Race Report: NASA Savannah Sizzler

Overview

5x Racing decided to try our hand at a NASA Southeast Spec Miata Challenge Race, and what better of a track to visit than Roebling Road Raceway in Savannah Georgia? NASA racing around the country has been growing rapidly, with a younger, progressive, future oriented outlook on racing it's easy to see why. NASA has a different format on a race weekend, mostly because they have TONS of classes racing within one weekend. From High Performance Driving Event classes, Time Trial, and Race Groups, NASA has it all in one place. They make it very easy for someone interested in getting into a racecar to learn the ropes without jumping in head first. The NASA way of racing was new to 5xR, as we were grouped with about 50-60 cars in the "Lightning" Race Group. The spread of times was remarkably close considering the vehicles involved, with lap times ranging from low 1:20 to 1:30 it made for some good racing all around. All in all it was a great weekend, we had excellent results and made some great new friends. Read on to see how the race went...

Qualifying 1
Q1 was a bit tough, with so many cars on track it was almost impossible to get a clean lap. Over 50 cars on a 2 mile track makes for a 2 mile train, and it took it's toll on John's performance not being used to dealing with cars slower in the turns. Our lap times were suspiciously high from our past precedent through the practice and Q1 sessions, which had Rick searching for an answer in the set-up of the car. John was blaming himself for the slow times, and the 30 or so Spec E30 BMW's! Although the set-up was off and track crowded, John still salvaged a not too bad 3rd place starting position considering the circumstances. Luckily Ricks suspicion was correct, as he found some reversed shock heights on the rear shock set-up, no doubt a shop mistake when changing to the 99+ Miata shock hats last week. We also lowered the whole car a hair to set the car on the bumpstops through the corners.

Race 1
With the set-up tweak John was ready to attack the track for Race 1. A funky split start brought the Spec Miata field right into the back of the E30 field going into turn 1, which made for some interesting racing from the start. John was battling with Jeffrey Walter and Joseph Strong for 1st place for almost half of the race, with each racer taking his turn at leading the pack. The #25 5xR Spec Miata was flying down the strait-a-ways, but unfortunately the Spec E30 BMW's were a touch faster on the straits and slower in the turns. John kept getting held up around the track by the E30's, which allowed Walter to catch up and eventually pass John for the lead. A car stuck off of turn 1 brought out a double yellow, which paced the field around the track for the rest of the race ending in a yellow/checkered finish. John came home in 2nd with no chance to catch Walter for 1st, it was a bittersweet podium. We were very impressed by the awards ceremony and BBQ NASA held for the racers on Saturday night, it was very cool to be honored for your performance and hard work. This is something the SCCA can take a lesson from!

Qualifying 2
Q2 was where John and the 5xR Miata shined! We totally nailed the set-up of the car and the fuel weight, in combination with getting clear track conditions for the first 3 laps allowed John to post a flying lap of 1:23.777, right where we were in September for the SARRC Championship race! With this being the fastest Spec Miata race lap of the weekend, John non-the-less secured pole position for Race 2. A clean track was the key to getting fast lap times this weekend, which was very hard to achieve with all the cars.

Race 2
Starting from pole and being able to pace the field for a split start was important to getting out in front early. John secured first place on lap 1 and held strong until the traffic came up, which allowed traffic master Jeffery Walter to catch up quickly. John and Jeffery were racing hard for several laps, swapping in and out for 1st place many times. They were also killing their tires on a very hot day, which came into play sooner than later. John settled in behind Walter with plenty of time left in the race to mount an attack to see if a mistake could be made by applying pressure. Sure enough the hot tires took it's toll on Walter and he went off track in turn 2 which handed John the lead for good. Several laps later John took the checkered to secure the Race 2 win! A smart weekend was played by John as he did not put a wheel wrong in any of the sessions, not even going off track once! Consistency is always going to pay off at the finish line! Look for us at our next race on June 28-29th at Moroso.

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Welcome to our new web site!

