79 replies to this topic

[Duane Polsley]

SHOOTOUT FINALISTS ARE :

 

SAM ADAMS               SKIP BARBER RACING SCHOOL

BEN ANDERSON         NASA EAST CHAMP-PTE

STEVEN DIEM             I-RACING

JOEY JORDAN            NASA TEEN CHALLENGE-WEST

KYLE LOUSTAUNAU   NASA WEST CHAMP-SM

EVEN MAILLORD        I-RACING

ZACHARY MUNRO      NASA TEEN CHALLENGE-ROCKY MOUNTAIN

ERIC POWELL            NASA WEST CHAMP-PTD

 

 

 

ANY FAVORITES OR PREDICTIONS

[Rob Burgoon]

Joey is gonna wreck house in the business parts.

[Johnny D]

SAM ADAMS

 https://www.youtube....h?v=xU_S3d61dWU

 

BEN ANDERSON  (Is it Mike??)

 

STEVEN DIEM

 

JOEY JORDAN

https://www.youtube....h?v=IWM6BWuoHag

 

KYLE LOUSTAUNAU

https://www.youtube....h?v=mZ7nmafmthI

 

EVEN MAILLORD

https://www.youtube....h?v=6j436_fIm_k

 

ZACHARY MUNRO

https://www.youtube....h?v=zpSg9ZLmjII

 

ERIC POWELL

https://www.youtube....h?v=u9qkV4cec2Q

 

The Mazda Club Racer Shootout is the single largest prize in club racing. Since 2007 Mazda has annually promoted one talented club racer to the professional ranks. The $75,000 prize will help fund one driver on his quest to the 2015 Battery Tender Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich Tires. A record 22 racers were semi-finalists, having met the eligibility criteria for 2014: each won a recognized championship over a minimum number of competitors. Now, after each made a formal written business proposal, evaluated and ranked by industry professionals, the field has been narrowed to eight.

The 2014 Mazda Club Racer shootout finalists are:

Racer Club/Series Hometown/Residence

 

Sam Adams Skip Barber Racing School (Summer Series) Hubertus, Wisconsin

Ben Anderson NASA Eastern States Championships (PTE) Minneapolis, Minnesota

Steven Diem iRacing MX-5 Cup (Season 3) Kailua, Hawaii

Joey Jordan NASA Spec Miata Teen Challenge (West) Santa Barbara, California

Kyle Loustaunau NASA Western States Championships (Spec Miata) Vacaville, California

Evan Maillard iRacing MX-5 Cup (Season 2) Nesles La Vallée, France

Zachary Munro NASA Spec Miata Teen Challenge (Rocky Mountain) Granby, Colorado

Eric Powell NASA Western States Championships (PTD) Orlando, Florida

 

John Doonan, Director of Motorsports, Mazda North American Operations noted, “Each year this shootout evolves. For 2014 we have our first simulator-racing champions, from the iRacing MX-5 Cup, and our first racers from outside of North America. The criteria for the shootout is to identify the aspiring professional racer who has the best range of skills required to succeed, including speed, consistency, racecraft, technical feedback, and off-track business and PR skills. History has shown that a driver will be limited in success if they are lacking in any of these areas. Past shootout winners have performed well both on and off the track, using this prize as a springboard for their career.”

The final shootout will be at California’s Buttonwillow Raceway Park on December 1 and 2. The first day will test the finalists’ communication skills, marketing plans, and other essential attributes and skill sets required to continue to climb the racing ladder. The second day will consist of significant track time, data analysis, and a few surprises to help the judges gage the finalists’ skills behind the wheel. It is a winner-take-all event with only one racer moving up the Mazda ladder in 2015.

“The diversity of backgrounds and racing experience across the competitors is truly remarkable. The proposals reflect that diversity and highlight how social media and modern technologies are embraced by Mazda Motorsports participants at all ages and around the world. Each year the quality of competition on and off track continues to improve. The finals at Buttonwillow should be fantastic,” stated Peter Calhoun – Motorsports Marketing Manager, BFGoodrich Tires

[Bench Racer]

 

BEN ANDERSON  (Is it Mike??)

Nope, there's Chad dude that posts, think Ben (see windshield) may be from MN.!!!    http://www.youtube.c...nandersonracing

[B(Kuch)Kucera45]

Ok where are all the old guys ?

