TJR MotorSports

As a team we went to Daytona with big expectations, unfortunately we did not get the result that we wanted. Car #81 retired from the race following an accident midway through the third lap. During the entire Runoffs we were dealing with difficult track conditions; overcrowded practice sessions, rain, very limit practice laps, no qualifying, and exhaustive heat. Afterwards it was reported that oil was being put down throughout the race, making for very challenging conditions.

On lap three I lost control and spun the Stohr WF-1 going through the bus stop on the back straight. Unfortunately, the car did not escape unscathed, the car sustained damage at the rear wing assembly and the rear engine cover, retiring from the race on the spot. Unfortunately, these things can happen in motorsports

https://vimeo.com/140923514

I’m still dealing with the disappointment of letting the team down, they put a lot of work into fielding a competitive car this season.  It was my mistake and I’m just so sorry for the team. 

Congratulations to Gianpaolo “JP” Ciancimino of Coral Springs, FL, who showed very impressive performance and deserved his victory. He drove a great race in very challenging conditions, and was the class of the field. Kudos to James Davenport and Miles Jackson, as they joined JP on the podium 

In closing; I’m just going to try and be reflective and share a few thoughts 

What we learned:

1) That in wheel to wheel racing with some of the best prototype racers in the country, as a team-we are very competitive.·
2) When properly set up the Stohr WF-1 can be the class of the field. JP ended up winning the national championship while driving a car that was originally developed by One Motorsports, and was the stablemate to my car. Out lap time of 1:52:2 was the third fastest of the race and our best of the event, I think we can find inspiration in all of the above.
3) It’s my first season back in a race car, and I need to continue to work on my race-craft. In hindsight we should’ve been more patient, and raced our race and let the race come to us.

4) We can’t forget this was Daytona International Speedway, this is an incredible venue!! How many people ever get a chance to race for a National Championship at Daytona, very cool!!

Now we have to look forward to our home race at Auto Club Speedway, which is of course a big highlight in our season. We go to California determined to prepare well and perform strongly at the Pacific Road Racing Championship.

The moment is HERE!! Tomorrow Team Mere Mortal will race in the SCCA P1 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE! All the fun should start in less than 24hrs. So put it on your calendar or set an alert in your smart phone and watch as we go for the glory!

The Team is taking on a considerable challenge, we were unable to qualify Car #81, so will be starting last. We believe the long straightaways and banking at Daytona will help us move forward through the field and feel a top 5 finish will be a solid result at out first Runoff.

The veteran broadcasters Rick Benjamin, Greg Creamer, Jeff Lepper and Dorsey Schroeder will call play by play live on SCCA.com. You can watch live or archived at SpeedCastTV.com, it helps if you have a strong wifi signal for the live streaming feed. Again the Race is scheduled for Tomorrow-Sunday 12:45 PM PST / 3:45 PM EST.

In 2007 the X Games 13 was dubbed “Go Big or Go Home”. Two weekends ago ONE MotorSports arrived at Road America with five drivers prepared to compete in the SCCA National Race. It wouldn’t be racing without drama; so some of us went “Big”, some of us went “Home”, and some of us went home in a big way! More on that later.

 Practice and Qualifying: this was a short race weekend condensed into three days at Road America (RA). On Friday we had only had two 30 minute practice sessions. The limited track time was a disadvantage, especially when you factor in that our team would be competing against a group of experience racers at their home track. The two advantages I had going for me: I had just been in the Stohr WF-1 three weeks prior and I was getting much closer to getting 100% comfortable/confident with the car. Secondly, unlike Watkins Glen, RA doesn’t have blind corners. LOL. Translation: I could see where I was going, and that allowed me to attack the corners right from the start, and attack I did! The Team set an initial benchmark lap time of 2:08, this was best lap times of the Prototype 1 cars in the SCCA June Sprints last month.

Practice Session 1: This session was typical of any first time on a track: information over-load! The brain is taking all the knowledge it acquired from the hours of studying actual video of driving the track, and now trying to process that information with the experience of driving the track in real time at speed. After a few warm up laps I get brave and start carry more speed through the corners and braking later at the end of the three long straights. I finish the session with a respectable 2:18, it’s starting to come together but the session is over.

