NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb Team 2010 Pikes Peak Adventure

If you're going through hell, keep going. ~Winston Churchill

Where to begin? So many things happened this year at Pikes Peak. We were at tech about a week ago today, yet it feels like an eternity ago. But, I suppose technical inspection is as good a place to start as any.

Dave had arrived back from Chicago with a new engine, new rear diff and reinstalled wiring harness - all things that had been summarily destroyed in the unplanned CORE Evo BBQ (i.e. piston through the block resulting in fireball). We arrived for tech in Colorado Springs just in time. Passed with flying colors and headed in to the driver’s meeting. Excitement about the record breaking was already abuzz, particularly since another few miles of the road had been paved (from Boulder Park up to the summit); effectively resulting in a faster course.

Wednesday began the tireless practice schedule of getting up at 2:30 am to head up the hill. We got 2 runs in the middle section before the timing belt broke. Car went straight from the mountain to SCR Performance for a cylinder head replacement. It was an all-nighter and the crew then scurried from Loveland straight to Devil’s Playground for practice day 2. Just one run on practice day 2 … and low oil pressure reared its ugly head. Car went straight from the mountain to Tobz Performance for another all-nighter to, sadly, put the stock motor back in. We missed practice on Friday because we simply couldn’t get the new engine in place and onto the dyno for a new tune in time to make it. Hopes were raised a bit as Martin, Tobz & Mitch had their way with the Evo on the dyno. Horsepower was high and turbo lag wasn’t too bad with the stock Mitsu engine and Forced Performance turbo.

We headed up the mountain on Sunday morning still reeling. With one problem after another and things not going particularly smooth for us at any point this year, we were partially thinking “what next?” and partially thinking “who cares what’s next, it’s a miracle we’re taking the start line”. The green flag waved and we were off. Things were going exceedingly well, Dave was in the zone. We screamed through Picnic Grounds, we floated through 11 Mile, we were coming up on the Ski Area.

This video says it all and so I’ll let it do the talking ... Go to 3:31 on the timer … we come around this tight right corner at the Ski Area quite aggressively and fast (a testament to the run up until that point I’m pleased to say) and then right as we pass the videographer you can hear the clutch go (… hear poor little Evo shudder as Dave tries to shift).

We stumbled and lost a lot of time immediately after; contemplating what we should do. Proper use of the car’s gearing and power is what allows you to pull out of the power-slide on dirt. Should we continue on, sliding through corners knowing we might slide right off the mountain without the ability to get the car into its powerband to pull out of a slide if we need it? As we discussed it (literally – still hauling up the Peak and taking corners we contemplated our fate between my navvie calls) we remained in 3rd until we came to a quite steep hairpin. The car nearly stalled, Dave shoved it into 2nd and we creeped out of the hairpin. This gave us a little hope. If we can RPM-match shift between 2nd and 3rd we may just be able to pilot it up to the summit. Dave started to get the hang of driving under the conditions we were faced with. And, call me twisted and addicted to a nice shot of adrenaline, but it was actually, well, kind of fun. We’d whip around a hairpin and the car would bog down terribly while we waited for the turbo to spool, but when it did, that feeling of g-force slamming you back into your seat was a thing of joy – life worth living. It only lasted about 4 seconds before the pinging of the rev limiter like nails on a chalkboard, but I giggled almost every time that turbo kicked in. After a week of awful thrashing, you’ve got to take solace in the little things. :)

We ended up in third place with a 12:55. While not a terrible time in the grand scheme of things, pretty dismal compared to what we were hoping for and what the car, running optimally, is capable of. Our Time Attack record still stands at an 11:48. As usual - no boost, no clutch, no whatever - Dave drove the piss out of that Evo and I’m a proud navvie/wife. Live and learn, make it faster next time. Yet again, though I wanted to curl up in a ball and forget this ever happened a few days ago, I find myself planning for and excited about next year already. We want our shot at the mountain again…

We would like to thank our 2010 sponsors for their support, both in helping us in getting to the race, and in keeping us there! Special thanks to the guys from AMS Performance for coming out to lend a hand and to Aaron Searle for his awesome dedication throughout the week.

