Mazda Raceway doesn't disappoint, Time ATTACK, and The Glen

Danny Sullivan takes a pic with the entire MER crew

One of my favorite tracks to attend is by coincidence also sponsored by Mazda... I had some great experiences at the track before even starting in racing, and it remains one of my favorite visits each year. Last season, it wasn't, as both my season and my championship hopes both ended there - so I was really hoping for some good feelings to return for this past weekend's event. We were there with our Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup team, and thanks to Mazda, Indycar legend Danny Sullivan was running on with us!

Before I get too far into a season recap for our Team MER squad to set up the weekend, I need to cover just how astonishing of a situation we found ourselves in. Danny Sullivan, most famous for his 'Spin to Win' the Indianapolis 500, but also an F1 driver, LeMans driver, CART Champion, IMSA driver and all around star in the 80's and 90's. The formative years when I was learning what Motorsports was. He was a guest star on Miami Vice, on the cover of People Magazine, he was a legitimate star and definitely a hero of mine.

I've gotten the chance to meet many of my heroes, and each time it's been a surreal and humbling experience. However, not every hero lives up to the idea you might have of them. In this case, Danny blew it out of the water. He was so professional, friendly, talented, and still passionate - it really was a dream come true to spend time with him, and actually work together in an on-track pursuit.

Back to the MX-5 Cup team, we've been having a good season, not great yet. Each race we've been in the fight, but just out of reach of the win. Regardless, we are learning and getting better all the time. Our drivers are a great bunch - from Nick Evans, who is the current Mazdaspeed ladder award winner to Justin Piscitell, last year's ladder winner to Jeff Mosing, a favorite personality around the paddock - it's a joy to work with everyone this season.

The race at Mazda Raceway was an up-and-down affair, with Justin getting hit on lap one, Danny Sullivan getting hit on lap one, and Nick Evans getting spun out of the lead on lap two. Regardless, we recovered to have Justin finish 3rd, Nick 8th and Jeff 9th. More importantly, we had good, fast, consistent race cars the whole race, which was more than we could say earlier in the weekend! We came out of the weekend with Justin leading the points, and Nick still with a very strong shot at the title. Overall, a good result and some restored affection for one of my favorite tracks!

The very next weekend, I was to head back to CA, this time in the LA area for a Redline Time Attack event. For those who don't know, these are pretty much unlimited prep race cars, driven on track in a time-trial format to see who can be the quickest. The gang at Tri Point Engineering had been busy fitting their new but relatively un-used 2010 MAZDA3 touring car with a large turbo, dry sump oiling, and big wheels/tires and fender flares. The class we run in is dominated by a 1000+ HP Scion, but they were a no-show for the event, so we were able to beat the rest of the field to claim our first class win at Auto Club Speedway!

There is more to come, as the output is going to go from 430 to closer to 600, tires will get even wider, and some aero enhancements will be added. Traction control will be refined, and we'll be better able to compete with the class benchmark Scion. Next event is July 4th weekend at Willow Springs, where we hope to debut many of the above improvements.

Now we're on the way to Watkins Glen for the Grand Am Continental Challenge ST race in our 2010 MAZDASPEED3. Team MER is moving toward more involvement in Grand Am racing for 2011, and gaining all the experience we can. Hopefully we can have some success along the way, it's myself co-driving with MX-5 Cup points leader Justin Piscitell in our freshly built Mazda. Look for updates this weekend as we try to get the MAZDASPEED3 it's first podium finish!

The Finish! - 2010 Tire Rack One Lap of America - Van Victory!

Well, it's been over a for a few days now - but my first One Lap experience was an epic one. Sometimes, you have a picture in your head of how an event will go, and then in reality it's a bit of a let-down. In this case, years of anticipation led up to an event that exceeded my expectations. Brock Yates Jr., carrying on the fine tradition his Father started, does an amazing job of assembling a stellar hard-working team. The quality of the event, the venues, the competitors, and the experience was just great.

