McKay Snow swept the weekend, proving that you shouldn’t stand between a motivated Snow and victory. Anyway, here’s a gallery from the weekend. If you’re a team or driver interested in purchasing photos from the weekend, you can head here and buy some.
Live on… well not tape, but whatever this is, it’s the CAMcast! Welcome to it ladies and gentlemen! We’re glad you could be here for this episode, because it’s a good one. Mike, Gavin, and Dave congregate in the basement, battle insects (we’re winning!) and talk about so many things:
The 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans was insane, and we fumble around with the results
Nobody is buying the Alfa Romeo Giulia, and we try to figure out why
A dealership is selling a bone stock JZA80 Supra for $125,000, which is insane
We talk about how much we love the small turbo diesels found in TDI Volkswagens and BMWs
And nobody’s mic has issues!
Thank you all for joining us! We really appreciate you taking some time to listen to our semi-informed conversations. Stream the episode in the player above, grab it on iTunes or Google Play, or just download it here. And we have a challenge for you: send us a photo or video of you and your friends listening to this podcast in a basement, while eating pizza and drinking some beers. Best/worst basement situation will get some prizes. We’ll be back next week with more shenanigans, and more random challenges!
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Write-up coming… Eventually? In the meantime, here are the photos from Sunday. Enjoy the gallery, buy stuff so I can keep coming out and covering the races (also so I can replace the pants I ripped hopping fences this last round), and stay tuned for the write-up.
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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It feels soo goooood to be back! Just look at how happy Ty is! HE’S SO HAPPY!!! Probably because we’re back to racing, but also because Shawn set another track record. Speaking of, let’s talk about that
Time Trial
Yes, everyone’s favorite cowboy set another record. Well, two actually. On Saturday he went around the West track in 1:34.252, which was a record. Then on Sunday he pulled a 1:33.639. Good enough to win TT2, good enough to win TTU on Saturday
David Bradshaw, and his yellow Beetle “Bumblebee” Lyfe prepared 996 Porsche Cup Car took home the win in TT1 with a best time of 1:39.810. His luck wouldn’t hold into Sunday, as Daren Jorgensen, in the Rearden/Strom Motorsports M4 ran a 1:36.762.
We already talked TT2, so let’s move on to TT3. On Saturday, John Calvin (theologian, father of Calvinism/Reformed Protestantism, and driver of an orange and black Mustang) turned a 1:45.969 to bring home a win. Sunday saw another Rearden BMW take home a TT class win, this time it was the M235iR of Andrew McCubbins, an adorable animated teddy bear… Probably.
The 2017 season sees the debut of TT4, replacing TTB. Mike Bratsch kept his sucking low and pulled off the first win in the new class on Saturday with a 1:45.131. On Sunday Nam Yoon (not pictured) ran a 1:41.868, and took the class victory.
TTC is still around, having yet to be replaced by an as of yet undeveloped TT5, and had a few competitors on the weekend. Two to be exact! On Saturday, with a 1:44.955, Lynn Hodges in the red chrome Lotus took the win over John Butcher. Johnny boy would get his win on Sunday, with a 1:47.497.
Kenneth Russell, noted bon vivant and man about town, was the sole TTD competitor on the weekend. Him and his trusty Civic pulled a best time of 1:48.471 on Saturday and, like myself, weren’t around on Sunday.
A pair of hardtop NA chassis Miatas split the wins in TTE over the weekend. Todd Green, in Ol’ Blue or the Smurf or Babe the Tiny Blue Sports Car, ran a 1:46.473 on Saturday. On Sunday Tyler Nisonger took the win with a 1:48.074.
We had a TTF competitor this weekend! It was one Eduardo Acurero, in a black CRX that would lift the inside rear wheel during hard maneuvers. Eduardo, as he will always be referred to as on these pages, turned a 1:45.316. A time on par with the TTC field. Good going Eduardo!
Rounding out TT is Andrew Smith, who trotted out the Rearden/SilencerCo/FourFoods Group/maybe R&R Barbecue? Audi R8 LMS Ultra and turned a 1:36.606, outpacing even the likes of the UVU Miata.
Lightning
Tom Rogers, Thom Rodgers to his friends and Peruvian officials, beat out Chris Haunold for the GTS2 win on Saturday and Sunday. Will the BMW-Porsche battle end with the Bavarian car on top? It’s too soon to tell, but LET’S RECKLESSLY SPECULATE AND SAY YES!
Carl Marx, the great nephew of the legendary Zeppo Marx, in one of the Rearden BMW M235iR’s claimed a pair of GTS3 wins on the weekend.
Troy Duffin, in a cruel twist of fate, managed to get the PTD victory, but lose his gorgeous red Datsun 510. The car broke loose going into turn one, and as a result damaged some of the rear suspension. He managed to get the car going again, but only to limp it back into the pits. I speak for a lot of people who are glad Troy is ok, and are wishing for the car to make a speedy recovery!
