Welcome back to the CAMcast! Or if this is your first episode, welcome! We hope you enjoy your stay.
Dave, Gavin, and Mike have a packed agenda, and a ton of responses to the Question of the Week (you guys kick ass!). Here’s SOME of what’s on the agenda:
The thrills, chills, and loose wheels of the LiquiMoly Bathurst 12 Hour race
Elon Musk shoots his Tesla Roadster into space atop a Falcon Heavy rocket
Is the Daytona 500 anything you’re interested in?
All sorts of Porsche news
New Formula Drift rules
What’s the Most Fun You’ve had in the Snow?
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It was a brutally hot day out at Utah Motorsports Campus, but the Porsche Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy drivers and teams readied themselves and cars for the 45 minute race. But before they could race, they had to qualify.
Leading the GT4 pack to the green flag would be Sean McAlister, in the Silver class #00 Competition Motorsports Cayman.
Starting right next to Sean was Jeff Kearl in the #26 Rearden Racing entry.
Carter Yeung rounds out the top three Silver qualifiers, in the #7 GMG car.
The top of the Silver Master class was Steve Goldman, in the #1 Competition Motorsports car.
Qualifying behind him was Martin Brauns, the lone Flying Lizard entry in the entire GT4 field.
LA Car Guy Mike Sullivan qualified third in the third of Competition Motorsports’ entries in the class. Qualifying fifth overall was Hutton McKenna in the #17 GMG Racing entry, but was assessed a 5 grid spot penalty for an infraction in race 5.
Qualifying on top of the Platinum class (997.2 GT3 Cup cars), was Ray Shahi in the #65 Truspeed Autosports car.
Qualifying second in class was David Lockwood in the lone Air Power Racing entry, the all white #42 car.
And the #32 Truspeed Autosports car of Larry Schnur rounded out Platinum’s top three. And all three of them (Schnur, Lockwood, and Shahi) received 5 spot grid penalties for infractions in race 5.
Bryce Ward, in the #57 Winward Racing car, was the fastest Diamond Masters qualifier.
Michael Zuieback (#2 Competition Motorports) was right behind him, .249 seconds to be exact.
Mike McAlister was close to Michael, but not close enough to climb into second. He and the #18 Competition Motorsports car had to settle for third in Diamond Masters.
Topping GT3 qualifying, and the top Diamond class qualifier, was Loren Beggs, in the 08 911 Design car.
Russell Ward put the other Winward Racing car (#35) second overall and second in class. The last Diamond entry, the 07 GT Technik car of Max Root failed to post a time in the qualifying session. Now that we’ve got starting positions sorted, let’s see if that helped them during the race.
Steve Goldman, you #1 Silver Masters qualifier, went wire to wire and collected another win on the weekend.
In a dramatic shakeup, Mike Sullivan (yes, the LA Car Guy himself), grabbed second place in class! Just like he did in race 5.
On the short step of the podium was Martin Brauns.
Jeff “Jefferson” Kearl snagged the top spot in Silver, holding off a hard charging…
Sean McAlister! His battler with Jeff Kearl was a great one to watch.
Carter Yeung’s race result mirrored his qualifying result: a strong third.
Despite the top three qualifiers in the Platinum class receiving 5 grid spot penalties, they all managed to finish on the podium. Atop the podium was the number one qualifier Ray Ray Ray Shahi.
Larry Schnur grabbed himself the middle spot on the podium.
And David Lockwood slipped, but only a little bit. He came third in class.
Bryce Winward went wire to wire in Diamond Masters, and took home the win.
Mike Zuieback also went wire to wire, but he came second.
Coming in third was not Mike McAlister, who spun in the Attitudes during the first lap, but Dave Elsner in the second 911 Design entry.
The other 911 Design car, driven by number one qualifier Loren Beggs, took the top spot in Diamond AND the race.
Bryce Ward fought to keep the pressure on Loren Beggs, but ultimately fell short. But second place is not a bad place to be in, especially considering the field.
He did set a time in qualifying, but Max Root managed to finish seventh overall and third in class.
