Less than a month from our last race, we are already gearing up for the start of the 2023 racing season which starts January at Sebring International Raceways. To make it all happen, our team needs to grow so we’re hiring!
We are currently hiring for the following positions. All full time positions have a 90-day probationary period of which after passing that period, team members receive the following benefits:
Full medical, vision and dental benefits through Kaiser Permanente.
Paid time off that scales as tenure grows with the company.
6 Paid Federal Holidays Per Year.
1 week of paid sick time off.
After hour access to the full race workshop.
Employee discounted pricing on parts and services.
Play race cars, with your “office” at a race track… for a living – that’s right!
Work with one of the PNW’s premier and growing racing operations.
Please email resumes to: raceronrails@gmail.com, attention Memo Calderon and Gama Aguilar
NOTE: Must include the subject line: “Let’s go racing 2023!” Why? Attention to detail matters.
One Full Time Experienced Race Car Technician (Status: Filled)
This is a professional level position that requires an extensive understanding of complete vehicle systems and the ability to diagnose and correctly repair any malfunction or failure while working in a high pressure and time sensitive situation, keeping safety at the forefront of all work.
The ideal candidate will have a professional, forward thinking and positive approach to executing race car and high-performance track car repairs, maintenance, upgrades, be available for at least most local PNW race weekends and travel to at least half of the fly away races across the United States (~7-10 in total per year). A clear communicator, positive/can-do attitude with focus on quality of work carried out and excellence in customer service.
Key responsibilities will include:
Carry out preparation of race vehicles to the highest quality standard at the Racer on Rails workshop
Professional presentation of yourself and race cars both mechanically & aesthetically at events
Support customers at track events including track days, testing and race weekends.
Strong sense of customer service and professionalism representing Racer on Rails at all times.
Partner with the team on duties across the shop such as cleaning, organizing, servicing and maintaining equipment.
Key Skills:
Experienced mechanic including service, repairs, rebuilds and chassis dynamics (minimum 2 years mechanic experience).
Great communicator and customer service.
Hands on approach and hard work ethic.
Presentable with attention to detail who takes pride in their work.
Team player with a passion for motorsport.
Experience with BMW E30/E46 chassis, M235iR/M240, M2CS, Porsche GT4, Porsche GT3 Cup and any specific mid to high level amateur and pro level race car experience is a big plus.
Fabrication skills not required but also a big plus.
Technical Requirements:
Minimum of 5 years’ experience in the automotive field (other fields will be considered; i.e. aviation)
Provide your own tools.
Valid driver’s license.
Advanced knowledge of electrical, mechanical and hydraulic systems.
Work locally and/or travel for race weekends.
Ability to work foremost as a team member and independently.
One Full Time Service Advisor (Status: Filled)
Update: Service Advisor role has been filled!
The ideal candidate will have a professional, forward thinking and positive approach to helping the Racer on Rails team execute race car and high-performance track car repairs, maintenance, upgrades and track support. A clear communicator and can-do attitude with focus on quality of work carried out and excellence in customer service. Service Advisors are the primary face of the company to most existing and prospective customers and the lead project manager for all work.
Key responsibilities will include:
Be the primary interface for all of our main contact entry points; answering the phone, emails and social media comments/outreach – return all messages from customers within 1 hour or less.
Manage the overall production schedule within our chosen work management/CRM system (Shopmonkey).
Accountability for the quality and accuracy of each RO in Shopmonkey before they go out to a customer (e.g. Estimate w/deposit request, updates to RO as parts are ordered/requirements change, ensuring approval on an RO before work starts, details for parts and labor items, on-time invoicing and collection).
Leading daily standup to drive clarity of goals, daily tasks, required parts or any other blockers for team members to execute against their work.
Ensuring each work order has 100% accuracy on costs, taxes, supplies and EPA fees.
Follow all policies and procedures related to cash, credit, check, refund and return policies. Works with the management team to react to customer service issues, customer complaints, and/or business opportunities.
Ensuring that all parts are ordered within 24-48 hours after parts deposits are made by a customer.
Partnering with the Motorsports Director to ensure arrive and drive customers who are participating in planned race weekends and test days, have their cars in the production schedule so they are prepared and ready to hit the track.
Ensuring accurate tracking and management of parts inventory.
Key Skills:
Positive attitude at all times – with customers, partners and internal team members.
Great communicator and customer service.
Hands on approach and hard work ethic.
Presentable with attention to detail who takes pride in their work.
Team player with a passion for motorsport.
Effectively handle multiple priorities, organize workload, and meet deadlines.
Willingness to travel for fly-away races 5-10x per year.
Technical Requirements:
High school diploma or equivalent required.
Valid driver’s license.
Minimum of 2 years’ experience as a Service Advisor in the automotive field.
Great communicator and customer service.
Hands on approach and hard work ethic.
Experience with BMW E30/E46 chassis, M235iR/M240, M2CS, Porsche GT4, Porsche GT3 Cup and any specific mid to high level amateur and pro level race car experience is a big plus.
And we’re back from the winter 2022 trip with four race weekends under our belt, at new tracks for most of us and ready to come back to familiar ground where nothing would be easier but instead the challenges would be different.
This is post will cover two race weekends as we were at Portland International Raceways April 29 – May 1 for the ICSCC season opening race (Rose City Opener, hosted by Cascade Sports Car Club) and then back again two weeks later, for the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour stop, a part of the US Majors Tour.
Home track advantage
Wait, aren’t most of the people who race at these events, also from the region? For the ICSCC race – absolutely. A little less for the Hoosier Super Tour but that’s not exactly what we mean here. One of the many challenges of each of the stops on the winter trip was that even though we spent countless hours on the simulator training for each track, and it made a massive impact – we were still driving the tracks either for the first time or the first time in the specific race car each of us were driving.
That’s not a BMW or Porsche?!?!? Gama taking the EK Honda Civic with a K24 swap out for it’s maiden race weekend at a known and comfortable space – Portland International Raceways. Photo credit: Doug Berger
That means that at minimum, some material amount of our mental capacity was still being allocated for learning the track. That also means less mental capacity to think about improving on a specific corner or to focus on race craft.
So what happens when you get to a track that you’ve driven hundreds, if not thousands of laps on in real life, simulator and in a variety of conditions and cars? All that occupied mental capacity (and some), comes back and becomes available to be used on another area of improvement. That could be anything from fine tuning a specific setup component for given conditions, exploring different lines/entry speeds into a corner or working on race craft.
It could be anything but the bottom line is that the ability to learn and improve is simply easier because there is one big important thing to think about much less.
So what happened? New Personal Bests All Around!
The ICSCC weekend was held using the non-chicane configuration which further simplifies the course and results in really only ~7 corners total.
Ann in the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport – Finally!!!
Ann in the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport had never driven PIR without a chicane but we had a sense of what her pace would have been from her lap times at Portland last August (2021) with a chicane.
This would also be Ann’s first time driving on Hoosier A7 tires. Results? Ann immediately jumped into the 1:13’s early in the weekend and while she was able to sustain that pace, it looked like there was more low hanging fruit.
One of these is not like the others. Ann Doherty in her Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport crashing the GT1 class party.
In the Group 4 race, where she was in the middle of GT1 class cars — You read that correctly, while she was competing in the GT2 class (there were only 2 cars in class that weekend), she was in the front half of the GT1 cars! She put her head down to defend and get as far up the grid as possible and she dropped into the 1:12’s with a scorching 1:12.842. In that race, she would have finished in P3 overall and P3 amongst the GT1 class cars.
And the prior days Group 1 race, when the race started in wet conditions and transitioned to somewhat dry conditions, she was P1 overall and lapped almost every single car except the EK Honda Civic (driven by Gama and more on that below)… twice!
Mega, mega, mega drive by Ann.