Coming back to Nelson Ledges was great too. My old friend from my very early autocross days now works at the track there. He did a bit of a 'block' job by parking his LeMons car in a covered parking spot waiting for us to show up! Apart from enduring the jeers of some good friends from Austin, it was a great help. Thanks Bryan! Getting back out on that track was a very emotional experience for me, as it's been over 10 years since I've been there, in such time I've driven dozens of other tracks.

In some ways, it was fitting that it was the final track event, and that we needed to make up a small gap in points. We came into the day five points behind in the SUV class, and needed the wins to seal up the class win. As anyone who's been to Nelson knows, the kink on the back straight is a pretty fast and daunting corner. I remember doing it flatout in every car I'd ever driven there - none of which were particularly fast. A Ford Escort, ITB Alfa Alfetta, and ITA Mazda RX-7 were all easy-flat out through the kink. As I approached the turn for the first time in our MAZDASPEED5, only one thought was going through my mind: "Don't Lift!!"

Well, that was exciting! After turning in, I realized I had slightly over-committed. It was a bit of a chase, all the way across the track - as the Van was bouncing and skipping along the surface. The final bounce was in the grass, but it finally caught traction and I bombed into turn 12. In the crowd, everyone had thought I had made a huge mistake. Luckily, Fish was up there to set everyone straight: "He meant to do that - watch, he'll do the exact same thing for the next laps." Luckily, from the stands it looked the same - but I did make a little baby-lift on the subsequent laps!

Despite this, I ended up in 7th overall, and my best individual lap of 1:15.4 was only about 2.8 seconds off the OVERALL leading Porsche GT2 of Leh Keen. We beat the X6M handily, and now class points were tied! Despite a little off in the afternoon session - We managed 10th overall and the class lead. Leaving Nelson was bittersweet, my sister and her husband had shown up, and it was just comfortable to be there again. I look forward to getting back, and I hope someone buys the track and invests some long needed money into it. The layout is one of the greatest in the country, fast and flowing!

The final event was upon us, the dry skidpad. It was a bit damp at the start, but by the time I went it was dryish. I had never done anything like that, so I was a bit nervous. I tried a couple different techniques, and really wanted to get the MAZDA5 over 1.0G, but in the end I had to settle for .991G and 8th overall. It was enough for the class win, and moved us up to 15th overall!!

For the awards banquet, which was held inside the Tire Rack warehouse, all the guys who put this awesome vehicle together got to swing down from Countryside to be there. It was great to share the victory with them, as they put such an amazing vehicle together! Fisher and I sat in awe of the week that preceded - probably closer friends for it, and with a clear directive to be back every year we can make it!

At the banquet, Eric Vates, the project lead for teamzoomzoomnation.com filled us in on the Honda take on our effort. They had a turbocharged Honda Oddessy minivan that ran in '06 and '07. They lost the budget to run the van, and it's been sitting ever since. Honda took note of our effort, and the guys who built the van emailed Eric to thank him - our performance prompted Honda to restore some budget for the effort, so we get to go toe-t0-toe with our rivals next year. Some upgrades are in order - it's going to be even crazier!

Fisher and I have some great ideas for next year, of a multi-car Mazda based team. Details are in the works, but it proves to be an exciting and interesting concept. Either way, we look forward to joining the roving circus again next year, and to seeing all our friends there again!

After a couple days to decompress, it was up to Road America for some MX-5 Cup testing. The day went relatively well - until my student and friend found the wall in the kink. After we loaded the car, we spent the rest of the day milling around looking at the ultra-exotic hardware assembled for the SVRA weekend there. If anyone is near Road America this weekend, GO THERE and drool. Audi R8 LeMans cars, Williams and Bennetton F1 cars, Vintage Trans Am, Can Am... you name it!

Speaking of Trans Am... I really would love to run something at the upcoming Harrah's Autobahn Grand Prix weekend. Since Trans Am was my childhood dream, and impetus for pursuing a career driving, it would be a dream to compete in that race. Hmmm!

See everyone at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca next weekend for Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup! GoTeamMER.com!

