Putnam Park - NASA Spec E30

I came to Putnam Park a bit nervous. Not because I was feeling pressure to place well, but because I had pressure to just FINISH both races. The regional championship came down to this weekend. I was nervous because only part of this was in my control. I felt confident that I could keep the car on the track, but a mechanical issue or a rogue SpecPiñata could easily take the championship out of my hands.

Pre-race, I made sure the car had enough tire and brake and ensured that nothing weird was going on. But, the night before I was to head out, I heard a tick in the motor that I didn’t like, so I pulled the valve cover and reset the gaps on the rocker arms. Although I did find a few out of spec, it didn’t seem to have made much difference. However, I gave Nate a good scare when I sent him a picture of the exposed internals of my engine when I was supposed to be getting loaded up! As added precaution, during the races, Nate was stationed in the pit lane with spare tires, duct tape, and zip ties, as well as an assortment of tools; to get me back on track should something go very wrong. Both races would take place on Saturday.

I posted the best times for practice and qualifying, but the car wasn’t feeling particularly good. There was lots of oversteer, making it difficult to drive “flatout”. Yet, it was pushing notably in turns 9-to-10. It was more than a little hairy. We made a small camber adjustment, based on our tire temps, but we didn’t have much time to play with it and had to somewhat wing it.


Sean Louisin giving chase (Alyssa Nolan photo)

I started the race from the pole position, on the inside coming out of turn 10. With radios not working, it was up to me to look for the green flag to drop. I jumped at the same time as Sean Louisin, but he had a slightly higher starting speed, since he had come through the outside of the turn. He was pulling on me, but there was a slow 944 in the left lane and I wasn’t going to be so courteous as to move over and give him the room to complete his pass! So, I lead into turn 1 and stayed in front, despite a lot of lap traffic and a particularly annoying 944. He was fast enough to keep me behind him for several laps, but was also slowing me down enough to allow Louisin to keep me right in his gun sight. He made a couple moves, getting beside me, but I was able to emerge ahead each time. In his final attempt, coming out of turn 8, he pushed wide. He went over the rumble strips, over the access road and, when he hit the grass on the other side, he did his best Dukes of Hazzard impression, launching his car a couple feet into the air. After a hard landing, he was able to continue on at speed and cross the line. For me, I brought the car back cleanly in 1st place, save for a good coating of dust all over the back end. That was one race down; one more to go.


SpecE30 10/9/10 Race 1 - Putnam Park


Coming through the final turn (Alyssa Nolan photo)

It was great to have Alyssa, her parents, and my friend Luke all in attendance. Our future SpecE30 competitor, my buddy Denny, was giving rides in the HPDE sessions to Alyssa’s parents. The track was getting dustier and slicker after every session, as cars would put a wheel (or 4) off the track and kick up a cloud that would eventually settle back on the track. Alyssa’s mom wasn’t even fazed by her 4-off experience!


Nate and Anthony, getting ready to race

In the second race, we started in the same positions as in the first, but my start was no better. I had Louisin pulling me on my left and Richard Bratton III making a surprise attack on the right. We were 3-wide as we entered the braking zone for turn 1. I weighed my options… In the best case scenario, I could win this turn and stay in the lead. In the worst case, we could bang some fenders, get disqualified, and the whole championship is gone. I chose to brake early and let the other two duke it out. I got back by Louisin after turn 2, but Bratton went on to pull out a significant lead, while I had to deal with out-of-class traffic.


Out-of-class competitor (Alyssa Nolan photo)

Once I got through the bulk of the traffic, I set my sights on the fish tank in the distance, 9 seconds ahead of me (Bratton’s car has a vinyl wrap to look like a fish tank). There was an E36 M3, running in PTB, that was making my quest difficult, though. He would rocket down the straight, but held me up through the rest of the course. He got the picture when he passed me late on the front straight, only to have me re-pass him in turn 2, with my inside tires in the grass. He backed off and only passed me in the following laps if he could get by early down the straight. We eventually made our way up to Bratton and I regained the lead by taking him on the inside of turn 8. He remained close behind as the M3 more or less tried not to interfere. Bratton made his last ditch effort going into turn 7, but pushed 4-off into the dirt. The funny thing is that he didn’t seem to lose any speed at all and I’m sure he never came off full-throttle. I came across the finish line to win the second race and secure the Great Lakes SpecE30 Regional Championship!


SpecE30 10/9/10 Race 2 - Putnam Park (Championship Race)


Great Lakes Region’s 2010 SpecE30 Champion (Alyssa Nolan photo)

After having suffered heart-breaks and learning-the-hard-way in the last 3 seasons of running BMWCCA K-Prepared, then SpecE30, I am thrilled to have finally put a championship together. These things rarely happen by accident, though, and I had great support from Nate Thulin throughout the season to make it a reality. He has pushed me to continue to develop the car and not to let it sit idle, just because it’s a “spec” class. We’ve learned a lot about it and made improvements. These resulted in 9 1st place finishes, 1 2nd place finish, 8 pole-positions, and 0 DNF’s this year. I’m really looking forward to next season, when we can do some real testing and tuning to get the car, and myself, ready for the NASA National Championships, which will return to Mid-Ohio in 2011!





Thank you to Alyssa and Nate for all the support AND all the pictures!

A big thanks goes out to my 2010 sponsors: MyTrackSchedule.com, Ireland Engineering, DTR Performance, Bimmertools.com, Enthusiast Auto, and FASTtech Limited!

Autobahn Country Club - NASA Spec E30

Well, Autobahn has come and gone and I'm happy to report that I and the car made it through unscathed. It was rather worrisome in the week prior, as I had both oil and water leaking from the engine, as well as transmission fluid from the tranny. I got the water leak fixed (thanks to new silcone hoses from Ireland Engineering), but the trans and motor are still leaking. We kept an eye on the trans fluid level through the weekend and refilled it at one point, while the oil level remained good, so that seems to not be any cause for worry right now.


