2008 Season Recap - Anthony Magagnoli - #007 KP
While I had a lot of fun last season, I also had an incredible series of bad luck, especially at the end of last season.
I started off the 2008 BMWCCA Club Racing series with a penalty at VIR that I thought would keep me from making a run at the championship. While I didn’t think a 20 point penalty was reasonable for going off by myself in practice and nosing a tire barrier, I’d have to work back from that deficit.
At Oktoberfest at Watkins Glen, our biggest race of the year, I pulled off wins in 2-of-3 races (I broke an axle in the 3rd), among the largest field we've ever seen in K-Prepared, and all the fastest guys were there. The points from those finishes launched me back into contention for the championship.
I went to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham and just had to finish 1 of the 3 races. I broke a rocker arm in the first qualifying session and spent the day and night replacing it. On the next day, the motor totally blew up 1/2 a lap from counting as a finished race for me. I was 1/2 a freakin lap away from the championship!
I had a new motor built (to SpecE30 regulation, so basically stock) and installed over the next few weeks and went down to Roebling Road, in Savannah, GA, to take one last shot at the national championship. I brought in a soon-to-be pro driver, Mike Skeen, to co-drive with me. I planned to both to learn from him and figured he’d help me out in the enduro. There were a few quick KP cars in presence.
In Friday practice, I felt I had the speed to win, but I had an issue with the motor. It ended up being the Air Flow Meter. I had suspected it before, so I had a spare on hand. When I changed it, I needed to confirm it before qualifying, so I went out on the road with Katy and pulled through a couple gears a few times. It was fixed.
Unfortunately, when I got back to the track, a neighbor had come by, all irate over the noise and the speed at which I went by his house. Keep in mind that my car is street legal, registered, and insured. Well, they somehow came to the conclusion that I should be booted from the track, and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't race, and it left me in 2nd place nationally for the season.
What a way to go, huh?
I am the North Central K-Prepared Regional Champion for the 2nd year in a row.
I ended up 2nd in the K-Prepared National Championship, improving from 3rd in 2007.
I looked back on the 2008 season and saw that I had done everything that I had intended to do. My outright wins at Oktoberfest against the fastest guys left me feeling like I had proven myself. Here come the “what if’s?”… If it wasn’t for the penalty at VIR, I would’ve secured the championship after Oktoberfest. If I had blown the motor ½ a lap later, I would’ve secured the championship after Barber. If I hadn’t had a stupid incident at Roebling, well, that would have been some good racing! I was ready to move on…
Thanks for keeping up on my racing this year and thanks to all those who have supported me on and off the track!
-Anthony Magagnoli
Showing posts with label KP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KP. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Barber Motorsports Park
I am in disbelief…
Going into this North American Challenge event, I sat 2nd in the National Championship for K-Prepared. I had no one challenging me in class and all I needed to do was to finish 50% of the laps in ONE of the races (they were all worth 150% points) in order to secure the K-Prepared National Title. That should’ve been pretty easy…
In qualifying for the 90 minute Enduro on Saturday, I noticed the motor sounding rough in high rpms and it eventually lost some power, so I brought it in. I pulled the valve cover and spark plugs and found I had fouled a plug. While I sent my friend Eric to buy some plugs, I decided to gap the valves with my friend Julie (they were helping crew for the weekend). When I got to the #2 cylinder intake rocker, I noticed a LOT of play. Upon a closer look, the wear pad where the rocker contacts the cam lobe was worn completely down. I wouldn't be able to run the enduro that day, so I set to work on that with the help of Chuck Baader, who was paddocked next to me, as well as Eric, Julie, and a guy Leslie from work who had come to watch the race. We worked the whole afternoon and by the time we were kicked out at 7pm, it was put back together with a replacement rocker arm. We just needed to refill the radiator and top off the oil. We finished that in the morning and the car ran, but I knew the motor was hurt.
I went out in qualifying, shifting at no more than 5,000 rpm. I was slow, but I confirmed that it ran. The session was black-flagged after 3 laps for an incident, so we all went into the pits. I was going to go back out, but I decided to pull it in while it was still running. I pulled the valve cover again to look things over. Everything seemed ok. I just needed to nurse it through 50% of the first race…
I started the race from the back of the field. It was frustrating to shift at only 5,000 rpm, but after a couple laps I was ok with it and having a little fun with a couple other cars at the back of the field. I could hear a valve tick on the few left hand turns, which would have indicated oil starvation. I previously suspected a problem with the oil-sprayer that keeps the rockers and cam lubricated… On the 4th lap, coming out of the hairpin, the motor blew with a light bang and a huge plume of white smoke out the tailpipe. As it died, I coasted as far as I could, but I was only half-way around the track. I watched the race from over the fence until I was pulled in at the end.
Looking at the race results, I had finished 4 laps and the lead BMW’s had finished 10. Had I completed the lap that I was on, I would have completed 50% of the laps and the race would have counted for me. I was a HALF A LAP away from the National Championship.
I have one more chance at winning the championship and that is at Roebling Road, outside of Savannah, GA, in December. There will be some fast guys in my class there and I’ll have to either win the non-feature race, or place 2nd or 1st in the Feature race in order to still win the championship… By 1 point. Its going to be a lot harder than “simply finishing” a race. Stay tuned…
Going into this North American Challenge event, I sat 2nd in the National Championship for K-Prepared. I had no one challenging me in class and all I needed to do was to finish 50% of the laps in ONE of the races (they were all worth 150% points) in order to secure the K-Prepared National Title. That should’ve been pretty easy…
In qualifying for the 90 minute Enduro on Saturday, I noticed the motor sounding rough in high rpms and it eventually lost some power, so I brought it in. I pulled the valve cover and spark plugs and found I had fouled a plug. While I sent my friend Eric to buy some plugs, I decided to gap the valves with my friend Julie (they were helping crew for the weekend). When I got to the #2 cylinder intake rocker, I noticed a LOT of play. Upon a closer look, the wear pad where the rocker contacts the cam lobe was worn completely down. I wouldn't be able to run the enduro that day, so I set to work on that with the help of Chuck Baader, who was paddocked next to me, as well as Eric, Julie, and a guy Leslie from work who had come to watch the race. We worked the whole afternoon and by the time we were kicked out at 7pm, it was put back together with a replacement rocker arm. We just needed to refill the radiator and top off the oil. We finished that in the morning and the car ran, but I knew the motor was hurt.