 Practice Session 2: Prior to the session I sit down with Jeff Shafer and we do a data-overlay debrief, he explains that I need to be flat out in turn 7, midway through the carousel and on- through the turn 11 ”the Kink”. Note: this section is called “Kettle Bottoms” from turn 11 to turn 12 is a slight downhill section that’s 2736ft (well over half ½ mile).Fast is an understatement, I come out of turn 10 at 105mph+ and never lift until the braking zone for turn 12.Being timid at any of these sections of the circuit effects your lap times dramatically. I like the feel of the “Watkins Glens” setup on the car, and I elect to not make any changes. This session is entirely different, I know where I am going, and I know where tons of speed can be gained. I am running on moderately worn tires, so I am sliding around a bit more than I prefer. However, I manage to bust out a couple of 2:06s and a 2:05. The only question is; how will these lap times work out in qualifying against the local talent?

https://vimeo.com/135813925

July 25rd- Start of the SCCA Event

Qualify Session 1: I am focused on the task at hand, and the team has got me on new tires and I am ready to roll. Evidently the slower drivers didn’t get the memo; and getting a clean lap with the slower traffic is a big challenge. Three laps in I run a 2:10, and I can feel there is more. However, the track doesn’t seem “as fast” as the previous day. I struggle for several laps to put it all together and a get a clean lap. Eventually I knock out a 2:08, this is a bit disappointing with the new tires, but it’s the best I can manage. It turns out this is good enough for 3^rd on the grid (P3), for this afternoon’s race.

Race 1 (12 Laps): I’m starting 3^rd on the grid, in front of me is the local talent, both are in Prototype 1 cars (my class). On pole is Brian French in his re-bodied Ralt RT 41 Formula Atlantic. Qualified second is Jason Miller in his one-off WynnFurst, the car is very fast but has a reputation for marginal reliability. Additionally, I have two IMSA Lite (Elan DP02) cars and two Formula Atlantic cars right behind me, so it appears I’ll have my hands full. Unfortunately, things go from good to bad in a New York minute. On the hot grid three minutes prior to the race my car won’t start, the crew frantically tries a number of things, including trying to push start me. We need an external battery to jump start the car, unexplainably, ours is all the way back at the hauler. I sit there helplessly, as race control releases the entire grid. I momentarily think OMG I’ve travel all the way to Road America and I am not going to even start the race!! The crew proceeds to locate/borrow an external battery and we bring the Stohr WF-1 to life. Keep in mind that this is a split grid race (two grids); my race group of 24 cars is in the first grid, followed by 11 SCCA Formula Enterprise (FE) cars that start in a separate grid 20-35 seconds behind the first grid. Race Control releases me in last place (shades of CVR), not in my group, but in the second group. I’ll be starting over 30 seconds behind the leaders, so I really have my work cut out for me. Watch the HD Video and see how it all turns out.

Note Regarding the Video: this was my first event editing HD and using multiple cameras. We had some snafus, but we’re determined to keep improving.

https://vimeo.com/135533350

Race 2 (12 Laps): Hopefully by now you’ve watched the video of Race 1 and decipher through my editing to ascertain we miraculously finished 2^nd. Thus I am starting Race 2 in the 2^nd position…..so it would seem we have our race weekend back on track. Additionally, the attrition rate at RA has been high and a number of Saturday’s competitors aren’t racing today. My main concerns are the French family owned re-bodied Formula Atlantic cars running in Prototype 1. Brian French won Saturday’s race and his son James, an aspiring professional driver, is racing his Swift 014 FA/P1 today. He never qualified so James will be starting at the back of the pack. Please watch/enjoy the HD Video and see how it all turns out.

https://vimeo.com/135805178

Final Thoughts: Coming to an unfamiliar track and getting two podiums racing against all the locals was a great result. I feel the Team still has unfinished business at Road America, I believe a sub 2:05 lap is within our reach in the current configuration on our next visit. More importantly, all the hard work and preparation this season has lifted us into the number two spot in the SCCA National Points Standings. Additionally, with any luck the Team will secure the Southern Pacific (SoPac) Championship when we return to SoCal in October. In all likelihood, the Pacific Road Racing Championship at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana will be the final race of the 2015 season.

Lastly, who went “BIG”, Jeff Shafer of course. Jeff  broke the track record for Prototype 2 at RA. What makes this all the more amazing is; its the 4th consecutive track (CVR, Buttonwillow, Watkins Glen) he’s accomplished this in a car (Radical SR3) that was thought to be noncompetitive…….really? The man has mad skills!!

Stay Tuned…….Fontana/Cal Speedway will be here before we know it!

Fourth of July weekend at Watkins Glen international in upstate New York, I don’t believe I could have scripted a better way to have fun and escape the summer heat of AZ. This race circuit is the place of famous champions winning races: Clark, Hill, Lauda, Hunt, Fittipaldi, Stewart, Villeneuve, Donohue, Unser, Mears, Andretti, Dixon, Gordon, Montoya, the list of legends goes on. So to say that I was incredibility excited to test my race craft at Watkins Glen, is a total understatement. We just hoped the weather would cooperate, last weekend it rained during the entire 6 hour Tudor Sportscars Race.
I arrive at the “Glen” Thursday morning mentality and physically prepared. I’d been watching hours of races at the Glen, and tons of YouTube on board video to learn the nuances of the track. Additionally, I’d been working on my cardiovascular conditioning for months, and recently added a race-load simulator to my training schedule. This particular piece of exercise equipment allows you to focus training on all the parts of the body that experience the G-Force loads produced during high speed cornering. Mental fatigue to a large extent is uncontrollable, physical fatigue can be negated through proper training. During a race physical fatigue can lead to mental errors and on track mistakes. Learning to race a new circuit at speed is a significant challenge, I wanted that to be my one and only focus.

