Seattle Double - May 29/31 NEWS
Only 52 cars entered for this Double in TOTAL! Shocking.
F1000's CONFIRMED ENTRY's:
Stohr:
Taylor Archer
Dave Palmer
Lucian Pancea
Kyle Oberndorf
Firman:
Nicholas Belling
Possible:
We had a factory Phoenix up here last year for this race driven by Jaremko but none registered yet.
Last edited by rickb99; 05.29.10 at 8:38 PM.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
List of drivers known to date.
8 Confirmed Drivers to date : with possible 4 - 5 more that may show.
Taylor Archer - Stohr
Dave Palmer - Stohr
Lucian Pancea - Stohr
Nicholas Belling - Firman
David Palmer -Stohr
Kyle Oberndorf - Stohr
Gary Hickman - Edge Engineering
Rod Rice - Stohr Car
Possible Entrants -
philly motorsports - Sal
Speads cars - Rilltech
west coast Novak conversion customer
Firman Car - Dennis Peters
Only 7 confirmed if you don't count Dave Palmer twice...Originally Posted by Nicholas Belling
Looks to be a big race!
Added Oberndorf to list above. He is 'confirmed' on the entry list as of 7:30 PM. That makes FIVE confirmed with an entry IN. List was updated this afternoon. The rest are just wishes at the moment.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
Why so few entries?
At the very same race track (Pacific Raceways) this past weekend SOVREN (vintage racing) had 136 entries including 22 vintage formula fords.
Strange isn't it, Clayton?At the very same race track (Pacific Raceways) this past weekend SOVREN (vintage racing) had 136 entries including 22 vintage formula fords.
52 National and 46 Regional racers at the moment. Still not enough for a break even 3 day weekend for the club.
P.S.
No new FB's yet. Still at 5.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
Rick.
People have entered and not done online entries. we have a count of 7 entries in FB at the moment.
Nicholas,
Don't know who "we" is but, it isn't the Race Registrar.
Sorry but, ALL entry's including those received via hard copy mail ARE being added to the MotorsportReg list. That list is updated at least 2wice a day with hard copy entry's.
There are STILL only 5 FB's with entry's IN as of 11:07 AM today. Perhaps some are in the mail.. so is my check (but it doesn't count as having paid the bill).
Don't know what date the early registration dicounted fee ends but it's only $15 for the National races and $25 for the Regionals. The reason for the difference? If you're in the region there's no excuse for not entering early.
Last edited by rickb99; 05.20.10 at 3:07 PM.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
Rick,
Gary Hickman is confirmed.. hes just not entered online as well as Rod Rice.
Updated Group 1 (two updates this AM) with FB's 16 total in the field:
FA - 4
FB - 5
FC - 1
FM - 3
C/SR - 1
D/SR - 2
No sign of Hickman or Rice on the list as yet. The lone FC is Michael Lensen. Looks like another Canadian will sweep the FC wins
Early Registration ends tonight at midnight.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
I'm just a spectator wanting to see some FB and DSR cars, both on track and up close. Which of the three days makes most sense? Anything else I should know?
Thanks,
Matt
Sunday, qualifying 9:45, race 1:55.
J. Leonard is CORRECT!
Sunday will be the best day WEATHER wise (as of now). As of now, there are 17 entry's in Group 1.
FA - 4
FB - 5 (4 Stohr's and 1 Firman)
FC - 1
FM - 3
C/SR - 1
D/SR - 3
The question still remains, will there be additional at the gate FB's coming in... Hmm.
My prediction is a Canadian will win the FB race. Belling and Oberndorf (both Canadian) are two of the best on the west coast in FB (or whatever class they run).
C/SR's are not big out here. Never have been.
You will see some history in the small D/SR group. Bob Fox in his AMRC-Squirt was the beginning of the very successful AMAC line of D/SR's. Plus, a genuine AMAC driven by Thomas Hamilton from Idaho.
Then, MUCH to my surprise, will be Miles Jackson in a Stohr 01D which represents the newer generation of D/SR's. What is "surprising" to me is, we usually see Miles Jackson driving a Frisbee Can-Am car, Chevron F5000 or a Shadow F1 car in SOVREN events! He is very fast but I believe this is a new car for him. Being new to Miles and an early generation Stohr, I doubt he will challenge the ultimate lap record held by Jaremko in a newer Stohr at 1:16.47. That is blinding fast around Pacific.
ON THE OTHER HAND:
A seriously bad section of track from T-1 all the way through the carousel T-2 has been repaved! It's much faster (and less risky) now. We could see some new lap records.