Anthony and Nate, ready for Race 1

Autobahn is a motorsports country club and it was certainly a nice place to be. There was lots of high-end machinery to look at and listen to, as many well-heeled individuals from the Chicago area have their cars tended to by one of the several professional motorsports companies based there at the track. I was the only SpecE30 racing this weekend, as I was there to gain the points I need to compete for the Great Lakes Regional Championship. Howerver, I found some GTS1 guys to play with when they weren't battling each other. We're still working with the car setup and I feel that we learned a couple things this weekend to improve the setup, so that's good. Nate has really helped to keep me motivated on improving the car and not just accepting for it to be “good enough”. We were trying a new feature on the car that we’ve been working on for several weeks. We found that it worked, but now we’re doing some more tuning to re-balance the suspension. The rules don’t allow for much adjustment, so we have to be creative.


A little dirty, thanks to a 944 and a convenient mud hole.

As for the racing, Saturday was wet in the morning, so I still didn't know how fast I could go when the race came and it was dry. It would figure that a GTS1 car splattered the entire front of my car with mud on the 2nd lap, reducing visability dramatically. I still drove on through the race, even though I only TECHNICALLY needed to take the green flag in each race.

SpecE30 9/11/10 Race 1 - Autobahn CC South Course

In Sunday's race, I had a great back-and-forth with a GTS1 944 for the second half of the race. He almost had 2 bad crashes (both caught on my carmera!), but managed to save it both times without taking anyone else out. It was a lot of fun. He had a lot more mechanical grip than I did, similar power (I might've had the edge there), but I was able to just out drive him in the fast corners. He did manage to put together a lap that was a second faster than my fastest, but I beat him across the finish line. Lots of fun!

SpecE30 9/12/10 Race 2 - Autobahn CC South Course

Having won 7 of the 8 races I’ve run this year, I am in contention for the Regional Championship, contingent on a couple things… See, the points from our 10 best finishes count toward the season points and there are 2 races to go. At the season finale at Putnam Park in October, I need to finish both races AND average 5th place or better in order to get the points that I need. While that sounds easy enough, I've had enough bad experiences to realize that it's not over 'till it's over! So, at this point, I’ll be focusing on preparing the car, staying out of trouble, and being there at the end.



Thank you to Alyssa and Nate for the support AND all the pictures!





A big thanks goes out to my sponsors: MyTrackSchedule.com, Ireland Engineering, DTR Performance, Bimmertools.com, Enthusiast Auto, and FASTtech Limited!

Mid Ohio NASA Spec E30

It’s been a few months since I’ve issued a SpecE30 write-up, as I had to miss a race at Putnam due to a wedding and BeaveRun due to work getting crazy. I attended the July race at Mid-Ohio, but didn’t get the chance to write it up. The car was handling poorly, as it didn’t have nearly enough camber in the left-front wheel. The max that I could adjust to was -2.7 and I really needed as close to -3.5 as possible. I felt like I was parking the car in the right-hand turns. Regardless, I was still able to win both races. In the first, I made my way through traffic to pull a lead and was able to stay in front. In the second, there was much more excitement, as I had Michael Osborne on my tail the whole time. We repeatedly went through Turns 7 and 8 side-by-side, but I was able to pull back in front by Turn 9 each time. Unfortunately, the memory card that the video was on was left on top of the car as we pulled away and lost…


Part 1: SE30 Mid Ohio Magagnoli Qualified & Finished P1


Spec E30 Saturday Part 2 of 2


Fighting off Michael Osborne through Turn 7

There were only 3 weeks before I’d return to Mid-Ohio for the August race and it was shaping up to be a big race. Last year’s regional champion, Simon Hunter, has taken the year off due to his wife having twins, but he would be in attendance. The total number of SpecE30 racers was going to be the largest that our growing region has seen, at 9 starters. So, I knew I had some work to do to get more negative camber in the left-front, as well as address a significant oil leak that was rapidly getting worse. It came down to the week before the race and I had my good friends step up to get the car done. Kevin Kreisa, of DTR Performance, swapped in a new head gasket and Dwayne Beatty, at Joseph Cadillac (of all places) got the camber I needed to compete (I’m not going into detail on that). The car was finally loaded up at 3am Friday morning and I set out after work with my girlfriend Alyssa riding shotgun.

We setup our paddock area near the other SpecE30’s on Friday night, so we were ready to go in the morning. Saturday’s morning practice session went well, with the car feeling much better. Alyssa and my new friend/co-worker DJ were gathering tire temperature and pressure data to get a read on how the new suspension setup was doing. I posted the fastest practice time, but that didn’t mean much. We went into qualifying and I dropped about 0.6 seconds off, which I felt good about. However, Simon edged me out by a couple tenths, and Sean Louisin came from behind to qualify on pole, a half second ahead of me! I was hoping I’d be able to find the speed I needed in the race.

The rain started coming while the other race group was out, about an hour before our race. It was light at first, but then quickly intensified. I strapped down my new canopy to a trailer and the wheels on my car, and jumped back into the truck. It was pouring like I hadn’t seen before, with strong winds sending the rain sideways. I parked the truck in front of my car, waiting for things to die down. 5 minutes after the rain had started, there was a pool forming around my car, and I suddenly realized that the low, flat area I paddocked in may not have been such a good idea. 2 minutes later, my other set of wheels and tires were floating away, now going under the truck, as the water level rose above my car’s lower valence. Another 2 minutes and it was at the door sill. This is when I took off my shoes and socks and, with the other SpecE30 racers rallying to help, dove in to rescue the car. We got the now-bent-in-half canopy stripped away and attached a tow strap to the truck’s hitch and the car’s tow strap. I pulled it out while someone steered it toward higher ground. I pulled the drain plugs out of the floor and let the 5” of water drain out. My helmet had been on the floor, so it was completely drenched. As the rain subsided, we found that the track had lost power and the front straight had been struck by lightning! My friend Denny (soon-to-be SpecE30 racer) was even zapped by it in the pits! The race was postponed until the following morning, set to replace our Sunday practice session at 8am.