Day 7 - 2010 Tire Rack One Lap of America - It gets silly on the road

In the initial driver's meeting, organizer Brock Yates Jr. told all the One Lappers that everything will start out fine, but by the end of the week you will hate your co-driver. In mine and Fish's case, it couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, we were just remarking earlier, that as the week has progressed, we have just slowly transformed into Beavis and Butthead, simply sitting next to each other giggling at stupid stuff.

Hours and hours on the road with limited sleep after a track day is usually pretty relaxing - but on the 7th day, you definitely start to question your sanity. Then there's the realization leaving NJMP and driving West from Philadelphia that you're now driving INTO the sun, and for four hours you are miserable human beings. Somehow, through it all, we are still degrading into more and more juvenile behavior and having the time of our lives.

The event at NJMP today went better than recently reported... they initially had us listed in 42nd place for the morning run - and despite Fish's somewhat spectacular off in the 'showcase' turn due to improper gear selection (we forgot to talk about speed/gear on the course walk for that corner), it didn't seem like we would have been that far back. Luckily, the results were wrong as posted, and we were 23rd... only one position and around a second off our rivals in the factory BMW effort.

The factory supported team running the X6M has been very consistently a touch quicker than Richard in our van, but I've been able to beat them by a pretty large margin. This has made it into a pretty close race, with us being 5 points back right now in the class standings. With just three events left, all we need is a pretty small bobble to lose our chance at the class win. We have them pretty handily on overall points right now, however, and on overall time margin - which is the eventual tie-breaker if we need it.

We're just about in Pittsburgh now, ready for a nice dinner and then a short blast up to Youngstown for the night. I drive tomorrow, and it's at the track I first drove on - Nelson Ledges. It's pretty special for me to come back there in such a unique event, and with the support of Mazda and all our other great partners. I hope to be able to take back the points lead for us and bring us that one step closer to victory.

The social aspect of this event has been just wonderful - everyone is so supportive, and everyone is genuinely having a great time. When the Subaru team broke a hub, Richard located the parts and had a parts driver deliver them to St Loius so they could repair the car and continue the event. When the CTS rolled the first day, they simply went to the car dealership, bought a Chrysler Crossfire and continued. There are great stories all over the place!

It's off to dinner, and some rest to prepare for another big day in this week long endurance test. And if this wasn't enough, it looks like within 5hrs of the end of the One Lap, we might have the van at Autobahn Country Club doing a three-hour enduro. Yes, we are crazy! An idea like that can only be hatched after 7 straight days on the road, and 3300miles covered.

Tips from the road...

Fish and Saini tip #428 - Spend 6 days out in the sun and driving with your arms out the window, get sunburned close to the point of pain and THEN go buy sunblock. Then drive for another hour with it on the floorboard of your car. Finally, apply it liberally in the car until you can't see out the windows from the overspray. kthanksbye!

Because we can...

We don't need 90% of this stuff for the One Lap

Days 5 and 6 - 2101 One Lap of America - The MAZDASPEED5!

So what is this Crazy contraption we're driving in the Tire Rack One Lap of America? Well, it's a 2010 MAZDA5. It's silver. And it's a fire-breather. Mazda USA provided the starting point of the van itself, a new 2010 MAZDA5 with a manual transmission. The drivetrain is from a 2008 MAZDASPEED3, expertly swapped in to the car by a couple of techs at the Autobarn Mazda in Countryside, IL. Everything from the Speed3 had to be swapped, engine, transmission, wiring harness, instrument cluster.

Then, out went the interior. Sparco provided a very nice pair of 'Chrono Road' seats, which have supported our backs wonderfully for the last 2100miles. Atomic Fabrication installed a roll cage and stitch welded the car to stiffen things up. Paint Solutions sprayed the cage and interior to match the exterior. Then came the fun bits!

Custom Performance Engineering (CPe) provided their excellent Standback fuel/spark/boost management computer, flashed the ECU and provided a modified high-pressure fuel pump. Combined with the Cobb downpipe, intake and front mount intercooler provided by Protegegarage.com it makes an honest 305hp at the wheels! That's a stock turbo, bolt ons and an excellent tune by GRD in the Chicagoland area. The car gets 25+ mpg on our highway commutes between tracks too!