I went out in qualifying, shifting at no more than 5,000 rpm. I was slow, but I confirmed that it ran. The session was black-flagged after 3 laps for an incident, so we all went into the pits. I was going to go back out, but I decided to pull it in while it was still running. I pulled the valve cover again to look things over. Everything seemed ok. I just needed to nurse it through 50% of the first race…
I started the race from the back of the field. It was frustrating to shift at only 5,000 rpm, but after a couple laps I was ok with it and having a little fun with a couple other cars at the back of the field. I could hear a valve tick on the few left hand turns, which would have indicated oil starvation. I previously suspected a problem with the oil-sprayer that keeps the rockers and cam lubricated… On the 4th lap, coming out of the hairpin, the motor blew with a light bang and a huge plume of white smoke out the tailpipe. As it died, I coasted as far as I could, but I was only half-way around the track. I watched the race from over the fence until I was pulled in at the end.
Looking at the race results, I had finished 4 laps and the lead BMW’s had finished 10. Had I completed the lap that I was on, I would have completed 50% of the laps and the race would have counted for me. I was a HALF A LAP away from the National Championship.
I have one more chance at winning the championship and that is at Roebling Road, outside of Savannah, GA, in December. There will be some fast guys in my class there and I’ll have to either win the non-feature race, or place 2nd or 1st in the Feature race in order to still win the championship… By 1 point. Its going to be a lot harder than “simply finishing” a race. Stay tuned…
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Mid-Ohio - Great Pumpkin Race
REVIEW:
If you had asked me anytime between the first race of this year (VIR) and Oktoberfest (Watkins Glen), I probably would’ve told you that I anticipated attending this race at Mid-Ohio just simply for fun. If you’ve been keeping up, you may remember that I incurred a penalty at VIR for hitting a tire wall in practice. That penalty put me on probation for 3 months, took away all my points for that weekend, and docked me 20 points off of my season total points. I didn’t know if it was even possible to recover from that.
The results from Oktoberfest changed things. I had beaten out the biggest field of competitors this year at my home track of Watkins Glen in 2 of the 3 races. The feature race had the only 200% points multiplier of the year and, with up to 10 bonus points for the 12 racers finishing behind me, it added up to be the largest and 2nd largest possible single points finishes possible for the series. Had I not snapped an axle in the 3rd race, I may have been able to hang on to pull off a hat-trick, but alas, the 2 wins put me back in contention for the national championship!
So, going into this race at Mid-Ohio, there ended up being a lot riding on these results. I was going to need a few wins through the remaining races this season in order to pull to the front of the national points race. I was only facing one other competitor in K-Prepared, but he was a formidable opponent. I’ve been battling all year with my nemesis, the #82, John Negus.
THIS RACE:
For this weekend, we would have a 40 minute sprint race and a 60 minute enduro, which requires a pit stop. I had dedicated support in the form of my crew-chief-for-the-weekend, Kevin Kreisa, who is my mechanic/badass fabricator under the name DTR Performance, and my friend Jeff Chiang who, for some reason, had offered to help me out again. Since I had to pamper my voluntary crew, I rented a garage, which we shared with my friend Tim Smith and his co-driver Doug Thoms. You may recall that Tim and I traded paint a couple times at Watkins Glen among some close, hard racing.
I had made some significant upgrades to my car before Oktoberfest and I was expecting them to translate into a decent drop in lap time. I was hoping that Negus would no longer be able to keep up with me, but it turned out that he haad also made some major improvements, too, and not only to his car.
It had been raining at Mid-Ohio for the last day or two and, although it had stopped, it wasn’t even 40 degrees in the morning, so that moisture wasn’t really going anywhere. Practice was wothless for me, as we had experienced some delay in having the car prepared that morning, so I only got a few laps, and in cold and wet conditions at Mid-Ohio, it makes for a pretty treacherous time.
For qualifying, the track was wet and we were on rain tires. I had a decent run, but was taking it somewhat easy in consideration of the conditions. Negus qualified just ahead of me. Well, rain is the great equalizer for horsepower, and we would be starting 6th and 7th out of the entire field! We were definitely going to be needing to watch our mirrors for faster traffic coming through, as the conditions dried up for the race.
The start of the first race was crazy. There were faster cars slicing up through the field and when we all reached Turn 1, there were 2 IP cars in front that were spinning and sending the rest of the field scattering to avoid them. NO ONE made contact, though! After narrowly sneaking through that, I worked on closing down the gap between me and Negus. It took about half the race, but when I caught him, I tailed him for a lap before finding the opportunity to take him on the inside of T12 (the drop into Thunder Valley). I was able to hang on for the class win!
The Fun Race was rediculous for me, as my car was oversteering horrendously on the practice tires, which I have some theories about... I decided to just have fun and put on a show for those watching, often drifting through many of the turns in a full tail-slide. I even made a trip into China Beach (off the end of the back straight) for them when I had braked a touch late and was still on them as I turned in. The car snapped around and I went off down into the gravel. I missed it... I hadn't been in there yet this year! After several attempts, I made my way out to the cheering of the crowd that was watching from madness. I drifted through the grass, flashing my lights at them, and continued on to the end.
