VIR Weekend Thread

[Monty M]

A strong field for VIR > http://www.f2000series.com/drivers.html < who is the favorite this year?

Kyle Connery is back in a Van Diemen (which he won six races in during 2011), Kevin Kopp is back with a seriously expanded WISKO team, Roberto Lorena out of F1600 and in La Rocca's car, new rookies at WISKO, and some fast guys like Tim Minor and David Grant .

Two Metriks, Tim Paul (driving for AJ Foyt now!), three Radons... the list goes on

Past seasons have proved it is the sophomore season that yields a break-out performance.

Updates all weekend on the Series website, Twitter, audio on Live Stream and timing and scoring on Race Monitor.

[andyllc]

So whats the scoop from the test day for f2000 and f1600? I am free tomorrow and JONESING to be in a car so it is killing me not being at the track at the moment. Any interesting driver/car combos? Any surprisingly quick times? Help feed the disease of racing and let us all who are not at the track know what is going on.

[Steve Bamford]

No timing from yesterday other then stop watches in the pits. The usual suspects were hustling around the track.

Timed sessions start in less then 30 mins for F2000's so we will see from there.

[reidhazelton]

Tim Minor .3 or so off the Audette's track record and it's only the first session. Cool!

[iamuwere]

Special thanks to GTP and Momentum today for help in getting my car sorted.

Last session today had a lot of cars using old rubber. I think you will see times tumble in the morning. I certainly went to long on these tires not knowing what their limit was.

jim

[Dennis Valet]

Some of the rides this year:

[iamuwere]

Great weather today. New records set in both classes. I am trying to get to grips with a new to me chassis and driving style if the f2000 chassis. Definitely different than an FE.

Great effort by the f2000 crew.
Thanks to the Valet's for the photos.

Jim

[Tom Valet]

Great weather today. New records set in both classes. I am trying to get to grips with a new to me chassis and driving style if the f2000 chassis. Definitely different than an FE.

Great effort by the f2000 crew.
Thanks to the Valet's for the photos.

Jim

Jim, 11th place in that field is fantastic, congrats, and the car looks great too! Good luck in the race.

[racerdad2]

Fantastic Photos ! Thx !

[John LaRue]

So what's the story with Lorena?

[BURKY]

Large restrictor. That's just what I hear.

[KevinFirlein]

I hate to even ask since this is the same car as last year, was this ever even checked last year ?.

[iamuwere]

Actually, it is apparently a different chassis.

[John LaRue]

Not at Mid Ohio; no idea elsewhere.

[jimh3063]

Anyone know what happened to Brent's car on the first lap?

Jimmy

[iamuwere]

Battery was reported. Pulled off just after the false grid.

[jimh3063]

Bummer for him. He was on a roll.

[Wren]

Large restrictor. That's just what I hear.

Any confirmation of this? Also, how severe was the oversizet?

Actually, it is apparently a different chassis.

Different chassis or not, it's the same team. But, not enough information to form an opinion.

edit-found the rules. didn't realize they had abandoned SCCA GCR

[Purple Frog]

Lorena's car was not an HP-Tech car last year. The engine seal numbers have not been seen in our series in a couple of years. The car was purchased for him this winter from a team that used to race in F2kCS. The restrictor was a USF2000 "national" restrictor.
I assume they bought the car, saw it's history in our series and just started running it. Many think a Zetec is a Zetec, not realizing there are restrictor plates for USF2000 Zetecs, current F2000 Zetecs, Pre-09 F2000 Zetecs, and Cooper Series Zetecs.

Now i feel like i can claim two 3rd place finishes in the Atlanta Major with 'ol Pollywog. ... not.


Beautiful weather for great racing at a fantastic facility.

Citation, with the help of the whole Co-op has now won their first ever F2kCS event. I'm thinking it will not be Citation's last win. Congrats to Eric, Tim, and Tim on a job well done. My understanding is that after struggling all last year (to the point of dropping out of the Series near season's end) they figured out what was wrong with the rear suspension only a few weeks ago.

Kyle and James Lee started assembling a VD only a few weeks ago, they are getting more dialed in with each session. I expect the pointy end is going to get more crowded as the season progresses.