Mazdaspeed provided an exhaust, camber plates, front swaybar and goodies like a trick shift knob. One of the parts of the car that interests people most is the interior - seems there's just something about a stripped out minivan with a roll cage that people can't get enough of! Probably the most important parts for the car came from Tri Point engineering, who put together a great suspension kit for us - revalved, double adjustable Koni struts and shocks, hypercoil springs and their trick rear swaybar. With just a little dialing in, this van handles like you can't believe... seriously, you wouldn't believe it!

Finally the car was wrapped with a bunch of graphics from Cynosure Custom Signs, and Fisher and I strapped on a new pair of Piloti shoes for the journey. It's been such a spectacular run so far... the van, and the event have not dissapointed. I can't get over how great this car came out, and how much people love it.

Yesterday we were at Gateway International Raceway at their excellent road course. Richard drove very well, never having seen the track. He managed to get the van more sideways than a MAZDA5 has likely ever been, and saved it with minimal time loss. Still, both the morning and the afternoon events were a loss to our main rivals in the BMW X6M, which, it has to be noted, is about 5-times the cost of our vehicle, with double the horsepower! After both events, we trailed them for the first time of the event by a mere 5 points, setting up a great battle to the finish with only 7 events remaining.

We set off on our long drive, intent on making it to a nice dinner in Mansfield. Several people recommended a place called Rocky's, and as a courtesy we called ahead to make sure they would be open. With about 67 miles to go, Fish called and the response was they were going to close, but since we were on the way they would stay. He could hear the hunger in Fish's voice, and said get here when you can and we'll feed you.

What happened when we got there simply doesn't happen any more. The owner Rick, his wife (the chef,) and their lead server Megan stayed for us, and the five of us proceeded to hang out for a couple hours while they fed us one of the most amazing meals of our lives. I'm not joking - you could take this place and put it in NYC, LA, SanFrancisco, Chicago... anywhere... and it would be one of the best restaurants in that particular city. From the beet salad with fresh goat cheese, and honey roasted hazelnuts to the Mussels in pesto to the NY strip, everything was stunning. They do everything in house too, from marinating the beets in raspberry vinagrette to honey-roasting the hazelnuts to aging the beef.

After the great food, great stories, and wonderful company, we headed in for a night's sleep. We slept well knowing there were still people and places like Rocky's where they take pride in taking care of their customers. If you are every ANYWHERE near Mansfield, Ohio and you don't go to Rocky's, you are simply nuts.

Awaking the next morning, I knew I'd be driving at my old home track, Mid Ohio. It's such an amazing place, in the middle of a park like setting there are some of the best turns in the world. Taking to the track, I placed 7th in the morning session overall! The van handled great, but I started a little low on fuel and lost some time with some fuel stumbling... so I think 6th was possible, which is just remarkable from a MAZDA5, even with the power it has. Remember, we were 35th in the drag strip times for ET, so it's fast but there are plenty of faster cars here.

On the road now to NJMP, in rural PA - it's just beautiful here. What an event this is! But driving (well riding, I can multitask, but not that well,) in this van right now I have come to the realization that I want one of these. The looks on people's faces when you dust them off in a MAZDA5 is too awesome, and the extra HP really makes this car. There might be some limited edition turbo MAZDA5's based on Tri Point's proven turbo kit available at the Autobarn... stay tuned for details!

Talk to you from NJMP!

Day 4, 2010 One Lap of America - The Longest Day!

As we head down the road to St Louis, I can't help but reflect on how crazy this event is... or more accurately - used to be. This is going to be our longest day so far, but still pales in comparison to how the event used to be. Previously, you had to basically leave one event, drive through the night, then arrive in the morning to start the next event. If you were lucky, there was an hour or two for a quick cat nap before the time trial, but overall there was very little 'extra' time in the schedule.

Over the years, it's gotten a bit 'softer' but today is a throwback to the way it used to be! We started the day in Tulsa, drove to Hallett, then back to Tulsa for nighttime bracket drag racing, and now we're heading to St Louis for a time trial at Gateway International Raceway. So by the time we get to sleep it will be around 3AM and we have to be at the track around 7AM.