• NOS Energy Drink
• AMS Performance
• Built-by-Bones & SCR Performance
• CBRD Speedfactory
• Forced Performance Turbochargers
• Shepherd Transmissions
• Tobz Performance
• TiAL Sport

Be sure to become a fan of Kern Racing on Facebook by clicking the link and we'll keep you updated on the latest news about the NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb team.  We've got lots of pictures and videos of the Evo in action for you to check out too!

Dave & Allison

ThunderDrift: Nor-Cal Formula Drift ProAm Round 2

 

  Round 2 of the ThunderDrift Championship Series was a truly epic battle between some of Nor-Cal's best drifters.  The course was incredibly fast and challenging which put a serious amount of pressure on the drivers to minimize their mistakes.

  This was the largest turnout of the season and drivers even showed up from out of state to compete with Northern California's finest.  There were V8 powered imports, turbo charged 240's, and of course AE86 Corollas.

   Shout out to our boy Geoff from Lab17 as he throws back a cold one!

  During qualifying, the drivers were laying down the law and we saw who looked most promising for the tandem battle ahead.  One of the drivers that qualified in the top 8, Jared Thompson, experienced a mechanical failure with his waste gate breaking off of the manifold under the hood.  The remainder of the top 8 were: Andy Gillespie, Luke Lonberger, Ryan Kado, Scott Sherod, Julian Jacobs, Al Pulido, and Matt Madrigaldi.

  The winners of the event were some familiar faces in the Nor-Cal drifting scene: Ryan Kado, Andy Gillespie, and Luke Lonberger.  Shots provided by Mike Tseng Photography at the winner's podium.     

    Come out this Wednesday, June 30th for Round 3: The Smell of Fear, where the NOS Team will be out in full force to support Nor-Cal's finest drifters.  For more information visit www.thunderdrift.com.

Formula Drift TV fueled by NOS and fair fun w/ The Forsbergs...

If you didn't know, now you will know...

Formula Drift the TV show is voiced over by myself and Ryan Sage co-founder of Formula Drift, Sorry to expose the man behind the curtain but that's what's up...

So I headed out to LA to rendezvous with Ryan Sage in LA and while there I got to catch up with my friend and NOS Energy Drink sponsored Formula Drift driver Chris Forsberg...

Mic, Me and NOS...

 

The Essentials... protected by INCIPIO Blackberry, iPhones, Macbook and of course NOS

While out in LA I had some work to do in Orange County at Barrett Jackson...

Chris and his wife Mich came out, it was at Orange County Fair so they cracked open all the vendors, it was how they say "ON!!!!!"

DEAL WITH IT! Funnel cake!

NOS and I need to build a "SLED" replace the LV top and interior with a blue canvas top and we're in biz with this sled...

I love wagons so maybe we can rock a wagon....

That's a wrap! Thanks Formula Drift, the Official Energy Drink of Formula Drift....

Another NOS Fueled Victory!

Back to victory lane in the Nationwide Series! A great car and great pit stops = Victory number 6 on the year on the Nationwide side. It's also nice to become the all time lap leader in the series, beating any record that Mark Martin has held is an accomplishment.

Looking forward to getting to Daytona, I hear the new NOS Loaded Cherry Toyota is looking good, I think it's going to look even better if we can get it to Victory Lane! Hope to see everyone there.

More From E3! The Start of the Competition!

"What's in this?" 

"Oh nothing more than High Performance Energy, Enhanced Mental Focus, and a NOSome Loaded Cherry Flavor"

More pics after the jump.

Kyle Busch - Video Interview

Did an interview with a reporter about getting into racing and why I race as much as what I do. My web guy put together this little clip of it. Check it out. And make sure to watch me run the new NOS Loaded Cherry No 18 at Daytona next Friday night!

NOS Launches Loaded Cherry at E3

New NOS Flavor?  Check.  New Games To See?  Check.  A Chris Forsberg NOS 370z to give away in a Need For Speed race while passing out over 25,000 cans to the who's who in video games?  Check and check.

Crazy thing is the girl above wasn't with us, but her outfit matched our new can perfectly!  More after the jump.