THANK YOU TO ANDY WELTER FOR THE FANTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHY!
http://www.the-welters.com/racing/bmwcca/oct2008/index.html
On Sunday, there were a lot of people who had come to see the race. Not the least of which were Katy and her parents! Just prior to the Feature Enduro, a rainstorm came through that had everyone scrambling on tire choice. Looking at the radar, it looked like it was going to pass, so I stayed with dry’s. That was the right choice. When it came race time, Negus turned on the heat. He qualified several spots ahead of me and was pulling me early in the race. I had Charles Benoit, in an I-Stock E30 M3, pressuring me from behind. I started slowly closing the gap on Negus and had closed about half of it after 5 or 6 laps. But then Benoit took me on the inside of T7 and the side-by-side through 7-8-9 countered the ground I had just made up on Negus. Benoit got by and I had to put my frustration aside and think about what I could do. He was quicker than me in the straights and I figured that if I could stick close enough to him, I could use his draft to help me catch Negus. While doing this, it only took a handful of laps for us to catch him. And, in the meantime, I set my personal best-lap of a 1:44.556. We caught up with Negus and Benoit got by him.
We were at the 40 minute mark and my guy Kevin told me over the radio to "pit on the next lap". I acknowledged this, but I wasn’t going to pit until I had caught Negus and put some pressure on him. If past experience was any indication, all I had to do was get close to him and he would put himself off. I caught him and as we were going into the carousel, he went in a bit hot and had the car sliding around the ouside of the turn. I tucked in under him, but keeping as much distance as I could so that I could either accelerate or brake, depending on what his car did. As soon as I saw the opportunity, I jetted ahead and watched Negus spin off into the gravel behind me. I called in to Kevin that I would, indeed, pit on the next lap. My friend Dave Cochran happened to capture video of the incident!:
The pit stop went smoothly and I headed back out. A lap later, Benoit exited the pits and we had ourselves a great battle to the end of the race, with me crossing the finish line merely inches off his bumper. I could hear Katy and her parents cheering when I pulled into the pits at the end! It was great to have the support of so many people around, sticking out the cold weather!
The results from this race weekend positioned me to need to simply finish one of the 3 races at Barber Motorsports Park in November in order to clinch the K-Prepared National Championship. The Barber write-up is coming next…
If you had asked me anytime between the first race of this year (VIR) and Oktoberfest (Watkins Glen), I probably would’ve told you that I anticipated attending this race at Mid-Ohio just simply for fun. If you’ve been keeping up, you may remember that I incurred a penalty at VIR for hitting a tire wall in practice. That penalty put me on probation for 3 months, took away all my points for that weekend, and docked me 20 points off of my season total points. I didn’t know if it was even possible to recover from that.
The results from Oktoberfest changed things. I had beaten out the biggest field of competitors this year at my home track of Watkins Glen in 2 of the 3 races. The feature race had the only 200% points multiplier of the year and, with up to 10 bonus points for the 12 racers finishing behind me, it added up to be the largest and 2nd largest possible single points finishes possible for the series. Had I not snapped an axle in the 3rd race, I may have been able to hang on to pull off a hat-trick, but alas, the 2 wins put me back in contention for the national championship!
So, going into this race at Mid-Ohio, there ended up being a lot riding on these results. I was going to need a few wins through the remaining races this season in order to pull to the front of the national points race. I was only facing one other competitor in K-Prepared, but he was a formidable opponent. I’ve been battling all year with my nemesis, the #82, John Negus.
THIS RACE:
For this weekend, we would have a 40 minute sprint race and a 60 minute enduro, which requires a pit stop. I had dedicated support in the form of my crew-chief-for-the-weekend, Kevin Kreisa, who is my mechanic/badass fabricator under the name DTR Performance, and my friend Jeff Chiang who, for some reason, had offered to help me out again. Since I had to pamper my voluntary crew, I rented a garage, which we shared with my friend Tim Smith and his co-driver Doug Thoms. You may recall that Tim and I traded paint a couple times at Watkins Glen among some close, hard racing.
I had made some significant upgrades to my car before Oktoberfest and I was expecting them to translate into a decent drop in lap time. I was hoping that Negus would no longer be able to keep up with me, but it turned out that he haad also made some major improvements, too, and not only to his car.
It had been raining at Mid-Ohio for the last day or two and, although it had stopped, it wasn’t even 40 degrees in the morning, so that moisture wasn’t really going anywhere. Practice was wothless for me, as we had experienced some delay in having the car prepared that morning, so I only got a few laps, and in cold and wet conditions at Mid-Ohio, it makes for a pretty treacherous time.
For qualifying, the track was wet and we were on rain tires. I had a decent run, but was taking it somewhat easy in consideration of the conditions. Negus qualified just ahead of me. Well, rain is the great equalizer for horsepower, and we would be starting 6th and 7th out of the entire field! We were definitely going to be needing to watch our mirrors for faster traffic coming through, as the conditions dried up for the race.
The start of the first race was crazy. There were faster cars slicing up through the field and when we all reached Turn 1, there were 2 IP cars in front that were spinning and sending the rest of the field scattering to avoid them. NO ONE made contact, though! After narrowly sneaking through that, I worked on closing down the gap between me and Negus. It took about half the race, but when I caught him, I tailed him for a lap before finding the opportunity to take him on the inside of T12 (the drop into Thunder Valley). I was able to hang on for the class win!
