FC Winter Majors 2022

[CScharnow]

Homestead Winter Majors Test Day:

Back live reporting from the bottom of the map at the first stop on the road to VIR (where apparently Mother Nature doesn’t realize it’s the middle of winter).

Our test group today had everything from P1s to FVs, with 43 cars in between. Sitting on the grid I got the same feeling you get when your waiter doesn’t write down your order, you just know it isn’t going to go well.

But we mostly behaved. I don’t think there was a black flag all day. Don’t get me wrong, it was a complete cluster, but hey, no black flags.

Rocket Rob fought shifter issues all day. James Lee took Defer’s diffuser off and his car was so fast through the oval that I called Larue and asked him to pass an emergency rule to make him put it back on the car this weekend. Kiriluk was getting some seat time in for Sebring next week. And I’m telling anyone who will listen that it’s the car’s fault, not my driving.

Practice and quali tomorrow.

[BrianT1]

How about some photos.

[CScharnow]

Homestead Qualifying and Race 1 Recap:

After two days of hot sunshine with a scattered shower here and there, we woke up to a tropical monsoon on Saturday.

It initially looked like it was going to be a rain race so a few of us went out in the wet morning qualifier to get a feel for it. We were ready. And then in typical South Florida fashion, the sun came out, dried the track, and that was that.

The race was relatively uneventful. Rocket Rob fixed his shifter issues and went from 3rd to 1st by turn 1 and never looked back. Byrd and Gilkes had a decent fight going until Byrd pulled off in the infield. And despite Defer blowing by me on the oval like I was in reverse, the lack of downforce in the infield finally did him in with a nice pirouette in turn 2.

We roll off for race 2 at 10:40 tomorrow. And according to the forecast, it may rain. No wait, It will probably rain. But then again it may not rain. Ok, it most likely won’t rain but there’s still a strong possibility it will.

At least we get to look forward to another day of debating who has the best weather app on their phone.

[CScharnow]

Homestead Race 2:

Rocket Rob goes back to back and sweeps the weekend.

The weather was dry all morning, right up until we were about to make our way to the grid. Then the skies opened. But it stopped soon after so half of us went to the grid on slicks and half on wets.

At the 5, it was clear slicks were the right call and there was a mad scramble to get those on wets switched over.

As for the race, Allaer and Byrd slowly walked away and were consistently within a couple seconds of each other. They caught traffic leading onto the back stretch on the final lap and were side by side through the oval coming to the checker. There was even contact on the front straight but the 2X champ would not be denied.

Nick Gilkes, fresh off his showing at the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy, was on my gearbox and kept the pressure on throughout the first half of the race before some issues with his car eventually let me open a gap. But that dude can drive and is going to be a real threat.

So, Allaer draws first blood on the Road to VIR. Next up we’re heading a few hours north and trading palm trees for orange groves. The first round of the Primus Mini Series looks to be one of the most competive Sebring races we’ve had in a long time. Stay tuned.

(I’ll try and do a better job of posting pics at that one, Brian)

[CScharnow]

Sebring Day 1:

Minor, who hasn’t been to Sebring in 10 years and missed most of the test day with fuel cell issues, puts in on provisional pole. Allaer had three of four camber block bolts come loose and despite nearly losing the left rear wheel is still only a tenth off Tim. Gilkes used his expertise of driving at those cold English tracks and puts it 3rd on the grid on only his second lap.

Rocco is having fuel pickup problems. Herscher lost a layshaft. Zoretic pulled off in morning practice and didn’t make it back out. Fairbairn went out for the first time this afternoon in the Primus Super Pinto but I didn’t see any times.

Defer has clearly been hanging around Jim Morgan too long and blamed traffic. And people are starting to question my excuse about it being the car.

It was a picture perfect day in Central Florida with Chamber of Commerce weather. We have one more qualifying in the morning before Race 1 of the Primus Mini Series rolls off tomorrow at 10:55AM.

