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48- Hour Corvette Update

It has been a FANTASTIC weekend for the RideTech crew, as Chris Smith piloted the Instinct-equipped 48-Hour Corvette to yet another amazing win!!

The Fort Worth Goodguys show is historically hot, dusty, and chock-full of great competition. RideTech and our customers again filled the leaderboard at this event; four out of the top 5 spots in the PRO class were RideTech-equipped, with the 1st, 2nd, and 4th place spots going to cars with our new Instinct Electronic Shocks! Texas is also renowned for truck culture, so it’s no surprise that the Truck class at this event was one of the largest of the entire Goodguys season…and it’s also no surprise that all of the top 3 spots in the Truck class were RideTech customers! The weather was fantastic and boasted near-record attendance, the turnout for the autocross was phenomenal, and both competitors and spectators were impressed by the turnout and the awesome autocross action. We’ve got lots more events coming up in March and April, so stay tuned for even more great finishes by the RideTech team!

Climbing the Ladder – Dirk Stratton and his LS7-Powered #Driftvette

The Block - Dirk Stratton

Holley’s LS Fest (link is external) is an event near and dear to our hearts. We attend every year for a chance to witness drag racing, autocross and drifting, all in one weekend and all cars featuring an LS or LT engine. This is where Dirk Stratton comes into the picture. Two years ago, at the 2015 Holley LS Fest, we saw a grey C6 Corvette ripping through the gears at Beech Bend Raceway with a trail of white smoke behind it and we were blown away. It was refreshing to see a Chevrolet chassis dominating in a motorsport series comprised almost solely of small Japanese cars, so we have been keeping our eyes on the driver, Dirk Stratton, ever since.

As it turns out, he has grown leaps and bounds since we last saw him at LS Fest. That year, in 2015, he won the Midwest Drift Union Championship which earned him a spot in the Formula Drift Pro2 series, only one tier below the big dogs of Pro1. He competed in the ‘16 season of Formula Drift (FD) and came in a very impressive 4th place in the overall series points which earned him the prestigious “Rookie of the Year” title.

Dirk is now positioned to compete in the FD Pro2 series again in 2017, although his “Rookie of the Year” title did earn him a license to compete in Pro1. “You know, I just think my team and I should compete another year in Pro2 in order to refine a few things and continue to grow. We hope to enter the Pro1 series in 2018 as a better team and I’m confident we can dominate,” Dirk told us.

So, within a matter of just a few years, Dirk climbed the ladder from the grassroots level of drifting to a professional level, competing alongside some of the best drifters in the world. We were intrigued to find out how he got here and how he progressed so quickly, so we gave him a call to learn more about his story.

Read Article: https://theblock.com/news/climbing-ladder-dirk-stratton-and-his-ls7-powered-driftvette

WHAT’S THE BEST VEHICLE FOR WINNING THE OUSCI?

WHAT'S THE BEST VEHICLE FOR WINNING THE OUSCI?

Danny Popp has won the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational a record-setting fourth time, with three of those wins coming in his 2003 Chevrolet Corvette. Does that mean the C5 Corvette is the best platform for taking home the coveted title? We’ll take a look into that question, but before we get into various options folks have, we should qualify all of these options by pointing out that all of these examples cited are extremely well-built cars, with very capable drivers behind the wheel. If you are considering any of these vehicles for yourself, you should be realistic about how you will stack up as a driver within in this group. You should also understand that many of these cars have been refined, modified and upgraded for several years, with the specific intent of being more competitive in the OUSCI. With that, let’s start looking at what some of the top cars in the OUSCI have been in recent years.