The Fun Race was rediculous for me, as my car was oversteering horrendously on the practice tires, which I have some theories about... I decided to just have fun and put on a show for those watching, often drifting through many of the turns in a full tail-slide. I even made a trip into China Beach (off the end of the back straight) for them when I had braked a touch late and was still on them as I turned in. The car snapped around and I went off down into the gravel. I missed it... I hadn't been in there yet this year! After several attempts, I made my way out to the cheering of the crowd that was watching from madness. I drifted through the grass, flashing my lights at them, and continued on to the end.
THANK YOU TO ANDY WELTER FOR THE FANTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHY!
http://www.the-welters.com/racing/bmwcca/oct2008/index.html
On Sunday, there were a lot of people who had come to see the race. Not the least of which were Katy and her parents! Just prior to the Feature Enduro, a rainstorm came through that had everyone scrambling on tire choice. Looking at the radar, it looked like it was going to pass, so I stayed with dry’s. That was the right choice. When it came race time, Negus turned on the heat. He qualified several spots ahead of me and was pulling me early in the race. I had Charles Benoit, in an I-Stock E30 M3, pressuring me from behind. I started slowly closing the gap on Negus and had closed about half of it after 5 or 6 laps. But then Benoit took me on the inside of T7 and the side-by-side through 7-8-9 countered the ground I had just made up on Negus. Benoit got by and I had to put my frustration aside and think about what I could do. He was quicker than me in the straights and I figured that if I could stick close enough to him, I could use his draft to help me catch Negus. While doing this, it only took a handful of laps for us to catch him. And, in the meantime, I set my personal best-lap of a 1:44.556. We caught up with Negus and Benoit got by him.
We were at the 40 minute mark and my guy Kevin told me over the radio to "pit on the next lap". I acknowledged this, but I wasn’t going to pit until I had caught Negus and put some pressure on him. If past experience was any indication, all I had to do was get close to him and he would put himself off. I caught him and as we were going into the carousel, he went in a bit hot and had the car sliding around the ouside of the turn. I tucked in under him, but keeping as much distance as I could so that I could either accelerate or brake, depending on what his car did. As soon as I saw the opportunity, I jetted ahead and watched Negus spin off into the gravel behind me. I called in to Kevin that I would, indeed, pit on the next lap. My friend Dave Cochran happened to capture video of the incident!:
The pit stop went smoothly and I headed back out. A lap later, Benoit exited the pits and we had ourselves a great battle to the end of the race, with me crossing the finish line merely inches off his bumper. I could hear Katy and her parents cheering when I pulled into the pits at the end! It was great to have the support of so many people around, sticking out the cold weather!
The results from this race weekend positioned me to need to simply finish one of the 3 races at Barber Motorsports Park in November in order to clinch the K-Prepared National Championship. The Barber write-up is coming next…
Sunday, September 28, 2008
BMWCCA Oktoberfest 2008 - Watkins Glen
After hanging out at home in Rochester for a few days, I headed down to Watkins Glen on Wednesday to instruct the driving school for 2 days and get a little practice in. The driving school organizer was joking that I was the most-requested instructor there, as my A-Group student was my student from Mid-Ohio last month who requested me again, and a couple racers who were coming to the Glen for the first time had done the same. My C-group student on Thursday was driving a bone stock 4-cyl automatic Hyundai Sonata. I had the honor of taking him out for a couple of introductory laps in it and immediately overheated the brakes on their first application on my OUT-lap. Instructing him was not bad, actually. He listened well and improved significantly throughout the day. He couldn’t wait to come back once he bought his BMW! The weather was beautiful and it was enjoyable just to be in the middle of the huge Oktoberfest events.
Coming through Turn9, onto the NASCAR straight.
Friday practice went ok. I wasn't the quickest KP car out there, but I had narrow, old practice tires on. They were definitely taking a long time to warm up. While the previous days’ weather had been perfect, Qualifying on Friday afternoon for our race group was fogged out, so we substituted our Saturday no-points Fun Race with a Qualifying session in the morning.
The Qualifying session was very wet, so I took it easy and qualified 4th in a class of 13 and 17th overall (in Race Group 2). I would start the race with KP racer Keith Hammitte right in front of me, while John Negus and Michael Norek were 5 rows ahead. Considering that the other guys were running on Hoosier wet tires and I was on cheap Kumho Ecsta V700’s, going easy, I was satisfied with the result of qualifying. But, I had some ground to make up on these fast guys.
Saturday's early race began with everyone on wet tires. My Ecsta V700’s are not very good rain tires, but it turned out that they were pretty good intermediates! The weather had cleared and the track was merely damp by the time the green flag dropped.
On the race start, with Steve Shardt (founder of Forgeline Wheels) on the radio, I got a huge jump on the field. I was on the gas well before the green flag and I got a run past Hammitte in front of me, practically scraping my passenger side mirror down the pit wall in the process. We must’ve been 5-wide on the front straight! I had gotten all the way up to Norek by Turn 1 and went in side-by-side. I had picked up something like 8 spots on the start! Over the next several laps, I raced my way by Norek and eventually by Negus.
Just after I got by Negus (my nemesis) between Turns 9 and 10, I defended going into 11, which leads onto the front straight, and I dropped out of my power band. He and Norek got a good run and I saw them coming on our way into Turn 1. Norek was WAY on the inside and I could see by his speed that he was in way too early. Knowing what was about to happen, I backed off, let Norek slide across T1, meanwhile slowing down Negus since they went in together, and I powered out with nearly full exit speed, passing Negus before the top of the esses. On the following lap, though, Negus lost it coming out of the Outer Loop (T5d) and hit the armco, but fortunately was able to continue racing.
Leading Hammitte and Smith into the Toe of the Boot (Turn 7).
