2015 Season...you have been warned.

The new 2015 season presents us with many changes and challenges.  MSA will be going full throttle, removing the LSA motor from a 2012 Cadillac CTS-V and bringing it back down to an LS3.  The lightweight V8 and the reliable 6 speed twin disc manual transmission will leave us with much to grin about. There have been other changes during the offseason and our leave of absense in 2014.  We will rewind back to those in another blog.

The Lone Star Facebook page has been steadily announcing the return and introductions of new drivers for the season.  Although, we are confident in winning, we are not so overly confident to not take these threats seriously.  For the bio's of those drivers, click here to view the Facebook page.

Did I say we are going full throttle?  We are bringing in a more professional vibe this year, looking at bringing in sponsors from the Formula Drift world, down to the ProAm series.  There is a lot of heart and love in these serious that make it not only competitive, but fun.  The friendly competitive nature of all drivers involved is a relief.  Don't get me wrong.  There are jabs and blows, but in the end, everyone laughs and congratulates one another.

So bringing in the theme of MSA's logo - the gear - we have integrated gears into a splash design.  The kit itself is being discussed but due to costs, we may forgo the idea of running Rocket Bunny fender flares for the common over fenders.  The decision hasn't been finalized, but it's in the works.

We hope to see you at one of our 6 competition events.  Otherwise, you will find us at a few exhibition events, such as LS fest and Import Face Off.  We will throw in some love also for our great friends in Tennessee at Traction Optional.  (We will talk more in depth about those guys later.)

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MSA Drift Car "Kim": 2013 PowerCruise video

MSA's practce "fun" day at the Motor Sports Ranch Houston with the crew at the 2013 PowerCruise. Despite our travel woes (story here), the event turned out to be a great practice for Axle.  The goal...to get as close to the tire and concrete walls as possible.  That meant, skimming the paint off the rear bumper during initiation of the slide.  Watch the video to see how well he did.  While you're there, subscribe to our channel...  We'll have more videos of our events as we go through the seasons.

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Rewind...Power Cruise USA - Motorsports Ranch Houston: Drifting

What an eventful day.  After our travel woes, we finally made it to the event.  By the time we arrived, we were down a few cars.  Several had started to break misc parts and were no longer operational.

MSA Drift car getting prepped

Axle started the car and got on course.  It was interesting fitting the drifting between the "cruises" around the track and the short drag race events.  But it offered enough diversity to make it entertaining. The course was very large. Axle had enough areas to allow cool down periods for the car.

MSA Drift car testing out the track

We thoroughly enjoyed the track, but because of our tardiness, we were only able to make a few laps around the course during Day 1.


Day 2 proved to be more eventful. They shorten the track for the drift events to a more manageable area. Because of how the track was set up, it was difficult as a spectator to see the cars at all times and the shortened track was a huge improvement.

Being a "fun" track day event, Axle decided to see how far he could push the limits.  His goals were to see how much paint he could scrape off the corner of the car on the concrete dividers without damaging the car. He was successful. We ripped many of tires apart, including a time where he didn't notice the tire was gone and continued to drift the course.  One of the attempts was perfect. The car just barely kissed the wall.  However, the barrel on the other side of the turn was not so lucky. The impact smashed in the rear corner, sheared the retainer tabs, and popped off the rear fender flare. Shortly thereafter, a tire blew.  Despite what happened, it was an amazing watch for the spectators, and a much better setup for photos.

Overall, it was a good time. I will be posting our video of the event soon.

Bryan Lin
CEO, The Motorsports Authority, Inc. | MSAStore.com | BCRacingDirect.com


Notes from the driver...

Drifting at MSR Houston in the middle of summer is a huge treat and a bit of a nightmare at the same time. Road courses are a blast. Unlimited course design, unique corners, tighter limits... makes for some wild moments. On the flip side, road courses beat up a driver and car. Flying off track (you have to push to get better), rumble strips (I broke a wheel), and concrete walls... tire slaying heat, engine and fluids get too hot too fast. The organizers had us run the full course on day one, and it was very taxing. We had some fun, followed some friends around the track. Blasted the corners as best I could having "slept" in a well worn chevy passenger seat the night before. The next day however, was the real fun!

