Scion Races Into Its Second Year

September 12, 2006 – Torrance, CA - Scion is off to a great start in its second season of drag racing the tC in the 2006 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and 2006 Number One Parts, Incorporated (NOPI) Drag Racing Association (NDRA) national series.

Defending NHRA Sport Compact Class champion Brad Personett, in Titan Motorsports' Pro RWD/Pro Compact tC, has won eleven national events, and has had six NHRA Sport Compact National wins for the 2006 season. His best run came this past Labor Day weekend at the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Powerade Drag Racing Series, Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at the Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, Indiana. He had a 6.412 e.t. for his record setting run.

The Titan Motorsports' 2005 tC houses a modified 2JZ-GTE Toyota engine producing 1,800 horsepower. This winning racer features G-Force transmission, a Precision Turbo GT55 turbo, RC Engineering injectors, MoTeC CDI8 ignition management system, a Fidanza flywheel, MoTeC M800 engine management system, Strange struts, carbon front and rear brakes, and Koni shocks. The tC has been racing to victory on Goodyear 1022 34.5 x 16 x 16 tires and Weld Racing Mangnum Drag wheels.

Leslie Durst-Armendariz, a sophomore with Scion Racing, debuted her Horizon Motorsports All-Motor tC at the NHRA Virginia Sport Compact Nationals the weekend of April 22. Since the start of the season, Durst-Armendariz has had several sub-10 second qualifying runs. Her best pass was a 9.79 e.t. at 138 mph. Durst-Armendariz has placed second twice, at the Las Vegas NHRA Sport Compact Nationals and NDRA series in Atco, N.J., through July race appearances.

Durst-Armendariz began racing four years ago and was named Turbo magazine's 2003 Rookie of the Year. In 2003 she clocked the class' first nine-second run and set the Pomona (Calif.) Raceway track record of 9.934 e.t. at 134 mph, making her the first female driver to hold a record in that series.

The Horizon Motorsports 2006 tC features a modified 2AZ-FE engine with an output of 320 horsepower. The factory engine head is ported by Vance and Hines. The vehicle also features CP pistons, Cunningham connecting rods, Drive Shaft Shop axles, a Weldon fuel pump, Bosch fuel injectors, a Kinsler fuel regulator and filter, XRP fuel hoses, NGK ignition wires and spark plugs, an AEM CDI ignition, MSD coils, TWM Induction throttle bodies, an AEM EMS engine management system, Strange struts, and CNC brakes. This tC rides on 29 x 9 x 15 Goodyear Racing tires and Weld Racing wheels.

Christian Rado, a driver with Scion Racing for two years, had his first seven-second run in WORLD Racing's Pro Outlaw FWD tC with a 7.879 e.t. at 174.64 mph at this year's NOPI XBOX Cup event at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Ga. Rodo's new tC made its first competitive debut at the NDRA race at Atco. In August 2006, Rado won at NDRA in Epping, New Hampshire with a run of 8.278 seconds at 171.88 mph, also a personal best.

Rado's 2006 tC features a modified 3RZ-FE Toyota four-cylinder engine with a Garrett GT4788 turbocharger that is expected to produce over 1,500 horsepower. The tC features a Liberty Equalizer four-speed transmission, Weismann drive, Mark Williams nine-inch rear end and axles, a mechanical fuel pump with 8 x 1600 cc methanol Bosch injectors, a Tin Works custom intake aluminum manifold, a MoTeC CDI-8 ignition box, a MoTeC M880 engine management system, and custom Lamb front and rear suspension components and carbon front and rear brakes. The tC rides on Mickey Thompson front tires, Goodyear rear tires and Weld Racing wheels.

Kenny Tran showed off his new tC at the Las Vegas NHRA Sport Compact Nationals this past July. Tran began his professional racing career in 1997 and went on to compete in the NHRA Sport Compact and NOPI Race Wars series. He finished third in the Hot Rod point standings for the fourth time in his career in 2005.

The Q – Nitto 2006 tC is a methanol-powered race-modified 2.4-liter 3RZ-FE Garrett / Precision turbocharged Toyota engine expected to produce over 1,100 horsepower. Tran's Hot Rod Scion racer features a Precision – Garrett GT42R ball bearing turbo with full race manifold, a Peterson mechanical pump with eight 1600 cc precision injectors, a Precision liquid-air intercooler, a Tin Works manifold, an Accufab throttle body, MoTeC M800 and ADL engine management systems, custom Brink suspensions with Strange shocks and carbon brakes, and an Xtrac sequential gear box. The car will burn up the track on Nitto Drag Slicks 28 x 10.5 x 15 tires and American Racing TrakStar Lite wheels.