From Brimtek Motorsports

WDCR member Tristan Herbert of Brimtek Motorsports continued to be a force to be reckoned with this season as evidenced by recent races in California. The Pirelli World Challenge rookie placed second in Round 9 and third in Round 10 at Infineon Raceway, Calif.  Herbert followed that double race weekend with an impressive second place showing during Round 11 at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca track.  In addition to leading the race at Laguna Seca for 13 total laps, Herbert earned the Invisible Glass “Clean Pass of the Race” award for his stellar pass on the No 66 K-Pax racing Volvo C30 of Robb Holland after the restart on Lap 7.

“It was tough losing the leading position at Laguna Seca, especially with only a few laps left in the race”, comments Herbert.  “But my team and I are still pleased with our second place finish and feel confident that we have what it takes to be a top competitor in the Touring Car series”.

Tristan was looking for a solid finish during the final Round 12 of the Pirelli World Challenge series at Road Atlanta this past weekend, but a fuel pump failure would move him back early in the race to finish eighth place. An impressive fourth place overall in the championship with one win, two seconds, two thirds and a fourth place, earned him the 2011 Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car Rookie of the Year award.

Tristan credits his grass-roots SCCA club racing background with the D.C. Region for his success as a rookie driver in the Pirelli World Challenge series.

“This year has been an incredible experience for me as a grassroots club racer,” he said. “I am living my ultimate dream every time I get that Number 33 Volkswagen GTI out on the track against so many world renowned racers. I also feel very fortunate that I have so many people, especially our team principal, Dave Tilton from Brimtek, that believe in my driving ability and my crew from RennGruppe Motorsports. My crew chief, Cameron Conover along with the rest of the team continues to demonstrate outstanding work ethic and unparalleled knowledge of Volkswagens.”

Cameron and Brimtek were also chosen as the 2011 Pirelli World Challenge Crew of the Year for Touring Car. 

The support of fellow club racers is something that Tristan values greatly. With the invaluable support of another touring car team, Gila Monster, who helped transport the car out to California from Virginia and the support of countless other club racers who helped facilitate the transport of the car back to RennGruppe Motorsports in North Carolina for final Road Atlanta preparations, Tristan’s season has shown the value of a grass-roots racing foundation.

Excitement continues to brew amongst the team as they are already in the process of developing their program for the 2012 season.

Mike Stanley driving the TR11 car at the Solo Nationals. Photo courtesy of gotcone.com

By Pat Griffith

Mike Stanley won the Solo Nationals FTD Trophy presented by Small Fortune Racing at his year’s TireRack Solo Nationals in Lincoln, Neb.  Stanley drove the University of Maryland car to the Formula SAE win and bested time from A Modified, B Modified and Formula 125 for the fastest overall time at the week-long even held Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.

Mike’s combined time over both courses was 107.883 while Gary Milligan, a three-time recipient of the award, logged a 108.795 driving a 2008 Vancouver Special to win A-Mod.

While this is Mike’s second year in a row winning FSAE, the car is actually a bit different than the one from last year.  Under FSAE rules, university’s have to build cars that are a “significantly new design” for national FSAE competition (not necessarily SCCA).

“There are some persisting features year to year, but this year’s car is a new car,” Mike said. “In keeping with good engineering principles, we’d like to keep what is good, fix what is bad, and improve on anything and everything we can.”

The FTD Trophy has been presented since 1998, but this was the first year a driver in an FSAE car has won it.  Mike’s time was also good enough for top PAX for the event, as compiled by Chicago Region’s Rick Ruth.

FSAE ran Tuesday-Wednesday (Aug. 30 and 31), the same days as A Modified, but Mike benefited from having dry courses both days while AM ran in an earlier heat after rain – albeit a drying course — on the East Course on Tuesday.  But the slalom-intensive West Course on Wednesday was ideal for the Terps Racing 2011 (TR11) car.

“This was where the car could shine,” Mike said.  “We love transitions and high-G corners. I typically like technical/element-heavy courses. Fortunately the car can make up a lot of time in these areas due to the high cornering forces. The car was extremely predictable, and horribly underpowered.”

The FSAE rules have opened up over the years to allow teams to more liberal use of aerodynamics, and the TR11 as well as other cars have begun morphing into more of a typical Nationals A-Mod grid.

“We made some specific requests of the FSAE rules committee prior to 2011 pertaining to locations of aerodynamic elements, which they accepted,” Mike said.  “This allowed us to make some subtle improvements to the wing package over the previous year.”

There’s a quote floating around from Bob Tunnell about autocrossers shouldn’t make any changes to their cars after July if they’re preparing for the Solo Nationals.  Well the Maryland car didn’t even have an engine until less than two weeks before heading to Lincoln.  Mike and two other team members bought an engine from 2001 Honda CBR F4i and tuning was done in the days leading up to the Solo Nationals.  The team has access to parking lots at certain hours where they were able to do some testing, and Mike and co-driver David Eng, who ended up in third place in FSAE, hit the practice course for some runs.  So bottom line, not a lot of seat time.

Mike said he didn’t have much input on the design of the TR11 car, so he owes a great deal of gratitude to the students who put time in on the car.  He couldn’t even fathom calculating the total number of man hours.

“The FSAE program is run a little like a business and lot like an educational course,” he said.  “Things are done and re-done, some things are done at 4 a.m., some are done minutes before a fina l… it’s a real challenge for those guys. Moving back and forth between class work and car work is really tough.

“The testing done at Maryland includes some static testing in the lab, and we have use of the parking lots at certain hours. We have a dyno, but it’s pretty pathetic. Much of our engine tuning is done out in the lots.”

The best of the rest

The FTD Trophy presented at the Friday banquet capped a solid showing for WDCR and Autocross, Inc., members.  Three drivers had to claw back from trailing after their first day of competition on Tuesday to come back to win championships, two of them doing it for the first time.

Lisa Garfield won her first national championship with her victory in Formula 125 Ladies.  She was trailing Suzanne Segal after the first day by 0.053 after the first day but came through with the fastest time in class on the second day to win by almost a second.

Courtney Cormier also came from behind to win his first national championship driving the McGeorge Toyota 2006 Chevy Corvette Z06 in A Street Prepared.  After the first day on the East Course, Courtney was back in third trailing overall leader and co-driver Mike Johnson by almost a second.  On his first run on the West Course on the second day, Courtney ripped off a 64.728, which would stand as fastest time in class.  Mike’s final run of 65.5 wasn’t enough, and he missed out on repeating as ASP champ by 0.056 seconds.

