Club Racing

Thrilling Spec Miata race caps three days of competition at Road Atlanta. The National Auto Sport Association’s (NASA) ninth annual NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires Eastern States Championships wrapped the weekend at Road Atlanta on Sunday, including a thrilling Spec Miata race.  Matthew Pombo, winner of both qualifying races, led the 34-car field to […]”

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Grids set for National Championship races at Road Atlanta. The National Auto Sport Association’s (NASA) ninth annual NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires Eastern States Championships has set the grids for Sunday’s championship races at Road Atlanta.  In the second Spec Miata qualifying race of the weekend, the 34 competitors that took the start were […]”

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East Coast NASA racers tackle Road Atlanta in the first of two championships. The National Auto Sport Association’s (NASA) ninth annual NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires Eastern States Championships is underway at Road Atlanta.  More than 50 Mazda-powered race cars are competing for top class honors at the first of what is twin NASA […]”

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Mazda racers seek NASA championships at Road Atlanta. The National Auto Sport Association’s (NASA) Eastern States Championship takes place this weekend at Road Atlanta. For the first time since the organization started having a national event, it’s splitting it into two different events to encourage more participation on both sides of the country. “We moved […]”

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Pro and club racer Andrew Carbonell explains braking techniques to maintain speed. Some will tell you that the key to being fast is how soon you get on the throttle. Others will tell you it’s how late you get on the brakes. For Andrew Carbonell, it’s not about getting on the brakes or on the […]”

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Normally, news of sub-compact cars is of little interest to motorsports enthusiasts. However, with the growth of the B-Spec racing segment in SCCA Club Racing, Pirelli World Challenge and other places – even stage rally – a new version of a popular model becomes a matter of more curiosity. Known as the Demio in Japan, […]”

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  Fireworks over Seneca Lake on Friday night gave way to fireworks on the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International Raceway circuit in upstate New York as the SCCA BFGoodrich® Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour, Rounds 11 and 12 of the Eastern Conference Majors Tour, got underway. With the season-long championship winding down, points are at a […]”

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SCCA’s largest Club Racing event outside the National Championship Runoffs, the Chicago Region WeatherTech June Sprints, went off under mostly sunny skies at Road America this past weekend. For the first time, the event was a doubleheader as are all the SCCA Majors events. The June Sprints was Rounds 5 and 6 of the Northern Conference Majors Tour.

Saturday’s races were 10 laps, as opposed to the usual timed races, and Sunday’s were scheduled for 13 laps of the 14-turn, 4.0-mile circuit.
Danny Steyn was just one leader among eight drivers in contention for Spec Miata early, but the race came down to three top drivers sorting out the final laps alone. With the laps winding down, Todd Lamb was sandwiched between teammates Jim Drago and Craig Berry, left with the nearly impossible decision of going for the lead and falling to third, or staying in second to the checkered flag. Practically attached at the bumper for the final two laps, Drago was watching his mirrors while Berry looked for any opening to move around Lamb. None of the three drivers made a dramatic move, and crossed the finish line with Berry’s No. 2 East Street Racing Miata at the front followed by Lamb and Berry.

The Formula Mazda field was small at the June Sprints, but that didn’t lessen the excitement in the battle for the lead. Dale VandenBush led the opening lap, sneaking around teammate and polesitter Jason Vinkemulder. Vinkemulder found his way back around on lap two, with VandenBush leading laps three and four. Vinkemulder was back in front on lap five in his No. 10 Lake Effect Motorsports Formula Mazda, and edged just in front of his teammate. With clean air, Vinkemulder held the lead for the last half of the race and took the checkered flag.

Jim Drago, fresh off the Spec Miata win, couldn’t get his No. 2 East Street Racing Mazda Miata to fire on the grid. As the field rolled past him, his Super Touring Lite machine roared to life, and he caught the end of the field just before turn 12 on the pace lap. Drago worked through the field, and moved around then-leader Breton Williams’ No. 00 First Wealth Financial Group Mazda RX-7 on lap five to move into the lead and get clear, taking the checkered flag and sending his crew off to replace the battery in the Mazda.