Back to Victory Lane in the NOS #51

  I finally got a chance to get back in the #51 NOS Energy Drink late model car on Wednesday night at Berlin Raceway. It's always good to spend some time with my late model team. The KBM SLM crew brought me a great car, it was fast right off the truck. We ran in the top 3 during both practices on Tuesday and got the pole, but started 3rd after the invert.

 

The race was broken up into two segments of 125 laps and 126 laps. The first segment we got a bit loose and finished second to Chase Elliott, the break gave the guy's time to adjust on the car, and that really helped.

I had a great time racing with Chase and Ross Kenseth, they were really fast all night. However, in the end the NOS Energy Drink Toyota was too much for them, and we got it to Victory Lane.

In California now for the Cup race, ready to get on track. I look forward to challenging the road course out here in Sonoma, and hopefully picking up another win!

Photos courtesy of Tom De Vette

Break.com Video Shoot at Irwindale

Yesterday we had the chance to go out to Irwindale Speedway to film with the Bro Show. The Bro Show is a series of webisodes that is hosted by Break.com. It was a ton of fun, and I got to showcase drifting to a few new fans, and hopefully thousands more to follow when the video gets released on their website!

Click Here to see some pics from the guys over at Wrecked Magazine that came out to shoot a little behind the scenes…

 

Featured: Jtune Performance

This is DETO's very first performance shop feature. As you follow DETO, we will do our best to bring you tuning culture in it's rawest form while trying to inform and entertain. With that said, welcome to Jtune Performance, located right in Wilmington, Delaware. Jtune is a one-stop shop for every grade of the racing enthusiast.

Jtune specializes in everything from dyno tuning your daily driver to building fire-breathing beasts. Here, Hok the owner, shows us where they do all of their custom fabrication and machining.

Jtune are able and ready to tune any make or model, but their specialty are Nissan and Infinities. While I was there, Jtune was currently tuning a Nissan from every level of the spectrum...

10 second Z anyone?

Here's a 700hp Z that is a repeat customer with Jtune. Hok says that the owner of the Z won't stop until the car is in the 9's. He enjoys the sheer bliss of walking Z06's all day :) And with that said, Hok made a good point. After dropping 10-20k on your dream car, why would you take it to the local lube station just so the high school kid working there can strip the nut right off your oil pan? Regular maintenance is part of the package at Jtune.

EVO tails on a Prelude, this one had me confused at first..

Ahh,...an RB with a Tomei head+Cosworth block=match made in heaven.

There's Mike working on a secrete project for a customer of theirs.

Here you are looking at a Nissan SR20 in a FF application. Yes, you read that right. You'd normally find this motor in a 240(or in Japan in the Sunny or Pulsar), but it's being installed in a Sentra. This customer has something special to show up all his Honda friends...I kinda feel bad, they'll never see it coming... :)

Mike(Jtune) and Tyrone(DETO) comparing pros and cons of Nissans and Hondas.

Here's a pic of Niki being caught off guard...

So far I showed you where Jtune resides and what they do. Hok invited me to follow them over to Wall Twp, NJ for round 3 of Formula D so I could show you Jtune in action. The car you see is the V-LEDS drift car from Washington state being drifted by the young and talented Dean Kearney. As you can see below, I had to maneuver around the Jtune staff as they quickly prepped the car in between practice sessions.

It took all day, but i finally caught up with Dean. Dean is from Ireland and went pro at 16 making a name for himself as a fierce competitor in the Prodrift Super Series, he's now 21 and is determined to take the title here in the states.

 

All in together here is the Jtune staff. Starting top left and going clock-wise is Mike, Hok, Niki and Nuri.

As you can imagine, there are plenty of performance shops here in the tri-state that I could have done a feature on. I picked Jtune for many reasons. These guys are passionate about what they do, they literally live and breath it from the sheer knowledge they exude to holding their very own track day at Englishtown Raceway. They are the most down-to-earth group while being on top of their game at what they do. Do yourself a favor and pay these guys a visit at:

JTune Performance 420 Century Blvd. Wilmington, De. 19808

NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb Team 2010 Pikes Peak Adventure

If you're going through hell, keep going. ~Winston Churchill

Where to begin? So many things happened this year at Pikes Peak. We were at tech about a week ago today, yet it feels like an eternity ago. But, I suppose technical inspection is as good a place to start as any.

