Road America rounds 9 and 10

[Purple Frog]

Road America! What an awesome place! What a field!

Follow the story the next 4 days here:

http://www.eformulacarnews.com/viewt...hp?p=9237#9237

[stonebridge20]

Frogie, Anderson has their old ace truck driver my Dad "Wild Will" back for a one off. He's the one with the crazy grey hair that looks like he was just fired out of a cannon. Please see if Mrs. Frog can get a picture that I can Um,......"use"

Thanks, Mike

[Chas Shaffer]

Word is Coello is 2 seconds faster than the field and is lifting before start finish. I'm curious to hear the official report.

[BDavis15]

Chas, we should be out there... what are we doing reading the dumb forum, and not being the content!!!

Brian Davis

[Michael Rand]

Chas,
All I can say is.....BS.
We ran multiple radar guns, NO ONE WAS LIFTING BEFORE S/F, on any even semi regular basis.
Whoever is feeding you "information" is either an idiot or a liar, send him to me so we can stop the garbage floating around.
Truth: Niki APPEARS to be fastest at this point but as he chose to not have his transponder in the car he was not "offically" timed-yes, F2000 T&S worked the entire 4 hour test session, so any Coello times reported are hand held watches from various points on the track.
Truth: at the outside Niki was between .5 and .7 second faster.
Truth: No car was weighed or teched previous to testing today.
Truth: Sat mornings qualifying session will be the first real times on the entire field in serious competiton fully leagl mode. Just wait until those official,real numbers are available, let's not spread rumors.
Truth: Niki was indeed the fastest car in a straight lime by MAYBE as much as 2-3 MPH.Again, no tech has been done on Niki or any other car, YET.
I invited Chas, Stan Clayton, John LaRue, Dave Gomberg, etc etc et al to attend for first hand data collection but no one showed so the BS out there is really annoying, be part of the process or don't, but spreading hearsay and rumors is of no use to anyone.
If Niki smokes the field everyone will know, no spin, no dis-information, just fact.
Patience gang, Saturday qualifying and race are only about 40 hours away......
I was going to leave a response to Mike Eakin but this isreallyabsurd it needs addressing NOW.

[Stan Clayton]

Mike, I am not sure what BS you're lumping me in with, but I'd love to hear you side of the issue. Please call me any reasonable Left Coast hour. My cell phone number is on our website, or send me yours and I will call you on my dime. Stan

[Michael Rand]

Stan, I am in now way lumping you in with any BS, Chas is reporting unsubstantiated rumors as fact and as neither he nor you, or Dave Gomberg, or Rick Silver, or John LaRue are here my response is an attempt tp prevent the spread of, as I said, BS. The fact that neither Chas, nor any CRB or FSRAC or BoD member were here to see for themselves, rather than reporting from far away with absolutely no first hand knowledge is galling. No, not you Stan, but Chas. I hope all you apexspeed regulars recall my invitation to attend and see for yourselves ? The only BS appears to be someone feeding Chas bad information and through the magic of the net it may now be read and considered true, which it is far from. I'll find the thread and refresh those memories needing a reminder of the invitation.....

[jim morgan]

Mike,

Chill Dude! Last year at this time you had "Soccergate", "Facebookgate" and the overall nuisance of 'C***". Now you only have Chas lobbing bombs from afar.

Have a great event, ignore the bitching until the race is run.

P.S. If you need any controversy just call, I'm sure I can work something up.

[John LaRue]

Mike,

I am not sure where or how I am getting lumped into this, perhaps you have me confused with someone else. We have not spoken since early spring when the intake manifold issue was brewing. For the record I was never "invited" to share in anything. I assume that I am welcome to be there or at any series event as a participant or spectator, but I had other commitments so I could not attend.

I agree that the "official" results will be what we should be looking at, but I can't imagine anyone wasting time running out of spec. FC needs facts, not more BS...you are right there! Once you have the weekend behind you please give me a call.

Lets hope for a good weekend for all. If anyone does wish to speak to me my number is listed below.

