NEFV Championship Rounds 7 & 8 (Thompson)

[njg005]

Now that the dust has settled from a wild weekend in Watkins Glen, it's time to prepare for Rounds 7 & 8 of the NEFV Championship held at Thompson Speedway on July 22-23. After a large showing at Watkins Glen (22 entries), sixteen FV's have entered thus far. If you have yet to sign up, I urge you to join the fun.
In conjunction with NER's Racing Against Leukemia fund raiser, NEFV will host the third annual Open Wheel Driving Experience. This event, held on Saturday July 23rd, allows friends, family, crew or other interested parties an opportunity to drive a formula vee on track at speed! Participants will receive driving instruction, safety instruction, laps in a street car with a qualified driver, a 15 minute morning session, and a 20 minute afternoon session.
Sharing the track with The Challenge Cup should put the largest field of formula vees on track in 2016, second to the runoffs or the Majors event at Mid Ohio. We encourage you to join us and hope to see you at the track!

[jpetillo]

I posted this on the FV Interchange, and copying it here...

Nick, thanks for posting this. Both the NEFV group (NorthEast Formula Vee - mostly the SCCA NER Region) and the Challenge Cup group put a huge effort into promoting each of their series, and are each perhaps the largest groups of their kind in the country. The two groups combined at Thompson is creating a unique opportunity for running in a large field. Currently that total is 27 cars. It's not too late to sign up and join the event.

The Formula Vees from NEFV are currently the single largest class at this event.

The NEFV's OWDE that Nick mentioned is also unique in the US. Getting new people into the Vees is a blast for all.

John

[njg005]

At 18 FV's and counting, we have the most entrants per class for the upcoming weekend. Let's see if we can hit 20 entries!

[ajpastore]

What an awesome weekend!
A great turnout from both the NEFV crowd and the Challenge Cup folks. 27 Vees in one form or another made it a special event in all respects.

The OWDE had 9 drivers emerge from their cars, after 2 sessions on track, with giant grins ear to ear. The guy that drove my car is a circle track racer and he was absolutely thrilled. I heard similar stories all around the paddock. I can't think of a better way to get people hooked on the sport or the class, than to get them in the cars and have a go at it.

It was great to see some of the Challenge Cup drivers that we haven't seen in a while and I hope some of the slick clad vees didn't mess up their races too much. In retrospect I think we should have had a Vee drivers meeting and discuss some those details. Coming upon groups of cars, racing hard and a little slower than us isn't something we've done much of before! So it was a learning experience for everyone.
The heat kept many from wandering too far from the shade of their paddock spots, myself included, so I didn't get a chance to meet as many of you guys as I wanted to.

All in all the racing was awesome, it was hot as hell, we got to see lots of friends and have great fun doing it.

Thanks to all the NEFV guys and gals that made the OWDE happen and the Challenge Cup people for bringing a fine gathering to join us at Thompson.

Andy P.

[Stumpthumper]

As an OWDE participant, I have to say that you guys put together an awesome opportunity for those of us that wanted to try out the FVs.

For anyone who might even remotely think they might want to try these cars or get on the track in a purpose built car you MUST take advantage of this next year.

Not only did someone (Chris Z) let me drive his car and show me some of the prep work he does and what makes a Vee tick, he even made a few tweaks to get my large frame into his car (very, very kind). I was also able to borrow a bunch of gear from other drivers and then walk around and try on all the different shapes and sizes of Vee's. Everyone was so open to talking and helping. I hope to repay the generosity by joining your ranks!

Another thank you all around.

-Dave

[njg005]

What a fantastic weekend! The whole paddock was a buzz on Friday morning in anticipation of 28 FV's taking to the track. I spoke with more NER members, former FV drivers, stewards, and friends in alternative classes who were thoroughly impressed with the level of participation demonstrated by NEFV and the Challenge Cup. No matter what tire you wore, 28 cars taking the track is quite a sight. Thank you to the Challenge Cup driver's for including a NER event on their calendar.

Pictures:
Thompson NEFV Championship

Plenty of prizes were handed out in the NEFV Veehive throughout the weekend.

Pastore Prize winners:

Friday:
1st Mark Fosberry
2nd Nick Galuardi
3rd Mike Hinkle

Saturday:
1st Nick Galuardi
2nd Mike Hinkle
3rd Mark Fosberry

Congratulations to Andy Pastore for taking the overall wins on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. It's always a pleasure having team Pastore at the track.

Carr Cash Winner:
Skip Popiak

Dietmar Dollars:
Friday: Chris Barry
Saturday: Paul Faford

On Saturday, NEFV hosted the 3rd annual Open Wheel Driving Experiences and it was arguably the best one yet! Nine new FV driver's had an opportunity to experience our quirky open wheel racers at speed (and they put on a show!). Great job by all the participants and thank you to all the current FV driver's for risking their rides.

OWDE Pictures

Next NEFV Championship Event:

Palmer Motorsports Park
September 11 & 12
I hope to see you there!

[jpetillo]

It's exciting to read these posts. It's good to see and hear such good news.

The NorthEast FV (NEFV) guys and Challenge Cup guys do work hard to make this happen - well done!

We have to also thank the NER for supporting us and our run group this year.

John