Dave had arrived back from Chicago with a new engine, new rear diff and reinstalled wiring harness - all things that had been summarily destroyed in the unplanned CORE Evo BBQ (i.e. piston through the block resulting in fireball). We arrived for tech in Colorado Springs just in time. Passed with flying colors and headed in to the driver’s meeting. Excitement about the record breaking was already abuzz, particularly since another few miles of the road had been paved (from Boulder Park up to the summit); effectively resulting in a faster course.

Wednesday began the tireless practice schedule of getting up at 2:30 am to head up the hill. We got 2 runs in the middle section before the timing belt broke. Car went straight from the mountain to SCR Performance for a cylinder head replacement. It was an all-nighter and the crew then scurried from Loveland straight to Devil’s Playground for practice day 2. Just one run on practice day 2 … and low oil pressure reared its ugly head. Car went straight from the mountain to Tobz Performance for another all-nighter to, sadly, put the stock motor back in. We missed practice on Friday because we simply couldn’t get the new engine in place and onto the dyno for a new tune in time to make it. Hopes were raised a bit as Martin, Tobz & Mitch had their way with the Evo on the dyno. Horsepower was high and turbo lag wasn’t too bad with the stock Mitsu engine and Forced Performance turbo.

We headed up the mountain on Sunday morning still reeling. With one problem after another and things not going particularly smooth for us at any point this year, we were partially thinking “what next?” and partially thinking “who cares what’s next, it’s a miracle we’re taking the start line”. The green flag waved and we were off. Things were going exceedingly well, Dave was in the zone. We screamed through Picnic Grounds, we floated through 11 Mile, we were coming up on the Ski Area.

This video says it all and so I’ll let it do the talking ... Go to 3:31 on the timer … we come around this tight right corner at the Ski Area quite aggressively and fast (a testament to the run up until that point I’m pleased to say) and then right as we pass the videographer you can hear the clutch go (… hear poor little Evo shudder as Dave tries to shift).

We stumbled and lost a lot of time immediately after; contemplating what we should do. Proper use of the car’s gearing and power is what allows you to pull out of the power-slide on dirt. Should we continue on, sliding through corners knowing we might slide right off the mountain without the ability to get the car into its powerband to pull out of a slide if we need it? As we discussed it (literally – still hauling up the Peak and taking corners we contemplated our fate between my navvie calls) we remained in 3rd until we came to a quite steep hairpin. The car nearly stalled, Dave shoved it into 2nd and we creeped out of the hairpin. This gave us a little hope. If we can RPM-match shift between 2nd and 3rd we may just be able to pilot it up to the summit. Dave started to get the hang of driving under the conditions we were faced with. And, call me twisted and addicted to a nice shot of adrenaline, but it was actually, well, kind of fun. We’d whip around a hairpin and the car would bog down terribly while we waited for the turbo to spool, but when it did, that feeling of g-force slamming you back into your seat was a thing of joy – life worth living. It only lasted about 4 seconds before the pinging of the rev limiter like nails on a chalkboard, but I giggled almost every time that turbo kicked in. After a week of awful thrashing, you’ve got to take solace in the little things. :)

We ended up in third place with a 12:55. While not a terrible time in the grand scheme of things, pretty dismal compared to what we were hoping for and what the car, running optimally, is capable of. Our Time Attack record still stands at an 11:48. As usual - no boost, no clutch, no whatever - Dave drove the piss out of that Evo and I’m a proud navvie/wife. Live and learn, make it faster next time. Yet again, though I wanted to curl up in a ball and forget this ever happened a few days ago, I find myself planning for and excited about next year already. We want our shot at the mountain again…

We would like to thank our 2010 sponsors for their support, both in helping us in getting to the race, and in keeping us there! Special thanks to the guys from AMS Performance for coming out to lend a hand and to Aaron Searle for his awesome dedication throughout the week.