In Formula Junior A, Julian Garfield found himself in an unfamiliar position – second place after the first day of competition and trailing the Atlanta Region’s Jesse Sealey by more than a tenth of a second.  FJA drivers found themselves in wet conditions on the East Course on Tuesday.  The next day on the West Course saw no rain, and Julian took over the lead on his first run.  He and Jesse went faster on their second runs and faster again on their third runs, but Julian held on to win his second straight FJA championship and fourth overall.

While he only seems to autocross once or twice a year and not usually within the WDCR, Tim Aro is still a region member.  And he also overcame a deficit on the first day – another driver dealing with wet conditions – to win in C Street Prepared.  Behind the wheel of his brother Harry’s 1995 Mazda Miata, Tim splashed to third place and 0.7 out of the lead in the first heat on the West Course on Tuesday.  On a dry East Course on Wednesday, his 61.033 on his second run leap-frogged him to the lead, and that stood to give him the overall win by more than seven tenths.  It was his second Solo National Championship – he won CSP in 2004.

Still a supplemental class but fiercely competitive, Street Modified F (SMF) saw Brian Karwan win for the second year in a row.  He stood on a 66.9 on his first run on the first day on the cone-intensive West Course to lead switching over to the more open East Course for Wednesday competition.  Brian ended up winning by more than seven tenths but said he was sweating it out watching Dave Hardy and Jim Reyenga co-driving Dave’s 1989 Honda Civic and getting faster and faster on the second day.  Dave actually pulled within two tenths on his final run, but Brian came through just after him with a 63.4 to seal the win.

Other WDCR/A.I. members taking home hardware:

• Sam Strano, 2^nd place, Super Stock, 2010 Chevy Corvette Grand Sport
• David Eng, 3^rd place, FSAE, 2011 TR11 downforce car
• Brian Garfield, 3^rd place, AM, 2011 TR11 downforce car
• Lee Piccione, 4^th place, F Stock, 2008 Ford Mustang Shelby GT-C
• Ian Baker, 4^th place, Street Touring Sport, 1989 Honda CRX Si
• Ryan Lower, 5^th place, F125, 2008 CRG Road Rebel
• Kenny Sorensen, 6^th place, B Stock, 2008 Porsche Boxster
• Jason Burns, 6^th place, SS, 2010 Chevy Corvette Grand Sport
• Josh Luster, 6^th place, Street Touring Ultra, 2006 Subaru WRX STi
• “Little” Mike Snyder, 6^th place, SMF, 1989 Honda CRX Si
• Norm Beaver, 7^th place, D Modified, 1979 Caterham 7
• Justin Neal, 7^th place, F125, 2008 Shockwave
• Karen Kraus, 7^th place, E Street Prepared, 2006 Subaru WRX
• Terry Baker, 9^th place, D Stock, 2011 Ford Mustang
• Shane Chinnon Rhoden, 10^th place, Street Touring Ultra, 2006 Subaru Cone Hitting Machine (20 cones hit and only one clean run all week … but still trophied!)

See final results.  Also, gotcone.com has more pictures of Mike Stanley and just about everyone here.

By Steve Lloyd
WDCR Historian

Some of you who’ve been in our merry band of Washington, DC Region SCCA members may recall that our racing activities began not under the aegis of the Washington DC Region, SCCA, but a small group of enthusiasts from the Washington DC area who became infamous for winning just about everywhere they raced in the early 1950s.

Ace Rosner, Dr. Dick Thompson, Bob McKinsey, Bill Kinchloe, Tex Hopkins and several others won with such frequency that Dr. M. R. J. Wylie said of them that they were “egregious pot-hunters” and they supposedly were most ungentlemanly in their winning ways.

About this time a British film starring Alec Guinness was popular. The film told the charming exploits of a small group of down-on-their-luck men who quietly stole many thousands of pounds in gold from a British bank. The film was called “The Lavender Hill Mob” and soon became the adopted name of these enthusiasts who were “stealing” trophies from their competitors on a fairly regular basis.

An important part of this story is in knowing that the members of the Lavender Hill Mob (the racers, not the bank robbers) were some of the earliest members of the Washington DC Region, SCCA. But not all members of the DC Region were Mob members. The Mob was even more restrictive in its membership qualifications than SCCA was at that time. (SCCA used to require, for example, two members in good standing to sponsor a membership candidate. And there were others ways potential new members were vetted!)

As many of you know. The MG-TC almost single-handedly began the sports car craze in the USA after World War II. MGs were the sports car that many of the Lavender Hill Mob cut their racing teeth on. Most of the Lavender Hill Mob were also members of the MG Car Club.

In the Washington DC area we did not have a road racing course and except for the first two SCCA President’s Cup Nationals (the first at Andrews Air Force Base and the second at Hagerstown Municipal Airport) we didn’t have a “street” circuit like Watkins Glen. Our racers did race their cars locally, however. The MG Car Club staged races on the 1/3 mile dirt oval at Marlboro Motor Raceway at least as early as 1953.

Although he would be known later for his many wins in factory-supported Corvettes, Dr. Dick Thompson was a member of the MGCC, the DC Region SCCA and a founding member of the Lavender Hill Mob. He learned to race on that oval at Marlboro. To this day, Dick (who would later be an SCCA National Championin Corvettes; our own Region’s RE; and Chairman of the DC Region, SCCA Competition Board in our Region) claims that the car control he needed with the Corvette was learned in his MG racing on Marlboro’s dirt oval.

The Lavender Hill Mob pined for its own road course, and in late 1954 convinced Marlboro owner Eugene Chaney to pave not only the oval, but to extend a course to and from the oval to make a genuine road racing circuit. To sweeten the pot, each Lavender Hill Mob member pledged $50 each to help with the paving. Interestingly, the contract the Mob drew up with Chaney indicated that the Mob would represent the track’s interest when negotiating with the Washington DC Region, SCCA — a policy that remained in effect until the mid-1960s.

On a weekend in May of 1955, with frequent thundershowers, the Washington DC Region, SCCA and the Mob staged the first Washington DC Region SCCA road races on the newly-paved .7-mile Marlboro course. The Region continued to race there until the end of the 1969 racing season, the same year Summit Point would stage its first sports car races.

Just before the 1957 season at Marlboro, Chaney saw the immense popularity of sports car racing and filled the full 28-acre site with another mile of road course to extend Marlboro to 1.7 miles with eleven turns. It would easily have fit within the perimeter of the current Summit Point main course.

One of the reasons Chaney expanded was because SCCA National told Chaney and the Region that a .7-mile course was not suitable for SCCA National competition. Once the course stretched to 1.7 miles, the Region was able to host its own first National race in 1957. (That’s not a contradiction from what was stated above. The first two President’s Cup Nationals were organized by SCCA National and manned locally by our Region.)
But that 1957 SCCA National was not the first National sports car race to be staged at Marlboro.