In the following laps, my friend Tim Smith, in his Spec E36, attempted a total Hail-Mary pass on me into Turn 1, but I had already committed to the turn, as he didn’t have a bumper on me by my turn-in point. I knew I wasn't leaving him much room (if enough at all) and tried to widen my line as I heard his tires howling next to me. I got a bit of a love tap that didn’t take any more than a brief correction to recover from. It was all good! There was yellow flag a couple laps later, though, that bunched up the field and so I had them behind me again, but the race ended under yellow. Unfortunately, my good friend Vivek had been spun by a KP driver coming out of the bus stop and hit the wall hard, putting him out for the weekend.
Overall I took 1st in class and 7th overall!
Momentarily opening a lead into the Toe of the Boot.
So, that’s where I started for the feature (200% points) race in the later afternoon. I was now running my new Hankook Z214 C51 tires, which I had just heat cycled on Wednesday. Leading the KP pack, when I had won the previous race partially due to lucky tire selection, was daunting, and especially knowing that the guys behind me were on Hoosiers.
Waiting on grid for the start of the Feature Race. Photo by Franco Culietta.
The race was fantastic. I had Hammitte all over the back of my car while I was running with the 2 points leaders in Spec E36 (Tim Smith and Mike Gilbert) through the entire race. The battles went back and forth relentlessly. I didn't want to interfere with the SE36 race, and in-fact had Gilbert motioning to me to leave them alone, but I had my own problems to deal with!! If either of them screwed up and left the door open, I was taking the position. And we swapped several times. The SE36 cars had bit more power, better aero, and could out-brake me, but I was quicker through the turns and their fastest lap times were within .1 sec of my 2:19.118 fastest lap! Hammitte even got by me at least a couple times through the race, but never for long. The back-and-forth was incredibly fun and, at one point, Gilbert even launched so far out into the runoff of T1 that he had to cut straight through the grass, foot flat on the gas, to get back on and keep his position!
Towards the end, a JP and a JS E30 M3 got caught up to us and the JS car made his way by. The JP car was David Hill and he got by me on the back straight, but I forced him to enter the bus stop on the right. He went in too hot, pushed wide to the right, and I passed him back as he drove off into the grass. Hammitte got by him, too. Hill re-passed Hammitte on the next lap and started pressuring me. Steve had been giving me updates on the radio whenever he could and had informed me that we were on the last lap. I frantically waved Hill off, both trying to keep him between me and Hammitte and also hoping he wouldn't try to force a pass that could give Hammitte the opportunity to get by me! Thankfully, he complied and I crossed the finish line 1st in class and 10th overall!! It looks like these Hankook tires really can run with the Hoosiers! Tim Smith also managed to finish in front of Gilbert and take 2nd for SE36, while Fred Furguson had won SE36 with a healthy 28 second lead.
Tailing Tim Smith into Turn 11, onto the front straight.
On Sunday, it was raining again, so I swapped to the rain tires. When I got out on track, I realized that my left rear spring was cocked out of its perch. The car was driving the way you might expect if you had a solid spring in your left rear, but with the addition of some funky noises in right-handers. I figured I had to do the best I could with what I had and just get through the race. I was starting in the lead for KP and knew I wouldn’t be able to fend off the guys on Hoosier Wets, but was hoping to minimize my positions lost.
I lost a couple of positions by the 2nd lap, as the lack of compliance in my left rear suspension was compounding the lack of grip of my Kumho tires. As it turned out, the spring was wedged against the CV Axle and the heat being generated snapped the axle on the 2nd lap. I heard the boom and immediately dipped the clutch and put the car in neutral. As I pulled off to the run-off area of T9, I heard a loud clanking and figured I had broken the axle. I watched some of the race from there and was picked up by a flat-bed truck and then towed in when the race finished. I received a DNF for that race, while Michael Norek picked up the KP win with 9 cars in class.
Very wet, trailing behind Hammitte.
Overall, I am hugely satisfied with the 2 hard-fought wins!! It was great to have my family and some friends with me and to come away with the results that evaded me at the Glen last year. The win in the 2nd race resulted in the highest possible points finish in any single race for the season, as Oktoberfest is the BMWCCA’s premier national event (10 points for the win x 200%, plus up to 10 points for cars finishing behind = 30 points). As I’m trying to recover from a 20 point penalty incurred at VIR at the beginning of the year, this result was critical for me. I’m now back in the running for the KP national title with races at Mid-Ohio, Barber, and Roebling Road left to finish off the season. We’ll see what happens!
Pipino, Pipina, Michelle, Christian, Franco, Papa', e Mamma.
Photo by Franco Cutietta.
Motioning about some move made on the track... looks kinda gay, though = P
Photo by Franco Cutietta.
Coming through Turn9, onto the NASCAR straight.
Friday practice went ok. I wasn't the quickest KP car out there, but I had narrow, old practice tires on. They were definitely taking a long time to warm up. While the previous days’ weather had been perfect, Qualifying on Friday afternoon for our race group was fogged out, so we substituted our Saturday no-points Fun Race with a Qualifying session in the morning.
The Qualifying session was very wet, so I took it easy and qualified 4th in a class of 13 and 17th overall (in Race Group 2). I would start the race with KP racer Keith Hammitte right in front of me, while John Negus and Michael Norek were 5 rows ahead. Considering that the other guys were running on Hoosier wet tires and I was on cheap Kumho Ecsta V700’s, going easy, I was satisfied with the result of qualifying. But, I had some ground to make up on these fast guys.
Saturday's early race began with everyone on wet tires. My Ecsta V700’s are not very good rain tires, but it turned out that they were pretty good intermediates! The weather had cleared and the track was merely damp by the time the green flag dropped.
On the race start, with Steve Shardt (founder of Forgeline Wheels) on the radio, I got a huge jump on the field. I was on the gas well before the green flag and I got a run past Hammitte in front of me, practically scraping my passenger side mirror down the pit wall in the process. We must’ve been 5-wide on the front straight! I had gotten all the way up to Norek by Turn 1 and went in side-by-side. I had picked up something like 8 spots on the start! Over the next several laps, I raced my way by Norek and eventually by Negus.
