Kenda Tire has signed Formula Drift rookie, Brad Hettinger

[INFO]

Kenda Tire has signed Formula Drift rookie, Brad Hettinger

COLUMBUS, OHIO (January 27, 2011) – Kenda Tire has signed Formula Drift rookie, Brad Hettinger, as the 2nd
driver to compete in the Formula Drift Professional Drifting Series for 2011.

Brad, owner of Groundwerks Garage, is no stranger to competition. In 2009 Brad finished in FD Pro AM 5th place
qualifier and 13th overall. Hettinger, also qualified 7th in XDC New Jersey, running on Kenda Tires in 2010.

Brad will be joining team mate Dennis Mertzanis in a V8 powered Nissan S14 owned by LM Racing. To
follow Kenda Tires and Brad Hettinger’s effort for the 2011 Formula D season, point your browsers to: http://
www.groundwerksgarage.com & http://www.luismartinezracing.com

Kenda, a leading manufacturer of automobile, bicycle, motorcycle, ATV (All Terrain Vehicle), golf cart, lawn mower,
industrial and trailer tires in the world, has maintained its North American headquarters in Columbus, Ohio for the
last three decades. Since the inception of the company in 1962, Kenda has operated on core values of honesty,
innovation, quality and customer service. For nearly 50 years, Kenda has continued to develop and expand its
product selections to meet changing market demands.

Visit http:// www.kendausa.com for more information.

[YOitzJDM]

Why?????!?!?!!!!

[Bebop]

To get the name in peoples mouths so when they finally start sending them out to the mom and pop tire shops for 25$ each people think they are getting a quality tire.

ooops sorry lol

[YOitzJDM]

no... i mean... why a no-name pro-am guy who likely won't do better than 1 or 2 top 32's?!

Look at some of the choices that other tire manufacturers have backed in the past - Maxxis made choices like Brian Peters, Gary Lang, and Tracy Shayhorn. Federal threw a bunch of money behind Henry Schelly in an underpowered chassis he had very little experience in before the 1st event in Long Beach. WanLi backed some mid-rate drifters in the NOPI series before hiding under a brick. Although I think Mohan and Taka were GREAT choices for Nexen, Cyrus was a huge bust, and their 'banner' driver from Europe had a better year than all 3 combined while only driving in 4 events and driving on someone else's tire.

Why do these companies pick all the wrong freakin drivers?! There's so many big names out there who could do so much more for them, likely for equal or less money!!!

[boxmod]

Originally Posted by YOitzJDM

no... i mean... why a no-name pro-am guy who likely won't do better than 1 or 2 top 32's?!

Look at some of the choices that other tire manufacturers have backed in the past - Maxxis made choices like Brian Peters, Gary Lang, and Tracy Shayhorn. Federal threw a bunch of money behind Henry Schelly in an underpowered chassis he had very little experience in before the 1st event in Long Beach. WanLi backed some mid-rate drifters in the NOPI series before hiding under a brick. Although I think Mohan and Taka were GREAT choices for Nexen, Cyrus was a huge bust, and their 'banner' driver from Europe had a better year than all 3 combined while only driving in 4 events and driving on someone else's tire.

Why do these companies pick all the wrong freakin drivers?! There's so many big names out there who could do so much more for them, likely for equal or less money!!!

usually those BIG NAMES want BIG MONEY. while the little guy just is happy with the tires at free/reduced cost in tires. you still noticed the tires/driver/cars so the expsoure level worked pretty well i'd say. Not to mention Kyle was kicking some *Censored**Censored**Censored* in qualifying on the Nexens

[Linguo415]

Kenda? Isnt that for bicycles? lol Itsb the only place or thing i can asociate vthem with. innertubes.

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by Linguo415

Kenda? Isnt that for bicycles? lol Itsb the only place or thing i can asociate vthem with. innertubes.

Yeah man, new tire rules have pushed some teams to the edge

[Linguo415]

What is this new tire rule i keep hearing about?

[Justin Banner]

Originally Posted by Linguo415

What is this new tire rule i keep hearing about?

It's the new vehicle weight classifications. If your car weighs XXXX-YYYY you can only have AAA of tire width.

Example:

My 1987 Nissan S12 should weigh in at about 2430 lbs. (or probably on the so side) with me in it. Because of that, I can only have a tire with a 245mm width. As soon as it becomes for sale, look for an article by me on the new measuring device here on Drifting.com.

[Linguo415]

^ gotacha. so it is specific to wieght. In a way its sort of a weight to grip ratio thing right? so im assuming that the lighter the car the narrower the tires must get also.

[Justin Banner]

Originally Posted by Linguo415

^ gotacha. so it is specific to wieght. In a way its sort of a weight to grip ratio thing right? so im assuming that the lighter the car the narrower the tires must get also.

That's correct. A 2000-2099lbs weight classification gets a 215 tire and it goes up from there.

[Linguo415]

^ that sounds like it will make a very interesting playing field. are they going to break cars into weight classes to race or is it still going to be the way it is? I can imagine that this will make for some crazy power mods and body mods to make the cars more competative. Are slicks alowed?

[delicious steve]

Originally Posted by Linguo415

^ that sounds like it will make a very interesting playing field. are they going to break cars into weight classes to race or is it still going to be the way it is? I can imagine that this will make for some crazy power mods and body mods to make the cars more competative. Are slicks alowed?

all cars fall into one of the 13 weight classes, each spanning 100 lbs. cars can run up to the max tire size for that weight class. all tires have to be DOT.

[Linguo415]

Will we see big power disadvantages for any of these reasons?