Tags Posts tagged with "STILLEN Project Vehicles"

STILLEN Project Vehicles

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Well, I am sitting in the hotel room in Manakau (man-ah-cow) and I’m a bit confused about this week in New Zealand with the STILLEN team competing in the Targa Rally.  In 2006 I packed some board shorts, t-shirts, shorts, a couple pairs of jeans and a light wind breaker.  I immediately went down and bought myself a heavy jacket, jeans, and some rain gear.  In 2008 I was optimistic and brought down a pair of board shorts, couple pair of shorts and some t-shirts along with a heavy jacket and jeans.

Upon my arrival I dumped the T-shirts, shorts, and boardshorts at the house as I realized I wouldn’t need any of it for the week.  Just stuck with the jeans and jackets and was good all week.  This year when I packed I laughed when I saw my clean boardshorts sitting in the closet, grabbed all my jeans, my heavy jackets, and one pair of shorts and a few shirts.  Now I’m convinced that New Zealand is messing with me.  We haven’t had a drop of rain or even a menacing cloud and the weather reports are good for most the week with some rain possible towards the end of the week.  Just my luck!!!

As normal, Prologue day was spent with a couple of shake down stages just to get the cars sorted and the drivers and navigators on the same page.  This year Prologue was held at Hampton Downs, a beautiful new circuit about 30 minutes outside of Manakau.  Just like 2008 we’re keeping the car at the Telstra center.  During the down time we took a look at the competitors GT-R’s and I must say, they are well prepared!

Metalman’s GT-R looks very well prepared and appears to be well sorted.  Also, Clark Proctor seems to have a good handle on the car and was doing a good job pedaling around Hampton Downs.  Harry Dodson in the Dodson Motorsports GT-R arrived with a long list of light weight carbon fiber goodies and power adders.  Harry was quick around the track and put on a good show!  Tony Quinn is never someone to overlook with more GT-R targa experience than any of us and is always competitive!  Overall we’re excited for a fun, competitive week and look forward to seeing it all unfold.

Not much to report today so I just wanted to shoot some pictures over and give you a brief update on how we’re all doing.  Steve is liking the car and Phillip is getting comfortable in the passenger seat.  Joe and Mark didn’t have to do too much today.  We took advantage of the repeatability of the race track and tested out different tire pressures and different suspension settings.  Steve was able to find his sweet spot and preferred specifications and get the car dialed in.

Here’s a Ford GT, which is an great reminder of the bright orange STILLEN Ford GT that we last ran here at previous years of the Targa New Zealand!

What’s that? Never seen a furry Mitsubishi Van?  Now you can check that off your bucket list..

Daily updates to come!

Follow all of the coverage of the 2010 Dunlop Targa New Zealand Rally

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Well, it’s that time of year again.  Every year around this time we prepare for Steve Millen to send the race car to some far off country or island where we will race for 5 days straight and cover nearly 2,000 miles.  In 2009 the team took on the challenges of Targa Newfoundland for the first time and brought home a first place finish in the modern division, first place finish for the manufacturers, and put down some new stage records on the public streets of Gander and others.  It was an amazing journey that saw the unveiling of the STILLEN GT-R in Targa rally competition.

If you’ve been following the STILLEN GT-R race-car you’ve seen that upon completion of the Targa Newfoundland rally the car was immediately driven by Steve and his wife Jodi back across the border to Maine, where it was picked up by Fedex vehicle transport and shipped to Texas for the National Z convention.  From there it was sent straight to Nissan headquarters in Tennessee where it sat on display in the lobby and Steve even drove it through the assembly plants in Smyrna!  After a few weeks of traveling around the country the car came back to Costa Mesa where the guys at STILLEN had just enough time to wash it, put it back on a transporter and send it to SEMA show where it was put on display in the BASF booth.  Since then the car has been on display at the Toronto auto show, numerous local car shows, the cover of DSPORT Magazine and the team even had time to test some new parts up at Spring Mountain and the Highway 341 Challenge.

2010 sees the return of Steve Millen to the Targa New Zealand rally.  In years past Steve has driven numerous different cars at the Targa rally including 6 cylinder Ford Falcon’s (basically a Taurus), a wild turbo inline-6 all wheel drive Focus that would have been an awesome car had it been able to complete all of the stages before retiring mid-week with mechanical troubles, and all the way to the Ford GT supercar that we campaigned for two years in 2006 and 2008.  The GT was a blast but it was no match for the all wheel drive Subaru’s, Evo’s, and GT-R’s.  So, Steve fixed that… Now we’re bringing an all wheel drive GT-R of our own.

