At the end of the year the hand starts reaching for a pen or a keyboard on its own to sum up all the results. It’s time to look back, make an evaluation of everything that had been done and map out a plan for the future.
One should say that we have never been choosing soft options, have always been working with maximum output, trying to do the best we could. And that’s why we have never been embarrassed by any of our events or products whether it was a video dedicated to Unlim or Unlim itself.
But this year was very special. One can say that the fortune favoured us and all our plans and wishes came true in the best way possible.
It all began with our 10th anniversary Unlim 500+ festival which was held in the middle of May at the usual dragstrip of Dmitrovsky practice ground. Frankly speaking, we were not expecting this event to stir such great interest both among the audience and mass media. Apart from primary TV-channels (like Russia and Russia 2, NTV and Moscow 24) and both specialized and glossy magazines (Za rulem (Behind the wheel), Klaxon, FHM, XXL and others) even foreign journalists arrived as Unlim 500+ had stepped outside the boundaries of a purely Russian event a long time ago and is now making the European audience want to see it all with their own eyes. And also thanks to foreign mass media we were able to organise our first offsite event but we’ll talk about it a bit later.
In order to celebrate our anniversary we decided to do something new — we constructed stands for the audience and Paddock Club and made tickets available for open sale. So what happened next? All tickets were sold out a few days before the beginning of the festival and we had to come up with a solution to satisfy the demand! And we were able to do it. A record-breaking amount of visitors came to Unlim 500+ in May — more than 3 thousand of people — and we still had to restrain the number of people wishing to visit the event as the capacity of Dmitrovsky practice ground is limited.
During this event on May 19 Yuri Milayev behind the wheel of his Nissan GT-R AMS Alpha 12+ was able to set a new world 1 mile trap speed record among Nissan GT-R cars reaching the unbelievable 382.16 km/h (237.5 mph).
Race America — professional timing equipment — was fixing stunning numbers throughout the whole year. Some of the records were set during training days when the participants came to the track outside the competition calendar. On July 13 on that very dynamometric dragstrip of the Dmitrovsky practice ground Leonid driving his Lamborghini LP570–4 Underground Racing R2 / Altechno, which produces 2005 hp, was able to hit the barrier of 22 seconds for the first time on 1 mile distance. His result was 21.852 seconds!
A lot of things happened “for the first time” last year. But probably, one of the most important “first tries” was to conduct an offsite training day in the middle of November. And we had found an excellent location for that — Tympaki airport, the island of Crete! Even after giving a critical evaluation of the entire event, we are proud to say that the team of organisers managed to get an A+ for all the work they had accomplished in spite of a totally new location, technical partners and a few unforeseen circumstances like, for instance, heavy wind during the second day of the event.
But this was not enough for us and we came back to Crete one month later. One more record was set that time. It was Leonid again behind the wheel of his Lamborghini Gallardo Nera who demonstrated a record-setting 1 mile time and hit his own previous result — 20.845 seconds. The speed of his car reached 409 km/h (254.1 mph) and it’s also an absolute Unlim 500+ record and, moreover, it’s a world record among Lamborghini cars and second best 1 mile distance speed in the world — first place still belongs to Ford GT which managed to reach more than 450 km/h (279.6 mph) in Florida more than a year ago.
Below is the list of the brightest 2013 Unlim 500+ achievements which we had gathered, analyzed and summarized:
Three cars with more than 400 km/h (248.5 mph) 1 mile trap speed:
Lamborghini Gallardo Nera Exelixis / GTR RT / ZOD / SPP / GTT / Altechno / Syvecs Leonid V. 409.09 km/h (254.2 mph)
Lamborghini LP570–4 Superleggera Underground Racing R2 / Altechno Leonid V. 402.68 km/h (250.2 mph)
Nissan GT-R (R35) Mk.1 Switzer Goliath Oleg B. 402.23 km/h (249.9 mph)
World’s best 1 mile distance time:
Lamborghini Gallardo Nera Exelixis / GTR RT / ZOD / SPP / GTT / Altechno / Syvecs 1 mile — 20.845 sec @ 409 km/h (254.1 mph)
World’s best 1 mile distance time among Nissan GT-R’s:
Nissan GT-R (R35) Mk.2 AMS Alpha 12+ / Turbo Drive 22.086 sec @ 385.43 km/h (239.5 mph)
World’s fastest 1 mile trap speed among Nissan GT-R’s:
Nissan GT-R (R35) Mk.1 Switzer Goliath Oleg B. 402.23 km/h (249.9 mph)
World’s best 1 mile distance time among sedans:
Audi RS6 (С6) Sportmile R900+ Sportmile R900+ / 27.003 sec @ 311.95 km/h (193.8 mph)
New category — SuperStock — and 3 cars with best time in it:
Nissan GT-R (R35) Mk.3 29.063 sec @ 278.42 km/h (173 mph)
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560–4 29.119 sec @ 283.82 km/h (176.3 mph)
Porsche 911 Turbo (997) Mk.2 29.231 sec @ 281.69 km/h (175 mph)
World’s fastest 1 mile trap speed and best 1 mile distance time among Porsche cars:
Porsche 911 Turbo (997) Mk.1 DT 1200 R 23.669 sec @ 370.75 km/h (230.4 mph)
Fastest SUV in Russia:
Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 (WK) Mk.3 7.0L Custom Turbo 26.413 sec @ 285.26 km/h (177.3 mph)
Unlim 500+ fastest BMW:
BMW M6 (F13) PP-Performance Stage 2 27.555 sec @ 312.77 km/h (194.3 mph)
Unlim 500+ fastest Mercedes-Benz:
Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG (C218) Gorilla Racing Stage 3 27.621 sec @ 305.08 km/h (189.6 mph)
With these results we are entering 2014. We have grown up even more during the past year, gained a lot of experience and became more self-confident. We know that we are able to achieve a lot and first of all it’s because we love what we do and dedicate out souls to everything we do starting from producing gifts and souvenirs and up to setting world records.
That is why we accept the Major Event of the upcoming year as a well-earned continuation of everything we were able to achieve last year. As it is both great responsibility and also great honour: on December 19 the Russian Automobile Federation and SMP Racing signed an agreement appointing Dragtimes to become the organiser of Drag Racing Cup of Russia in 2014–2016!
This does not mean that Unlim 500+ events are going to stop. No, Unlim 500+ events will take place for sure! But besides that there will be new events, new cars, new participants and new locations! And new possibilities! Everything will be bigger and more exciting! And all we want is for you to join us and stay with us as it’s all happening only because of you! What concerns us, in the upcoming Year of the Horse we are ready to work hard and do everything possible and impossible. As it brings so much fun!
Dear friends! Next year is going to be very eventful and efficient. We wish you great health, happiness, reliable cars and high speed and what is more important — a lot of new possibilities to make your life brighter and rich in important events!
See you in 2014! Happy New Year!