Cheers,

John
765.748.4848

[Purple Frog]

Coverage continues on eFormulacarnews.com :

http://www.eformulacarnews.com/viewt...hp?p=9245#9245

[Brian.Novak]

Wow, lot's of stuff before the officials are posted... sheesh. I've never been one to care what anyone does in testing, it means nothing.

I am backing up the National Boys though, and Mr. Inge!

[Michael Rand]

[SIZE=2]Michael Rand[/SIZE]
Contributing Member

Join Date: August 10th, 2004
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 611

NOTE:
John LaRue , Stan Clayton, etc, here is my post from July 26 in a thread that morphed from a cost discussion into a motor discussion with lots of input from various folks, the thread was begun by "Enjoythe Track" on July 24 under General FC Discussion, please note the underlined bold paragraph regarding an invitation. No, I did not send personally engraved invites, just this post.
The F2000 series principles, Bob Wright, Al Guibord Jr and myself, along with Mike Eakin had a lengthy and exhaustive meeting today with Steve Knapp and Sandy Shamlian regarding the FC/F2000 motor issue. Details to be written up later, likely by Bob.
By the way, we had access to 2 radar guns, one being the Town of Elkhart Lakes [thanks to Gregg Borland of Arms Up] ! Dan Andersen kindly allowed us to use his as well.
I will be quiet now, at least on this subject, until we at least have qualifying and a race on Saturday.



Great civil discussion, next weekend will be looked at by all very carefully.
We, theF2000 Championship Series, are asking to borrow or rent an accurate calibrated high quality radar gun for use during our testing the morning of Thursday July 31 at Road America. We have the track from 8:30AM to 12:30PM with no scheduled breaks and F2000 only on track. The owner of said radar gun is invited to operate it if he or she chooses. This Thursday test will afford us access to parts of the circuit not normally available to anyone during an event, like drivers left upstream from T5, or drivers right upstream of Canada.
We will certainly request data from many drivers and teams, some of whom may be less than enthusiastic about sharing it, but at least no one can hide from a radar gun.
Before the howling starts about exit speeds and aero load etc etc let me say that in my experience most cars will reach their terminal velocity at those spots, with exit speed altering how soon and for how long a car carries that speed, but having less affect on the actual terminal velocity.
I hope I don't instigate another chase down a blind alley with this request and subsequent data acquired if successfull, but we all have a unique oppoirtunity next week with an outstanding group of cars and drivers including all the various motor options available at a good track for analysis of this subject.
All are invited to attend, even, or especially, Kevin Firlein, Stan Clayton, Phil Creighton and Dave Gomberg as well as John LaRue and Chas Shaffer, with or without their cars.
We are just as interested in the outcome of next weekend as anyone, probably even more so, as the future health of our series depends on making intelligent, informed decisions during the next few months.
Don't sit on the sidelines pouting and complaining, come be a part of the process and see first hand what the real deal is.

[Chas Shaffer]

Wow, I wasn't expecting that.... Am I becoming the Robin Miller of F2000 ? How's this sound, "My sources are well respected and I will not compromise them". I kinda like being Robin.

Jeez all I said is "word is" which implies it's unofficial. I also said I was curious to hear the official word. Everyone knows PF will post at some point which he did and everyone knows its practice so anything goes. Based on the eFomula car site I guess the "official" word is Niki's "unofficially" a second faster than Krohn and 1.5 or more seconds faster than the rest of the field when he lifts. I heard it from a couple different people so I didn't see any harm in posting it, after all it's only practice.

I don't recall receiving an invite and contrary to what many might think I don't read all the posts on this site. I typically only go here during really boring conference calls. I'm on now because I recieved a bunch of phone calls saying you were slamming me. With that said, since the pro series uses a different ecu map I don't see the relevance to club racing which is my main concern at this time. Regardless I've driven and raced against all three engine packages so I do not see a need to fly half way across the US to observe what I already know.

The speed information would be more meaningful with wing settings, diffuser info and any other aero info.

It's going to be very cool to see how fast Knapp goes.