[CScharnow]

Sebring Raceday: Minor wins a classic bout of FC Heavyweights.

Rocket Rob set a blistering lap in the morning qualifier to claim pole, but Tim got the holeshot at the green to lead into T1. Fairbairn (another young hotshoe fresh off a showing at the Formula Ford Festival) went from 4th to 2nd which let Minor open up a small gap on the 2X champ.

Allaer made relatively quick work of Fairbairn and then set out on hunting down Minor. He made the pass for the lead on lap 9, but on the next lap had a huge moment in turn 3 and went hard into the tire wall causing a full course yellow.

There was only a few minutes left when the caution came out so I thought about pitting for a new set of softs hoping for a one lap shootout to the end, but Livingston assured me over the radio that even the SCCA wouldn’t make that kind of call.

The race ended behind the pace car with Minor taking victory at the first round of the Primus Mini Series.

We have a huge storm system moving in overnight and scheduled to hit right about at green flag time tomorrow morning. Some of the teams have already headed out (everyone’s favorite reporter included, but mostly for my daughter’s birthday tomorrow) so hopefully we can get reports from some boots on the ground.

My predictions: Defer dominates in the wet. Jim Morgan is no longer distracted from stealing peanuts out of the LTD trailer and passes all the kids in FF. And the big bore open wheel group gets double the amount of green flag laps in their race than they did today. So, 2.

[EYERACE]

Happy birthday !!!

[Purple Frog]

The old Curmudgeon sent me this message:

Dear Mr. Frog;

I recently read the Sebring race report as sent in by Chris whats-his-name. Goodness, what has the racing scene turned into? It appears to have become totally sissiefied.

Back in the day we didn't run from Tornado warnings, we just changed the setups on our cars for the conditions. I remember total canopy destruction at New Jersey and no one left. They just kept racin'. Hell, I remember when Gilkes (the senior) slept all night in his race trailer in face of tornado warnings at Road Atlanta.

And, this safety car business... what has racing come to? We used to just throw a waving flag at that corner let the course-workers run out on the track and pick up the pieces, and keep on racing everywhere else on the track. I hear they are now replacing corner-workers with a few of those new-fangled LED lights hung on the fence. If I wanted to drive behind a safety car for 30 minutes I'd just drive on St. Petersburg streets. Come to think of it... I guess thats where young Chris whats-his-name practices his race strategy.

And children's birthdays... we had their party in the paddock. Stuck a few candles in a day old Krispe-Kreme donut and sang to the little critters. Gave them a old tire to roll around, and told them to be happy. Hell, we had racing to do.

I tell you Frog, don't know where racing is going to, seems like to me Its going to hell.

Got to go now. Need to walk uphill both ways through the snow 5 miles to the liquor store.

Sincerely,

the old Curmudgeon

[Jim Belay]

It certainly wasn't me that wrote to Frog. Curmudgeon probably has a photo of my very pregnant wife pushing my RF93 in the paddock at Road Atlanta in November 1993. I still won't be extorted.

[mark defer]

Congrats to my new friend Doug Rocco who took the win at Sebring today.

[CScharnow]

Back in my day, the people who didn't actually show up to the racetrack wouldn't sling mud at those of us who did. Just saying.

And as for birthday parties at the track, I don't think people realize all that Livingston does each year to make my daughter's day. It's more than we do at home!

[RacerDave51]

Chris great job on the reports. Pay no mind to Curmudgeon
Signed,
David whats-his-name

[CScharnow]

Winter Majors Wrap Up:

It was two great weeks down in Florida.

We had sunshine, we had rain, we had monsoons. We had hot weather, we had cool weather.

We had extraordinary racing by some of the best in the class, a questionable move or two on track, and some drama in the tech shed.

We ate at the best BBQ and Mexican restaurants in close proximity to any track in the country. We had Air Force flyovers, and birthday parties that rivaled Chuck E Cheese.