Today, Friday:
There IS a test and tune day going on today. But I refuse to work it. It's NOT run by the club but rather the track and they do not have proper communications or safety procedures in place. After a really bad personal experience with an S2 on fire 3 years ago I refuse to be there when something worse happens. It's really not a T&T event rather, a track run lapping day.
As this is 'billed' as a T&T day, drivers sign up for it thinking it's SCCA run. It is NOT. Minimul corner staff with many inexperienced workers, no 'formal' comm. procedures for handling situations, minimul "race rescue" (not real E-crew) and it has some 'funky' rules concerning 'wheels off'. Like put ONE wheel off any where and you'll be called in. Not exactly condusive to finding the limits during T&T.
Last edited by rickb99; 05.29.10 at 1:09 AM.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
Testing at seattle is Full Downpour conditions.
Firman West Cars is the only team running in the open wheel test session all day.
Will keep updated as the weekend progresses.
Rain,, Rain.. and Rain.
we were the only open wheel car on the track all day in session.. completed 71 laps and didnt miss a beat.
More rain to come for morning 10ish practice.
LOL, that looks like Pacific Raceway
Looks wet enough to have formed the LAKE in the kink, Nicholas. Did they put out the permanent STANDINGat Turn 9 ?
NOAA JUST increased the weekend rain forecast too.. sigh. Sunday was supposed to be mostly sunny. Now, 30% chance of rain... Up here that means it's gonna rain.
See you in a couple of hours.
Rotated the image:
Last edited by rickb99; 04.03.11 at 11:50 PM.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
HEADLINE:
Belling/Firman demonstrate superiority in the wet!
Track was wet the entire qual session but no precipitation coming down. Belling (with some help from running those 71 laps in the wet on Friday) showed dramatic speed over the field of FB's.
1st QUAL TIMES:
Belling - 1:38.67
Pancea - 1:46.13
Palmer - 1:50.03
Archer - 1:50.03
This is NOT a track you get real aggresive on in the wet. It will bite you fast. But Belling was showing serious velocity coming up the hill from T-6 to T-7 and was setting up for braking zone passing or exit passing through T-8 on ANYBODY who was in front of him. A masterful demo of wet condition driving.
The 1:38 is 18 seconds off Oberndorfs dry race lap record here but, I suspect Belling was using sensible caution in the tricky 3A/3B area and the very hazardous 5A/5B/6 section.
Considering other things for the differential. Both Palmer and Archer were out for the 1st time on this track in a year. Archer, although an excellent FC piloti is also in his 1st FB race. So they may have had that extra bit of caution going on in a 1st of 2 qual sessions. Pancea is a local driver but fairly new to FB also. One man show with no crew so his performance is pretty darn good.
Oberndorf couldn't make it down for Saturday. But he's expected tomorrow. Weather reports are iffy for tomorrow. Usual 'maybe' rain 'maybe' some dry. I'm guessing Oberndorf will liven up the show.
P.S:
Although missing most of the graphics Taylor Archer (in his 1st ever FB race) is driving the car that was advertised here on ApexSpeed with all the McDonalds stuff on it! Basic paint job remains which looks really nice but without MickyD logos all over it.
Knew the paint job the second it came in to view
Only 8 of the 18 cars in the Group 1 race recorded lap times in the 1st qual. Some just ran 1 lap and others didn't come out at all. Once again, tomorrow will tell the story of National Race 1.
SIDE NOTE:
When the vintage group were on pre-grid, race control made a long radio speech about "speed differentials". Thought that was sorta odd until the pack came around... LOL Bunch of the SOVREN guys came out for the vintage run with Jackie Stewarts Tyrrell F1 car and the Shadow DN11 F1 plus a couple of F2's and some serious sports racers mixed in with your usual cross section of 'normal' vintage cars.
WEATHER:
Just checked NOAA again. Just keeps getting worse... lol Chance of rain tomorrow is now up to 40% from 30% this morning. And, 70% chance for Monday's race.
Last edited by rickb99; 05.29.10 at 10:41 PM.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
Well, this IS Seattle. Solid overcast and 40% chance of rain as of the weather report last night at 9 PM.
Wake up this morning to blazing sunshine and scattered high clouds! Go figure. Maybe we'll see a 'dry' FB race after all! But here, it could still be pouring buckets within an hour.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
From and observers perspective... WOW what an exicting RACE!