Daniel Bender held off Jim Ebben for the Touring 4 win in the tightest race of the run group. Bender’s No. 10 Bravo Trailers/Autobarn Mazda Mazda MX-5 set the pace and kept in front of Ebben’s RX-8, eventually creating a gap by the checkered flag.

The racing saying “cautions breed cautions” was fresh in Lamb’s mind during a lap 10 restart of Sunday’s Spec Miata race, and knowing that helped him to a win.

With nine cars in the lead pack early in the race, a two-car incident near Turn 7 dislodged the tire barrier and brought out a full course caution. Steyn lost the lead immediately in the first race when his restart speed allowed the cars behind him to get a head of steam and draft by him going into Turn 1. When he brought the field single-file to the restart on lap 10, Steyn used a slower approach up the hill to try to hold the lead.

Unfortunately, rather than following the field to the green flag, drivers in the middle of the pack tried to anticipate the restart going through Turn 13. Eight cars were collected in the carnage and scattered throughout the Kettle Moraine countryside, all before the green flag came out. Unaware at the time of the extent of the damage, Steyn took the lead through Turns 1, 2 and 3, with Lamb’s No. 80 Cahall/Driving Coach/Hawk Performance Miata drafting down the hill toward Turn 5. Steyn left the door open to the inside, and Lamb went past. Lamb completed the move just before the full course caution flags came back out, freezing the field and bringing out the checkered flag early to complete clean-up. Lamb took home the winner’s trophy, with Steyn second and Eric Stearns third.

Some drivers seemed to exorcise some recent demons this weekend with sweeps in the Production classes. Jim Daniels had been bitten by enough little mechanical issues at Road America, both at the June Sprints and previous SCCA National Championship Runoffs, but recovered this weekend with a pair of victories. Daniels’ No. 176 WebLaps.com Mazda MX-5 pressed the pace from start to finish, running early with Joe Moser in a battle for the lead. Moser pulled off course early, with Daniels well ahead of Jon Brakke’s Miata, and Daniels pushed to the finish.

Ken Kannard swept F Production at his home course in the No. 51 Northwest Cable Construction/Hoosier Mazda Miata. The wins will help make up for five years of Road America Runoffs disappointment for Kannard, who had a series of issues that kept him from his true potential at the event.

All of the front running machines in the big formula group went out on rain tires, as the race began wet after a brief 15-minute shower. However, the strategy all changed late in the race when the sun came out and the track started to dry. Fabio Castellani led the opening 11 laps in the wet, and continued to get quicker as the race went on. His problem, though, was that by lap 10, when a clear, dry line began to appear, Sedat Yelkin’s No. 75 Everclear/K-Hill Swift 016/Mazda was going even faster. Yelkin moved around Castellani on lap 12 and looked clear, until he realized that Conner Kearby’s No. 56 GK Motorsports Swift 016/Mazda was even quicker by that point. Kearby closed a second-and-a-half on the final lap, getting to the gearbox of Yelkin at the checkered flag, but probably falling one lap short of challenging for the lead.

Bender (T4) and Drago (STL) completed their sweeps, as did GT-3 driver George Cichon, who took two victories in his Hoosier/MAZDASPEED/Cichon Racing Mazda RX-7.

The Northern Conference Majors Tour continues July 12-13 with Rounds 7 and 8 at GingerMan Raceway. The next U.S. Majors Tour events are the BFGoodrich® Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour at Watkins Glen International, in the Eastern Conference, and Portland International Raceway, in the Western Conference, both July 4-6.

SCCA Mid-States Conference Majors Tour

Rounds 5 and 6

Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.