Despite the rather modest, but nonetheless challenging, .7-mile Marlboro course, in October 1955, the MG Car Club staged its first ever National race at Marlboro, two years before the DC Region would stage its first National. Appropriately, this MG National made national news with a lengthy article by second-place main event driver David Ash, in Sports Cars Illustrated.

The weekend’s main event was won by the late Duncan Black (of Black & Decker fame) from Parkton, Md., driving his Lester-MG. Black would later be an SCCA National Champion in years to come in two classes, EP with an A.C. Bristol and CP in his Daimler SP250. Third was Dr. Dick Thompson.

Many other Washington DC Region, SCCA drivers raced that weekend, among them Steve Spitler (who would, a few years later, tragically, be the first of two sports car drivers to lose their lives at Marlboro when he rolled his D-Jaguar); Spitler’s mother, (!) Rebecca Spitler; Dick Nash; Pinky Windridge; Foxy Carter; Frank Baptista (later known for many race wins in various Elva sports-racers); Art Tweedale, a Lola sports-racing stalwart and frequent winner, and “Cappy” Cappiello. Cappy would have a turn named after him — apparently because he lost it so often in what would become “Cappy’s Corner” — after Marlboro’s course was extended to its final 1.7 mile configuration.

The entry fee for the MG Car Club National was a whopping $10, with a $5 late registration fee. A “Victory Dinner” at Andrews Air Force base would close the weekend at $2 per person, but participants were advised: “gentlemen will wear coats.”

Take a few moments to view the photos with this article as well as the “supplemental regs” and other memorabilia like the tech inspection form included here.

Author’s note: Many, many thanks to Michael Eaton who shared this information and photos with us. Michael is the proud owner of a very historic MGA TwinCam. I am also indebted to Stan Smilow, who appears driving the “Motto MG” (the white car number 103) for his photos of that 1955 National.

Throughout its existence, the heart of Marlboro was a 1/3 mile oval. Here, the MGCC is gridding the cars on the “unused” portion of the oval. Once the race started, this portion of the oval was not used.

Here is the start of the main event. On the outside is Duncan Black in his Lester-MG #4. He is flanked on the inside by Stan Smilow in his Motto-MG #103. Notice the covered grandstands in the background.

Here, Stan Smilow has come off the oval and entered the road course proper. This led to tight Esses and ultimately a hairpin turn. The entire course was only .7 mile! “Motto” refers to the Italian coachbuilder, Motto. Motto bodied this MG and also styled early Ferrari roadsters.

These are the supplementary regulations for the MG National. The rules were fairly simple, and the entry fees are certainly worth noting!

This is a good diagram of the DC Region’s “home track” in 1955. In this configuration it was less than a mile long, but would ultimately have another mile added to it in 1957 — and all within 28 acres! The course is still there, although quite overgrown, across U.S. 301 from the old Upper Marlboro horse racing track in Prince George’s county.

Very basic, this is the 1955 tech inspection sheet for Stan Smilow’s Motto-MG. The car raced as an “F-Modified” car that weekend, since the rebodied MG was hardly a regular “production” MG.

No fancy credentials here, just a basic luggage tag served as the official Pit Pass for the weekend.

The 2011 MARRS Labor Day Double Race presented by Sheetz

Sheetz will sponsor the MARRS Labor Day Double race weekend Sept. 3 to 5 at Summit Point Raceway.

 “The MARRS series and specifically Summit Point draws racers and volunteers from all across the Sheetz footprint,” said Fred McConnell, Sheetz director of brand development. “Those customers are buying fuel, food and beverage, so we wanted to support something that they are passionate about in hopes of continuing to make a connection between them and the Sheetz brand.”

The convenience store chain has several locations throughout the mid-Atlantic area, including the popular Charles Town, W.V., location for racers, workers and spectators travel to and from Summit Point.  Sheetz also has a long-standing sponsorship with Meathead Racing.

“The D.C. Region is recognized across the country as the premiere region in the SCCA, so we are pleased to have the opportunity to partner with the Region in a way that allows us the chance to reach a core group of our customers,” McConnell, who is also a racer who will take to the track in an F-Production Mazda Miata during the weekend.

Sheetz will offer free food and coffee coupons to drivers and volunteers at registration during the weekend.  Also, through the long standing relationship with MEATHEAD Racing, if a competitor places a Sheetz sticker on their car, or a volunteer displays the Sheetz Racing Patch they are entered for a chance to win Sheetz Z cards.

In addition, Sheetz team members will be available to provide information and prizes regarding the MySheetz loyalty card that has been recently introduced.

Sheetz, Inc. is one of America’s fastest growing family-owned and operated convenience store chains, with $5 billion in revenue for 2011 and more than 14,000 employees. The company operates 400 locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina. Sheetz provides an award-winning menu of MTO® subs, sandwiches and salads, ordered through unique touch-screen order point terminals. All Sheetz stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For more information, visit www.sheetz.com.

By Pat Griffith

The second round of the National Street Tire Challenge hit Washington, D.C., July 16 with 117 coming out to FedEx Field to hit the asphalt with squealing tires rated at 140 treadwear or higher, and event management was provided by the WDCR Solo Committee.

The NSTC began three years ago in the Milwaukee Region as an alternative for people who wanted to compete on non-R-compound tires but not in a Street Touring classes.  This year, with sponsorship from Bridgestone, the NSTC expanded to four events.  The first one for 2011 was held at Mineral Wells, Texas.  The final two will take place Aug. 6 in Atlanta, Ga., and Sept. 17 and 18 back in the homeland of Milwaukee, Wisc.

There were five classes, four being indexed using the PAX for SCCA classes:

1. Street Touring Shootout: All the Street Touring classes.
2. Rear Wheel Drive: All non-Street Touring classes for RWD cars.
3. Front Wheel Drive: Like RWD but for cars powering the wrong wheels.
4. All Wheel Drive: Non-ST classes for AWD cars.
5. Muscle Car: Heads-up non-indexed class for 1992 and older rear wheel drive, eight cylinder naturally aspirated or six cylinder force induction cars.

Competitors got six overall runs on the Greg Olsen-designed course – three in the morning then three in the afternoon following a lunch break.  A competitor’s best time, whether in morning or afternoon, was used for the final results.

“The six runs split morning to afternoon were fun,” said Stuart Fain, who brought out his Porsche GT3 on a set of Bridgestone RE-11s and had John Vitamvas co-drive with him.  “It allowed for screw ups and time to make corrections.”