We had young hotshoes and multi-time National Champs. Fast guys and faster guys. And Jim Morgan stealing peanuts from a competitor’s trailer and depositing the shells on top of his teammate’s street car.

We had supply chain problems, we had inflation. And that was just my ego.

But most importantly, we had two awesome weekends with even better people. From top to bottom this class is filled with the best in the paddock. Prep shops to one-man shows, all willing to offer advice, provide a needed part, or lend a hand. I don’t know anywhere else multiple Runoffs champions will seek you out just to check in or shoot the breeze.

So get those cars out and come join us. Next up we’re traveling to another one of the best road courses in the country, up in the rolling hills and red clay of northern Georgia. There’s even a spa and winery nearby for the better halves. I’m working on putting together a social event one evening, and the on track action will be epic.

March 11-13. Enough talk, let’s race.

[CScharnow]

Some pics from Homestead:

[CScharnow]

Sebring:

[BGilkes]

Great event which it was a shame Brad ultimately wasn't able to get to after all of his hard work to get folks there. Was excellent to see old rivals again after the 2 year hiatus with the northern border being tough to cross. I brought up someone younger and faster to take on Rob but to no avail this time. Quick shout out to the incredible help from the other FC/FF teams (LTD/Pelfrey/Lee) and obviously Sandy from Quicksilver for the help they all gave to try to solve Nick's car and particularly engine issues. Any privateers thinking of going to Atlanta and or VIR I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, as Chris mentioned good racing throughout the field and very decent lap times being laid down, lots of green flag laps and it worked well from my perspective being separated from the big bore single seaters/prototypes.
Brent

[Hartley]

Winter Majors Wrap Up:

It was two great weeks down in Florida.

We had sunshine, we had rain, we had monsoons. We had hot weather, we had cool weather.

We had extraordinary racing by some of the best in the class, a questionable move or two on track, and some drama in the tech shed.

We ate at the best BBQ and Mexican restaurants in close proximity to any track in the country. We had Air Force flyovers, and birthday parties that rivaled Chuck E Cheese.

We had young hotshoes and multi-time National Champs. Fast guys and faster guys. And Jim Morgan stealing peanuts from a competitor’s trailer and depositing the shells on top of his teammate’s street car.

We had supply chain problems, we had inflation. And that was just my ego.

But most importantly, we had two awesome weekends with even better people. From top to bottom this class is filled with the best in the paddock. Prep shops to one-man shows, all willing to offer advice, provide a needed part, or lend a hand. I don’t know anywhere else multiple Runoffs champions will seek you out just to check in or shoot the breeze.

So get those cars out and come join us. Next up we’re traveling to another one of the best road courses in the country, up in the rolling hills and red clay of northern Georgia. There’s even a spa and winery nearby for the better halves. I’m working on putting together a social event one evening, and the on track action will be epic.

March 11-13. Enough talk, let’s race.

I have to admit Chris it is posts like this one and the multiple posts like this in the past 2 years by you and Senor Frog that caused me to get up at 3am this past Monday morning, after a full weekend of racing in my MZR at Sebring, to fly to Minnesota to buy my new VanDieman RF06 Zetec FC. You see I am one of the orphaned children with my nose pressed against the glass separating me and my MZR from racing with a very nice group of people. There were occasional moments when my car found itself in the same run group as the FC boys and I had a blast racing yall. I am Canadian so the southern accent is totally fake!

So with a bit of luck I managed to find and pull a very nice FC out of storage so the FC active count goes up by one.

A big shout out this past weekend for Sandy at Quicksilver. He spent countless hours over the weekend fine tuning the remapped ECU on my car! That is customer service!

So how is Brad doing after his road accident on the way to the track? No response to texts?!

See you all at Road Atlanta! My new car is bright yellow 27. Same number as my childhood hero Gilles Villeneuve!

[CScharnow]

So with a bit of luck I managed to find and pull a very nice FC out of storage so the FC active count goes up by one.

Awesome. Congrats, Hartley.