As 'sorta' expected the morning Qual 1 was run on a dry track:
Kyle Oberndorf 1:20.66
Lucian Pancea 1:21.08
Nicholas Belling 1:21.39
Taylor Archer 1:22.23
Dave Palmer 1:22.65
James Blackwell in his FA had a Qual time to place him 4th on the grid but being the extreme gentleman he is, he asked to be 6th on the grid to give the FB's a clean run on a split start.
Thegoes down and Oberndorf breaks into a lead with Pancea right with him about 4 car lengths back as they came in to view at T-8. Belling drops back an additional 5 lengths from Pancea with Palmer and Archer a further 8 or 9 car lengths behind Belling. Ran steady that way for about 8 of the 20 lap race. Then Belling must have gotten got held up in the 5A to 6 section by traffic and fell back a little further but still ahead of Palmer and Archer.
THEN THE RAIN CAME!
1st lap in the wet through T-8 and Pancea made a REALLY, REALLY wide outside pass (thought he was gonna dirt it for a second) on Oberndorf taking about a 3 car lead. The track remained wet for the rest of the race but the rain stopped after a couple of laps. Oberndorf was having a tough time finding traction in the wet while Pancea started flying away.
Short time later, Belling spun exiting T-8 and dropped back further. Around lap 15, Belling got in to his 'wet track' mode (which he practiced heavily on Friday) and started closing on Oberndorf who continued to have traction issues. But Belling ran out of time finishing 3rd.
Archer in his 1st ever FB race mastered the wet conditions to take 4th with Palmer in 5th not far behind but having been laped by Pancea who took the race with a margin of victory of 36 seconds. Belling was 3rd 13 seconds behind Oberndorf (2nd).
Pancea was in his 3rd ever FB race having come out of FM's. Driving those 'tanks' in the rain must be good training for FB's cause he's sure mastered the class quickly. During a brief lunch time chat, Lucian said he's real happy with the move in to FB and the performance of the Stohr. I'm sure post race he was equally happy
FAST LAP of the race goes to Oberndorf with a 1:20.9 (0.4 slower then his record).
FINISHING ORDER:
1. Pancea - Stohr margin of victory 36 seconds. Fast lap 1:21.07
2. Oberndorf - Stohr fast lap 1:20.9
3. Belling - Firman 48 seconds behind the leader. Fast lap 1:21.44
4. Archer - Stohr 1 minute behind the leader Fast lap 1:21.96
5. Palmer - Stohr laped by leader but not far behind Archer. Fast lap 1:21.66
It's just amazing and exciting to watch 5 FB's going at it all with excellent drivers behind the wheel. Had it stayed dry, it could have been anybody's race.
Post race, Oberndorf was in his motorhome making dinner for the family. Belling and his crew were going over EVERY INCH of the car getting ready for tomorrow which in all likelihood will be a wet race start to finish.
P.S.
Blackwell in the FA regained one of those positions after allowing the FB's to break away on the split start to finish 5th overall with a best lap of 1:21.1
Last edited by rickb99; 05.31.10 at 9:55 AM.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
FIRST:
A CORRECTION from my earlier posts concerning Lucian Pancea not having a crew. He DOES! A crew chief he never goes to a race without who's been with him all through his FM days.
Okay here we go.
MORNING QUAL:
Was a rain run with Kyle Oberndorf out 1st and he seemed to be turning good times. Only problem was, Kyle blew sound on about the next to last qual lap so he got 'no time'.. sigh
Qual Results:
Belling - 1:28.56
Pancea - 1:28.80
Palmer - 1:33.87
Archer - 1:44.12
Oberndorf - No Time
Blackwell in the FA did a 1:32.8 but once again dropped back to give the FB's a clean split start.
The
Lap 3 going by, Belling has closed up on the lead two and is making a serious 3 car race of it. With Palmer and Archer a short distance back.
Lap 4. Pancea has an 'event' in the difficult (even in the dry) serious downhill braking zone of Turn 3A. End up high centered on the dirt mound in an impact zone and cannot get rolling.
SIDE BAR STORY:
Yesterday, there were 2 serious ALERTS for which the remaining drivers gave little heed to the localconditions. INCLUDING at Pancea's exact spot where a car had rolled and a later car (with the entire incident directly in his line of sight for over 175 yars) did not heed 2 flag stations worth the
The Stewards made a decision NOT to risk any more E-crew lives and if a similar situation arose it would be aALL to clear the issue.
Thus, Pancea's situation resulted in a
END OF SIDE STORY
Cars pulled into the hot pits and Pancea was quickly free'd from the dirt and joined the pack in the hot pits but now, a lap down due to time to gather the pack.