And there you have it, a solid weekend of racing. The series makes its next stop at the end of July, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The month after that they retun to UMC, along with the Pirelli World Challenge.
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It’s another Porsche packed day of fun and adventure here at Utah Motorsports Campus. The Porsche Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA finished up their morning practice session. Here’s what it looked like:
Qualifying starts at 1:10 this afternoon, and the green flag drops at 3:45. Tickets are still only $5, and the weather is beautiful out here. Come and watch!
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Steven Costello, long time friend of CAM, is now the series director for Porsche Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy North America! And he invited me to come out and shoot the event, which I am. Today is just a practice day, but the drivers are already hitting the curbs in the Attitudes like their lives depend on it. Here’s a gallery of that, and some less intense stuff.
Tomorrow and Sunday are race days. There will be a practice session, then qualifying, and then finally the race. Racing gets underway at 3:45pm tomorrow, and 1:10pm on Sunday. Saturday’s practice session starts at 9:50am, Sunday’s at 8:35am. Tickets are only $5, and kids 12 and under get in for free! It’s going to be a beautiful weekend, so why not spend it watching some great racing at a beautiful facility?
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The 2016 NASA Utah season came to an end this past weekend. I know, I’m sad too. But instead of the usual, conventional, “one track configuration for the entire weekend” business that we’ve seen at every other weekend this year; Dave, Matt, and Momma NASA (Cheri Miller) had something special for the end of the year. Instead of running the Outer Loop, or the East track, or even the Full track, they arranged it so the drivers could race on ALL THREE IN THE SAME DAY!!! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the TresDuro.
IT’S BACK, BABY! Just like last year, and the year before; BUT, unlike last year, they were blowing the dust off the gigantic Full track. To the best of my knowledge, the last time the Full track was run was two years ago. I should probably explain how one wins the TresDuro, since it has been a year. It’s pretty simple for the race groups: you qualify once, and start the first race from that position. Where you finished in that race is where you start the next race from. Where you finish also gives you points. Driver/team with the most points at the end of the third race wins. For TT: they take your fastest times on each track, add them together, and person with the lowest overall time is the winner. Got it?
It’s been a hot minute, but the drivers managed to drive the track without getting lost or forgetting which configuration they were driving! However, the weekend wasn’t without incident. That incident, while unfortunate, provides a convenient segue into the actual race coverage.
THUNDER
German Touring Series Unlimited
Taking home the win in GTSU by a mere 5 points was Makes & Models, in their Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo 620-2. Their main competition throughout the day was David Donner, in his Porsche 911GT3R. You know, the other Effort Racing car that showed up at Air Power Racing at the beginning of this year. David had the pace to run away with it, but a broken axle in race 2 served up the win to Makes & Models. The TresDuro would hinge on the third and final race. The Lamborghini was on the pole, and Les Long’s 997 Cup car was starting from second. And then this happened.
This is video of the start of the third race, shot from Michael Eifling’s ST1 Corvette. It was uploaded by Brendon Stewart, driver of the Makes & Models Huracan. FULL DISCLOSURE: I’ve known Brendon for many years, long before he was working and driving for Makes & Models. Makes & Models has been friendly with us, we have stickers on the Huracan and a few other Makes & Models cars. That said, it’s pretty clear Les makes a move to the left to keep the Lamborghini behind him. Then as the Lambo starts moving to his right and passing him, he moves to the right and pushes him West pit out. The result of all of these moves was the Huracan spinning out in turn one, and having to rejoin at the back of the field. Despite that, Brendon fought through the field and finished second.
5 points behind Makes & Models was David Donner. It’s been a few rounds since we’ve seen him at UMC, but he’s been spending that time wisely. He’s very in tune with the 911 GT3R, and showed INSANE pace in the first race. Good God was he flying! David, I’m begging you!: come out for more races! I’d love to see you, David Lockwood, Derek, and the DXDT guys have an all out death match (not really a battle to the death, but you know what I mean) one NASA weekend. Do it for me, do it for the children, do it for America! Or England if your James Burke.
