Round 6 Behind the Scenes: Falken Tire Returns to Mid-Ohio

In Round 6 of the American Le Mans Series, Team Falken Tire returned to the site of the team’s first ALMS win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Porsche Factory driver Wolf Henzler and Ohio Native Bryan Sellers drove the team to earn the second consecutive fourth-place finish for the 2012 season. Braving the hot and humid weather, it was a busy weekend for the GT team. Armed with a new tire, the team took full advantage of the allotted time on track in the #17 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. For the team’s event press release, click here. 

 

Here’s your behind the scenes look at Team Falken Tire, Round 6 at Mid-Ohio.

Mid-Ohio Sports Car course is not completely level in all areas of the paddock. Immediately after setting up our temporary garage for the weekend, the crew immediately worked to level the car on the uneven ground. The technical inspection specs for the American Le Mans Series are very precise, and just a few millimeters off can ruin an entire race weekend.

Brad measures the ride height, or ground clearance, for the 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Per IMSA regulations, the underbody Porsche has to be precisely 50mm above ground level. If the vehicle is just a millimeter off, the team could fail technical inspection.

Another extremely important spec to keep in mind is the height of the rear wing. According to IMSA spec, the top of the rear wing must be at the same height as the roof of the car.

A big talking point among the Falken twitter followers (@FalkenALMS) was the Falken Tire bat. As the team started to unload at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Wednesday, they had some special company:  A bat! After chasing down a few of the crew members, the bat took a break to pose for the picture, then hid somewhere in the rig. His whereabouts remain unknown. Fans from all over the globe asked for bat updates throughout the weekend as well as suggested some names for our newest groupie. Just some of the suggested names were Fliedermaus, Rainy, #BatOnBoard, Neklaf the Rubber Vampire, Azenis, and Billy. Many fans stopped by the rig in hopes of catching a glimpse of our winged friend, but alas, no luck.

Wolf plays video games with a patient at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. The American Le Mans Series has a strong relationship with the Austin Hatcher Foundation, an establishment dedicated to helping families with children suffering from Pediatric cancer.  At each race weekend, drivers from race teams volunteer their time to visit with children at local hospitals.

Bryan and a young patient build derby cars. Being a local track for Sellers, Bryan was honored to visit a hospital before the craziness of the race weekend began.

Wolf’s artistic skills were put to the test while building his derby car. What’s your verdict Falken Fans? Comment below!

Bessim takes a quick break from working under the Porsche to pose for a photo. Keep up the good work!

The Mid-Ohio Sports Car course is a home track for Bryan Sellers, so most of his free time was filled with local radio, TV and newspaper interviews. At the race track, it can be difficult to find a quiet spot to conduct an interview on the phone. Wolf and Bryan usually sit in the rear of the Falken Tire rig, away from the noise. You can see Bryan’s TV interview on Fox 45 here.

The Falken Tire crew watches the practice session TV on as Wolf is out on track in the #17 Porsche. Man, what did pit crews do when live feeds weren’t available?

Another post-session debrief in pit lane. Another caption contest photo maybe?

Wolf taking a moment to speak with Engineer John Ward. John’s extensive resume includes designing IndyCars, IMSA GTP cars and a Formula Ford, working for the All American Racers. He has also worked as a race engineer for many other race teams throughout the years before joining Team Falken Tire.

Friday afternoon, Team Falken Tire hosted a Tech Talk at the team transporter. Falken ALMS fans had the opportunity to learn from the drivers and team members to learn inside information about the car and the team, as well as ask questions about the program.  Representing the team were Falken drivers Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler, Falken Tire ALMS Supervisor Kevin Jones and Engineer Brian Junger.

Many fans braved the heat to come learn more about the team. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and asked questions!

Time constraints prevented the drivers from doing the usual fan lunch at Mid-Ohio, but the drivers still volunteered a few minutes of their free time for twitter contest winner Kyle (@kylegibbygibson) and his dad Keith for a private tour of the Falken Tire paddock setup. Here, Bryan and Wolf are showing Kyle and Keith inside the #17 Porsche.

