F1600 Watkins Glen

[Monty M]

Three different winners at Road Atlanta in just about 24 hours should make for a competitive Watkins Glen weekend .

All in the paddock (F1600/F2000/Atlantic) welcome at Polestar on Friday night for a party hosted by Polestar and the Series!

[Lotus7]

Maybe I'm missing something, having spent all day in the car driving home, but there isn't a single comment posted about my kid's drive from last to first (ultimately finished second) in the Sunday finale in F1600 ????? :-(

[Monty M]

There is a write-up here: http://www.f1600series.com/news/1053...kins-glen.html

Last to second (and laps led) in a quickly repaired car

[Mike Scanlan]

Ian
It was a great drive and a great put back. Cudo's to you and Austin. Care to shed any light on what happened on the Race 2 start, all I saw was tire smoke from mid pack going down the laces. It seems that the series doesn't get a lot of play on Apex. Based on the average age of the fields, Apex might just be old school in the world of social media. The racing was super close all weekend and the draft again played a big role, even with the series enforcing a zero tolerance policy on bump drafting. They were checking noses for marks before and after each session.

[Bob Wright]

Not to mention our race director, Chip Robinson up on a sky crane over the back straight watching for infractions.

The F1600's proved they can race close without pushing each other.

[Lotus7]

Ian
It was a great drive and a great put back. Cudo's to you and Austin. Care to shed any light on what happened on the Race 2 start, all I saw was tire smoke from mid pack going down the laces. It seems that the series doesn't get a lot of play on Apex. Based on the average age of the fields, Apex might just be old school in the world of social media. The racing was super close all weekend and the draft again played a big role, even with the series enforcing a zero tolerance policy on bump drafting. They were checking noses for marks before and after each session.

Thanks Mike,
Wish I knew more, but sadly had no camera on the car for that session. Third-hand reports say our driver has a big pair of brass ones and was exercising them fully during a passing attempt ...
... and yes, the drafting message was taken to heart; put way fewer noses on the car at the Glen than I did at Atlanta LOL

[Steve Bamford]

Not to mention our race director, Chip Robinson up on a sky crane over the back straight watching for infractions.

The F1600's proved they can race close without pushing each other.

The racing was as tight as it was before without the bump drafting. Cars are so evenly matched with the Honda engines now we are seeing 10 cars in the lead pack and it is almost impossible to break the draft. Lots of passing during a race.

With that said it would be nice to see the leaders be able to get away & not simply be followed by others using the draft. Need to figure something out to make F1600 less draft reliant, IMO.

[Lotus7]

... Need to figure something out to make F1600 less draft reliant, IMO.

You'll get no argument from the guy whose driver was leading that last lap ... LOLOL

[Tom Valet]

Maybe I'm missing something, having spent all day in the car driving home, but there isn't a single comment posted about my kid's drive from last to first (ultimately finished second) in the Sunday finale in F1600 ????? :-(

Ian, back when we ran the series full time in 2011, win, lose or crash we posted news and a recap here on Apex every day of the weekend to let everyone know what was happening. Lots of other competitors did the same as well. And we had Dennis and TJ posting lots of photos too.

Now it seems like Steve Bamford and Mike Scanlan are the only ones interested in posting anything about the series here. Maybe it is as Mike says, this is too old school for the kids who use Facebook and Twitter.

Anyway, sounds like you and your son had a terrific weekend of racing, congrats.

Take care.

Tom

PS, post some photos of the car and your son if you get the chance! And some video would be great too.

[Steve Bamford]

I tend to try to post a little less as it doesn't seem like there is that many people interested based on the responses. Monty does a great job recapping, perhaps we can get him to post links to his race reports.

[provamo]

i guess since most guys here don not run piper/mygayle/whatever hondas there is not much interest in that "pro "series

[Mike Scanlan]

Ian, back when we ran the series full time in 2011, win, lose or crash we posted news and a recap here on Apex every day of the weekend to let everyone know what was happening. Lots of other competitors did the same as well. And we had Dennis and TJ posting lots of photos too.

