Formula Drift Round One: Streets of Long Beach

Formula Drift Round One: Streets of Long Beach

Posted on by Konig Wheels

April 5th, 2014 – Formula Drift: Round 1 – “Streets of Long Beach”

Dennis Mertzanis made his re-entry back into the professional drift series, Formula Drift – with his revamped Hyundai Genesis Coupe.

1,000 horsepower is generated from a built CBM engine, with a Vortech Supercharger. This beast sits on Konig Milligrams, wrapped in Kenda Tires, and they spin furiously in every gear.

Mertzanis totes that the practice round was good. Having a solid car, ehem, beast of a racecar for Formula Drift will prove some adjusting, but as the session continued his runs improved.

During the event, the Genesis Coupe made a transition into a wall, which sent the bumper flying off of the car, but this wasn’t a show-stopper.

Dennis qualified 24th in 2 runs with an equal scoring of 70. In the Top 32, Dennis was alluded by Chelsea DeNofa after an engine stall / restart episode.

Shortly after, DeNofa broke an axle and called it quits. Mertzanis had some repairs of his own to make, which with some quick help – got him back on to the blacktop.

Dennis Mertzanis ended up making it into the Top 16, and will move on to Round 2 Atlanta.

You can follow news about Dennis Mertzanis’ 2014 season right here on the Konig Blog as well as visiting Dennis’ Blog over at Wrecked Magazine.

Check out the video and photography and video right below.

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Wrecked Gallery: Formula Drift (Round 5)

Posted on by Konig Wheels

KÖNIG Wheels sponsors the Wrecked Magazine Formula Drift Main Event Gallery. After every round, some great event coverage is collected into a gallery on Wrecked Magazine. Check out all the scenes from Formula Drift Round 5 Right Here and check out some of the clips after the break of Dennis Mertzanis after, who made the Top 16 in Round 5 at Evergreen Speedway.

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Mertzanis’ Genesis Spotted at 2013 Formula Drift (Tech Day)

Posted on by Konig Wheels

Dennis Mertzanis and his brand new Hyundai Genesis Coupe have made their debut at the 2013 Formula Drift tech day this last weekend.  He has been testing rigoriously at Buttonwillow raceway to dial in the car in time  for the season opener.  The streets of long beach is about to turn in record ticket sales for the 2013 season starting in Long Beach April 12-13.  The new setup has gobs of power with an already potent 3.8L v6 under the hood; that was just not enough to break the tires at 80mph.  A Brian Crower 4.0L stroker kit was exactly what the car needed, oh and the addition of a large turbocharger the car will easily blow the tires off at well over 100mph. The car is now putting out a wopping 600hp and 540ft/tq

Video Interview:

 

Formula Drift Round 6 After Dark: Mertzanis Recap

Posted on by Konig Wheels

**This is the official recap written by and courtesy of the Mertzanis Racing team from Formula Drift Round 6: “After Dark” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – August 24th – 25th**

Right after pulling off the trailer on Thursday night, we went into the private paid practice and started bumper banging on the k-rails, and scraping paint and decals off the rear bumper. With some sway bar tweaks, and a Kenda Tire pressure adjustment, the car felt unstoppable. A full day before qualifying, the car felt fantastic to Dennis Mertzanis and the whole Mertzanis Racing crew.

Friday practice, before qualifying Dennis went out chasing Kyle Mohan, who is one of the fastest drivers on the circuit. Dennis wanted to see how quick the car setup for the weekend was overall. These screen grabs were pulled from our GoPro camera that has a video you can see here.

Dennis explains, “Well, we went flying into the first outer clip together. What is normally a full throttle affair, Mohan went too close to the wall, and hard-braked, slowing down a lot. I was coming in hot and couldn’t slow down fast enough. We made contact and I hit the wall knocking the suspension out of alignment.”

The team worked quickly to get the car back in race trim. Only one KÖNIG Milligram wheel was damaged beyond repair, since it made high-speed contact with the rear bash bar on Kyle Mohan’s Mazda Rx-8. After his two runs, Dennis finished 19th for Kenda Tires, which lined him up against Ryan Tuerck in the Retaks S13. This was a rematch from Round 1 at Streets of Long Beach.

On Saturday, just before competition brought on rain and crazy wind as the drivers hit the track. Luckily, we had a rain setup for the car on standby, but it all dried up before Dennis got on the track for his Top 32 battle. Ryan Tuerck led the first battle in his S13.5 against our Chevrolet Performance Parts powered LS3 S13.4. Dennis held a somewhat conservative, but all around solid follow run behind Tuerck.

After the smoke settled, the judges gave the win over to Ryan Tuerck eliminating Dennis Mertzanis from this weekend’s competition. The team came together and really made huge developments with the S13. Dennis is planning on a huge month of testing in September to get ready for the final round at Irwindale Speedway coming up in October.