• NOS Energy Drink
• AMS Performance
• Built-by-Bones & SCR Performance
• CBRD Speedfactory
• Forced Performance Turbochargers
• Shepherd Transmissions
• Tobz Performance
• TiAL Sport

Be sure to become a fan of Kern Racing on Facebook by clicking the link and we'll keep you updated on the latest news about the NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb team.  We've got lots of pictures and videos of the Evo in action for you to check out too!

Dave & Allison

ThunderDrift: Nor-Cal Formula Drift ProAm Round 2

 

  Round 2 of the ThunderDrift Championship Series was a truly epic battle between some of Nor-Cal's best drifters.  The course was incredibly fast and challenging which put a serious amount of pressure on the drivers to minimize their mistakes.

  This was the largest turnout of the season and drivers even showed up from out of state to compete with Northern California's finest.  There were V8 powered imports, turbo charged 240's, and of course AE86 Corollas.

   Shout out to our boy Geoff from Lab17 as he throws back a cold one!

  During qualifying, the drivers were laying down the law and we saw who looked most promising for the tandem battle ahead.  One of the drivers that qualified in the top 8, Jared Thompson, experienced a mechanical failure with his waste gate breaking off of the manifold under the hood.  The remainder of the top 8 were: Andy Gillespie, Luke Lonberger, Ryan Kado, Scott Sherod, Julian Jacobs, Al Pulido, and Matt Madrigaldi.

  The winners of the event were some familiar faces in the Nor-Cal drifting scene: Ryan Kado, Andy Gillespie, and Luke Lonberger.  Shots provided by Mike Tseng Photography at the winner's podium.     

    Come out this Wednesday, June 30th for Round 3: The Smell of Fear, where the NOS Team will be out in full force to support Nor-Cal's finest drifters.  For more information visit www.thunderdrift.com.

Formula Drift TV fueled by NOS and fair fun w/ The Forsbergs...

If you didn't know, now you will know...

Formula Drift the TV show is voiced over by myself and Ryan Sage co-founder of Formula Drift, Sorry to expose the man behind the curtain but that's what's up...

So I headed out to LA to rendezvous with Ryan Sage in LA and while there I got to catch up with my friend and NOS Energy Drink sponsored Formula Drift driver Chris Forsberg...

Mic, Me and NOS...

 

The Essentials... protected by INCIPIO Blackberry, iPhones, Macbook and of course NOS

While out in LA I had some work to do in Orange County at Barrett Jackson...

Chris and his wife Mich came out, it was at Orange County Fair so they cracked open all the vendors, it was how they say "ON!!!!!"

DEAL WITH IT! Funnel cake!

NOS and I need to build a "SLED" replace the LV top and interior with a blue canvas top and we're in biz with this sled...

I love wagons so maybe we can rock a wagon....

That's a wrap! Thanks Formula Drift, the Official Energy Drink of Formula Drift....

Another NOS Fueled Victory!

Back to victory lane in the Nationwide Series! A great car and great pit stops = Victory number 6 on the year on the Nationwide side. It's also nice to become the all time lap leader in the series, beating any record that Mark Martin has held is an accomplishment.

Looking forward to getting to Daytona, I hear the new NOS Loaded Cherry Toyota is looking good, I think it's going to look even better if we can get it to Victory Lane! Hope to see everyone there.

More From E3! The Start of the Competition!

"What's in this?" 

"Oh nothing more than High Performance Energy, Enhanced Mental Focus, and a NOSome Loaded Cherry Flavor"

More pics after the jump.

Kyle Busch - Video Interview

Did an interview with a reporter about getting into racing and why I race as much as what I do. My web guy put together this little clip of it. Check it out. And make sure to watch me run the new NOS Loaded Cherry No 18 at Daytona next Friday night!

NOS Launches Loaded Cherry at E3

New NOS Flavor?  Check.  New Games To See?  Check.  A Chris Forsberg NOS 370z to give away in a Need For Speed race while passing out over 25,000 cans to the who's who in video games?  Check and check.

Crazy thing is the girl above wasn't with us, but her outfit matched our new can perfectly!  More after the jump.