In third place, with 255 points, was Les Long. He narrowly edged out David Lockwood for the final podium spot. Les is a really good driver, but I’m not used to seeing him drive as aggressively as he did on Saturday. From what I’ve seen over the years, he is most definitely not a dirty driver. Just an aggressive driver, something we typically enjoy. While he may be at fault for the incident at the beginning of the third race, I think he just got caught up in the heat of the moment.
Super Touring 1
Being alone in a class has advantages sometimes, and Michael Eifling took full advantage of being the sole ST1 driver. He took the fight to Robert Gardner, in the orange Jagermeister Porsche, and they had amazing battles all day long. Good on ya Michael! Thanks for not just turning laps, and taking the easy win. Also, thank for bringing Buddha!
Super Touring 2
ST2 started the day with two competitors: JR Smith in his Porsche Boxster, and Toby Crawford in his Subaru BRZ. By the end of the first race, there was only one. The head gaskets in Toby’s BRZ let go, allowing the man, the myth, the legend that is JR Smith to take the win.
Super Touring 3
ST3 had a field of 5 cars: four of the Ford Performance Racing School BOSS 302 FRSes and the Minion mobile, the UAO Clothing M3. I know I saw Alex in the car on Saturday, so I’m going to say it was he who won the shiny, not chocolate filled gold medal for ST3. I’m sure I’ll hear about it if I’m wrong, but until then: congratulations Alex! UPDATE: Todd Ainsworth also drove on Saturday. Matt Guiver probably wasn’t in the car on Saturday, so we can rule him out. So congratulations Todd and Alex on the win!
In second place was Frank Gannett. Frank the Tank has been pounding away in that Mustang, and doing a damn good job too. Hopefully we see Frank in a different chassis next season, preferably one that doesn’t belong to the fine folks at the Ford Performance Racing School.
Rounding out the podium was Josh Williams, in the #85 FPRS BOSS 302 FRS. It’s in my favorite color, which makes it the best looking Mustang they have at the school. Ask for it by name!
Super Unlimited
Super Unlimited also had a five car field, but unlike the ST3 field there wasn’t a dominant model in the field. There was; however, a dominant team: CA Sport. They represented four of the five cars, the fifth being George Smith’s Corvette. It was also a rather diverse field: the aforementioned Corvette, a PWC TC Class 370Z, a widebody E92 M3, and a pair of Cayman GT4 Clubsports. It was one of those Caymans, the #41 driven by Andrew Smith, that took home the win.
Chasing Andrew was Davis Warnock, in the #70 CA Sport Cayman GT4 Clubsport. It was really fun watching these two cars duke it out for first place, and mix it up with some of the other classes. And the new liveries look great.
Locking out the podium for CA Sport was Lara Tallman in the 370Z. Hey! I just noticed that it has one blue mirror! I like that. And also congratulations to CA Sport for locking out the podium! That quite the feat, especially considering who all could’ve run in the class and taken a spot on the podium.
And there you have it for Thunder! Looking for Lightning or Time Trial? I’ve got those in their own posts, so you don’t have a 3000+ word article to rifle through
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners.
We’ve got qualifying results for GT, GTA, GTS and Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy! On pole in GT is Alvaro Parente in the #9 K-Pax Racing McLaren 650S GT3. As of press time we are not sure what the name of Alvaro’s car is, but we are looking into it!
Frankie Montecalvo put the #66 DIME Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 on the pole in GTS. Here he is, running down Brent Holden in the #14 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.
In GTS, the Racers Edge Motorsports SIN R1 GT4 driven by Scott Heckert will be starting on the pole.
On the overall pole in Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA is Dino Crescentini in the Diamond Class.
TruSpeed Autosport is showing some class leading speed yet again, as the #45 driven by Tom Haacker is on the Platinum class pole.
Larry Schnur is starting up front in Platinum M.
Jensen Keith took the Bob Evans line to the pole in Silver class.
And in Silver M we have Steve Goldman out in front for the start.
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners.