It got a little wet...

I ran a hair drier inside of my helmet for a few hours overnight to dry it out and wished the best for my car. Fortunately, it started right up in the morning. It spat some water out the tailpipe, but all was ok, aside from a layer of silt all over the floor pan. The track was still damp, but we all ran our dry tires since there was no standing water and the rain had passed. On the 2 pace laps, I tried to feel out the track the best I could. Each turn was different, with some having plenty of grip on the dry line (Keyhole, 7, 8, 9, Carousel), while others were still like ice on the sealant (1, 10a, 11, 13). I basically laid out where I needed to leave some extra safety margin and where I could really push it.

DJ and Alyssa were on the radio, watching the starter on the back straight for me. I heard the “Green! Green! Green! Green! Green!” while we were still in the Keyhole. Sean got the same jump as me, while Simon was taking a snooze (no radio). We drove into the mist cloud from the SpecMiatas and GTS cars ahead of us as I followed Sean down the straight. I went to the inside through the kink and we were side-by-side through 7. As we went over Madness, I pulled ahead and started focused on getting through traffic. The race only lasted 7 laps, but I saw more than that many cars go off, spin, or hit each other (or a wall) during that time. In fact, our own SpecE30 racer, Kevin Sweeney, spun over T11 (into Thunder Valley) and broad-sided the tires on the inside wall. I lost sight of the SpecE30’s, aside from when I was headed down the back straight and could see a couple between T1 and the Keyhole, and just kept pushing my way through traffic, keeping enough in reserve so as to stay clean.

While negotiating the excitement around me, I had managed to pull out a 38 second lead by the time I crossed the finish line and my fastest lap was 9 seconds faster than the next closest SpecE30. Sean Louisin came in 2nd and congratulations to rookie Cameron Bullard for posting his first podium finish by taking the 3rd spot!


SpecE30 8/15/10 Race 1 - Mid-Ohio Pro Course


Sean Louisin, “Trophy Girl”, Anthony Magagnoli, Cameron

Later in the morning, we held our qualifying session for the 2nd race. I came in only 0.13 sec ahead of Simon, but it was enough to earn the pole position. As it warmed up in the afternoon, we started the guessing game as to how much pressure to drop out of the tires. I made my judgment based on the data I had and went to grid. I had bottles of ice water packed in my driving suit, trying to keep my core temperature down while sitting on grid. A cool-shirt system might be on the list of winter projects.



Starting to the inside of Simon on the back straight, I dragged the brake while holding the throttle wide-open, waiting for the green. We jumped at the same time, but he pulled completely ahead of me by the time we reached the end of the straight. I thought that my brakes must have been dragging, or something, as this was the first time I had started that way. It wasn’t until I watched Simon’s in-car video that I realized how he found so much power on the start. While the rest of us started in 3rd gear, he had started in 2nd. Despite having to up-shift very quickly, he had gained more acceleration in 2nd gear than he lost during the time he spent shifting.

As we hit traffic, I gained back my position and did my best to put a car or two between us. Our cars are similarly matched to some of the GTS1 cars and there are always SpecMiatas around to annoy us, so we both had our work cut out for us. I had managed to put the GTS1 E30 of Kevin Gibson behind me and was working through traffic. Simon became irritated with an overly-defensive SpecMiata and made an overly-aggressive move on the back straight. As he pulled ahead of the Miata, he cut back to the inside, trying to solidify his pass, but braked far later than the car could manage. He braked down to the apex, but found Gibson right there in his path, and hit him hard, sending them both off the outside of T7.


Hunter and Gibson, coming to a rest

A lap later, there was a spin in Thunder Valley, which sent cars scattering, and Kevin Sweeney did all he could to dodge the carnage. While he missed the other cars, he was collected by the same tire wall that he hit in the morning, but this time the impact sent the car up on its roof, as he rolled over the tops of the a-pillars, and landed back on his wheels. This stopped the race and brought all the cars back into the pits. Once they got Kevin checked out and his car off the track, we resumed for a NASCAR-style Green, White, Checker. With Michael Osborne being the next SpecE30 behind me, I set to work when the green flag flew and got by another couple cars. While he did so, as well, I was able to hold onto the lead and cross the line in 1st.


SpecE30 8/15/10 Race 2 - Mid-Ohio Pro Course



The win was somewhat overshadowed by the carnage that one of our fellow SpecE30 racers incurred. Thankfully, he was physically, and even emotionally, fine, but the car will take some extensive work to repair.


Need to look closely to see that it rolled

Having won 5 of the 6 races I’ve run this year, I will be in the running for the Regional Championship, contingent on a couple things… I am currently the only one signed up for Autobahn in September and I must finish both those races. Then, at the season finale at Putnam Park in October, I need to finish both races, and average 5th place or better. So, at this point, I’ll be focusing on staying out of trouble and being there at the end.

Thank you to Alyssa (for the support AND all the pictures!), DJ, Denny, and Kohler for all your help this weekend!

A big thanks goes out to my sponsors: DTRPerformance.com, MyTrackSchedule.com, Bimmertools.com, and EnthusiastAuto.com!

Survival of the Fastest

Anthony Magagnoli and Kevin Kreisa's DTR / Street Survival One Lap of America effort was highlighted in a 9-page spread in the July 2010 issue of Roundel! Roundel is the official magazine of the BMWCCA and reaches over 72,000 members each month. Click here to see the article.

One Lap of America Racing Videos

The videos from the 2010 One Lap of America events are finally uploaded. The articles have also been updated with the videos, but you can just watch them all here:


View Video Album on Vimeo

You can check out all of the One Lap Videos, Pictures, and Story at www.DTROneLap.com.

