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Time to read 6 min
Many of us may unknowingly witness the development of greatness and future success through the simple actions and reactions of our fellow human beings during everyday life. In the automotive world, especially through the work of inventive and creative enthusiasts, we may live to see the development of innovative solutions born out of necessity, experimentation, or purely to solve a problem through personal experience. Looking over the history of motorsports we learn that many of the common products, components, and accessories used on the track and in competition were born from the mind of a driver, mechanic, or other professional who noticed something flawed or in desperate need of improvement. Whether it be the wheels, tires, exhaust, cooling, or suspension, there was an innovative thinker behind the wheel who decided there was a better way and they fought hard to make the industry take notice. Contrary to popular belief, not all the concepts of brilliant inventions and impactful works of art in this world were brought to light through long discussions at long corporate tables filled with stacks of diagrams, schematics, and cost analysis sheets to stifle the pure creativity and curb the enthusiasm. Believe it or not, some of the greatest ideas and dreams for success have, at first, been rejected out of the gate and pushed to the side to make room for less organic processes - which have often won the war in the end. Glancing at the diversity of motorsports we can easily capture a few luminary figures who have built successful careers through pure physical talent and skill, but have also conquered another world through their own unique entrepreneurial energy and desire to inject change into a fast moving industry that is always starved for innovative movers.
One of these individuals has always moved their best by drifting through extreme challenges in a very cerebral activity that originated from well-orchestrated, skillfully developed techniques which are unlike any other human-manipulated, motorized sport on earth. His evolution from motorsports enthusiast to competitor to premiere provider of performance parts has set him apart as one of the most driven transitory influencers and developers in the automotive aftermarket. Professional drift car driver and high performance entrepreneur Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis has been an adventure seeker and dynamic thinker since a very early age. Bakchis immigrated from Lithuania at 8 years old and quickly began creating an identity and passionate persona that would feed his future and shape his destiny. Like many young thrill junkies he was drawn to motorcycle racing and began to compete in motocross events in the state of California. During this formative time, Bakchis began experimenting and developing a suspension system for motorcycles which soon led his entrepreneurial mind to launching a company to share these innovations with the world. In 2007 Bakchis founded Feal Suspension, an aftermarket performance company based in Wrightwood, California whose primary focus is on the tuning and servicing of dampers - which includes coilovers, struts, and shock absorbers with a wide range of offerings for vehicle brands across the performance automotive marketplace. Since their launch almost 20 years ago, Feal has not exclusively concentrated on sales and distribution of coilover kits as what would be commonly expected, but has become a major innovator in maintaining, improving, and enhancing damper performance through testing, evaluation, and focused field review. Their quality coilovers are available for many vehicle brands and models, including our favorite, Subaru.
As per a quote on his LinkedIn page, Bakchis confirmed, "I have enjoyed growing Feal Suspension, INC. since 2007 and Bakchis Motorsports, LLC since 2011. My passion is business development, product development, and brand marketing.” As expected from his true enthusiast and creative entrepreneurial spirit, Bakchis was driven to expand the overall impact of Feal’s development offerings and spread out product use as practitioners. “I spend a lot of my time competing in the premiere drifting series in the world, Formula Drift.”, the quote added. “I love working in the automotive industry and motorsports!", he exclaimed, clearly confirming that his mind is never still and always pursuing something new and that can be leveraged as a tool for innovative development to better an entire genre of sport in addition to influencing a new generation of driver and enthusiast. By 2009, after trying drifting and deciding on his next, serious pursuit, by the following year, Odi earned his professional drifting license. In 2011, he jumped in the deep end again and launched Bakchis Motorsports, the professional drifting segment of his career which produced a myriad of successful results over the years to come. Being awarded the 2011 Formula Drift “Rookie of the Year" quickly transformed him into the obvious champion of the future by the end of that season. Bakchis won his first Formula Drift race in May 2015 at Road Atlanta, but quickly followed up with finishing second at the Formula Drift World Championship while clearly marking the history books since that year by finishing 3rd overall in 2017, 2019, and 2021, 2nd overall in the Formula Drift USA championship in 2023, and by capturing Top 5 driver overall in Formula Drift USA seven times since the 2014 season.
In the past 18 years, it can be honestly confirmed that Bakchis has built an impressive resume of accomplishments and is steadily on track for much more moving into the future. Learning about the broad stroke of offerings Feal Suspension gives the performance driver further solidifies their position in the marketplace, but most importantly, for the Subaru community, Bakchis and his team have a specific concentration of products in place to enhance and improve the stance for the favorite platforms of these dedicated drivers. For example, their 441 Series Coilover with High Flow Precision Dampening and Radial Bearing is an amazing upgrade option for those drivers of the Subaru WRX, the STI, or the BRZ. Again, as the Bakchis story and passionate pursuits have confirmed, these products were developed with decades of tuning experience and testing which does not simply include shock Dyno analysis, but to align with how the company was born, an actual evaluation from professional drivers in real-life situations producing data in the field under challenging scenarios. Their activity and impactful presence in motorsports, specifically throughout Rally, Drift, Road Racing, and AutoX, holds up their products continually with an impressive and truthful reputation for quality and trail tested endurance to solidify their value to the serious enthusiast and modifier. As a company and knowledge base, Feal Suspension offers the enthusiast a plethora of information, including technical sheets and articles covering everything from Damping Adjustment, Coilover Ride Height and Droop Set Up, to Suspension Tuning and Modifications, and the Feal 2-Way Technology Advantage - just to name a few, proving that real world experience and smart innovation can be the perfect recipe for success.
We hope this article has been informative, interesting, and has helped you learn about the origins of Feal Suspension and its founder, "Odi" Bakchis.
The team here at Subimods can help any enthusiast - whether in pursuit of victory in one of the many genres of motorsports or to enhance their individual daily driving experience. We can point you towards innovations and products available from premiere companies throughout the automotive aftermarket that will take your chosen Subaru platform to new levels of performance.
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Bryon Turcotte - Managing Editor/Writer
Turcotte has worked as a writer, journalist, and digital content developer for 30 years. He began his career in music journalism in 1995 then worked for several years as both a staff writer, managing editor, and a freelancer for both regional and national music publications. Over the next three decades his contributions extended beyond the music industry as he served within the realms of higher education, science and technology, manufacturing, and finance. He has been serving as a content developer and writer on the Subimods Marketing team since August 2023.
