US FST GP at the ARRC

[dd46637]

From the radio broadcast:

1.Carl Middledge
2.Bill Bonow
3.Doug Seim
4.Robert Clark

Carl took the lead at about the 1/3 mark and was never headed.

[rgu]

Just a couple of things that might be interesting. Carl just checked out and as soon as he broke free he worked on his his lap times and easily demolished the one year old lap record. The rest of the lead pack, now racing for second, found out that constantly trying to do turn one three abreast wasn't going to catch Carl.

Congratulations Carl for a popular win and Robert Clark for his pole winning effort. Awesome November weather!

More to come.

[Doug FST 5]

Great people, great track, great weather, great racing.

Another fantastic ARRC. The FST / CF grouping worked out very nicely.

Congratulations to Carl for running a terrific race.

Doug FST 5

[samiam520]

Just to keep the record straight by my research on My laps:

Greg did a 1:38:50 last year

Carl did a 1:39:20 This year.

Am I missing something ????

[teamclark]

2008 ARRC Race Lap Times were (Race laps count for lap record)

Greg Schings 1:40.443
Greg Rice 1:40.037
Doug Seim 1:41.303

2009 ARRC Race Lap Times

Carl Middelegge 1:39.309
Bill Bonow 1:40.746
Doug Seim 1:40.257

Greg Rice has a 1:38.5 in Qualifying.....

Rob

[Bill Bonow]

Scott,

The official ARRC track record is now held by Carl Middelegge at 1:39.309, quicker than the '08 race record. The other time was turned in '08 qualifying and is not listed as the official ARRC track record.

[Bill Bonow]

Although we were down 2 entries over '08, this was still our best event of '09. The Atlanta Region puts on a great race. They even made up for the "gray" hamburger debacle of '08 with a real steak and baked potato dinner, and it was excellent. Hats off to Butch Kummer and the Atlanta Region. We'll be back next year and we'll get more cars to come with us.

I want to thank Bruce Foss and Hoosier Tire for making the best tires and supporting Formula First from its inception.

Larry Campbell for believing in Formula First and building a car that is ready to purchase and win races. Two ARRC races, two Evolution wins.

Jim and Greg Schings there support of FST from day one and for building the strongest, most reliable engines at the lowest cost. Two ARRC races, two SR engine wins.

Can't say enough about this event and its ability to promote Regional SCCA Club Racing.

[samiam520]

Well, no one specified "Race Lap" record.

[GT1Vette]

Well, no one specified "Race Lap" record.

I understand that expecting drivers to actually read the rules is asking a LOT (), but per the current GCR:

= = = = = = = =

6.7.6. Lap Record

The official lap record for each class, at each circuit, shall be set during a race and not in practice or qualifying. When a driver is disqualified for an illegal car, the lap times (lap record) are disqualified also.

= = = = = = = =

If anything should be specified, it should be "Qualifying Lap Record". In theory, Impound after each race would insure than all track records would be set with compliant cars.

As the Competition Director for Atlanta Region, we REALLY enjoy having the FST community at our events and look forward to seeing even more of y'all in 2010.

Butch Kummer
Atlanta Region SCCA

[Stan Clayton]

I...and look forward to seeing even more of y'all in 2010.

Hey Butch, what is the plural of "y'all" down there in Georgia?

[rgu]

I understand that expecting drivers to actually read the rules is asking a LOT (), but per the current GCR:

= = = = = = = =

6.7.6. Lap Record

The official lap record for each class, at each circuit, shall be set during a race and not in practice or qualifying. When a driver is disqualified for an illegal car, the lap times (lap record) are disqualified also.

= = = = = = = =

If anything should be specified, it should be "Qualifying Lap Record". In theory, Impound after each race would insure than all track records would be set with compliant cars.

As the Competition Director for Atlanta Region, we REALLY enjoy having the FST community at our events and look forward to seeing even more of y'all in 2010.

Butch Kummer
Atlanta Region SCCA

In my July 2 post on this forum I said:

"I think if this is a log of fast laps then the thread should be renamed "FST Fast Laps" and not FST Lap Records-----Or why not specify both?"

[Bill Bonow]

The thread title is changed.

Isn't this thead all about the fantasic time we all had at the ARRC this past weekend?

[rickjohnson356]

Hey Butch, what is the plural of "y'all" down there in Georgia?

"y'all'" is both the singular and plural down here.

For instance, when talking to a friend who is leaving your place to "'carry' his brother back home", one uses the phrase "y'all come back, y'hear" (singular)

Same phrase is used by the owner of a barbeque place (Slopes, Fox Brothers, Dreamland) when a group is leaving after a great meal. (Plural)

Sorry for the hijack

[mblanc]

Hey Butch, what is the plural of "y'all" down there in Georgia?

Even damn yankees know that one,

(but I used to live in the area, so I've got the scoop)


Plural of ya'all is:

ALL YA'ALL'

[samiam520]

Butch,
Thanks for the clarification. I guess I need to read my GCR more carefully. I was not aware of that rule.

I do know that the tracks that I run at out here on the left coast keep lap records for both Qualifying and the race. Those records can be easily found on the SF Region web site.

[Carl Middelegge]

I had probably the best weekend I have ever had in racing. My car worked well in all sessions, especially the race. I had not gone that fast all weekend, but Robert Clark questioned the size of my attachments as David Hobbs calls them in turn one. So not being one of small attachments I took his comments to heart and kept my right foot in it.