One Lap of America Round 10 - Tire Rack Dry(ish) Skid Pad

Coming into the last event, we were sitting in 5th overall, with the 997 Turbo in front of us and the GT3 RS behind us. We were not expecting a very good skidpad performance, if using our wet skidpad result (53rd) as any indication. We got to the Tire Rack early and got the car emptied out before taking it to a parking lot to test the balance. It was cold and cloudy, but dry. While it was oversteering at first, if I could manage to get the rear tires just a bit warmed, it was neutral to just a slight push. I decided that we couldn’t improve on this balance and I would just need to try to get some heat in the rear tires before the run, so I headed back. No sooner did I shut off the car than it began to downpour. Kevin and I threw everything in the trunk that we didn’t want to get wet and jumped in the car, soaked.

With the wet conditions, we figured we were screwed. Before the skidpad event, though, we had to line up for our group photo. They lined up the top 6 in front, which was an amusing sight: Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Porsche 911 Turbo, Corvette C6 Z06, Nissan GT-R, Porsche 911 GT2, and a 1990 BMW 325is.


It had stopped raining, but was still wet. This was when we started to hear grumblings of some very good news. It seemed that they were going to grid the cars in reverse order. This meant that, instead of running 7th, we would run 7th from last, so all the previous cars would surely dry out the track!

When it came show time, I gave it all I had in the skidpad, lighting up the rear tires before the run and scrubbing back and forth on my way in. I stayed tight and held the car on the limit, never letting it waver more than 3' from the cones, but trying to keep it within 1'. I was so focused on such a fine edge that I wouldn’t even take a full breath, for fear that it would upset my hand inputs! I did my 2 laps, turned around, did 2 more in the same way, and pulled off. It was good for .995 AVERAGE G, in sub-40 degree weather. It was also good for 7th overall. It sounded like we wouldn't lose a position after all!



When it was all over, we had the opportunity to be turned loose on the skidpad for some exhibition. Kevin had the car half-packed, but we emptied it back out so I could go put on a smoke show. Despite forgetting to engage the high-boost power mode, I had no trouble lighting up those big Michelins and putting on a pretty good drift show!



We headed inside for the reception and I was excited to see that Brock Yates Sr. was in attendance. I managed to get a few autographs from him before we sat down for lunch. When it came time for awards, we did better than we could have fathomed...

4th Place OVERALL
1st in Class - SS GT2 Small Bore
BMW Marque Award - Highest Finishing BMW
Rookies of the Year


We were just simply astounded! By the time we got to the Rookies of the Year award, Kevin and I welled up a little. We just couldn’t believe it. I dedicated that award, as well as our tactically acquired traffic cone, to Glenn Dodd and all the other One Lap veterans who had come before us.


We headed back home to real life, but it may never be the same. This may very likely become an annual event for us! I’m glad to have these recaps and plenty of pictures and video to reflect on, but I’m also writing the article for Roundel (the magazine of the BMWCCA). Look for it in the July issue!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED US AND STREET SURVIVAL IN THE 2010 ONE LAP OF AMERICA!!

A special Thank You to our sponsors: Michelin Tires, Ireland Engineering, MyTrackSchedule.com, Extrudabody, Clutch Masters, 034 Motorsport, BimmerTools.com, APR Performance, Forgeline Wheels, DTM Fiberwerkz, Cometic Gaskets, FastTech Limited, Lamin-X, MyTrackCam.com.

-Anthony Magagnoli
-Kevin Kreisa

One Lap of America Round 9 - Nelson Ledges

I warned Kevin that Nelson Ledges would not be as nice as the other tracks we had been to. Especially in comparison to the country club-esque NJMP! He complained about not having asphalt to jack the car up on, but he got over it. Nelson Ledges is a dilapidated old track with a rough, bumpy surface and no more amenities than your average camp site. But, man is it fun!


In my first run, I quickly noted that our car did NOT like all the bumps. They were causing the rear tires to rub the inner fenders quite hard and it was difficult to put the power down. The rear end was jittery and it was hard to gauge braking points since the bumps would sometimes cause the ABS to engage more and affect braking distance. My other difficulty was the Carousel. I would claim this turn to be one of the most difficult turns that I’ve ever encountered. Within this one turn, you have to transition from full throttle, to braking, to full throttle again, all while also altering the line to hit the late apex. Having never gone into the Carousel with anywhere near the speed at which I could with this E30 and no room to straight-line brake, I was conservative. I put together a clean, albeit bouncy run, with a best lap of a 1:13.2. It was good enough for 4th overall!



When I got back to the paddock, I was cooling off while Kevin checked over the car. I turned around to see something unexpected, but not necessarily surprising… My parents were walking my way! They had driven 4 hours down from Rochester, NY to see us run! They knew how important this event was to me, but I didn’t expect for them to make the trip. It really meant a lot to me that they came. I showed them the car and we walked the paddock, talking with other One Lappers and looking at the cars. It was nice to have them, as well as my friends Denny and Tim, on hand with Kevin to cheer us on!


Later in the morning session, there was a bit of unexpected excitement, as one of the Mustangs caught fire. It had blown its engine and then had a small oil fire underneath it. Fortunately, the driver was fine and the car is salvageable.


I geared up for my afternoon run and headed out. On my first lap, I carried good speed out of Turn 2 and the bumps in the braking zone sent the ABS into hold-mode, which almost sent me off the track. I managed to make the banked Oak Tree turn, but only just. While I didn’t have any other mishaps, I wasn’t pushing quite as hard through the 120mph kink because the huge bumps were causing the tires to rub so hard. I was actually a little slower in that session, coming in at 7th overall. We were 5th overall in points heading into the last event… the dry skidpad at the Tire Rack.



My parents headed out while we were packing up. When we were done, we met up with a bunch of people at a bar on the south side of the Cleveland, on our way to the Tire Rack. We did the same that night in South Bend, as the sessions at the big tracks were over and people were cutting loose. In between, though, Kevin and I had extensive discussions about our setup for the dry skidpad. If we didn’t do well, we would drop out of the Top 5. We ultimately decided to try our dry race setup, which had been fine-tuned earlier in the week. I would try it in a parking lot and determine if we needed any further adjustment or not.

