Hoosier Tire US Fomula First Rounds 7-8 - Road America

[stvstb]

I'm OUT. I'll be there to help Jason (and anyone else who pits with a loose plug wire or something easy!). I was going to rent a car but that didn't work out. And now with the Stock Market tanking - I won't be able to afford to buy Carl's car this month! I'm kinda bummed - I LIKE Road America! See ya all this weekend...

[Bill Bonow]

Bob,

Mike Green is possibly doing the test day and if not LMI will definatly be at the test day. I'm sure we can get Bruce to rope off our area.

[lawyerbob]

Bob,

Mike Green is possibly doing the test day and if not LMI will definatly be at the test day. I'm sure we can get Bruce to rope off our area.

Ah good point! I'll call Bruce and talk to him about it! Maybe Bruce can sneak me in Friday as part of his crew! lol

Thanks

Bob

[mike g.]

I'll be arriving at the track around 8pm Thursday... and will be doing the test day Friday.

I could rope it off, pending I get, uhh, rope. I'm traveling for a few days and then heading to WI.... I'll see if I can get by a harbor freight for some yellow tape?

Regards,

Mike

[lawyerbob]

I'll be arriving at the track around 8pm Thursday... and will be doing the test day Friday.

I could rope it off, pending I get, uhh, rope. I'm traveling for a few days and then heading to WI.... I'll see if I can get by a harbor freight for some yellow tape?

Regards,

Mike

Mike - I've got rope and "notices" printed up. Perhaps we can meet up some time on thursday when you are heading through Milwaukee?

Bob

[cff96]

Bob:

Get your stuff to Roemer before 5:00 p.m. tomorrow and he can hand it over to Bruce who can give them to Mike - there is a Milwaukee Region board meeting tomorrow night and Bruce & Jim carpool into the city. Much easier than trying to meet Mike somewhere in Milwaukee on Thursday.


Cindy

[mike g.]

Ah, good idea Cindy.

Meeting would be difficult, as I'll be going over Milwaukee at a few thousand feet and 175mph.

see ya Thursday,

-Mike

[rgu]

Steve

The most boring place at Road America is in the hot pits.

What about Carl's "rent to own" program?

[Bill Bonow]

We're officially at 13 entries with 2 more potentials

Here is the line up at the moment:

Hoosier Tire US Formula First Championship Series Rounds 7 & 8 at Road America


# 2 Nash, Jim Bloomington, MN Mission MRC-09 Orange Mission Race Cars

# 5 Seim, Doug Okeana, OH Mysterian M5.1 Blue P&NP Computing / Autowerks

# 6 Everard, Reece Rochester, MI Jacer Gold/Black

# 8 Dawson, Dave South Bend, IN Evolution MK1 White

# 11 Deer, Aaron (Butch) Elgin,IL Campbell Evolution Black

# 13 Stack, Robert Hartland, WI Stack Citation FST White Stack Law Office

# 17 Green, Michael Dayton, OH Campbell Evolution White Lindstrand Motorsports

# 19 Steeb, Jason Novi, MI Lynx FST Blu/Wht/Yl Steve Steeb Service

# 25 Smith Jared Stanford, KY Campbell Evolution White

# 35 Blevins, Dave Cincinnati, OH Caracal MTV III itsafirefighterthing.com Drews Off Road

# 37 Clark, Robert Rochester, MI Evolution Cm-1 Blue Team Clark Motorsport/SR Racing

# 57 Farmiga, Sam West Chester, OH Citation 95 V red

# 69 Bonow, Bill Plainfield, IL Campbell Evolution Yellow

FST is the largest open wheel class of the race weekend and as always, provide competitive and close racing at affordable prices

[mike g.]

Crickey - 3 other folks within a few miles of me in ohio.. its like we should have a track down here!

-Mike

[lawyerbob]

Crickey - 3 other folks within a few miles of me in ohio.. its like we should have a track down here!

-Mike

yeah, and if you did probably the FST Circus would cone to your town!

Really glad you're joining us this weekend Mike - hope you enjoy it!

I'll see if I can get the stuff to Jim sometime tomorrow - we had talked about geting together for lunch this week - tuesday is as good a day as any!

Bob

[cff96]

Mike:

Do we need to pick you up at the airport? Or have you arranged transport from the airport to track?

Cindy

[mike g.]

Cindy, we have a rental car. We're going to head into elkhart and elizabeth wants to tool around herself..

thanks, though!

-Mike

[lawyerbob]

Mike:

I gave Bruce (via Jim Roemer) a bag with about 250 feet of rope, a pile of "Reserved for Formula First" sheets and a bag of clothes pins (hey, I was improvising!) last night. I assume Bruce will give them to you on Thursday night/ Friday Morning.

If you get the opportunity, if you can string the rope onto some trash cans or something and clip the reserved signs that would be great.