Cascade Sports Car Club – Rose City Opener XXX at Portland International Raceway | Ann (#4) and Gama (#309) lapping every single car in the field one time and lapped almost every car a second time before finishing P1 and P2 overall and in SPM class. Photo credit: Doug Berger
When we returned two weeks later for the Hoosier Super Tour event May 13 – 15, the goal was to build on the gains from the first PIR weekend to put it all to work against a stacked GT2 field featuring a Dodge Viper, TA2 Chevy Camaro, a few additional stock cars, nearly tube-frame chassis E46 M3 and even a Porsche 997 Carrera Cup car!
Results? Even more gains and finally, finally – Ann’s 1st SCCA Hoosier Super Tour podium (P2) came on Sunday afternoon’s final race in complete downpour conditions. In dry conditions? Ann improved her personal best lap time by 4.5 seconds from the prior August – incredible progress! In clear air, Ann was competitive for podium contention but in the race, the straight line advantage for the more powerful cars was simply too much for her to keep them behind her for the entire race distance.
So many close podiums in the first 4 races of the year but it finally all came together for Ann in Portland and in the rain.
Simon in the BMW 330ci Spec E46 running in SE46, Touring 3 and SPM
For Simon, we had done 8 Hour Enduro in his car last October and he had done mid-1:19’s here and there and average fast pace was in the high 1:19’s/1:20’s.
Similar to Ann, Simon was immediately on the pace, consistently in the 1:19’s, along with a few other Spec E46 cars but by the end of the weekend, Simon was one of only two Spec E46’s to drop into the 1:18’s and separating himself from the pack of Spec E46’s and closing the gap to Chris Hart, who is an incredibly fast, consistent and national caliber driver. Chris placed P3 in the 2021 SCCA Runoffs in Touring 3 class, past PRO3 champion and spent many years driving stock cars professionally – this guy can wheel!
Simon in the hunt, looking for a way around a turbocharged Subaru WRX STI in the Group 1, SPM race. Photo credit: Doug Berger
During the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour stop, Simon similarly built on his gains from the first weekend and was immediately doing 1:26 lap times – improving his past personal best but on Hoosier Tires versus Toyo Proxes prior. About mid-day on the test day, we did a lead follow session with Simon and I (Gama) with first Simon leading and Gama following – doing mid to low 1:26 lap times and then we switched. Simon was able to follow closely and we both consistently did mid to high 1:25’s – BOOM! New personal bests and now having done lap times that are at the very pointy edge of the Touring 3 and Spec E46 field.
Saturday, Simon qualified on pole for his first Hoosier Super Tour pole position and in wet conditions! During the race, we had dry conditions so at the start Gama got in front of Simon and Chris Hart. About 4-5 laps into the race, Chris had an overheating issue and DNF’ed while Chris, Gama and Simon were running almost nose to tail.
After Chris pulled off track, Simon stuck to the rear of Gama’s bumper and finished P2 for another Hoosier Super Tour podium finish!
Simon’s 4th podium of the year and currently leading the Hoosier Super Tour points standing in Touring 3 (with Dave in 2nd place)
Unfortunately a failing lower ball joint was found in Simon’s car post-race and due to not having press tools at the track, that ended his weekend.
Simon leading a pack of ground pounders through Turn 12 at Portland International Raceways. Photo credit: Doug Berger
Dave skipped the first ICSCC Portland race and drove at Pacific Raceways during our second stop at PIR.
But wait – there were a lot more cars in the Racer on Rails Paddock(s)!
Now that we’re in the thick of the PNW racing season, the SCCA US Majors and Hoosier Super Tour races start to die down (races are still held but mostly out of our region) and we start to dial up the races from our local sanctioning body, the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs (ICSCC).
For the Rose City Opener, we had our group of PRO3 drivers out for their first race of the year and I (Gama) brought out a personal passion project for it’s second race weekend but it’s first with the current power plant – a JDM K24A swap with a JDM Honda Integra Type R transmission and a pretty heavy duty Limited Slip Differential from MFactory.
At a familiar place, the goal with the Honda was to simply get some race mileage on the new chassis, make sure it was running properly, figure out what likes to shake loose and see if we could put down some consistent competitive laps at 80-90% effort. And boy did the Honda deliver!
That little K24A Honda Civic, leading the pack (aside from Ann who had checked out in her Porsche Cayman) to Turn 1 at the start of the SPM Sunday afternoon race. Photo credit: Doug Berger
We worked through some gremlins but with absolutely zero focus on speed, the Honda was consistently doing extremely fast Spec E46 lap times and on Yokohama A052 tires (a really sticky street tire but nothing like a Hoosier tire). There is some serious potential in this car and we’re excited to further develop it over the season. It will be mid June before we see the Honda out again and it should have some new upgrades that will help with reliability and maybe a bit more speed.
Across the rest of the team, every driver improved their personal best lap times with no Chicane at Portland in a 20+ car field and pushing towards the front in PRO3 and a 10+ car field in Spec E46.
Dirk in the #136 Jägermeister, Jack Curtis in the #166 Spec E46, Mat Hennessy in the #58 Spec E46, Tim Wisner in the #109 RoR Spec E46, Scott Thompson in the #86 PRO3, Gama Aguilar in the #309 Honda Civic and Will Kellogg in the #78 PRO3 | Photo credit: Doug Berger
What better way to end this race report than with some in-car video of what a very angry Honda 4 cylinder engine based Civic sounds like, bombing around Portland International Raceways at the same speeds that a front running Spec E46 does?
Turn those headphones down a tiny bit and enjoy!
Gama in the #309 K24A Honda Civic Hatchback doing a low 1:18 lap time during Sunday AM qualifying.
The 4th and final stop of the 2022 Southeast Winter trip for the team was historic Virginia International Raceways, located just north of the Virginia/North Carolina border, in Alton, VA.
Before dive into the weekend, below is the map we took from January – April and covered nearly 7k miles and through the winter season across most of the country which resulted in catching the cold and wet weather at nearly each stop. Wow!
4 stops and ~7k miles over 4 months. Hats off to Jordan and Memo who drove our trucks, trailers and cars for every single mile.
Preparing for VIR
Road Atlanta ended up being a primer for VIR for the team. VIR is almost like a bigger Road Atlanta in that it is made up of mostly medium and high speed corners. Proper technique and equally proper commitment are critical to get into a groove and start attacking the lap times.
Just as before, each driver logged multiple hours in the simulator so that we all knew the track by heart and could dive into the test day with a focus on establishing a baseline performance and chipping away at the times.
On average, each driver (and crew member) had nearly 100 laps at VIR on Assetto Corsa with similar or the exact same cars as we were driving in real life.
Thursday Test Day – More Inclement Weather (Massive Thunderstorm Edition)
We all arrived and were fully setup on Wednesday night for the weekend and Thursday morning we awoke to some dew on the grass, dry track and chance of a shower here or there throughout the day. The first session was dry and we all got out and started familiarizing ourselves with the track in real life. Conclusion? The simulator model was pretty spot on!
A few minutes after our session ended, a thunder storm rolled in and another, and another, and another. We had 2, maybe 3 cells roll through and the middle two sessions were shot. Not just because it was raining but torrential downpour and the poor souls who decided to go out (and survived) ended up getting black flags in each session as the conditions were just horrible. Further, the forecast didn’t call for rain during the weekend so using up new rain tires under those circumstances wasn’t a good use of the tires.
Completely unedited and it only took a few minutes of rain before we had water running on the ground.
By the afternoon, the cells had passed and the track started drying. We all went out and while times were slower (transitioning to dry conditions), it was valuable time to further familiarize ourselves with the track.
Learning, Improving and Delivering Results!
The weekend had a similar progression as we’ve had at the other stops but we arguable started off at the highest point to start the weekend. All three drivers came out strong out of the gate and were within striking distance of podium positions, just needed to put our heads down and keep chipping away at the times.
Every session was an opportunity to learn and while unseasonably cold air rolled through on Friday night, everyone steadily chipped away at the times and at worst, were in a mid-pack battle but still within striking distance for a podium.
Simon in his Touring 3 Spec E46 managing transitioning conditions.
Below is a look at three of the corners we focused on across most drivers.
Sweet track map of VIR full course with a clear plexiglass on top that makes for great white board discussions about lines, markers and passing zones.