Speaking of broken cars, Todd Green’s blue Miata decided to spin a bearing. It managed to do this AFTER Todd took the PTE win on Saturday. On Sunday Todd turned to an old friend, one who’s always been there when called upon: Paul Mitchell. Despite sitting since October, and on old tires, Paul answered the call of his old friend. After an oil change, Todd ran just over a tenth of a second off the track record on his way to another win.
With a spring in his step, a song in his heart, and a fresh new livery; Matt Williamson took to the track for another year of Spec Miata competition. Joined by newcomer (to Spec Miata) Andy Moench, who finished second on both days, Matt claimed the first two wins of the 2017 season.
Super Touring 4 was ruled over by benevolent hamburger overlord Blake Troester, aka Mayor McCheese. Under his stewardship, sightings of the Hamburglar have been greatly reduced, while acceptance of Grimmace is now commonplace. We salute you, kind mayor!
Our two (for the moment) Thunder Roadster drivers traded wins over the weekend. Jihn Han took the season opening win, and JD Stull took home top honors on Sunday. Big Bob Evans has said he’ll be in one of these cars this year, which would be amazing for many reasons. We hope he hops in soon, but in the meantime we’re more than content with watching JD and Jihn duke it out.
944 Spec was its usual, robust self. When Otto Silva (Saturday’s winner) and William Kendall (Sunday’s winner) were on track together, they were quite racy. Otto posted a better fast lap, but not by a whole lot. This would be a good class to hop into. 944’s are still Porsches, but don’t have any of the astronomical costs of 911’s. Plus it’s just two guys, it’s not like you’d be jumping into a massive field, filled with fast drivers who are getting lapped by even faster drivers…
Thunder
Normally the Spec Z field runs in the Lightning group, but not this weekend. No, they were on grid for the Thunder races. Yeah. the group with the Huracan Super Trofeos, 911 GT3R’s, Cup cars, and other fast stuff. Despite being a herd of rolling cones (there were 14 cars on grid for Saturday’s race, 11 for Sunday), they had quite the race. As is tradition, Arthur Golebiowski grabbed the season opener, with Tom and Chad in tow. Sunday was a different story. Someone going by the handle of “LYFE Motorsport” hopped into Kyle Schick’s #22 car and took the win. With Chad and Tom in tow.
GTS4’s dual wins were taken by Darrell Troester, and this leads me to a question: what’s with the Troester’s and McDonald’s? Do you own a franchise? Are you forever indebted to Ray Kroc? What is the deal? I DEMAND ANSWERS! Feel free to send them in to [email protected]
He managed to race, and remove his thermostat all in the same day! It’s the one and only Toby Crawford! Despite having a wounded car, Toby still went out and ran a full race in ST2, getting a win.
A Minion was spotted running in ST3 on Sunday. I wasn’t there, but it’s on the official results. It’s actually listed as the winner… Curious…
ST1 was populated exclusively by Ginetta G55’s. The little GT4 cars were prepped by Ian Lacy Racing, and driven by Frank “You’re my boy, Blue!” Gannett and Drew Staveley. Drew took home the wins for the weekend, and now I have to figure out either a nickname or a weird non sequitir for him.
Steve Burns, Texan and driver of a car that barely qualifies as a Mustang anymore, claimed Saturday’s Super Unlimited win. Jeff Kearl, pictured in a different car from a different round from a different month from a different year, took the SU win on Sunday.
GTSU was a bullfight all weekend! Except without the cultural relevance, animal cruelty, or goring. A new Huracan Super Trofeo appeared, fielded by DXDT Racing, and driven by Paul Terry. It wasn’t one of their cars that they use for the Super Trofeo series, at least this one wasn’t sporting the livery anyway. They faced off against the tried and true Makes & Models Huracan. Despite Paul having slightly faster fast laps, he couldn’t overcome the cagey driving of Derek Wolthoff. The Makes & Models team returned to the shop in Layton with two more victories under their belt.
And there we have it! The season is off to a rousing start. The East track is the venue for next month, and the weekend of that is April 21-23. We’ll be out there, for the whole thing this time! Come out and join us!
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Can you make a 911 better by shoving an LSx in the back of it? What were the cars that Dave, Gavin, and I spent time wrenching on, are working on, and would like to turn into future projects? And just where the hell is Pizza Dad? All of those questions, and an actual reader email are in this week’s episode of the CAMcast!
Stream the episode above, go grab it on iTunes and other fine purveyors of podcasts (please rate, comment, and subscribe while you’re there!), or download it here. We’ll be back next week with a new episode, and a new voice! We welcome Dan Chilinski, owner of Old Man Yellow, and driver of a twin engine Toyota in the 24 Hours of LeMons.
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We’re back! And we’re weekly (probably), until the race season starts! In this episode Michael ,and co-hosts Brandon Christiansen and Dave Rawley, talk about Audi leaving the WEC, the new 911 RSR’s lack of forced induction, fashion, and the Taurus Challenge. Give it a listen, and subscribe via RSS until I can get this thing on iTunes and Stitcher.
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners.
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
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