[Chas Shaffer]

Chas,
All I can say is.....BS.
We ran multiple radar guns, NO ONE WAS LIFTING BEFORE S/F, on any even semi regular basis.
Whoever is feeding you "information" is either an idiot or a liar, send him to me so we can stop the garbage floating around.
Truth: Niki APPEARS to be fastest at this point but as he chose to not have his transponder in the car he was not "offically" timed-yes, F2000 T&S worked the entire 4 hour test session, so any Coello times reported are hand held watches from various points on the track.
Truth: at the outside Niki was between .5 and .7 second faster.
Truth: No car was weighed or teched previous to testing today.
Truth: Sat mornings qualifying session will be the first real times on the entire field in serious competiton fully leagl mode. Just wait until those official,real numbers are available, let's not spread rumors.
Truth: Niki was indeed the fastest car in a straight lime by MAYBE as much as 2-3 MPH.Again, no tech has been done on Niki or any other car, YET.
I invited Chas, Stan Clayton, John LaRue, Dave Gomberg, etc etc et al to attend for first hand data collection but no one showed so the BS out there is really annoying, be part of the process or don't, but spreading hearsay and rumors is of no use to anyone.
If Niki smokes the field everyone will know, no spin, no dis-information, just fact.
Patience gang, Saturday qualifying and race are only about 40 hours away......
I was going to leave a response to Mike Eakin but this isreallyabsurd it needs addressing NOW.

Hey Rand,

How about reading what was written on eFormulacarnews before you go slamming me.

You say "NO ONE WAS LIFTING BEFORE S/F, on any even semi regular basis" but on EFCN PF said "Nikki did not always run full laps at speed" and "The times we got on the black 81 were all hand timed, and yes once he did get out of it after crossing S/F. All the F2000 teams were pitted after S/F. So on one lap, after he passed his beacon, he backed out of it. Of course that coasting was in front of all the crews on the wall, after something like a :15.7 lap

You say on the outside he's .5 to .7 secs faster but EFCN says Anders did a 16.664 vs a 15.7 for Niki with a lift, that's more like .964 ~ 1 sec.

You say Niki hasn't been tech'd but PF says Niki allowed him to look at the car while placing the F2000 registration on it.

Maybe you guys need to get your stories staight before coming after me. Who's telling the truth? You started this not me.

[jonbaytos]

Ladies,you should give Nikki and his people some credit.He is probably one of the big missed talents in the US.
His direct drive karting against the world back in the old constructors series was at times second to none.This was also always operated by his family.They are not new.
I spoke with Brent Borland who with his brother in my veiw runs probably the best 2 litre outfit seen in recent years has three Zetecs and three pintos.His take was that from the data thet he had was that the edge went to the Zetec.On the track,not the DYNO.I noticed that he had Scott Elkins pulling and reading data so one can assume that this is also reliable.
Why so quick to point to the motor package.This is not drag racing.What in the world does a radar gun do?To some it might mean that he left the previuos corner quick and carries very little aero.Last I checked it was about a lap.From what I have been told he only has to come up with less than a tenth in each corner,each brake zone,each straight to have the gap.
If there is a change based on his and his teams performance it just shows what has been said in the past is true.

[John LaRue]

Mike,

Thanks for the invite, I missed all of those posts. I don't read everything that gets put up....too busy trying to make a living I guess! Call me next week!

John

[Phil Creighton]

Man this is looking like the Prod Site - you can't miss a day there and hope to catch up with 40 page threads.
Phil

[Stan Clayton]

Anybody hear what happened in today's race?

(I see the results over on EFCN, but am curious about what happened and what times were like.)

TIA, Stan

[Westroc #19]

Full story can be found here.

http://www.eformulacarnews.com/

[Stan Clayton]

Thanks...I see the outcome over on EFCN, but I was hoping to get "the rest of the story"...

[Keith Carter]

Frog will be on soon I'm betting (after the Tequila consumption)

[DaveW]

Defending SCCA FC National Champ wins flag-to-flag !?!?!?

I thought Chas didn't go to Rd America...

Seriously, Niki DID have us all covered in 2007 till his car broke, but...