I some how managed to get a gap and just kept hitting my marks and not making any mistakes. I really enjoyed meeting the Formula B guys at the Friday night Party, and enjoyed watching their race I have pictures from turn 10 that I will post later this week. Nikki can really put a car to the edge.

I really have to thank Larry Campbell @ Campbell Motor sport, for helping us develop the Evolution. Jim & Greg Schings @ SR Racing for their engine program. Bruce Foss for the Hoosier R-60A Tires and the support they provide our series through out the season they have gone above & beyond. I practiced on a set from last year that had heat cycles 17-20 put on them during Thursday practice.

I have posted video from the opening laps while battling with Robert Clark & Bill Bonow. Other than the Club Fords coming by late in the race it was just a matter of clicking off good laps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S_o-6_rOKg

Enjoy the video

[GT1Vette]

Great video and some really good racing. I was also glad to see that even though the F600 driver didn't follow our "recommendation" that he wait until the back straight to pass anyone, his lack of patience didn't really affect the outcome of the FST race.

Scott - you did see the smilie face (), right? I don't know the origin of the rule, but I suspect it was to keep guys from taking liberties with the rules and setting an artificially fast record with a non-compliant car. Sometimes we will weigh and inspect cars after qualifying, but not very often. Of course if they REALLY wanted the track record they could do the same thing during the race and pull in early in order to skip Impound. I do know they keep Qualifying and Race records for the Runoffs, but we've never felt the need (although we do keep ARRC Race records separate from Road Atlanta Race records - like Olympic records they can only be set or broken during the ARRC Championship races).

Stan - as others have stated, "y'all" is both singular and plural (similar to "youse guys" in the NY/NJ area). However if we're talking to a large group of people and want to include everyone, the proper phrase is indeed "all y'all". It works for us.

As Roger Penske once said when asked why his team was having limited success when he first got into NASCAR, "They may talk slow, but they don't THINK slow!"

As before, we appreciate your participation the past two years and are really looking forward to see all y'all in 2010...

Butch

[samiam520]

Carl,

Nice video and congrats on the win. I think that you had the dream season that we all hope for.

[Purple Frog]

Before Carl checked out and left the party...
..then later in the race.

[Amon]

Carl's right front tire is working hard in the left photo. Congrats
on your victory.

Mark

[rgu]

The ARRC went smoothly for most but without the help of a couple of people car 5 would have never made the race. Near the end of the first qualification session all the gears were lost in the transmission. After pushing it in it was quickly diagnosed as a bad gearbox. We were ready to load up and go home when Butch Deer offered his spare gear box center section to us. We then started furiously tearing into removing the motor, the axles and the transmission. George Podgorski came down to see how he would fit in a FST and wasn’t (I hope) counting on four hours of really hard work putting in a new transmission and replacing the motor. We got the car running at 6pm and it passed the paddock shift test just as darkness was taking over.

Both Doug and I want to thank George and Butch for their help--- because without it we would not have even made in to the race.

Turned out we think the innards of the transmission were fine but the retainer was broken in many pieces and the snap ring was badly twisted. Bits of steel got in the side gear and it may have damaged the spider gears—we’ll see. After all this in and out stuff, the rear alignment was almost perfect when all was assembled.

[dd46637]

What happened to Anthony? The broadcast mentioned he was on the side parked near T5 with suspension damage?

[teamclark]

Anthony had a (harmless) spin coming out of T5 and ended up just off the track facing the wrong way and the steering wheel cranked hard left. When he hit the gas to rejoin the front RH wheel hit the track edge with a bump and the steering went overcentre.

He drove round in a circle with the steering 'locked' hard left - and then not realising the issue got out of the car. At the end of the race he went back to the car and the corner worker was able to quickly wrench the steering back and he was able to drive back to the pits with no damage.

Very frustrating for him as he had been fast in the car (qualified 4th) and would have been competitive.

[formulasuper]

Anthony had a (harmless) spin coming out of T5 and ended up just off the track facing the wrong way and the steering wheel cranked hard left. When he hit the gas to rejoin the front RH wheel hit the track edge with a bump and the steering went overcentre.

He drove round in a circle with the steering 'locked' hard left - and then not realising the issue got out of the car. At the end of the race he went back to the car and the corner worker was able to quickly wrench the steering back and he was able to drive back to the pits with no damage.

Very frustrating for him as he had been fast in the car (qualified 4th) and would have been competitive.

Sounds like he needs to fab some steering stops. My Ralt SuperVee has them installed for this very same reason. A few years ago I removed them to give me a tighter turning radius & then found out on the track why they were supposed to be there.

[VDF1]

What a great race to watch! How many position changes? The Fords put on a good show too, as well as the F600 going right to the overall lead and starting to walk away until he broke! Great video Carl, and awesome drive!

Thanks to Bill and Butch for giving us crew passes. I'm sorry that we didn't get to spend more time with all y'all FST drivers.

Those were some well put-together cars and nice driving by all. I think I'd like very much to build some myself. If I could pre-sell a few, maybe it wouldn't take so long... At any rate youse guys got me stoked to get back to racing and building again!

Thanks!
Tom Kaufman

[VDF1]

PS

I wanted to yell to Anthony or the corner workers from across the track to just kick the tire, but they wouldn't have heard me! Frustrating...

[Bill Bonow]

Here is a link to more Group 8 photos

http://motorsports.clarkmcinnisphoto...FST/index.html

[rgu]

Thanks for whoever documented our our 5 hour "labor day". I remember you taking the pics but we were working very deliberately on the trans swap.

R