Quite a few of the usual suspects came out in their Street Touring cars, whether it was ST, STS, STR, STX or STU.  Some cars even saw double duty competing in one of the non-ST indexed classes. Josh Luster and Shane Chinnon-Rhoden tried to maximize their prize potential – Josh drove his Subaru WRX STi in the ST Shootout on the STU index while Shane tried to win the AWD class driving the same car on the BSP index.  However, Shane missed out on winning a set of Bridgestone tires given to the fastest non-Street Touring car on PAX.  Lance Keeley of the Milwaukee Region got that prize driving his G-Stock Hyundai Genesis Coupe to an indexed time 0.048 faster than Shane.

Shane driving Josh Luster's STU WRX STi ASAP PDQ in BSP YMMV.

Other people simply brought out their normal autocross cars on their normal street tires.  Learic Cramer tried her hand in the RWD class in her C-Stock Nissan 370Z on Continental ExtremeContact DWs because she wanted “to challenge myself against most of the local CS competitors who generally run on street tires.”  She also liked what she saw on the prize list, and also didn’t mind driving to FedEx Field and not having to touch a lug nut.

Kevin Henry figured since he had to be at the event as a Solo Committee member he might as well drive his DSP E30 BMW on his rain tires – Toyo R1Rs.

“I was going to be there anyway, and any seat time doesn’t hurt,” he said.

For Danny Kao, this event marked a return to street tires – he drove in STU for a few years, last competing in the class in 2008 in Mike Neary’s his Mitsubishi Evo Lancer.  But since then, he’s driven shifter karts and then Stock cars on R-compounds.

“[Street tires are] cheaper, but once you taste the speed and grip it’s hard to go back to a street tire unless I am sick of sending money to Hoosier,” he said.

Danny actually has an ST Honda Civic Si – “The Money Maker” – and he drove it with John Nicolaysen but in the FWD class on the SMF index.  A.J. Aviles drove it with Mike Kline in the ST Shootout in its proper class.

Another person making the switch from a high-horsepower RWD car on R-compounds to a low-horsepower FWD car on street tires was Brian Burdette.  He brought out his H-Stock Volkswagen Golf TDI on 225/45/17 Continental ContiProContacts.

“I am adamantly against the ‘street tires in stock’ concept for numerous reasons, but I thought I should give it a chance,” he said. “Especially since the venue was so close to where I live.”

Brian actually drove the V-Dub earlier in the year at the WDCR practice event, so he was somewhat familiar with how the car would handle on street tires.  He had moved into the lead of the FWD class at one point in the afternoon, but Tony “Effing” Savini, who had un-retired the Mini Cooper S he drove to the G-Stock Solo and Pro Solo National Championships in 2009, bested Brian on his final run by 0.101.

Usually going from a Honda Civic to an S2000, means picking up a lot of horsepower, but not so for Brian Karwan.  Instead of driving his SMF Civic, he co-drove with Greg Martell in an STR-prepped S2000 on Dunlops.

“The econobox on R rubber is faster, but rear-wheel drive on street tires equals 10 times the fun,” he said.  “I now understand why STR has become such a popular class.”

He can’t remember the last time he autocrossed on street tires, but after the NSTC, he’s considering adding another car to the stable.

“I am seriously looking for a street tire car right now for the days I feel lazy,” Brian said.  “Changing tires or loading up a trailer seems like a lot of work now.”

For me, I drove in the Muscle Car class in my ESP Camaro.  I have some old Sumitomo street tires that have been in my shed for three years, but before the weekend, I tried to think of who I knew with a Camaro or Corvette who might have decent street tires on wheels that I could bolt up to my car.  Karen has Kumho ASXs on both her Camaros, which aren’t too good on an autocross course.  Well, unless there’s snow on the ground.   I sent a message to Danny asking him what he had for street tires for his Corvette Z06, and he had Toyo T1Rs — 295s in the rear and 265s in front.  And he said he would bring them to the event for me to use!

Holly Schwedler and Learic Cramer wondering if I drove it up from the Bahamas.

The T1Rs are just a step below Toyo R1Rs and have a treadwear rating of 280.  It took me a few runs to get used to them and find a sweet spot for air pressures.  Also, people have said the R1Rs don’t like heat, and most drivers who use them in the ST classes spray them down with water liberally in between runs.  I figured the T1Rs would need the extra attention, too, and their performance did seem to be a bit better after I started drowning them with water.

It was funny that I showed up to the event trailering the Camaro on Hoosier A6s – two of them new with the stickers still on them.  Then switched to street tires, then switched back to A6s to load the car up on the trailer for the ride home.  Probably not in the spirit of the event, though.  Mike Fineburg and Aaron Shoe also did the same thing with Mike’s BSP Mitsubishi Evo.

See final results.

Also, check out General Kao’s pictures: part 1 and part 2.

Autocrossers were taken aback by this striking likeness of Lee Piccione just inside The Monster Mile gate. (Photo by Perry Aidelbaum)

By Pat Griffith

The Road to Lincoln made a stop in Dover, Del., for the TireRack SCCA National Tour over the weekend at “The Monster Mile” — Dover International Speedway. This is the first time an SCCA national event has been held at the speedway’s lot, and it proved to be a fantastic venue for a National Tour stop.

The lot is roughly the size of the one used for a few years for the Solo National Championships at Heartland Park Topeka and is a bit bigger than the E lot at FedEx Field. The Heartland Park pad contained two courses running simultaneously. Now imagine that much area being used for one single course — that’s what it was like over the weekend as Lee Piccione was called on to design the courses for both days. Saturday’s course featured a huge sweeping left-hander that tested the brave heading into the finish. Both courses had a long six-cone slalom running almost the entire north-south length of the course. Despite a few bumpy sections, the asphalt provided excellent grip … well as long as you weren’t in the first heat where you were basically sweeping the optimal line of sand and pebbles.

The weather held up both days, although there were light showers overnight between Saturday and Sunday. But the course was dry before first heat began, so weather was not a factor. The forecast called for a chance of thunderstorms starting around noon Sunday, but they never materialized.

How did the WDCR and Autocrossers Inc., members fare? Eight class wins and an additional 11 trophies.

In F Stock, the course designer took the win, leading after Saturday then coming behind with a 64.8 on his final run Sunday in his Kao Yellow 2008 Ford Mustang Shelby Shelby GT. Terry Baker took the third and final trophy spot with his 2008 Shelby.

Brian Karwan’s 1994 Honda Civic broke during practice starts at the New Jersey Pro Solo, but he came back to Dover and unleashed his wrath on Street Modified FWD. Last year’s SMF national champion (or whatever the proper term is for the supplemental class champ) had a best of a 62.7 the first day while nobody else in class was even in the 64s. Brian cruised on Sunday to take the overall win by 3.5 seconds. “Little” Mike Snyder took the last trophy position in The Plaid CRX.

WDCR members ended up taking four of the top five spots in the street tire classes. While the Atlanta Region may be known for being the top dogs in plain ol’ Street Touring, but WDCR may have a more talented overall group across the Street Touring categories.