At the end of June Steve and the crew competed in the Spectre 341 Hillclimb Challenge and just two days after competing loaded the car in a container and sent it on its way to New Zealand.  The car needed to leave a little earlier than normal this year because it was going to be the feature vehicle of the largest automotive show in New Zealand.  With a great showing at Speed Show and a few magazine’s writing stories about the car Steve came home and began the work out routine to keep himself in shape for competition.  He also began working closely with his new navigator and letting him know what he was looking for and what he wanted to hear.  This year Steve is throwing Philip Adamson in the passenger seat of the GT-R for the navigator duties.  Philip has co-driven in Targa events before and has some experience in what the driver needs to hear.  Good luck Philip!

I (Kyle Millen) will be leaving next Wednesday with Mark Ungles and Joe Nagy.  Mark has been a part of the Targa rally team since 2006 and Joe came on board in 2009 for Targa Newfoundland.  You might remember Mark and Joe were the Mcgyver mechanics in Newfoundland when they were able to hold a CV boot together with RTV silicone before a replacement could be sourced!!!  I will be heading down again to follow along the rally and send back nightly updates on our progress.  Check back in a few days as I plan on writing a couple of updates on the car and work we’ve done before competition begins.  We can’t wait to get started and hope you enjoy the action!

Follow all of the coverage of the 2010 Dunlop Targa New Zealand Rally

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NZ Autocar magazine is the premier automotive magazine covering all things cool in the automotive world of New Zealand, and this month the STILLEN GT-R graces the cover and a full 8-page feature with performance testing.

With the STILLEN GT-R down in New Zealand for both the Speedshow (NZ’s largest auto show) where it was on display with the matching orange STILLEN Ford GT, and the upcoming Targa New Zealand Rally,  it was the perfect opportunity for Steve Millen to meet with Kyle Cassidy, Editor of NZ Autocar, and get his take after experiencing the STILLEN-built R35 GT-R.

To quote Kyle Cassidy from the September 2010 issue of NZ Autocar:

“For crushing performance, we thought we couldn’t do much better than the Nissan   GT-R – but we were wrong. Strapped into a modified STILLEN version, we recorded our fastest four-wheeled 80-120km/h time ever.”

“…it’s ludicrously loud, and the ride is uncompromising, but the leap in performance of the STILLEN car over the alerady quick stock offering is staggering.”

-Click Here To Download PDF Version of the Article-

Images are smaller for web view – To read the full story click here!

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We recently worked with Truckin’ Magazine on some high speed brake testing, putting the AP Racing BBK designed by STILLEN to the ultimate test at El Toro Marine Base.

Truckin’ editor Dan Ward pushed their 2004 GMC Sierra “Project Novakane” to the limit with repeated 80-0 mph stops beginning with the factory setup, swapped brake systems, and repeated the aggressive testing on the truck after outfitting the AP Racing setup onto the truck.

Below is an excert from the article with performance data from their extensive testing:

Truckin’ Magazine – October 2010 Issue

“Rather than test the truck from 60 mph, we hit the ‘whoa’ pedal at 80 mph, after all, do you really drive 60 mph on the freeway? Factory braking performance was dreadful, as a combination of grooved rotors and newish pads made for chassis vibrations when stopping and a weak pedal. After bolting on the 20-inch wheels and tires to the Sierra, the sticky Nitto tires actually improved the stopping distances, which confused us at first, but then we released the overall weight of the new wheels and tires wasn’t much heavier than our OE combo.

GM touted the redesigned ’99+ fullsize trucks as having the best brakes in their long history of building trucks. That’s nice marketing hype, but GPS data acquisition doesn’t lie and the new AP Racing brakes are the double-D cups to the OE’s training bra. We weren’t surprised to have better overall stopping power, after all, that’s what we expected from a company with a rich racing heritage, but what did surprise us was the pedal feel. Without being touchy, the brake pedal is now very linear with minimal inputs doing an impressive job of bringing the 4,300-pound truck to a standstill. As expected, the aggressive brake pads are heavy on the dust, which provides us another excuse to wash the wheels/tires more often. This upgrade was expensive, but unlike in many cases, you actually get what you pay for from Stillen.