VIR Corner Focus 1: NASCAR Bend (Turn 3)
NASCAR Bend is the first left-hand corner/complex of the lap where it’s a bit of an awkward, somewhat off-camber corner where there isn’t a ton of time to be gained but very easy to over-slow and lose time. It feels a lot like Turn 6 at Portland International where it’s key to maintain minimum speeds and spend as little time as possible in the complex.
None of us really felt like we consistently hit the corner right but we aimed at being on-throttle at the apex, ascending to full throttle and carrying enough speed that the car had no choice but to use all of the exit curbing on the right. Getting out on that curbing then gave us a wider arch for the next left hand corner, which then left us track left to setup the run through the esses.
Gama in the Racer on Rails #110 BMW M240iR using all the exit curbing coming out of NASCAR Bend at the start of the Sunday race.
VIR Corner Focus 2: Southbend (exit of the Uphill Esses)
Before there is any controversy, yes – the Uphill Esses (Climbing Esses) are a pretty unique experience. There are few tracks in the world where you are flat out in 5th gear (or 6th gear) and you enter a corner section… without lifting. Thanks to the hours each driver spent in the simulator, after the first few laps in dry conditions, we were all able to take them flat but once you have the right line and rhythm, there’s not much more to them. HOWEVER! What you do on the exit of the Esses is something else.
Check out the Sunday Race 3 video in the M240iR and specifically this video is placed on a flying lap where the car gets light at 129mph and while being flat full throttle. (Note – rewind to start to watch the climb from P5 to P3 in Touring 2 class)
First, yes – it is possible to stay flat through the entire uphill essess complex but doing so compromises the entry into Southbend, of which is a high-speed left hand corner where you’re trying to keep your minimum speed above 90mph.
We found in the simulator that under most conditions, that was the trade-off and instead focused on having the car balanced and turned correctly to brush off minimal speed at Southbend and then carrying that speed into Oak Tree.
VIR Corner Focus 3: Oak Tree
Very much wish we could have been here when Oak Tree had the actual tree still standing. It’s an interesting and challenging corner to begin with but having the tree creating a arch across the corner, would have been majestic. But that’s life and we still enjoyed the scenery and challenge of the corner.
Open wheelers/formula cars showing the line through Oak Tree.
While it’s referred to as a single corner, it’s more like two corners in one and it is *not* a slow speed corner. The entry is best when you can brake into the corner and in a straight line. You can also brake less than you initially think, because the entry is uphill so the grip increases, the further into the corner you go. There is a moment of releasing the brake about mid corner, a focus on getting wide to the left to open up the radius of the corner and then attack the apex with full throttle application right at or before the apex.
In recent years, VIR has added extra pavement beyond the traditional FIA exit curbs which means more track and thus the ability (and requirement) to use all of that extra track on exit. Oak Tree leads to the longest straight away, which makes it the most important corner to hit well and consistently. In the BMW M240iR, we were hitting in the low 140-142mph without a draft and up to 145mph with a draft. The Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport was consistently hitting 150mph+ before braking for “Rollercoaster”, which was indeed, a roller coaster!
Race Results: Gains and Podiums
Saturday was a tough day for everyone – full course yellows (not caused by any of our drivers) were rampant, despite dry conditions. There were no gains on personal bests and we all found ourselves battling below the pace we each had demonstrated but struggling to get past cars with better straight line speed.
Dave looking for a way past a T3 Mustang at VIR
Sunday, we all hit the reset button and focused on getting solid starts, creating our own track position/space and getting after it.
Touring 3 Race: Dave and Simon both pounced on mistakes by other drivers and picked up a spot individually, putting Simon in P3 and Dave in P7 before a full course yellow came out that eventually ended the race due to an STU car that had gone deep into the tire wall at the end of the back straight away. Driver and car were all okay. Both ended up with their personal best lap times right before the FCY and were it not for the FCY, each felt like they had the rhythm and pace to further improve.
Simon taking P3 in the Sunday Race#81 Spec E46 gliding through VIRStart of the T3 race, looking for positions
GT2 Race: Ann started in P5 with a mega qualifying effort and quickly jumped into P3 on the first lap with some assertive moves. With a gang of TA2 cars, tube-frame chassis RX7’s and many other ground pounders, her nimble and incredibly impressive under braking, Cayman GT4 Clubsport was under constant attack on the long back and front straight aways but she was able to create distance in the handling sections of the track.
Unfortunately there was a 3 lap long Full Course Yellow which took away the entire gap that she had built up and as soon as the green flag was thrown for the restart, she was back under attack and sitting duck for cars that had nearly a 10mph speed trap advantage.
Ann was busy chasing and being chased all weekend in the GT2 races.
Ann defended hard but ended up losing two positions by the end to finish in P6 BUT she fired in her fastest lap of the weekend on the final lap of the race.
Touring 2 Race: Gama was once again behind the #110 BMW M240iR for this race and faced similar challenges to the previous races – great under braking, handling but lacking 8-10mph to other BMW’s and 10-14mph to the Porsche’s. It became very clear on the Saturday race that if he wasn’t able to keep them behind them before the end of the back straight (coming off of Oak Tree), he’d be stuck behind them for the rest of the race.
The goal was simple – get a solid start (tough with a turbo car), get positions and keep them behind before T13 (Rollercoaster) and then create a gap in the handling sections.
The start was above average but still nothing compared to the naturally aspirated cars. Fortunately, they left a giant gap going into braking for T1 and was able to recover a lost position under braking. The next two laps (switching to first person mode) I was looking for a gap and specifically coming out of the uphill essess because I had noticed the Porsche’s were struggling to carry speed and get a good exit out of Southbend.
In lap 3 of the race, it happened – 997 Porsche got too sideways on the exit and I pounced, getting by him before braking for Oak Tree.
I was getting better exits out of Oak Tree than the Porsche but by about the middle of the straight away, I was a sitting duck so for one lap, I defended like a lion. Right after exiting the corner, I signaled to the Porsche that he’d have to pass me somewhere else on this one lap as I slowly moved from one side of the track to the other so that I could break a draft he might get (not that the Porsche needed it). He got the message and stayed behind.
Gama in the #110 Racer on Rails BMW M240iR
From then on, I put my head down and carried as much speed as I could through Hog Pen (final corner sequence of the lap) and onto the front straight. I had created just enough of a gap that I didn’t think he could make a credible move into turn 1, so last second, I moved back to the left to brake at normal spot and line. The Porsche ducked in to out-brake me into Turn 1 but the line was WAY too shallow for braking that late and with the additional speed the Porsche’s carry, so he easily washed out and off-track.
From then on, I put my head down and hammered out two new personal best lap times (in the 2:04’s) and was chipping away and making my way through traffic. Aside from a big mistake, I simply didn’t have the straight line speed to compete for better than P3.
Full course yellow came and my gap had been erased. The following 10-12 minutes were some of the most nerve racking of my life – I was sitting duck on the restart so I’d have to pull some magic out again but luckily, the race ended under FCY and for the first time in my life, I was beyond grateful for that result. P3 in Touring 2 class at Virginia International Raceways and against a fleet of Fall Line Porsche’s and BMW’s – what a weekend!
What’s Next?
We’re a little late in publishing this report but after this we make our way back to the Pacific Northwest to start the regional racing season with races at Portland International Raceways, Pacific Raceways and Spokane County Raceway in May.
VIR was an amazing experience overall and great practice and data gathering for when we return in September for the 2022 SCCA Runoffs.
The third stop in our 2022 race schedule and “Winter Sun Bird” trip took us to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta! Extra emphasis on the quotes re the Sun Bird portion as that was the goal behind the trip – go chase the sun during the winter, warm up and hit some bucket list race tracks.
Rolling into the Road Atlanta main paddock on load-in day. Lifetime achievement unlocked!
For the third race in a row, the northern cold decided to chase after us! We landed on Wednesday, got everything staged up and finally got a full day’s worth of testing/practice on Thursday which made a massive difference for each driver in terms of getting up to speed on the track and a baseline direction for a setup.
