Cat National at RA who's going

[jjstecher]

Just wanted to get a thread started and see who was all going to the Cat National at RA coming up. I know that Mike, myself and Niki will more than likely be there and I have heard rumors that Brandon is planning on coming up too. Anyone else joining the party so we can offset the jokes and their FF 40th bash?

[Mike B]

I'm registered, are you?

[jjstecher]

It friggin would have been today until I noticed that they need my log book number...so its gotta wait until Sunday now cause I am out of town.

[Wren]

We are trying very hard to get up there with Brandon's car. I would put us at 75% sure we are going.

[jjstecher]

Great race weekend at the 40th FF and the Cat National. Weather skirted us all weekend and we ended up having a beautiful time to race. See ALLLLLLLLL the FF's at the track was really cool. It was frigging amazing to see them hammering around and just how beautiful these cars really are. Awesome stuff.

Myself I had a blast but had a hell of a challenging weekend! I had a front wing come apart during Q1 and then spent most of the first evening getting it back together with the help of my crew and of course my paddock buddies Keith and Dale Carter. Basically had the mounting insert of the wing pull out of the nose pick up and then I burned off an end plate and took a chunk of the front wing with it. Kept complaining on the radio about the car changing grip under aero willy nilly and then going through the kink all of a sudden saw the end plate up above the tire...needless to say I just about dumped my pants.

Q2 went good with the car being back together and we went out after some advice from the Goodyear guys on how to save tires as I was getting about 2 sessions out of a set max before cording them and was down to just sets that already had 2 session on them for the rest of the weekend and needed to make them last. I took it easy and put in a time that put me next to Brandon as I wanted to save the tires for the race.

The race was a hell of a lot of fun. Big thanks to the Milwaukee region for splitting the groups and the start making life a lot easier for us folks. Brandon on pole and me on the outside up the hill and we got the green. I got a good jump on Brandon and Mike B. got one hell of start as well and we both slotted in order with the 3 FB's up front. I pulled out about 6-7 seconds on Mike/Brandon in the first two laps and then was able to maintain about 4-6 seconds consistent until we hit traffic then it was adventurous as I was trying to catch folks in areas that yield passing opportunities but since the C/DSR's were also racing for position it was difficult and the gap closed down to Brandon being a big red blob in my mirrors. He and I went at it for a few laps with a couple pass/pass backs and then finally he got me into T1 and into T5 on that lap I locked up huge and flat spotted all four tires and from then on I felt like I had no rear brakes so I dialed in max front brake and brought the car home. Hats off to Brandon who ran a hell of a race and really has that Citation rocking.

After the race I found I blew apart my brake pads on the left rear caliper which I suspect is what happened into T5 when I couldn't get her to stop but am not positive.

The best thing about FB is that everyone is so friendly. I think Wren, Brandon and his wife as well as Mike B and Northwind stopped down 4-5 different times just to BS. Great fun. I was too busy with the car to get up to their paddocks but promise I will in the future. Looking at the 40th of the FF I can only hope that I'm seeing where we'll be at in 37 years. :P

Video of the race from start to end. Lots of exciting footage and the battle with bradon starts about 17 minutes in. http://www.vimeo.com/5774566

[Wren]

I had a really great time this weekend. I am really glad that we made the tow up. Can't wait to watch your video and post more thoughts later, I'm posting on my BB from an IHOP in Osh Kosh, WI right now.

[jjstecher]

I had a really great time this weekend. I am really glad that we made the tow up. Can't wait to watch your video and post more thoughts later, I'm posting on my BB from an IHOP in Osh Kosh, WI right now.

Now I'm jealous...IHOP rules. Strawberry French Toast all the way.

[Rennie Clayton]

Anybody have a set of official results they can post or link to?


Cheers,
Rennie

[Nicholas Belling]

Really good job..

Keep up the good work.

[Jnovak]

I was on pit wall for the race & was getting some times on the FB cars for fun. Both John & Brandon were in the low 2:15 second range for many laps & I caught Brandon at a 2:14 something late in the race. However I did not get every lap so I do not know who got fast lap. John had about a 5+ second lead early on but it was obvious that he ran into a problem as he slowed down in the 2nd half of the race & Brandon chased him down for the lead. GREAT stuff with all 3 cars leading the way from all the FE & S2 cars. They also caught up to many of the C/DSR cars that started out about 30 seconds ahead due to the split start.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[Wren]

Jay,

That's about right for the race. Brandon ran a 13.8 in Q1 on leftover goodyears and switched to leftpver Hoosiers for the race. It was very frustrating to not be able to get tires as the Hoosier distributer showed up without any. A lot of guys were having big problems getting tires.