With the AP kit bolted on, we made several 80-0 mph test runs and came away with an average of 226 ft, more than 144 ft than better than stock. That’s equivalent to stopping in only 5.56 school buses or basically stopping before going through an entire intersection and saving the lives of more than 350 kids in those buses.

Also, the green AP heat paint that was applied to the stock rotors burned white, meaning they exceeded 430 degrees Celcius during hard braking, but the new AP rotors didn’t burn through the green paint. This translates into the drilled holes and vents doing their job by keeping the rotor surface cooler, longer. If safety and performance are high on your list, bringing your truck to an immediate halt doesn’t get much better than with AP Racing’s bolt-on big brakes.”

You can read the full article here, and below are some images from the story:
Truckin’ Magazine Project Novakane Part III: AP Racing

 

Parts discontinued, article kept for informational purposes.

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Steve Millen and the STILLEN team have returned home from the Spectre 341 Challenge.  We had a great trip and we are already thinking of ways to improve the car for next year and see what kind of car I (Kyle Millen) can bring up there to compete in!  The team at Spectre did a great job for their first event and we are really looking forward to heading back next year!


Photo courtesy of Larry Chen / Spectre 341

The GT-R finished 2nd overall, missing the top time by 1 second. Next year we’ll be bringing back some Dunlops and should be able to pick up at least 5 or 6 seconds.  Unfortunately the Bridgestone run flats did not offer enough grip for the hill climb.  But, we knew that going into the event as the Dunlop tire is the NISSAN recommended performance tire.  Unfortunately they were out of stock though so we had to run the Bridgestone’s.

Virginia City is an amazing little town and if anyone is ever in search of a fun destination that will take them back to the old western movies, this place will make you feel like John Wayne…It is truly unbelievable!  The town is nearly 300 years old and I’m pretty sure the only modern updates are the paved roads.  The sidewalks are still wood, the buildings are hundreds of years old and they are awesome!  The locals are also extremely nice and friendly.

Steve ran his fast times of the day early in the morning on Saturday morning and around noon made the decision to pack up and head home.  He reported that the road had become too hot and the tires too slick so he felt like he had gone as fast as he could go.  As you know, we had two days to turn the car around and get it into a transporter headed for targa New Zealand on Tuesday so we all decided it was best to just save the car and head home a little early.

Here’s some photos of some of the cars at the event:

Around noon we were on the road home.  I made the 480 mile road trip in about 8.5 hours in our supercharged 370Z.  I was also really impressed that I did it on one tank of gas which means it averaged around 27 MPG!  Not bad!

Unfortunately one of the other competitors Alex (VRAlexander) Djordevic had gone off the road in the fastest section and did not survive. All of us at STILLEN would like send our thoughts and well wishes to Alex’s family and friends.

Photos by Boxtergirlie01 via 6speedonline.com

More Coverage:

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Looks like cell phone coverage is decent out in Virginia City where STILLEN and Steve Millen are running the GT-R at the Spectre 341 Challenge. We’ll use this blog post as a place to post updates and photos we get back from the team.  We’ll have a full recap after the event ends.

Friday 6/25 – 11:20am (Kyle via text)

Phone works okay.. no real updates.. did drivers meeting this morning and the drivers got a tour of the race course with tips from Amir from Spectre

The HRE Porsche is pretty nice and looks well prepared and the LG Vette is nice.. light weight good tires.. all good

There’s a hearse here too!  I don’t know about it though.. I think they are just here

Friday 6/25 – 11:43am (Kyle via text)

The hearse now has numbers.. looks like it’s running!

Friday 6/25 – 12:33pm (Kyle via text)

Just started sprinkling and apparently they’re delaying the start (we’d really like to run!)

(Questioned Kyle on whether it was a get in line type of deal, or if everyone is running it a set number of times?)
Just get in line..

We haven’t even left the hotel.. were trying to convince them to let us run

There is 700-1100 horsepower Porsche.. there are some huge horsepower cars up here

Friday 6/25 – 12:33pm (Kyle via text)

We did find out though that they aren’t posting any times until tomorrow night.  We have a stop watch that we’ll keep track of our time, but we don’t know how everyone else is doing

Steve and Jodi Millen

That’s not a typo on Jodi’s race suit!

