Administrators Bill Strong Posted September 20, 2021 Administrators Report Share Posted September 20, 2021 Official Resultshttps://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1916347 Chandler School award winner First Race, zero issues, zero black Flags, and completed both races. #770 Wankel Werx 1979 Mazda RX7 Entrieshttps://champcar.org/register/entrantlist.php?eventid=446 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todd K Posted September 20, 2021 Report Share Posted September 20, 2021 Thanks to the Champcar officials for a great weekend. It was our first ChampCar race, and first road race for that matter. Special shout out to Team Infinity for all the support and help though the weekend and the +2 years of motivating me to keep going with the build. It was all worth the effort. We had an awesome time and will be preparing to up our game for the Sebring race in December. Pros: - Had awesome time, far better racing than we expected and just overall great experience - We had some solid laps and decent times for our first race; drivers were all happy with the car (when it ran on all cylinders); actually made it into the top 20 on both days when we had a good run. - Finished under the checker both days - double bonus!! - Learned a ton, which was the goal - Made some new racing friends Cons: - Had to swap out our trans on Saturday with our spare; ate up over 3 hours; then the shifter decided it didn't like the new trans and departed this earth - replaced and got running again - Fought a cooling problem on Saturday and pulled the hood off to resolve - ultimately swapped out the radiator with a replacement and solved the problem for Sunday - Valve train issue end of Saturday turned out to be missing jam nuts on a couple rockers - found 1 and the other is MIA. Installed nuts, set the lash and crossed fingers the one homeless nut found it's way to the pan or innocuous location. - After our first 2 hours on Sunday we dropped a cylinder - after repeated trips to the paddock and having isolated to a bad injector we sent out the drivers to finish out the day on 75% power. Lesson = the one spare you don't have is the one that will pop up. - Had one incident with the red firebird when they passed where there wasn't enough room (apparently) - ended up with a rub down the pass side but not too bad. I haven't looked at our video yet to see what actually happened. Again thanks to the Champcar staff for a well run event. The T&S issue on Saturday we understand the pain.....been there ourselves in kart racing. Thanks for working out to let us run until 7PM. It was very much appreciated. Todd Kovi Kovi Racing Team 1992 Acura Integra #214 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwilding Posted September 21, 2021 Report Share Posted September 21, 2021 Congrats on a successful first weekend, you guys did great. I appreciated the situational awareness all your drivers had while I was around you all, not once did I get concerned that you guys didn't see me coming. Also, every time I saw you on track I had a smile because my first race was at Moroso in our 1991 Integra (back in 1998), which was an SCCA ITA car. It brought back a lot of memories seeing a 2nd gen Teg out there on the track. Great job! Also, does anyone know if there were any photographers at the race? I would love to see some action shots from the weekend. Cheers! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickindy14 Posted September 21, 2021 Report Share Posted September 21, 2021 (edited) We experienced a lot of the sweetness along with some of the bitterness of racing this weekend at Palm Beach. After a really good practice day on Friday we finished 10th overall in the 8 hour race on Saturday and 4th in class. Which was a great showing for our little group. We had some really tough competition from the other Miatas but faired well, beating 7 teams in class and 24 over all, like the big bad BMW's, Porsche's, V8's other more powerful cars. We were looking good once again on Sunday in the 7 hour race starting 13th and working our way up to 8th overall. Then with 30 minutes left in the race our engine said it had had enough and died. We dropped to 17th with only our second recorded DNF. Can't blame the little engine after 12 races, 6 practice days and untold miles of hard, hard racing we had beaten it to death. Time to rebuild and get ready for AMP Thanks again to KK, Mitchell, Britt, David and Alan who made it possible for the drivers to get their adrenaline needs met along with a top 10 finish. This is a team sport and we are blessed with our fabulous pit crew. Edited September 21, 2021 by mickindy14 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazmarc Posted September 24, 2021 Report Share Posted September 24, 2021 Level One’s weekend of racing, as racing goes, was nearly perfect. As a matter of fact, it was 5.570 seconds short of perfect! Our PBIR visit last year resulted in a third place for Saturday and our first overall win in the Sunday race. The following facts are as I recall them and may not be entirely accurate. We started Saturday's 8 hour race in 21st out of 41. A red flag three laps later for a timing loop issue showed us in 10th! After lengthy repairs, the race was restarted around 11:18 and would go to 7pm. We quickly moved up and settled in 3rd for a bit. Then the leading car, the Valyrian Steel Miata had a problem, and we were in second. Then that leading car, Marathon Motorsports/TLM Racing BMW had to pit for fuel, and we were in the lead. Except for brief moments where pit stops shuffled the front, we led the race until the Checkers, winning by three laps!!! Lots of hugs and beers happened afterwards, but there was work to do for Sunday's 7 hour race. The engine oil and brake pads were changed, and tires swapped to opposite sides as this track destroys left side tires. Then John did his cleaning thing and shined up our little weapon for the next day. Champcar rules dictate the Saturday winner is "awarded" a one lap penalty for winning, plus the laps, if any, back to second place. That meant we would start 4 laps down at the green flag. We decided to go get what we could get, but the peak to the mountain to win again was in the clouds. John once again started and was the fastest car on the track for a bit. The car that led Saturday's race, the Valyrian Steel Miata, was repaired and leading comfortably. We kept pushing. Eb gets in next and continues to push. Then, Valyrian Steel has problems again and retires, handing the lead to their team car, Blue Steel, that finished second to us on Saturday. At this point, we were in fourth, but one lap down to the top three. I get in and immediately realize the brake pedal is long, really long! I try to push as best I can but am very uncomfortable with the brakes. I adjust my braking zones and feel better about continuing. After discussing options with the team (in-car radios are the best), I make the call that we can make it to the end. Moments later there is a full course caution, but we are not in our pit window. I needed to stay out another 25 min to get us to the end. Back to green and we are still in fourth. A few minutes later we pit to put John in for the finish. During the stop, Eb notices the left front brake pads are done. We changed the left side only as the right side had pad left and sent him on his way, now in fifth, with about 90 min left. John starts doing his John thing and the race is on. Then, the lead car has problems, and they retire. We now find ourselves in fourth. Attrition has thinned the pack so clear track is abundant. John is chewing up the clock and the math looks like we have a chance at second. With about 58 min to go, John makes the pass for second. That car, Rotary Rocketeers then pits for a left front tire and its down to us and the Two Guys and a Miata team. With 30 min to go we were about 33 seconds back. John was averaging lap times two seconds quicker than the leader. The math said it would be close, but traffic would be the deciding factor. Despite a valiant effort, we were 5.5 sec short of a perfect weekend, finishing second. It was a great finish that apparently had the Race Monitor watchers all excited. Interestingly, we won this Sunday race last year by six seconds! We brought home three epic trophies, A first overall, second overall and a class win. The car is undamaged except for some brake caliper rebuilds and possibly a transmission change, due to a notchy 4th gear synchro. Thanks to everyone on this team. John, Eb, Greg, Jordan, Dylan, Rick and Cindy. It was a team effort that led to an epic weekend. Our fourth driver, Nick, was doing the NASA National Championships at Daytona. Sadly his day ended early in true Spec Pinata fashion. Thank you to the Champcar staff. Hopefully this was a low stress (except for the timing issue) weekend for everyone. The event seemed to go very smoothly thanks to all involved. See you all at Sebring. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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