NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb Team Breaks Record at Continental Divide Hill Climb

We had a relatively fun and successful time at Monarch. Relatively meaning it was not racing evil reincarnated as much of our season has been. We broke the record for the Rally AWD class (whoohoo! we were hauling), but we also had some bad luck and ended up making a 6 hour round trip to Denver and back to Monarch to retrieve some parts.

The hillclimb in Monarch is pretty bad a**. It’s one of the roads that remind you exactly why you love to hillclimb. The road is just east of the Monarch Ski Resort on Highway 50. We haven’t been there in 2 years, we’ve only been there once and it was in the GTX. While not particularly technical, nor are the drop offs as crazy as most we deal with, the course is unique and challenging in its own right - completely lined with trees and steep as sh*t. Skill and patience are imperative to be successful here. There are lots of hairpins and setting up properly to plow out of them is crucial because if you don’t get your set up right, you have to recover in the midst of 8-10% grade … lots of time to be lost on this course.

We obviously had the clutch replaced since Pikes Peak, but we’re still running on the stock motor. A bitter pill to swallow since we were at a very steep hillclimb and man would that extra power have come in handy, but c’ est la vie. We skipped the first run on practice day. The road was wicked silty; a very, very fine powder like coating covered the surface of the course. We thought we’d let the road get “cleaned up” a bit by our fellow racers run 1. Plus, Dave was headed straight to Cali after the race to lend our Evo to Andrew Comrie-Picard as a back-up for X-Games competition. We were trying to keep her fairly clean.

Our first run was abysmal. Handling was dreadful. We came back to the pits and jacked the back end up. The passenger side rear tire could be shifted about ½ inch in all directions – clearly the problem. We got it tightened up and headed back up for our second run. The Evo was back to her aggressive self, we had a great run and broke the Rally AWD record on just our second time up the course with a 2:07.57, beating the old record by 4 seconds. That time was enough to take Overall Fast Qualifier of the day as well. On our third run, we took a short but tight right-hander a little too tight and banged up that same passenger rear wheel that had given us trouble earlier in the morning. Though we sped out of the corner pretty good we quickly realized something was wrong and pulled off. Got the car back down to the pits and back up on the jack to discover shock oil splattering the wheel well. Dave took the wheel off and confirmed we busted an Ohlins and also the upper control arm.

 
Since we’re becoming quite accustomed to torture this season, we didn’t spend much time contemplating the drive back to Denver for our stock suspension before we were in the car heading for home. It was about a 6 hour round trip with a very brief stop at the house to grab the parts.  NOS Energy Drink Grape FTW!

 
We arrived back at Monarch too late to start work on the car – we were exhausted. We got up early Sunday morning and started plugging away. Parts replacement went fairly smoothly and we made it on time for our first run, albeit with OEM rear suspension on the car. We got a 2:09 on the first run. We were ok with that … getting into the groove with the new parts and making sure everything was kosher before we pushed hard. We were well positioned to win it having set the fastest time the day before. I need to preface telling you about the second run with a reminder of what happened at Pikes Peak. The clutch went out on us so we were forced to RPM match shift between 2nd and 3rd for about half the run (roughly 6 miles). This inevitably put wear and tear on the syncros in the gear box, but the transmission had been fine up until … our second run at Monarch. Coming out of a hairpin Dave went to put it in second and nuthin’ – he was locked out. Back into first gear, and then into second and we were ok again. But believe me you – races are absolutely won and lost by the few seconds something like that costs you and that’s exactly what happened. We got to the top with a 2:10. Not a bad time – but we were beat by a 2:05 and of course disappointed we didn’t better our qualifying time of a 2:07. We came in third overall. The only folks to beat us were and open wheeler and a champ car, so we continue to be pleased with the fact we can hang with those guys at all considering the power to weight ratio. Plus, happy to be racing period since we had the shock / control arm issue the day before.

We would like to thank our 2010 sponsors for their support!

• 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

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

NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb Team Captures 1st at Season Opener

The Temple Canyon Hill Climb is the first stop on the Colorado Hill Climb Association calendar, held in in Canon City, CO.  We've yet to take home a class win at this event, missing out on the win last year by a mere 0.04 seconds.  Based on a few changes made to the NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb Evo prior to PPIHC last year, we knew it would be capable of running at the front once again.

The first race of the season always presents unique challenges, and 2010 was to be no exception.  The install and fabrication work for some new “goodies” on the Evo got wrapped up Thursday evening.  Dave headed out to CORE (our local testing facility) early Friday morning for a shakedown before we headed off for some racing. A few good laps proved that the improvements made in the off season were well worth it, but suddenly the clutch pedal stopped working and the car was loaded back on the trailer via the “ratchet strap of shame” method.

Once the culprit was discovered we contacted AMS Performance – our go-to guys for all things Evo.  They quickly gathered the necessary parts to repair the car and over-nighted them from Chicago. Saturday (which under normal circumstances would be a practice day down in Canon City) the parts were installed, car put back together and we were off to CORE for another, hopefully uneventful, shakedown. We made a few handling adjustments out at CORE, but otherwise she was ready for competition. We mounted some fresh tires and headed home.