Mike Stanley and Ian Baker get Greg Olsen ready for a run on Sunday.

After the dust settled Saturday, Ian Baker held a lead in Street Touring Sport by 1.7 seconds in Little Mike Snyder’s 1988 Honda CRX Si. Despite feeling a bit under the weather on Sunday and hitting nine (!) cones on his first run, he ended up lengthening that lead to win by almost three seconds. Greg Olsen held on for the third and final trophy in the class driving John Vitamvas’ RX-7.

Greg Olsen channels John Vitamvas before a run on Sunday.

Another street tire class saw two competitors who normally don’t drive on even R-compounds, let alone a tin top vehicle — Mike Kline and Edwin Liu. The two, who normally kill bugs dead in shifter karts in Formula 125, teamed up to drive a 1991 Honda Civic Si in Street Touring Xtreme. Mike at least may not be invited back to the class because he took the win, although it wasn’t easy for him. After leading Saturday, he coned his first run Sunday then was marked as DNF on his second run for driving around a gate after the finish. He put it all together with a clean run on his final run to take the win. Edwin unfortunately wasn’t as lucky. Two DNFs and a dirty run bounced him to third place and out of the trophies.

Street Touring Unlimited saw another familiar story — the car owner having cone problems while the tire warmer stayed clean to earn the win. Shane Chinonn-Rhoden, despite his fits of laughter spiking sound readings taken on site, finished with the win there in Josh Luster’s 2006 Subaru WRX STi. Josh coned every run Saturday, including tagging seven (!) on his final run, and looked to be out of trophy contention. But he managed to turn in three clean runs Sunday for the second and final trophy in the class.

The newest street tire class, Street Touring R (AKA, The Pirate Class — Ess Tee Arrrrrrrrrrr!), has quickly grown a substantial following since its inception last year. In Dover, there were 10 competitors, and WDCR’s Christopher Lin came out on top. He wheeled his 2002 Toyota MR2 Spyder for the victory after a building healthy lead on Saturday. He only had the fourth-fastest time in class on Sunday, but it was enough to hold off a charging James Dunham, who moved from third to second in his 2006 Mazda MX-5.

Courtney Cormier continued his dominance from the New Jersey Pro by winning A Street Prepared in a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. With regular (I almost typed “normal”) co-driver Mike “Junior” Johnson wreaking havoc in Super Street Modified, Courtney finished on top of the ASP timesheet by more than two seconds overall.

One of Mike

In E Street Prepared, WDCR members swept all three trophy positions. Sam Strano led the way in his 2011 Ford Mustang GT, Brian Burdette followed in his 1995 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, and “Big” Mike Snyder filled out the bottom step of the podium warming the tires for Sam.

Jason Burns lead Super Stock for all of about 20 seconds over the weekend, albeit taking that lead after his final run on Sunday when he came through with a 61.2 in his 2010 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport. At that point, Jason was the only SS driver to turn a clean time in the 61s, but Brian Connors, who had lined up right behind for his final run, came through with a 61.1 to reclaim the lead and the overall class win. Jason held on to second place.

In G Stock, Shawn Roberts was the only driver in an R-compound class — Stock, Street Prepared and Street Modified — who took home a trophy driving on tires other than the purple crack. After finishing up Saturday in fourth place and one spot out of the trophies, he took his Kumho-shod Mazdaspeed Protege into the third and final trophy spot in the class.

Mark Liller, Ron Shurie and Jeff Fields brought their G Stock cars from the D.C. Region to play at Dover.

WDCR’s Formula 125 contingent wasn’t as large here as at the New Jersey Pro with several members MIA or driving in other classes. Ryan Lower did finish third and in the trophies in his 1999 CRG Kalifornia kart.

A.J. Aviles took home a trophy in Street Touring driving a Civic, but not the black coupe he is normally seen in. This time, he drove a little bit more competitive car, a 1991 Honda Civic Si, and finished fourth.

Holly Schwedler and Lee Piccione soothe General Kao

Other finishers

SS
Danny Kao, 2002 Corvette Z06, ninth
Heather Burns, 2010 Corvette Grand Sport, 10th

SSL
Holly Schwedler, 2002 Corvette Z06, second

BS
Kenny Sorensen, 2008 Porsche Boxster, fifth
Steve Kahre, 2006 Honda S2000, 10th

CS
Scott Hoffman, 2004 Mazda RX8, fourth
Karen Kraus, 2004 Mazda RX8, fifth
Les Banyas, 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata, sixth

FS
Jason Huepenbecker, 2008 Ford Mustang Shelby GT, fourth

GS
Ron Shurie, 2002 Toyota Celica GT, fourth
Jeff Fields, 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe, fifth
Mark Liller, 2005 Dodge Neon SRT4, seventh
Katie Orgler, 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS, ninth

STS
Mike Stanley, 1990 Mazda RX-7, fourth

STR
Anthony Martell, 2004 Honda S2000, seventh
Greg Martell, 2004 Honda S2000, 10th

STU
Eric Eskandari, 2007 Subaru WRX STi, fifth
Jennifer Eskandari, 2007 Subaru WRX STi, sixth

ASP
Stuart Fain, 2007 Porsche GT3, fifth

DSP
Doug Keiler, 1999 BMW 323i, fourth

ESP
Me, 1982 Cone My Fastest Runs Camaro Z28, fourth
Adam George, 1998 Ford Mustang Cobra, seventh

SSM
Jason Becker, 2000 BMW M Coupe, fourth

DM
Frank Weichold, 2000 Caterham, fifth

EM
Joseph Legasse, 1976 MGB Roadster, third
William Legasse, 1976 MGB Roadster, fourth
Bernard Cooley, 1965 Fiat 600, fifth
GeneCooley, 1965 Fiat 600, sixth

F125
Justin Neal, King Yangs Magic Trailer kart, fifth
Josh West, Buenconsejo Racing Team for Filipino Giants kart, sixth
James Newman, King Yangs Magic Trailer kart, eighth

Josh West finds out the offsets heading into Sunday finish can

For more photos, check out Perry Aidelbaum’s (AKA autox4u.com) flickr gallery as well as Steven Seguis (AKA Steguis Photography).

By Pat Griffith

In the first of three straight weekends of national level autocross, the WDCR/A.I. crew travelled to Jimmy Hoffa’s gravesite (AKA, The Meadowlands) in New Jersey for the TireRack Pro Solo. In a new lot that was paved over the site of the old Meadowlands Stadium, autocrossers hit the Dave Newman-designed courses as Pro Solo action hit the east coast for the first time.