Wolf and Bryan also took Kyle and Keith inside the Falken Tire rig to see areas that most fans never have access to. A lot of incredibly confidential work happens behind the doors of the truck, and usually, only team members are allowed in. This was Kyle’s first ALMS race, and by winning the contest, he was able to get VIP access for the tour! Here, Wolf and Bryan are discussing how gross and sweaty their helmets get after a race session. As you can see, they are currently drying off before the next session. Whoever invented helmet drying devices is a genius.

Although it may look like Bryan and Wolf are signing the usual memorabilia item, they had something a little more devious up their sleeve….

In honor of his 100^th Start, Bryan and Wolf signed a Falken Tire flag and presented it to fellow Porsche (non-Falken) driver Sascha Maassen.

It’s race day! Back on track, Program Manager Derrick Walker and Bryan Sellers watch on as Wolf is on track for the pre-race Warm Up session.

At every race, the American Le Mans Series allows fans to get up close to their favorite drivers at the autograph session.  Not only do fans get lanyards, key chains, flags, signed posters, calendars and hero cards, but sometimes they bring gifts for the drivers as well! Many fans stopped at the ALMS merchandise trailer beforehand (or visited alms.com) to buy the new 2012 Falken Tire tshirts and brought them for the drivers to sign.

 

The Falken Girls, the crew and the #17 Porsche lined up on the grid. Time constraints prevented the Series from doing a fan grid walk, but ALMS hopes to be able to do it next year. We’d like to thank the fans for understanding! It’s not always easy sharing a race track with four other races series!

The first Falken Tire pit stop of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge.  During the two hour and 45 minute race, the team executed perfect pit stops. Here the team is doing a driver change, fuel and tires as Bryan passes off the driving to Wolf. In the final pitstop, the team engineers choose to not do a full load of fuel or do a tire change. The double-stint for the tires as well as the short fuel worked flawlessly as the Bryan Sellers brought the Falken Porsche across the finish line in fourth, and not a second too soon. As he crossed the finish line, the team heard Bryan come on the radio to inform them he was out of fuel. Talk about perfect timing!

 

Thanks to all of the fans who submitted photos from the event! Here are some of the highlights from our twitter followers. 

From Jesse (@jeriley), here’s view of our pit set up. We had to share pit lane with the IndyCar teams, and at times it made for close quarters—and a LOT of tires.

 The #17 Porsche Showing off: Another photo from Jesse.

From Sang (@sangbehr), the #17 Porsche patiently waits to be loaded onto the rig after a long race weekend. 

Sang also waited patiently in line to get the autographs of our Falken Girls Melanie (@MsMelanieT) and Randyl (@randyldawn).

Time to head home! Ken (@easyken) snapped this shot as the Falken Motorsports rig pulled out the paddock to head back to Indianapolis. 

For more coverage of the Mid-Ohio weekend, click here to read about Speedhunter’s weekend with Team Falken Tire. 

Round 8 in the American Le Mans Series is August 16-18 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Follow the team on twitter at twitter.com/falkenalms for all the live updates. For more Series information, visit alms.com. 

Tune-in Details for the Road Race Showcase:

Television Broadcast: 8/19/2012 at 2:00 pm EDT on ESPN 2

Live Streaming: 8/18/2012 at 3:15 pm EDT on ESPN 3

Live Qualifying: 8/17/2012 at 4:40 pm EDT on ESPN 3 

Round 5 Behind the Scenes: Falken Tire Earns Best Finish at Mosport

In the American Le Mans Series, you never know how a race weekend will play out. According to Falken driver Bryan Sellers, if you told him before the race weekend that Team Falken Tire was going to finish fourth in Round 5 at Canadian Motorsport Park (formally known as Mosport), he would have gladly taken that position. After a difficult test, practice and qualifying session, the team was struggling to feel optimistic looking ahead to the race. However, the Azenis RT slick tires combined with incredibly fast pit stops, a great strategy and stellar driving, the Falken 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR finished fifth. A failed tech inspection for the winning car in the GT class brought the Falken Porsche up to fourth. 

Here’s a behind the scenes look into the race weekend that brought Falken Tire its best finish so far in the 2012 season. 

