2012 SCCA Runoffs

[Jason@SportsCar]

Almost time for the SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road America in Elkhart, Wis.

This year we are doubling our efforts, taking both cars out for a run at the H Production podium. We have a test day on Sept 17th, then qualify on the 20th, 21st and 22nd, with the race on Sunday the 23rd at 8:30am.

http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=4516

Currently there are 20 cars in the H Prod class, so it should be a great race. With the new engine setup, close-ratio trans and a few other tweaks we think the cars will be a lot more competitive - but truthfully we would settle for backing up last years podium finish.

Just got the cars loaded up in the Toyota transporter today, along with a few racecars some friends are running in other classes. Cant wait to get out there.

For those not in the area you can all of the Runoffs action live on Speedcast TV: http://speedcasttv.com/scca/

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/523367_284477638332038_1728240493_n.jpg

[suckerface]

You'll be in WI for that race? I very well may be making the hour drive north to come visit!

[Jason@SportsCar]

You'll be in WI for that race? I very well may be making the hour drive north to come visit!

Yes, just look for the Toyota transporter in the West Paddock.

[suckerface]

Is it somewhat closed off, or will I be able to come take a look at the cars and say hi?

[Jason@SportsCar]

Is it somewhat closed off, or will I be able to come take a look at the cars and say hi?

Not closed off at all - the only thing you can not get on is the track or hot pits. Come check them out, we will also have Jamie Bestwick (driving the 29) with us (if you are a BMX/X-Games/Dew Tour fan).

[suckerface]

I am a fan, but I don't follow that close, so the name isn't familiar.

What are your guys' plans during the downtime throughout the week?

Stoked to get to see your cars, would love to get a bit of input from you in person about mine if you have time!

[Jason@SportsCar]

I am a fan, but I don't follow that close, so the name isn't familiar.

What are your guys' plans during the downtime throughout the week?

Stoked to get to see your cars, would love to get a bit of input from you in person about mine if you have time!

We actually don't have much down time, there always seems to be something to do to the cars, and we actually have a third car in another class with us... And when we are not on track we will be working, covering a number of the other classes/races for SportsCar mag.

[suckerface]

That's a bit of a bummer, but it sounds like you guys have done a LOT of work and preparing for this week. I'm really excited to see the fruits of your labor!

When would be the best day to come and see it? I won't be able to come Friday or Saturday, I have friends coming to town for a birthday party, but Monday, Thursday, or Sunday should all be free.

[Jason@SportsCar]

That's a bit of a bummer, but it sounds like you guys have done a LOT of work and preparing for this week. I'm really excited to see the fruits of your labor!

When would be the best day to come and see it? I won't be able to come Friday or Saturday, I have friends coming to town for a birthday party, but Monday, Thursday, or Sunday should all be free.

Monday and Sunday are busy days for us, the rest are less so. If you come on Thursday you can see it in the paddock and on track, we Qual at 5:45pm.

[suckerface]

Fantastic, that'll give me an excuse to leave work early! I'll see if I can get my buddy around or out of class to tag along, I'm sure he'd love to see it too.

[fnkngrv]

Best of luck Bud! Gotta love an H/P or H/PS from Toyota goin for it again! Will def try to catch it on the tube.

[g.q.vios]

I seen the red one @ toyota fest in long beach nice!!!

48442

:bow:

[Jason@SportsCar]

Great way to start my trip.. American lands late in Chicago and I miss my flight to Milwaukee. Got a later flight on another airline, but so much for getting out to the track and preparing for the test day tomorrow. Hope this is the only hiccup this week.

[fnkngrv]

^ sucks dude...best of luck with at least getting there!

[Jason@SportsCar]

Had a good test day on Monday, and a good qual session yesterday. Currently sitting 4th, just over a tenth out of second. Bestwick made his first laps here in the Yaris yesterday and is 17th. Our qual was cut to four laps after a Miata blew its engine. Back on track today at 5pm.

[fnkngrv]

take no prisoners!

[Jason@SportsCar]

Qual 2 went great. I got the 99 car down to a 2:44 (4 sec quicker than last year) and am currently 5th in class. Jamie is running a respectable 2:49 and is 10th, not bad for his first race weekend here. We go out at 8:30a for our final qual session.

[cali yaris]

^ Good luck today, go get 'em!

[ilikerice]

I will be watching.

Good luck you guys, I wish be chanting for you from my computer

[ilikerice]

bestwick down.. DAMN that sux

[ilikerice]

good race, was really hoping you would catch up and at least fight for 4th. great racing though.

[Jason@SportsCar]

What an exhausting week, I still feel loopy from a lack of sleep/jet-lag. We had a great time, and we are very happy with the cars, went from running 2:48 laps in 2011, to being able to run a 2:43 on my own and a 2:42 in the draft, the engine work, close-ratio trans and radial slicks really found us some speed. Now we just need to find a little more top end to keep up with the leaders - once the draft was gone there was zero chance of catching them on my own.

For Jamie's first time at the track he did excellent, by the end of qualifying he was running a 2:46. Unfortunately Jamie got caught up in an unavoidable situation, and it appears as thought the 2012 is a complete write-off. :cry:

Will post more later.

Here is a clip from the Fiat that hit Jamie on Lap 1 down in turn 5 (I think the only strait panel on the car is the roof): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDdSpUdoNW0&feature=youtu.be

[xnamerxx]

Do you know if Toyota is going to be providing another car?

In the video it looks like the guy in the X1/9 wouldn't give up the corner he lost.

[Jason@SportsCar]

Do you know if Toyota is going to be providing another car?

In the video it looks like the guy in the X1/9 wouldn't give up the corner he lost.

