Pro F1600 Mid Ohio

[Tom Valet]

I forgot to mention one other incredible bit of driving. In yesterday's race John Robinson lost his brakes as he went to pass Bill going into the right hander after the back straight. Standing in the elevated platform at that corner all we saw was John come into the turn at high speed driving 180 degrees backwards. Somehow John was able to keep the car going exactly backwards all the way down the track and into the sand trap. If John had even twitched the wheel a fraction of an inch the car would have snapped around and taken Bill out and probably Art Foster too.

John, I dont know how you kept the car going straight backwards at that speed, but I'm glad you did. Pretty sure we have it on the video, should be interesting to watch. Not bad for an old guy who just celebrated another birthday on Friday night at the Roadhouse.

[Dennis Valet]

Some more photos from Saturday
































Keep in mind who runs this show.....

[Purple Frog]

Podiums and such...

[steve zemke]

Had the straight grand stands all to ourselves. Saw two passes for the lead most laps, one going into the key hole and the other at the end of the straight. Great racing from beginning to end, of both the pack and the race. Too bad it ended behind the pace car. The three hour format extended into four, but it was still a good show. We got to the track around three and were thoroughly entertained until the last pass or the lead was made. There was great racing throughout the pack. What a great afternoon we had.

[Mike Kolthoff]

Wow, the first time in 3 days that I am not sitting in a race car or working on a race car watching the clock in a completly drenched driving suit. I had a great time at my first 1600 series race. This schedule was nuts, toss in not "knowing" what the pro weekend was like and what to expect and this was one intense event.
Great to meet a lot of the folks. Good cars good drivers. I think I need one of those simulator thingies. Having pictures so quickly is terrific. Thanks Dennis

[Purple Frog]

Some more thoughts...

When F2000 and F1600 are combined on the same weekend, and you pack ~300 small bore formula cars nuts into one 5 acre paddock... well... it is like the proverbial "gathering of the clans". Lots of fun. and some crazyiness.

Having Dennis shooting pictures is another great thing about these Series.

Jeremy's #12 Citation is a work of art. You should see the wizzy CF air duct that feeds the intake of his Honda from the side pod. The car looks like a show car. Then very quietly, he finishes in the top 5 on boyh days.

[Dennis Valet]

Having pictures so quickly is terrific. Thanks Dennis

Mike, since you said thanks, here's one of you:



What happened to you in race 1? Great job in qualifying but what happened on the pace lap?

[problemchild]

Although the Spectrum attracted much attention, we had the trusty old Van Deimen emerge as a front-runner. In 6 races, Piper is the only double pole winner, with Mygale, Swift, VD, and Spectrum with one each. Very impressive Citation performance in Jeremy's maiden outing.

With engine parity, chassis parity, and spec tires, it really comes down to the team that nails the setup that day and the driver that gets the job done. Me thinks the class creators envisioned that when they started, although with $5K cars instead of $50K cars

Mid-Ohio shows why it may be the toughest track in North America. You need every element of your race team, car, driver, engine, aero, to be in place. That is not the case at some other great tracks, but it sure is at Mid-Ohio.

[Mike Kolthoff]

Race 1 problem MK Freaking coil wire dislodged. Fixed it two or three laps into the race but I did not think it fair in my state of mind to go out 3 laps down and perhaps screw something up for somebody else. I will be honest we were happy with Q1 but the compact schedule and the great competition caught my 5 or 6 car count FF national mentality off guard. I needed to go back to my early Cen-Div days when we at least 15 to 20 guys running. Again... I sucked but had a great time. I am trying out how to be at LRP. Oh by the way all of you folks that were worried about the posilbility of rain? I took care of that by being first in line to buy new rains Sat. morning thus insuring no rain would come. Foss man and I decided that my late friend Bruce May was laughing his a-- off. Donations accepted. Really a great time!! The series does a good job.
The series should be aware that the SKILL OF THE DRIVERS made some of the corner/flag stations issues turn out better than they should of. We need flags. oil would be nice I am sure the chap in the copper colored VD would have liked for me to see a flag before I spun towards him in 7 I saw one blue flag all weekend (when i was sucking) and it was the Start finish.
If I can help call!

[Beartrax]

Ah, Mike... Does Janice know about your new friend?

[Bill Valet]

Hey guys,

Here is video of the first half of the race on Saturday. Unfortunately don't have much to show of the leaders but I had a pretty eventful race regardless! I only had enough room for half the race. The second half of the race Artie get's by me one more time before he starts lubing up the track and then steveO takes advantage and get's by me in the slick conditions.

Tough break for Artie as he was having a heck of a run. Hopefully that lump he has isn't hurt too bad.