The lot had fairly smooth asphalt but there were a couple of bumps in braking sections that challenged the drivers. While ideally Pro Solo should be identical mirrored courses, it’s not always the case — as it was here — with designs having to deal with obstacles like light poles. As a result, the turnaround on each course was markedly different, as were the offsets heading back toward the finish. The right-side course was just a bit quicker than the left.

John Vitamvas and Ian Baker line up Sunday morning.

In Street Touring Sport (STS), John Vitamvas in his Mazda RX-7 and Ian Baker in a Honda CRX had an epic battle. Ian took the lead after runs Saturday morning, but John took the top spot during the afternoon runs. Sunday morning as the first cars to hit the course and with the weather markedly different – mid-50 degrees and dark overcast skies – John struggled to get heat in the tires while Ian went on a charge. Ian was ripping off .5XX reaction times and kept dropping time, but John kept hitting cones and then DNF’ed his last run on the right course. Ian ended up with the fastest time on the right course, but John’s margin on the left course held up and gave him the win by just 0.016.

John Vitamvas (in blue shirt) is congratulated after holding off Ian Baker (in green) for the win in STS

However, John and Ian met in the second round of the Gumout Super Challenge where Ian got revenge and knocked John out. Ian advanced all the way to the final round before falling to the winner from H Stock, Matt Murray.

Cone issues continued for the RX-7 during regular competition as John’s co-driver, Greg Olsen, coned away about eight tenths of a second improvement. It wouldn’t have been enough to catch the front runners anyway, and Greg held on for third place and a trophy in STS.

The weekend also marked the return of Dean Sapp to national-level competition. He and Jeff Fields partnered in Jeff’s 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe in G Stock, and Dean, with eight Solo and Pro Solo National Championships combined on his trophy case, showed he hasn’t lost much. Jeff had the early lead after Saturday morning runs, but Dean took the lead back for good Saturday afternoon. Robert Robeson, driving Mark Liller’s 2005 Dodge Neon SRT-4, made a charge Sunday morning to take second place and the final trophy spot in the class. In fact, the top four in GS were all WDCR members with Dean, Robert, Mark and Jeff dominating the top of the time sheets.

In E Street Prepared (ESP), Sam Strano found himself in an unfamiliar position Sunday morning … in second place (gasp!) trailing another Sam. Karen Kraus offered the keys to her 2005 Subaru WRX to Sam Krauss (no relation — see, they spell their last names differently), and Sam, no stranger to other people’s AWD cars having finished second last year in ESP at the Solo National Championships in a borrowed Eagle Talon, held the lead from the drop of the lights on Saturday. (Our) Sam was trailing by about three tenths heading into Sunday, but he made up the deficit with his 2011 Mustang GT and then added another three tenths on that gap to take the win. (Our) Sam’s co-driver “Big” Mike Snyder took home the third and final trophy in ESP.

In Ladies Class 1 (L1), Learic Cramer also found herself in second place in her 2009 Nissan 370Z after the first day but managed to come back on Sunday to take the class win from Heather Everett. Her times would have given her third place in C Stock. WDCR’s Holly Schwedler put in some impressive times Sunday Morning in Lee Piccione’s Mustang to lift herself up into third place and take home a trophy, her first ever in Pro Solo.

Mike Snyder waits for the word to send Learic Cramer and Heather Everett to the line for the Ladies Challenge.

In A Street Prepared (ASP), Courtney Cormier hit a lot of cones (11 in eight runs) on Saturday but also managed to put in some fast clean runs in the 2006 McGeorge Corvette Z06 and lead the class by more than a second. On Sunday, he continued to beat that beat up in New Jersey and extended his lead. After the Porsche GT3 of second-place driver Perry Aidelbaum broke on his first run Sunday, Courtney only had to worry about his co-driver, Mike “Junior” Johnson, who was down in third place. Mike took over with warm tires and improved enough to move up in the standing but not enough to catch Courtney.

Another guy who hits a lot of cones but didn’t this weekend was Josh Luster. Over 12 runs, he hit only one cone and had no red lights or DNFs and won Street Touring Ultra (STU) in his 2006 Subaru STi by more than a second. Unfortunately, he passed the cone curse on to his co-driver, Iman Capers, who only had one clean run on the left-side course and finished fourth. He had raw times that would have put him just behind Josh in second place.

Formula Junior saw the Garfield brothers taking the wins in each of their classes. Carson won by almost five seconds in FJB. Julian was the lone competitor in FJA and spent the weekend trying to cut perfect .500 lights on the tree.

Julian Garfield brings a kart cart to impound for F125.

In B Stock, Kenny Sorensen took home a trophy with his third-place finish driving Alan Pozner’s 2008 Porsche Boxster. Kenny was sitting in second place and improved on his final two runs but watched from impound as Lynne Rothney-Kozlak went from third to first place passing her husband, Paul, who had been leading the class.

Kenny Sorensen waits in grid to face Paul Kozlak on Sunday morning.

The weekend didn’t start off well for Brian Karwan. The transmission broke in his Street Modified FWD Honda Civic during practice starts on Friday, but, showing why Solo has great camaraderie, Jason Becker offered the keys to his Street Modified 2000 BMW M Coupe. What’s a FWD guy like Brian supposed to do hopping in a RWD high-horsepower beast? Um, beat the car owner, I guess. Brian kept the tail wagging and finished in second in SM with Jason behind him for the third and final trophy in the class.

In Formula 125 (F125), it was a battle between the WDCR and the boys from Michigan, East Coast versus Midwest in a throwdown of who had the baddest shifter karts. Unfortunately, the good guys couldn’t pull enough magic out of King Yang’s trailer to come out on top. Brian Garfield and Mike Kline finished third and fourth, respectively, but they couldn’t match the speed of “The Kid” Jeremiah McClintock and the godfather of F125, Alan Sheidler, who finished first and second.

Other finishers:

Super Stock
Jason Burns, Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, 5th place
Heather Burns, ditto, 12th place

C Stock
Scott Hoffman, Mazda RX-8, 6th place

F Stock
Jason Huepenbecker, Mustang Shelby GT-C, 4th place
Lee Piccione, ditto, 5th place

DSP
Kevin Henry, BMW 325is, 4th place

ESP
Me with one clean run on the right side, Grape Ape Camaro, 4th place
Karen Kraus, Subaru WRX, 6th place

SSM
Daniel Bragason, Toyota MR2, 5th
Timothy Walker, ditto, 7th

F125
Justin Neal, King Yang’s Magic Trailer Kart, 9th
Josh West, Buenconsejo Racing Team for Filipino Giants Kart, 10th
Danny Kao, King Yang’s Magic Trailer Kart, 11th
Edwin Luo, King Yang’s Magic Trailer Kart, 13th
Lisa Garfield, CTS CR125, 14th
Andrew Huo, CRG Road Rebel, 15th
James Newman, King Yang’s Magic Trailer Kart, 16th

Next week, several area autocrossers are making the trip to Lincoln, Neb., for the first time a Pro Solo and National Tour are going to be held the same weekend — four straight days of autocross! Friday and Saturday will be the Pro Solo, and Sunday and Memorial Day will be the National Tour.

