Updates From the Front (June Sprints Version)

[Zambo]

I have a vague recollection that the Sprints are taking place this weekend. Any information, news, scuttlebutt, gossip, times and/or dirt from that area of the world?

What is going on? Inquiring minds would like to know.

[KAMcDonald]

i believe you is in another time zone...

do not the sprints start tomorrow? thought today is a test day, or is i confused.....

all i know is i not there neither.... dang tranny trashing circlip.....

[Marshall Mauney]

Not there yet, but can give an update tomorrow after first official practice. Today is a test day, so nothing to report except that it's $325 for two sessions, with FE combined with FV, F500 and FF.

[KAMcDonald]

long, wide track... even i can pass an FV there without getting into trouble...

sad to say, some of the FF and F500 folks last run offs did post better times than me

shush, do not make fun of the back marker..... someone has to be there to give you warning that faster traffic is ahead....

[Marshall Mauney]

Official timed practice on the first day showed the following:

Weather was near-perfect.
Scott Rettich ran off and hid from everyone.
Scott McQueen and Steve Stadel were next in line, running nearly identical laptimes.
Keith Carter appears to have had a comprehensive engine failure.
The "spec" fuel is street gas at $9.25/gal.

Off to a good start!

[Keith Carter]

We're already back home after discovering enough metal in the oil filter to warrant it a visit to Colorado. We're done for the season.

[iamuwere]

The "spec" fuel is street gas at $9.25/gal.

Off to a good start!

Booooo.

[Zambo]

We're already back home after discovering enough metal in the oil filter to warrant it a visit to Colorado. We're done for the season.

Nooooo! Say it's not so. That just sucks. What happened? Did you actually get any time on the track or what?

[Keith Carter]

Was the 3rd lap or so in practice and the car lost drive heading into the kink. I was a few hundred yards after the kink before shifting into 5th. Pulled it into the pit lane and the engine shut off. Tried to start it up again and you could hear metal on metal clanking away. Cut the oil filter apart and that was all she wrote. So a bit of an expensive 3 laps at Road America. I went to registration to see if I could be refunded at least part of the entry fee and was fed a line about insurance and once I cross the S/F line for the first session. I have a hard time believing 100% of the $370 it cost to enter goes towards insurance, but who knows... They're going to "look into it". So we're tapped out for this season.

[jjstecher]

That blows buddy! You just don't have any luck man. Hope you can get it back together for at least some race at the end of the year. What's your batting average for failures at the Sprints?

[oppermann]

Sorry Keith,


Same thing happened to me 2 years ago at the same exact location. Mine happened on the first lap of the CAT national at RA. Heading into the kink. Corner 9 must be really hard on these engines. At least you got 2 laps in!

We are going to miss you at the Autobahn. I think you would have been the one to beat. Hope to see you as a spectator at worst case.

If we don't see you have a great summer and Danielle, Avery and I look forward to seeing you guys next year.

Dean

[Keith Carter]

Thanks, John and Dean.

I'll be at the Autobahn event at the very least to pick up an engine crate from Steve and also to hopefully deliver our brand new tires to anyone looking to buy them. We have a brand new set of slicks, a used set of slicks (1 dry session and 1 wet track session in the cold) and a brand new set of rains that were just mounted coming into this weekend. We'll have them dismounted for delivery to Autobahn for anyone interested. Need to offset this motor cost...

As for racing Autobahn, I was really looking forward to it. We did some testing there last year and were in the lower-mid 1:23s. The official track record is a 1:24.1 (although Zach Ply ran a high 23 in qualifying) so I would imagine with the new 4th gear and tires you guys will definitely be seeing 22s there on the South track. Watching from the sidelines for the rest of the season is going to be tough...

[MAC Racing]

Sorry to hear about the motor. Hopefully you will be back together soon.

Mat Cutter

[Keith Carter]

Looks like they may be getting hit with rain right now.

[smcqueen]

Lots of rain right now. It has the CSR,DSR race held up. Looking at the radar, should rain for a couple more hours anyway.

scott

[smcqueen]

Sports racers are going out in a really really heavy rain.

[Marshall Mauney]

Did the official results for FE ever get posted? We left the track at around 5:00 and still nothing.

[Matthew Inge]

I hear rain, contact, etc

What's the scoop?

[Marshall Mauney]

I hear rain, contact, etc

What's the scoop?

The track was wet when we started, with a few drops falling during the race. By the last 4-5 laps, we had a distinct dry line forming, so it pretty well destroyed our tires.

The last I heard, there was a protest filed over contact that reportedly happened in the top 3 positions. It apparently wasn't resolved within the first couple of hours after the race. I'll leave further description and judgement to those that have direct knowledge of the incident.