Just after I got by Negus (my nemesis) between Turns 9 and 10, I defended going into 11, which leads onto the front straight, and I dropped out of my power band. He and Norek got a good run and I saw them coming on our way into Turn 1. Norek was WAY on the inside and I could see by his speed that he was in way too early. Knowing what was about to happen, I backed off, let Norek slide across T1, meanwhile slowing down Negus since they went in together, and I powered out with nearly full exit speed, passing Negus before the top of the esses. On the following lap, though, Negus lost it coming out of the Outer Loop (T5d) and hit the armco, but fortunately was able to continue racing.
Leading Hammitte and Smith into the Toe of the Boot (Turn 7).
In the following laps, my friend Tim Smith, in his Spec E36, attempted a total Hail-Mary pass on me into Turn 1, but I had already committed to the turn, as he didn’t have a bumper on me by my turn-in point. I knew I wasn't leaving him much room (if enough at all) and tried to widen my line as I heard his tires howling next to me. I got a bit of a love tap that didn’t take any more than a brief correction to recover from. It was all good! There was yellow flag a couple laps later, though, that bunched up the field and so I had them behind me again, but the race ended under yellow. Unfortunately, my good friend Vivek had been spun by a KP driver coming out of the bus stop and hit the wall hard, putting him out for the weekend.
Overall I took 1st in class and 7th overall!
Momentarily opening a lead into the Toe of the Boot.
So, that’s where I started for the feature (200% points) race in the later afternoon. I was now running my new Hankook Z214 C51 tires, which I had just heat cycled on Wednesday. Leading the KP pack, when I had won the previous race partially due to lucky tire selection, was daunting, and especially knowing that the guys behind me were on Hoosiers.
Waiting on grid for the start of the Feature Race. Photo by Franco Culietta.
The race was fantastic. I had Hammitte all over the back of my car while I was running with the 2 points leaders in Spec E36 (Tim Smith and Mike Gilbert) through the entire race. The battles went back and forth relentlessly. I didn't want to interfere with the SE36 race, and in-fact had Gilbert motioning to me to leave them alone, but I had my own problems to deal with!! If either of them screwed up and left the door open, I was taking the position. And we swapped several times. The SE36 cars had bit more power, better aero, and could out-brake me, but I was quicker through the turns and their fastest lap times were within .1 sec of my 2:19.118 fastest lap! Hammitte even got by me at least a couple times through the race, but never for long. The back-and-forth was incredibly fun and, at one point, Gilbert even launched so far out into the runoff of T1 that he had to cut straight through the grass, foot flat on the gas, to get back on and keep his position!
Towards the end, a JP and a JS E30 M3 got caught up to us and the JS car made his way by. The JP car was David Hill and he got by me on the back straight, but I forced him to enter the bus stop on the right. He went in too hot, pushed wide to the right, and I passed him back as he drove off into the grass. Hammitte got by him, too. Hill re-passed Hammitte on the next lap and started pressuring me. Steve had been giving me updates on the radio whenever he could and had informed me that we were on the last lap. I frantically waved Hill off, both trying to keep him between me and Hammitte and also hoping he wouldn't try to force a pass that could give Hammitte the opportunity to get by me! Thankfully, he complied and I crossed the finish line 1st in class and 10th overall!! It looks like these Hankook tires really can run with the Hoosiers! Tim Smith also managed to finish in front of Gilbert and take 2nd for SE36, while Fred Furguson had won SE36 with a healthy 28 second lead.
Tailing Tim Smith into Turn 11, onto the front straight.
On Sunday, it was raining again, so I swapped to the rain tires. When I got out on track, I realized that my left rear spring was cocked out of its perch. The car was driving the way you might expect if you had a solid spring in your left rear, but with the addition of some funky noises in right-handers. I figured I had to do the best I could with what I had and just get through the race. I was starting in the lead for KP and knew I wouldn’t be able to fend off the guys on Hoosier Wets, but was hoping to minimize my positions lost.
I lost a couple of positions by the 2nd lap, as the lack of compliance in my left rear suspension was compounding the lack of grip of my Kumho tires. As it turned out, the spring was wedged against the CV Axle and the heat being generated snapped the axle on the 2nd lap. I heard the boom and immediately dipped the clutch and put the car in neutral. As I pulled off to the run-off area of T9, I heard a loud clanking and figured I had broken the axle. I watched some of the race from there and was picked up by a flat-bed truck and then towed in when the race finished. I received a DNF for that race, while Michael Norek picked up the KP win with 9 cars in class.
Very wet, trailing behind Hammitte.
Overall, I am hugely satisfied with the 2 hard-fought wins!! It was great to have my family and some friends with me and to come away with the results that evaded me at the Glen last year. The win in the 2nd race resulted in the highest possible points finish in any single race for the season, as Oktoberfest is the BMWCCA’s premier national event (10 points for the win x 200%, plus up to 10 points for cars finishing behind = 30 points). As I’m trying to recover from a 20 point penalty incurred at VIR at the beginning of the year, this result was critical for me. I’m now back in the running for the KP national title with races at Mid-Ohio, Barber, and Roebling Road left to finish off the season. We’ll see what happens!
Pipino, Pipina, Michelle, Christian, Franco, Papa', e Mamma.
Photo by Franco Cutietta.
Motioning about some move made on the track... looks kinda gay, though = P
Photo by Franco Cutietta.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Roebling Road race weekend, season finale
Roebling Road Raceway, outside Savannah, GA
BMWCCA Club Race 12/7-9/2007
First, I did not gain enough points this weekend to secure the national championship.
