2020 FC Runoffs Road America

[Speed Sport Engineering]

Interesting day today. Being the last session on track made for a long day. The sun was a major factor (at least for me). I had a large visor strip on my helmet to help as much as possible but i still found T1, T6, and T8 to be almost completely blind.

Rob started in the back of the grid since he didn't post a time yesterday, but he still managed to run some amazing laps. Armington was the rabbit in the session, but no one seemed to be able to hang on.

Everyone was pushing hard. I belive Fauza went off in T3 very early. Dixon did a quick spin in T6 towards the end but i think kept it on the pavement.

Tomorrow's session is earlier, so the sun should be less of an issue. Cooler temperatures expected but they could be offset by the earlier on track time. It was already cooling off very quickly by the time we got on track today.

[DanW]

McDonough - withdrew skating accident

Yup. He broke his wrist at a skate park.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

Well that sucked - don't think anyone had a chance to improve. Maybe 3 laps?

[John LaRue]

No new photos, but I did spend some time chatting with the FC drivers and their crew before departing the land of cows yesterday afternoon. Dixon is still looking for speed and isn't interested in a bronze medal. He had some tweeks that would likely help to close the gap that were made before Q3, but obviously, without a long run to post a good time, we won't know if those worked or not until race day. Dan Campbell and his shoe Robert Armington are pretty satisfied with their odds. They arrived with a solid car and appear to have made minor adjustments to deal with the conditions; he should be a solid contender on Avon's. Same with Rob Allaer, the LTD crew had both cars dialed in, but Mauro crashed in 1 in Q3 and it sounds like he may withdraw from the race. Rob laid down a scorcher on Wednesday without benefit of a tow. He was expressing concerns that his time would be eclipsed in Thursday's session, but the long yellow prevented anyone from closing the gap. Champ Brian Tomasi was busy analyzing his odds yesterday morning and noted how closely packed the Hoosier shod cars are on the grid. I had a long phone session last evening with FC newcomer Kevin Fandozzi who is improving with every session and is having a blast. He mentioned to me that he was overwhelmed by the supportive nature of the competitors; several of whom had offered to help him scale and tune the car during the week. All in all the FC people who I spoke with during my few days at the track were having a great time and are bullish on the future of FC. They also indicate in intention to make Runoffs at Indy which will be the 35th anniversary of FC.

[E1pix]

Reading about this kind of camaraderie is *exactly* what racing needs to draw newbies in. Especially those right on the verge of committing.

In my karting days, the weekends of racing were awesome — but the lifetime of friends made can be forever. One is twenty days a year, the other twenty years at least.

Very well done, the best of threads.

[John LaRue]

Thanks.

[E1pix]

To You as well, John.

[EYERACE]

Whew !!!
2 screens....see it in 3D....crossed eyes....great races....it's been interesting

but MAN!!....enough to make one want a drink after about the 11th lap

[John LaRue]

I have not heard of any drama from the tech building so we will assume that the finish is intact. Congratulations to two-time National FC Champion Rob Allaer on a superb week; he schooled some very tough competitors. Hopefully we will get word from Rob as to why he fell back at the start. It didn't take long however for him to catch the lead pack and pick them off one by one. Greg Rice's Citation entry driven by USA Scholarship winner Simon Sikes looked strong with a power move in the first lap moving from 4th to 2nd. He appeared to have something for Armington's Avon shod Van Diemen and remained competitive until Armington pulled to the sidelines with an apparent mechanical issue. Dixon got slotted back by multi-time FV National Champion Michael Varacins and never appeared to have the suds to make any serious challenge to the front of the pack. Our other two-time FC National Champion, Brian Tomasi, appeared to have a somewhat lonely day (at least from the video telecast point of view) running just outside of the top five for the entire race. Newcomer Kevin Fandozzi made a decent charge through the field and looked more comfortable in the car than he had all week.

Congratulations to all who competed this week and thank you for sharing your stories and information to keep us all informed of what was going on. There appears to be some reasonable momentum building in the class and some reasonable new prospects on the horizon. You may receive a survey in the coming weeks on the 2021 Runoffs. If you do, be certain to respond in the positive as this is an important factor in determining the class combinations for the net Runoffs.

[Speed Sport Engineering]

Congratulations to Rob and the LTD crew. He had a fantastic drive today.

Everything should be offical. Impound dragged on for a while for no apparent reason. They had finished and found all the cars compliant pretty quickly, but it took a couple of hours before everyone was released.

My understanding was Tomasi lost third gear at the start, and drove the whole race without it. A disappointing end to a trying season for him for sure. I owe him a huge thank you for all the advice he gave me over the past year.