One Lap of America Round 8 - NJMP

I had come to NJMP a few weeks prior to instruct for a NASA/PDA driving school with Scott Barton from MyTrackSchedule.com, using his Porsche 911 and Mini Cooper S so that I could learn the track. I had found it very easy to pick up, but there were 3 tricks that I thought I could use to my advantage. Knowing how fast the blind Turn 1 is, the line over the blind Turn 5, and the line in the Light bulb turn that leads onto the front straight.


Scott met us in the morning as we were getting unloaded and ready. With our morning procedure becoming pretty well defined, things went smoothly and I got ready to go. The Corvette ZR-1 of Ron and Patrick Adee was back from its mid-week hiatus to rejoin us at NJMP. They resumed their position in the first run group and I led the second run group. I was glad I didn’t go out in the first group, because I could see them all kicking up a cloud of dust as they drove around. Either dust or pollen was all over the track and I was more than willing to let them clear the racing line.

The Lightning track was a lot of fun and our car handled it very well. It seemed to be doing everything right. I did a 1:13.4 and my total time was good for 4th overall, only 0.17 seconds off that of the ZR-1!


We got some lunch at the Wawa in town (they really need to have these throughout the rest of the country!) and relaxed at the track for a bit. NJMP is a nice place to do that because it’s all shiny and new, made to look like an old Air Force base. In fact, there is a municipal airport right next door that was used as the first defensive air base in America. The grounds vehicles are even green Jeep Wranglers, decaled up like MP's (Motorsports Patrol)!



In my afternoon run, I pushed harder in a couple braking zones (before the blind Turn 5 and into the Light bulb) and carried a bit more speed out of the Light bulb so that I was actually coming out in 4th gear, rather than up-shifting on, or before, track-out. The results were good enough to drop 2 seconds off my total time, but not enough to best the ZR-1. Or the Z06, for that matter, since Danny Popp had returned to the wheel. I ended up with 5th place in the afternoon, but the day’s results had moved us up to 5th overall!



I found that, despite knowing the track, my times behind the wheel were intensifying. Maybe it was precisely because I DID know the track, and was therefore pushing the limits a bit more. Whatever the reason, I was in need of some decompression after my 2nd run. I walked off for a half-hour to just watch some of the other cars by myself.

Upon my return, I helped Kevin and Scott finish packing before we then returned to our suite so that Kevin could change some driveline fluids before we continued. While they were doing that, I took care of some sponsorship business and reviewed the in-car video. We both grabbed showers before hitting the road. I have to thank Scott of MyTrackSchedule.com for the hundredth time for providing the suite!


Due to conducting the maintenance on the car, were departed late enough to encounter plenty of rush hour traffic in Jersey before finally getting out. With warm temperatures, no A/C, rough roads, and idiotic drivers, we couldn’t escape fast enough. The mountains in Pennsylvania were a nice change, but we had gotten to the point of simply wanting to get to Ohio. While we had plans to stay with our friend, Tim Smith, we opted for a cheap hotel rather than the extra hour of round trip driving to his house and then Nelson Ledges in the morning.

One Lap of America Round 7- Mid Ohio

We stayed at friends’ Andy and Sandy Welter’s house on Tuesday night and were just amazed by their hospitality. They had DTR One Lap of America signs on their mailbox so it was easy to find them and they even had a garage space available for us! After getting a good night’s sleep and some morning refreshments, we headed out to Mid-Ohio. Andy is an amateur photographer who has provided many pictures to Roundel in the past. Since I’m writing the One Lap article for Roundel, I had asked Andy if he would like to provide some pictures. He had enthusiastically agreed and he Sandy met up with us at the track. They both kept busy all day, getting as many angles as they could, which was difficult when we were only out there for 3 laps at a time!



I had been thinking about what to do with our traffic cone and came to a decision. After our drivers’ meeting, I requested the megaphone from Brock. I asked all the One Lap participants to sign the cone and we would give it to Glen Dodd. They must have approved, because they responded with a round of applause and people immediately came over to our garage to start signing. I don’t know Glen personally, but he has competed in 21 One Lap competitions, in many eccentric cars. Earlier this year, he fell off the roof of his hot rod shop and, in his words, "should have died." He didn’t compete this year, but his long-time co-driver had picked him up in South Carolina and brought him to the driver’s meeting at the Tire Rack on Friday for the start of the 2010 One Lap. I thought that the cone would be an appropriate gesture to someone who had obviously been a staple in the One Lap community, tactically acquired and given with respect by a couple of One Lap Pups.



In the morning session, we ran the Club Course, which utilizes the chicane between Turn 1 and the Keyhole. We had done all our testing at Mid-Ohio in this configuration but, since then, we felt that we had significantly improved the chassis setup and brakes, so I was eager to see what we could do. Our previous best lap time was 1:41.7.



With familiarity on my side, I was able to hit the track hard right from the start. The car was working well, aside from our continually slipping differential. I felt much better about the chassis balance and finally had a confidence-inspiring brake pedal. Getting the car turned-in, especially for Thunder Valley, was much improved. I was rather proud that I was able to identify the needs of the car and work with Kevin to make the required changes. The car has come a long way since our first track test! I pulled off a 1:40.1 lap and my cumulative 3 laps was good enough for our best finish thus far, 3rd overall!!



We were hugely pleased with the morning performance and, as much as we would’ve liked to repeat it, I knew that Danny Popp would be driving the Z06 in the afternoon. Car owner, Todd Rumpke, had run in the morning, but Danny is consistently quicker. One thing to note was the individual lap time of the morning’s overall winner, Leh Keen. Leh is a professional racer, running in a modified ’03 Porsche GT2. He ran a 1:35 on the Club Course. It simply amazes me that a car can do that on street tires!