I will finish my rookie season in 3rd place Nationaly in BMWCCA Club Racing K-Prepared, while winning the North Central Regional Championship.
I arrived at Roebling Road around 1pm on Friday and we had a practice session at 4. The entire weekend was coinciding not with a DE, but SVRA Vintage Racing. There was some beautiful machinery there. Overall impression of the track: There is very little room for error. Most of the turns are of decreasing radius or tighten up into another turn. So, if you enter a bit hot, you don't get a chance to recover because the turn tightens even further. 4 laps into the practice session, as I’m trying to learn the track, I was coming out of a very fast (90+ mph) turn 3 when the car in front of me blew its $10k motor (he had JUST installed it!). I was immediately blinded by the smoke and just trying to dodge his car. I slid in his oil off to the inside of turn 4, watching him spin back and forth ahead of me and to my left. As I was sliding, I did what little I could to guide my car between his, a dirt berm on my right, and an upcoming tire wall. I narrowly escaped 3 big collisions. Unfortunately, the rest of the session was cancelled in order to clean up. I hadn’t even had time to determine my shift points.
Saturday morning was very foggy and our session was delayed, but we still got most of our time in. I was getting a little more comfortable with the track, but not exactly cozy yet. I had been practicing on my Toyo RA-1 tires, but qualified on my Kumho V710 race tires about 1 second faster than the RA-1’s. Before the enduro, I found out that James Clay (owner of Bimmerworld) and Seth Thomas, drivers of the Bimmerworld E90 SPEED Touring Cars, would both be driving Spec E30’s in K-Prepared! The 2 fastest cars (de Haro and Hinkley) were both on Hoosiers. I didn't realize that Hinkley was in the points race, as he had registered last minute...
Come race time, things started out well. Seth got past me and he and James were nose to tail, with me following behind, for a few laps. Then, coming around T3, a Mod car went by me on the outside (clean pass). My inexperience at this track created the following condition: I did not align myself toward the inside of T4, behind the Mod car, because I didn't trust myself and my car to not hit him when we braked as soon as we straightened up. I stayed just to the left and I didn't realize at the time that I had just effectively cut my braking zone in HALF. Needless to say, I went off FAST. Through the grass, the sand did nothing, and I expected to initially crunch into the 3 foot tall berm. I was headed with the left front corner first and when the car started to climb the berm, I then thought I was going over it into the trees. When I rode up the berm but didn't go over, then I thought I'd flip to the right side. When I actually rode back down the berm, I couldn't really believe it. I didn't know if the car was running, but I put it in 2nd and put my foot down... It kept going, so I reentered the track.
Off-Roading
As the race continued, I found myself later behind Nissen in another KP car. We came around T3 and I was on his tail, coming up on him a considerable bit quicker. The car in front of him checked up early, causing him to brake early, and I just didn't leave myself enough reaction time. I tried to dodge him, but I tagged his rear bumper with my right front. I was just thinking that I really hoped that I didn't damage him or cause him to spin. Fortunately, neither of those occurred. I was not so lucky, though. It broke my bumper and caused me to repeat my trip to, up, and down the same berm as before. Coming back on the track, I asked myself if I should just bring it in and call it quits. Maybe some of you would agree... I stayed out, though, and finished the race in 6th of 7. The car was over-steering pretty badly at that point, though. I thought I may have broken something. Also, there was a heavy vibration which I was assuming was my wheel bearing, which was already on its way out, saying “Sayonara”. I was immensely frustrated and regretting having attended.
Broken bumper, missing lower valence.
Saturday night, I happened to be eating with Robert Patton (KP) and telling him what had happened. He informed me that he had a wheel bearing and it was not difficult to replace. With the help of pretty much the entire Bimmerworld team, but especially Dave, I got it replaced in not too much time at all! Unfortunately, the go-karting place shut down early, so Vivek, myself, and most of Bimmerworld ended up just heading downtown. It was fun hanging out and getting to know everyone, at their best (ie, beligerant!).
Sunday’s qualifying left me only more frustrated. The car was over-steering horribly and I was 2 ½ seconds off my pace and there was still a strong vibration, putting me at the back of the pack. Vivek suggested unhooking he rear sway bar in a last ditch effort to get the rear to grip. Bimmerworld Dave was helping me again and we jacked the rear of the car. Well, we discovered that there was no rear sway bar to remove (I bought the car built as-is), but as I caught Dave glance at my tires, I also looked and uttered an “oh, shit.” I had only run these tires in 2 race weekends (quals and race only, no practice) and the right rear was corded 2/3 of the way across, all the way around, and there was a visible patch of belt. I hadn’t even considered that these p.o.s. tires could’ve worn that quickly. They weren’t even that grippy! My only option was to run my practice tires.
Corded V710
Sunday’s race went much better than Saturday’s. I wasn’t going to be in it with Hinkley and de Haro, but I wanted to have a good run. Starting from the back, I was able to work my way up through a bunch of cars. I had some good dices with KP cars and ran the entire second half of the race back and forth with Tom Tice’s SE36, ultimately finishing 3rd in class. At least it was a satisfying finish to a frustrating (and costly) weekend.
"Roebling LOWLIGHTS":
I end up in 3rd overall in KP this year. It’s been a huge learning experience and I’ve been having a blast. I’ve found the range of emotion in this sport to be enormous and I’ve gotten a taste of each end. I hope to be able to build on what I’ve learned this year and make a good run at the KP title next year. Thank you to all of you who have helped me out this year, including GrassRootsGarage.com and especially to Scott and www.MyTrackSchedule.com. MY BEST MEMORIES FROM THIS SEASON ARE THOSE WHEN I’VE HAD MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY WITH ME!
End of the season
BMWCCA Club Race 12/7-9/2007
First, I did not gain enough points this weekend to secure the national championship.
