Road Atlanta thread

[Mike B]

Rounds 1 and 2 of the Hoosier Tire US Formula 1000 Championship Fueled by Sunoco is coming up March 20th and registration is now open! Register here: http://www.motorsportreg.com/events/...0#.VNbfty5kaSr

You’ll notice that Formula 1000 has group 3 all to itself for the entire weekend! You’ll also notice that, by popular demand, Sunday’s race will feature a standing start! There will be an additional $200 fee per driver to pay for that privilege so we hope everyone turns out. If you register but are unable to attend, you will receive a full refund so there is no penalty to registering early. However, there is a $150 late fee assessed after March 14th so please be sure to register soon.

Remember, to be eligible for prizes and championship points, you need to register with the series. Registration for the 2015 Hoosier Tire US Formula 1000 Championship Fueled by Sunoco can be found here: http://usf1000.com/RegForm.html
There are only 7 days left for the early bird reduced fee of $275. After February 15 the fee goes up to $350. Sign up now!

The 2014 version of round 1 and 2 at Road Atlanta featured plenty of on-track action. Relive it with a highlight video thanks to Replay XD on the US Formula 1000 Youtube channel: http://youtu.be/ybxXRIjnTTI

[glenn cooper]

Man, that got me all Far'd up ;o)

I gotta find me a car!!

[Jasonrmbell]

True that !!

[Jasonrmbell]

A little Kawi Powi going In!!

[Jnovak]

Sweet

[Gary Slahor]

Looks great Jason.

By the way..... who did the header for you ?

[JByers]

Man, that got me all Far'd up ;o)

I gotta find me a car!!

COOP what happen to your car ???????

[glenn cooper]

I did a "Byers" and just up n' sold it! ;o)

[JByers]

I did a "Byers" and just up n' sold it! ;o)

LOL -- I'm still going through withdraws

I'm sure you know what you need grasshopper - hope it comes soon for you.

[Mike B]

Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2015 Hoosier Tire US Formula 1000 Championship Fueled by Sunoco are coming up in one week! Online registration closes tomorrow at 9:30am!

Register here: http://www.motorsportreg.com/events/...0#.VQDmiOFkaSp
There may be a late fee of $150 if you register after this day. However, your credit card will not be charged until after the event and there will be full refunds for no-shows so there is no risk to registering now. It also helps the series planning if we know who will be attending this race.

Prize List as of 3/13

Hoosier Tires
1st : 4 tires
2nd: 2 tires
3rd: 1 tire
Pole position: 1 tire
Random tire Draw: 2 tires

Sunoco Hard charger
Cash Payout $200

Taylor Race Engineering
1st: $250 product certificate

Highway Systems Inc Start Payout
all drivers: $200*
*if 15 cars take the green flag

Remember, to be eligible for any of these prizes, you must register with the US Formula 1000 Championship and pay the registration fee!

[RussMcB]

I see a Galmer f1000 is entered. Have we seen one of them race yet?

[James Hill]

Hi Russ, that looks more like an Indycar to me.

[RussMcB]

Hi Russ, that looks more like an Indycar to me.

Not just you, to everyone. :-)

Same designer, though, I think.

[BURKY]

Search Galmer F1000. Lots of pictures! Just sayin.

[RussMcB]

"Just asking" if one has been seen on a race track yet.

Or perhaps a better way to phrase the question, is this upcoming Road Atlanta race its (SCCA) debut?

[allof6]

https://www.facebook.com/galmermotorsports

[James Hill]

looks like a pretty cool machine, i suspect this will be their first race.

[Jnovak]

Impressive.

[BURKY]

Galmer at Qualifying.

[Mike Devins]

2nd Q looks like JRO on the pole. Any news on the Galmer?

[Jnovak]

No time for Jose. New car blues?

[RussMcB]

I watched the standing start, then during the lap 2 black flag, I drove to 10A/10B.

First of all, the standing start was a huge success from the spectators' POV. Everyone loved it. The sound was fantastic. I think all cars got away pretty cleanly, with perhaps one or two not-so-fast towards the back. I was going to take video with my phone but there were 30-50 people already doing it, so I just watched. It was great. I assume there will be videos posted by one of those many.

What I can remember from the race;

I think the BFA was for the Galmer. I think there was minor contact and he was stalled in a bad spot, so they brought everyone in. He got going again, came into the pits and they did some quick repairs and he was able to continue, but a 1/2 lap back. The Galmer is a very nice looking car. It looks like it can slip through the air pretty cleanly.

Basically there was a three car battle for the lead all race. Jeremy Hill and Alex traded the lead a few times and JR was in third very close behind. The braking zone in 10A was very exciting. It was fun seeing who would pop over the hill in the lead. Many times it was side by side. Unfortunately on the last lap, all three popped over the hill together and it didn't look like they'd all get through cleanly.

Jeremy was on driver's right, Alex was in the middle and JR had a very strong run on the inside, but Alex was very defensive. I couldn't tell exactly what happened from my POV, but JR had two wheels off on the inside, did a fantastic job of not crashing but was not able to scrub off enough speed to make the corner. He did a half spin, Jeremy was hoping to squirt through the melee and grab the lead (and win), but Alex was first out of 10B and to the flag. JR tried to get going again (and probably could have still finished in third - they had a gap), but he got stuck in the gravel.

There were discussions afterwards, which may have led to paperwork. No fisticuffs or anything like that, but JR was obviously unhappy with how it played out. Understandably.

Glenn Cooper had a strong run in Mike's VD. I think he finished fourth behind Bell?

It was a very diverse field of chassis, and they all looked great.