The following weekend, June 4 and 5, the TireRack SCCA National Tour will make a stop a bit closer to home, Dover, Del, and Lee Piccione is designing the courses.

If you’re not going to be there, you can still follow the action online. Results for New Jersey and the the Atlanta National Tour were showing up in near realtime on Sololive, and live announcing will be streamed through UStream.

Several WDCR and Autocrossers, Inc., members marched to Atlanta over the weekend for the SCCA National Tour at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

In Super Stock, Sam Strano led the way driving Jason Burns’ 2010 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport.  Jason finished third in a class that was five trophies deep. 

Ian Baker and “Little” Mike Snyder were in the trophies in Street Touring Sport, driving to third and fourth, respectively in Ian’s (or is it Mike’s?) 1988 Honda CRX.

In Street Touring Unlimited, Karen Kraus came from sixth place after Saturday to finish in third place in a 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

Other finishers included:

Danny Kao finished 10^th driving his General Kao/King Yang’s Magic Trailer/Big Chicken Corvette Z06 in Super Stock.

In SSL, Holly Schwedler was one spot out of the trophies in fourth place driving General Kao’s Corvette Z06.  Heather Burns was seventh.

In B Stock, Steve Kahre finished in fifth place, just 0.007 out of the last trophy spot driving his Honda S2000.

Scott Hoffman finished eighth in C Stock in his new-to-him 2004 Mazda RX-8.

Shawn Roberts finished fifth in G Stock in his Mazdaspeed Protégé.

Video of the course Saturday from Danny, and Sunday’s course from Karen:

Next up on the National event calendar is the Pro Solo May 21 to 22 at the New Meadowlands in New Jersey, which will see a lot more partcipants from the WDCR and A.I.

From SCCAProRacing.com

WDCR’s Tristan Herbert won yesterday’s Pirelli World Challenge Championship Touring Car race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.

Tristan held on to win by just over seven tenths of a second in his No. 33 Brimtek Motorsports Volkswagen GTI in just his first weekend in the series.

“This is the perfect example of why people get involved with local programs in SCCA,” Tristan said. “That’s where I started, with a driver’s school with the [Washington, D.C. Region] and worked my way up. This is exactly why you get into racing, and what you can do with it if you stick to it and work really hard. It’s awesome, it hasn’t even hit me yet.”

Starting third, Tristan and, another racer with roots in the WDCR, Chip Herr driving the No. 07 Grid 1 Motorsports Mazda RX-8, moved past polesitter Lawson Aschenbach at the standing start. Tristan moved past Chip on the third lap and onto the point, building a lead through the caution period.

World Challenge uses a wave around rule to prevent the Touring Car or GTS leaders from being earning a “free lap” on the rest of their class. Because of the on-track position of the overall leader during the caution, none of the Touring Cars were given the order to move past the pace car to the rear of the field.

Tristan and the Brimtek Motorsports team, however, misunderstood the command and he moved past the pace car and circulated to the rear of the field, essentially one full lap ahead of his Touring Car competitors.

Officials called him to pit lane after the green flag and held him until Chip, running second, passed the start finish line – putting Herbert on the track behind the silver Mazda.

Tristan recovered, moved past Chip on lap 22, and then held off a charging Aschenbach’s No. 71 Compass360 Honda Civic Si to the checkered flag.

“I was in first place and we had the full course caution,” Tristanexplained. “One of the officials had told our crew chief to wave us by, and just like yesterday we started to go by. I didn’t see anybody following, and the next thing I know I’m totally in the wrong spot. I know I’m in the wrong spot, I’m starting to panic, my crew is calming me down. They know the problem and they’re trying to stage me. I get pulled into the penalty box, and that was ok, they were trying to get me in the right spot. As they’re letting me go I see Chip Herr go by, and all of a sudden I have to get my head back in the game and get right back up there. I was able to get around Chip and make it happen. It was a tough one.”

Aschenbach finished second, followed by Patrick Seguin in the No. 80 Theberge Homes/capsparts.com Honda Civic Si. Chip finished 13th in class after a mechanical problem with five laps to go.

Devin Cates, another racer from the WDCR, earned the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for improving 12 positions overall on his way to a fourth place Touring Car finish in the No. 23 Cutaway Crations/Cates Engineering Volkswagen GTI.

WDCR members have again volunteered their cars to be on display in the region’s exhibit at the Washington Auto Show, which lasts until Sunday.  They are on the large (main) exhibit hall on the lower level.  Just follow the thumpity-thumpity music!

About 20 vehicles are on display representing Solo, Club Racing, RallyCross, Time Trials and Emergency Services.  Here is information about some of those vehicles:

Karen Kraus, 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX, Solo – E Street Prepared (ESP)
I mostly run National ProSolo and Tour events with it. In ESP, it mostly runs against Camaros and Mustangs, with the occasional Talon TSi/Eclipse GSX thrown in.  I won the 2008 ProSolo L1 Championship (in stock form), then I did the modifications for ESP, and took the 2009 National ESPL Championship.

Mike Snyder, Ford Mustang Shelby GT, Solo – F Stock (FS)
I purchased this car new in February of 2007, and the dash plaque authenticates this car as #450 in the Shelby GT registry. It was built to compete in SCCA Solo II and Pro Solo
competition in the F Stock Class. It competes against Camaros, Mustangs, and other Shelby GTs.

Modifications include AST Shocks, crash bolt kit, competition alignment, adjustable sway bar end links, lightweight Volk wheels and Hoosier race tires. Driven by Sam Strano at National level events, this Shelby GT always finishes in front or near the front of the pack. No other Shelby GT has won an F Stock SCCA National Championship or F Stock Pro Solo Championship title.

Eric Kriemelmeyer, Pontiac Solstice GXP with ZOK package, Solo – B Stock (BS)
The Solstice GXP competes in SCCA Stock Class B, against S2000 Club Racer, STi, C4 Corvette primarily.  It’s a 2.0L turbo four-cylinder engine provides excellent acceleration as well as above average fuel economy. With the addition of the factory ZOK suspension option, the car is lowered as well as having increased cornering ability above the base Solstice GXP. Using stock-size 18X8 wheels, the car can use enormous 295 width racing tires (stock is 245) providing a much larger contact patch for competition. Pontiac: They Built Excitement!