5x Racing is going BIG in 2008! We have decided to upgrade our program in more ways than one, both on the track and in the office. The biggest change is our new web site. We contracted the services of Web Design Solutions for the upgrade to a professional ecommerce site, which uses the awesome web shop manager ecommerce solution. The team at WDS also created an fast new 5x Racing logo to go with the new site design and colors from scratch, these guys are GOOD! I know our customers will appreciate the new features that will be available with our new store. We are also upping our program to cater to the fast growing autosport of Time Attack racing. We will be adding products for key vehicles that are popular with the Time Attack racers, keep posted for exciting additions to our product catalog. As always our specialty will be Spec Miata, so Spec Miata is our first priority! On the track we are doubling our program, as in adding another Spec Miata racecar to the 5x Racing Team! Rick Adamczyk will be starting his amateur road racing career in his brand new 1995 Galaxy Gray Spec Miata, which was built 100% in house at the 5x Racing shop. This car is beautiful, Rick is a perfectionist when it comes to fabrication, and his skills show on his new car! Watch for us in the Southeast SCCA South Atlantic Road Racing Championship races in 2008!

Race Report: Double SARRC at Moroso Motorsports Park

Overview
The Double SARRC at Moroso after Christmas is always a must do on 5x Racing's list. The fair weather, double points race format, and affordable race weekend are attractive to any racer. The 5x Racing Teams luck was about to change this race, as John and Rick were looking for redemption from the October SARRC race at Sebring that left the #25 5xR Spec Miata in need of repair. At the shop, the #25 5xR Spec Miata received new wheels and tires, a new intake system from SP Inductions, and we hammered out all of the dents and straitened the body out under the headlights to restore the car to race ready condition for this race.

Qualifying 1
Since this race was a double race weekend, the format was Qualifying 1 & Race 1 on Saturday, and Q2 & R2 on Sunday with each race being worth separate points. With no practice time, John and Rick set up the car with a mix of setups we used from our last race at Moroso and our successful run at the SIC at Roebling Road in September. The setup seemed to work well with the new tires and John secured pole position for SARRC Race 1, our first pole since the SCCA Drivers School race.

SARRC Race 1
Starting 1st in Spec Miata is always good, as you are clear of the mayhem that usually ensues mid pack into the first corner. When the green flag dropped we got a jolt in the rear from Jamie Tucker, a competitor starting 3rd which held back and planned a run before the flag flew. This was a good thing as it pushed John in front of 2nd place and into the clear track. Tucker got a draft off of John and made a pass into turn one taking the lead, John patiently followed for most of the race until an opportunity arose. About 3/4 of the way into the race Tuckers tires started to go away, especially coming onto the drag strip as John witnessed some impressive tire smoking drifts following. John took advantage of the speed robbing drifts and made a pass, Tuckers car was fast though as he did not fall behind too far. Eventually towards the end of the race, Koni Challenge driver Ricky Diaz joined the battle for the lead from 3rd place and made it a 3 car fight to the checkered flag. All 3 cars traded places lap after lap and on the 2nd to last lap John secured 1st place and took it to the finish, marking the first competitive Spec Miata victory for the 5x Racing Team!

Qualifying 2
Sunday brought some additional competitors to the race, adding to the challenge. John secured a worthy 3rd place starting position behind Central Florida veteran Joe Evans and Speed World Challenge racer Mary Katherine. This would be a tough spot to start from, as you are practically locked in behind pole position and are forced to match their pace.

