Hoosier FST Rounds 9 & 10 at Mid-Ohio

[Bill Bonow]

WOW! The 2010 season sure has gone by quickly.....we are gearing up for the final two rounds of The 2010 Hoosier Formula First Championship. As we have so many times in the past, the season will end at Mid-Ohio on September 4 & 5. Our host Region will be OVR (inventors of the "FST" class designation) and it looks to be another season where the championship will not be decided until Mid-Ohio.

The entry is posted at Motorsportreg.com, here is the link:

https://www.motorsportreg.com/index....F9C2D1ECB195D5

Doug Seim has been a very strong competitor all season long. He goes into the final two rounds with a solid points lead over second place Middelegge. After Grattan, Bonow is mathmatically out of the championship running for 2010. My bet is Seim will still have his hands full at Mid-Ohio as Clark, Steeb, Schings and Everard will all want to end the season on a high note after such a strong showing at Grattan.

Get yourself entered and get ready for Mid-Ohio!

[Bill Bonow]

We have (7) online entries already

Looks like we have a good shot at 12 to 15 cars for Mid-Ohio.

[steve everard]

No chance of our own group at Mid Ohio right Bill ?

Steve

[Bill Bonow]

Steve,

Well, there is always a chance (however slim), but unless we get 25 FST's to enter/show, we'll be running in a mixed group.

At this point, our race group has (1) CFF, (2) FF's and (3) FV's. I'm doubtful the other classes in the group will grow much (maybe 10 total), so traffic will be a minor issue.

[rgu]

By executive decision the MID Ohio Race is the Race Car Supply Grand Prix. The first ten finisher’s in Round 9 will receive a 100 gift certificate from RCS. This will allow you to take $100 off any $200 or greater purchase from RCS. This is obviously a great deal for everyone. Jim and I agreed that only members of the FFDA are eligible and employees of RCS are not. The planners (Butch and Me) will be meeting later on this week to put together a list of special events which I think you’ll all enjoy. If Mid- OH’s like the last couple of events every session will be like the Cannes film festival--- simultaneous video presentations of the event. This should be fun! The only real bummer is that FST is group 7--- the last group. It’s what happens when no one from FFDA is coordinating.

[Doug FST 5]

My car is straightened out again and about ready for Mid-Oh. We've got 10 registered in our class and 26 in our run group. Should be a great race!

Doug FST 5

[rgu]

The Formula First Drivers Association is sponsoring a dinner after the race on Saturday at Mid Ohio. All the menu options sounded fantastic to me but we at still deciding. I would just appreciate getting a final number of guests.
So…..
Send me a PM or e-mail at fst at rochester dot rr dot com

[rightturntiger]

Early in the year I thought I might make it on-track for this one, but that will definitely be a no-go. I hope everybody has a blast and plays nice.

Matt Gordon

[rgu]

Hi Matt

Even if you don't drive you should take a run up to Mid Oh. Hope you can!

[jsteeb]

Well.... an engine, an axle tube, and a RF steering link later, my little Lynks is just about ready to go.

See you guys Friday night!!!!

[rgu]

Without even a result sheet to go by consider everything here un-official

The podium

1 Bill Bonow
2 Jason Steeb
3 Rob Clark

Jason set a new lap record for the long course Sorry someone else needs to fill in the number.

Doug Seim was tapped and went off at turn 6 and couldn't restart for almost a full lap. he finished sixth.

Dave Blevins was running very well but went off into the sand trap.

Rob Clark had to start dead last because he needed to change cars because of some residual damage from Grattan (last to the podium---great job)

Forty five people came to the end of season party and dinner. April Seim outdid herself with a texmex extravaganza featuring steak and chicken Fajitas.

The weather was crappy until about 2 pm and we had a great end to the day and sunday promises to be very nice.

My hats off to the Race Car Supply Crew. They had to really hustle at their own race to keep up with problems---good work.

I'm sure others will fill in the blanks since I'm off for coffee.

[Bill Bonow]

Here is a short version of the weekend:

The final two rounds (9 & 10) of The 2010 Hoosier Tire Formula First Championship took place this weeend at Mid-Ohio with round 9 on Saturday and round 10 held on Sunday.

