33 replies to this topic

[Danny Steyn]

Congrats to Alex Bolanos for an impressive weekend. Alex won the SM Race 1 holding off Elivan Goulart in his brand new car, Matt Ferris, Andrew Charbonneau and Jeff Labounty. Alex finished 3^rd in Sunday’s race 2
to Matt Ferris and Elivan Goulart, Dylan Murcott was 4^th and Charbs 5th. Alex also got on the podium for both STL races as well.

Tech was way up. After qualifying several of us had plates out and measured, OBDII connections verified and alternator charging confirmed. After Race 2 top 3 had intakes removed and inspected, and the top 6 had their ECU’s taken to send to Topeka.

From my side, I had a crappy weekend. DNF’d both races with front and back wheel bearing failures. I also personally got schooled by the locals at NJMP. It is a real driver’s track. The locals are really good there

and it took us a long time to get to speed. Amy Mills was fast all weekend, so too was John Wechsler, but he had car issues as well. On day one all the Florida boys other than Alex were way off pace but slowly we all started to come to terms with the track.

Biggest observation is that Elivan now has a dancing partner for the runoffs. Matt Ferris comes from GoKarts I believe and he can definitely drive. Also I have never seen a Spec Miata so slammed – he is on the bump stops even without driver in the car. As a team they will definitely be contenders

[Mitch Reading]

I made the trip down to spectate yesterday and enjoyed seeing the national SM crowd race on a track I know fairly well.   

 

GREAT racing!  Sorry you had troubles Danny, but your cars sure look good even just sitting in the paddock.

 

Incredible how competitive the fields are within SM at these majors races.  Drivers and cars that are typically at the front of northeast regional races not able to crack the top 10.  Inspiring.

 

Hope the field will be even deeper at the Watkins Glen national. 

[svvs]

It was a fun race weekend for sure.  I was pretty happy with my midpack finish Sunday.

 

Not trying to be funny or start up the old argument....,but how many sets of tires did most SM drivers use?  I ran one set the whole weekend, knowing that my race times on Sunday would be off by about .5 or .7 per lap.

 

I was pretty excited (ok maybe really excited) after the "Sunday Qualifier" Friday afternoon to be in the top 10 in my modestly prepped 1.6....then got pipped back to 15th as the southern squad came up to speed in the Saturday AM race.

 

The shot from JW's rear cam of Saturday's start is priceless.  Four Wide (one of the cars way out in the dirt) but no one touching.  There was some contact on Saturday's start.  Sunday's start seemed pretty clean, though I was kind of surprised I had a rear bumper left after it.

 

Wish I could make the Glen Major, but it's not in the cards.  That's going to be a great race since I do not think any other races conflict with it....this weekend there was a major at Mid-Ohio as well.

 

-Vick

[Danny Steyn]

The shot from JW's rear cam of Saturday's start is priceless.  Four Wide (one of the cars way out in the dirt) but no one touching. 

 

 

-Vick

 

I saw that screen capture - John - please post it here - its an awesome pic!

[Danny Steyn]

Big shout out to Ken Quartuccio and his crew members Gary and Chris. Not only did Ken have a very impressive weekend with 10th and 6th place finishes, but along with Mike Rossini he totally dialed my car setup from LOST to NAILED IT!.

 

Also big thanks to Ademir for the loan of the scales. After the setup changes we made, we moved up from 15th to 4th. I guess the changes helped.

 

The camaraderie in this sport is something else. PS Charbs was on fine form at the Rossini picnic table on Saturday night. He is without a doubt the most entertaining man in our sport. And just to put it into perspective, after a late night of gambling in Atlantic City, Charbs qualified and raced in Spec Miata, SRF, STL and Formula Mazda!!!! He is from another planet for sure.

[DrDomm]

My "race" report...it was great to be racing, regardless of my times.  Special thanks to Vick and Marc for driving advice.  It's just a pleasure to be in the field at these Majors...but a bummer to not see the racing at the front   Great job by NJMP, SCCA and SJR.  Can't wait til Watkins Glen...hopefully all the big players (and fellow locals) show up there.  

[DylanMurcott]

both races were really fun. i haven't raced with the fast florida guys and SAC guys since Sebring '12. Really surprised i was able to keep pace (until lap 21) in the second race. lot of fun and hope to see you all at the Glen early July!

[Danny Steyn]

Dylan, Amy, Whitt, and Steve from Flat Out Motorsports pretty much flatout schooled me on the test day.

 

They were running several seconds faster than I could go, yet whenever I got behind Dillon he would suddenly go slower or pull off!!! :-) Eventually when I did figure out what they were doing, I still couldn't do what they were doing!

