2021 AMP'd Up Duals - Alarm.com Southeastern Championship: Round 3

[Bill Strong]

Insane racing weekend. That was some of the closest racing we have had in a long time!

 

Official Race Results

https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1931786

 

Here is a link to the images from Saturday's race at AMP:

https://edaldridge.photoshelter.com/gallery/ChampCar-AMP/G0000BUmdeQagTMA

 

 

Post race interviews

https://youtu.be/fUXPdYpL-_w

[frankrehnelt]

.703……is that the closest one yet? Doc would have known for sure. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by frankrehnelt

[frankrehnelt]

Top 10 on Sunday:

Nissan 240sx

BMW e30

Porsche 944

Miata na 

‘Mercury Capri

Miata na 

Miata na

Toyota MR2

Miata nb 

Dodge Stratus

Edited November 1, 2021 by frankrehnelt

[wallyb]

After the Dodge Stratus sat for 10 months, Jon and Allen knocked off the dust and we ran AMP. Always a great facility and champ staff and safety crews, a big thank you.

We came with 3 people total. (2 drivers) and a old guy to pour fuel.(me).

for some reason, Sunday we had to bump start the car 2 times. one time it didn't fire and someone came help push from NLS pit and someone from a bit down farther, THANK YOU (I'm sorry I didn't catch who you were). thanks also to pit stall 12, a green toyota?? the team offered coffee each day .

Kevin at the track always helps us find stuff and is always helpful with solutions, not reasons why not. a great asset to that race track.

we managed with only me for pit as the guys had the car solid as we took the hood off once to check the oil. we are VERY pleased with 10th and I think 6 on Saturday. SO close to a P3 in class or the P5 overall. (someday maybe??) I was hoping both the guys got to drive, and then hopefully we'd FINISH, top20?? top 10. BOOM great weekend!!

I hope everyone had a safe weekend and ride home.

 

[jakks]

33 minutes ago, wallyb said:

After the Dodge Stratus sat for 10 months, Jon and Allen knocked off the dust and we ran AMP. Always a great facility and champ staff and safety crews, a big thank you.

We came with 3 people total. (2 drivers) and a old guy to pour fuel.(me).

for some reason, Sunday we had to bump start the car 2 times. one time it didn't fire and someone came help push from NLS pit and someone from a bit down farther, THANK YOU (I'm sorry I didn't catch who you were). thanks also to pit stall 12, a green toyota?? the team offered coffee each day .

Kevin at the track always helps us find stuff and is always helpful with solutions, not reasons why not. a great asset to that race track.

we managed with only me for pit as the guys had the car solid as we took the hood off once to check the oil. we are VERY pleased with 10th and I think 6 on Saturday. SO close to a P3 in class or the P5 overall. (someday maybe??) I was hoping both the guys got to drive, and then hopefully we'd FINISH, top20?? top 10. BOOM great weekend!!

I hope everyone had a safe weekend and ride home.

 

That car has gotten faster each year it seems. Glad to see you guys were able to keep it on track and got some good finishes. I might have been the one you were thinking of that helped try to push start it. Made it all the way to pit out and it just wouldn’t start. I didn’t see what happened after that as I think we were dealing with our own issue at the time. Can’t remember. 

[Grant]

Pro-tip: don't bring a heavily tinted visor to a rain race. That might've been the dumbest thing I've done all year.

[wallyb]

2 hours ago, jakks said:

That car has gotten faster each year it seems. Glad to see you guys were able to keep it on track and got some good finishes. I might have been the one you were thinking of that helped try to push start it. Made it all the way to pit out and it just wouldn’t start. I didn’t see what happened after that as I think we were dealing with our own issue at the time. Can’t remember. 

thank you!! it fired (when we rolled it down the access road towards the condo's) i think the battery was at the voltage if we tried to crank it and roll start (to get engine to spin) the voltage dropped and had no fire. when he rolled the hill, only using clutch, it fired. (we will take being lucky over being good anytime!!)

[Clifford Beisler]

52 minutes ago, wallyb said:

thank you!! it fired (when we rolled it down the access road towards the condo's) i think the battery was at the voltage if we tried to crank it and roll start (to get engine to spin) the voltage dropped and had no fire. when he rolled the hill, only using clutch, it fired. (we will take being lucky over being good anytime!!)

I was the one pushing.  Glad you got it going down the hill.  I only made it the end of pit road before i was out of breath.

[jakks]

Yeah, Cliff you were pushing in the back. I grabbed A-pillar.

[mindspin311]

The Mini finally got christened this weekend. A few small contacts, all racing incidents, and a broken wheel stud that magically only cost us 7 laps. But kept on trucking Sunday to a class win. Thanks to Grant and team 

[tyler_j]

37 minutes ago, mindspin311 said:

 But kept on trucking Sunday to a class win. 

