both Unlimited And Time Attack 2WD Classes–Millen to Defend World Record in the Unlimited Class with All-new Dedicated Rear-drive Racer
Hyundai today announced its renewed partnership with Rhys Millen Racing (RMR) to defend its 2012 world record in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC). This years’ race to the internationally-renowned summit is planned for June 30. This year, Hyundai will expand its presence at Pikes Peak with a two-car effort, with Millen piloting a new, purpose-built unlimited class rear-drive racecar joined by the production-based Genesis Coupe that set last years’ all-time record to the peak (9:46.164) using an AEM Series 2 programmable engine management system.
RMR’s 2012 World-Record setting Hyundai Genesis in car video with data overlay using AEMdata software from the logs in the Series 2 EMS. On screen data was made using Dashware software.
For 2013’s effort, Millen will produce and drive an all-new, ultra-lightweight, purpose-built racecar using major powertrain components from Hyundai’s production-based Lambda engine family. This powertrain is expected to produce over 900 h.p. and 800 ft. lbs. of torque, while still making significant use of production components including the block, cylinder heads, bearings and engine accessories. The racecar chassis will be enveloped by a Genesis Coupe-like silhouette to compete in the unlimited class. This no-holds-barred racer will be accompanied by last years’ world-record-setting, production-based Genesis Coupe in the Time Attack 2WD class. The driver of the Genesis Coupe will be announced at a later date. RMR is a truly unique racing firm, one of the very few which successfully conceptualizes, fabricates, tests, tunes, and most importantly, drives its vehicles in motorsports competition. In fact, the world-record-setting Genesis Coupe is the exact same production-based coupe that Millen successfully drifted in the Formula Drift competitive series, a testament to both the extreme durability of Hyundai engineering as well as the tuning versatility of the RMR team.
The Professional Awesome Time Attack team of Dan O’Donnell, Mike Lewin and Grant Davis extended their win streak to 10 in a row in their AEM Series-2 EMS and Inline Wideband Air Fuel Controller equipped Mitsubishi Evo in the Limited Class at the Global Time Attack Super Lap Battle on November 7th at Buttonwillow Raceway.
This was the team’s first attempt in the Limited Class, and they defeated the previous record holder in competition.
Pictured from left to right: Mike Lewin, Dan O’Donnell and Grant Davis.
Congratulations to the Professional Awesome Racing team for an incredible season and excellent representation. We look forward to another successful year in 2013.
Read more on the event on MotoIQ.com. Find out more about Global Time Attack on their website.