On Friday we had an AM practice and a first qualifying session but while we were all catching some Z’s overnight, a massive weather system came through the area, dumping rain everywhere and putting on a solid light show. By the time the system had moved through, a deep cold front had settled in and we awoke to 22F air temps and snow flurries throughout the day.
Yes – it was SNOWING throughout the day, coupled with a friendly breeze that included 30-40mph gusts of wind that dropped the windchill into the mid-teens. We still got out there and made progress but that might have been one of the toughest days for drivers and crew to be at the track – bone chilling air temps, super cold track, multiple laps needed to warm up tires and nice and slick grass waiting to give anyone who dares come off the track surface, an express trip into the comfy arms of the walls surrounding the Road Atlanta.
Thoughts on Road Atlanta as a circuit
This was the first time for all but one driver to drive Road Atlanta but that one driver only had a half lap under their belt from the previous experience because of black flag incidents of people going off spectacularly. This ended up being an indicator of things to come for our weekend as well.
Sunset shot of Turn 5 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta – the uphill exit elevation change is MUCH larger than it seems from in-car videos and even this picture.
For those that are from the Pacific Northwest, Road Atlanta has a similar feeling and characteristics to Pacific Raceways – it’s old school. Both tracks were built and opened up in the 1960’s/1970’s and are filled with mostly medium speed to high speed corners. All corners and segments are high commitment with an emphasis on getting into a rhythm and flowing speed into the corner.
The slowest corner at Road Atlanta is Turn 7 with a minimum speed in our cars of around 47-50mph and multiple corners with minimum speeds of 70 and 90mph at the apexes.
The back straight from Turn 7 to Turn 10a is about as long as front straight away of Pacific Raceways – pretty dang near terminal velocity for many cars.
Looking back counter-course to Turns 10a and 10b at the end of the back straight away where the goal is to brake as late as possible while still clipping the apex curbs hard and getting to full throttle as soon as possible past the 10a apex.
While each driver had at least 10 hours of simulator preparation and training before the weekend, everyone had at least a little shock when we finally got on track. Here are a few comments from the drivers after the first couple of sessions:
The elevation changes from entering and exiting the esses are real and much more dramatic than it seems from in-car video.
Looking back at the entry of the esses, counter-course. Picture is taken from the hillside on driver’s right and about level elevation to the entry of the esses.
Use as much of the exit curbing of Turn 5 is critical but if there’s gravel or the painted surfaces are wet, forget about it. The car is already barely holding on as it goes through bumps and any extra steering input or unanticipated wheel spin and the car can come around real quick.
The elevation drop for braking at T10a is real – it takes a few laps to gather the confidence to brake where you can in the simulator but that compression helps slow the car down.
The hill at Turn 11 and more importantly, the downhill run from it afterwards is STEEP! Like very, very steep. As you crest over the hill, there is nothing to see but the bridge and the sky – is a similar feeling to the bypass or the crow’s nest at Thunderhill but you stay full throttle flat the whole time and are in 5th gear shortly after the peak.
Staying flat at Turn 12 is ‘easy’ in the simulator but not so much in real life. Some drivers got near staying flat throughout the weekend but with it being the first time racing here, slick grass conditions and MANY cars that met their ends on the front straight (and ruined multiple sessions and races), we decided to optimize for completing the weekend and having all the cars in one piece.
Dave and Simon bombing through Start/Finish in their Spec E46’s in Touring 3.
A weekend of massive breakthroughs and results!
The goals for these race weekends have been simple: 1. Have fun and 2. Become better drivers.
We’re firm believers in that when we focus on the improvement process and having fun, the results will come on their own and that belief continues to pay dividends.
Spec E46’s in Touring 3 Class
Both Dave and Simon put in 10+ hours of simulator training before weekend so from the start, they knew where they were going but with the conditions being extremely cold on qualifying day 2 and race 1, the biggest challenge for both was trusting that the car could do what they’ve done in the simulator and seen some of the super talented drivers in the Southeast do on race weekends.
Simon took the approach of picking out one single corner and with the help of Ray Phillips, sending it harder than he had sent it before and more than he felt like the car could do but trusting in the guidance from Ray and that the car could handle it. The result? During Race 1, Simon sent it into Turn 5 faster than he had done in any session and was so committed that he stayed flat through the whole exit and even through an almost opposite lock correction AND that ended up being his best lap time of the race.
From then on, he built on that confidence to establish a new normal, made some moves and ended up with his first race win ever and at Road Atlanta in an SCCA Super Hoosier Tour race! WOW!!!
Simon driving through Start/Finish on the final lap of Race 1 to claim his first race win at Road Atlanta!
Dave had been chipping away at rebuilding his pace after the rollover at Buttonwillow to start the season. It might seem like a simple thing – you have a major incident, no major injuries – just jump right back in right? Well that’s exactly what Dave did but even then, it still takes some time to work through the mental blockers of simply sending it and trusting the car and track will hold.
On Sunday afternoon, the biggest breakthrough came with Seth Thomas on the radio coaching him through traffic and making moves. Unfortunately Dave’s battery was low and when we finally were released from grid, the car wouldn’t fire – so we had to push start his car which meant he’d start the race at the back of the entire field which isn’t great but that might have been the extra fuel for letting things go – what was there to lose?
With Seth’s help, Dave turned it up, made pass after pass, improved his personal best lap time by nearly 3 seconds and finished in P2 after Simon had contact during a FCY restart and did a precautionary drive through the hot pits to make sure the car was safe to continue racing.
Simon and Dave making up a Racer on Rails double podium on Sunday!
To top it all off, we found out after the weekend that P3 on the Saturday race was disqualified so Dave ended up with two podium finishes at Road Atlanta!
Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport in GT2 Class
Ann came into the weekend looking to build on the gains she made at Circuit of the Americas and did she ever! Similar to Dave and Simon, Ann had multiple mini moments of simply letting go, trusting the car and driving the pee brains out of her car.
Ann’s Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport exiting Turn 3, squatting and putting down the power!
Chris Green | ChrisGreenPhoto.com
In each session she found more and more pace. Saturday’s Race 1 looked like it would be the big breakthrough but traffic hurt her start and a high horsepower Corvette got around her which ended up being nearly impossible to get around once it got in straight line. Further, the race had 3 lengthy full course yellows and in the end, there was 5-6 actual flying laps in the race.
For Race 2 on Sunday, the air had warmed up and the races had gone green flag for most racing laps and Ann turned it on. Per Ann, she let her car do her thing and switched from trying to force the car to do things and instead let her free. Her personal best lap time dropped by nearly 2 seconds from the prior day, moved up 4 positions into P9 overall, P5 in GT2 and she had the pace for a P3. At the rate Ann is developing, she’s going to need to start making room in her bags for souvenirs.
BMW M240iR running in Touring 2
This was the second race weekend with the M240iR but the first knowing ahead of time that this would be the car. I (Gama) put in several hours of work in the simulator before the weekend and had a good sense of how the car would handle. At the end of the test day, I got a 4-5 window of traffic free laps to establish a consistent pace and on the prior weekend’s race tires. The pace looked good and we knew there was a bit more on the table with fresh tires and maybe a draft here and there. The big question was the track conditions.
Friday AM we scrubbed in a new set of tires so that they were prime for Qualy 1 on Friday afternoon. The whole day we were watching the weather and knew showers were in the order. Apparently the locals or regulars knew something was up because a race broke out on the out-lap and we completed one flying lap. I ended up backing up to give me space for a lap and potential second one but as we were halfway through the second flying lap (and I was almost a second up on the first lap), black flag came out and back to the hotpits we went. We ended up being released and I went out but the track had too much rain on it and was considerably slower (braking for 10a to test the track limits was “interesting”).
Gama testing the limits of the exit curbs of Turn 12
The Touring 2 field was small and there was a split start between the Touring cars and the ST cars so the net impact was negligible but it was still disappointing to not be able to put together a proper flying lap.