I will finish my rookie season in 3rd place Nationaly in BMWCCA Club Racing K-Prepared, while winning the North Central Regional Championship.
I arrived at Roebling Road around 1pm on Friday and we had a practice session at 4. The entire weekend was coinciding not with a DE, but SVRA Vintage Racing. There was some beautiful machinery there. Overall impression of the track: There is very little room for error. Most of the turns are of decreasing radius or tighten up into another turn. So, if you enter a bit hot, you don't get a chance to recover because the turn tightens even further. 4 laps into the practice session, as I’m trying to learn the track, I was coming out of a very fast (90+ mph) turn 3 when the car in front of me blew its $10k motor (he had JUST installed it!). I was immediately blinded by the smoke and just trying to dodge his car. I slid in his oil off to the inside of turn 4, watching him spin back and forth ahead of me and to my left. As I was sliding, I did what little I could to guide my car between his, a dirt berm on my right, and an upcoming tire wall. I narrowly escaped 3 big collisions. Unfortunately, the rest of the session was cancelled in order to clean up. I hadn’t even had time to determine my shift points.
Saturday morning was very foggy and our session was delayed, but we still got most of our time in. I was getting a little more comfortable with the track, but not exactly cozy yet. I had been practicing on my Toyo RA-1 tires, but qualified on my Kumho V710 race tires about 1 second faster than the RA-1’s. Before the enduro, I found out that James Clay (owner of Bimmerworld) and Seth Thomas, drivers of the Bimmerworld E90 SPEED Touring Cars, would both be driving Spec E30’s in K-Prepared! The 2 fastest cars (de Haro and Hinkley) were both on Hoosiers. I didn't realize that Hinkley was in the points race, as he had registered last minute...
Come race time, things started out well. Seth got past me and he and James were nose to tail, with me following behind, for a few laps. Then, coming around T3, a Mod car went by me on the outside (clean pass). My inexperience at this track created the following condition: I did not align myself toward the inside of T4, behind the Mod car, because I didn't trust myself and my car to not hit him when we braked as soon as we straightened up. I stayed just to the left and I didn't realize at the time that I had just effectively cut my braking zone in HALF. Needless to say, I went off FAST. Through the grass, the sand did nothing, and I expected to initially crunch into the 3 foot tall berm. I was headed with the left front corner first and when the car started to climb the berm, I then thought I was going over it into the trees. When I rode up the berm but didn't go over, then I thought I'd flip to the right side. When I actually rode back down the berm, I couldn't really believe it. I didn't know if the car was running, but I put it in 2nd and put my foot down... It kept going, so I reentered the track.
Off-Roading
As the race continued, I found myself later behind Nissen in another KP car. We came around T3 and I was on his tail, coming up on him a considerable bit quicker. The car in front of him checked up early, causing him to brake early, and I just didn't leave myself enough reaction time. I tried to dodge him, but I tagged his rear bumper with my right front. I was just thinking that I really hoped that I didn't damage him or cause him to spin. Fortunately, neither of those occurred. I was not so lucky, though. It broke my bumper and caused me to repeat my trip to, up, and down the same berm as before. Coming back on the track, I asked myself if I should just bring it in and call it quits. Maybe some of you would agree... I stayed out, though, and finished the race in 6th of 7. The car was over-steering pretty badly at that point, though. I thought I may have broken something. Also, there was a heavy vibration which I was assuming was my wheel bearing, which was already on its way out, saying “Sayonara”. I was immensely frustrated and regretting having attended.
Broken bumper, missing lower valence.
Saturday night, I happened to be eating with Robert Patton (KP) and telling him what had happened. He informed me that he had a wheel bearing and it was not difficult to replace. With the help of pretty much the entire Bimmerworld team, but especially Dave, I got it replaced in not too much time at all! Unfortunately, the go-karting place shut down early, so Vivek, myself, and most of Bimmerworld ended up just heading downtown. It was fun hanging out and getting to know everyone, at their best (ie, beligerant!).
Sunday’s qualifying left me only more frustrated. The car was over-steering horribly and I was 2 ½ seconds off my pace and there was still a strong vibration, putting me at the back of the pack. Vivek suggested unhooking he rear sway bar in a last ditch effort to get the rear to grip. Bimmerworld Dave was helping me again and we jacked the rear of the car. Well, we discovered that there was no rear sway bar to remove (I bought the car built as-is), but as I caught Dave glance at my tires, I also looked and uttered an “oh, shit.” I had only run these tires in 2 race weekends (quals and race only, no practice) and the right rear was corded 2/3 of the way across, all the way around, and there was a visible patch of belt. I hadn’t even considered that these p.o.s. tires could’ve worn that quickly. They weren’t even that grippy! My only option was to run my practice tires.
Corded V710
Sunday’s race went much better than Saturday’s. I wasn’t going to be in it with Hinkley and de Haro, but I wanted to have a good run. Starting from the back, I was able to work my way up through a bunch of cars. I had some good dices with KP cars and ran the entire second half of the race back and forth with Tom Tice’s SE36, ultimately finishing 3rd in class. At least it was a satisfying finish to a frustrating (and costly) weekend.
"Roebling LOWLIGHTS":
I end up in 3rd overall in KP this year. It’s been a huge learning experience and I’ve been having a blast. I’ve found the range of emotion in this sport to be enormous and I’ve gotten a taste of each end. I hope to be able to build on what I’ve learned this year and make a good run at the KP title next year. Thank you to all of you who have helped me out this year, including GrassRootsGarage.com and especially to Scott and www.MyTrackSchedule.com. MY BEST MEMORIES FROM THIS SEASON ARE THOSE WHEN I’VE HAD MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY WITH ME!
End of the season
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)