Anyway, CONGRATS! to Niki!

[Tim FF19]

My congrats to Nikki as well.

Who got fast lap?

[Camadella]

Nikki had the fast lap at 2:17.051. Anders was only a tenth back (timewise) at 2:17.189, despite the fact that he finished 12th after starting nearly last.

From the results, I'd say that Mark D deserves some Kudos - the fastest of the old guys, and less than a second off the leaders' time. Pretty good, Mark!

[Ron B.]

Nikki had the fast lap at 2:17.051. Anders was only a tenth back (timewise) at 2:17.189, despite the fact that he finished 12th after starting nearly last.

From the results, I'd say that Mark D deserves some Kudos - the fastest of the old guys, and less than a second off the leaders' time. Pretty good, Mark!

It helps if he has the correct front springs. Geez Matt.......

[Al Craighead]

Okay I'm an idiot. Don't know how I managed to forget Chas is the current FC National Champion, as I was there covering the race last year. My apologies Chas. I've corrected the sub-title in the story.

Cheers,

[Chas Shaffer]

It's all good Al.


Great job Niki!!!!! Nice Q2 time!

[TimW]

Niki qualified in the 2:12s the week prior at the Cat National. Is the extra second this weekend due to the higher weight of the radials? Or perhaps a better tow from an Atlantic at the Cat?

[Purple Frog]

I finally came back to this world and posted stuff about last weekend.

OBTW, While they had me, they said I needed to treat humans nice.

http://www.eformulacarnews.com/viewt...hp?p=9417#9417

Mrs. Frog took another 4000 pictures. I'll try to post some that show the "flavor" of Road America.

[Matt M.]

OBTW, While they had me, they said I needed to treat humans nice.

Well, at least that eliminates a few people...... You should have packed the tinfoil hat...

Looked like a eerrrrrrrr nifty start to race one. Did Krohn think it was a standing start?? Can't blame Niki after a freaky start, but man...... That was like watching somebody miss a slam dunk....


Who's leading this thing at this point??

~interested observer

[Purple Frog]

Krohn 357
Miller 320
Marcelli 278
Baker 277
Inge 236

Inge should get the heavy weight crown.

Noah should get points for bringing the most fans to the track, and having the most fun at Siebkins.

[Purple Frog]

Started going through the 4000+ pictures. (Mrs. Frog is learning to cut back on the number of shots.)

Not in any order... Ever wonder who really is driving Niki's car... Samantha.
Door County. Used to be called "Devil's Door". They shortened the name to be PC. Ships passing from Green bay to Chicago didn't care for this scenery.
Podiums from race 9 and 10.
The guy that sent a virus/worm to Rick99's PC a few weeks ago.
Dunn's car B4.
Revere "I've never heard of Apexspeed" Greist.
Noah's fan club. Minnesota has rednecks too, who's a thunk it. this is what happens when Finelli quits showing up. jim Morgan was not around to chaperone.
Rand singing the national anthem before the race.
T1 at start of race 10

[Purple Frog]

More pictures...
Inge and Matt, Matt squared
Arms Up Patio
Team Coello
Niki
Crissy and gang on their way to watch Steve Knapp
Steve and son. Stevenson
Julia Dawson

[rickb99]

Thanks for taking care of that guy Frog! Took me 10 days of messing around to fix the machine.

MAN!!
What a pack of cars! With that kind of a show and 2 races on a weekend, you'd think some TV network would want to pick up an option on the series. Looks better then any IRL or NASCAR grid I've ever seen. AND the series has all the talented drivers, colorful personalities and "inside story's " you could ask for.

Uhh, right on the Danica thing

How about just posting all 4,000 pics so we can get the full flavor?

[Purple Frog]

More pictures. The bottom right picture might say it all. Those are the leaders in the last laps Sunday. Racing at it's best. If you don't witness one of these shows it's hard to believe.

[Beartrax]

"Jesse's Bad Habit..."
Smoking or talking to Stimola?

[Purple Frog]

More pix...

[Purple Frog]

Some more...