June 14-15, 2014

Round 5 Mazda Winners

Class Driver Hometown Car
E Production Jim Daniels Germantown Tenn. Mazda Miata
F Production Ken Kannard East Troy Wis. Mazda Miata
Formula Atlantic Conner Kearby Corpus Christi Texas Swift 016/Mazda
Formula Mazda Jason Vinkemulder Spring Lake Mich. Formula Mazda
GT-3 George Cichon Jr. Rockton Ill. Mazda RX-7
Super Touring Lite Jim Drago Memphis Tenn. Mazda Miata
Spec Miata Jim Drago Memphis Tenn. Mazda Miata
Touring 4 Daniel Bender Northbrook Ill. Mazda MX-5

Round 6 Mazda Winners

Class Driver Hometown Car
E Production Jim Daniels Germantown Tenn. Mazda Miata
F Production Ken Kannard East Troy Wis. Mazda Miata
Formula Atlantic Sedat Yelkin Austintown Ohio Swift 016/Mazda
Formula Mazda Dale VandenBush Green Bay Wis. Formula Mazda
GT-3 George Cichon Jr. Rockton Ill. Mazda RX-7
Super Touring Lite Jim Drago Memphis Tenn. Mazda Miata
Spec Miata Todd Lamb Atlanta Ga. Mazda Miata
Touring 4 Daniel Bender Northbrook Ill. Mazda MX-5

For SpeedSource Race Engineering principal Sylvain Tremblay, the racing bug bit, appropriately enough, with a Mazda. That Mazda was far from any racetrack, however. “If you rewind the clock, I was 13-years old riding my bicycle in my little town of Lighthouse Point, Florida,” Tremblay explains. “I came across a Champion Spark Plug RX-3 on […]”

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Northeastern racers couldn’t wait for the snow to stop and the sun to come out this year. They got as much sun as they could want, and then some, when the Northern Conference Majors Tour stopped at the 12-turn, 2.25-mile Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports park for Rounds 9 and 10. With the sun […]”

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While racing in most of the country started months ago, the Northern Conference had to patiently wait for spring to open up its SCCA Majors Tour. It finally got under way Saturday at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in Illinios. Drivers in 25 classes started with 25-minute sprint races on Saturday, then 24-lap races of the 1.95-mile […]”

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Buttonwillow Raceway Park was the host for Rounds 7 and 8 of the Western Conference Majors Tour. With the Western Conference having had an early start to the season, in January, championships are on the minds of many drivers with only four races remaining. As they hit the 15-turn, 3.020-mile circuit running clockwise, the fights for the Western Conference Majors, and perhaps even the National Championship Runoffs at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in October, were beginning to take shape.

David Ferguson brought his brand-new Prototype 2 Veracity Racing Data/Mazda/Hoosier Van Diemen RFS-03/Mazda to Buttonwillow, and it let him down in the first qualifying session as he worked out the kinks. Ferguson started next to last for the 30-minute timed race on Saturday, and then picked his way through an early incident. With three laps to go he had written off any chance at a victory, still eight seconds behind Paul Decker.

Traffic fell in his favor, however, and Ferguson began to reel in Decker. Knowing the track, Ferguson decided on the back stretch of the last lap that he was going to make his move in the left-handed corner known as “Phil Hill” – and then pulled it off for the first Mazda P2 win in the Western Conference.

Ferguson, from nearby Paso Robles, Calif., repeated the win in Sunday’s 16-lap race. He was one of three Mazda drivers to sweep the weekend, including Mike Anderson in Formula Mazda. At the start on Saturday, Anderson narrowly split two formula cars that had spun and were facing the wrong way in Turn 1. On Sunday, Anderson just walked away from the field to take the win.

Chris Emanuel inherited the win on Sunday in Formula Atlantic when the No. 43 Damon Racing/Mazda Pro Formula Mazda of Vince Gaddini’s day ended on lap 13. Gaddini, the Saturday winner, appeared to have the field covered when a different class car went off track in front of him. Gaddini, slowing to avoid him, stalled and ended his day, and Emanuel’s No. 36 Airguard/Hawn Racing/CER Inc. Swift 016a/Mazda went on to win.

Elliot Skeer was the third Mazda double winner, taking Spec Miata on both days. Each time he used patience along with his quickness to take the win in Spec Miata driving the No. 77 Rush Motorsports Mazda Miata.