Now it seems like Steve Bamford and Mike Scanlan are the only ones interested in posting anything about the series here. Maybe it is as Mike says, this is too old school for the kids who use Facebook and Twitter.

Anyway, sounds like you and your son had a terrific weekend of racing, congrats.

Take care.

Tom

PS, post some photos of the car and your son if you get the chance! And some video would be great too.

Anyway, sounds like you and your son had a terrific weekend of racing, congrats.
Tom,
I think just made Ian choke on his grits down south. It must've come as quite a surprise that he had a son. Ian is Austin Mack's race engineer on Kaiser's Mygale.

[Tom Valet]

Oops sorry, and thanks for the correction Mike. He did say in his original post "my kid" so I assumed it was his son.

If someone would post reports from the weekends we would know these kind of things!

[jimmyracer]

Any updates on the leg injuries from last weekend?

[Lotus7]

Oops sorry, and thanks for the correction Mike. He did say in his original post "my kid" so I assumed it was his son.

no worries guys, I did word that vaguely...

... but I am adapting to a 12 year old step-DAUGHTER .... now that's a challenge I'm enjoying :-)

[Lotus7]

oh, and I think the presumptions of old-school are correct, Austin does post his results and thoughts on facebook very promptly, so I guess others (with who I am not necessarily "friended") must do so as well ...
time for us old farts to move up out of the last century :-)

I'll get my 12 year old to get me up to speed

[Mike Scanlan]

Anthony Parker should be back in Boston by now and getting treated there for a break in the ankle/ lower right leg. I spoke to him and he sounds in good spirits. Head scans were done to be precautionary and all was well there. He said that he tried to save a tank slapper in the Esses and caught the guardrail. Sounds like he got caught out on that not so grippy concrete.

[Steve Bamford]

Mike,

Rumours were something broke. Sounds like from what you wrote he got caught out on cold tires as the new tires are dicey for the first lap and don't have much grip at all.

[R. Pare]

It must've come as quite a surprise that he had a son.

naa... his old girlfriends were great sports.....

[Lotus7]

naa... his old girlfriends were great sports.....

Nah, I'm pretty sure I know where all my DNA is, and isn't. LOL

[Parker]

Hey gang, it's the guy who delayed qualifying.

Sorry for the scare with this accident. Other than my badly broken right ankle I'm fine.

Was taken for evaluation, observation and surgery from the track and docs did an excellent job. Wednesday I was transferred to a rehab facility in Ma and Friday had an initial consultation with an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in this injury. He has scheduled the first reconstructive surgery for next Wednesday with another the following week. After that it's quite a while of resting to let all of the pieces heal properly. I'll keep everyone updated.

It was very special for me to be at this event as ever since I saw my first F1600 race at LimeRock in 2011, I've been working very hard to get here. Things didn't go quite as I had hoped but still, a dream come true.

I want to thank the series and racers for all of their truely wonderful support before and after the accident. My prototype transporter was loaded for me and driven to a series owner's home for safe keeping. Thank you all for helping to make this happen.
Also, I was called, texted, e-mailed, and visited in the hospital by many caring people who did a lot to make my life easier.

Another big thanks for the WGI emergency medical crew who did the job well and quickly despite my screaming. Morphine is amazing stuff.

Back to sleep and talk soon, Anthony.

[Roux]

Anthony,

We have chatted a few times and I am really sad to hear you got banged up so badly in your first FF race. You worked for some time to make that happen stepping up from being very good in FV's. Get well soon and back out there! in an FF I hope

Steve

[problemchild]

I never heard why the Sunday morning race was ended early. Please share.

[Mike Scanlan]

There was a car off in the toe and being the Glen it was clear it couldn't get towed out any faster than 2 laps and with FCY imminent they threw the checker.

[Steve Bamford]

There was a car off in the toe and being the Glen it was clear it couldn't get towed out any faster than 2 laps and with FCY imminent they threw the checker.

