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Kyle Mohan Racing Mid Season Recap

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So far through the 2016 we’ve competed in four Formula Drift Pro Championship events (and the Super Drift event at the Grand Prix of Long Beach), driven our truck and trailer about 3500 miles, and burned up about 200 GT-Radial Champiro SX2 tires. Now we are headed across the border for Formula Drift’s Pro Championship event at the Autodrome Saint-Eustache near Montreal, Canada.

Since we are at the halfway point in our season, we thought now would be a good time to take a look back on the first four events since we debuted our GT-Radial / Mazdatrix MazdaMX-5 in April at Long Beach.

Round One – Streets of Long Beach

I’ve always said that Long Beach is my favorite event of the year. It’s my hometown, it’s always exciting to start the year, and we were competing in the GT-Radial / Mazdatrix Mazda MX-5 for the very first time. We actually kicked off the week with a visit to theUniversal Technical Institute campus in Long Beach, and we really enjoy meeting the students and letting them have a look at our cars. The UTI students are eager to hear about the more technical aspects of the car and how it performs on the American Ethanol / Igniteracing fuel and how our turner accesses data remotely from our Haltech ECU system.  Continue reading →

Kyle Mohan Reveals New Formula Drift Fighter for 2016 Season

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April 4, 2016 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – The new Formula Drift season will bring a new vehicle for Formula Drift veteran Kyle Mohan, who will park his familiar Mazda RX-8 for a new car built on the Mazda MX-5 platform.
The KMR-built Mazda MX-5 is new but in some respects will be familiar to Mohan, as it is powered by a turbocharged, nitrous-fed three-rotor engine developed by Mazdatrix. Improvements to virtually every aspect of the drivetrain has resulted in more horsepower than the engine has produced before,
“I think ever since we first built the RX-8, we always considered what kind of car we would eventually replace it with,” said Mohan. “However as a small team, we always felt that we would be better off by continuing to improve the RX-8 instead of trying to build an entirely new car. But we made the decision last season to switch to the MX-5, and not only that, to build it to make the best use of our GT-Radial Champiro SX2 tire package. Considering how quick and nimble it felt in our first tests, I think we’ve accomplished that.”

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Mohan’s Rotary Rocket Ready for a Good Time in Seattle

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Formula Drift Evergreen Speedway is Fifth Round of for Mohan with GT-Radial

July 18, 2014 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – Evergreen Speedway, set east of Seattle, is one of Kyle Mohan’s favorite stops on the Formula Drift schedule. It is not only one of the fastest events on the schedule, but one that features a large contingent of Mazda and rotary engine enthusiasts.

As the only Mazda-powered Mazda in the Formula Drift Pro Championship, the no. 99 GT-Radial / Energy-X / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 will enjoy the support of the rotary fans in attendance.

“Evergreen Speedway is full of Mazda fans,” said Mohan. “These guys are die-hard. A few years ago, some of them even loaned us their shop so we could work all night to repair our car. We enjoy a lot of support in the Seattle area, and the layout at Evergreen Speedway is one of my favorites. The banking is more technical than it would appear, and the infield lends itself to really exciting tandem competition. I am really looking forward to this weekend.”

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Mohan Records Career Best Qualifying Result in Las Vegas

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August 24, 2010 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – It was hot at the fifth round of the 2010 Formula Drift Pro Championship, held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. But the heat didn’t deter Kyle Mohan, who drove his Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 to a score good enough to take second place in qualifying for Saturday’s tandem competition, the best qualifying performance of his Formula Drift career.

His score of 91.3 would be bettered only by two-time Formula Drift champion Samuel Hubinette, and would line him against Nikolay Konstantinov for the first top-32 tandem battle. With two textbook passes, Mohan eliminated Konstantinov to move into the top-16 for the first time in 2010, where he would face Alex Pfeiffer in the Tanaka Racing Chevrolet Corvette.

The Mazdatrix-built rotary engine under the hood of Mohan’s Mazda RX-8 was up to the task against the big V8 in the Corvette and Mohan and Pfeiffer had two close runs – so close that the judges called for a One More Time. After another two close runs, the judges ruled in favor of Pfeiffer and moved him on in the competition, ending Mohan’s day.

Still, Mohan was thrilled with the weekend and with adding sixty-four points to his season total, which advanced him eight positions in the Formula Drift Pro Championship.

“I guess we didn’t have enough to move past Alex, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes,” said Mohan afterwards. “Our Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 was really good through practice. We made some changes for qualifying and then it came alive – definitely the best it has felt all season. The Nexen N3000 tires were really consistent throughout the weekend – we only used one set of tires throughout all of Thursday practice because they weren’t wearing out or losing grip. The guys did a great job all weekend on the car and it didn’t skip a beat from the moment we brought it off the trailer.”

KMR now has a quick turnaround to be ready for the sixth round of the Formula Drift Pro Championship at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, which will be followed by the fifth round of the Redline Time Attack championship at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump, Nevada. Mohan currently leads the Drift class championship in the Mazdatrix / Nexen Mazda RX-7.

Kyle Mohan Racing and Nexen Tire begin new partnership

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kyle Mohan Racing and Nexen Tire begin new partnership at Formula Drift Long Beach

April 14, 2010 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – In his hometown of Long Beach, Kyle Mohan debuted the new colors of his 2009 Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 this past weekend in the first event of the 2010 Formula Drift Pro Championship season. The event marked his first event with not only new title sponsor Nexen Tire, but also Spider Energy Drink, Genius Tools, and Gatorz Precision Eyewear.

Making more power than ever before from its Mazdatrix-built 13B engine, Mohan laid down strong runs throughout practice and was full of confidence heading into qualifying. After laying down a safe run on his first pass to get into the field, he laid down a spectacular second run until he missed a downshift in the hairpin, causing him to straighten at the very end of the course. Because of that, Mohan would ultimately go against 2009 Formula Drift champion Chris Forsberg in the top-32.

 “The car has never been better, and it was feeling really good throughout the weekend,” said Mohan. “We really nailed the setup of the car, and with our new Nexen tires, I had a ton of confidence to keep my foot in it and really hang the car out. Long Beach is my favorite course and with all of our new sponsors, as well as everyone from Mazdatrix, and my family and friends there, I wanted to put on the best show we could.”

Mohan followed Forsberg beautifully on the first run, burning the rubber from his Nexen N3000 tires, but made a minor steering adjustment in his second run, which was enough for the judges to advance Forsberg into the top-16.

“Chris is a champion, and he’s a champion for a reason,” said Mohan. “He’s obviously a great driver and his car is one of the best in Formula Drift, which makes me proud that our team was able to put together a car that gave him a good run and that I was able to drive it right with him.”

“The Streets of Long Beach was a great way for us to begin our involvement in Formula Drift,” said Michael Meeiem, motorsports marketing director for Nexen Tire. “It was an awesome event and Kyle did everyone at Nexen Tire proud. We are looking forward to the next Formula Drift event at Road Atlanta, as well as the rest of the Formula Drift season.”

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Kyle Mohan Racing Takes 2 Cars to Formula Drift ‘All In’ at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

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Watch for them today in bot the Pro-Am and Formula Drift series.  Kyle sits in the Top 32 and we will keep you posted on how he ends up when the action begins.