[Zambo]

It appearing that the politically correct Congressman Mauney from the great state of Wisconsin has now whet the appetite of all who want to know what occurred at the Sprints which occur in June; I do declare and hereby decree that this great thread of information and inquiry to be open. (i.e. Could someone please relay either their version of the truth or something akin to it so the rest of us can hear what happened?)

Truth, lies, your perspective, someone else's perspective; whatever.

What happened? It sounds quite interesting so far. (Thank you Marshall. )

[SStadel]

Zambo, when I get to a real computer I'll write more. Contact in Canada between Tyler Walsh and Scott Rettich, leaving Scott with a torn up race car. Tyler was 2nd on track but was penalized for the contact after a protest by Scott. I believe he is now 10th. I also believe the Walsh's are appealing the penalty, but I am not familiar with that process.

[SStadel]

When I get to look at the video, I'll post more.

[Zambo]

Thank you Steve! This does sound interesting. Hmmm. Hopefully, everyone is OK. As more information comes out, please let us know.

[rickb99]

......Walsh's are appealing the penalty, but I am not familiar with that process.

When you get home READ your copy of "SportsCar". It has an article on the protest//appeals process. When an appeal made, Topeka gets involved.

[jcorsico]

Does anyone have any in-car video they could post? It'd be great to see some of the race.

Jon

[Wswen842]

So, who won?

[Keith Carter]

Matthew Maier (probably spelled it wrong)

[Wswen842]

Thank You Keith, How about 2nd thru 10th or a link? I have looked all over for the results.
White haired Oppermann Crew Member.

[SStadel]

I'm not sure, but here's a stab at it.

Mair
Walsh (probably listed as 10th now)
McQueen
Wolfe - I'm not sure on this one
Marklein
Mauney
Stadel (slicks, damn!)
Linn - I think
Grundahl
Jankow (maybe)
Przyborowski (maybe)

Gallagher, DNF
Rettich, DNF

I think I'm missing someone.

[Marshall Mauney]

I think I'm missing someone.

Sturm - DNS (Q2 incident at T5)
Carter - DNS (Engine)

I think that accounts for everyone.

Thank You Keith, How about 2nd thru 10th or a link? I have looked all over for the results.

It looks like they still haven't been finalized/posted. Groups 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6 are here:

http://www.roadamerica.com/Races/Rac...ion.asp?id=242

Is it safe to assume that final results are pending the COA appeal process? Anybody know how that works?

[smcqueen]

The slicks looked like a great idea first lap out. Track already had a dry line forming. Too bad it started raining again. By the end of the race, the track looked dry enough for Steve to make up some time.

scott

[bill]

an off the wall question. How many had the new muffler? If any had it, what is your feedback?
Bill

[SStadel]

We all had it. I think most of the sound readings were 94-95 db. Hard to hear the thing running when you're warming it up! They work great and look fine.

[Marshall Mauney]

an off the wall question. How many had the new muffler? If any had it, what is your feedback?
Bill

Everyone should have had the new muffler - it was required as of the week before the Sprints. I couldn't tell if there was a difference in performance, due to the required "spec" fuel that had us all running way over-rich. It did seem to be a bit quieter, but not a huge difference. I guess it had to be done if certain cars couldn't meet sound requirements, but at this point I see it as a change that didn't do very much unless you had a sound problem to begin with. The good news is that it was fairly easy to install and didn't cause any other issues, so no big deal either way.

[PRLMotorsports]

im just happy i even finished the race... after my spin in the rain earlier in qual2 that day into the gravel trap i was unable to fix the mis firing problem because we were fixing body work and the slave cylinder. the miss firing problem got even worse by the time the race grid appeared. my car looked like a rotary only having full throttle and nothing in between! two faulled plugs and a broken throttle body were the end results... hopefully the motor is still up to par once i get it fixed this week at the shop. I know once the track started drying up i was a sitting duck with no mid corner throttle since i only had the option of full and lugging mid throttle. i almost didn't even make it around the cool down lap.

For my first experience at Road America and the june sprints at the end i had a great time! cant wait to have my full normal crew with me at the runoffs.

[smcqueen]

I was skeptical of the new muffler, but no apparant loss of performance based upon lap times. Nice sound and not nearly as annoying.

[PRLMotorsports]

the muffler is deff nicer however harder to shift off of sound (tore out my pi data system friday night and installed a cds for sat morning only finding out i was missing a slave box so no working dash, so i had to use noise and feel for qual 1)

I have heard it is suppose to give 1 horse power! over previous perfectly fine muffler.

[KAMcDonald]

results finally on mylaps...

http://www.mylaps.com/results/showru...504&perclass=1