Race Report - Round 3, USTCC at Llihrednuht 4 May 2008

by Jerry (Siddhartha) Bradbury

Standing on the track at the top of Thunderhill’s Turn 5, the Eagle’s Nest, I’m looking west down a three story drop and picking out reference points and points of timing for this blind turn. Little squiggles of asphalt patch and locked up tire tracks on the surface will help me place the car at speed and tell me when to turn, because I won’t be able to see anything on this approach. I’ll have to turn in on my POT and slide it up over the blind crest, keeping it on the black stuff as I head down the other side toward Turn 4. That’s right, 5 to 4, because today we’re running Thunderhill backwards. It’s a whole new track.

Behind me the sun slips over the horizon and turns the westward peak of Snowtop bright orange. Mount Shasta is visible to the northeast and the Sutter Buttes are limned against the blue-gray sky to the southeast. The gently rolling hills of the pasture land where Thunderhill Raceway was built are a mottled gold/green as the succulent grasses of the rainy season gradually surrender to the dry heat of approaching summer. It will be another perfect day at the races. Already I can hear the cough and mutter of cold engines getting their first taste of spark and air/fuel mixture under compression. Soon the quiet of the dawn will be ripped apart by the shriek of high revving rotary engines as the Formula Mazda cars are first out for warm up.

I arrived early on Friday to instruct for Trackmasters and to get in a few laps in the new direction. It was to be a weekend of attrition. First to fall was Canyon Bob Scheer whom I discovered sitting disconsolately on the cinder block wall running a torn supercharger belt through his fingers. His team just could not keep the race car from throwing belts, so he decided to fold his tent and pack it in for this race. Next, Rich Peterson failed to show, still working on his car, I presume. That left only me to carry the Mini flag to battle.

The population of our portable village was considerably less than last time at Infineon and I think that the new direction factored into some drivers’ decisions to stay home. Whatever their reasons, it was great for the rest of us; a perfect day and less traffic. Saturday revealed that drivers were still confused about where to go as our group split at Turn 5, some going up the hill, some going over the bypass. The Eagle’s Nest was in play because the Formula Mazdas get too much air going over the bypass and the slow turn up there makes an effective chicane. The rest of us were supposed to use the bypass. One Miata driver in HPDE 4 couldn’t make up his mind which route to take, split the difference, went off, lost the car and hit the flag box, spilling two corner workers to the ground. A massive emergency operation ensued which ended only after the injured corner workers were medevac’d out. Both are in the hospital but will make a full recovery. Belatedly the flag tower was dragged out of the hot spot between the forks and we ALL went over the hill from then on. I finished another race without a scratch and have now qualified for my national racing license.

Sunday was another glorious day and the cars continued to fail. During warm up some went off. During qualifying a Honda engine grenaded on the race line in the very fast Turn 6, spilling oil on the track. I was next around and did some ice skating before getting the car straightened out. After that, the yellow flag stayed out there and qualifying was essentially over, so I rolled into my pit early to save the car for The Show.

Jacques Andres and the Bay Bridge Motors team seemed to have found some horsepower since last time. They had traced a problem to an uncommunicative O2 sensor which was causing the air/fuel mixture to go fat at 4,000 rpm, just when the engine should be lighting up. A blown 15 amp fused was causing the problem, so I had more hp to work with this time. Still, I qualified 5^th.

This race was all about traffic and attrition. At the start, I finally figured out how to get the transmission into second gear, but could not gain any ground and was passed by the 6^th position RX8. By the end of the first lap I had reeled him in, re-passed and lit out after the leaders. I could keep them in sight, but could not close. Then we began running into back marker traffic and I was toast. The gentlemanly conduct of my history at trackdays where slower drivers point you by and where you take a breath in a tight corner and wait for a better place to pass is OVER! Now I have to learn how to pass any car anywhere on the track at any time. The racing line is out the window. So are lap times. All that counts now is position. This is a steep learning curve for me, but Sunday was better than Saturday. I found a way around Turn 14 by dropping the left front wheel off the curb there and hooking the car around the inside while everyone else went wide. I could get a good run down the hill from 9 through 8 and pass other cars at over 100 mph as they turned in for the apex at 7. I kept my foot on the floor coming through Turn 1 and got a good run down the front straight. But while I was doing this, the rest of the USTCC field was charging around and through traffic everywhere. If I can just get closer, I can train ride through traffic behind them . . . but I have to get closer. They are certainly not going to wait for me.