Great weather with the first cool spell in a long time. Thick dry air made for very quick lap times and competitive racing. Here is the weekend line up of (11) cars:

Doug Seim
William Bonow
Robert Clark
Dave Dawson
Aaron Deer
Dave Blevins
Randy Shinn
Greg Schings
Jason Steeb
Jim Nash
Reece Everard

Jason Steeb qualified on pole for Saturday's race with a 1:39.072

Saturday's race results (club configuration):

William Bonow
Jason Steeb (new track record 1:38.761)
Robert Clark
Dave Dawson
Doug Seim
Aaron Deer
Greg Schings
Randy Shinn
Jim Nash
Reece Everard
Dave Blevins

Greg Schings qualified on pole for Sunday's race with a 1:37.567

Sunday's race results (pro configuration):

Doug Seim (new track record 1:37.795)
William Bonow
Robert Clark
Dave Dawson
Aaron Deer
Dave Blevins
Randy Shinn
Greg Schings
Jason Steeb
Jim Nash
Reece Everard

Mid-Ohio to cap off our 8th season of Formula First racing, it can't get much better than that.

Points will be up shortly, but I'll spoil it for you...... Doug Seim has won this years championship. The championship presentation will take place at the ARRC with Bruce Foss of Hoosier.

[jsteeb]

Man - I love Mid-O in the fall!!! It's always been one of my favorite racing venues, but I had not been there in a loooooong time. After a decade of hanging out with my dad, brother-in-law, cousin, and all of the other great friends I've made in racing, it felt spectacular to come back to the place that cemented those friendships. Sorry Road America, but it's time to bring the Runoffs back home.... Now I know how guys must have felt when they moved from Road Atlanta to Mid-O.

Over in the Steve Steeb Service/Autowerks Engines/St. Clair MotorSports paddock , our weekend was going just about as perfect as a race weekend can go until about 3 laps left in Saturday's race. At that point the mechanical gremlins moved in, and setup shop. The car started to miss, and just wouldn't pull above 5000 RPM. I couldn't hold Bill off, and had my hands full trying to do it without reliable power - so I put my hand up and cruised around in 4th gear. Luckily (for me anyway) this was not a typical FST race, and Bill and I had pulled out a significant lead over 3rd (a F500 lost power at the start, and caused a traffic jam). I managed a frustrating 2nd (and a tire - THANKS HOOSIER!!!). BTW...I set the pole time on the 12th heat cycle for that set of tires (mounted on steel wheels).

The misfire would only happen warm, and under load. We messed with stuff Saturday night, but the problem was still there in Sunday's Quali. We unplugged my Autometer Tach and changed to my spare distributor for the race.

The car felt/sounded right on the pace lap, and I decided it would be easier to pass the FV's 2 at a time. At the green, I drove by as many of them as possible at the start. Thanks to Bill Wise for giving me room to go 3 wide, and thanks to Butch for giving me room on his left going into the keyhole! Next thing I know, I'm behind Robert Clark and Doug, and we're all stuck behind a FF! Robert gave me a generous point into T1, and I set my sights on passing Doug. I managed to get a good draft out of T1 on the following lap, and Doug let me have the braking zone for the keyhole. I was gearing up for a fun race with those guys - figuring Bill and Greg had checked out.

Coming out of the keyhole, I noticed Doug was NOT trying to draft me. I thought, "That's weird." Then I saw there was a bunch of smoke, and thought "Bummer Doug's car is smoking pretty bad." I started to smell the burning redline, and noticed the smoke was coming from me. That's when I thought to myself, "Crap." I frantically look at my gauges, trying to find a reason for the smoke...Oil psi is still ok, temps look great...maybe it's a valve cover gasket, maybe it's a small leak, maybe I can make it! hahahahaha!!!! Don't be stupid dude....that's way too much smoke - get your hand up. Race over. "Crap."

It turns out, the little silver pin in some Earls fittings can go bad, and spray redline oil all over your collector (and the guys behind you). I should have taken some 409 to the podium to clean Robert and Doug's cars off. hahaha!

This was a bumpy weekend for attrition, but I want the record to show that NONE of my mechanical gremlins were Formula FST related. My failures this season were caused by using too small of a battery, a funky oil fitting, a shunt at Grattan (took out the axle tube retainer), and the tack or my distributor. Some were teething issues, and others were just bad luck.