On Saturday, we were the last race group and while the snow flurries had cleared, the cold clear winter air started cooling down and it was a brisk 30F by the race start. It was so cold that the M2CS in P3 of Touring 2 spun right as we exited pit lane and went head first into the wall. Luckily the driver and car were okay and able to make the race but a lap down.
The two Porsche’s in P1 and P2 were well prepared and optimized for Touring 2 class as we saw right away their ability to stretch legs in 4th gear and pull away. It was clear that at the very best we could hope to stick close enough to catch a bit of draft and capitalize on a mistake if it were to come up. The race was plagued with FCY’s and only a couple laps after a restart, a Honda Civic lost it on the exit of T12 and made contact with the walls, ending the race under a black flag all.
Gama and Ann patiently waiting to be let loose at pre-grid during the Thursday test day.
On Sunday we got warmer weather and thankfully, many more racing laps. Started P3 and held P3 at the start with little contention but once again the Porsche’s ran away and there wasn’t much pressure from behind so the focus was on putting down consistent and fast laps. A few laps in, a FCY that last only 3 laps.
On the restart, my goal was to stick with the Porsche’s through the first sector where we had a better shot and be on their heels for the long back straight but as I got a jump on the Cayman, I had to move to the left to avoid tagging his rear. In doing so, I left a lane open on the inside of which the BMW M2CS pounced on and while I quickly reacted and moved to cover the lane, he had already established overlap or close enough to it that I had to concede the space.
Restart 1 of the Sunday race with the BMW M2 CS getting a run and the inside line through Turn 1. Chris Green | ChrisGreenPhoto.com
We went side by side all the way up to Turn 3 but he had the inside and it’s near impossible to go 2-wide into the esses with any speed so I gave up the position.
The rest of the race was a similar story to COTA where I was able to stick with the M2CS, eating up most or all of the gaps in the corners but the M2 having just enough additional straight line speed to pull away.
There was a point with a couple laps to go where we were catching lapped traffic and I saw the opportunity to box him in on the exit of Turn 10a behind the lapped car and impact his ability to accelerate. The move worked but the M2 still had the low end torque to squeeze through the two cars and that was the end of the race – P4 and less than a second away from P3.
Gama on the bumper of the BMW M2CS in the #110 Racer on Rails 2015 BMW M240iR at the finish of Sunday’s Race 2.
The written description not enough? Watch the whole race!
All in all, a great weekend for the Racer on Rails Team as the cars ran well all weekend, drivers improved and we took home a collection of hardware!
Racer on Rails team signing off from Road Atlanta! From left to right: Seth Thomas, Simon Asselin, Tyler Campbell, Ann Doherty, Ray Phillips, Gama Aguilar, Dave Orem, Bryce Allen, Memo Calderon, Jordan Allen, Reid Morris.
Our next stop takes us to Virginia International Raceways on April 7 – 10, 2022. Can’t wait!
The second stop in our packed 2022 race schedule had us at Circuit of the Americas for a Hoosier Super Tour race. Before even getting to the track, we were on for an adventure.
Ice. Ice is what can happen! Luckily the ice and snow wasn’t as bad as in 2021 for the folks who live in the area but on the Wednesday and Thursday before the weekend, cold air, sleet, freezing rain and snow in spots made it an adventure to simply get to Austin.
Thursday AM status. Yes that is a similar coat of ice on the ground!
The trucks were able to make it into town with limited issues but the flights in – that was a different story. Originally the rest of the crew and drivers were supposed to fly in on Thursday, get a good night’s rest and be ready to hit the track for a full day of testing on Friday.
Many cancelled flights and layovers later, half the crew was able to get to Austin in time to take on the now, half day of testing (the AM was cancelled due to freezing temps) and the rest of the crew rolled in throughout Friday afternoon and into first thing on Saturday AM.
The weather slowly warmed up throughout the weekend but not before claiming a couple of brand new tires that simply didn’t get enough temp in them before the start of a race for the #110 BMW M240iR on its inaugural race debut with Racer on Rails (more below).
Not sure Hoosier Tire would recommend driving A7’s in near freezing conditions!
A New Chariot for Dave!
Dave’s #44 met an untimely demise at Buttonwillow from a perfect storm of cold track conditions, fog, and taking a curb at just the right angle to upset the car. Not one to stay down, Dave got right back up and was able to secure another PRIMO Spec E46 from one of our other customers that had been doing less racing recently and is it a beauty! Dave also checked out with a clean bill of health and just needed a few days for some sore muscles to heal.
After getting back from Buttonwillow, the team got to it to prep the car for Touring 3 duties, swap over Dave’s personal preferences and back on the road to get it back on the hauler for the COTA trip.
Another Racer on Rails built Spec E46, the new #44 drives as good as it looks!
The Weekend
When it comes to track time and testing time in 2022, it feels like when it rains, it pours. COTA ended up being another weekend where we were on the back-foot due to only two drivers getting two sessions during the test day and the other two drivers, not being able to get into Austin until Friday afternoon. Despite the travel issues, the Friday AM of the test day was cancelled because it was that cold!
So on Saturday AM, when it was qualifying time for the Saturday afternoon race, it would be the first time on track for the weekend for two drivers and the other two, the third time. What do we do when we we’re digging ourselves out of a hole from the start? Simply move forward, focus on the learning process and forget about the end results. Our only goal was to ensure we were learning and progressing from session to session.
4 Cars in 2 Groups, Heading into Saturday AM Qualifying
The #109 SE46 running in T3 class unfortunately only made it on track one time and only on the out-lap. Last race, while leading the T3 race, the car sprang a coolant leak and it briefly overheated. Turned out to be a failed expansion tank and we thought we shut the car off before any damage came to the engine as it cooled down and ran fine (not under load). We swapped cooling system components in Texas, warmed the car up, bled the cooling system, pressure tested the cooling system, and sent it but on that out-lap, going full throttle down the back straightaway, it started overheating again and shot some water out of a vent. When doing a compression test, we found coolant in at least one cylinder. And with that, the Winter SE trip for the #109 comes to an end!
The only time the #109 saw the newly paved surface of COTA – out lap for qualifying Saturday AM
Fortunately, we had shipped the new to us, BMW M240iR on the trip just in case someone wanted to rent and to drive with another team member who has an M2CS but not able to make most of the races. So we scrambled, got the car tech’ed, changed registration, and entered into to T2 class (same group as T3). The #110 BMW M240iR would start from the back of a split grid because it had no qualifying times.
What’s a BMW M240iR?
In short, it’s a factory built and homologated race car from BMW. This car started life as a BMW M235iR and ~4 years ago, there was an update (exterior bits and a higher HP) which made it an M240iR. The intent behind these cars is really to have more reliable and consistent race cars, directly from the factory. Reliable in the sense that newer cars have a lot more electronics and it’s really hard to make a newer street car, be a race car and have those electronics at minimum get out of the way and ideally, be optimized for racing. Consistent in that they are all the same from the factory, so as long as teams run them ‘as is’ from BMW, it’s like a spec series (some sanctioning bodies will apply Balance of Performance (BOP) when multi-make/model racing is in scope). BMW M240iR’s are now out of date for most professional racing series and this car most recently ran in the Touring Car (TC) Class in SRO in the US. Finally, because they are pretty close to the stock configuration in terms of engine, trans, suspension components, etc…, it is pretty easy to get parts for them from BMW dealers.
The RoR BMW M240iR making it’s race debut at COTA
How’d we do and what did we learn?
Preparation: Similar to Buttonwillow, with limited testing/practice time, we continued to learn the importance of preparation before the race weekend. Everyone on the team spent multiple hours in the simulator, getting to know the track and a sense for the performance window for our respective cars. Not once throughout the weekend was anyone focused on learning a corner or knowing what was coming next.
Repaved sections of the track: COTA recently completed a repave project on a number of sections based on feedback from top level professional racing organizations (Formula 1 and Moto GP being the most prominent). We were at COTA in February 2021 and December 2021 and can first hand say, the bumps in turns 5, exit of turn 9, braking for turn 11 and the carousel were ROUGH. The bumps and generally needing to use exit curbs on just about every corner, resulted in COTA being a very physical track on the cars and the driver. It was so bad that during the Sunday T3 race in 2021 for the #109, that a bolt that holds the front right (passenger side) shock in place at the lower spot, backed itself out and resulted in variable suspension specs for the last 5 or so laps of the race.