I had felt a brake vibration when I was on course and when we took a look at the rotors we found that I had cracked both the front rotors. We had spare old rotors, so we swapped them on, but made an emergency call to our sponsor, Ireland Engineering. Jeff Ireland came through for us, sending out a set of rotor rings via overnight delivery to NJMP so that we could swap them on later.



Running on the Pro Course, the chicane was eliminated and created a heavy braking zone into the Keyhole and drops a couple seconds off the lap times. I drove basically the same as in the morning, but a touch harder. As the ambient temps went up, our pressure gains did slightly, as well. The front tires got greasy as the pressures got a little too high. It didn’t change the outcome, but was good data for us. Overall, though, I was still pleased. With that performance, we came in 4th overall and moved up to 6th in the overall points standings!



We got packed up and headed out on the long leg to NJ. It was a rather annoying drive, as the roads were bad and traffic worse, especially the closer we got. When we finally arrived, though, we were glad to have a suite directly on the grounds at NJ Motorsports Park. Our good friend and sponsor, Scott Barton of MyTrackSchedule.com, had graciously donated our night’s stay! We parked in the garage below and headed to bed.

One Lap of America Round 6 - Gateway

With such a late departure from Tulsa, we didn't pass the St. Louis Arch until the AM hours, so we would only get about 4 or 5 hours of sleep. On the way to the track, I repeated my routine of reviewing video and the track map. Gateway is what’s commonly referred to as a “roval”. Or, a high-speed oval with an infield road course. I borrowed a bike from fellow competitor, Dan Corcoran, and took a ride around the track, slightly slower than full speed. The infield looked nice and flowing, but the transition from the banking to the straight and the straight to the infield were somewhat unknown.


In my morning run, I felt out the course, trying to find my turn-in for the long sweeper in the infield. The rest of the course came pretty naturally, but the start line was on the straight of the oval, so the first time I would go through Turn 1 into the infield, would be on my start lap. Eric VanCleef started in front of me in the Subaru STi. He made a hard, smoky launch, which I would later find had broken his LR axle. From a standing start, it wasn’t a problem to get through Turn 1 for me. As I approached Turns 3 and 4, I saw the spectators waving their hands at me. I breathed off the throttle for just a split second as I turned my eyes back down the track, but could not see any obstacle. I stayed in it as I saw a yellow flag ahead. I was able to spot the Subaru off the track to the left and, since it wasn’t in my way, didn’t slow in the slightest. I did, however, feel very bad for Eric, thinking at that time that he may have had an impact.


The car was a bit loose in the last turn leading onto the oval, but it was controllable. Accelerating toward the banked NASCAR turn, I short-shifted by a few hundred rpm into 4th gear so that I wouldn’t have to up-shift in the turn. I could definitely feel the rear wing doing its job through the banking, as the car transitioned to a push in the ~110 mph turn. The car pulled to about 140mph before slowing it for Turn 1. The transition was awkward and tossed the car around. I had opted to over-brake before the turn and coast, or even accelerate slightly, through the turn in the name of safety for my first time by. I repeated my laps, tweaking my line in the banked turn and backing up my braking points a bit, bringing it home cleanly. With the Subaru broken, it turned out to be good enough for a 5th place finish.



In the afternoon run, I pushed a bit harder. I attacked the infield harder, floating corner to corner, even nicking the monstrous curbs a bit. I carried more speed through Turn 1, delaying more braking and my downshift to 3rd until before Turn 2. On my first time through, I trailed a bit too much brake into Turn 2, and the car went into a big slide. I held onto the drift like Initial D and came out with as much speed as I could, but that certainly isn’t the fast way around a turn. Worse yet, I don’t think there were even any cameras focused on that corner! I had been finding the car to be a bit loose on the first lap of each session, so this shouldn’t have surprised me. I finished off my run to repeat my 5th place morning performance and advance to 8th overall!



On our way to Mid-Ohio, we were caravanning with Neil Simon / Woody Hair and Robin Sparrow / Brian Hair as we passed through a construction zone. I thought it would be funny to pick up a construction cone and carry it for a while, so I asked Kevin to pull close enough so I could nab one at 30mph. I pulled my hand back at the last moment, realizing how much that was about to hurt. But then I found my chance when he slowed down. At 10-15 mph, I grabbed one and just carried it alongside the car for a while. When we neared the actual construction, I considered the possibility that they may not be amused by my shenanigans, so I pulled the cone into the car. Once the road opened up, I put my arm in the cone and stuck it out the window as we pulled up on Robin and Brian. They looked over and started cracking up. I decided that I needed to do SOMETHING with this cone, so I started taking sneaky photos of the cone on everyone’s cars while I figured it out. It’s a pain to have the cone between my legs in the car for the remainder of the street miles, but we needed to entertain ourselves!

One Lap of America Round 5 - Tulsa Raceway Park Drag Racing

Tulsa Raceway was about an hour from Hallett and this was the only day that had 2 events in the same day. Since we were running in the early run group at Hallett, we got there with plenty of time to come up with a strategy. There were going to be 2 different events. The first was a "low ET" competition for full points, just like any of the other events, where lowest time down the 1/4 mile stip would win.

The second would be a bracket race, where, based on your first run, you "dial in" how fast you think you will run and then you need to come closer to your time than the guy next to you, without going faster, or "breaking out". If the slower car dialed in 15 seconds in the 1/4 mile and the faster car claimed 13 seconds, then the slower car would be given the green light 2 seconds before the faster car. The idea is that both cars should cross the finish line at the exact same time. But, since man and machine are not perfect, it is a challenge that awards consistency over outright speed. Considering that I can count on one hand how many times I’ve drag raced, and the fact that I’ve never launched our car the same way twice (let alone even tried to do a drag racing launch with it), we were fully expecting to be knocked out in the first round of the bracket. Are you as confused as I was? Since I didn’t know what was going on, I decided to intimidate my competition by quoting lines from The Fast and the Furious. "I live my life one 1/4 mile at a time!" LOL!