Must be some kind of age limit ! Lol !!!

[Joe (dad) Jordan]

Ok where are all the old guys ?

Must be some kind of age limit ! Lol !!!

 

It's kind of amazing, but every year, many do not submit a video or a proposal and weed themselves out of the process..

[Johnny D]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=9e-ZM-NXKOU

J~

[Rob Burgoon]

It's kind of amazing, but every year, many do not submit a video or a proposal and weed themselves out of the process..

 

Many don't care maybe?  Or figure it's silly to compete with the teens?  Or want to let a teen have it?

[Ron Alan]

Funny, 2 out of the 8 guys here have putted around in the village bike(as some refer to it!)

 

 Congrats and best of luck to Kyle and Joey! 

 

Hmmmm, so would feedback from the 2 IRacing entries be something like this..."Man, the buffering on left handers is killing me. Cant you guys get 4G out here?"

[ECOBRAP]

Funny, 2 out of the 8 guys here have putted around in the village bike(as some refer to it!)

 

 Congrats and best of luck to Kyle and Joey! 

 

Hmmmm, so would feedback from the 2 IRacing entries be something like this..."Man, the buffering on left handers is killing me. Cant you guys get 4G out here?"

 

I competed (in real life) against one of the iRacing guys, Steven Diem, at Nissan's GT Academy in England. Curious to see how he has progressed since I raced him there. I've come to learn that sim racing is a great supplement, but it won't pay off unless you can relate it to real experience. Should be interesting!

[LarryKing]

Aren't SCCA Champions also eligible?

 

iRacing?!

 

You can qualify by playing video games?

 

Pretty soon we won't need real life. We'll just sit in our bubbles and run sims. God Almighty.

[Randy Wolfgram]

About half of that field are Iracing members, some more active than others.  A good sim-racer does not automatically translate into a good real-world racer (true the other way around, as well), but I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Maillard do very well (not as familiar with Diem).  Iracing has some pretty good success stories of turning sim-racers into real-world ones (as does Playstation's GT).  If you are thinking of it as some kid sitting on his couch in the basement with a hand held controller just mashing the throttle and the car magically glued to the track that's really not the case with these sims.  Having said all of that, my pick would be either Jordan or Loustaunau.

[Chad Martin]

Tough Competition.  Ben Anderson has a great chance, he has the driving and the business side in equal parts and at a very high level.  I'm cheering for him of course, since he's the guy that drove my RX-7 to the PTE championship at RAT.  You'd not go wrong to pick him as a favorite.

 

2 iRacing Champions and 6 club racing champions.  Historically the iRacing guys have not translated well to the real deal, it's asking a lot.  But, you never know....

[Chad Martin]

Ok where are all the old guys ?

Must be some kind of age limit ! Lol !!!

What do you consider old?  In the shootout, you wouldn't be wrong to say 25 is old....

[shiftyfive]

sooo, they are letting iRacing guys into a club shootout? all of the hard work, traveling, sacrifice, and money spent to get a chance at this and we could've just played a video game?  Anyone else see an issue with a club shootout not having a club driver win it? I'm sure these guys are super talented, but can't Mazda still support their club racers and have a seperate, iracing funded scholarship for these video game guys instead?

This schloarship is a big draw for talent to enter club racing with a Mazda; hopefully Mazda holds to its promise that this scholarship represents and it doesn't hurt the support they curently enjoy from the club racing scene.

 

Or perhaps some poltics are at play and iRacing has already put up some of the money for this years scholarship to see their guys through? Just seems strange they would have non club racers in a shootout designed for club racers.

 

[ECOBRAP]

sooo, they are letting iRacing guys into a club shootout? all of the hard work, traveling, sacrifice, and money spent to get a chance at this and we could've just played a video game?  Anyone else see an issue with a club shootout not having a club driver win it? I'm sure these guys are super talented, but can't Mazda still support their club racers and have a seperate, iracing funded scholarship for these video game guys instead?

This schloarship is a big draw for talent to enter club racing with a Mazda; hopefully Mazda holds to its promise that this scholarship represents and it doesn't hurt the support they curently enjoy from the club racing scene.