[Alex Bolanos]

Thanks for the race report Danny and sorry about your mechanical luck this weekend.  My car was fast right off the trailer and I fortunately picked up the track quickly, awesome facility and really nice people!  Great to see Leverone and the Flatout boys in their home turf, I'm jealous they have this track so close to them.

 

Special thanks to Mike Rossini for hosting us Florida boys (lunatics) on Saturday night and for helping with tech on my car after race two.  Thanks to Autotechnik, Momo (ADC coolsuit was flawless), and Apex Alignment down in Miami!

[Alex Bolanos]

It was a fun race weekend for sure.  I was pretty happy with my midpack finish Sunday.

 

Not trying to be funny or start up the old argument....,but how many sets of tires did most SM drivers use?  I ran one set the whole weekend, knowing that my race times on Sunday would be off by about .5 or .7 per lap.

 

I was pretty excited (ok maybe really excited) after the "Sunday Qualifier" Friday afternoon to be in the top 10 in my modestly prepped 1.6....then got pipped back to 15th as the southern squad came up to speed in the Saturday AM race.

 

The shot from JW's rear cam of Saturday's start is priceless.  Four Wide (one of the cars way out in the dirt) but no one touching.  There was some contact on Saturday's start.  Sunday's start seemed pretty clean, though I was kind of surprised I had a rear bumper left after it.

 

Wish I could make the Glen Major, but it's not in the cards.  That's going to be a great race since I do not think any other races conflict with it....this weekend there was a major at Mid-Ohio as well.

 

-Vick

 

3,4,5, and 6 cycle Hoosiers from VIR on Friday (SM and STL), new set for Sat Q2 which I used in both SM races.  Not having stickers for the Sunday race definitely a handicap, I believe Elivan and Ferris were on new tires each day.  

 

NJMP likes new tires, our "spec" tire issue is alive and well unfortunately :/

[Chris70]

NO, Elivan and Matt were NOT on stickers tires on Sunday or Saturday.

Ademir

S.A.C. racing

[Craig Berry]

Thanks for the write up Danny, sorry about the bad luck....unfortunately we have all been there. Sounds like a tough field. Congrats to all the podium finishers!

[Jim Drago]

3,4,5, and 6 cycle Hoosiers from VIR on Friday (SM and STL), new set for Sat Q2 which I used in both SM races.  Not having stickers for the Sunday race definitely a handicap, I believe Elivan and Ferris were on new tires each day.  
 
NJMP likes new tires, our "spec" tire issue is alive and well unfortunately :/

You should have went to Mid Ohio... Stearns only owns two sets of wheels/tires total He put stickers on before Cota, ran the same two sets at Cota double majors, Hallett double majors and won both days at Mid Ohio Double majors on 15-20 session tires. Yes, I know that Mid Ohio is the exception, not the rule, still pretty funny.


Congrats on the win and to Matt Ferris on the win as well as the other podium finishers. Looks like a tough track. I think the majors platform is really making some seriously competitive races.

[Ken Quartuccio]

Alex you boys better be ready to party at the glen
I'm dying to see carbs and Jeff at 3 am and drunk

[Ken Quartuccio]

Thanks Danny for the kind words
Rookie and my self learned a ton from
You this weekend
Now I'm sitting in my office debating June sprints
And if I should try and run that track
See you at the glen
Btw
Talk mike into flying up or something
He can run my car in STL

[Danny Steyn]

Talk mike into flying up or something
He can run my car in STL

 

If only I could get Mike on a plane!! - Not going to happen!!

 

Yup and June Sprints you should do for sure!!!

[Muda]

It was great racing with all of you guys this weekend.  Especially on a track I've been to more than twice. 

I thought finishing 4th overall in the STL race ahead of Danny, after a major electrical gremlin kept me from qualifying on Friday and Saturday, would be the highlight of my weekend.

But the Q16, P6 result in the Sunday SM race was the most fun I've ever had.  After Kenny and I had contact in the Octopus and my alignment got knocked out I thought it was over.  But I was able to chase down Jeff and Nick.  So Ralle, Jeff, Nick and I danced for 5 laps and never touched.  Nothing better than that!  Video uploading now.

 

Thanks to the SCCA and the NJ regions for hosting a great event, bringing in the top brass and providing heavy tech.

Also, thanks to Kessler Engineering for my strong engine and track support and to Aaron Povoledo for teaching me how to race.  (Daddy never took me karting!)

 

  Here's the screenshot from the start of the Saturday race:

 

[Muda]

[DylanMurcott]

wow. that's an awesome photo.

[Mike Collins]

That car is FASSSTTTTTT.