 Team Manager Phil Howard and Program Manager Derrick Walker do a weekend run-down with the crew upon arriving at the track. Especially in motorsports, communication is key to running a successful team.

The Falken crew unloads the 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. A six-cylinder boxer engine never looked so good!

Bryan signs autographs for young Falken Tire fans: Within just hours of being at the track, a group of young fans stopped by to meet Wolf and Bryan and see the #17 Porsche up close. It was difficult to tell who was more excited: the kids or the drivers. At Round 2 at Long Beach, Wolf and Bryan spoke to a group of children about the life of a race car driver, and took time to answer questions and were even disappointed when it wrapped up ten minutes later.   Needless to say, the Falken drivers enjoy speaking with their young fans.

 
Known amongst the paddock and especially the Falken crew as pranksters, Wolf and Bryan arrived at the track to find someone gave them the taste of their own medicine by decorating the duo’s lockers. Despite the pressure to perform and the constant flow of meetings, interviews and on-track sessions, Wolf and Bryan have no problem making sure they still enjoy the experience of a race weekend. 

A few weeks before the event, FalkenALMS twitter follower @85_froggy tweeted us a picture of an art piece he did featuring the new Porsche.  We invited him to come to our rig to see for ourselves and get it signed. Froggy asked the whole crew to autograph the piece, and later posed for a picture with Bryan and Wolf. Great job, Froggy! You make our stick figures look pretty bad…

Bryan speaking with the TV crew about the importance of each piece of gear that a race car driver has to wear when in the car. Certainly not your typical Sunday dress!

Mike and Renee were the winners for the fan lunch at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park! Mike answered the trivia question on twitter the previous day and got to spend an hour with the drivers. Not only did they discuss the team, tires and car over lunch, but Mike was amazed at the level of interest the drivers had in their fans and how down to earth they were.  The super fan duo stopped by several times during the weekend to show their support—thanks guys!

The Porsche with the well-known Falken Tire livery in pit lane waiting to rejoin the field for the test session. The team was the second highest Porsche for the session and finished 8^th in the GT class.

What’s a great perk to having a race car driver from Germany? The chocolate he brings to the track! In the past, Wolf has also brought chocolate to the children at local hospitals he has visited with the Austin Hatcher Foundation. 

Wolf and Bryan debrief with Program Manager Derrick Walker and Engineer John Ward following a practice session on track at Mosport. These sessions are critical to developing the tires and car set up, and must be done after every session. 

Despite their busy schedule, both Bryan and Wolf made time to visit the PorschePlatz to speak with the members of the Porsche Club of America. The PCA members are always very knowledgeable and are full of questions for the drivers. Due to time constraints, someone usually has to rip the microphone out of Bryan and Wolf’s hands.

Looking for the door? The door handle of the #17 Porsche is clearly labeled in the event that corner workers or safety crews will need to get in the car in a hurry. The three lights along the edge of the door are the leaderboard lights.  With so many cars and so many classes, it can be challenging for spectators to identity who is in the lead.  The leader lights on ALMS cars are different colors for each class and help fans pinpoint the top three cars in each class by how many lights are lit on the panel. 

The Falken Tire Azenis RT Slick tire that makes it all happen! 

Falken Girl Brittney signs posters and gives away swag to eager race fans before the race. 

The Falken Porsche on grid, starting 8^th, ready to go! 

So many fans stopped by on the grid to see the car and get their photos taken with the Falken drivers before the race. Very few race series allow fans to get so close to the cars and drivers. At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the grid was absolutely packed with fans of all ages!

With just a few minutes before everyone else had to clear the grid, Wolf and Bryan spent the final moments intensely focused, blocking out all distractions. 

The Falken crew makes up a spot in another speedy pit stop. If you look closely, they were even moving too fast for the camera! All weekend, the team set aside time to practice their stops, and it paid off, bringing the car home to 4^th in the GT class. 

After the race, Bryan made a beeline to downtown Toronto for a TV interview on AutoShop on CP24. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t let us post any pictures of him in hair and makeup. Maybe next time! Click here to view Bryan’s interview!