 

Or perhaps some poltics are at play and iRacing has already put up some of the money for this years scholarship to see their guys through? Just seems strange they would have non club racers in a shootout designed for club racers.

 

 

Guess the difference in competition that club racers face versus what sim racers face. Our club racer finalists maybe faced thirty competitors to win their respective championship? The iRacing guys will have faced over three thousand, there is serious talent and time involved, the only difference between the two is financial investment which I will address later. I believe the emphasis on this shootout is "Mazda" not "Club Racing", and Mazda is actively involved in the mx-5 cup iRacing league. Their intentions with the shootout are simply to provide multiple avenues into their pro racing ladder system, and iRacing provides an opportunity for those less financially fortunate (and the club racers can compete in this too so they actually have two ways to enter).

 

I stated it before in this thread, the iRacing entrants will not win this shootout unless they have significant experience in a real race car. The club racers that have invested in real experience are at a huge advantage to showcase their skills. Physics in sims nowadays are incredibly accurate, and they can easily teach carcontrol/racecraft/setup/lines, but they do not provide the "butt feeling" of threshold braking, muscle memory, and g-force that are so crucial when hopping into an unfamiliar racecar/situation as these guys will be exposed to.

 

Just my two cents 

[shiftyfive]

Hey Top Gear, thanks for the reply!

yeah, I agree with you that the sim guys probably had much harder competition. I would also be willing to say, statistcally speaking, they would be far far more talented than your typical club racing champion.  I think they may actually have the advantage here as they are should at least be very simliar on times (possibly faster than the club champions?) but the judges will expect less from them. Plus, if iRacing is putting up a large amount of the funds for the scholarship(pure speculation) then the other guys may as well no even show up with the advantage that those guys will have.  I'm all for them getting a ride and have an avenue into racing, but iRacing should be able to partner with Mazda to the point were they can have their own shootout, not circumvent ours.  I also think its a bit strange they let in both iracers and expanded the traditional amount of people choosen to include not one but both of them.

I think the emphasis of the shootout has always been made pretty clear, as Mazda says themselves: "The Mazda Club Racer Shootout is the single largest prize in club racing"...with executives saying: "The heart and soul of Mazda Motorsports is club racing, and supporting those racers who have invested in racing a Mazda." and they have always put an emphasis on their club racing, giving rise to what you even commonly here in their commercials "...more mazdas are raced than any other vehicle...".

 

I just hope that the club racing guys are still valued to Mazda is all,  I see no reason why iRacing and Mazda can't have a seperate shootout (w/ funding from iRacing) to support the undoubtly talented sim guys.

[Johnny D]

Shiftyfive, Selective reading skills ??

 

Evolution baby !!

 

John Doonan, Director of Motorsports, Mazda North American Operations noted, “Each year this shootout evolves. For 2014 we have our first simulator-racing champions, from the iRacing MX-5 Cup, and our first racers from outside of North America.

 

J~

[shiftyfive]

Hey J,
lol, yes I saw this quote as well.

To be clear, this was not selective on my part as the criteria of the question was emphasis, which is even in the title of the shootout itself, "Club Racer Shootout"  certainly if it said Sim-Racer Shootout then I should refererence that quote.  No doubt Mazda has recognized sim racing as a legtimate avenue into racing and have "evolved" the shootout to include non-club racers, but again I think it would be much better if iRacing teamed up with Mazda to allow us to keep our club racer shootout for club racers and add to the overall scholarships by adding thier own Sim-racer Shootout. Everyone would win in that scenario and there would be even more talent added to the Mx-5 Cup, not less

and as John Doonan, Director of Motorsports, says in reference to the shootout “With more club racers than any other car company, we wanted to find a suitable way to bridge the gap from club racing to the professional ranks."

 

[Johnny D]

Ya, it's just gotten crazy out of control.

 

Are you going to send Doonan a stern message that the title doesn't reflect the event ??

 

And besure to tell him what you've said here like in almost every post.

 

"I think it would be much better if iRacing teamed up with Mazda to allow us to keep our club racer shootout for club racers and add to the overall scholarships by adding thier own Sim-racer Shootout. Everyone would win in that scenario and there would be even more talent added to the Mx-5 Cup, not less :)"
 

He'll like that.

Good luck, and thanks for caring.

Zoom, Zoom !!

J~