Congrats to Wyatt and Mitch on incredible runs both Friday and Saturday. They were really the class of the field! It's great to see new drivers and cars come into the series and really give us all something to shoot for.

As for me, time to put mid-ohio behind me and focus on Lime Rock. I'm really happy to come out of this weekend without giving up too many points, but really need to turn it on the next two events if I have any chance of catching Tim!

Thanks for the great racing guys! It was a blast. See you at Lime Rock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92WmVsRIE7E

-Bill Valet

[Michael Rand]

Hi gang,
We, the series organizers and staff, want to thank you for the very kind words and enthusiasm and let everyone know that the Saturday Night Short Track experiment is over and done, never to be repeated.
Frame a copy of the schedule because no one else in road racing will ever believe that not only did the weekend happen but everyone knuckled down and had great racing, from all the series staff [and remember drivers and teams, you each "only" had half the sessions, we all were flat out from start to finish] to the crews and drivers, a sincere heartfelt thanks.
So collectively the weekend happened, the racing was incredibly clean, especially for Mid Ohio, we want to thank each and every person participating for your efforts.
Enjoy today, the 4th of July, and remember how great a place we live in to be able to experience this sport as we do.
We'll see the F2000 folks at Mosport in a few weeks and then the full clan reassembles at Lime Rock September 16-17 as the season marches on towards the conclusion back at Watkins Glen on essentially the old USGP date in mid-October.
I bet no one will want to wear shorts in the pits that weekend !
Thanks to the staff, I promise you all, never again will we have to pull off a schedule like that......

[Wes Allen]

Hi All,
I want to thank Mike Rand and his staff for a great weekend! It was my first experience in the series, and it was a blast! They made things so easy! The competition was awesome, no matter where you were you had someone to race with! The first lap was so cool, seeing this string of formula cars snaking down the straight. Hoosier did a great job with the spec tire that makes for exciting racing. I highly recommend it to anyone. Can't wait to do it again!
Wes Allen
Piper/Ford

[TJ Valet]

Great Pictures!

Looks like a great weekend as well. Not sure how well this request would be received but are there any paddock pictures? I love looking at the set ups and the crew behind the scenes.

Good luck to all the teams today.

Jonathan

Here's some paddock pictures of the cars being worked on:

Gibby working on Tim Kautz's car.







Forrest Hull and his first pro winnings.

[RussMcB]

Here's some paddock pictures of the cars being worked on

The pictures you guys are sharing this year are awesome and very much appreciated. (Bill's video, too!)

[Lockwood]

And here is a view from Jim's car on Saturday!

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

[Red-5]

Hey guys, I have read this thread with great interest, great reading and fabulous pictures and video. I am a family friend of Mitch Martin and did enjoy the video from James (Grid 3 behind Mitch on Saturday) We of the Australian community are so much hoping that there is some TV or video footage from Wyat's car over the weekend. We are and especially Greg (Dad) are so proud of his efforts. It must have been quite daunting for Mitch going OS to compete at that level.
Mitch is very much a rookie, except for his karting experience, he has only had 3 races in a Formula Vee (Victorian State Series) before being asked to go to your woods and compete with you guys. Congatulations to Wyat must have been very exciting in his cockpit as well as us down here reading Twitter race updates.
Well done to all the drivers and Officials, great racing and a clean weekend.

Cheers to all,
Peter B

[ragingti]

Came up to watch on Saturday, watched form the grand stand outisde of the back straight. WHAT A RACE!! Clean, close and just awesome to watch. Great battle for the lead & a bunch of great racing all the way thru the field. Too bad about the oil and spins towards the end causing the yellow. I was really looking forward to the last lap fight. Great show!!! And that Spectrum looks well made and easy to work on.

[Mike Scanlan]

Here's the video from race 1, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWhvpKV8Z38 . Race 2 video was a casualty of the hectic schedule......forgot to change the batteries.

[Alan R Guibord]

Here's the video from race 1, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWhvpKV8Z38 . Race 2 video was a casualty of the hectic schedule......forgot to change the batteries.

Hey Mike,
I think you could get more downforce with a Red Sox sticker on the front instead of that Yankees one
AL G sr

[Mike Scanlan]

That might work since the Sox are always getting stuck in the mud, but then we'd still have to get SCCA approval for the change. Missed you out there Al.

[Beartrax]

Hey Mike,
I think you could get more downforce with a Red Sox sticker on the front instead of that Yankees one
AL G sr

Actually Al, the Yankees affiliation may produce more downforce: Recall the Chaparral Can-Am cars with the fans at the rear... (get where I'm going with this?)

Sorry for the hijack!