Mark Drennan put his Miata in the front early, opening up a gap while Charlie Hayes’ Miata and Skeer’s No. 77 Rush Motorsports Miata worked together behind him. That gap closed as the minutes counted down.

Hayes had gotten in front briefly on the penultimate lap, but Drennan led across the stripe as they saw the one-to-go sign. Drennan admittedly made a mistake as the trio worked through the opening turns and dropped a wheel into the dirt, allowing Skeer to push Hayes in front down the back straight. Skeer and Hayes came into the corner side by side, with Skeer on the inside. That gave Skeer the run he needed to the checkered flag, stealing a win after running third for most of the race. Hayes finished second, Drennan third.

Skeer ran second or third for the early stages of Sunday’s race behind Drennan and Hayes, who led the first 14 laps, officially. Skeer was solidly second after lap 12, when Drennan pulled off course with a bad rear wheel hub. By then, Tyler Vance was coming quickly and into the mix. Skeer used the opportunity to pull around Hayes and stretched out two car lengths for the final two laps to take his win. Hayes and Vance completed the podium.

The SCCA Western Conference Majors Tour continues May 24-26 at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Wash., with a Memorial Day doubleheader weekend. The SCCA Majors Tour has two events next weekend, including the Mid-States Conference Rounds Seven and Eight at High Plains Raceway and the Northern Conference opener at Blackhawk Farms Raceway.

SCCA Western Conference Majors Tour
Rounds 7 and 8
Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Buttonwillow, Calif.
April 26-27, 2014

Round 7 Mazda Winners

Class Driver Hometown Car
E Production Aaron Downey Rossmoor Calif. Mazda RX-3
Formula Atlantic Vince Gaddini Auburn Calif. Mazda PFM
Formula Mazda Mike Anderson Anza Calif. Formula Mazda
GT-3 Mike Henderson Alpine Calif. Mazda RX-7
Prototype 2 David Ferguson Paso Robles Calif. Van Diemen RFS-03/Mazda
Spec Miata Elliott Skeer Carlsbad Calif. Mazda Miata

Round 8 Mazda Winners

Class Driver Hometown Car
Formula Atlantic Chris Emanuel Huntington Beach Calif. Swift 016a/Mazda
Formula Mazda Mike Anderson Anza Calif. Formula Mazda
GT-3 Mike Henderson Alpine Calif. Mazda RX-7
Prototype 2 David Ferguson Paso Robles Calif. Van Diemen RFS-03/Mazda
Spec Miata Elliott Skeer Carlsbad Calif. Mazda Miata

 

  Slick conditions and cool temperatures affected all eight race groups that took to the track to contest Round 7 of the SCCA Eastern Conference U.S. Majors Tour at VIRginia International Raceway, part of the SafeRacer National Club Racing program. Add one part water to the unseasonably cool temperatures from Friday, and those were the […]”

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With an overflowing paddock and trailers parked outside the gate, the first SCCA U.S. Majors Tour event at Thunderhill Raceway Park opened Saturday under blue skies for Rounds Five and Six of the Western Conference Majors Tour. The event featured the usual format of 30-minute timed races on Saturday and 16-lap or 40-minute races on […]”

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The Sports Car Club of America is beginning to release information about the 51st National Championship Runoffs, the first held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and the first one on the West Coast in 46 years. That includes the race schedule, which puts GTL, Spec Miata, F Production, P1 and STU and Touring 3 on […]”

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Prime weather conditions on Saturday greeted a record number of racers at the opening day of the SCCA U.S. Majors Tour Mid-States Conference doubleheader weekend at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, but it wouldn’t last. Sunny skies and good air allowed each of the 142 registered entrants to get the most horsepower out of their machines […]”

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With more than 300 cars on the entry list for the Sports Car Club of America’s BFGoodrich® Tires Atlanta Super Tour at the scenic Road Atlanta, close races were a lock. It happened, and what transpired on Saturday at Road Atlanta for Round Five of the Eastern Conference Majors Tour, in many classes, was the […]”