Dixon struggled with overall grip. He described it as driving 13 out laps as he felt he never got any temperature in the tires. It was certainly cold. It seems a cool front moved in before our race and the temperature dropped significantly in the hour or so before our race. I owe him a huge amount of credit as well as he has also been a great source of advice these past two years.


I'm glad to see FC having a strong showing. Almost as many entries as FF. Let's keep the momentum going and make it one of the biggest formula classes next year.

[DaveW]

...Dixon struggled with overall grip. He described it as driving 13 out laps as he felt he never got any temperature in the tires. It was certainly cold. It seems a cool front moved in before our race and the temperature dropped significantly in the hour or so before our race. ...

The Citations are easier on tires than most other FF/FC/F2000's. That is an advantage most of the time, but not when it's cold and one has difficulty warming tires. Sometimes I have had major difficulty getting my tires warm. And it would be worse on a track like RA with long straights that is easy on tires even when it's hot.

Back in '00, I had that issue (IIRC, drizzling and low 50's at race time) with my FC (GY 120 low hysteresis compound) and actually dropped out of the M-O Runoffs race after I got lapped ! It was like driving on ice and I was a moving chicane.

[Hardingfv32]

Assuming you know the weather condition & tire choice... Is there anything you can do to the setup to increase tire temps? Do most of the choices just add too much drag?

Brian

[DaveW]

Assuming you know the weather condition & tire choice... Is there anything you can do to the setup to increase tire temps? Do most of the choices just add too much drag?

Brian

Several things come to mind in order of importance:
1. Run tires with known good performance in damp cool conditions - soft compound with high hysteresis - the GY 120's have little hysteresis, but they were the only "soft" tires I had. With the 120's the following things would likely not have helped enough.
2. Run higher tire pressures to decrease the size of the contact patch to warm it faster - however stiffening things in slippery conditions is usually counter-productive.
3. More downforce, less damping, lower spring rates
4. Add toe to scrub the tires more and heat them as a result

[CScharnow]

Still recovering from my 36-hour whirlwind trip to the land of cheese, lakes, and one of the best damn road courses in North America. (I don’t care what Greg Rice says, Elkhart Lake in fall is glorious) I was hoping to post something last night but Siebkins and the Paddock Club got the best of me.

First off, huge congrats to Rob Allaer and the entire LTD team. Jose, Don, Jim, Mauro. Not only is the car prep absolute top level, these guys are always willing to lend a hand, offer advice, or open their cooler (which by the way, has an impressive selection of everything from Monster to Perrier).

Rob loves to claim a trained monkey can drive his car. I wholeheartedly disagree. His drive yesterday was superb. Falling back at the start. Slowly reeling in the two leaders. Making the pass for second and then again for the lead when Armington faltered. The sheer consistency of his lap times is something even the finest trained NASA space monkey can only dream about.

The coolest part for me was watching the team in Victory Lane. Rob’s wife, Beth, was in tears. His father-in-law was beyond proud and watching in a way that is basically the exact opposite of how my father-in-law looks at me. Don was his usual Stoic self but managed to crack a few smiles. And Jose was walking around like Toto Wolff, as if he expected nothing less but still on cloud 9.

One quick story about the LTD crew. On Friday, newcomer Kevin Fandozzi asked on Facebook if he could use someone’s setup pads to scale his car. Livingston quickly offered help, and then the whole team spent hours squaring up the Mygale for him well into the night. Word is there’s even a pic Kevin took of Jose checking camber and Rob wrenching. THAT is what this class is all about, the eventual Runoffs winning team taking time (the day before the big dance, no less) to help a fellow competitor.

Congrats again to the now two-time Formula Continental National Champion.

[CScharnow]

One of the better feel good stories to come out of Elkhart Lake was 7X FV Champ Michael Varacins breaking through for his first Runoffs podium in FC.

He spent countless hours this year re-engineering a brand new chassis to get him more comfortable in the car. Which then shifted a lot of weight forward and opened up a whole new can of worms.

He told me the entire reason for leaving FV for FC was for a new challenge and these last two years have surely brought one as he got acclimated. But he was right there all week, especially with those on the same rubber. He made a great pass on Dixon into T5 early on and was able to hold off the multiple time Pro series champ for the rest of the race.

Watching his daughter play with his medal during the TV interview was priceless.

[CScharnow]

I didn’t get to speak to Simon but this kid had a hell of a day. Finishing 2nd on track (then 1st in the tech shed) in the FF race in the morning, and following it up with a 2nd in the FC race that afternoon.

Simon stalked Armington for the first third of the race before getting passed by Allaer, and then was stuck to Rob’s rear wing until a suspension piece broke with two laps to go. Even then, he finished just 6 seconds back and was the only car on Hoosiers who could stick with the top two.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if someday we’re watching Simon race on TV on Sunday’s.