Here are the fan photos from the event. Thanks for your submissions!


From Jonathan (@jonathanjbrooks), here's the Falken Tire Porsche and Falken girl Brittney on the ALMS Mosport Grid.



From Steve (@Scanman73), the Falken Porsche comes in for a pit stop


From Froggy (@85_froggy), the Porsche roars through turn four.


And lastly, from Mike (@MikeyP155), here's the #17 Porsche and the Falken Azenis R1 Slicks in the ALMS paddock. 

Next up, the Falken team travels to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course August 2-4 for Round 6 of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron. Live steaming will begin August 4^th at 12:45 EDT. The TV broadcast begins at 2:00pm EDT on ABC.

Falken Tire News:

-         - Miss the Falken Tire teaser video from Round 4 at Lime Rock Park? Here it is! http://bit.ly/MpXpY7
- Team Falken Tire helped raise $115 for the Austin Hatcher Foundation with another live twitter auction Wednesday, August 26. Twitter user Anthony (@atflorio) was the highest bidder of this limited edition art piece by Jim Swintal portraying Falken Tire’s first ALMS win in the rain at Mid-Ohio, also signed by Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers. Follow @FalkenALMS for your chance to win special Falken items and raise money for the Austin Hatcher Foundation.

-       - Falken Tire ALMS merchandise is available on alms.com! Click here to stock up on your swag to support your favorite team!

- Falken Tire is giving away a Porsche 911 Carrera!  Fans can have their chance at winning by clicking ‘Like’ Falken Tire on Facebook to enter by October 21, 2012 at www.facebook.com/falkentire.

Falken Tire Gets a Grip: Inside the Program of “The Little Tire that Could”

Still a young American Le Mans Series team, Team Falken Tire has made its mark in the GT class, both in wet and dry conditions. With the main focus of developing tires, the team has taken on other tire manufactures with more ALMS experience to earn two wins and several top five finishes. We took the most asked questions regarding the tire program in ALMS and sat down with Falken to give fans a more technical look inside the team that continues to make its mark in sports car racing.

How did Falken Tire make the decision to join the American Le Mans Series?

Falken was looking to expose our brand to a different demographic than we had been associated with in years prior.  We had a great reputation with the Gen X and Gen Y through Formula Drift and our other tuner scene involvement but we wanted to further expand the brand awareness.  The American Le Mans Series gave us the perfect opportunity to get involved in a top tier sports car racing environment, something we had never done before in the United States.

With that in mind, the ALMS is the only premiere motorsport that promotes tire competition so it was just a natural fit.  Combine that with the rising popularity of the GT class and the fact that the average consumer can relate to the Porsches, Ferraris, Corvettes and BMWs they see going around the track and we felt it was a great match for us.

Tell us about the life of an ALMS tire, starting from the beginning with the data and ending with what happens once it’s done on track.

Once we go through a tire test, the data and driver feedback is used to give our Lead Design Engineer, Yoshi Yasuda, a direction on how to improve our tire performance.  The design is finalized and the tires are ordered from the factory in Japan.  Depending on the time allowable until the next race, the tires are either shipped by boat or plane to the destination to prepare for competition.  This turnaround takes an average of 30 days from start to finish. Once in the US, the Falken Tire ALMS staff receives the tires, inventories them and does a final quality inspection.  The team and tire engineers agree upon what to begin testing or using at an event, the tires are then fitted to the wheels and put on track for competition.  After the race is completed, select tires are dissected and shipped back to Japan for analysis.  Again, the data and driver feedback from the race is used to go into the next generation of tire available to be used at the next competition.  Every single tire sent to the US is accounted for, used or unused, and sent back to Japan when they are no longer of use in the US.

Roughly how many tires does Falken use each season in the ALMS program?

Including testing, one car uses approximately 380 tires per year.  This does not count excess inventory that may have been produced but never used.

What tracks in the ALMS schedule are the most and least demanding on tires?

Least demanding would have to be street circuits like the Long Beach Grand Prix and Baltimore Grand Prix.  Most demanding would be Mid-Ohio, its abrasive track surface is used in a seemingly constant loaded state caused by long turns and multiple transitions, and Road Atlanta; extreme loads are put on the left side tires due to various significant elevation changes.