[Steve Bamford]

Just curious...What is the difference in size for the USF2000 vs the F2000 restricter & hp difference?

[reidhazelton]

Looks like about 2 seconds.

I'd imagine the USF restrictor would have a noticeably larger hole to try to make it kind of close to the Mazdas.

[Dennis Valet]

Looks like about 2 seconds.

I'd imagine the USF restrictor would have a noticeably larger hole to try to make it kind of close to the Mazdas.

It's definitely bigger than the SCCA restrictor, but USF is very deliberate in making sure it's nowhere near the Mazda engine as they would never suffer having one of those near the front...

[reidhazelton]

It's definitely bigger than the SCCA restrictor, but USF is very deliberate in making sure it's nowhere near the Mazda engine as they would never suffer having one of those near the front...

Yup...hence my use of the word "kinda", and not "very".

[Purple Frog]

Word is that witnesses saw Rand giving Martini-Rossi to a Minor, not once, but twice during the weekend.

[Purple Frog]

DaveW earned two podiums with his "just finished frame-up" Citation.

[Purple Frog]

In F1600 we had our first Lady win a pole and podium. In F2000 we had our first wedding.
This might be the last picture of Kristin as a single woman. A few minutes later she put on a fancy white dress and went up to the front steps of the Oak Tree Tavern and married Ryan.
While that wedding was happening, her brother Kevin was changing gears in his car, and dad Ray was buying fuel. Like the rest of us they got to read about it on Facebook.

[Purple Frog]

I voted this the best looking car on the track. I'm partial to chrome wheels versus all those black wheels. And Dean scored a strong 5th on Saturday, with 2nd in Masters.
He got blocked in an accident Sunday, lost a lap, and even though his crew argued for a "lucky dog" lap back, it wasn't awarded.

[DaveW]

DaveW earned two podiums with his "just finished frame-up" Citation.

Uhhh...

Sounds better than it was - Third in masters twice, 10th and 9th OA. Got some work to do.

[Purple Frog]

It has taken me a week to go through the 5000+ pictures Janice took.

We are sending over 300 to Monty to upload to the Series website.

But... for now a few....

There used to be a nice forested back drop as cars braked into Oak Tree. The has been a bit of "de-forestation". Probably to put crowds for the future United Series events.

[Purple Frog]

Slightly redundant. But some cars are just so easy to shoot. The autofocus mechanism locks on to them so fast. Kautz's F1600 car as example. In F2000 it is Baker's ride.

I believe a strong high contrast graphic on the body sides below the driver's head is the ticket. That tends to be where we are aiming.

OBTW... Minor's car is one of the hardest to capture.

[KVS84]

I miss that car Glad she is winning beauty contests though! Good luck this season Dean!

[Beartrax]

It has taken me a week to go through the 5000+ pictures Janice took.

Thank goodness for digital cameras. That would be 140 rolls of film!

[Purple Frog]

The two fastest Pintos in pro racing.
Chris took the honors on Saturday.
Vaughn on Sunday. (one of the best shots of the 5000)

[Purple Frog]

Brent Gilkes had to sit out for over 11 months due to finances. Lost sponsor, etc. Usually you would think that would make him rusty. He was top 10 stuff all weekend. Unfortunately, his battery died on saturday just as Flagger Phil threw the green flag for the race. Brent came back on Sunday to finish 7th, and 2nd in Masters. Maybe it's the new helmet paint job...


There are so many stories, it would be easier if you folks would just come out and hang out all weekend, instead of me trying to type them all.

[iamuwere]

I finally had time to get a bit of the start video done for the first race. I should have the second race start done tonight.

Sorry for the bad vibration. I just stuck a camera on to the car and drove. I need to work on finding a better view with less vibration. I guess that is the problem with no testing or even being in the car before the first weekend. Well, that and finding out you are down a lot of horsepower....

http://vimeo.com/64857300

[iamuwere]

This is the start of race two.
http://vimeo.com/64961608
Lots more carnage at the start of this one.

I even got to read Bamford's sponsor lists up nice and close.

jim