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Most Club Racers will experience traffic in every race. With multiple classes on the circuit at once, racers are going to be passed by or be passing other cars in different classes on a regular basis. A Spec Miata or STL driver might be on track with Performance Touring A or Touring 2 cars, meaning […]”

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If a Team Support Member wants his contingency money from Mazda Motorsports, he or she not only has to earn it, but represent the brand properly as well. The best – and required – way to do that is with the proper decals. Of course, Mazda Motorsports has bundled the appropriate kits depending on the […]”

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The second event of the SCCA Western Conference Majors Tour took place this past weekend at the Inde Motorsports Ranch, located just outside of Wilcox, Ariz. The four-year-old facility offers pristine support buildings and new on-track challenges for many competitors who have not run here before. The 18-turn, 2.22-mile track sits at 4000 feet above […]”

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You’ve built your racecar to be as aerodynamic as possible. Whether you start with an RX-7, Miata, RX-8, MX-5 or something else, you’ve got a pretty good basis and you’ve worked within the rules to make it move through the air as efficiently as it can with the help of air dams and spoilers. But […]”

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Start on pole, lead every lap, win the race. Jim Drago got the first and last parts of the instructions for dominance correct, but he seemed to forget the middle part during his quest for a second straight SCCA Spec Miata National Championship. “The week had gone pretty much flawlessly,” Drago says of the 2013 […]”

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Every racer – amateur or pro – has a limited amount of track time that he or she must maximize. No matter how much time it looks like on the schedule, it’s never enough to try every line, test braking points and adjust car setup. So track time missed due to repairs or maintenance can be huge, and also the difference between a great race weekend and one a racer would rather forget. One of the keys to maximizing track time is organization.

“As a club racer, or if you’re going to track days and things like that, you’re spending a proportionally large amount of money for a limited time on track. Maximizing the time that you’re able to spend on track makes the weekend more fun,” says Andris Laivins, team manager for CJ Wilson Racing and owner of Laivins Race Cars in Austin. “When you get to the track and you’re late for a session because things aren’t ready or prepared, you end up not having a good time. If you’re organized, prepared and have a plan, you get to use all the time out on track that you’ve paid for.”

That organization begins before a racer leaves for the track. Having the trailer properly organized means less time hunting for parts and tools later.

“The typical club racer uses up all the time they have before a race weekend working on the car, and then when it’s time to leave, everything gets thrown into crates and stuffed into the trailer. The biggest thing is compartmentalizing. If you have a bunch of parts for transmissions, make sure they’re organized in one bin of transmission parts only. And don’t mix things together, so when you’re in a hurry and you need to find something, it’s all in one place.

“Same with tools and toolboxes,” he adds.“ We have sets of tools that only go the racetrack, so we don’t lose stuff in the shop and it’s missing when we get to the track. The tools that we take to the track just stay in the trailer. They’re always as organized as they can be. It’s very easy to leave stuff behind when you’re taking things in and out of the trailer.”

Laivins acknowledges that leaving a set of tools in the trailer may not be practical for many club racers due to both expense and security reasons. So keeping things in an organized, labeled toolbox that the racer can pick up and put on the trailer will go a long way to making sure things aren’t left behind.

Lists and spreadsheets can help in keeping track of things, but they aren’t as necessary as one might think. While the CJ Wilson team keeps an inventory of everything on the trailer, the list of things that actually gets checked before each outing is much smaller. Spare parts are replaced when they’re used; but the consumables are important to check each time the truck leaves the shop – oil, paper towels, food and drink…the things that make the weekend a little easier.

Being organized is just one more way to get the most out of any race weekend. Knowing what’s in your trailer – and where it is in the trailer – can prevent late night trips to the auto parts store and get a racer up and running again that much quicker.

 

 

  One might wonder what a driver with six SCCA Solo National Championships, two SCCA Club Racing National Championships, four World Challenge GT championships, plus two Rolex 24 at Daytona class victories, is doing in a Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Street Tuner Mazda MX-5. If he has his way – and he thinks he […]”

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