Not sure how much rope is actually needed, but I was planning to run it along the "main" road first since that's what most people would actually see. If there's extra left, then I'd go down branch roads.

Our area again is rows 10, 11 and 12 - which are the first paddock areas after the road to the false grid.

Thanks!

Bob

[Bill Bonow]

Looks like we're going to have a great weekend.

For those curious about the competitiveness of FST racing, here is a link to a video from Rob Clark in last years Saturday series race

http://vimeo.com/13718600

Enjoy!

[mike g.]

So anyone have a breakdown of turns and gears? Everyone uses the same long box, right?
I'm assuming its all 3rd/4th?

Do you have to lift or brake in the kink?
The FST should brake like a CFF, given same weight and tires... what else do I need to know?

see ya,

-Mike

[Bill Bonow]

I'm assuming its all 3rd/4th?

Mike,

We use a much more technical description for gear selection.........
We prefer: "Corners/Straights"

The kink is flat and the braking ability is very similar to CFF (same tires).

We'll be glad to help make the weekend fun (that means keeping Allen away from MP or any Sargento bridge trolls )

[teamclark]

There's a kink.....

Not sure if my videos are great training material.....!!

[Doug FST 5]

....hey Rob - we can learn from all kinds of examples......

[LanceKTM950]

Good luck to everyone, have a fun and safe weekend!

I'll be holding down the 944 fort at Blackhawk.

Lance

[dd46637]

....hey Rob - we can learn from all kinds of examples......

It's a good thing I don't post video. It would be a how not to do it

[LanceKTM950]

"It's a good thing I don't post video. It would be a how not to do it "

I could show how to do it slowly...

Lance

[gbmetcalf]

Unfortunately the only good video of me racing is of me going off in the 90 at Watkins Glen before the gravel pit. First session in the morning fifth lap in someone oiled the track and I found it. Wet grass and slick tires do not mix!

G.

[Bill Bonow]

What a great weekend. Only one problem that could have made the weekend better, Mike Green came up to test on Friday only to find out after two painful laps that he simply could not fit in his rental ride. We were all looking forward to having Mike join us for the weekend, but a wise decision was made by Mike and Bruce (LMI) to switch to another car that fit much better, a Spec Miata. Mike did have a specatular ride testing out the 360 capability of said Spec Miata.

Lets roll the film:

http://contour.com/stories/spin-kink...g-road-america

Or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QiUSjuudHw

Getting back to Rounds 7 & 8, Saturday morning was cool and overcast making qualifying fast with Jason Steeb taking pole with a blistering 2:39.053

Saturday - Round 7

Qualifying:

Steeb 2:39.053
Clark 2:39.318
Bonow 2:40.040
Seim 2:40.720
Smith 2:42.437
Dawson 2:42.864
Deer 2:45.209
Nash 2:46.215
Farmiga 3:02.934
Stack 3:03.012
Blevins 3:03.991
Everard 4:03.977

Race:

The temps had warmed, but the skies were still very much overcast. For most of the race, it was a 5 car heat with the lead changing no less than 3 time per lap. Times were slower than qualifying due to the ongoing fighting for the point. Many laps saw 3 cars wide up the front straight (not fast, just fun). At the end, Bonow was first at the line after racing the full 12 laps (OA leaders kept pulling in).

Results:

Bonow 2:40.961
Seim 2:41.028
Steeb 2:40.820
Clark 2:40.584
Smith 2:40.950
Dawson 2:41.155
Nash 2:43.794
Deer 2:45.435
Blevins 2:54.829
Stack 2:56.501
Farmiga 2:55.689
Everard 2:45.477

Within minutes after the checked flag fell, the skies opened up.
We postponed our podium festivities untill the end on the day where we could get Kevin Coulter of Chicago Region to attend. Kevin helped orgainize our efforts this weekend and we wished to thank him and the Chicago Region. I would also like to thank Chicago Region for the trophies of the weekend. This is the first time in a long time where the trophy has the event specifics (class and all) listed. Thank You.

Sunday - Round 8

Qualifying:

A beautiful Wisconsin summer day, cool winds out of the north and bright sunshine. Our official points keeper, Doug Dale, had come up Sunday morning and I gave him copies of results sheets when he left at the end of the day. That included my only copy of Sundays qualifying, so I'm going from memory and I'm sure someone can post more infor with details. Here are the first three:

Steeb
Bonow
Dawson

Race:

Another tough battle with the first few laps in a 7 car train. A bobble in turn 1 separated the group and three cars broke away, Steeb, Bonow and Seim. There were a number of local yellow flags during the race, but none that effected the race. Dan Murphy, OA winner, passed Seim, Bonow and Steeb coming up the front straight, changing our race to 11 laps at the end of lap 11. Jason Steeb took a well deserved victory with Bonow and Seim in close tow.

