SCCA Runoffs @ MRLS

[Jason@SportsCar]

Its almost that time of year again, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs start Oct 6th with a test day, followed by three days of qualifying and capping off with the championship races.

This year is particularly special for the Yaris, because for the first time since 2012 there will be two on hand, our H Prod car and the B-Spec Yaris of xnamerxx.

Sadly, this will also be the final race weekend for both cars, as they have aged out and will be visiting the crusher shortly after. Its been a fun ride, and we really appreciate the opportunity Toyota gave us, it has worked out better than we ever expected.

Cant wait to get on the road to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

If you are not in the area the races will again be broadcast live on Speedcast TV.

Currently there are 21 cars in the H Prod race, and 11 in B-Spec, should be some great racing.

Event info: http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=6670
Schedule: http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...ule_9.5.14.pdf
Video feed: http://speedcasttv.com/scca/
Event coverage: www.racer.com

Entry list:
H Production 21 entries
# Name Year Make Sponsor Hometown
1 Loshak, Lawrence 1990 Honda CRX ETE Reman/HYPERformance/RWM/Hoosier Grafton, WI
2 Jones, Gordon 1968 BMW 1600 Mike Ohara BMW Service Tualatin, OR
3 Albin, Chris 1985 Volkswagen GTI/Golf Hoosier/247-parts.com/AMT engines Maryland Heights, MO
4 Bartell, Ron 1962 MG Midget Hoosier Tires Madbury, NH
07 Wright, Andrew 1962 Triumph Spitfire Hoosier/Redline/East Tennessee Race Prep Murfreesboro, TN
9 Becker, Jon 1967 Austin Mini Mini Part, Rubitz Martinez, CA
11 Tuttle, Tom 1972 MG Midget Huffaker Engineering, Insul-Therm International Inc. Windsor, CA
12 Casey, Patrick 1958 Austin Healey Sprite Huffaker Engineering Kailua, HI
13 Bachman, Mike 1960 Sprite MK I Huffaker, AMAC, Hoosier San Jose, CA
15 Gauper, Greg 1984 Honda Civic Rana Mort Racing/King Motorsports Hubertus, WI
23 Young, Carl 2007 Honda FIt Tom Lepper and Assoc Salinas, CA
33 Cummings, Mike 1964 Austin Healey Sprite Huffaker Engineering / Red line Oil / Hoosier Tires Martinez, CA
37 Hussey, Steven 1990 Honda CR-X LinnSpeed, CW Horton Los Altos, CA
38 Wittman, Gary 1961 Austin Healey Sprite Tiodize/Venolia Costa Mesa, CA
43 Markos, Cory 1987 Honda CRX Si Cooper Air Conditioning, HPD, Arias, Markos Motorsports Riverside, CA
64 Miller, Michael H 1967 Austin Healey Sprite SportsCarSalvage/AppRaceTire/Comptune Walhalla, SC
76 Burnett, Alex 1968 Datsun 510 Adept Mobile Louisville, CO
78 Louw, David Fiat X1/9 Over 50 Racing Houston, TX
81 Oleson, Jerry 1962 Austin Sprite NONE / WANTED Aurora, CO
90 Horrell, Rob 1961 Austin Sprite Horrell Group Architects Memphis, TN
99 Isley, Jason 2007 Toyota Yaris TRD/Hoosier/OS Giken/Racer.com/Driven Racing Oil Coto de Caza, CA

B-Spec 11 entries
# Name Year Make Sponsor Hometown
8 Daughtery, David 2014 Nissan Versa Note Nissan, Hoosier, Carbotech,Enkei Fortville, IN
11 Grosart, Thomas 2009 Honda Fit Honda Racing HPD / BF Goodrich Santa Clarita, CA
12 Kelm, Brian 2011 Ford Fiesta BFGoodrich Carbotech Plymouth, MI
18 Beyer, Bobby 2008 Toyota Yaris MillenWorks, TRD, BFGoodrich Mission Viejo, CA
19 Lovewell, Scott 2009 Mini Cooper Hutton Lovewell Inc Modesto, CA
30 Washay, Travis 2007 Mini cooper Indian Summer Racing/Northern Cross Milford, CT
35 Heinricy, John 2012 Chevrolet Sonic Matick Chevy, Hoosier, Hawk Clarkston, MI
44 Keenan, Kyle 2012 Kia Rio 5 Kia Motors of America Vancouver, WA
45 Tsay, Michael 2010 Honda Fit Honda Racing/HPD BFGoodrich Tires Irvine, CA
71 Ambrose, Derrick 2011 Mazda 2 CorkSport Mazda Performance, Monarch Inspections, BFG Vancouver, WA
80 Wilson, James 2011 Mazda 2 B-Spec Black Armor Carbon Fiber Helmets, Mazda Motorsports, BFGoodrich Tires Kyle, TX

[Jason@SportsCar]

SportsCar magazine race previews...