[E1pix]

I’d be surprised if we *didn’t* see him in the future. Jeremy Shaw has a real gift for seeing stars in daylight.

One I thought we’d have seen racing in the upper echelons here by now is Neil Verhagen. *Stunning* when 15 at Mid-Ohio in ‘16.

[CScharnow]

I don’t know if there is someone who will race a FC car this year more than Brandon Dixon. Running the full Pro series, various Majors and the Runoffs, I think they told me it was something like 10 weekends in an already shortened season.

The Citation is notorious for being easy on tires, which turned out to be the Achilles heel for the Alabama gang. They quite simply couldn’t get heat in the tires and Wren made the comment the tire temps were colder after the race than they were before. It also didn’t help that the ambient temp dropped about 10 degrees in the last hour before the race.

It was a tough week for a team that’s used to being on the top step, but knowing these guys they’re probably already working on a Mercedes-like DAS system for Atlanta in a couple weeks...

[CScharnow]

Last post (don’t all cheer at once) as I finished going through my pics. Two “what could have been” scenarios.

Armington came on at the green like a bat out of hell with an absolutely awesome pass around the outside to take the point. He was in control and the race looked like it was his to lose until a camber shim came out from hitting some curbs. And once one goes, the rest soon follow (ask me how I know). Didn’t get to talk to him after the race but he looked understandably pissed.

Tomasi had what he described as the most boring race of his career after learning he had no 3rd gear at the start. He had gone through the box before the race and everything was fine in the paddock but something hung up while at speed. (Lesson for the rest of us: always request a hardship lap when you do that). Most impressive was the fact he still turned multiple laps in the 2:17s! With no 3rd gear. Are you kidding me?

[E1pix]

I’ve enjoyed your posts.


PS — Encore, Sorry:
DAN!!!

[problemchild]

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if someday we’re watching Simon race on TV on Sunday’s.

[CScharnow]

Touché.

[rallaer]

Thank you everyone that has reached out to congratulate us on last weekend. I can assure you the result was unexpected and we are just thrilled it worked out for us.

However, I really want to thank John LaRue and Chris Scharnow for unselfishly pumping up our class, and all the competitors at the Runoffs these past couple weeks. You guys are definitely making it interesting and fun. The pictures and stories are awesome. Spending your own time and money on traveling to the Runoffs, walking around the paddock, and then posting these comments on Apex and Facebook is inspirational. No one can say you guys haven't done your part to try to generate enthusiasm and interest in our class.

While some seem to push personal agendas, you guys were just there as highly educated reporters on the ground, informing the rest of the huge population of FC owners what fun they were missing by not getting involved. Motivating. I loved reading everything you did.

Thank you fellas. I know I already told you in person, but everyone needs to know, and I think you need to be thanked properly for your efforts!

Rob Allaer
FC #52


PS If John is the "Godfather" of FC - I guess that makes Chris the "Consigliere"???

[CScharnow]

Some random thoughts to put a bow on this thread (also to distract you from the SCCA illuminati conspiring to make each of us spend more money on tires). Looking forward to 2021 a few things stand out to me:

• Our paddock is awesome. I was blown away by the willingness of everyone at the Runoffs to take the time to speak with me (just hours before the race) about any and everything. These guys are the best of our class and each one stopped to talk to some guy who laughs at his own witty comments on the internet.
• Anyone getting into FC should know there is an entire paddock of racers willing and able to help. They don't always have time to come search you out, so don't be shy about stopping by to introduce yourself or ask questions. In my experience, I have never been turned away or given bad advice, except maybe from Jim Morgan.
• All I kept thinking during the first 8 laps of the race was "who says FC cars can't run close?" Seeing the top 3 run nose-to-tail was great. Sure, it wasn't the hanford device-like drafting battles FF has, but it was more like a chess match between three grandmasters. Awesome to watch.
• The time commitment for the Runoffs may scare some people. I get it, it scares me too. But this is so much more than a race. It is an event, a destination, a 'gathering of the clans' as his purple highness calls it. Some go only to win a championship, but so many more to go to be a part of the spectacle. (And it can be done in a much shorter time frame if you really want or need to.) We have the potential to make Indy 2021 even more unique.
• Speaking of Indy, there are discussions happening to do a number of things for the 35th anniversary. Possibilities include a car show at the museum, paddocking (relatively) close together, an all FC BBQ, and much more. Those details will slowly get released as they become available.

In the meantime, get those cars out of the garages, or go rent one, or just go buy one (prices are pretty damn cheap if you haven't looked recently) and let's create something special. See you at Indy.