Thursday July 2nd – Test Sessions

Today was an open track test day, with the cars assigned to groups that each have four sessions. These test sessions are great for learning the circuit. The car counts tend to be low, and you get to figure out where you’re comfortable overtaking the slower race cars.
Session One: first impression: LOL all I can say is wow! This place is fast everywhere, there are no slow corners; I only get the car down into 3rd gear on three small bleeps in turns 7, 8 and 9. For some reason I thought the bus stop was a spot where the cars slowed way down, not so much! Guess I’ve watched too much NASCAR at the Glen LOL. Best time is a 2:14, which is way off the mark.
Session Two: I am still trying figure out where to start braking, turn in points, and a couple of late apexes, is a big handful……it’s just starting to come together. Best lap time is a 2:07.
Session Three: Several laps in I lose rear drive, I coast up the hill towards turn 8 and gravity robs me of momentum, and I’m at a complete stand still half on the track, half off. It wouldn’t be racing without drama, Race Control red flags the session and I get towed in. Not my idea of fun, although I have to admit I’ve had a great run of reliability over the years and even more so since I started to race the Stohr WF1. Back in our pits they quickly diagnose the problem as a broken sprocket carrier, and we don’t have a spair (WTF!) Of course my first thought is the weekend over, did I come all this way for 2.5 sessions? Jeff Shafer quickly calls the vendor and facilitates a spar to be overnighted. The team subsequently locates a used and somewhat repaired spare. Running in session four looks attainable, these guys a ONE MOTORSPORTS are awesome!!!
Session Four: Got my head back in the game, and it’s time to find my mojo. Earlier, Jeff and I did a debrief session looking at data overlay on the laptop, it’s an interesting program that uses a graph to show my speed on every section of the track overlaid on top of the graphics of a faster driver (IMSA Lites), thus, I can see where I’m at speed and more importantly where I need to gain speed. Or more simplistically, here are five areas you need to go faster LOL. With that information you head out on to track knowing specifically what you need to work on. Session fours feels better and its coming together, however, the carrousel after the bus stop, and turns 10 and 11 are supposed to be flat out, maybe you lift the throttle slightly, but NO BRAKING. Thinking or saying this, and doing it are not one in the same thing. These three turns will separate the men from the boys, and will factor in significantly in qualifying and overall results this weekend. My best time is a 1:52, this seems like very reasonable improvement from my earlier times, however, the track record for Prototype 1 is a 1:47, is this before they restricted the class, I don’t know. But I am not in that neighborhood, and then Jeff comes in and informs me he did a 1:50 in the Radical SR3. I am in disbelief; this is the same car I dispatched with ease at Chuckwalla Raceway? We sit down and over-lay the data from both cars; I am losing all my time in the big flat out high speed turns. This comes as no big surprise as I process the information. Tomorrow is qualifying; I know what I need to do.

July 3rd- Start of the SCCA Event
Naia has joined me, so the trip just got way better! The weather has been great to this point, but it has been threatening to rain.

Qualify Session One: I am focused on the task at hand. Three laps in I bust out a 1:50, and I feel there is more. However, getting a clean lap with the slower traffic is a big challenge. Several laps later I knock out a 1:49, the car is flying. Unfortunately, I carry a little too much speed through turn one and momentarily high side the car on the top of the big curbing. I’ve never felt that before, it’s very unsettling and would prefer to avoid that experience again. The session winds down and the “49” has me on pole for Prototype 1. The game plan is to go out in the second qualifying session on new rubber and put it all together. As I drive into the impound area the car behaves oddly, after I power it down the car tries to move forward as if the starter is engaging. A quick inspection by the team detects a small crack in the under-tray from the high siding incident. This pushed up on the battery, shearing off the positive terminal and shorting out the starter. Ouch! Several hours later all seems repaired.
Qualifying – Session Two:
I have brand new tires on the Stohr, its go time! I drive the car over to the grid-out area, all seems fine. After sitting for several minutes I power down the car to prevent overheating. As race control gets ready to release the grid the Stohr won’t start, the team tries everything, it’s a no go. The car still has unresolved gremlins from the earlier session. The team needs to figure this out.

