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The Rest of the Story: Tony Angelo's Scion FR-S Feature
By Justin Banner
Finally, after several months of hard work, building, testing, and rebuilding Tony Angelo and his team have finished their US Air Force Scion FR-S that they will campaign in the 2013 Formula Drift Season. At the first round Tony and his team didn't really get a chance to compete. However, there was a lot learned from Long Beach that Tony took to Round 2 at Road Atlanta. Before the TAngelo Racing team continue on the Road to the Championship, let us take a journey into the Air Force FR-S of which Tony will be the pilot. Yes, the pun was on purpose. Okay, it wasn't good but stay with me here.
Considering that this FR-S was built in just a few months and Tony was able to make it to qualifying in Long Beach is actually a grand feat in itself. There were many cars that didn't make it to the event that were started months in advance before Tony even received his car. Even more FD cars didn't qualify because their cars didn't run. More seat time in the car will help Tony and his team get the car more situated. This allowed them to be better prepared for Road Atlanta. Enough said about the TAngelo team, let's get down to business and see what they have to work with.
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| The first thing that hits you is the bright red nose and the paint scheme of the US Air Force FR-S. “With the Air Force sponsorship, we looked to some old warplanes for inspiration and some of our favorite P-51 schemes used that red nose,” Tony explained, “and we just thought it was super rad to tie that bright red into the gray.” |
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| Continuing with the exterior, you start to realize that this FR-S uses the infamous “Rocket Bunny” kit found on many FR-S builds that you may have seen running around. Tony's FR-S doesn't use the wing that the kit comes with though, and with the paint scheme the way it is, you almost don't notice it until you look at the camo fender flares. The Rocket Bunny kit is imported by Greddy USA and is designed by Kei Miura of TRA Kyoto. Some of you readers may not be familiar with TRA Kyoto or Kei Miura outside of the FR-S world. He's actually more well known for the “NASCAR inspired” Nissan S13 Silvia kit and is the same guy behind the design of the “Ben Sopra” R35 GT-R kit. |
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| With so many people running the Rocket Bunny FR-S kit, why run it? “Because it's sweet as hell!” Tony exclaimed, “I knew there would be a few teams running the Rocket Bunny kit, but it's just the sweetest kit out there and we wanted to make sure the car looked awesome.” Well, if there is one thing you must know about Tony, he's into anything that makes a car stand out. From his 787B-themed RX-8, the tC from last year, and now the US Air Force FR-S one thing his cars aren't is boring. “Also we got hooked up by the guys at Greddy USA who are the exclusive Rocket Bunny USA distributors.” That always helps too. |
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| I have to say, despite everyone using it, the kit isn't bad looking. I Just wish everyone and their cousin would stop rocking the Rocket Bunny. However, I do understand that the market hasn't caught up with the FR-S and BRZ so aero options are limited at the moment. Well, unless you want to use the crazy and functional kit from Evasive Motorsports. |