A good nights sleep did amazing things for my driving, and the course was shortened to a noodly shaped rectangle right in front of the stands. The first turn is identical to one in an iconic Japanese race track, theres a nice big slightly banked sweeper, and then a wall. I haven't had a comfortable opportunity to scrape a wall up until this point. The only wall you can scrape in Memphis is 100+ mph, and I love this car too much to try that mid season. Driving this smaller course in front of the crowd was great. It was a good opportunity to focus on a smaller set of corners, really get to push the limits. I got my wall scrape, but it wasn't enough, I had to try a couple more times and eventually knocked the bumper off. Tires were only lasting 4-5 laps at this point, I stayed on the gas all day!

 All in all it was a great time. One track I definitely want to go back to, just not too soon. Some local chinese topped the day off and we got back to the hotel for some shut eye. The return trip was uneventful. We kept the radiator full, and the throttle down. Enjoyed coming home after a good nights rest, we rarely leave an event in the daylight.

Axle

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Formula D Pro/AM Round 2 - Texas Motor Speedway - 4/28/13

This event will be otherwise known as the one that got away. What a week, and subsequent weekend! At this point it's even hard to remember the details given how terrible things turned out, but we learned a lot and I'll try to summarize what went down...

Team MSA had just returned from a demo event at Import Face Off in Ennis, TX. We gave 64 rides to very very happy passengers that day and had some amazing runs with the Fabricated Motorsports crew.

Following Brad Burnett in his 1UZ powered AE86

 Sadly 34 hotlaps + 20 minute lunch + 30 more hotlaps equals a blown stock turbo. We knew it would have to go at some point, luckily it decided to exit stage left at the end of the day. This meant we only had a few weeks to pull together a new setup for round 2 of the Lonestar Drift series. A few weeks may sound like a lot of time, but in our world of full time jobs and other responsibilities its barely enough!

Assessing the damage

We set out immediately researching and ordering the parts for our upgrade. Because the Fabricated Series largely centers around low to medium speed courses and close tandem battles we chose a Garrett 2860RS ball bearing turbo for its fast spool and broad powerband. To support the larger turbo we installed 550cc injectors, and moved to a Z32 mass air flow sensor. Engine management was handled with a plug and play RS-Enthalpy ECU. We also upgraded to an Apexi headgasket and ARP head studs. Helping this power to the ground is a new Competition Clutch Stage 4 clutch and lightweight flywheel setup. Many of these products were not in stock or were delayed in shipping, causing the final pieces of this puzzle to arrive only 3 days before our event. A mad rush ensued, with help from many friends and one too many nights going to sleep as the sun came up.

This was the view at 11pm the night before the event. I immediately went into coma status as our fearless leader Bryan Lin set out for Texas Motor Speedway. The events that followed are so frustrating I can only barely stand to put them in chronological order...

50 miles outside of Texarkana - One trailer tire delaminates, replaced with spare, I'm so tired I don't even wake up
10 miles outside of Texarkana - Second trailer tire delaminates, no spare available, limp trailer to truck stop

Spend next few hours searching, unsuccessfully, for replacement tire/trailer, commence to sleeping in truck

Wake up at 8AM day of event still 3.5 hours away. Find out Wal Mart doesn't have tire we need. Unload car from trailer, put on set of tires and tools in car, leave for Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth at 9AM. Drive to Fort Worth with no license plates, manage not to get pulled over. Arrive at Texas Motor Speedway 30 minutes before qualifying.

Hit the track for our first practice lap, mind you i've never driven this course, shift into second and BAM, no second gear. Transmission stuck in second gear, get towed off course without making a lap. Find a transmission from someone in the crowd. Half the team pulls the bad transmission out while the other half head to unnamed persons house to buy overpriced transmission. Manage to swap transmissions in 40 minutes with the help of some very dedicated friends and family...

Hit the track as the last car to attempt qualifying, and I cant link the course, I don't qualify. What a crushing blow, to break through all these obstacles and let myself and my team down! It was a terrible feeling indeed. I can make all the excuses I want, but it came down to preparation. If I can help it I will never be caught in this position again.

I would like to give a huge thanks to my sponsor and team members for all the hard work they put in. It's because they believe in me that I keep fighting.