The Low ET (elapsed time) competition was up first. Kevin coached me on a launch strategy for the car. The nature of his car being turbo-charged and having an extremely aggressive clutch would make this extremely difficult. He and I regularly stall the car when driving it around and I was just hoping not to do so at the start line! On the subject of the turbo, it makes immense power, but only under load and above a certain rpm. The tires cannot hold down the power in 2nd gear unless very warm, let alone 1st gear, so the launch will typically result in 1 of 2 things: A) "bogging" the motor, meaning that the clutch engages and the tires don’t slip much, so the engine rpms are below where the turbo makes power, resulting in a slow start. Or B) obliterating the tires. The engine is in boost and the tires are broken loose, but we just sit there spinning them instead of getting traction to move forward. It is almost impossible (at least for me) to find that perfect in-between. Kevin’s strategy was to hold the brake on with the ball of my right foot, bring the revs up to our powerband for the turbo, and bring the clutch out so it was slipping a bit, building turbo boost and priming the drivetrain, so as to not shock it with a sudden torque spike.

In the actual drag race, the launch would have gone great, but there was a ton of traction compound laid down and there was just immense grip. The motor bogged and so my launch wasn't good, but the traction was unbelievable. As the new Camaro SS next to me pulled ahead on the launch, my 315/30/18 Michelin PS2’s actually held 1st gear and the forward propulsion pinned me to my seat unlike ever before. I grabbed 2nd gear and by the time I hit 3rd, I had the Camaro sucking down my exhaust. I pulled several more car-lengths before crossing the line at a 12.62 seconds at 119 mph. Kevin wasn’t particularly pleased with the number, as low 12’s should be easily achievable, but was understanding of how difficult the car was to launch. While the car is one of the quicker cars in the competition his time was only good for 14th position overall, so not great, but not terrible. There was a new One Lap record set that day, by the stock Porsche 997 twin turbo. That car has all-wheel drive, a rear weight bias, launch control, and an automatic transmission. The result was simply unbelievable, at a 10.90. This was an utterly stock car.



In the bracket race, we "dialed in" a 12.4, in case I got a decent launch and went faster. I actually got a great launch on my first bracket run and stayed in it until I could see that I was ahead of the other car. Once I knew I had him beat to the finish line, I backed out of the gas to make sure I didn’t beat my dial-in time. So, possibly by a stroke of luck, we weren’t kicked out in the first round of the bracket. So half the field got to pack up and get going, while we stuck around to play for another round. This went on a few times and we eventually found ourselves in the Top 8, tieing for 4th place before finally being kicked out. Considering that we were expecting this to be a throw-away event, these were some awfully nice bonus points! We gained a spot in the overall rankings up to 9th and furher solidified our lead in class. This was at the expense of a reasonable departure time, though. We got packed up, though, and headed on to St. Louis.

One Lap of America Round 4 - Hallet

I had been duely warned that Hallett was a highly technical, but very fun track. As I had done the previous morning, armed with in-car video and a track map, I prepared myself for my run. I had a good idea of where the track went and a general line though it, but driving it quickly was another story. There was an extremely sharp turn at the end of the main straight, some long decreasing radii turns, and a blind uphill left-hander know as "the bitch".

In the morning, in an effort to improve our front grip and maximize the contact patch, Kevin added camber to the front suspension and then a little bit of angle to the rear wing. In my recon lap, I got an idea for just how fast turn 1 was, how tight turn 2 was, and started picking my line through the others. “The bitch” seemed fun, actually. That is, until the next time around. On my first hot lap, I came up the blind, uphill left-hander with some false measure of confidence. When I crested the hill, I found myself traveling ~80, but the road went to the right and I was a few degrees off to the left. This took away my braking room and, while I made an effort to get turned, there wasn’t any room and I hit the grass at speed. The crowd in the bleachers went silent, aside from a few gasps. With both feet in, the car rotated around and I allowed it to go backwards, then straightened it up and braced for impact… The car came to a stop, positioned directly between 2 tire barriers, a matter of feet from them. The spectators cheered as I got rolling again. I watched the 997 turbo come over the bitch and then pulled back on track behind him to finish my run.



I met a very nervous Kevin back in the pits and explained what had happened. He looked over the car while I reflected on my mistake. I wasn’t taking it lightly. Primarily because of the near catastrophe, but also because I had compromised our finish by spending time in the grass, rather than on the track. Unfortunately, my video camera didn’t work, so I walked up to the bleachers near the bitch and just asked loudly if anyone had caught the spin on video. I found someone with the video and got it downloaded. While it looked graceful, it also showed me just how close I had gotten to the tire wall. I had a lot of people approaching me and “complimenting” me on a great save (I’m not sure how much I had to do with it) and commenting on the general entertainment of my excursion. We would also later receive a mention in Motor Trend online, although I wish it was for better reasons!

During our lunch break, I expected abysmal results, but it turned out that we had finished in 12th overall. I guess it must have been the fact that I carried so much speed through the grass that I didn’t lose as much as I expected!... Especially when it was factored into the 3-lap cumulative total. Moreover, if there was ever a time for me to have a poor run, it was that one, because the 1st-in-class GTI had had a fuel issue, leaving them limping around the track, and finishing last. This immediately launched us into 1st-in-class and up to 10th place in the overall standings!!

Feeling slightly better about things, I geared up for the afternoon run, determined to run cleanly (first priority) and quickly (always a priority!). The car had been a bit loose and unruly in the morning session, so I asked Kevin to stiffen the front sway bar another notch to see if we could improve the balance. I should remind you that we had significantly upped the rear spring rate between our last test and the One Lap, so, unfortunately, we had to tweak along the way. The afternoon session went great, with the chassis balance finally feeling really good. I was even getting to quite enjoy the track!



