The Yokohama Tires display at SEMA 2019

Yokohama Tires display at the 2019 SEMA show

The outdoor Yokohama tire exhibit at the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show was very unique in its compact display of Yokohama ADVAN tire-equipped race cars. ADVAN tires are race-inspired and street legal, and allow drivers to experience exceptional handling with their high performance sports cars.

In 2019, Yokohama Tire Corporation celebrated its 50^th anniversary in the United States.  ADVAN tires are manufactured in the US at Yokohama’s 1.2-million square foot Salem, Virginia facility. Yokohama also has a $300 million one-million square foot commercial truck tire manufacturing facility in West Point Mississippi. 

The first featured car at the SEMA 2019 display was this 2006 BMW M3 E46 GTR raced by Tom Milner’s Prototype Technology Group (PTG) in 2006 with ADVAN 2005 series tires. During its 11 seasons with BMW, the PTG partnership yielded titles in IMSA, the United States Road Racing Club championship, the American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am Series. Powered by a 3.4-liter inline six cylinder engine, Team PTG finished in sixth place in the 2006 American LeMans Series GT2 class.

This Panoz Esperante GTLMe was one of two raced by PTG during the 2007, 2008 and 2009 American Lemans Series seasons in the GT2 class. Powered by 5-liter Ford V-8 engines, the PTG team finished seventh in 2007, sixth in 2008 and fifth in the 2209 season final standings. 

Also on display was the ADVAN 2006 Porsche 911 GTS Cup racer.  For the 2020 racing season, Yokohama is the title sponsor and the ADVAN A052 series is the specified tire for the Porsche Sprint Trophy USA West and Porsche Air-Cooled Cup USA series, as well as the Porsche Sprint Trophy USA West Invitational.

This Yokohama display also included this striking display of hoods with graphics showing the layouts of the tracks which challenge the competitors in the Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup USA presented by Yokohama.

This is the 2018 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport driven by Yokohama brand ambassador Travis Pastrana to victory in the Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama class at the famed Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2018 and 2019. The three-time AMA Motocross and Supercross Champion, X-Game winner and stunt performer set the class-winning time of 10-minute, 33.897 seconds in 2018 in this car equipped with ADVAN A502 tires.

Also on display was this Yokohama sponsored and equipped 2019 Toyota Baja trophy truck built by Racer Engineering.

No 2019 SEMA exhibit would have been complete without a display of 2020 Toyota GR Supra this one of course was equipped with ADVAN APEX V601® high-performance tires.   

Check out the ADVAN website at https://www.yokohamatire.com/advan-tires

All photographs by the author who is a proud member of SEMA 

HONDA RACING AT SEMA 2017

 

 

The American Honda Motor Company booth at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show was heavily populated with racing machines.

Honda Concept Kart

 

 

The Honda Concept Shifter Kart is powered by an electric start 250 CC single cylinder liquid cooled engine four stroke engine CRF250R connected to a five-speed transmission in a Aluminous Kart chassis.

 

 

Honda F3

The 2018 F3 Americas Series racer drew a lot of attention due to its FIA-approved Halo concept cockpit protection on its Ligier Crawford carbon fiber moncoque chassis which features adjustable front and rear wings. The F3 racer is powered by a 270-horsepower turbocharged fuel-injected Honda K20 motor as used in the Honda Civic Type R connected to a sequential Sandev six-speed transmission which is shifted by the driver with paddles adjacent to the steering wheel.    

 

 

The F3 Americas series sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) will debut in April 2018 with a total of six race weekends which will feature two 30-minute races per weekend.  The 2018 F3 races will be contested at Virginia International Raceway, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Pittsburgh International Race Complex, New Jersey Motorsports Park with the season finale at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.   

Acura ARX-05

For the 2018 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar season, Team Penske will campaign the Acura ARX-05 DPi prototype. The Oreca 07 chassis will be powered by the Acura 3.5-liter AR35TT twin-turbo V-6 engine which is used in the Acura MDX, RDX, TLX and RLX passenger cars tuned to produce around 600 horsepower.

 

 

Two Team Penske Acura  ARX-05 racers will debut in the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona scheduled for this weekend January 27 and 28 2018. The Acuras will have a powerful drivers lineup that includes 2017 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar champion Ricky Taylor, Graham Rahal and three-time Indianapolis 500-mile race champion Helio Castroneves in the #7 car.

 

 

2016 INDYCAR champion Simon Pagenaud, two-time Indianapolis 500-mile race champion Juan Pablo Montoya, and 2014 IMSA GTD champion Dane Cameron will be teamed in the #6 entry. Taylor and Castroneves will team to compete on the entire 2018 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar championship trail in one car with Cameron and Montoya teammates in the other car.

Acura TLX GT

 

This specially prepared Acura TLX racer driven by Peter Cunningham set a new Open Class record at the 2017 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, finished second overall and earned Cunningham Rookie of the Year honors at the “Race to the Clouds.” The Acura’s steel unibody was fitted a full steel roll cage carbon fiber hood, trunk deck, front splitter and massive rear wing The car is powered by a modified Acura J35Z3 3.5 liter fuel-inject SOHC engine mated by an all-wheel drive system which propelled the TLX up the mountain in a time of 9 minutes and 33.797 seconds.   

 

 

     

Acura NSX Time Attack

 

 

This modified Acura NSX GT3 racer finished third in the Time Attack class at the 2017 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb driven by James Robinson. Basically a production car with a huge rear wing added, tuning was accomplished through modifications of the Acura Sport Hybrid Super Handling all-Wheel drive system. The output of the 3.5-liter twin turbocharged V-6 engine is supplemented by a direct driveshaft electric motor to the rear wheels and a pair of electric motors acting on the front axle.

 

Follow Acura Motorsports throughout the 2018 season at https://www.imsa.com/manufacturers/acura-motorsports

 

All photos by the author