The new surface makes a massive difference and now drives much closer to the simulator where the surface is clean, flat and you can attack consistently. Based off of lap times and general feel, it looked like the track is at least 1.5 seconds faster due to the repave and up to 2 seconds faster.
Ann Doherty working her Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport in the GT2 class
Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport in GT2
Like will be the case for each race on this winter racing trip, COTA was another new track for Ann (and Dave and Simon). With one experience of training for a new track and needing to come up to speed quickly in real life (Buttonwillow) under her belt, Ann was able to get up to speed faster and by the time race #1 came around on Saturday, she was ripping off chunks of lap time and making her way through the mid-field.
For additional context, on Saturday AM’s first qualifying session (while it was just above freezing), she did a 2:33.XXX lap time. Not blazing fast but again, that was her 3rd time ever on the track. In the Saturday race, she improved to a 2:26.322 and in the thick of the midfield. Then on Sunday, she qualifies inside of the top 10 with a 2:23.768 and nearly matched that lap time in the race. That’s a 10 second improvement over 24 hours and healthily in the mix in GT2 (where the car isn’t also super optimized for GT2 yet!).
Incredible progress by Ann and that is driven by her dedication, preparation and coaching from Ray Phillips (Precision Data Analytics) and the guy in her ear, Memo Calderon!
Ann waving to corner workers after a hard battle for position in the Sunday race with a Porsche GT3 Cup car
Spec E46’s in Touring 3 Trim
Simon and Dave once again were entered in T3 and due to the rollover at Buttonwillow, this would end up being Dave’s first race of the season and due to the flight challenges, Dave’s first time on track ended up being Saturday AM qualifying.
Simon was able to get two sessions in on Friday and had a relative leg up. Again, with it being a new track for both and limited to no testing/practice time, the only goals were to continue improving from session to session and finish both races to capture points and participation requirements for the Runoffs at VIR in October.
Both Dave and Simon delivered with P3 and P4 finishes on both races and improvements on fastest laps in each race and more importantly, improvements on the average race pace. It was a little unfortunate that the #109 was out of commission to help with developing the pace of both cars but all things considered, was an outstanding weekend for both Dave and Simon. Continued learning and there’s not much to complain about racing at the US’s only FIA Grade 1 Formula One track and being the first race weekend after the repave!
Big thanks again to Ray Phillips who was coaching Simon and Seth Thomas, who was coaching Dave!
Dave (#44) and Simon (#81) carving up and battling at Circuit of the Americas
M240iR in Touring 2 Class
As covered above, the M240iR was pulled into emergency duty so the first time out on track was for the race on Saturday and we destroyed the front tires. Qualifying on Sunday AM ended up on a very, very used set of Pirelli slicks from the SRO duties of which were technically not legal but SCCA let us partake due to the circumstances (new tires were being mounted) and they were horribly uncompetitive. These were some of the most sketchy tires I’ve ever driven on and it wasn’t until the last lap in qualifying that they somewhat came up to temperature but with a not impressive lap time of 2:32.XXX, qualifying behind two Touring 3 cars.
For the race, we put the one heat cycle rears on the front and the new tires on the rear. I went out of my way to warm up the tires the best I could on the out-lap for the race and was instructed to take it easy on the first couple of laps to make sure we didn’t have a repeat tire issue.
BMW M240iR showing off it’s lines in the Texas early evening
After those first two laps, I could feel the grip coming into the car and it reacting well to being pushed harder. By about mid-race I cracked off a 2:27.8XX and felt like there was a little more time left in there but I came up on the P5 and P4 Touring 2 competitors.
Getting by the T2 E46 M3 ended up being quite the challenge in that we definitely had an advantage under braking and cornering in general but the low end torque and straight line speed of the M3 was simply too much. I spent the race trying different approaches – getting a better exit, overtaking under braking and even mid-corner on a couple longer corners but as soon as the M3 started putting down power, it was game over.
Check out the full Sunday race for the #110 BMW M240iR
Despite not being able to overtake, it was still a positive experience because it made me work hard on finding a place to make a move where the M240iR had an advantage and the M240iR doesn’t have the updated tune that will unlock ~50whp. All in, we believe the M240iR had a ~2:26.XXX in it this past weekend, which would have put us fighting for a P3 position. With the updated tune, we think 2:24-2:25’s would have been on offer and giving us the opportunity to compete for the other podium positions.
All in all, a great learning experience for the M240iR and we have the updated tune ready to go for the next round at Road Atlanta March 11 – 13, 2022.
If you made it this far, thanks for staying up on our racing adventures and looking forward to another bucket list track! Thanks to everyone who worked their tails off to make this race weekend happen (Reid Morris, Memo Calderon, Jordan Allen, Bryce Allen, Daniel Gray, Ray Phillips, Seth Thomas, Jules and all of our families and loved ones that put up with us)!
That’s right! Racer on Rails crew have been big fans of the Avants community for a while now and providing discounts but in 2022, we made it officially OFFICIAL!
What’s the deal?
Active Avants Members get 15% discount off all labor
$500 max discount for any single job
$5,000 max discount for a rolling 12-month period
That’s it! For reals!
What is Avants?
Do you like cars and car cultures? As in, you really like cars and car culture? You like hanging out, chatting and meeting up with other like-minded car nuts? Do you like those meetups to be legit and super cool events like dyno-runs, drives, car clinics, off-roading, photoshoots, track days, etc?
If you do, Avants is THE place to be, especially if you live in the Pacific Northwest – there’s a Seattle and Portland chapter.
With events going on almost literally every weekend, there’s no shortage of fun times with the Avants Community.
I’m an Avants Member! What kind of work can you all do for me?
Racer on Rails works on everything starting from high-performance street cars and up to fully dedicated track and race cars.
Normal daily drivers are awesome but there are many other places to give them some love. Below are some of the things that Racer on Rails can help out with:
Pre-purchase inspection of a track or race car
Pre-track day/race weekend inspection and nut/bolt
Alignments and full competition setups
Complete fabrication and chassis prep for roll bars and competition cages
General maintenance and repairs for track and race cars
Install of high performance power bolt-ons and suspension upgrades
Complete brake service and upgrades
Maintenance and support of factory based race cars
Full arrive and drive support with your own car or one of our race cars
Something else? Get in touch – if we can help, we’re on it and if not, we’ll help find the right path for you!
Note, originally we were supposed to be at Sebring International Raceways for the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour but the beautiful white Christmas we had in the PNW overstayed its welcome and by the time we need to have the trucks on the road to the SE, all the passes out of WA were closed due to blizzard conditions and the alternate route going down the west coast and across the SW was riddled with freezing or snow conditions in New Mexico, Texas and even parts of Alabama.
So with about 10 days’ notice, we made the change to instead to go sunny southern California where last year, we attended this same race but it was held at Autoclub Motor Speedway in Fontana, CA.
The Team
For the first race, we had three Spec E46’s running in Touring 3 (T3) trim and one Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport running in GT2 class.
#44 Dave Orem, #81 Simon Asselin, #109 Gama Aguilar and #4 Ann Doherty
The normal crew of Jordan, Bryce and Gama were on hand but this was also the first official race weekend with our new Motorsports Director, Memo Calderon and our service advisor, Reid Morris.
The Fog
Not going to mince words here, it was a tough weekend and mostly due to dense fog that rolled in each night and resulted in each morning’s scheduled run groups to be postponed due to low visibility conditions. One of the locals at one of the on-site race shops with a retail space mentioned that it had been close to 27 years since they had seen such thick fog and turns out that the volcano eruption in Tonga might have contributed to the fog conditions.
In the end, each day we didn’t get started on-track until 11am – 12noon. On the Friday test day, the run groups ran per the schedule as the organizer simply picked up when we started and had the 3 run groups doing 20 minute sessions each hour, until 5pm.