Then attrition began to be a factor. Around Turn 2 I saw Pete Bovenberg’s car parked in the grass. Now I’m 4^th. Coming around Turn 1 there was Dave Bongiovanni’s EVO rolling to a stop in the infield. Unfortunately, I was just a little too late to pass him before he rolled past the checkered flag, so I crossed the line still in 4^th place.

It was pandemonium at the podium. On the last lap, Curt Simmons had collided with Bongiovanni’s EVO and a Ferrari 355 while trying to pass in the extremely narrow, off-camber dip that is Turn 11. As the perpetrator, Curt’s very fast SRT4 was disqualified. Tom Lepper’s Cobalt had passed Bongiovanni as he was limping around to finish second on a flat left front tire and I was now 3^rd.

No matter how you get there, a podium finish is a podium finish. You get your name called on the PA to take your place amid applause and hoots from the crowd, you get the big trophy and the kiss, you get the magnum of champagne with which to try to drown your fellow combatants, and you get the wide non-stop grin. Champagne stings when you get it in your eyes! And it makes your racing suit and hat smell winey. But I have to say, a fella could get used to it.

A perfect example of the photogenic line versus the fast line. While the Miata is busy getting air (no traction in the air) Shiva slips by on the outside.

Race Report - 2nd Round USTCC at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA

Waiting in pre-grid at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA. photo by minispeedracr

by Jerry (Siddhartha) Bradbury

Infineon Raceway, April 11, 2008

It’s quiet tonight under this hill in Sonoma. A few lights gleam and the faint tink-tink-tink of a hammer sounds from some hidden pit area where work continues as it always does on a race car. Bright stars look down on a few early arrivals and the air is redolent of hay and the sea. All through the night the transporters pull in, towing their brightly colored cars. They’ve come from Oregon, Utah, Nevada and all parts of California to become a part of this temporary community, to see old friends, to make new ones, to race. Dawn reveals a small village sprung up over night. There are streets, traffic, pedestrians, wives, sweethearts, kids and dogs. Cars of all descriptions, from daily drivers to factory sponsored racecars have become the focus of attention as they are prepared to go on track. An air of festivity prevails over this day at the races, but an undercurrent of the potential for violence and wreckage is present as well as the tow truck rumbles slowly around the perimeter like a bright red velociraptor, tail high, looking for prey.

One of the best things about a NASA event is that there is something for everyone. You can bring your daily driver and run a High Performance Driving Event. Anything will do as long as it’s roadworthy and safe. Looking out my door once, I saw a Ford GT40, a GMC pickup, a Toyota Camry, a Porsche GT3 and a Mini Cooper S, all lined up to go out in HPDE 1. As your experience and driving skills improve you can bring your modded up street machine, change to race wheels and tires and run with the faster HPDE groups, 2, 3 and 4. Some folks have been happily doing this for years. Since these are non-competitive instructional driving events with instructors on board, your insurance should cover any mishaps (NOTE: check with your own provider to be sure). In addition, there are many classes of racing to watch featuring exciting door-to-door competition. Add to that a free barbeque Saturday night and you’ve got a really fine weekend at the track.

My Mini has a new setup for this race. Speed parts from my sponsor Mini Mania have been added by my sponsor Bay Bridge Motors and USTCC sponsor Nitto has provided four brand new NT 01 tires. This will be my first official race with the US Touring Car Championship and I look forward to hitting the grid with more horsepower and quicker lap times. Alas, it is not to be. I’ve fallen victim to modomania, something I have been warning people about for years on the Mini forums. “Change one thing at a time,” I’ve said, “otherwise you won’t have a clue if something goes wrong.” You’d think I’d listen. Instead, we made five changes to the engine and the ECU does not like it. Horsepower has actually gone down. But I’m stuck with it for the weekend, so I’ll do the best I can, break the tires in well and fix it before the next event. Even with the car being slow I manage to wheel it around to within a second of my fastest lap at Sears Point.