Special thanks to:

Bryan Lin
Lindsay Riser
David Byrd
Tommy Sanders
Joe Lacy
Daniel Haselton
Charles Woodruff
John Snider
Moetan Thrall

Photo Credits:

Sy Pham
Bryan Lin
Lindsay Riser

Alexander "Axle" Riser

Driver, Team MSA | MSAStore.com | BCRacingDirect.com

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Formula D Pro/AM Round 1 - Hosted by Fabricated Motorsports 03-24-13

MSA's 1989 240sx (S13) sr20det swap.

What an amazing event with an amazing amount of cars and talent.  People of all levels of experience showed up for the event, and it was an honor to have competed with them.

Replacing Kim's shoes with a fresh pair.

Driving up in an unfamiliar territory is always a nervous experience.  But we were excited.  Excited at the prospect of trying something new.  It was a new venue for us, and our first try at the points series.  We wanted to test and see what the ol' gal had in her.  We had 2 sets of spare wheels/tires with us, so we knew we couldn't run a significant amount of runs.  We had to make enough practice rounds and still have enough rubber left to run the actual competition event.  Axle handled it like a champ.  We didn't have the "practice" tandem opportunities that we were used to in preparation for the competition rounds.  In fact, Axle didn't get the opportunity to tandem at all.  That didn't seem to be a hindrance.  I was rooting to place above 8th.  However, as Axle pulled off an amazing, unexpected win, giving us a great start to the series.

It was a nerve wracking event.  The qualifying round started with 29 competitors and qualifying is part of your competition points.  The top (caged) qualifiers 16 were then allowed to continue into the tandem competition round.  The best run of 2 tries is kept as your score.  Spinning out is an automatic 0 points.  And Axle was lined up in the rear of the pack.  Have you ever sat in a doctor's office?  Waiting.  Wondering what tests would be run?  Running scenarios in your head.  That's kind of what it's like.  You sit.  Motor off.  No audio.  And when they say go...you're up.  Everyone has their techniques on keeping their mind off things.  Or perhaps some long for the adrenaline of the moment.  Whatever it was at this event, Axle did amazing and qualified 3rd.  

Top 2 competitors of the day battling it our for 1st.

Then came the tandem competition round.  Eliminations are from 16 to 8, 8 to 4, and then the top two and bottom two battle for 1st through 4th.  The top 2 battle was fierce.  Part of your judging comes from how "aggressive" you are - how close you are to the lead car in space and mimicking.  After satisfying the goal of 8th, Axle went into beast mode and decided it was going to be all or nothing.  And it worked.  Congratulations to Axle Riser. Thanks to his wife Lindsey for the support, and thanks to our volunteer "pit crew" David Byrd and Daniel Haselton.

Next Event: Import Face Off.  April 8th, 2013 - Ennis, TX.  Exhibition event.

Bryan Lin
CEO, The Motorsports Authority, Inc. | MSAStore.com | BCRacingDirect.com

1st place - 4th place.  Lined up with their winnings: a check and a bottle of Tito's Vodka.

POINTS STANDINGS:

1. 108 - Axle Riser
2. 89 - Nacho Nismo
3. 79 - Dewayne Ramsey
4. 72- Tim "Big Sticks" Koenning
5. 71 - Mario Gomez
6. 68 - Fielding Shredder
7. 65 - Kevin Williams
8. 65 - Matt Bengston
9. 64 -Brad Burnett
10. 60- TJ Hull
11. 56 - Michael Van Shellenbeck
12. 56 - Justin Garner
13. 56 - Justin Flores
14. 56 - Andy Dennington
15. 55 - Alex Groves
16. 55 - Ryan Rhorbach
17. .5 - Travis Percle
18. .5 - Robert Lee
19. .5 - Robert Turnbow
20. .5 - Rudy Martinez
21. .5 - Steven Bayles
22. .5 - Doug Cisneros
23. .5 - Ben Green
24. .5 - Kris Painshab
25. .25 - Mark Williams
26. .25 - Carl Carmichael
27. .25 - True Taylor
28. .25 - Ramone Gutierrez
29. .25 - Esteban Soto

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