Sunday morning (Race Day) we got up at about 5am to head down to Canon City. Our best time last year was a 3:19. On our first run, with no practice, we ran a 3:23, securing 2nd place. Our goal for 2nd and final run was to try to beat last year’s time. We blasted up the hill to a 3:16.22, 3/100ths short of the Rally AWD record! Bummer to be so close to that record and not grab it, but that 3:16 was enough to take first place in the Rally AWD class, making the weekend’s drama well worth it.  Check out the video of the NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb car’s winning run:

Our next race is CORE out in Deer Trail June 5th and 6th, just an hour East of Downtown Denver. We won overall last time we were at CORE and we’re looking forward to defending.  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

The 2010 Kern Racing Team is made possible by the support of our sponsors:

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

Introduction to the NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb Team

With the snow finally melting and racing season just getting started here in Colorado, I thought I’d take a minute to introduce everyone to the 2010 NOS Energy Drink Hill Climb team.  My name is Dave and with my wife Allison in the navvie seat, we compete in hill climb racing throughout Colorado in our Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution rally car.  We run events with the Colorado Hill Climb Association and the famed Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

One great thing about the groups we race with is that they don’t require us to run restrictors like normal rally cars, so rather than being limited to 300hp, the sky’s the limit.  For those of you who are hardcore rally fans, think back to the 1980s and days where the unlimited Group B cars ruled the rally world.  Now add in modern technology, from tires to electronic differentials, and you’ll get the idea.

Our main event of the season is the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC).  It’s the second oldest motor sports race in America.  First competed in 1916, this year marks the 88th running of the race.  The course is 12.42 miles with 156 turns.  It begins at 9,390 feet and finishes at the 14,110 foot summit of Pikes Peak.  There are hair pins galore, treacherous drop offs, and guardrails are few and far between.  As we race to the summit the thin air slows reflexes and saps muscle strength and it also robs engines of 30% of their power.  Mix in high altitude weather conditions, like sunshine, rain, sleet, hail, and even snow in under 15 minutes, and you can see how the odds are stacked against you from the start.  Competitors and vehicles must be in top shape simply to reach the summit, let alone win.

As with many extreme sports, the adrenaline rush keeps you coming back for more.  Taking a checkered flag at the top of a 14,000 foot mountain after a week of trials and tribulations is just plain exhilarating.  We’re back for our 4th run up the mountain this year.  We hold the record in the Time Attack AWD division with a time of 11:48.434, and will be attempting to set a new mark this year.

Race Day is June 27th in Colorado Springs, CO.  If you live in the area, it’s not to be missed.  Even if you don’t, this is a motorsports event that every enthusiast should have on their bucket list.

Our next race is CORE out in Deer Trail June 5th and 6th, just an hour East of Downtown Denver. We won overall last time we were at CORE and we’re looking forward to defending.  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

The 2010 Kern Racing Team is made possible by the support of our sponsors:

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

NOS Hillclimb team keeping busy in Denver

A few weeks ago we were in Grand Junction Colorado for the Land's End Hill Climb.  The event was a bit of a mixed bag for the team, we came away with a win, but on our last run of the weekend, I overcooked a braking zone and went off the road, resulting in a bit of front-end damage.  On Friday afternoon I finally got a chance to pull the car apart to survey the damage.
 

Great SEMA News Article on TEAM NOS

Team NOS also includes Formula Drift pilot Chris Forsberg, and rally driver Andrew Comrie-Picard. Even the popular Chicago-area Mitsubishi tuning shop AMS receives project support from NOS Energy Drink. The AMS crew intends to build a record-breaking Evolution IX for the Bonneville Salt Flats. The consistent thread through all of the brand’s sponsorships, says Marketing and Lifestyle Manager Ernie Manasala, is a commitment to the brand’s core value: maximum performance.

click though for more .. 

The New DRINKNOS.com and Why You Should Care

drinkNOS.com Visitors,

Chances are that this is the first time you've seen drinkNOS.com and you've been driven here by either curiosity, promotion, or ad campaign we've had.  If you're not new to drinkNOS.com, this is definitely the first time you've seen the new drinkNOS.com.  Either way, we're extremely excited to bring you the latest and greatest in the world of NOS and the automotive world. 

More after the jump.

Back to Back Wins! AMS and ACP Kill It This Weekend!

Andrew (ACP) did it he never fails to amaze me! He took home a 3rd place finish at the Lucas Oil Off Road Race this weekend! Why is this amazing ? Because this it the first time he has ever done this !

AMS NOS Energy Drink Time Attack EVO X wins Redline Time Attack Nashville!!! 1st in Unlimited AWD & Grand Champion!

Speedhunters Coverage of the 2009 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

Linhbergh from Speedhunters joined us last Sunday at the 2009 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb to cover the event and also to shoot our hill climb evo driven by David & Allison Kern. coming soon! 

PIKES PEAK HILL CLIMB HIGHLIGHTS