[Dennis Valet]

Some quick pics of the FBs at RA.









You guys were absolutely FLYING around the track, cars sounded and looked great as usual

[Rennie Clayton]

Awesome photos, Dennis! Did you get any of the Sports Racers?

For the curious, the race results are posted on MyLaps:
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=451598


John - sorry about the issues with the front wing, that really sucks! Sounds like you patched things back together reasonably well though, albeit with some damage to the front end. When's your next race?


Cheers,
Rennie

[Dennis Valet]

I did - I have a couple uploaded, but I haven't uploaded most of them since I was more focused on getting the Formula Ford photos uploaded first.

Here are some I have, and I'll upload more eventually.

[Richard Dziak]

Dennis...you are one great photographer. Great action photos of both FB and C Sports racers. I have added the photos of John's and Brandon's cars to the F1000 Owner-Drivers website:

http://formulaf1000classfbracecarown...terfly.com/252


I have featured your photos at the top of the page.

If you have any photos of Mike Beauchamp's F1000, I would like to add them to my website.

Thanks for the OUTSTANDING photos.....AWESOME.

[Tom Valet]

Thank you for the compliments - I believe I do, I just need to sort through the photos to find them, and then upload them.

Thanks again, glad you enjoy the pictures.

[Dennis Valet]

That was me - apologies, I posted on my dad's computer without changing screen names!

[Rennie Clayton]

Dennis,

Outstanding photos, really top notch. I'm particularly interested in photos of the #47 DSR driven by Garry Crook. At least, that's his listed number - carbon black car with yellow tiger stripes and a very unique front end splitter design; very hard to miss.

So as not to carry on the threadjack, you can PM or email me off the thread: rennie@dauntlessracing.com


Cheers,
Rennie

[Dennis Valet]

Rennie - I believe I have a couple pictures of that car, I know which one you are talking about for sure. I will look through the pictures when I get the chance and I'll be sure to contact you.

[jjstecher]

John - sorry about the issues with the front wing, that really sucks! Sounds like you patched things back together reasonably well though, albeit with some damage to the front end. When's your next race?


Cheers,
Rennie

Ren,
I got the pickup fixed correctly at the track and its actually better than OEM now after some dremel machining to actually add slots in the side of the aluminum insert to give the adhesive extra gripping points rather than just the smooth side of the insert.

Next race is coming up in a few weeks so I need to get a new end plate from Stohr and then just am going to actually patch the wing up nicer here at the house (I dont think gorilla tape for 1/6 of the wing is probably aero friendly or as structural as I need it to be). I'll send ya an email later.

Dennis great pictures man!! Anymore you have of the FB crew let me know...would love to have them.

[Brandon Dixon]

Video of the race from start to end. Lots of exciting footage and the battle with bradon starts about 17 minutes in. http://www.vimeo.com/5774566

Great video and thanks for sharing. I'm hoping that you and Beauchamp can manage to make the trek to Atlanta for the ARRC!

Brandon

[Northwind]

Brandon,

One heck of a race! Thanks for coming up. The FB's put on a good show again.

[Dennis Valet]

Went through the pictures again



The beautiful VD FB










and Rennie - these are the only two pictures I have of that DSR. The first one is from practice/qualifying....



and this one from the race



I went back and looked at my VIR photos - he had the straight splitter on in all of those, so it was something new for the RA race! Sorry I don't have more pictures, I only shot a few of that groups sessions and for whatever reason I didn't have more than 2 shots of that car.

[Mike B]

Went through the pictures again



The beautiful VD FB

I don't know if the car is beautiful but the pictures sure are! Can I get a hi-res copy?

[Dennis Valet]

Absolutely, tell me which ones you want and shoot me an email and I'll send you full res pics

[Richard Dziak]

Great photos of Mike Beauchamps F1000.....fantastic. I will be adding these photos to the F1000 Owners/drivers photo website and will feature them as the main photos.

Thanks Tom for your great photos.

[Tom Valet]

Great photos of Mike Beauchamps F1000.....fantastic. I will be adding these photos to the F1000 Owners/drivers photo website and will feature them as the main photos.

Thanks DENNIS for your great photos.

Fixed it for you Richard!

[RobLav]

Tom, Dennis - you guys coming to LRP this weekend to take more photos? The photography is quite excellent.

[Dennis Valet]

Yes - we are going to be at lime rock but I'm not sure how much shooting I am gonna do. Might take a break and just enjoy the races but we'll see.

[billwald]

Great photos and video! Thanks for posting them.