When the results came out, we found that we had run 6th overall! We were now securing our lead in class, even with the GTI fixed and back in the game, and ecstatic to be in the top 10 overall! The Hallett circuit was great to visit and the staff was incredibly friendly. We headed over to Tulsa Raceway for the drag racing event.

One Lap of America Round 3 - Mid America

Having stayed 2 hours away, in West Des Moines, IA, we had an early start to get to Mid-America Motorplex in the morning. Since we came in 7th in the first event at Road America, we were now running in the 2nd run group, meaning that we had to be there right at the start. With a million other things to do over the last month, I hadn’t gotten around to studying Mid-America. On the drive to the track, I pulled up some video online (thanks to MyTrackSchedule.com for providing in-car wireless internet!) and studied that, along with the track map. It gave me an idea of the shape of the turns and which way the track went.

The weather was clear and sunny, but the track had been rained on, without any rubber laid down following, so it was not the grippiest surface ever. I took my reconnaissance lap and felt it out, though. The track was open and flat, with many quick transitions, a few throw-away turns, all connected by some short bursts of straight-away. In comparison to Road America, this was more akin to a ridiculously fast autocross. Since we had replaced the new brake pads last night, I finally had a confidence-inspiring brake pedal and the car was hauling down nicely.



I was leading group 2, but the driver of the Chariots of Palm Beach Porsche 997 Turbo behind me had been to the track before in a previous One Lap, so I let him lead the group. I started about 20 seconds behind him and ran the course hard in the corners, but I was a little conservative on the first few applications of the new brakes, while working on backing off my braking points later and later. By the end of my 3 laps, I had closed the gap on the 997 to within a few car-lengths. The course was quite fun and my time was good enough for 6th overall!



During the break between sessions, the activity around the DTR / Street Survival E30 had heightened significantly. This was essentially the first time we had pulled the hood off other than to check the oil, so there was a lot of curiosity surrounding just what was powering this boxy coupe. Motor Trend interviewed Kevin and I for both print and video articles and a lot of attendees were taking a peek at Kevin’s handiwork.


In the afternoon, I set out for my second session, this time starting ahead of the 997 Turbo. We had been working on our chassis setup, as we had made a significant spring rate adjustment since our last track test and were trying to tune the balance. The car had been a little squirrley in the morning, so we stiffened the front sway bar a notch to transfer some grip to the rear. It did well in the afternoon, netting us another 6th place finish and bringing us another step closer to the GTI that was leading our class. The only notable thing about the run was almost running off the track AFTER the finish line because I had carried as much speed through it as possible, since I didn’t have to setup for the following turn. A little excitement never hurts, right? So, with the car performing well, we set out for Hallett.

2010 One Lap of America is under way!

We got into the Tire Rack on Friday morning and got registered. Kevin has been doing a great job on the transit driving throughout, keeping a safe and steady pace. Our first competition event yesterday was the wet skidpad. Our result was not good, as our car didn't really agree with that particular event and I had never run a skidpad before, let alone driven our car in the wet. We were 8th out of 9 in class and 53rd out of 68 overall. We weren't too concerned, as it was the first event of many, so we packed up and headed up to Elkhart Lake, WI.


Today went much differently. Road America has the longest straight-away of any track in the country (I think) and I was both nervous and excited to get out there. I'd spent an hour or so each night for the past few nights watching in-car video and playing Road America on X-Box. It sounds silly, but it paid off in a big way. In this morning's session, amid brakes that weren't really up to the task of slowing us from 150+ MPH, I managed to keep the car clean and cause people to suddenly take notice of us. We were 7th overall, among Porsche turbos, Nissan GT-R's, and Z06 and ZR-1 Corvettes! We are absolutely thrilled with our finish!


However, the extremely high speeds caused us to wear out our front brake pads more than I ever fathomed. We were suddenly in a crunch because it would be Tuesday before we went back through Cincinnati and no one could ship pads on Saturday. In typical fashion, one of our in-class competitors (Joe from Tire Rack) tried desperately to find us pads. We pursued several possibilities, but one of his suggestions was to contact Pegasus Racing, who was in Wisconsin. In a massive stroke of luck, they had the Hawk pads we needed for our Brembo brakes! They left them outside so we could pick them up later.



In the afternoon, we ran the short course at Road America, which eliminated the 2 longest straights. We started on a connecting road, where everyone stood to watch, and it had cones set up to lead the cars onto and off of the main track. The penalty for hitting a cone was 10 SECONDS! Brock Yates Jr. (event organizer and son of the creator of the original Cannonball Run) told me just before my run to not let a cone determine the results. In other words, "Don't be stupid and throw away your result by hitting a cone!"

With this advice fresh in my mind, I set out for my reconnaissance lap. I was running at about "full" speed, just because that one lap reflected 20% of my total experience at Road America, so I was learning a lot with each subsequent lap! So, I came up to a fast, blind, uphill left-hander, which I actually quite enjoyed in the video game and in the morning session. I came out of it flying and, when I could see the road ahead of me, several expletives and a healthy dose of embarrassment ran through my mind, because I just saw a sea of cones in front of me! I stood on the brakes and held the wheel straight, trying to slow as much as I could. I just BARELY made the turn and, as I went by everyone watching, I shook my hand out the window as to say "Aei, yei yei! That was close!" I could clearly hear everyone erupt into laughter as I headed up to the starting line!


Fortunately, the actual run went smoothly and we placed 7th overall AGAIN! So I guess that means it wasn’t a fluke! The Road America events have launched us up to 2nd place in-class, but we still have a bunch of points to make up on the GTI with the Stage 4 turbo, so we just need to keep doing what we’re doing! We are now running in the second run group (cars 6-10) for the rest of the events, so we will be with some fast company. We stopped at Pegasus and got our brake pads, possibly adding 1-2 hours to our trip. We've crossed into Iowa, though, on our way towards Mid-America Motorplex for tomorrow's event.


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