Back to Victory Lane in the NOS #51

  I finally got a chance to get back in the #51 NOS Energy Drink late model car on Wednesday night at Berlin Raceway. It's always good to spend some time with my late model team. The KBM SLM crew brought me a great car, it was fast right off the truck. We ran in the top 3 during both practices on Tuesday and got the pole, but started 3rd after the invert.

 

The race was broken up into two segments of 125 laps and 126 laps. The first segment we got a bit loose and finished second to Chase Elliott, the break gave the guy's time to adjust on the car, and that really helped.

I had a great time racing with Chase and Ross Kenseth, they were really fast all night. However, in the end the NOS Energy Drink Toyota was too much for them, and we got it to Victory Lane.

In California now for the Cup race, ready to get on track. I look forward to challenging the road course out here in Sonoma, and hopefully picking up another win!

Photos courtesy of Tom De Vette

Break.com Video Shoot at Irwindale

Yesterday we had the chance to go out to Irwindale Speedway to film with the Bro Show. The Bro Show is a series of webisodes that is hosted by Break.com. It was a ton of fun, and I got to showcase drifting to a few new fans, and hopefully thousands more to follow when the video gets released on their website!

Click Here to see some pics from the guys over at Wrecked Magazine that came out to shoot a little behind the scenes…

 

Featured: Jtune Performance

This is DETO's very first performance shop feature. As you follow DETO, we will do our best to bring you tuning culture in it's rawest form while trying to inform and entertain. With that said, welcome to Jtune Performance, located right in Wilmington, Delaware. Jtune is a one-stop shop for every grade of the racing enthusiast.

Jtune specializes in everything from dyno tuning your daily driver to building fire-breathing beasts. Here, Hok the owner, shows us where they do all of their custom fabrication and machining.

Jtune are able and ready to tune any make or model, but their specialty are Nissan and Infinities. While I was there, Jtune was currently tuning a Nissan from every level of the spectrum...

10 second Z anyone?

Here's a 700hp Z that is a repeat customer with Jtune. Hok says that the owner of the Z won't stop until the car is in the 9's. He enjoys the sheer bliss of walking Z06's all day :) And with that said, Hok made a good point. After dropping 10-20k on your dream car, why would you take it to the local lube station just so the high school kid working there can strip the nut right off your oil pan? Regular maintenance is part of the package at Jtune.

EVO tails on a Prelude, this one had me confused at first..

Ahh,...an RB with a Tomei head+Cosworth block=match made in heaven.

There's Mike working on a secrete project for a customer of theirs.

Here you are looking at a Nissan SR20 in a FF application. Yes, you read that right. You'd normally find this motor in a 240(or in Japan in the Sunny or Pulsar), but it's being installed in a Sentra. This customer has something special to show up all his Honda friends...I kinda feel bad, they'll never see it coming... :)

Mike(Jtune) and Tyrone(DETO) comparing pros and cons of Nissans and Hondas.

Here's a pic of Niki being caught off guard...

So far I showed you where Jtune resides and what they do. Hok invited me to follow them over to Wall Twp, NJ for round 3 of Formula D so I could show you Jtune in action. The car you see is the V-LEDS drift car from Washington state being drifted by the young and talented Dean Kearney. As you can see below, I had to maneuver around the Jtune staff as they quickly prepped the car in between practice sessions.

It took all day, but i finally caught up with Dean. Dean is from Ireland and went pro at 16 making a name for himself as a fierce competitor in the Prodrift Super Series, he's now 21 and is determined to take the title here in the states.

 

All in together here is the Jtune staff. Starting top left and going clock-wise is Mike, Hok, Niki and Nuri.

As you can imagine, there are plenty of performance shops here in the tri-state that I could have done a feature on. I picked Jtune for many reasons. These guys are passionate about what they do, they literally live and breath it from the sheer knowledge they exude to holding their very own track day at Englishtown Raceway. They are the most down-to-earth group while being on top of their game at what they do. Do yourself a favor and pay these guys a visit at:

JTune Performance 420 Century Blvd. Wilmington, De. 19808