Racer on Rails cars ready to go on-track but under a fog hold on the Friday test day
Thank You Safety Equipment!
There is never a shortage of reasons to not skimp on safety equipment choices, design and preventative maintenance as we never plan on having an issue where safety equipment is needed but we’re always glad when it’s there and it works.
We had two incidents on the test day:
Failed front-right lower ball joint in the control arm (SE46): The #109 SE36 running in T3 trim got a near complete overhaul prior to the 2021 SCCA Runoffs at Indy, which included brand new lower control arms. Unfortunately it got taken out on lap 1 of the race which resulted in a front end impact with at least energy going through the suspension components but not a direct hit or contact. All in, the control arm and lower ball joint had 1-1.5 hours of run time prior to this weekend. On the very first session when the fog broke, lap 2, braking for Sunset corner (the last corner before s/f), the inner lower ball joint failed and the car went plowing through the corner and came to a stand still on the exit of the corner. On top of needing to make repairs to get the car back up and running, it also caused a black flag which ended running for everyone else.
Rollover on the exit of the kink before Phil Hill: With the fog and being in mid-January, the track was not just green each morning from fog moisture but also stone cold. It was 38F on Friday morning and barely broke 50F once the fog cleared for the afternoon. This meant really tough conditions in terms of finding grip and in the 3rd session of the test day, the #44 took the same line as in previous laps with maybe a tiny bit more steering angle, hit the curb of the kink like normal but this time it upset the car a tad bit too much and the backend came around. The car slid off-track and when it hit the dirt, which with the moisture and temperatures was more like mud, the wheels hooked into the dirt and the car barrel rolled. We’ll have another post in the future to dissect and share how the cage and all the safety equipment faired.
Making Lemonade Out of Lemons
New track, very limited run time and low grip conditions – what do you do? Make the most of it and work on the learning process! Expectations for big results are low, so instead focus on developing and that’s exactly what each driver did, with the help of driver coaches Seth Thomas and Ray Phillips!
Ann D studying her track notes and mentally preparing for the next time on-track.
Through the coaching from Seth and Ray, each driver made progress across the limited running and culminated in a podium position for each driver! Below are some areas that were focused on throughout the weekend:
Squaring off corners better in low grip/wet conditions and to setup exit of the following straights
Timing of transitions from brake to gas and vice versa
Establishing a connection or translation layer between what driving Buttonwillow in the simulator felt like relative to real life
Mentality to have when going into a race with changing conditions (both getting worse and getting better)
How to explore grip when conditions are improving
Ray Phillips doing a quick debrief after a session while in post-session tech.
Moving forward to COTA in February
So we came out of Buttonwillow with 3 of the 4 cars running, 4 trophies, 1 race win, 5+ second improvements in dry running lap times from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, a new T3 track record for Buttonwillow CW14 configuration with a 1:55.376 and ready for the next round at Circuit of the Americas February 4 – 6, 2022.
Simon made gains across both races and had an epic battle with a T3 Porsche Boxer, having led a good part of Race 2
Ann made a massive step from Saturday to Sunday, dropping 8 seconds in one day and snagging two podium positions in GT2
Dave had limited running due to the incident but was fully healthy after being checked out by medics and will be back on track for COTA
Gama won race 1, broke the track record by multiple seconds and was leading race 2 (and in a battle with an STU car) but the coolant expansion tank failed, resulting in an overheating engine which forced him to retire the race but not before improving on the track record
With one new track for most of our drivers under our belt, we can adjust the preparation in the simulator and the development plans for the test day and each of the on-track race sessions.
Thanks to the team, Ann, Dave, Simon, Ray, Seth and everyone from the Cal Club who made this weekend possible and making the most out of a pretty tough first race of the year.
2021 was a great way to bounce back from 2020 and while COVID isn’t behind us, we’re thankful that we were able to make it to all but one of the planned competition and racing events that we originally planned and even added in a couple of extra race weekends.
Thank you to everyone who was a part of our journey in 2021!
2022 is shaping up to be an even more jam packed with track action and while we’re mostly booked up for each event, we have limited available capacity to have you join us at the local .
If you aren’t already driving with us, consider this an open invitation. We are here to help! Our current SCCA, ICSCC (Conference), NASA, Revolution Racing League and GT Celebration events are listed below.
If there are any race weekends you would like some crew and coaching support for, please feel free to contact us via e-mail, phone or messenger – raceronrails@gmail.com – (206) 475-1114
Not even a couple weeks into 2021, we kicked off the racing season with a trip to Southern California for our very first SCCA race weekend and a U.S. Majors Tour event at that!
We love the Spec E46 class and series because it’s a national class where these cars can be raced all over the country in a variety of series. In 2019 we did a NASA National Championship run, racing in California at Sonoma and Thunderhill to qualify for the National Championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. We were all set for a similar campaign and with more cars and the national championships at Utah Motorsports Park but COVID threw a wrench into those plans (and everything else in the world).
With the 2021 NASA National Championships to be held at Daytona International Speedway, we decided to instead participate in the SCCA Run Offs (SCCA’s National Championship) which is set to be held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. To be able to compete in the Run Offs, you have to qualify by competing in a minimum number of US Majors/Hoosier Super Tour events (minimum 3 weekends and finish minimum of 3 races in the same class) or participate in 4 Divisional race weekends and finish in the top 3 of the divisional points race in that same class.
This race weekend would be the first of our “winter” Southwest road trip, followed by a Hoosier Super Tour event at Circuit of the Americas in February, Buttonwillow in late February and Thunderhill in March. With this “trip” we should have all the races taken cared of to qualify for the Runoffs before the PNW racing season gets going.
New track, trailer and tires
By the time the cars hit the track on Friday mid-day, we had gotten through three new firsts:
New track: This would be a new track for everyone on the team but being able to get some simulator time on iRacing in the Mazda Global MX-5 Cup Car helped us get up to speed on the track and some sense for braking points and a rough setup direction.
New trailer: With a few cars to transport and what is looking like a packed racing year, it was time for us to invest into the shop and buy a larger trailer. This was our inaugural outing in the new truck and trailer. We’ll still be seeing our trusty individual trailers for other weekends but the new trailer made this trip much easier to manage.
New tires: This also was the first time we strapped on Hoosier tires for T3 competition on any of the SE46’s in our fleet. While the Hoosier’s are technically more narrow in diameter 225/45/17 versus the 255/40/17 spec for the Toyo RR’s. We measured them and the Hoosier is still wider than the Toyo RR. 😮
Learning a new track and an roval
Having some time on the simulator really helped out and after a couple sessions, each of the three drivers started developing a rhythm and we were able to start focusing on specific sections of the track. While a decent sized track, it ended up being relatively simple. Kind of like Portland International Raceways, it felt like figuring out how to get the first 85-90% came relatively easy but that last 10-15% took a good amount of discipline and intestinal fortitude.
The track is made up of a two chicanes which are similar to the PIR chicane, one very tricky decreasing radius right hander, a deceivingly simple final sector that leads to oval section and longest full throttle sequence and a turn 1 and 2 on the oval that requires a good amount of commitment to stay full throttle the entire time. It wasn’t until after Saturday’s qualifying and race sessions that we were convinced it was possible to stay 100% full throttle through the whole oval and bets were laid out to see who the first one was to stay flat on Sunday AM’s qualifying.
Gama Aguilar in the #209 Full Throttle in the Oval Section
Saturday Podiums and Progress
The story of the day on Saturday was to keep learning and bring back some hardware. With a limited field in T3, podium spots were almost guaranteed but there were other cars from other classes that qualified amongst the T3 runners, which were made up of our fleet of 3 BMW E46’s and the #12 BMW SpecE46 of Brian Ghidinelli.
Racer on Rails customers John Hennessy and Russell Seewald had an incredible battle the entire race where Russell was able to hold off a late race charge from John to hold on for P3 in T3.