Images courtesy of Wrecked Magazine

Mertzanis lands one of the best performances of his career

Posted on by Konig Wheels

**This is the official recap written by and courtesy of the Mertzanis Racing team from Formula Drift Round 5: “Throwdown” at Evergreen Speedway, Monroe, Washington July 20-21**

With some rain hovering around Evergreen Speedway, qualifying in Seattle was going to be a tough challenge. Dennis managed to line up for run 1 before the rain came down, and he rode the bank wall, scoring a huge 80 for his run. He came in through the speed traps at 79.5mph (Speed 1 trap point – 65mph minimum for score) and 38mph (Speed 2 trap point – 35mph minimum for score) and landed one of his best performances in his career.

His second qualifying run with the surface being wet was not an improvement due to the harsh driving conditions laid out by the unpredictable Washington weather. His second run fell short at 65, but still put him in a great position for the main event.

The main event Saturday served up a whole new round of conditions and temperature meaning the team had to make some serious and quick changes. The KW Clubsport suspension had to be moved into different settings along with some alignment changes on our SPL Suspension parts. At last, a quick tire pressure change on the Kenda Tires and the car was ready for a Top 32 round against Daijiro Yoshihara.

The morning practice after these adjustments saw Dennis riding the bank wall so deep he was ripping sponsor banners off the bank walls and leaving them scattered around Evergreen Speedway. He even had some great tandem runs with drivers such as former champion Rhys Millen in his 2013 Hyundai Genesis.

The Top 32 tandem battle put Dennis up against the reigning champion in his Discount Tire S13 for one insane battle. In the following run, Dennis managed to go deeper than the champion coming around the bank, but held onto his car at full lock, no problem. He put together a great run leaving a huge opportunity for victory with his lead run.

Dennis once again went in deep into the bank and came flying into the power alley at full lock and throttle, getting ready for the tight turns to finish the course. All was looking fantastic as his earlier adjustments made the car look like it was going to be a victorious battle.

Tons of smoke was pouring out of the Fuelculture S13.4 as the Kenda Tires screamed through the power alley. Right at this point, Dennis Mertzanis was unable to rotate back with the car and wound up putting it into the k-rail, ending his tandem run early and resulting in damage to his front suspension. This ended the weekend a little early, but the Mertzanis Racing team is ready for Las Vegas now that everything has been replaced from the Seattle battle damage.

Images courtesy of Wrecked Magazine

Formula Drift Round 4 [Mertzanis Recap]

Posted on by Konig Wheels

Round 4 of Formula Drift could not have come at a better time for the Mertzanis Racing team. The Fuel Culture S13 rolled off the trailer and started ripping in practice. An Aeromotive fuel cell was loaded with VP Racing 110 octane fuel and Dennis proceeded to put down quality runs at high speeds around the Wall Speedway course.

This is the first banked track of the season we venture to in the Formula Drift series and it results in serious adjustments to the suspension overall and some minor tire pressure adjustments. The result allows Dennis to enter into the bank aggressively and stay flat out for the bottom figure 8 part of the course.

Things became super tricky as qualifying kicked off and the weather changed to rain pouring down. Dennis’ first qualifying run was the key to locking him into the show which ranked him 21st overall.

The draw for Top 32 was a battle against the Go Pro x Mobil 1 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Tyler McQuarrie in a tough first round battle. With Tyler qualifying higher, Dennis’ first duty was to put down a follow run which he performed flawlessly. Dennis then held a tight line against the very fast Camaro going through the complete course.

When Dennis was leading, he took such a high and aggressive line into the bank that he was pushed out into the wall coming off the bank and crashed into the barrier at the last second in an attempt to pull out a giant lead on Tyler McQuarrie. The car came out of it with very minimal damage, luckily, but it did allow Tyler to continue into the Top 16.

For more exclusive coverage of Formula Drift Round 4 and future events visit Wrecked Magazine

Check out the KÖNIG Milligram HERE

Images courtesy of Fuel Culture and Wrecked Magazine.

Mertzanis Puts Down Best Qualifying Score in his Career

Posted on by Konig Wheels

Before the Fuel Culture S13.4 was shipped to the East Coast to Road Atlanta, the car headed to the Sea Otter Classic at Laguna Seca for the huge 2012 bicycle show. Over 60,000 people came through the doors in Monterey, California, to see the show and catch a glimpse of the drift car. The 240sx was parked in the center of the Kenda Tire booth who built out a virtual garage around the car to attract visitors. This was one of the only vehicles at the whole show this year, gathering tons of attention.

After leaving the Sea Otter Classic, the car headed east across the United States to Atlanta, Georgia in preparation of Formula Drift Round 2. Some tweaks to air pressure and our KW Suspension between rounds really set the team up for success after Road Atlanta.

During qualifying, Dennis managed to put down his best career qualifying run of 89.5 at his hometown course Road Atlanta. The car didn’t require as much setup adjustments to accomplish this huge career accomplishment. He was one of the few drivers to meet the speed trap minimum for the weekend.