The rain stayed away for the qualifying AND race for the Thunder group. It was an incredible turn of luck, and something some of the drivers didn’t see coming. We aren’t used to luck when it comes to weather! Because of the poor weather, some of the drivers packed up and called it a day. In my opinion, they missed out on one hell of a race.
Darrell Troester took home yet another GTS 4 win. He valiantly battled himself, and through sheer grit and determination he defeated himself to take home the win.
I had to ask myself several questions during the race, but the only one that really is relevant right now is “When did they start running GTS3 cars in Thunder?” I asked myself that, because Jeff Burton was out in his Cayman S, a GTS3 car, with the Thunder Group. I let it go rather quickly, which was good because I watched Jeff drive a solid race, and take home the win.
ST3 was a quartet of Ford Performance Racing School Mustangs, and Todd Ainsworth in the Us Against One M3. Not good odds for the banana mobile, and things shook out accordingly. A Mustang did win, and it was driven by a repeat winner, but it wasn’t Frank Gannett. It was Dan McKeever, in the most evil looking BOSS at the school.
Out of nowhere (maybe Colorado? I have no idea) came a man in a small British car with a Toyota engine. Bob Schader, said man in tiny car, managed to harass some of the ST3 field during the race. Why would he do such a thing? Because he was the only guy in ST2. Thanks for coming out Bob, and for putting on a show.
Sorry Bob, and occasionally George, but my favorite ST1 car was BACK! Dan Worley and his glorious Porsche were out and running! He was alone in ST1, but he was out there! Man, I love that car.
If I tell you that a 996 GT3 Cup car beat a 911 GT3R, you’d call me crazy. And for good reason. The old Cup cars are still great, but the GT3R is a different beast altogether. That first statement would be crazy, but it happened! Or so says My Laps! Listed as the class winner in GTSU is Mark Brouse, driver of the above pictured 996 GT3 Cup car. How did he do that? He ran the full race, and the Air Power GT3R didn’t.
SU was a four way deathmatch. The R8 LMS Ultra driven by Kristian Boodoosingh faced off against Les Long and his 997 Pirate mobile, and a pair of E92 M3’s. This was the Euro fan boy race of the day! The only thing missing from the German fight was a Mercedes. In the end Kristian in the R8 took home the win, after battling to get around Les. Can we do that again next month? Please?
Speaking of next month, there’s a race weekend next month! It’s taking place on July 15th, 16th, and 17th on the East track. Join us, won’t you?
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners.
The forecast called for rain, and it did not disappoint. At times on Saturday the West Track seemed more fit for a regatta then sports car racing, but the brave and/or foolish drivers in the Lightning race group were prepared for the conditions! Some held it together better than others, while others just tried to hold it together.
At the top of the field and his class was Arthur Golebiowski. I’m not 100% sure how he does it, but when the rains fall Arthur seems to wind up atop the Spec Z podium. He also won himself a hat for being the overall race group winner:
See? Fancy stuff!
In the other Spec class, Spec Miata, Chris Bond got himself out of the wet race and into a dry win! See, in my head I had “got himself out of the wet race and into a dry martini” because James Bond drinks martinis… And Chris’s last name is Bond… And his car number is 007… There’s a little peak behind the curtain for you. Anyway, Chris took the class win by 15.580 seconds.
STUNNING NEWS IN PTE!!! Todd Green didn’t win! I’ll give you a minute to fix your face
…
That’s better. Randy Cummings, also in a Miata, beat out Todd by 9.313 seconds.
Mid-engined Porsches seem to be the chassis of choice in GTS3, and black seems to be the “in” color. Jeff Burton, in his Porsche with the engine in a far more sensible place, brought home a win.
And finally, in GTS2 we had a battle between Chris Haunold in his trusty 911 and Tom Rogers and his E30 3 series. Porsche vs. BMW! Bavaria vs. Not Bavaria! Yuppie wounder vs. Yuppie wounder! WHO WOULD WIN?!? Who would emerge victorious in this titanic battle of 1980’s opulence?!? If you had your money on the man in the Porsche…
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TAKE YOUR WINNING TICKETS TO THE WINDOW! Tom finished on the lead lap, but the margin of victory for Chris was the largest in the entire group: 19.034 seconds.