Today could have gone better, but certainly could have gone worse. On the slate was the enormously technical Hallet Motor Racing Circuit - a track I've wanted to drive ever since I moved somewhat nearby. Of course, that track was Fisher's on the rotation, so we geared up to help him work on something that he's struggled with as a driver for years - learning a new track. And let me tell you, Hallett isn't an easy one to learn.

Lots of off-camber, blind entry, blind exit, over crests, interconnected turns, downhill braking zones, banked turns... it literally has it all, and within a tight 2.2 mile circuit! We started by having Richard ride a lap on his bike (the very same one we'd purchased the night before,) to get oriented followed by a track walk with the two of us. We talked about the corners and compared approaches. I would watch what his approach was to a specific corner, then correct as necessary.

After another lap on his bike, Fisher was off. He didn't have the best mental picture of the track yet, and as such struggled to put a fast run together - but he kept it on track (for the most part) and we ended up 28th overall. Unfortunately, we got beaten by our competitors in the SUV category, in a BMW X6M. After some more drills to learn the track, he improved to 25th in the afternoon run, and we ended up in 13th overall. The Bimmer beat us again by one measly spot, and because of that our class lead was trimmed to 5 points!

We packed everything up again and headed to Tulsa Speedway for the drag racing events - knowing it would be a struggle for us. While our MAZDA5 has great power, with 305whp, it's relatively heavy and front-wheel-drive. Also, it's great power for a MAZDA5, but not necessarily for the One Lap - stomping ground for some seriously fast cars. Low ET was set at a 10.9! We came through with a 14.2 @102mph which was good enough for 35th overall. Next year, 450hp.

After the low ET competition, everyone set a dial-in time and we lined up for the bracket racing portion. For those who don't know, bracket racing is like a golf handicap. You set your dial-in and race to that number. If your dial in is 14.1 (which is what I chose,) and your competitor is a 12.1, you get to start 2 seconds before them. The first to the finish line wins! There was a Civic running a 15.88 dial in that won overall, starting sometimes 4-5 seconds before his competitors. He eventually used his consistency to win overall, but in the process we tied for 3rd overall by reaching the final four!

After the track entered my dial-in wrong for the first run, they allowed me to rerun - which I won strictly on reaction time. Round after round, I just tried to stay consistent, usually being within two-tenths of my dial in. On one pass, I managed to run a 14.114, only .014 from breaking out! If you break out (go below your dial in,) you automatically lose. In the final four, I lined up against a fast E36 M3 and raced him hard to the lights. He knocked me out by only .012 of a second at the line!

So with some lost points in the morning and at the low ET drag event, we gained a bunch back at the bracket event and ended the day 13th overall. More importantly, the class battle was a stalemate with our closest competitor scoring an identical number of points to us - so we leave the day leading our class again!

You can follow our progress at onelapofamerica.com, and teamzoomzoomnation.com

We've been getting some great blog coverage in the media as well:

Motor Trend: http://blogs.motortrend.com/6674511/one-lap-of-america/2010-one-lap-of-america-the-rise-of-the-giant-killers-at-mid-america/index.html

Autoguide.com: http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2010/05/2010-one-lap-of-america-tests-man-and-machine-to-the-extreme.html

First installment, 2010 MAZDASPEED5 One Lap of America Blog - it begins!

This all started a couple of years ago... well, let me back up, many years ago. When I was just starting out in autocrossing, and doing some Solo1 events at tracks like Nelson Ledges, I remember a unique event coming to town. A bunch of crazy people were packed into all manner of cars, from super-cars to sports-sedans to pickup trucks; it was the Cannonball One Lap of America, brainchild of famed motoring journalist Brock Yates. I knew then, watching at Nelson Ledges, that someday I wanted to do the event. So, I guess that's where it all started for me.

As far as my co-driver, Richard Fisher, he's a long time car dealer and enthusiast who has wanted to do the event for years as well. After reading each year about the teams criss-crossing the country stopping at tracks each day for a time trial, packing everything up and moving on to the next venue, he had to be a part of it. Richard's dealership, The Autobarn Mazda, began supporting my road racing career in 2006, and Richard and I became fast friends.