H Prod: http://www.sportscarmag-digital.com/...pm=1&u1=friend

B-Spec: http://www.sportscarmag-digital.com/...pm=1&u1=friend

[xnamerxx]

This has been a fantastic adventure, and I am more than grateful for the opportunity, and I'm really going to miss this little car.

I am also really glad to be racing against one of the greatest drivers, John Heinric, in the SCCA.

[Jason@SportsCar]

A week ago these were raw materials, now they are the new Hoosier S80 slick, looking forward to trying them at the Runoffs next week. Glad we have a test day on Monday to sort them them out.

[xnamerxx]

The R1S I got from Michelin were surprisingly new as well.

[xnamerxx]

B spec car all loaded up for her last racetrack journey. I'm going to be sad to see her go.

[xnamerxx]

my 3rd qual session

http://youtu.be/NAa_lKkgCBM

[Jason@SportsCar]

Qual went about as expected, sitting 3rd, behind a pair of Honda CRXs. Still cant get ahead of them, but we are much closer than in past years. Looking forward to the race on Sunday.

[Jason@SportsCar]

Finally caught up a bit, so now I can download...

What a great week, perfect weather, great location, and great people.

Based on the internet chatter I was expecting much worse conditions when I got to the track, but to some extent it seems like the people that rushed up there created an artificial jam up - something that could have been helped with more info up front from the track, or an assigned system like we had at Road America. I was very grateful that like a few other manufacturers Toyota reserved a tent for its competitors.

Practice was a mixed bag, I just went out to bed brakes, and scrub in and get temps on the new Hoosier S80 slick. I was not focused on learning the track since I ran the June race there, a few more laps would have been nice, but I accomplished what I wanted to do.

Qualifying was kind of a nightmare. While the mixed groups were fine at Road America, it was constant traffic at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Combine that with people still learning the track and there were some scary moments. I was disappointed to not match my June lap times in any sessions, but the track just seemed to be off a bit. I was happy to be rolling off third, with the Hondas in sight. I knew Steve Hussey would get his CRX sorted this year, and he showed up strong in qual.

I was really worried about the start, having watched pileups all weekend in Turn 2, well H Production made it to Turn 3 before we had a problem. Had no idea that happened behind us (my rear facing camera picked it up, will post later), fortunately it seems like everyone was able to carry on. Ron Bartell was the one I was most concerned with, I figured with the RWD and light weight he would be strong at the end, but that incident pushed him back. We saw a few local yellows, but overall it seemed like a pretty clean race for all involved. I was happy to hook up with pole sitter Lawrence Loshak, put our heads down, and try to get a gap on the field. Everyone seemed pretty excited about the "pass in the dirt", which was simply me looking for the safest place to avoid what I thought was going to be Loshak going all the way around. Boy was I shocked when I got back on track and he was on my rear bumper, even when he screws up hes fast. :( I did manage to cross the beam in front of him on that lap, so I got credit for leading one. :mrgreen: It was a great race, both of us seemed to be strong in different areas, but ultimately I didn't have enough to do anything with him, I was content to send the Yaris off with a silver medal.

Congratulations to Loshak on a great race, and an impressive feat racing FB/HP back-to-back.

In-car video to follow. SpeedcastTV should have its copy of the live broadcast up in the next few days.

[Jason@SportsCar]

Nice write up on the H Prod race: http://www.scca.com/clubracing/news.cfm?cid=52089

[Jason@SportsCar]

SpeedcastTV put up the Sunday race feed, H Prod starts at 1:55. http://speedcasttv.com/#/races/394

[Jason@SportsCar]

My in-car video from the Ruoffs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDYrSToxa7M the tail end of it also has rear camera views of the start (with the Jones/Bartell contact) and the pass in the dirt on Loshak.

[xnamerxx]

Well my runoffs didn't end as well as Jasons. After having a hard time getting up to speed at MRLS I ended up spinning during the 2nd lap due to some oil on track. You can see the blue fog coming off the front tire of the car in front of me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn02...kNN7lvAf_XJtYQ


Got lots of TV time some good some bad.

http://speedcasttv.com/#/races/395

[Jason@SportsCar]

The individual H Prod race is nor available for streaming: http://speedcasttv.com/#/races/413

[colj00]

"as they have aged out and will be visiting the crusher shortly after"

thats a shame, why does it have to be crushed? seems like a waste of a good car in my opinion.

[xnamerxx]

Simple answer is taxes.

Preproduction vehicles are brought into the US without having paid import fees or any vehicle inspections.

[colj00]

Originally Posted by xnamerxx

Simple answer is taxes.

Preproduction vehicles are brought into the US without having paid import fees or any vehicle inspections.

ah that makes sense, so they are imported... it still makes me sad because its a fully operational machine in good nick. laws are laws...