With Falken Tire’s reach into other areas of motorsport including tires in drifting and off-roading, how much tire data/development can be carried across the board, if any?

Because of the rules, the tires used in Formula Drift are off the shelf, unmolested RT-615K street tires.  Much the same, our off road tires we use in competition are off the shelf Wild Peak A/T tires but are often hand grooved in order to change the tire characteristics depending on the type of environment they will be used in.  The techniques to prep the tires are all similar however the designs are drastically different.

In what ways is an ALMS tire different from a drifting tire?

As mentioned above, the RT-615K tire used in drifting is an off the shelf tire that anyone can buy at your local Falken Tire retailer.  The ALMS RT-Slick tire is custom made, using cutting edge motorsports technology, in many different variations in Japan and is unavailable to the public.

What kind of education is needed to be a tire engineer?

Obviously, an engineering degree is required.  Outside of that, tire engineers have come from different educational backgrounds.  There are actually different types of tire engineers as well, just like most engineering fields.  To name a few, there are design engineers, compound engineers and track engineers.  Like most fields, experience is a key component to being effective.

What sets Falken Tires apart from the competition?

Right now, Falken only supplies one car in the ALMS.  Our way of thinking is set apart from other manufacturers that supply multiple cars and several platforms.  We are able to focus our efforts on tailoring a tire design for one specific vehicle in the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.  Compared to the competition, we are still very new in the field of international motorsports competition at the highest level so having on chassis to focus on has helped in some ways.

From Lime Rock Park (@LimeRockPark): Do you use different tire compounds for each track?

There is what we call a “compound family” that will contain different compound specs.  We may use the spec at the softer end of the compound family spectrum for track “X” while moving to the harder end of the spectrum for tracks “Y” and “Z”.

From Bob (@BobsterS987): So as we move into heat of summer, how different are the tire compounds for each track? (LRP is thunderstorms & sunny + 90s)

Based on the track characteristics alone, the goal of the compound family mentioned earlier should be able to provide us with an option to use at each track.  One of the most difficult aspects of designing a tire is to develop a compound family that is not extremely temperature sensitive so it can perform in different weather conditions.  After all, no one can ever predict the weather with 100% accuracy, especially when you are building a tire 30 days in advance of an event.

From Spyderman (Ten Tenths Motorsport Forum): Last year the Falken tires were fantastic in the wet. Was this due to the tire construction or rubber compound or both?

We are very happy with our wet tire performance and feel this can be attributed to every aspect of the tire design.

From Spyderman (Ten Tenths Motorsport Forum): How are developments going on the dry tire and how do you compare your current dry tires with those of the competition?

The comparison of our performance to the competition is always a moving target.  Everyone is always trying to get faster and more often than not, they usually do.  With the release of the 2012 version of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR this year, it proved challenging because there were some different characteristics to that chassis compared to the one we ran last year.  Combine that with the fact that our first chance to test with the new car was at the Sebring Winter Test in February; we were playing catch up from the start.  With a few races and tests under our belt, we feel we are beginning to head in the right direction

From I Rosputnick (Ten Tenths Motorsport Forum): What data/knowledge is taken from the racing tyres put into road car tyres that an average person can buy on the market?

Tires, like most components on a race car, are put through extreme conditions in motorsports.  The biggest translation of track to street comes from the relative qualities these tires have and how they react to these extreme conditions.  Similar to automotive manufacturers, when a street tire is introduced it may have similar qualities to a breakthrough in motorsports technology but the level at which it is required to perform and operate for street application is on a much different scale.

Falken Tire News
- Team Falken Tire races this weekend in the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport, July 20-22. Live qualifying will be on ESPN 3 July 21 at 3:15pm; the race will be on July 22 at 11:45 on ESPN 3, and on live television on ESPN 2 at 1:00pm.

- Falken Tire is giving away a Porsche 911 Carrera.  Fans can have their chance at winning by clicking ‘Like’ Falken Tire on Facebook to enter by October 21, 2012 at www.facebook.com/falkentire