Alan Claffie, 1990 Mazda Miata, Solo – Street Touring S (STS)
Competes against the Honda CRX, Honda del sol, Mazda RX7 and Toyota MR2 in STS

SCCA’s Street Touring Solo category lets drivers compete in popular cars with popular modifications (aftermarket suspension, intake, exhaust, etc). Expensive and fragile racing tires aren’t allowed in this class, so it’s ideal for those who just want to show up and drive without having to bring a second set of wheels and tires to the event site.

Larry Spector , 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo, PDX/Time Trials/Solo – Street Modified 2 (SM2)
The car is used primarily for PDX events, with occasional Solo competition as well. It’s been run at Summit Point, WV; Watkins Glen, NY; Virginia International Raceway and New Jersey Motorsports Park.

The MR2 Turbo is a mid-engined (engine behind the driver) rear wheel drive car.
It has two seats, and two trunks (one in front, and another in back) and was made in Japan and sold in the United States between 1991 and 1995.  This car has a turbocharged and intercooled 4 cylinder engine, with a 5 speed manual transmission, and as delivered, it had 200hp and a 0-60 of under six seconds, and a top speed of over 140 mph.

This car is now 20 years old, and is driven to and from the track. It’s also used for commuting in good weather!

Tristan Herbert, 2008 Volskwagen GTI, Pro Racing – World Challenge Touring
Competes nationally in World Challenge against Mazda RX-8, Honda civic si, Scion tc, Mazda 3, Acura tsx, Mazda speed 3 and Acura RSX racecars.  It’s modified with JRZ Three-Way Adjustable Suspension, Piper Motorsports Custom Exhaust, AIM Data System, 17X8 BBS RGR Wheels, Racetech Seat, (Gripper) Limited Slip Differential Transmission, Ground Control Camber Plates, Power Flex Suspension Bushings, Stop-Tech Big Brake Kit, BSH Motor and Trans Mounts and an APR chip.

Bob Crawford, 1982 Dodge Colt, Club Racing – Improved Touring C (ITC)
Races at Summit Point, Watkins Glen and other tracks.  Races in Improved Touring “C”

Jack Burrows, 1984 Mazda RX7, Club Racing – Spec RX-7 (SRX7)
The Spec RX7 is based on and races against first-generation (1981-85) Mazda RX7s.  Tightly limited drive train preparation but competition suspension – shocks, struts, springs, sway bars etc. – open exhaust, spec tires, and gutted interior.  Safety equipment includes roll cage, five-point driver harness, on-board fire suppression system, fuel cell, and electrical system kill switch. Minimum race weight (including driver) is 2,530 lbs.

It has been driven to four victories at Watkins Glen International

Matt Hayes, 2010 Womer EV-3, Club Racing – FormulaVee (FV)
The car competes in the WDCR region MARRS series with other FVs primarily at Summit Point.  The class often has 15 cars entered and the low-power, high-grip cars make for close and exciting racing with a lot of drafting.

The car was designed and produced by Womer Race Cars located inside the DC beltway.  It uses primarily vintage Volkswagen parts in a custom frame and body, as stipulated by the class rules.  The car has a top speed of about 120mph and is capable of about 2Gs of lateral acceleration.  While the car only has about 60hp, the weight of 1025lbs, which includes the driver, make for a exciting machine.

Shawn Roberts, 1988 Mazda RX-7, RallyCross – Modified Two-Wheel Drive (M2)
This is the class for the most modified 2 wheel drive cars in RallyX.  Locally the competition is mostly older Sentra’s and a Ford Focus.

Ben Lambioette, FFR Type 65 Coupe, Solo/Time Trials — X Prepared (XP)
The “Bottom Dollar” Coupe is built on a Factory Five Racing Type 65 Coupe chassis and body. It is not a “donor” kit car.  All mechanical components are new and were carefully selected to suit the uses for which the car was built.  Considerable additional work was done to the chassis and body.

It is powered by a 347 ci small block Ford V-8 built on a new Ford Racing Boss block.  Top end, recently rebuilt by Maryland Performance, sports Canfield 195 cc CNC heads, Race Tec flattop pistons, cut to match the offset of the valves, Manley H-beam rods, and Jesel “mohawk beam” shaft rockers.  It has a custom solid roller cam by Jay Allen at Camshaft Innovations.  Fuel is delivered by mechanical pump to Pro Systems Holley 4-barrel double pumper with no choke, feeding an Edelbrock RPM Airgap dual plane intake manifold.  It has a 22 gallon Fuel Safe fuel cell.  Built to rev to 7,000 rpm+, it pulled 485 peak hp and 480 peak torque at the rear wheels on a chassis dyno last year.  

It runs an Astro Performance “built” (heavy duty alloy gearset) T-5 5-speed transmission, mated to a dual disk Spec Super Twin clutch and lightweight aluminium flywheel.  Damping is by double adjustable Koni’s at all four corners and Eibach springs.  Rear is IRS, built on a 1997 T-Bird, with oversized heavy duty half shafts, and a Torsen T-2 helical gear type limited slip diff.   Brakes are six piston Willwoods up front and four pot Willwoods in the rear.  Front-rear brake bias is adjustable via dial on the lower console.  Steering is via a Fast Freddie’s Fabrication electro-hydraulic power steering set up.  Cog and tooth accessory drive and self-exciting alternator are from Jones Racing.

The car weighs 2515 pounds without driver, and a half a tank of gas.  It is not a show car or concourse replica, but was built to compete in a variety of motorsports.  A frequent competitor in Solo, in XP class, it runs autocrosses (cone-dodging) nearly every weekend with SCCA WDCR, Capital Driving Club, and at Cumberland and other airport long-circuit events.  It also saw action in last year’s SCCA Divisionals and a Pro Solo event at FedEx Field.   It is also used on road racing tracks for Time Trials and Club Trials (where four cars are released on the track, laps are timed, and the fastest lap wins) , and non-competitive track days.  We will probably do at least one hillclimb (closed public road circuit, usually up a mountain, with runs timed) with it in 2011.

The car was built by Fred Kelley of Fast Freddie’s Fabrication.  Body and paint by Chris’ Customs. Custom dash, wiring, tire trailer hitch and other details by Larry Casey of Casey Design.  It was completed in June 2009, and just completed its first full season of competition.  It is street legal, and driven to and from events, towing a small trailer on which race tires and tools are hauled.

Other displays include:

Chris Windsor, Triumph and Morgan, Historic
Gene,  427 Cobra, Time Trials — XP
Steve Huemmer, Rescue 1 
Mike Collins, Mazda Miata, Club Racing — Spec Miata (SM) and Showroom Spec Miata (SSM)
Bill Mercurio, Club Racing — Spec Racer Ford (SRF)
Justin Huffman, Club Racing — Formula Enterprises (FE)
Steve Hyatt, 1991 Golf GTI, RallyCross — PF