Friday 6/25 – 2:27pm (Kyle via text)

We were two minutes from starting but the safety crew had to leave for a local accident… no go on the restart.  The accident was not on the course.. the same crew is on call for the other highways as well.  Unfortunately this is cutting down on the number of possible runs.

Friday 6/25 – 2:52pm (Kyle via text)

Cars are away!!!  The GT-R was second in line!

Friday 6/25 – 3:20pm (Kyle via text)

First run was good.. they’re just going to increase boost.. tires are still a bit greasy but starting to come in

Friday 6/25 – 3:46pm (Kyle via text)

GT-R just took off for its second run.. looks like he’s chasing it harder this run

Friday 6/25 – 4:15pm (Kyle via text)

Here’s a quick video from a corner I’m standing on of the GT-R

 

Here’s a video of the Viper coming around the same corner

 

Friday 6/25 – 4:59pm (Kyle via text)

Done for the day.. Steve is pretty happy with the car and is still trying to scrub in the tires.  Only made three runs but I think they’re happy with what theyre seeing.

The high elevation has caused a big drop in boost but the TurboSmart boost controller is allowing them to adjust that and increase pressure.

Look for more updates tomorrow..

Saturday 6/26 – 9:08am (Kyle via text)

First run of the day they shaved 3.5 seconds off from their fast time from yesterday.

Saturday 6/26 – 9:34am (Kyle via text)

They just shaved another three seconds.

There is a really fast EVO up here with really sticky nittos and the driver has a lot of experience.

Saturday 6/26 – 9:59am (Kyle via text)

If we had some better tires like the Dunlops we’d be much faster.  Unfortunately the Dunlops are on national back order otherwise we’d have them on the car.. according to Nissan they’re good for around a second a mile faster.

Saturday 6/26 – 10:16am (Kyle via text)

Saturday 6/26 – 10:25am (Kyle via text)

We softened the STILLEN front sway bar last night, and Steve is saying its helped a lot and he can start turning the back of the car today.. I’m sure that’s where some of the time is coming from.

Saturday 6/26 – 10:40am (Kyle via text)

Quick video of the ZR1

Quick video of Steve and the STILLEN GT-R

Saturday 6/26 – 10:50am (Kyle via text)

Steve and Team STILLEN are done for the day.. the road is extremely slick, and the tires don’t have any grip any more.

With having to ship the car to New Zealand for the Targa Rally in a couple of days, and not having good tires, Steve’s just taking it kinda easy.

This is a fun event and we will be back for sure next year.

More Coverage:

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The busy schedule for the STILLEN R35 Nissan GT-R has finally finished with the shows and now it’s time to get back to racing!  Team STILLEN will be bringing the orange beast to Virginia City, Nevada for the first annual running of the Spectre 341 Challenge being held June 25-26, 2010.

This event is held on a closed section of Highway 341 that would normally be opened to the public.  Originally started in the early 70’s this event was pioneered by the local Ferrari clubs.  The event ran until 2002 before being shut down.  2010 marks the re-organization of the event and the new promoter Spectre 341’s involvement.  The course is 5.2 miles long with plenty of high speed long turns and narrow switchbacks.  In barely over 5 miles the event travels 1,200+ feet in elevation!!!  The current record up the hill is three minutes and 10 seconds.  Held by the president of Spectre Performance and his highly modified F40 Ferrari.  Steve Millen and Team STILLEN hope to break that record and perhaps dip under the three minute mark!

To prepare for the event the Team headed out to Spring Mountain Raceway to do a little track testing.  Spring Mountain is a good test area for this event because Highway 341 offers pretty flat, high speed turns, and a few tight twisty areas as well, very similar to a track like Spring Mountain.  The main priorities at Spring Mountain were tire testing, suspension development, and increased boost pressure.  Further development back at the shop consisted of installing GReddy Intercoolers, GReddy Hard Pipes, and a GReddy Cold Air Intake.

Never one  to miss an opportunity to challenge themselves, Steve and the Team will tow the car up to Virginia City on Thursday, race on Friday and Saturday.  Then head home Sunday.  That seems pretty simple.  However the added twist, Steve has to have the car in the container headed for New Zealand on the following Tuesday!