Gama Aguilar (person writing this article 😁) got behind Brian Ghidinelli, who qualified on pole and stuck behind him for the majority of the race, waiting for an opening to make a pass. About 3/4 of the way through the race there was an opening going into the last chicane of the track. I came out of his draft right before going to brakes, moved into the inside and got side by side. As I started trailing to turn in, I looked at the body language of Brian’s car and it looked like he didn’t see me so I started backing out of the move but he turned in too quickly and we ended up making contact with Brian spinning out.
I made sure the car was still working (it was) and while I thought it was a clean move, I didn’t want any questions or discussions with stewards so I backed off and waited for Brian to catch up. Once he did, I waived him through to give the position back and resume racing. The goal is to qualify for the Runoffs. Winning every race is a goal and would be awesome but that’s not the ultimate goal.
Saturday Race Results: 1. Brian Ghidinelli, 2. Gama Aguilar, 3. Russell Seewald, 4. John Hennessy
Sunday AM Qualifying and Final Race
After getting the bets on the table for who would got flat through the oval first and John Hennessy strapping on some sticker tires, we went out for qualifying. Gama and Russell both went out on scrubbed but still fresh Hoosier A7’s and with qualifying time of 8am PST, the track conditions were going to be near perfect.
Everybody improved across the board, dropping at minimum 1.5 seconds. John Hennessy put in a MEGA lap of 1:52.106, less than 1 tenth of second behind Brian Ghidinelli with a 1:52.048 – both of which broke the previous T3 track record. Gama came in with a 1:52.652 and Russell came in with a 1:54.655.
With the starting grid for Sunday’s race based on fastest lap from all officially timed sessions on Saturday and Sunday so far, we ended up being gridded across multiple cars from other classes.
The start of the race was a bit faster than of us expected as the overall pole setter had us well into 4th gear before the green flag flew. John got caught off guard a bit with that start and missed opportunities to tuck into the inside lane and lost some spots by the time we were braking for the chicane.
Russell took advantage of that and stuck behind John but on the second lap going into braking for the first chicane, he had a spicy downshift into 3rd gear which locked up the rears and sent him on a ride. Fortunately, no walls or bumpers were hurt during the spin. Russell got back on the track, finished the race and made the most of some flat spotted rear tires.
John got into a rhythm but the lost positions at the start created a gap to the P1 and P2 battle that was unfolding.
Gama (err… I) got a couple of positions on the start of the race and was behind Brian by mid-way through lap 1 but an out of class Corvette was getting around me on the big straight aways and getting in the way for the braking zones. It took a couple of laps but eventually created enough space to not have to worry about it.
I started putting my head down to eat away at the gap Brian had created (probably around 3-5 second gap) and around lap 4, a spun out Mazda Rx7 GT2 car almost took me out in the first chicane. Was able to put down some fast laps and eventually, the Rx7 got around me and while it slowed me down a little, it eventually went out of sight and caught up to Brian.
About half-way through the race, the RX7, Brian and I were all bunched up and it became apparent that the RX7 didn’t have the braking or handling performance to hang with us in the corners and while it would motor away on the straights, the lap time gap wasn’t big enough to create separation. It would turn into who would be the last person to have a lap or a sector screwed up by the RX7 and giving the opportunity to the other driver. We both benefited and took hits from managing the RX7 but unfortunately for me, it ended up being on the second to last lap (as I was leading) that the RX7 parked it on the sequence that leads on to the main start/finish straight. I had to lift and adjust my line to not take us both out and by the time I was back on throttle and had cleared the RX7, I looked to my left to take the inside line (and thus make Brian go around me on the outside to overtake), he was already tucked in with some overlap.
This turned into the most exciting sector of the weekend where we went side by side through the entire oval sector for the last lap and I stayed flat for as long as possible to try to keep the position but Brian had the inside line for the chicane and unless he completely over slowed, it would have been near impossible to keep the position by going around him on the outside.
#12 pulling away on the final lap as the RX7 refuses to go away.
From then on, the RX7 hassled me on another two corners which sealed the deal for Brian. Overall, was a great race and incredible time at our first time as a Racer on Rails team, going to a super speedway and roval course.
Sunday Race Results: 1. Brian Ghidinelli, 2. Gama Aguilar, 3. John Hennessy, 4. Russell Seewald
Thank you to everyone at the SCCA Cal Club, Hoosier Tires and all the volunteers who made this race weekend happen without a single issue and in the middle of a pandemic. THANK YOU!
Speed Nerd Bonus Content: What changed over 1 day?
From Saturday to Sunday, the qualifying laps, average race laps and fastest race laps all came down by at least 1.5 seconds. So what happened? Below is a comparison of the fastest race lap time on Saturday versus Sunday. Here’s what we think happened:
More seat time: Saturday was only the third or fifth time any of the RoR drivers had ever driven on the track in real life. Each session would help find more speed.
Staying flat on the oval: Every little bit counts and as we got comfortable with the track, it became clear that you could take it flat every lap and while a little sketchy, it was possible. Just had to believe and trust that it was possible and it appears to have resulted in almost .75 seconds gained before hitting the brakes for the chicane.
Patience on the exit of corners: This is likely tied to #1 but as I understood the track more and more, I started focusing on corner exits – do anything possible to not need to lift or hesitate too much when ascending to full throttle. Still not perfect at all but I think it got much better.
Use that purple crack: The additional grip of these Hoosier A7’s relative to the Toyo RR’s is significant. For example, on sticker tires in the Toyo’s, coming out the hot pits I can drop it into 1st or 2nd gear and light up the rear tires. That was near impossible with the Hoosier tires. I think we got more comfortable with the tires and what they could take under all aspects of a corner. I think we still left grip on the table but that just gives us something to look forward to.
#209 Gama Aguilar Fast Laps from Saturday and Sunday Races
Next up: Circuit of the Americas February 6-7, 2021
Well, 2020 was a bit of a weird year. So what’s the best way to forget about it? Look forward to an awesome and packed 2021 racing and driving calendar.
We are in the business of making smiles and lifetime memories and one of the main ways we do this is by helping people get onto a track. We can help you with the car set up and care, as well as trying to improve the performance of both you and the vehicle.
We want to announce and extend an open invite for those that are interested that we are here to help. Our team has a calendar of events planned with room for additional support for each weekend as needed! Our current SCCA, ICSCC (Conference) and Global Time Attack events are listed below. If there are any race weekends you would like some crew and coaching support for, please feel free to contact us via e-mail, phone or messenger! Let us help you be your best on track!
Give us an E-mail or call to discuss options! raceronrails@gmail.com – (206)475-1114
2021 Race and Track Schedule:
January 15 – 17: Auto Club Speedway SCCA Majors Tour – Fontana, CA
February 5 – 7: Circuit of the Americas SCCA Majors Tour – Austin, TX
February 19 – 21: Buttonwillow SCCA Majors/Hoosier Super Tour – Buttonwillow, CA
March 19 – 20: Thunderhill Raceway SCCA Majors Tour – Willows, CA
April 2 – 4: The Ridge Motorsports Park Global Time Attack – Shelton, WA
April 30 – May 2: Portland International Raceway Cascade Sports Car Club – Portland, OR
May 14 – 16: Pacific Raceways IRDC Tribute to the Volunteers – Kent, WA
May 28 – 30: Pacific Raceways SCCA Majors Tour – Kent, WA
June 4 – 6: Spokane County Raceway Park ICSCC – Spokane, WA
Jun 18 – 20: Portland International Raceway Cascade Sports Car Club – Portland, OR
July 16 – 18: Pacific Raceways IRDC Summer Classic – Kent, Washington
July 23 – 25: The Ridge Motorsports Park Global Time Attack – Shelton, WA
August 13 – 15: Portland International Raceway Cascade Sports Car Club Dash for Kids – Portland, OR
August 27-29: The Ridge Motorsports Park IRDC – Shelton, WA
September 28 – October 3: Indianapolis Motor Speedway SCCA Runoffs – Indianapolis, IN
October 16: Portland International Raceway 8 Hour Endurance Race – Portland, OR (tentative)
November 12 – 14: Buttonwillow Global Time Attack Final – Buttonwillow, CA
December 4 – 5: Circuit of the Americas World Racing League – Austin, TX
