People Places & Racing News

Racing News: Pirelli World Challenge Champion Paul Brown Passes Away

  brown
Paul Brown
   
Pirelli World Challenge Champion Paul Brown Succumbs to Cancer
Champion race-car driver Paul Brown of Covina, California, passed away last Saturday morning after battling cancer. He was 43.

Highlighted by the 2011 Pirelli World Challenge GTS Drivers’ Championship, Brown started his racing career in 1992 in SCCA Club Racing. He made his first SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge start in 1993 at Des Moines, and would run another 41 races through the 2000 season before taking a hiatus from the series. After a handful of starts in 2008–2009, Brown returned for a full slate in with his Tiger Racing/Paul Brown Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302S in 2011.

At the season-opening round at St. Petersburg, Brown earned his first-career pole position and followed that with a win at Long Beach. Brown would win four more times in 2011 en route to a dominating Drivers’ Championship.

Following the season, Brown was diagnosed with an aggressive melanoma and began undergoing treatment. The team signed Justin Bell to drive the No. 50 Mustang for 2012 in Brown’s absence. With Bell unable to attend the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (Mosport) event in June due to a scheduling conflict, Brown returned to the driver’s seat for what would turn out to be the final time. Battling side effects from the cancer treatment, Brown raced to a pair of top-10 finishes, highlighted by a fourth-place run on Saturday.

Brown married fellow World Challenge driver Carol Hollfelder in 2005. The couple each came from a racing family. Brown’s father is renowned Mustang tuner Kenny Brown, and Hollfelder’s father, Tom, has been a fixture in North American vintage racing scene for many years and also previously competed in World Challenge. Outside of the driver’s seat, Brown managed the shop at Tiger Racing.

Service arrangements are not yet available.
  falken
Justin Pawlak, piloting the Falken Tire Ford Mustang, qualified second at the Formula Drift season finale.
   

Team Falken Takes a Pair of Silvers
The Formula Drift season finale “Title Fight” held in Southern California’s “House of Drift,” Irwindale Speedway, saw Team Falken’s Vaughn Gittin Jr., yield to second place in this year’s Driver’s Championship, while teammate Justin Pawlak, also a contender for the overall win, earned second place in the night’s final round, losing to the 2012 champion, Daigo Saito.

Pawlak, piloting the Falken Tire Ford Mustang, qualified second, while Gittin Jr., was in ninth, with teammates Daijiro Yoshihara in 17th and Darren McNamara in 30th. Both Gittin Jr., and Pawlak advanced to the Top 16. However, after a lengthy “half-time,” Gittin Jr., was defeated by Pat Mordaunt while Pawlak advanced after defeating Ryan Tuerck. Competitor Saito took the win in the final round. Pawlak ended up in fourth in the 2012 Driver Championship while Defending Formula D Champion “Dai” Yoshihara finished in seventh.

hotchkis
Hotchkis Sport Suspension's new Scion FR-S project car clocked the quickest time of the day at 86Fest.
 
   

Hotchkis Clocks Fastest Time at 86Fest Autocross
At the famed Auto Club Speedway, Hotchkis Sport Suspension's new Scion FR-S project car clocked the quickest time of the day. 86Fest brought Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ owners together with fans of the original “AE86” Toyota Corolla (the new cars’ spiritual predecessor) for a car show and autocross competition. Team Hotchkis joined in on the festivities and competed in the autocross competition with its own FR-S project vehicle.



Driven by Hotchkis Chief Engineer Aaron Ogawa, the Hotchkis FR-S repeatedly produced quicker lap times that were seconds ahead of any FR-S or BRZ. According to Hotchkis, while the average FR-S/BRZ on stock tires could trip the lights at around 42 seconds, the more modified cars could do it in 38 to 40 seconds. The Hotchkis FR-S, however, was consistently completing laps in the 36-second range and set a best time of 35.58 seconds.



The car’s handling advantage stems from a combination of the new Hotchkis Sport Suspension package, which includes sport coil springs, front and rear adjustable sport sway bars with upgraded end links, front sport caster/camber plates and the front sport strut tower brace. For additional speed, the Hotchkis FR-S is also equipped with a PST carbon-fiber driveshaft, Magnaflow Exhaust and a Takeda cold air intake.



The Hotchkis FR-S and a complete Hotchkis Sport Suspension system will be on display in Hotchkis booth #21261 at the upcoming 2012 SEMA Show.