Last month, Travis from Pikes Peak Racing approached Sharif for some parts and technical support in getting their Pike’s Peak GT-R ready for competition. Having heard of our success with the GT-R on track, they were looking to improve the handling of the GT-R and to help with setup and technical advising services. With American professional racing driver Randy Pobst as their hired gun, Sharif and the team were delighted to get involved with their effort. Have a look at Randy’s initial evaluation of the GT-R’s handling manners, and his reactions after installing a set of Forged Performance Sway bars. Having designed and developed our sway bars through rigorous track testing several year ago, we were confident we had the right solution for them. That said, it’s always rewarding to hear a very experience pro driver give us his unfiltered opinion of our products. Forward to the 9:40 to 10:15 mark for his impressions and improvements with the FP Spec Sway Bars. Unfortunately, one of his timed runs during the race, Randy entered a corner a little bit too hot and had an off track excursion. Despite the setback, the team will be back stronger than ever.
Events and Meets
With the latest installation of the blockbuster movie franchise Furious 7, also know as FF7, premiering tomorrow, everyone at Forged is very excited. Last year, the stunt production team at FF7 asked Sharif to custom tune the studio’s three identical blue Nissan GT-R’s. With custom ECU programming, extra power and the elimination of most of the factory safety controls Hollywood stunt driver Jack Gill performed the amazing action sequences you will see featured this weekend. Over the course of the production and filming process, Sharif and the Forged team provided technical support and plenty of replacement parts. Have a look at this amazing behind the scenes video.
The Forged Performance team celebrated the end of our official track day season with what is always the biggest track day of the year: Thanksgiving weekend with the Chin Motorsports at Road Atlanta. We played host to 14 GT-R’s and had a really great turnout of customers, friends, and family. As many of you know, Forged Performance a veritable fixture at Road Atlanta and we spend more days on this track than any other circuit in the country. It’s our home away from home and always delivers an exciting weekend for those that attend.
What is most rewarding as a company, is to see a dozen Forged prepared GT-R’s making hundreds of flawless laps without any issues whatsoever. The care and dedication that our technicians have for these cars is second to none, and we never forget that our customer’s lives are in our hands when these machines are pushed on a racing circuit. With speeds exceeding 160 mph, we take no chances when it comes to maintenance and safety and our drivers are rewarded with hours of safe and fast laps.
On Sunday afternoon, a surprise visitor showed up in the Forged paddock: Mike Skeen! Mike is a Forged’s professional test driver and coach and also races professionally in some of the top series in the nation. He couldn’t resist hoping in a couple of GT-R’s and making a few laps with some lucky customers. If you ever get the chance to ride with Mike Skeen…do it. It’s an eye opener for sure! In the photo below, Mike is murdering the OEM brake rotors on Jack Wong’s Alpha 9 GT-R:
As we wrap up 2014 we feel blessed and fortunate that continue to do the things we enjoy most and share these successes and learnings with our customers. We look forward to 2015.
Check out the entire photo collection from this event on Facebook:
I wanted to thank everyone that attended our annual track day at the historic Virginia International Raceway. What quickly became my favorite circuit was enjoyed by a great group of sports car owners this past Monday. As many of you know, VIR is considered one of the top racing tracks in the world and we were fortunate to have access to the entire Full Course configuration for the entire day. With just 5-7 cars on track at any one time, drivers were greeted with seemingly endless hours of open lapping across this bucolic setting. VIR has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars improving the facility over the past couple of years and during the off season the entire track was repaved and widened in several key areas. The end result is a much safer and significantly faster lap compared to last year.
The day started at 7am with the drivers meeting and track briefing. World Challenge professional driver, Mike Skeen, joined us and not only provided some great tips and instruction but also generating a significant contribution to his Alzheimer’s Association Charity drive.
During lunch, nine lucky victims had the opportunity to ride along with Mike for some hot laps around VIR. While the rest of us enjoyed our lunch, we enjoyed the sites and sounds of tires sliding and engines wailing as he hustled the GT-R around the track. Good times were had by all.
We hope to continue this annual tradition and build on previous successes. We are already looking forward to next year’s event and enjoy the photos! Make sure to “like” our Facebook Page to follow all of the action.
As many of you know, Mike Skeen is a top professional racing driver that has worked with Forged on a number of projects over the year. You may recall Mike piloted the Forged GT-R to a record 1:24 laptime at Road Atlanta last year. Forged Performance would like to congratulate him on taking 1st place in the Open Class at the 2014 Pikes Peak hill climb. View the full run of the 2014 Pikes Peak Challenge Open winner, Mike Skeen, in the Hawk Performance/CRP Racing GT-R. In addition to the class win, this run of 9:55.471 earned Rookie of the Year and 5th place overall.