SARRC Race 2
Race 2 would be tough, especially starting from 3rd, but none-the-less the next best position going into turn 1. When the green flag dropped John got a massive push from both Jamie Tucker and Ricky Diaz, as the best three from day one were hungry. John made it out of turn 1 in second place, followed by Tucker and Diaz. Evans quickly made a gap between 1st and 2nd, 3rd, 4th as a long battle ensued for most of the race. In the thick of the battle, John was pushing hard to stay in front of Tucker and Diaz, in the meantime working his tires too hard. Before long John was passed by both Tucker and Diaz in the draft falling to 4th, after rethinking his strategy, John started regaining ground on 2nd place Tucker and 3rd place Diaz, but it was too late as the end of the race was nearing. When the checkered flag dropped, it was Evans 1st followed by Diaz 2nd (who made a last lap pass for 2nd), Tucker 3rd, and John in 4th. Not bad for a two race weekend, a lot of points were gained in the SARRC Championship standings. The most important part of the weekend is that the #25 5xR Spec Miata went home without a scratch, and a 2008 SARRC Winner plaque! The 5x Racing Team is taking a couple month break for a few reasons: John is getting married March 28th, resources are being pooled to complete the build of Rick's Spec Miata racecar, and gas prices are just too damn expensive! Follow us to our next race at Roebling Road Raceway on May 15-16 as 5x Racing tries it's luck in the NASA Spec Miata Series.

[Sorry, no Mylaps results were submitted by the Florida region SCCA][ SARRC Points]

Race Report: SCCA SARRC/Regional at Sebring International Raceway

 Headline: 5x Racing's bad luck streak continues at the first SARRC Race of the 2008 season.

Overview
The 2008 SARRC season begins just one short month after the close of the SARRC Invitational Challenge where 5x Racing had an impressive showing finishing 3rd, but was later disqualified due to a protest by a competitor from on track contact which was really just a "racing thing". The bad luck continued this race when rain threatened the entire weekend, making for uncertainties in tire choices.

Practice and Qualifying
The morning practice started out dry, but halfway through it was raining on the 12 hour side of the 3.7 mile course. The 5xR Miata was sliding all over, as it seemed impossible for John to find grip on this slippery track. Upon qualifying, the rain still loomed overhead. John and Rick made the choice to put on our rain tires for the qualifying session. This seemed to be a good idea, with 15 minutes until our tracktime it was consistently raining. As luck would have it, the rain stopped once we made it to the grid. John had to qualify on the rain tires with dry track conditions. Consequently our times were about 3 seconds off our usual pace, which in Spec Miata is major. We ended up qualifying 20th in class, which severly limited our chances to score a podium finish.

SARRC Race
The condition of the track for the SARRC race were the most diffucult John has ever had to endure in a race, as the entire club course section was wet/drying and the 12 hour section was dry. Starting 20th was going to be a disaster with these conditions. When the green flag dropped John got an excellent start, he jumped into the top ten by the first lap! On the second lap John was dive-bomb passed by a competitor and forced onto the wet line through the corner, the brakes locked up and John was forced to use a runoff road and cut through the grass back onto the track. After the off course, John was close to dead last. Thankfully it was a 30 minute race, and John worked his way up to about 17th before the entire field was black flagged and course shut down due to a communications loss with race control. This was good as it allowed John to catch up to the leaders. After the restart John had 13 minutes to gain as many positions as he could, and it was enough time to allow John to work his way back up to 8th, salvaging a top ten finish.

Regional Race
The Regional race that followed the SARRC is where John's luck went from bad to worse. Starting 20th, John once again worked a miracle on the first lap, going from 20th to about 6th. After things got settled in, John was catching the leaders with about 10 minutes to go. John then set up a pass on the #03 Spec Miata of 5th placed competitor John Barben coming out of the turn 4 carosel, and with lapped traffic coming up on the right, Barben miscalculated his tuck behind and made contact with our right rear, sending us sliding sideways down the strait and eventually into the lapped car. We had considerable damage to the front bumper, left fender, and left door. The car was able to drive back to the pits, and after further inspection the damage seems mostly cosmetic. It looks like most of the damage can be bent back into shape, and new tires are necessary (sliding sideways at 90mph flat spots and cords tires immediately), but hopes are high to redeem our luck at the next SARRC Race at Moroso Motorsports Park on December 29-30.

[Qualifying Results] [SARRC Race Results] [Regional Race Results]