Results:

Steeb 2:39.675
Bonow 2:40.416
Seim 2:40.720
Smith 2:40.462
Nash 2:40.832
Blevins 2:54.530
Farmiga 2:56.396
Stack 2:54.904
Dawson 2:40.462
Clark 2:40.468
Deer 2:44.752
Everard DNS

Jason Steeb takes the official race record at 2:39.675

A great weekend was had by all attending. Chicago Region was most accomidating and was very thankful for our attendance. Looking forward to returning to Road America.

I am certain that many videos and pics will be posted shortly.

Now the series move on to Mid-Ohio.

[dd46637]

To all who expressed concern and kept a close eye on me friday.
As Bill put it I got a hold of a "Bad Burrito" when I stopped for lunch on the way to RA. I paid dearly for my culinary indescretion and had a case of food poisoning for the weekend.

The racing was for me, the best I've ever been involved in.
I can't wait for the video's to be posted.

Dave

[lawyerbob]

ahem Bill - I did in fact finish on Sunday - between Sam and Dave Dawson - 8th with a 2:54.9 best lap I think.

just fyi

I agree - it was a good weekend, lots of fun.

A HUGE thanks again to Doug and Matt Seim and the entire RGU team for the set-up and alignment on Sunday afternoon. the difference in the car from qualifying to race on Sunday was incredible - like a whole different car! Unfortunately, as Larry Campbell put it, now I have to learn to drive a good handling car. Doug was more to the point - "you're out of excuses now"

On to Mid-Ohio!

Bob

[Doug FST 5]

An awesome race weekend! Rob - Bring on the videos! Saturday in particular is the most fun I've had in a racecar in a LONG TIME! I can't wait to see it!


Doug FST 5

[lawyerbob]

To all who expressed concern and kept a close eye on me friday.
As Bill put it I got a hold of a "Bad Burrito" when I stopped for lunch on the way to RA. I paid dearly for my culinary indescretion and had a case of food poisoning for the weekend.
Dave

Those gas station burritos will get you every time!

On a similar note, while I think RA's food is generally really good, beware the Mini Tacos! They were tasty for sure, but apparently contain draino. Word to the wise if you're eating right before heading out for a race.

[Bill Bonow]

ahem Bill - I did in fact finish on Sunday - between Sam and Dave Dawson - 8th with a 2:54.9 best lap I think.

Sorry about that, I was a little sleepy when I wrote it up. All fixed

[lawyerbob]

Sorry about that, I was a little sleepy when I wrote it up. All fixed

Thanks Bill - no worries, just had to pull your chain a little

Bob

[Bill Bonow]

Doug Dale has the points all current and postedat:

http://www.formula-first.org/html/2009_points.html

It should get interesting as the top three must now start dropping points

[lawyerbob]

Doug Dale has the points all current and postedat:

http://www.formula-first.org/html/2009_points.html

It should get interesting as the top three must now start dropping points

The fight to get in the top ten is kinda neck and neck too!

[SamF]

Sorry about that, I was a little sleepy when I wrote it up. All fixed

All is right in the world now as we now know who won the group 2 Citation race.. sorry Bob

[lawyerbob]

All is right in the world now as we now know who won the group 2 Citation race.. sorry Bob

Just wait for it Sam - just wait for it. I must point out that while you finihed ahead of me, based on lap best lap times, I in fact had the faster Citation FST. I just can't get up the nerve to do a dive bomb pass. Maybe I need that Enzyte stuff - the ads say it give you a "sack full of confidence!" LOL

To be continued at Mid-Ohio.

[Bill Bonow]

Rob - Bring on the videos! Saturday in particular is the most fun I've had in a racecar in a LONG TIME! I can't wait to see it!

Yes, Rob gave us a pre-view on Saturday afternoon. Great stuff. Can't wait to see them again.

[teamclark]

Ok as requested here it is - exciting stuff even watching it through a second time.

http://vimeo.com/27720605

The bad news, no video from Sunday...technical difficulties....sorry!

Rob

[2BWise]

Holy draft batman!

[winsmith]

Absolutely great weekend.

Win Smith

[Jim Nash]

Holy draft batman!

No doubt! I ran Sundays race doing 43's, 44's after I lost ground to the leaders. Dave Dawson re-entered the race after an off and I hooked up with him to do a 2:40 right off the bat. Bam! 3 seconds just like that. (Might not have been all draft but my data says it was most of it!)

Watching Rob Clark's video gives you some sense of the action. I'd like to think it must be what the Indy cars are like at somewhere like Texas . It is as close as I'll get.

Great weekend overall. Thank you Bob for setting it all up with the region. Nice work.

Jim

[Doug FST 5]

Jason gets pretty close to the back of my car around 17:51 in the video!

At least I stayed ahead of Bill (for a short while)!

Yikes that was a busy race!

Doug FST 5