Bob Scheer is back with his Ireland Engineering MCS. Bob is way faster than me but because he’s not used to the track, we qualify close and we’re side by side on the grid for the race. Finally in the late afternoon our turn to race arrives. The track is hot under a warm California sun and a little greasy with all the rubber that has been laid down today. Caution will be called for at the off-camber Turn 2 and the braking zone for the hairpin Turn 11. USTCC goes out first for the warmup lap, then pulls up by start/finish for the standing start. The furled green flag goes up (engines rev) it is unfurled up high (cars seem to lean forward in anticipation) it drops and the air is filled with the sound of roaring engines and screeching tires as the field blasts off for Turn 1.

All except me. In all the excitement and adrenaline flow, I make the same mistake I did at Pahrump. I catch the detent to reverse on my attempted one-two shift and can’t find second gear. *expletive deleted*. Rookie mistake. The field streams by me on both sides and by the time I get it going, I’m behind the Honda Challenge cars. The Civic in front of me is just a little slower than me and is braking just a little sooner. I pull up next to him several times but I’m running with the pirates now. They show no mercy and give no quarter and I just don’t have the skills yet to shoulder my way by and get away.

And so I finish last. In spite of the embarrassing start it was far from a wasted effort. I have completed two more events as a provisional rookie racer without incident or going off track. One more and I can apply for my NASA National racing license and the gloves can come off. Before that happens, though, I have homework to do. I have to find more horsepower for the car and I have to practice standing starts until that 1-2 shift is automatic. Next time will be different.

It was great to have some of you Mini owners at the track cheering us on. Next time at Thunderhill on May 3-4, Bob and I should be joined on the grid by Rich Peterson in his USTCC MCS. Hopefully as more Minis join the racing we will see more of you out there, too!

Shiva kicks some Acura butt at Infineon. Photo by jimZ68

More photos by minispeedracr here:

And you can watch the last USTCC race at Thunderhill here:

RACE REPORT - March 8TH & 9TH - Thunderhill Raceway, Willows, CA

RACE REPORT - March 8TH & 9TH - Thunderhill Raceway, Willows, CA

US TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP

by Jerry Bradbury (Siddhartha)

Pix Here

Ah, the thrills of racing! The smell of high octane fuel and hot brakes, the squeal of tires, the machine gun rat-a-tat-tat of the Wankel rotaries, the deep rumble of American iron, the pretty girls in the paddock and everything on the grid from highly polished pro race-cars, layered like a Victorian drawing room with vendor stickers, to five colored back yard beaters whose quarter panels look like they have been worked over by a large angry man with a big hammer. And that’s before the race starts. When the green flag flies another set of sensory impressions rolls in: the sound of engines all around you, the rush of the wind, the feel of g forces against your harness and seat in the corners, the clatter of the chassis working under stress, the low howl from your tires as they fight for grip, the buzzing swarm of Miatas ahead that you must somehow get past or through and those pesky Hondas that dance in your mirrors briefly before blowing past.

I wish I could tell you about my debut race on Saturday at Thunderhill Raceway in National Auto Sport Association’s Performance Touring class, but I failed to make the call to the post. Oh, I was in there for “warm-up”, which to most of these crazy guys means “spank the rookies and cut ‘em off at the apex” on a cold track with cold tires. Gee whiz, fellas! And I qualified first in my group of one with the fastest time I have yet turned at Thunderhill, a 2:08 and change, but I was having electrical problems during qualifying. I lost my power steering in turn 6 with Miatas going past me on both sides and the wheel suddenly feeling like it weighed a hundred pounds. I managed to limp it around to the pits, turned it off, started it again and the problem went away. Come race time, I strapped into all my safety gear and was heading for my grid position when the panel went black and the starter solenoid would only click-click-click-click. Dead. Off they went without me and we pushed the Mini back to our pit and tore into the external master power shut off switch that is mandated by NASA rules. Sure enough, one of the poles to the alternator was dead and the car ran only until the battery died.

So we re-routed the wires, charged the battery, went to the free barbecue, drank mudslides and went to bed, satisfied that the morrow would bring better tidings.

