Kinetic and Kia Excited About Kia 200 at Homestead Miami Speedway

BUFORD, March 2, 2011: Coming off a podium finish in the 2011 GRAND-AM Continental Tires Sports Car Challenge season’s inaugural race at Daytona International Speedway, Kinetic Motorsports and Kia Motors America are looking forward to the second race of the season at Homestead Miami Speedway on Saturday, March 5, 2011. The “Kia 200” is a two-and-one-half hour race, and will feature Kinetic Motorsports’ two Kia Forte Koups in the ST class, including the # 10 entry with drivers Nic Jönsson and Michael Galati, and the # 12 entry with drivers Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood.

For the full press release, CLICK HERE.

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Rhys Millen Places Third in Pikes Peak Rally, 'Monster' Tajima Retains Record

With plenty of lead up to its introduction at the 88th annual Pikes Peak Hillclimb, the Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Genesis PM580 didn’t deliver on any of its promises and instead was overshadowed by the Suzuki of Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima. Rhys Millen had set out to break the 10 minute barrier on the treacherous mountain and reclaim the record for his family. (Rhys’ father Rod set a record of 10:04.06 in 1994, which Tajima topped in 2007 with a 10:01.41).

Tajima once again came out on top on the weekend’s race, claiming his 5th consecutive overall win at America’s second oldest race with a 10:11.490. In second was three-time hillclimb champion Paul Dallenbach with a 10:39.534 run. As for Millen, he placed a distance third with an 11:06.208 run after his purpose built 650-hp Hyundai race car suffered mechanical problems. “Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong today,” said Millen.

The Pikes Peak Hill Climb, which takes place annually on Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado, starts at an elevation of 9,300 feet and finishes at an elevation of 14,110 feet – where the air is so think drivers’ reaction times begin to slow and their race car engines lose 30 percent of their power. Drivers drift around 146 corners in 12.42 miles of track made up of dirt and asphalt, nearly missing guard rails and trees, while avoiding cliffs with 2,000-foot drop-offs.

[Source: The Associated Press]

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Rhys Millen's RMR Hyundai Genesis PM580 Unveiled Before Pikes Peak Run

Rhys Millen Racing announced that it plans to break the Pikes Peak Hill Climb record this year with help from the 2010 RMR Hyundai PM580 Genesis single-seater race car. The company has released several presentation videos of the 2010 RMR Hyundai PM580 that show the mad racer during private testing in preparation for the record run.

Here are the few facts about the 2010 RMR Hyundai PM580 released by the team up until this point. The car develops 775 hp and 750 lb-ft of torque. The weight of the car is 1900 lbs or 861 kg. This means the 2010 RMR Hyundai PM580 has a power-to-weight ratio of 900 hp per ton. To get an idea of just how mad this car is, the Veyron's power-to-weight ratio is 446.3 bhp per ton.

The current Pikes Peak time record is 10 minutes and 1.408 seconds set by Suzuki driver Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima. Millen hopes to break the 10-minute mark for the first time and set a new world record for this highly challenging run.

[Source: Rhys Millen Racing]

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Kia Forte Koup to Join 2010 GRAND-AM KONI Sports Car Challenge

Kia Motors America (KMA) announced its official its U.S. motorsports program at the 2009 SEMA Show. KMA has teamed with the Kinetic Group to build and campaign two Forte Koups in the 2010 GRAND-AM KONI Sports Car Challenge Series in the Street Tuner (ST) class.

“The Forte Koup is the latest chapter in the dramatic Kia brand transformation story, and the decision to enter into the motorsports arena was an easy one to make,” said Michael Sprague, vice president of marketing, KMA. “The Forte Koup’s performance-inspired styling and outstanding driving dynamics make it a natural fit for road racing, and competing in GRAND-AM’s KONI Challenge Series enables us to reach an entirely new and passionate base of automotive enthusiasts.”

As part of its motorsports team development, KMA identified and partnered with the Kinetic Group to develop, build and campaign the two Forte Koup KONI Challenge spec cars. Based outside of Atlanta, Kinetic provides a comprehensive array of in-house services, including fabrication, composites, paint and body, engine, and electronics departments. Completing the team, decorated drivers Andy Lally and Nic Jönsson have been secured to drive the two Forte Koup entries in the GRAND-AM KONI Challenge Series in 2010.

The GRAND-AM KONI Challenge Street Tuner (ST) class utilizes production-based race cars and has a wide variety of vehicles from the U.S., Europe and Asia, using weight and intake restrictions to maintain a level playing field for all entrants.

[Source: Kia Motors America]

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