Congrats to Doug for finishing Sunday's race where he finished in the points...on the top step.

BTW...Carl - we missed you this weekend dude!

Thanks to everybody for their help and patience this summer. It was a pleasure, and I couldn't be happier that I converted my Vee.

It's going to be a looooong winter!

Cheers!
Jason
1979 Lynks FST.

[Purple Frog]

Standing by T1, camera in hand, messing with settings. Never shoot into the sun, oh what the hell...

[Doug FST 5]

A dream season for sure! Many thanks to Robert for all his hard work starting WAY before the season. Thanks to Randy and Brodie for hours and hours of weekend prep work. Thanks to Matt for all the work in the shop and at the track. And certainly thanks to Dave Carr at Autowerks for a simply awesome engine.

We all owe Hoosier thanks for the incredibly cost effective tires and their fantastic support of our series.

This is a terrific series. I've never seen such a great combination of hard racing and great camaraderie in my 20 years of doing this. I can't wait for the ARRC and to do it all again next year!

Doug FST 5

[teamclark]

Here are a couple of in car videos from races

I had a fun weekend, although it was a little cold.... Thanks to Jim and the guys at SR, who had a busy weekend, but always made sure that my car was ready to go - even when we lost 3rd gear in Saturday qualifying and had to resort to the backup car (come in No.25).

I really should have put some new tires on the car - the fronts were toast before the weekend was out, and that made it difficult to get in the game when it came to the Sunday's race. I was basically lucky - the 3rd places where handed too me when others had mechanical issues,

Thanks to April and everyone who put together the dinner on Saturday night!!


Race 1 - Saturday

http://www.vimeo.com/14764496

The dash from the back of the grid - I was lucky that Doug and Greg got caught up in a melee on the first lap and then after catching and passing me Greg had to retire.

Race 2 - Sunday

http://www.vimeo.com/14751385

Watch out for Jason's impersonation of a Blue Angel. I waved him by into turn 1 in the hope I could get a good tow up the straight and then we could link up with Doug and reel in the front bunch - but I just got a face full of oil...I could see he was going to do some damage to his engine so was frantically waving at the Start/Finish line for the black flag...well that and I couldn't see which way the track went.

After Jason pulled off I tried to catch Doug and Bill, and but the tires weren't up to the job.


Can't wait for the ARRC - see you all there!

[samiam520]

Robert,

Nice video. What "R" setting are you using?

[teamclark]

GoPro is set to r2 - 1280x720

Take the raw data straight into Windows Movie Maker, trim and add titles, then save movie as HD (1080p) wmv file.

Then just upload to vimeo - all it takes is about 2hrs of computer crunching time...which I could probably reduce, but the quality is good.

Rob

[jsteeb]

Frog....nice pics man! Thanks!!!

Robert...Holy crap! T11 looked a lot closer from your car than it did from my car!
I had such a good run out of 9, I figured I could get side-by-side through 11 and drag race to 13. I also figured you probably didn't see me sneaking up on your left, and I knew it was a low percentage move...so I was fully ready to jump on the binders if I thought I needed to (and I did). Sorry if I surprised ya dude!

That was a fun couple of laps. Stupid oil fittings....(kicks a stone)....

Sorry for all of the oily smoke! I owe you guys some tare-offs!

[Amon]

Jason,

I spotted you in the video at T11 and figured you ended up in the sand trap
after that move. It takes big balls and alot of faith in the other driver to try a
move like that at T11. It's hard enough diving to the inside at that corner,
but I'm glad you both made it etc....Good to see your OSU "tribute car" on
the track!


Frog: What kind of car is that Mclaren colored #2? Looks good!

Thanks!


Mark

[teamclark]

Jason -

Yeah you did sneak up on me a little (who goes around the outside at 11...must be crazy...), but looking at the video I turned in at the perfect moment, just as our wheels got alongside/inside each other - so it looks a little more dramatic on video then I remember it being at the time.

Mind you I probably would have just run you out of track on the exit of the turn if you had got outside me anyway!

Amon

The #2 Mclaren 'Orange' Car is the Jim Nash's Mission MRC-09 check out Missionracecars.com

Rob