To early to predict Toyota's plans for next year. I do know Jamie wants to get back out there.

With the cold temps, I believe it was below 40 when we took the green, a lot of people had trouble getting enough heat in their tires for the first lap. The Fiat driver locked up the brakes in Turn 3, then again in Turn 5 when he made contact with Jamie.

Here is the right side damage (from the passengers door back) from the Fiat hit, the front is from hitting the Triumph that spun in front of him at Turn 8:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-BT7H22GuWKs/UGHZda6hF6I/AAAAAAAAA-E/tT6-5z52gV0/s1152/2012-09-23_10-01-35_812.jpg

More Triumph damage:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YqVY_7nihHY/UGHZ7GLqGcI/AAAAAAAAA-M/R2Xjpn69x5w/s1152/2012-09-23_10-02-15_94.jpg

After the restart Pitt's in the VW turned in a bit early at Turn 3:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-S1ZRvYbroAY/UGHZPnw-O0I/AAAAAAAAA98/V3aOazbyUL0/s1152/2012-09-23_09-30-07_290.jpg

[Jason@SportsCar]

For those that did not catch the live broadcast, here is a copy of that feed, H Prod is the first race. High res videos of the individual races should be out in the next few weeks.

http://speedcasttv.com/scca/#/races/296

[Jason@SportsCar]

In the video it looks like the guy in the X1/9 wouldn't give up the corner he lost.

There is also the possibility that there was some fluid down going into Turn 5. A few rows back from Jamie and the Fiat a Datsun 510 has the same twitch under braking that the Fiat appeared to have - this could have been something on the surface from the AM hardship session right before our race, or he could have slipped on something left from the Yaris/Fiat contact. The results were ugly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDTRUf5Pr-k&feature=youtu.be

[xnamerxx]

Glad to see everyone walked away from that accident to bad for the yaris write off though :( sucks even more that Toyota doesn't sell a BIW for these situations.

[ilikerice]

I came in too late to see that first incident. keep us updated

[Jason@SportsCar]

My in-car video from the Runoffs. Most of the action takes place in the first ten minutes, after that is pretty much clear track ahead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFiMk1C8R5M

[Jason@SportsCar]

The moment you know you are screwed (just before impact):

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/377219_512739435404063_136850986_n.jpg

[Jason@SportsCar]

Got some great action shots from Toyota Motorsports today.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vIKeChBHf9k/UGORIGAUMwI/AAAAAAAAA_M/DN7sTz8TSho/s1024/toyota_20943083.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Ff87qlu69nU/UGORO-4OOsI/AAAAAAAAA_c/ZS5rfKwR9iQ/s1024/toyota_20943118.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dghAgzj8VTA/UGORLKacc4I/AAAAAAAAA_U/ItbmBp4JXSM/s1024/toyota_20943073.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ofMoqDJB2fU/UGORVpXXYGI/AAAAAAAAA_s/TNWtGCzYxNA/s1024/toyota_20943163.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HsT2-YBUi1o/UGORTchyd5I/AAAAAAAAA_k/HndhliaAMq8/s1024/toyota_20943108.jpg

[b20vteg]

love the pics! :thumbup:

[Jason@SportsCar]

Speedcast TV has finished up the Runoffs races, and now we can see the complete H Production race in HD: http://speedcasttv.com/#/races/336 including the demise of the 2012 Yaris. :frown:

[cali yaris]

oh wow.... double GoPros!

[cali yaris]

Kosei K4R 15x8, 4x100, with BF Goodrich race tires.
Wheels are 13.4 pounds, 33 pounds even with the tires.

http://www.microimageonline.com/images/products/wheels/Kosei/K4R-1.jpg

http://www.microimageonline.com/images/products/wheels/Kosei/K4R-2.jpg

[Jason@SportsCar]

Found a few more Runoffs shots online, including one where Jamie nearly got the 2012 on two wheels - love the grip of those Hoosier slicks.


http://donaldcolwill.smugmug.com/Motorsports/SCCA-Runoffs-2012-H-Production/i-8Pr5FzN/0/XL/09129789dgc-XL.jpg
http://donaldcolwill.smugmug.com/Motorsports/SCCA-Runoffs-2012-H-Production/i-72PV46H/0/XL/09129788dgc-XL.jpg
http://donaldcolwill.smugmug.com/Motorsports/SCCA-Runoffs-2012-H-Production/i-469p7tP/0/XL/09129061dgc-XL.jpg
http://donaldcolwill.smugmug.com/Motorsports/SCCA-Runoffs-2012-H-Production/i-Z8sWhzL/0/XL/09129752dgc-XL.jpg
http://donaldcolwill.smugmug.com/Motorsports/SCCA-Runoffs-2012-H-Production/i-H8FT3h4/0/XL/09129805dgc-XL.jpg
http://donaldcolwill.smugmug.com/Motorsports/SCCA-Runoffs-2012-H-Production/i-RnBssQz/0/XL/09129845dgc-XL.jpg
http://donaldcolwill.smugmug.com/Motorsports/SCCA-Runoffs-2012-H-Production/i-2GZrc47/0/XL/09129702dgc-XL.jpg

[xnamerxx]

Holy cr@p the suspension really loads up in high g situations...I like that he got it on 2 wheels though must have been close to 2g's

[Jason@SportsCar]

Holy cr@p the suspension really loads up in high g situations...I like that he got it on 2 wheels though must have been close to 2g's

There is just something about Turn 6... Hard left hand turn just as you reach the top of the hill. In 2010 I got the car up on two good, had to turn right to avoid seeing what the car looked like upside down, resulted in a nice ride in the grass. We have the suspension sorted better now, so that is a much more rare occurrence.