Sunday was another perfect day, mostly sunny, in the 70’s, with a clear view of Mount Shasta and the Sutter Buttes. The paddock was jammed full of cars and transporters and most of the cars seemed to be in Group A. There must have been 70 racers on the track for warm-up. But all my opening night jitters were gone. I just warmed it up and watched my mirrors so none of the strafing runs would catch me unprepared. Sure enough, there was carnage as a few guys took themselves out during the warm-up session. Why do they DO that??! Reverse Darwinism, I guess. Good for the rest of us, as always.

Back in the pits, my support group was waiting. Canyon Bob Scheer and his dad, Jack, had motored up from LA with their race prep mechanic, Dan Pacheco. Bob runs his silver Burbank Plating 2002 MCS in the prestigious US Touring Car Championship, where they pay real money for racing. For the past two years he has been my hero and my mentor, always available to chat, diagnose problems and offer advice. His engine has been vigorously massaged by Dan with some amazing plumbing by Hubie Fuh and produces over 200 big horsepower in a lightened race car that goes like stink. All I’ll say about his suspension tweaks is that you can see twin Moton cans in the boot, ‘kay?

My JCW MCS motor is still stock. The car has been stripped and the suspension re-engineered, but it still weighs a chunky 2650 lb. and makes only 210 bhp. Still, our lap times in qualifying were only a second apart. Bay Bridge Motors in Oakland has put my car back together twice now after two costly shunts and Jacques Andres, a Mini racing wizard, has done the race prep. That’s Jacques behind the wheel of his orange and blue MINI MANIA/Andres Motorsports racing MINI that you’ve seen bicycling the car on the inside cover of MC2 magazine. I brought Lee, my treasured mechanic from BBM along and it was he who helped me into my safety gear and found and fixed my electrical problem. In addition, Vince (minispeedrcr) and Mickey (kmickey) were there with their S cars, running in the High Performance Driving Event expert class. They offered help and support to Bob and me as well.

After another qualifying run and more attrition, I was getting ready for a nice lunch when who should appear at my door but Ali Arsham, who runs the west coast USTCC. He asked me how many cars were in PTD. Ans.: One. He asked me what I was getting for running in that class. Ans. : Nothing. He then said, “Why are you wasting your time? Your qualifying times are right up there with us, why don’t you come run with USTCC? We’ll give you 4 new Nitto racing tires today, two more at each race, we offer cash for racing and if you win, MINI USA will give you $2,000.” Sold. So I applied the USTCC sticker to my windshield and got ready for my racing debut in a professional series. You can see Bob and me on Speed TV. Hey, mira mami, I’m a pro!

I lined up 11th on the grid and waited for the green flag. There it is. Let out the clutch and we’re off. USTCC starts first so there was clear track; well, except for all the rest of the USTCC guys who were up ahead there. So I motored peacefully around behind the Toyota in front of me until two fast Honda guys flew by me and went through turn 6 with about 2 inches of daylight between their bumpers. Coming through turn 14, the Toyota ahead of me sputtered and I motored past into 10th place. Hey, I passed a guy!! Coming through turn 8 next time, I saw one of the USTCC cars stopped sideways on the track with parts scattered around and leaking. Just as I was thinking “Oh boy, I’ll pass another guy!” he fired that puppy up and fishtailed up over turn 9, trailing parts and fluids, fenders flapping and bent wheel wobbling. I was sure I could catch him, but I guess he figured he had nothing else to lose, put the hammer down and stayed ahead of me.

Still I was slowly reeling him in with about 8 laps to go when the yellow flags appeared and coming up over the turn 5 bypass I saw the leading Honda lying on it’s side, smashed into pieces. Coming over the blind hill, with the green del Sol still right on his bumper, they suddenly came upon a rookie back marker putting along in the middle of the track. The lead car took evasive action but the track is tricky there. A section of asphalt running down from the high turn 5 intersects the turn 5 bypass route there and the bump upsets the car’s balance as it’s on tiptoes from cresting the hill. He miscalculated. His protruding wheel studs struck the back marker’s rear tire which slammed his nose into the pavement and caused the car to fly end over end into the weeds. End of race. He was airlifted to the hospital with some broken bones, his car was scraped up and towed off and that was our finishing position.

No, you won’t see us on the podium. Bob finished 4th and I finished 10th. But we have two Minis running in USTCC West and we’ll be back next month at Infineon Raceway at Sears Point. Stay tuned for more adventure.

Shiva Waits In Pre-Grid