That leaves the team just 2 days to take the GT-R from a hillclimb car to rally car.  We’re sending the car down a little early this year as it will be one of the main exhibits in the New Zealand Speed Show event.  The New Zealand Speed Show is the largest automotive show in the country and both STILLEN Targa rally cars will be on display!  The STILLEN Ford GT will be coming back out into the spot light and will be positioned right next to the Nissan GT-R.

There is a lot going on here at STILLEN and we would like to invite you to follow along with us!!!

More Coverage:

Here’s a quick video introduction to the Spectre 341 Challenge

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ybahw79Muw[/youtube]

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We recently met up with the guys at DSPORT Magazine at a local studio to shoot the STILLEN R35 GT-R for the cover and feature of their July 2010 issue.  We’re happy to announce that this issue is currently on the newsstands, and has been delivered to subscribers!

In addition to getting some fanastic studio shots of the GT-R with the beautiful Ariel Marie, DSPORT also shot Steve Millen’s Championship IMSA 300ZX Twin Turbo inside this issue.  Richard Fong also spent some good time with Steve Millen discussing both the exploits of the R35 GT-R as it tackled Targa Newfoundland, it’s plans for the rest of 2010, and some history of the IMSA 300ZX and racing stories of Steve.

This is the largest issue yet of DSPORT, their 91st in fact, with everything from event coverage, some very cool vehicle features, product tech and testing, model photos and interviews, and industry news.

 

Be sure to hit the newsstand and check this issue out before June 30th!

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Earlier this month we said goodbye again to the STILLEN R35 GT-R after getting the call from Nissan that they would like to bring the GT-R back into Canada for the 2010 Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.

Nissan arranged for transport, and placed the Targa GT-R in the center of their booth, giving attendees a chance to get inches away from the Orange Godzilla and get a peek for themselves. The show runs through February 21, 2010. [Pictures & Video after the jump]

TBWA\Toronto, Nissan’s agency in Canada put together this video of the GT-R on location at the show:

OFFICIAL NISSAN PRESS RELEASE:

Mississauga, Ontario – The Stillen GT-R that competed at the 2009 Targa Newfoundland will be on display at Nissan’s booth at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto in February.

Race car driver Steve Millen and his Stillen crew completed a tear-down and build-up of the GT-R to compete in the Newfoundland tarmac rally race.

“Nissan is excited to provide GT-R fans with this special appearance,” said Jeff Parent, vice-president of sales and marketing at Nissan Canada. “The Stillen crew showed us all just how mean ‘Godzilla’ can be, so we wanted to give fans a chance to get up close and personal to this great machine.”

While many modifications were made, the major change was a weight reduction of 78 kilograms over the stock model, along with increased throttle response and appropriate suspension changes.

The Stillen GT-R reached 96 km/h in 2.9 seconds, compared to 3.5 seconds in the stock version.

Here’s some photos of the GT-R at the event, taken by Ryan Cash with rwdftw.com:

If you haven’t seen the STILLEN GT-R in action, here’s a couple of in-car footage of stages during the 2009 Targa Newfoundland Rally:

STILLEN R35 GT-R – Brigus Stage – Day 5

STILLEN R35 GT-R – Gander Stage – Day 2

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STILLEN Nada Guides GT-R shipping out for SEMA 2009

After spending only a short time back home, the STILLEN NADA Guides GT-R is once again going away. This time it is being trucked out to the SEMA show (Nov. 3 – 6 in Las Vegas), where it will be taking up residence in the BASF Automotive Refinish Solutions booth in the Racing and Performance area (booth 21442).

The Millens Look On As The STILLEN NADA Guides GT-R is Loaded
STILLEN NADA Guides GT-R entering it's new double-decker accommodations

Double Decker Accomodations
STILLEN NADA Guides GT-R entering it's new double-decker accommodations

Tucked In
STILLEN Nada Guides GT-R tucked away on the top level of the truck for the trip out to SEMA 2009

If you’re going to be at the show, stop by and check out the car and that Orange Sherbert Paint in person at Booth# 21442.

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Founded in 1986, STILLEN is recognized as one of the premier tuners in the world. With Engineers and a full R&D department on location, STILLEN has long been engineering brake rotors & pads, developing superchargers with Magnuson, Edelbrock, Whipple, Vortech, and under the leadership of championship race car driver Steve Millen, trusted by thousands of enthusiasts, manufacturing STILLEN branded products and upgrades, as well as wholesale distribution and retail partners.
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