Where’s the rest of the coverage?!? It’s coming over the next couple of days.
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners.
The Good Dr. Z, that’s Michael Wells, sent us some photos from the last NASA Utah round. These are all from the Sunday of that weekend, so we have some snaps of the Formula 3 race, along with some snaps of your favorite locals.
I arrived back in the pits to find… The Mustang, in one piece and not on fire. As it turns out “blew up” means different things to different people. Unfortunately the clutch gave out, which ended the day for Travis, Todd, Dave and Jason. It was a melancholy scene, but the hour and a half they were out there wasn’t so bad. They’re night was done, but for others the evening was about to begin.
Racing is a physical effort, which is why the drivers do their best to stay in some semblance of shape. Some take it a bit more serious than others… Seeing a man do lunges and jog across three pit stalls is a sight I don’t think I will ever forget. As he was preparing his body and mind for the stint ahead, RaceCo was bringing their guy in for a driver change and fuel stop.
Intense doesn’t even begin to describe the atmosphere during an endurance race pit stop. There are a lot of moving parts and, while longer than pit stops in other motor sports, time is a huge factor. Those extra seconds add up, and turn in to minutes, which over the course of a six hour race could become tens of minutes. Cole Powelson, driver and chief push broom technician at RaceCo, hopped out and declared himself #1 after relaying some information about the car. He had a couple of minutes to relax and change before it got windy again…
Wind can be handled, but the dust and lack of visibility could cause havoc. Seeing from Clubhouse to Release was almost impossible, even if you were standing in between the turns. Mercifully the winds died down and visibility picked back up. I gathered my things, hopped in my car and made my way to Black Rock, the first in a series of hairpin turns on the west section of the track.
The turn sits at the end of a high speed section, so naturally this is where the brakes would see the most use. Everyone was lighting up their brake rotors, especially the vehicles that carried buckets of speed in to the turn. The Factory Five GTM and the Radical had absolutely no problem cooking their brakes coming in to the turn, lap after lap after lap.
With the sunset painting the sky with hues of orange, blue, purple and magenta, the on track action almost seemed like an added bonus. There was barely enough light in the sky to illuminate the racers, and when that faded we all had to resort to artificial means of light.
The cars would cast eery slivers of light on to the track, illuminating only what was in their immediate path. Their tail lights were the eyes of shifty demons scurrying about the track, looking for a victim to terrorize. It was quite a sight to behold, and a rather difficult one to capture. Unable to capture thin windows of light, I did something that seemed like a good idea: setting the camera on a tripod and capturing the trails of light the cars were leaving behind.
Most everyone had bright, white lights. Everyone, except the Radical. It had a white LED light bar on the roll hoop, but red orange lights on the front of the car. The track took on a sinister glow when it passed. It left a devilish red-orange trail with a little white halo above it. It was also hitting the curbing, which can be seen by the ripples on the left side of the picture. Most everyone else played it safe and only touched the curbing while taking as straight a path through the Attitudes as they could.
I don’t like saying it, but the grand stands on the race weekends I have been in attendance have been rather empty. This night was no exception. One of the best spots to watch a race from are the stands on the outside of Release, the track’s final turn before the straight. From those seats one can see cars coming through Witchcraft and disappear as the cross the Attitudes. They reappear just past the clubhouse, and you can see them all the way until they dip out of sight as they travel through turn 1.
I returned to the pits, and made my way through lifeless GP garages to a dark and busy pit lane. Privateers and factory backed crews toiled under the work lights to ready their cars for another stint. By this time everyone was preparing for their last outing on the track for the night. The drivers were exhausted, the crews were fatigued but still they fought on.
The end was in sight for those still driving. Last minute information was relayed to drivers, fuel was topped off, lights were cleaned and finally the engines were fired. Off in to the blackness one more time…
Words and photos by Michael Chandler
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.