Congrats guys!  I fought with you for quite a few laps around the 1hr mark on sunday in the NLS 300zx. 

That mini had a surprising amount of pull around the long left sweeper! Twas a fun battle!

[cowboys647]

1 hour ago, mindspin311 said:

The Mini finally got christened this weekend. A few small contacts, all racing incidents, and a broken wheel stud that magically only cost us 7 laps. But kept on trucking Sunday to a class win. Thanks to Grant and team 

I had a small bump with your driver during the first stint going 2 wide into T2 (Love Racing blue Miata). I haven’t watched the video yet and I didn’t get a chance to go talk to the driver but either way sorry to get into the contact there. I thought it was a racing incident at the time. It looked like he carried on without issue so I’m hoping it wasn’t us who caused you any issues. 
 

Just realized there were 2 Minis so not sure if this is correct..

Edited November 1, 2021 by cowboys647

[mindspin311]

5 hours ago, cowboys647 said:

I had a small bump with your driver during the first stint going 2 wide into T2 (Love Racing blue Miata). I haven’t watched the video yet and I didn’t get a chance to go talk to the driver but either way sorry to get into the contact there. I thought it was a racing incident at the time. It looked like he carried on without issue so I’m hoping it wasn’t us who caused you any issues. 
 

Just realized there were 2 Minis so not sure if this is correct..

That sounds like us, driver reported a small bump from behind in that general area. There was no damage though. Be curious to see the video, but no ill will at all towards you guys. All good.

[Rodger Coan-Burningham]

23 hours ago, frankrehnelt said:

Top 10 on Sunday:

Nissan 240sx

BMW e30

Porsche 944

Miata na 

‘Mercury Capri

Miata na 

Miata na

Toyota MR2

Miata nb 

Dodge Stratus

Nice mix of cars.

 

I came over Saturday night and helped at pit out on Sunday. I had heard it was interesting at pit out, was not disappointed.
 

2 things of note:

-It has been said many times before but we (teams) really need to make a point to double check drivers that all safety gear is in place. I was surprised at the number of belts loose, hans not connected (and in one case missing), helmets not buckled. We even had somebody show up in mechanics gloves. It happens to the best, so everyone should figure out a way to checklist it, or some way make sure it’s all checked before you send your driver out.  
-Don’t send a car to pit out if it will have over a minute left on the timer when it gets there. It just clogs up pit out. That one is not complicated. Every time I saw it, the windshield was nasty on the car as it sat there waiting. Take the time to clean the windshield and help your driver see as well as not hold up other cars. 
 

Ray and I didn’t have one argument together in 7 hours at pit out. I must be slipping in my old age. Or maybe he is. 

[frankrehnelt]

Start on Sunday. Will have the whole race up by this evening. 

[eyeballs19]

901 Motorsport brought the red #903 e30 to AMP, excited for a fun weekend at a track that has been good to us.  

 

Saturday was soggy from the start, dried in the middle, and got soggy at the end.  Our results Saturday were equally soggy.  We are usually very reliable, but had some small issues that caused two early stops and made the race into a test session.  In the wet at the end the car was handling great and we were encouraged with our speed, able to comfortably run the pace of the leaders.  So we circulated, tried not to get in the way, and finished 17th.

 

Sunday was a good day with great racing (and an exciting but frustrating ending).  We ran in the top 3 or 4 all race, with great nose to tail battles for lap after lap.  Lots of give and take, drivers that trusted each other, the best kind of racing.  Everyone fueled when the yellow came out with a little less than 2 hrs to go.  The top 4 cars on the same lap, separated by seconds, and it was on!  Visceral 944, NLS 240, our e30, MOMO Miata. We were catching the NLS 240, but Visceral had 10 seconds and looked to have the pace and we figured we were battling for second.  However, Visceral spun in the hairpin with 40 minutes to go, losing them just enough time for NLS and 903 to pass.

This set up a great battle as the two cars moved through traffic.  The NLS 240 had more power, 903 had more corner speed, but the lap times were almost identical.  With roughly 30 minutes to go, after spending what seemed like eternity on the 240’s bumper, we got by.  Slowly slowly we clawed out a 5 second advantage, finally feeling we had enough of a buffer.  We were wrong.

 

It was like watching a car crash in slow motion.  15 minutes to go, we were catching a clump of cars that were racing hard, and we knew it could change everything.  With a mid-power momentum car, we are vulnerable to being held up by a high power car if they choose to aggressively fight being lapped, and that is exactly what happened.  Our 5 second lead evaporated in less than 2 laps as we struggled to get past, putting NLS right back on our tail.  Both drivers battled super hard, with great clean driving lap after lap, but NLS got by, we couldn’t overcome the power advantage, and we finished 0.7 seconds behind.