Time to release and some turns asked for flag status assuming it might be
Due to gathering in the hot pits, the race leaders were buried about 7 ot 8 cars back in the pack. The "pack leaders" came out scrubing tires assuming they'd go around to the S/F line. Tire scrub up front continued until the pack came up the hill and in to T-7 where I could see them.
Now it's lap 5. At that point, the FB guys must have been sharing radio 'news' cause they all knew it was a
By that time everybody understood the race was on and all hit the gas.
The chase continued until about Lap 13 with Belling pulling in Oberndorf on every lap. And finally Belling passed Oberndorf in Turn 9 to take the lead. Pancea who started at the back of the restart field worked his way back up to pass Archer and Palmer but was still a lap down to all the FB's.
The last 2 maybe 3 laps it seemed like Oberndorf, Palmer and Archer eased off a bit knowing where they were was where it was gonna end. Clearly, Belling had a HOT setup on the Firman for wet racing!
FINISHNG ORDER:
1. Belling Fast lap 1:27.63 Margin of victory 32.89
2. Oberndorf Fast lap 1:30.40
3. Palmer Fast lap 1:31.41 was 1:02 behind leader
4. Archer Fast lap 1:33.03 was 1:32 behind leader
5. Pancea FASTEST LAP OF THE RACE 1:26.82 1 lap down
Some of the crews on pit road complained about the way the restart was handled (when happened) but in the end it was probably no harm, no foul so it stood as it happened.
Once again a GREAT RACE to watch and 'who knows' if Pancea hadn't high centered and could have just gotten rolling again. Fabulous cars, great drivers all around.
NOTE:
Blackwell in the FA was lapped by Belling also. Best lap at 1:28.8. So once again, had he not dropped back for the split start he could have been in the middle of the FB show.
QUESTION:
Many of us questioned that restart. I don't have a GCR here cause we race in Conference. But I thought ALL restarts including from a Black Flag were to occur AT the S/F line. Certainly NOT going green single file on the re-entry road??? !!!
What say you??
Last edited by rickb99; 06.01.10 at 2:49 PM.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
Are you saying the group was released from pit road directly back into race conditions (green flag)?
Wow.
Wow, sounds like
the NCR SCCA officials taught your guys everyting they know!
We had a very similar deal at VIR a few years back.
Amazing, Huh?
Yes EXACTLY. Strange way to do it. The entire field was effectively running the re-entry road under RACING conditions. But only the cars in the 'middle' of the now compressed field realized it. Obviously this lead to a pretty big 'behind the scenes' discussion as the race continued because some crews raised the 'foul flag'.
I talked to a pretty senior SCCA guy afterward who is a Race Steward but was NOT for that race. He said what happened was perfectly 'legal' under the GCR's. Asked if he was really, really sure of that and he said yes.
I'm not so sure. But I 'guess' the theory is, the field will spread out 'about' like it was before the black flag as cars spread out from the limited single file re-entry from the hot pits. Sort of a single file standing start. IF the entire field had realized this, I think it could have lead to serious chaos.. But, what do I know.
Only reason the FB's who knew it was green didn't blast away earlier was the front cars using the FULL width of the track for tire scrub. Exit of T-7 with 5 lanes wide was the 1st change Oberndorf and the other FB's had to take their shot.
In my worthless opinion that 1st lap should have been with a pace car to the S/F/
From black flag restarts are covered in GCR section 6.5 but I don't have a copy of it to verify it options are available.
Last edited by rickb99; 06.01.10 at 2:40 PM.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
How long were the race cars on pit road during the black flag? Did most of them come in, stop, and sit for a while? Or were they still rolling before they were let back out?
I'm having a hard time getting my head around this. If I understand correctly (not sure I do), after being let out, a few drivers noticed there were no yellow flags displayed on the first few corners they passed and figgered, "We must be racing!" and took off among the weaving cars.
Sounds like a recipe for smashed up cars, or at minumum a screwed up race. Sounds more like a scavenger hunt than a national level competition race.
I have no clue as to whether they shut engines off or not. They (with the exception of Pancea) were at a dead stop in the pot pits for about 4 to 6 minutes until Pancea reached the hot pits, then released.
NONE of the "in front" 7 or 8 cars realized the track WAS
Like I said with 7 or 8 cars weaving and dodging in front of them, there was NO WAY for them to start passing until they reached the 5 lane wide T-7 to T-8 section. Then they hit the loud pedal hard.
CREW for Jeff 89 Reynard or Flag & Comm.
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