July 4th- Race Day 1
We wake up to see that it been raining all night, and there is a light rain at 7:00 am. There is a 15 minute qualifying session 9:40am, which clearly will be in the wet. The race is at 3:15 pm, we’re all hoping that the track will be dry by then.
Morning Session – in the wet: Many of the racers in our group are skipping this session because the weather forecast strongly suggests we’ll be racing on a dry track. I don’t have that luxury. First I need to determine if the issues with the car are resolved, and secondly, in the event we need to race in the wet on this curcuit, I need some experience prior. Thankfully, the car is back running flawlessly. The Glen in the wet is a handful, I needed the experience and I am the better for it.

Race 1 (15 Laps): I qualified 7^th, however, I have Jeff Shafer and three Formula Atlantic cars (behind me) to deal with. So I suspect the first few laps of the race are going to be interesting. I’m gridded up next to Jeff Shafer who starts to get the jump at the green flag. I reel him by the end of the front straight, and beat him into turn one. The first couple laps of the race are crazy, on lap three one of the P1 cars goes off track into the tire barrier at turn six and brings out the full course yellow. What’s interesting is none of the Formula Atlantic or FC cars in front of me proceed to slow down much. I have never seen this occur in a race, my instinct and racing experience is telling me to slow down…. after all it’s a full course yellow. Yet in this confusion, I’m then passed by the #34 Formula Atlantic (WTF) going up through the esses. As I come up to the Hill through the esses at over 120 mph, this is a blind spot, I see the pace car has picked up the field and they’re parked in the middle of the track and there’s nowhere to go. The #34 Formula Atlantic splits the field, and I lock up the brakes and start going through the glass grass sideways towards the Armco steel barrier. You have to watch the video to see how this race plays out:

Stay tuned for race results from Sunday!!

Desert Center, CA: Last weekend we returned to Chuckwalla Valley Raceway (CVR) for the second round of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) U.S. Majors in the Western Conference. It was a like a small Radical Racer Reunion. Ron Fletcher showed up with his original SR3 (the Batmobile) that had been in storage for over three years, and we had ex-Radical SR3 racers Dave Tweedlies, Joe Schifini, and myself. Additionally, Jeff Shafer and Rene Lohr brought out their Radical SR3s to play! So the stage was set for a fun weekend in the desert.

The Team had decided to run the regional SCCA race at CVR last month as an opportunity to learn the track and figure out the optimal set up on the Stohr WF1. We set some lofty goals coming into the weekend:

1. Get the overall win in both the Saturday Race and the Sunday Race in Group 3.
2. Set the fastest lap of the weekend
3. Set the track record for Prototype 1, by improving what was accomplished last month.
4. Leave the weekend with a commanding lead in the points for the Western Divisional Championship in Prototype 1.

In racing things don’t always go according to plan, and the weekend did throw us some curve balls. And of course it wouldn’t be racing without some drama…so read on.

First Practice: March 21, having been at CVR a month ago I am now familiar with the layout, braking zones, turn in points, and approximate corner speeds. It’s considerably warmer than last month, and the track seems to have less grip. The session is uneventful; the only thing I had forgotten is how much work it takes to wheel the Stohr WF1 around this circuit. Many of the corners which could be 90 degrees or less are extended, almost exaggerated, the results is a lot of long turns. After the session I am a little spent.

Qualifying for Prototype 1 Class: March 21, the strategy going into the qualifying session was to run the existing tires on the car, as the set only had four heat cycles. We plan to save the new tires for the balance of the weekend. Plus I love starting a race on a new set of stickers. OK, there’s mistake number 1. The team is still learning the car, and was caught off guard by the excessive tire degredation being generated by the elevated temperature. By lap 2 of the qualifying session I knew we had a problem. The car wouldn’t hook up like it did during our February visit. As the session progressed the car lost more and more grip. I ended up qualifying fifth, so I definitely had my work cut out for me. Upon inspection in the pits, we could see the cords just starting to come through…the tires were completely shot after 5 sessions, of which two were rather short.

 Saturday: Race 1: Late to grid? In an attempt to resolve some electrical issues, and adjust the set up on the car, we mismanaged our time. By the time I was belted up and got the car up to the grid, they had already released all the race cars in Group 3 for the warm up lap behind the pace car. My resulting penalty was no warm up/pace car lap. Race control would hold me at the end of pit lane until the entire grid of cars came by after the race start. So I sat there helplessly as they held me, the adrenalin flowing, waiting……waiting…..waiting. The entire grid roared by at the wave of the green flag, and 5 seconds later they released me….dead last. I launched out of pit lane on mission, watch me go to work…..

We ended up having a solid weekend. The tire degradation issues denied us the opportunity to improve on the lap time set during the February SCCA Race. Nonetheless we won both Prototype 1 races, and we are now qualified to complete for the National Championship at the SCCA Runoffs at Daytona International Speedway in September. Additionally, the Team leaves CVR with the lead in points for the Western Divisional Championship in Prototype 1. Again, very strong results!!