 

Wish it had ended differently, but congrats to NLS for the well deserved win, and thanks for the awesome clean racing. 

 

Time for that turbo LS swap.

 

As always, thanks to ChampCar for a great weekend, and to the corner workers for getting wet so we could play.  We all certainly gave them a good show.

 

 

[Hurljohn]

Good teams and good times it seems were had at AMP!  Congrats to the NLS boys not only did they put the 240 on the box both days, but also their brand new rental car ran good both days and i think set the team FTD on Sunday as well!  901, you guys are always strong and clean racers and its a shame we were not able to see that last lap battle between you guys on Sunday!

 

Some guy named @Grant did okay on Saturday too... 

 

John

[roadracer4life]

Short weekend for the Flyin Moose. Saturday started off decent enough with Jack behind the wheel and we handed the car over to Mr.Pobst who had been feeling under the weather but seemed to recover as soon as the opportunity to race was available. During his stint the rain really started to fall and lucky for us that's were we started to shine. In 90 min we went from 26 up to 12th overall but it was not to be. Our weak signal live stream still provided enough video for me to notice the flashing red light on the dash and I asked Randy what the temps were looking like.  Not good. He went from fastest car on track to slowest and did his best to stay off the racing line but on the way in was slid into by a Miata. To say the least the man was not happy. Bent wheel and tie rod end were added to the blown headgasket and likely banana shaped head now.

 

Not the weekend we were hoping for but that's racing.. Great to see everyone and hope to have better luck at Barbers. 

 

-Sam  

[Hurljohn]

14 hours ago, Rodger Coan-Burningham said:

Ray and I didn’t have one argument together in 7 hours at pit out. I must be slipping in my old age. Or maybe he is. 

Not what I was told.

[Scott Schubel]

A whirlwind weekend for #933 Frantic Antic Racing. The Alarm.com E30 showed up to Friday practice with high hopes and promising pace. This was the first time driving AMP for all 3 drivers. AMP's layout rocks... such a fun track to drive wet or dry! Unfortunately close to 4pm we had a head gasket failure prompting us to swap in our backup engine for the Saturday and Sunday races. Friday night was COLD.. Florida boys don't do 40 degrees and rain! If we woke you up around 2am with the sound of our first crank we apologize.

 

Saturday was a straight forward race for us finishing P13, P6 in C. The new motor ran strong and the wet conditions were tricky. It was a ton of fun sliding around out there. We had high hopes for Sunday as we learned our fuel target could increase significantly during wet conditions. It almost worked out beautifully on Sunday but we got too greedy..  We started Sunday with a pit lane delay pre-race putting us dead last for the start. Going long on fuel we worked up to P4 overall and P3 in C class by the race mid point. Unfortunately with the drying track we could not maintain our fuel target with the increasing track pace and we ran out of gas during our in-lap between turns 11 and 12. That put us back about 3-4 laps getting towed back in but we got back on the pace and finished P14, P7 in C. 

We left AMP with a lot of memories and a good sense of accomplishment. We will be back next year to try and break into the top 10! Now begins prep for Barber in a short few weeks time. See you guys out there! 

 

- Scott 

[bigyellow]

1 hour ago, Hurljohn said:

Good teams and good times it seems were had at AMP!  Congrats to the NLS boys not only did they put the 240 on the box both days, but also their brand new rental car ran good both days and i think set the team FTD on Sunday as well!  901, you guys are always strong and clean racers and its a shame we were not able to see that last lap battle between you guys on Sunday!

 

Some guy named @Grant did okay on Saturday too... 

 

John

Thanks alot. And Yes the new car actually set our team FTD w/ a rental driver who's never drove the car before. Only 2 of us have even had a chance to drive the 300 so far. We're pretty stoked about its debut. Looking for bigger things at VIR North with a pretty solid lineup of drivers. Just wait til we VQ30 swap the 300 and make that our primary car. Thanks everybody for an awesome weekend. Wouldn't want to race anywhere else!!!

Full race report to come.

[frankrehnelt]

The last :30 Sunday. 

 

[Andrew D Johnson]

3 hours ago, Scott Schubel said:

 

 

That's a great picture ! 

[Grant]

This is how our weekend went.

 

Saturday:

 

Chuck goes out on a dry-ish track on Coopers and takes the lead around lap 8. He runs low-mid 1:30s in traffic, setting FTD of 1:30.6, then it starts to rain. At that point he radios in and says we need to switch to the rain tires, which are 225 RT660s. I check the weather radar and it looks really bad, so I agree (the car is also extremely prone to hydroplaning on the Coopers).

 

We're completely unprepared to do this (one gun, one jack, Chuck's fiancé as our only crew), so that was a 14-minute green-flag pit stop. Doh.

