Mertzanis Puts Down Best Qualifying Score in his Career

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//

Attention New York City: Have you seen this vehicle?

Posted on by Konig Wheels

We are always getting some really cool stuff shared by our fans and friends. Ali Arsham is no exception. Mr. Arsham runs GoGoGear.com. GoGoGear specializes in Custom Graphics, Apparel and Promotional Products. Ali Arsham has been racing for 22 years. He is also a fabricator and one of his more recent builds was the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe. If you follow our blog, then you know the exposure this car has received since it was debuted. The car has traveled to various Auto Shows and Events across the country. However, this Genesis Coupe is by no means just a sweet race-built show car. On May 22nd, 2012 at Thunderhills Raceway in Willows California it shared 3rd place in the 2nd round of the Nitto Tires United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC).

Ali and the GoGoGear team just shared this image of the Genesis Coupe in action on the big screen in Times Square, New York, NY. This is certainly exciting for KONIG Wheels, GoGoGear and the USTCC. Check out the image below. Let us know in the comment section if you were walking down 7th Avenue in Times Square and saw this on the screen!

Image Courtesy of Del City and GoGoGear

Moen at Formula Drift Round One: Long Beach

Posted on by Konig Wheels

KÖNIG is proud to be partnered with Lutz Performance and Kenny Moen for the 2012 Formula Drift Season. Check out the FD Round 1 recap from Lutz Performance below.

Last year, Lutz Performance had the opportunity of partnering with Kenny Moen and helping him with the 2011 Formula D season as a sponsor. Fast forward to today and we are pleased to announce that we are this year’s title sponsor for car #22. This is the FIRST time in Formula D’s history that a local performance shop is the main sponsor on a car.
We obviously couldn’t do all of this without the help of our other sponsors:

KÖNIG Wheels, Carbonetics, Stance Coilovers, GT Spec, Powered by MAX, VIS Racing, SPL Parts, Prosport Gauges, Falken Tires

Round One

Went a lot better than we had expected for our first round as a Main / Major sponsor. Our first run was against Darren McNamara in Falken Tire’s Saturn Sky who unfortunately crashed on his first run and knocking himself out of the event.

Next we took on Conrad Grunewald in the Hankook Camaro and defeated him and advanced to the top 8. Up next we had to beat Matt Powers in the Need 4 Speed 240sx to make it into the top 4.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and our Round 1 experience came to an end. Although we did not have a podium finish we feel that the team did a great job for our first event,
we hope this is the beginning of a great season with much more to come. We are also pleased to announce that Kenny Moen has signed with team Lutz Performance for the 2013 FD season, look out for his 2013 season car design being release after Round 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Images courtesy of Wrecked Magazine and Lutz Performance

Wrecked Magazing Issue 22

Posted on by Konig Wheels

We would like to thank our great friends over at Fuel Culture and Wrecked Magazine for the feature in Wrecked Magazine Issue 22, which shows off the Hyundai Veloster featuring some great aftermarket options including KÖNIG Deception wheels. “The wheels are lightweight, attractive and affordable! They were the obvious choice.” If you would like to check out Wrecked Magazine’s current issue, head over to Wrecked Magazine and scroll down to Issues.


Image courtesy of Fuel Culture and Wrecked Magazine

Diving into the Scion FR-S

Posted on by Konig Wheels

Its always great to be a part of something new and exciting, and KÖNIG Wheels is more than excited to be one of the invited guests amongst a few other aftermarket companies by Scion for the new FR-S. We were able to send some of our team down to a measuring session to ensure that we knew what would fit on the vehicle as well as see the vehicles styling. We take vehicle styling into account anytime we are designing wheels. The Scion FR-S will share a base platform with the new Subaru BR-Z which is also going to be released soon. Both cars will be an exciting addition to the tuning segment.

What we found to be interesting was the fact that the FR-S is said to be designed with aftermarket wheels in mind according to Motor Trend’s review. Smooth front and rear fender lips appear seem to eliminate much of the need for fender rolling and allow for a flush wheel fitment. Motor Trend has also stated in their review of the FR-S that both front and rear brake calipers are nice and compact with the wheel hubs. This really allows for fantastic caliper clearance when making a decision to purchase aftermarket wheels.

Both the Scion FR-S and the Subaru BRZ appear to already have an exciting buzz about them and it looks like they will mesh well with the tuning enthusiast. Thanks to Scion for the invite and Motor Trend for the great review.


Images courtesy of Scion and Motor Trend

Motor Trend Article: http://wot.motortrend.com/tuners-delight-the-aftermarket-dives-deep-into-2013-scion-fr-s-180887.html

10 Thousand “Likes”

Posted on by Konig Wheels

Today was definitely an exciting day for KÖNIG. Our Official Facebook Fan Page has reached just over 10 thousand “Likes”. We certainly couldn’t have done it without our fans and friends. One lucky fan will receive an official KÖNIG T-Shirt along with a small care package stuffed with some cool swag and will get a shout out on our Facebook page. Thanks to all of our fans and friends out there for your continued support!