Local yellow would have made more sense.

Didn't we already run a lap or two with a local yellow there anyways?

[Mike Scanlan]

I agree with you Steve but the Glen is notorious for FCY

[problemchild]

Was the car in a dangerous position or the driver injured?

[Mike Scanlan]

No injury, the car was up on the grass as if having overshot the baking point on entry.

[Steve Bamford]

We ran multiple laps with a car parked there in the F2000 race a few hours later.

[problemchild]

Very disappointing. With many classes, the last lap does not mean much. A FF race, just like a FV race, needs to have a declared last lap in order to be a real race.

[swiftdrivr]

[It seems that the series doesn't get a lot of play on Apex.]

As one of those who want to run with the pros, but have to live vicariously, I enjoyed the reports, and especially the videos, but they have become rare. That's too bad. I'd love to watch the in-car from the run to second. Sounds like it was a heck of a race. Congrats!

[Mike Scanlan]

Okay Jim, only took me three weeks to convert the .mov file, but I got some good video, just lost the audio doing the conversion. Art and I had a great battle on Saturday, he upped his game on Sunday. Here's the you tube link: http://youtu.be/DOZeCgN296A

[swiftdrivr]

COOL! Racing so intense it made my glasses fog up!
Thanks for posting that. One day I have to run the Glen. It looks like such a fun, flowing track.

[Parker]

Hello all, I really didn't think that updating everyone on my progress deserved another post, however I AM certain that acknowledging all of the support that I have gotten over the last several weeks does require a post. So, here goes.

I had the last of 3 surgeries on my ankle last Wednesday afternoon. It was successful and the doctors are pleased with the outcome. The external fixiter pictured below was removed and they put another plate in the front of my leg to screw everything down from anterior direction. The surgeries are quite brutal in terms of the way they have to move material around and as such, there is a lot of pain following. I can tell you that after the surgeries there's much more pain than the accident itself. With lots of help and lots of medicine I think I'm well down the slope of this mountain of pain and looking forward to building back my strength and getting this thing healed. I should be leaving the hospital in the next several days and returning to a rehab facility. As I think I said before, it will be as many as 12 weeks before I can begin to apply weight to my right leg, but I'll be doing lots of PT and returning to work in some capacity before then I'm sure. So, that's that and it's time to get on with life.

Now for the real story. Since the 16th of May I have been showered with well wishes, warm thoughts, offers for help, and many unsolicited acts of help some of which I mentioned in my last post. Since my last post I have continued to be supported by fellow racers, Formula Race Promotions personnel, and the racing community at large. This has been wonderful and I am eternally grateful. I even received 3 "get well soon" cards while in hospital from the F1600 crew and signed by most if not all of the people at VIR. Thank you soo much guys even if Sarah made you do it!

As many of you know, Sarah Bonnier is the driving force behind much of my support and she has selflessly proven once again that she is a limitless supply of sympathy and energy. I feel it is extremely special to have her in our racing community.

That's all for now. I'm going to be fine so please don't worry anymore. Off to get some more pain pills, supper, and rest.

Hope to see many of you later in the summer or fall, Anthony.

[swiftdrivr]

Parker,
we haven,t met, butif your ever at a race and see my (subtly painted) DB 1, stop by. You have a winners attitude! Glad to hear things are progressing well. I hope you are back behind the wheel soon

[fubar]

Many thanks for posting the Glen video, a track that's been on my bucket list since I attended my first road race there- the '64 USRRC (no boot then). Don't think I'll drag my ancient DB-1 Kent back there though. Any FF rentals around the Glen?

Regarding FF drafting, be careful what you wish for as the arrival of the DB-1 back in the eighties was one thing that started the reduction of FF fields from the draft reliant pre-Swift cars (no 'planned' bump drafting then). No way a Crossle or Tiga could draft with the DB-1.

What is going on with the Hoosier pro tires? Have they gone to radial construction as it looked like a lot of front negative camber. Be careful out there!