HRE Performance Wheels

HRE heads to Virginia International Raceway for Grassroots Motorsports Magazine’s supercar showdown, where several HRE-equipped cars battled for bragging rights on one of the country’s most challenging tracks

HRE was named “The Official Race Wheel” of the annual Ultimate Track Car Challenge, held at the beautiful Virginia International Raceway (VIR) this past Friday, July 23rd. The event was created by our friends at Grassroots Motorsports magazine to bring out the best race car builders and drivers for one day to compete against one another in 5 classifications, all running the 3.27 mile road course for their fastest lap in a time trial format.

Many in the field of nearly 70 teams came for the bragging rights, some to go after the HRE sponsored contingency purse, and others for the camaraderie. Guy, Mickey and Dave from HRE came to meet all the racers and builders, cheer them on, hand out awards, and to make sure our soon-to-be-released forged Monoblok Motorsport wheel was on-target to fill the needs of the fastest race cars in the country.

The field was diverse, including cars such as the Porsche 911 Turbo and GT3 Cup, Dodge Viper ACR, BMW M3, Noble M400, Ferrari 360 and 430, Corvette Z06, Mitsubishi Evo, Subaru WRX and more. Two of the standouts competing on HRE wheels included a heavily-tuned Accumoto Porsche Cayman S, and the formidable Forged Performance Nissan GTR.

Accumoto’s Cayman S looked very aggressive with HRE P40 wheels and tuned suspension. Driven by racer Mark White, this mid-engined missile had a great showing at the track, laying down some incredible segment times, battling some ABS gremlins, and finishing just off the podium. Pretty incredible, considering Mark was injured in an accident just before the race; he gingerly walked the pits with help from a cane (a very cool carbon fiber one), but after strapping into the racing seat he was comfortable as ever. We asked him if his injured left ankle hurt while depressing the clutch pedal out on the track, and in typical speed junkie fashion he replied “nope, when I’m out there, I don’t feel any pain, I feel great!” The Cayman featured a 400hp+ TPC-turbocharged powerplant. All in all, the recently completed car had a great showing, and after some brake system work, the Accumoto Cayman will be eating up surprised 911 owners at the track. Congrats to Accumoto from HRE on a beautiful car build, and an impressive driving display by Mark White!

Forged Performance raised some eyebrows even before the event began. A few people found out Sharif Abdelbaset was coming to pilot the formidable Nissan GTR, and the reactions we heard were “wow, that car is f-a-a-s-s-t…and so is Sharif!” The tuned Nissan is equipped with forged HRE Comp Series wheels with classic racing gold center finish and ultra lightweight titanium hardware. If you’re a serious car nut, you could imagine the big grins and chills running up our spines as we listened to this GTR’s deep, menacing exhaust note while accelerating past apexes and building up to a powerful scream as it blasted up the VIR straightaway. Sharif grabbed an impressive 2nd Place in his class and fourth overall, just five seconds out of 1st and nearly half a second in front of his nearest competitor. Forged Peformance continues to build a reputation for top notch GTR tuning, and HRE is proud to be a performance equipment partner.

Phil Currin ended winning the event in his highly modified Mopar, and the time spread between the top three finishers was less than one second. More details will be available soon in Grassroots Motorsports Magazine. Overall it was a fantastic event and we were thrilled to be a part of it. Look for more interviews and stories coming soon right here on HREWheels.com/blog

Racing photos courtesy of Art Sinnott at www.fandsenterprises.com