After qualifying, we found out that we would be lined up against Top 10 driver, Kyle Mohan, who didn’t qualify at his usual top level performance which gave us one tough draw in the first round. Dennis and the team made some last minute adjustments and put down some of the best lead runs he has driven in his career by far. After one round, the judges were stuck at 1 vote for Dennis, 1 vote for Kyle, and 1 vote for OMT.

On the OMT tandem battle, Dennis performed top notch on his lead run but made a wide turn on his follow run which let Kyle Mohan pass into the Top 16 with 2 votes for Kyle and 1 vote for Dennis. A tough break for the team who performed near perfect all weekend but we are looking forward to Palm Beach International.

The next day after Road Atlanta, the Mertzanis Racing team attended what might be the last event at Turner Field with several other Formula Drift professional drivers. The city council in Atlanta, Georgia, signed an ordinance that bans drifting specifically in the city of Atlanta within 1,000 feet of residential zoning. This made it very personnel for Dennis Mertzanis as he first learned how to drift and hone his skills in this very parking lot.

Sadly, the weather didn’t cooperate with this final Turner Field event but Dennis brought out his Fuel Culture S13.4 in the rain to tandem with local drivers and promote the sport within the local area. He talked with various media outlets on the importance of the sport and the need to continue in grassroots events and why it’s best to create events and have safe, controlled environments so as to keep drivers off the streets.

It has been a busy month in back to back travel. And with Round 3 at Palm Beach International Raceway just right around the corner, Dennis Mertzanis will continue onwards and upwards by shooting for another career best finish at Round 3.

//Images courtesy of Fuel Culture & Wrecked Magazine 2012//

Formula Drift RD1: Streets of Long Beach

Posted on by Konig Wheels

Images and words by Fuel Culture | Article

Dennis Mertzanis came off the 2011 season with his best career finish in the series. During the off season, a new car and a wildly more extreme Chevrolet Performance Parts engine set the stage for Round 1 Streets of Long Beach this past weekend. His new car is a 1991 Nissan 240sx with a S14 kouki front end. The car started its life as a Fuel Culture project car and was publicly debuted at the 2011 SEMA Show in the Kenda Tire booth.

New to Mertzanis Racing for the 2012 season is Fuel Culture which is a virtual car garage where users can come and rate, review, and price compare aftermarket parts for their car. Another great website coming into the picture this year is www.rentreporters.com which is a great innovative service that allows renters to report rent payments to the credit bureaus. Everyday, they are helping renters build credit for something they are doing every month already! SPEC Clutch has come on board to provide us with the best LS clutch technology that money can buy. Rounding out the new sponsors is BodyArmor which is a superdrink packed with antioxidants, electrolytes, vitamins, and nutrients on top of being an all natural beverage.

The new chassis features a Chevrolet Performance Parts crate engine LS3 which is producing over 500whp and receiving all of its fuel needs from Aeromotive parts. We are running VP Racing 100 octane fuel to reach this horsepower output. We teamed up with KW Suspension and SPL Pro Suspension parts for the most lightweight and adjustable suspension you can throw at a Nissan 240sx. Dennis still remains on Kenda Tires for 2012 and continues to run the Kaiser KR20 using Konig Milligram 18 inch wheels which are lightweight thanks to MAT technology. And rounding out the return sponsors, Dennis continues to support Petfinder.com to help great dogs and cats find a forever home.

When Dennis hit the Streets of Long Beach, it was his first official drift event with a V8 engine and he couldn’t believe how the torque helped him keep up around the track including that drag race to the first turn. He was able to keep up with any car on the track when following in drift including the event winner Justin Pawlak during practice.

When they lined up for qualifying, the Mertzanis Racing team was still working on some setup changes to the car but qualifying had to go on! After watching 40+ car runs in front of him, it was time to put on a show! Dennis sadly missed the 53mph minimum trap speed with his qualifying pass but managed without 10 points for speed to lock him in for 32nd place. This meant lining up in the main event against Ryan Tuerck who was the events number one qualifier.

During Saturday morning practice, our support team Ryan Clemens and Dave Epifano made some extreme suspension changes and we found the car now running through the speed trap at 57mph which is over 8mph faster than where we qualified. Now facing off against Ryan Tuerck, the team threw everything we could at him during competition. Dennis was so solid through Turn 10 of the LBGP course, he caused Ryan Tuerck to make a huge correction and straighten out. It was a hard fought battle and the judges actually had to go through deliberation before declaring Ryan Tuerck the victor. This moved Ryan into the Top 16, ending the weekend for Dennis Mertzanis. The team is set on doing a few more test sessions this month to be ready for a huge finish at Road Atlanta in front of the team’s hometown crowd.

Fuel Culture | Dennis Mertzanis Racing | Formula Drift |