Tomorrow is the longer race, but since the weather may be wet, the series decided to do the standing start today instead. I'm glad I got to see it.

[Mike B]

Great write-up, Russ! The standing start was fantastic and the pit lane was lined with spectators that came over to see it. I'm working on a teaser video but the hotel WiFi is not great so it may have to wait a day or two.

For some reason, results were still provisional this evening but it might just be because T&S closed up before printing the official results.
Here is the finishing order:
1. Alex Mayer
2. Jeremy Hill
3. Jason Bell
4. Glenn Cooper
5. Shane Prieto
6. Pete Frost
7. J.R. Osborne
8. William Falatick
9. Nicolas Ortiz
10. Jose Gerardo
11. Joel Haas



Nicolas Ortiz and Shane Prieto got together in T10 and Ortiz spun, causing the BFA. He got going quickly with some damage. 9th place and running at the end was impressive considering the damage.
The Galmer had front wing mount problems in Q, and trouble restarting after the BFA, which put Jose way in the back.
Joel Haas cut a tire, presumably in the Ortiz debris, and parked early.

[Mike B]

Be sure to set it to HD:
http://youtu.be/1X2RC_nUWn8
More to come!

[ghickman]

Nothing like the sound of 11 high rev cars taking off at once.

The standing starts should be the signature of the F1000 series. Off the hook pure fun and judging by the number of folks up at the pitwall a crowd favorite.

Great job putting this together Mike.

[Agitator]

Very good race, especially up front.

Couple of questions: Was Hill's car hitting a rev limiter going right before the braking zone at 10? His engine would pop a few times, but the car didn't appear to be slowing down, then it would stop for a nano-second, then it seemed he was on the brakes.

Second: How in the world was the independent group approved? I love any open wheeled class getting their own group, but 11 cars??? I know there was some grumbling in the pits from other drivers.

[Mike B]

Mayer swept the weekend, taking the win in the rain today. Jason Bell showed what he is capable of and chased Mayer for most of the race but spun in T10 going for the lead. Prieto crossed the line in 2nd ahead of Hill and Ortiz but was later penalized for passing under yellow, promoting Hill to P2 and Ortiz to P3. Full results pending.
Even in the rain, this group put on another exciting race!

[BURKY]

https://youtu.be/USKEXMNSFfI

[drdestructo]

By far the coolest class in club racing!

[SCOTTY81]

Very cool.... nice job Mike...

[GT1Vette]

Second: How in the world was the independent group approved? I love any open wheeled class getting their own group, but 11 cars??? I know there was some grumbling in the pits from other drivers.

Chalk it up to the "loss of institutional knowledge" that has befallen Topeka since the new president has ascended to the throne. I can't blame Mike for proposing the deal, but others should have realized the long-term ramifications and countered by offering just one stand-alone session (the Saturday race) with the standing start. And yes, even though it REALLY only affected the rest of the winged drivers, there was a fair amount of grumbling from the other groups as well.

[BURKY]

The flat tire on Saturday was a bummer! But it was great to see Joel was able to start both race's.

[jchracer]

The flat tire on Saturday was a bummer! But it was great to see Joel was able to start both race's.

My weekend was a complete disaster for so many reasons. Special thanks to Mike Burkhardt for helping me put Humpty back together again and getting me back on track. Without his help I would have packed it up and gone home early......maybe the wiser decision....

Big thanks to Mike B for for putting all this together. The single run group and standing start were big draw for me. I am surprised more FB drivers didn't take advantage of this unique opportunity. What gives?

[Agitator]

Chalk it up to the "loss of institutional knowledge" that has befallen Topeka since the new president has ascended to the throne. I can't blame Mike for proposing the deal, but others should have realized the long-term ramifications and countered by offering just one stand-alone session (the Saturday race) with the standing start. And yes, even though it REALLY only affected the rest of the winged drivers, there was a fair amount of grumbling from the other groups as well.

Like I said, I wasn't really complaining, but it just seemed odd. And I agree; it really only affected the big bore winged cars...but I think it REALLY affected it! Their group was one of the bigger ones I have seen. If you're gonna have 8 groups then there had to be a better way to divide those groups. Nothing against F1000, but that was a huge benefit that I doubt you'll ever see again. I was supporting an FV this weekend, and am more than happy that their isn't anything faster than the FF's to contend with.

Unfortunately, the supps said that the standing start was only going to be Sunday...I positioned myself on the backstretch and missed the start Saturday! Bummer.

[pepperbowe]

some pix from the weekend

SAT https://plus.google.com/photos/11553...50826667924209

SUN https://plus.google.com/photos/11553...43661073506193

[pepperbowe]

Chalk it up to the "loss of institutional knowledge" that has befallen Topeka since the new president has ascended to the throne. I can't blame Mike for proposing the deal, but others should have realized the long-term ramifications and countered by offering just one stand-alone session (the Saturday race) with the standing start. And yes, even though it REALLY only affected the rest of the winged drivers, there was a fair amount of grumbling from the other groups as well.

Grumbling or not, even with a short field of 11 cars, they put on the best "shows" of the weekend! As Russ McB stated, the number of 'spectators' on the pro pit wall was outstanding

Just my two cents worth

[BURKY]

Thanks Pepper!

[ghickman]

Congrats to Alex Mayer for the weekend sweep. Nice kid and awesome to race with. His dad turns on all the effort to get him to the races. We need a half dozen just like him in the field.

[Nick77]

Thanks Gary
really wish you could make it out here to race with us
Nick

[ghickman]

I'd love to come out and do battle with you guys but it's just too far a tow for us.

I put out the message that I was looking for a car to rent for the VIR race. Anyone reading this on the east coast that has a car for rent send me a PM.