 

When I get out there we're 7 minutes behind the leader. I have some pretty bad visibility problems but after I get the hang of defogging my visor it starts to go pretty well. I think I pass Visceral a few times, and near the end of everyone's second stint we're 3:50 behind first.

 

Chuck goes out again in drying conditions, and without any drama takes the lead by the end of his stint. He says the 660s feel much better than the Coopers did in similar conditions.

 

I go out again as the rain picks back up. It's darker now, and I realize I stupidly brought a very-tinted visor to a rain race . I can see cars fine, but not how wet the track is. I have to judge grip level purely by feel.

 

Despite me only needing to hold on to first, I stupidly put the car way off in turn 1. Not sure how I did this exactly; maybe I missed my usual brake marker, but it knocked us back to third place. We also notice Visceral and I think NLS have considerably faster drivers in their cars than they did earlier.

 

I start pushing through traffic harder than I usually would. I get some contact with our pit-neighbors in an E46 (I thought they were giving me room, but turns out nope just a late apex), which pushes our LF fender into the tire. I ignore that and keep pushing, staying behind Visceral for a number of laps. I notice their car has better acceleration than ours, but we beat it in lower-speed grip and braking (don't think they have ABS). I can't make up any ground on it in T14/15; it just seems to put the power down better (I'm guessing due to the large spoiler). I make up a bit in T16 sliding out to the outside curbing, which is a little unnerving. I pass them under braking in T1 once, and they pass me back a while later.

 

I stay behind them and notice their driver is really pushing to keep me at bay, and given the time left on the clock I elect to just wait for them to make a big mistake. I think they end up going off in T1, and I take the lead and hold it.

 

I love racing in the rain. Thanks ChampCar for putting this event on! It's the best racing I've ever done.

 

Sunday:

 

Our Ti exhaust fails, again. Black flagged for noise. At least Chuck got FTD before that happened.

 

With our WRL build we just didn't have time to make a stainless replacement, and none of the local fab shops could get to it either. So I'd bought a replacement Ti piece from Tomei thinking that would last at least another race, but the other end of the exhaust broke instead.

 

Titanium is the wrong exhaust material for endurance racing.

 

Misc. performance impressions:

 

I tend to think swapping to RT660s wasn't worth it, but I never drove on the Coopers in wet and cold conditions. Our car is extremely prone to hydroplaning with them due to its weight / tire ratio, so that was our biggest fear that made us switch. However there was never significant standing water.

 

Our handling advantage in the wet seemed slimmer than it is in the dry. If a car in front of me was visibly pushing at the limit I was unlikely to be able to easily pass them.

 

Before the first full-course caution we were about to start conserving fuel to make two hours. With equal drivers and tires I don't see how we could beat Visceral at a big track. We'd have a handling advantage but they have more top-end and fuel.

 

My NC's near 50/50 weight balance is very helpful in the wet. I didn't find it excessively oversteery on power in third gear. Chuck got looser than me, but he's 50 lbs lighter.

 

 

[Chappy]

341 On Second Thought Miata race report

 

Saturday - Started mid pack, was able to move up to 10th overall at the end of the first 2hr stint.  Had a full course caution at the end of the stint and noticed some noise from the RF wheel bearing.  At the pit stop, identified we needed to change out the bearing.  10 min later we were back on track, but that pretty much ended the day for us.  We tried to claw back some laps but ended the day with a fuel pump fuse blowing on the car with about 10 min left in the race.  Sorry to those racing for the win, I guess we made it exciting for the last few green laps before the checker!

 

Sunday - Mid pack start again, first driver did a great job managing traffic and keeping things clean.  Ended the first stint in 10th, second driver got it and clicked off a bunch of really quick laps, at the 3:45 mark we pulled him in for fuel and driver change in 1st place.  Third driver went out and kept in the top 5.  We miss judged pit stop timing for our last stop pitting just as a green flag waved at the end of a full course caution.  This got me going out ~2 laps down from where we were running before the stop, going out in 9th.  Seemed like the last 1.5hrs was nonstop battling with the 833 and 460 for position, and the 880 and 633 that were running very similar lap times.  Ended up passing the 833 with 3 laps to go.  On the final lap I was right behind the 460, coming over the hill at 13 I had a run on the inside, but last second I think the 460 missed a shift, and I had to let out to not rear end him.  Unfortunately the big Miata power wasn’t enough to pull the Capri to the finish line leaving us to finish in 6th.  

 

So close to our first top 5… 

 

Even with the weather, issues with the car, and the bad pit strategy, we still had a great time.  AMP is our favorite race of the year.  We definitely look forward to next year!  Maybe that will be the year for us!  

 

Thanks for all the great racing by all the teams!  Seemed like both days were very close/exciting finishes.