Nitto Tire and sponsored driver Ryan Gates recently clenched the 2009 Redline Time Attack series championship. The team competed in the Modified All-Wheel Drive (AWD) class, which requires all drivers to use off-the-shelf, street legal tires. Using Nitto’s NT01 road race radials equipped on a Mitsubishi Evo X, the team attended seven of the eight events and won each event they attended. This is Nitto’s first Redline Time Attack championship.

The return of Camp Steeda SVTOA On-Track at Sebring International Raceway is scheduled for May 22 thru May 24.  Steeda Autosports and the SVTOA Tampa Chapter are teaming up to host a complete weekend of pure automotive excitement that annually is THE event for the Ford performance enthusiast. The Camp Steeda / SVTOA-On Track Event is designed to be an educational as well as an exhilarating opportunity for performance vehicle lovers to mingle with other aficionados of performance vehicles, drive around the track at speed, and also to receive professional instruction on how to enhance your driving abilities and vehicle performance capabilities. There will be classroom and trackside instruction as well as lots of track time on the fabled full 3.7 mile Sebring International Raceway.

Nitto Tire teamed up with Achilles Motorsports from Fresno, Calif., for the world’s longest endurance race: the 2008 25 Hours of Thunderhill. The race requires teams to drive throughout the night for 25 hours straight. At the end of 25 hours the team with the most laps is declared the winner. The team campaigned a BMW M3 in the second fastest class overall and the fastest class requiring D.O.T.-compliant tires. The team ran on Nitto’s NT01 road race tires. After an extremely close race, the team finished first in their class, with 477 laps completed and a 9-second lead over second place.

Nitto Tire U.S.A., Inc., and sponsored driver, John Urist, debuted a retro Mustang at the NMRA season opener in Bradenton, Fla., on March 6-9, 2008. Despite a shaky start adjusting to the new vehicle, the team went on to win the event, campaigning in the Super Street Outlaw class. The season win comes on the heels of the team’s 2006 and 2007 back-to-back championships.

Bradenton posed two challenges for Urist: driving a new car and vying for position against twelve other teams. The team built the 1993 Mustang in completely secrecy over the winter. Urist said: “I wanted to do something different. We had great luck with our 2000 Mustang, but I wanted to put that engine onto a different chassis.” Providing the vehicle’s power is a 420 cubic inch windsor motor, fed by a Procharger F3 supercharger. To take advantage of the added boost, Urist added Edelbrock Glidden SC1 heads, which were ported by Kuntz and Company and a Motec fuel injection system tuned by Urist himself. The end result is roughly 2,000 horsepower and pound-feet of torque in a vehicle weighing just over 3,100 pounds.