As friends do, we talk about events we wanted to do - and inevitably the One Lap would pop up. We talked about doing it in a modified Miata, three-rotor RX-8, all sorts of ideas kept popping up. Late last year, however, Richard had a stroke of genius. What could we take that would be comfortable, roomy enough for all our stuff, and quick enough to place well? The Mazda5 was an easy answer for the first two questions, but the third question... was still a question. Anyone who has seen any coverage of the One Lap knows that it's infested with 500hp beasts. A 300hp car is underpowered for this event, which involves three timed laps on each track with no warmup or practice.

Here's the genius part: MAZDASPEED5. Richard and Eric Vates, the manager of his Countryside Mazda store and fellow enthusiast, bought a wrecked 2008 MAZDASPEED3 to harvest the drivetrain from. They then took a new 2010 MAZDA5, and two talented technicians at the store (Dan Gleason and Tim Guntorius) performed the swap. The Eric worked hard to find partners and suppliers for all the go-fast parts needed to make this Minivan fly. Finally it was outfitted with Nav, radar, wifi, power outlets - all the technology a roving blog would need!

So here we are, at day three of the event - rolling down the highway south of Kansas City, having traversed 5 states already today and done two track events! It's going great, and we're in 9th overall amonst MUCH more potent competition. Further proof of the power of Zoom Zoom!

I couldn't join for the first couple days due to the fact that the race team I'm part owner of, Team MER, was running in the second round of the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup Championship at Road Atlanta. I joined the caravan Saturday night in Omaha, NE. Richard would have to drive the first three events. This worked out fine, since we were always planning on trading off the driving duties.

The first event was Friday at the Tire Rack in South Bend, IN, and it was the wet skidpad. Richard drove the little van to 4th place overall! After a relatively short drive to Road America, he placed 16th in the morning time trial, and 20th in the second. Unfortunately, a penalty for hitting a pylon meant losing 10 spots for that event, but it still left us in 10th overall after three events!

I flew from Atlanta to Omaha last night, and met up with Richard and his friend Carmen who has filled my seat for the first two days. We had a great dinner, and got some much needed rest before attacking Mid America Motorplex today - at track I'd never been to before. With all of my autocross experience, one of my strengths has always been to be up to speed quickly on new tracks. After a quick track walk, I took to the course for my first of two timed runs.

For the morning run, I did a 5:22.9 for three laps - good enough for 8th overall! Of course, feelling like I'd learned something, I set out to go faster in the afternoon... which I did by a whopping 1.6 seconds. One of the curses of learning tracks so fast is that improvement doesn't come easily! With everyone else picking up more time from the morning experience, we only finished 13th overall, but with the dropout of one of the leaders we ended the day in 9th!

Did I mention I LOVE driving this thing around? Today, for the second run group, I was gridded in 8th between a 2010 Porsche 997 twin turbo, and a 2010 Porsche GT3 RS... In our VAN! Let's not forget, our goal was just to win the truck/van category - but here we are, in the top 10 overall and leading the SUV category handily!

With all of this connectivity I will be doing daily blogs, photos, videos and updates, so stay tuned for all the fun and adventure as we try to keep our MAZDASPEED5 among giants in the 2010 Tire Rack One Lap of America!

More info and results are at onelapofamerica.com and teamzoomzoomnation.com

My first blog!

So I've been blogging and posting in many places over the past several years, from SPEEDtv.com to my Facebook page, to anyone who will listen, basically. And as I am driving here down the road from Tulsa to St Louis as part of the 2010 Tire Rack One Lap of America, I have decided to finally give in and start a proper blog-spot as a central point for all the random stuff I post all over the Internet. This is something I should have done years ago, but... I didn't, so I'm doing it now at 79mph in rural Eastern Oklahoma. Naturally, my first few installments will have to do with this crazy One Lap event I'm participating in!

From now on, anything I post to any of my other random outlets will also be posted here - so sit back, relax, and enjoy the ramblings!