hoosier super tour – Racer on Rails: High Performance Track and Race Car Shop and Race Team based in Renton, WA

Posted on January 20, 2024January 20, 2024 by Gama Aguilar

2024 Hoosier Super Tour Race 1 – Sebring International Raceways

After a very short “off-season” coming off the 2023 SCCA Runoffs held at Virginia International Raceways for the second year in a row, the team regrouped, got cars turned and headed to Sebring, FL for the first race of the year.

With a new racing year, we have some changes on the team. For the first race, we brought down Simon Asselin in his 991.1 Porsche GT3 Cup Car, racing in the GT2 class for a second year in a row. Dave Orem has moved from a BMW Spec E46 in Touring 3 class, to the 2023 Touring 3 National Championship winning BMW Z4 M. Gama Aguilar returned in his freshly rebuilt Nissan Nismo 370Z, also competing in Touring 3 class.

Ann Doherty is in the middle of transitioning into a new car and new class for 2024 – stay tuned for updates! Thad Berger will be focusing on his Porsche Cayman GT4 MR in Touring 1 class but will miss the first couple of races and join the tour at Road Atlanta in March.

Simon Asselin Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car in GT2 Class

Simon took official delivery and got his first laps in his Cup Car at this race last year. Since last year, Simon has had several solid race weekends, upgraded suspension with Motion Control Suspension (MCS) 3-ways, experimented with different tires, and iterated on both dry and wet setups. With a stronger foundational knowledge of the car and seat time, the goal for the weekend was to build on that and maximize competitiveness.

With the changing conditions throughout the weekend, it was a challenge to iterate on the dry setup but Simon made the most of the conditions for qualifying on Saturday AM with a P5 in full wet conditions and only 1 second separating him from P2.

At the start of the race, Simon lost a couple of positions but quickly got on his horse to recapture the positions and before a full course yellow came out that ended the race, Simon secured P5 and most importantly, improved on his PB at Sebring by 2 seconds!

Simon Asselin in his Porsche 991.1 GT3 Cup Car, racing in the GT2 class. — Simon Asselin piloting his Porsche 991.1 GT3 Cup Car at Sebring International Raceways at the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour.

On Sunday, the forecast was for cloudy skies but dry pavement. Well, the forecast didn’t pan out that way, and not at all. We awoke to passing showers and rain started properly falling before lunch. By race time, it was a full wet race and the first race group after lunch would be the GT2 race.

Right as the cars came around Turn 17 (Sunset) for the green flag, many cars moved into pit lane to change onto wet tires which shuffled the starting grid and created some confusion. A car on the second row lost control of the car at the green flag, tried to keep it together but unfortunately the car hooked right and ultimately making contact with several cars, including Simon who properly collected the other car. Simon had nowhere to go and thanks to all the safety equipment and design of the Porsche GT3 Cup Car, the energy was disbursed, eliminating major physical harm to Simon. He walked away from the incident and has been recovering well. The car took a significant hit to the front end and a more minor hit to the rear. That was the end of the race and we are actively getting the car evaluated and on a path to repair.

Dave Orem BMW Z4 M-Coupe in Touring 3 Class

Building off another solid year of driver development in the Spec E46, wanting to continue developing as a driver but also wanting to have a material chance to podium at our events, Dave couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to purchase the 2023 SCCA Touring 3 National Championship winning car.

The BMW Z4 M-Coupe is essentially an E46 M3 but with a smaller body that can punch through the air more effectively and a much lower center of gravity. At tracks like Road America where the Runoffs will be run over the next two years, where we spend a material amount of time over 100mph, this car is one of the favorites to continue competing for the top steps.

Dave Orem getting used to his new-to-him BMW Z4 M-Coupe in the SCCA Touring 3 Class at Sebring International Raceways

Dave only had limited testing before the trip and in cold/wet conditions so the goals for the weekend were simple: learn the car, build confidence and drive it into the trailer at the end.

During the Thursday Test day, Dave started building confidence in the car and getting used to the taller gearing compared to the Spec E46 but in the last session, he lost what would end up being an axle shaft (no drive), which left the team sourcing parts and getting the car fixed on Friday, thus missing practice on Friday. Saturday he qualified P7 in his first competitive wet session, while dropping time each lap. In the race, he lost a few positions in the start battling with T2, SMX and T3 cars, got himself settled in and started picking away at the cars one at a time. By the time a black flag came out that would eventually end the race, Dave had hit his best lap time in the car and feeling/seeing where the big chunks of time were left.

On Sunday, the Touring 3 race was the race right after Simon’s GT2 race, with full wet conditions. Dave started P16 overall, lost a few spots in the first few laps due to the visibility but after a full course yellow to move Gama’s 370Z that lost electronics due to the wet weather, Dave got moving and got back all but one position.

Overall given the inconsistent conditions throughout the weekend and battling through a lost day of running on Friday, Dave had an excellent first race weekend in his new-to-him race car.

Gama Aguilar Nissan 370Z Nismo Touring 3 Class

Gama debuted his 370Z at the 2023 Runoffs but unfortunately suffered from a catastrophic “Ice Mode” situation at Oak Tree corner where the car suffered significant front end damage, along with injuries that took 2.5 months to mostly recover. In that recovery time, Gama, Tyler Mayer and the team dug deep and got the car fixed and tested in time to make the Sebring race weekend.

Similar tone to Dave’s goal for the weekend, we only had a couple of goals for the weekend: first was to experiment, document, and share results on different potential solutions to better understand and mitigate the risk to “Ice Mode” and second, establish a baseline pace and characteristics to truly start leaning on the car.

Gama shaking down and testing things to figure out the brakes in his 2011 Nissan Nismo 370Z in SCCA Touring 3 Class

One of the leading theories behind Ice Mode is that the brake booster in the 370Z is WAY over-powered. That means that for every pound of pressure/pedal effort the driver makes on the brake pedal, the power assisted brake booster, magnifies that force into the braking system. This is normal in power boosted and ABS based braking systems and it makes sense for normal street driving where the cars are not being subjected to the G-forces that are seen in racing conditions and with extremely sticky tires. Normal drivers don’t need to hit the brakes very hard to get to maximum braking and they are usually on street tires with much less grip.

In our conditions, what we’ve found is that this overly powerful brake booster contributes to the ABS system freaking out and potentially locking the driver out of the braking system. Not good! So to test this theory, we installed an AIM Brake Pressure sensor and a Sakebomb Garage Variable Brake Booster Vaccum Controller. This device in installed in-line between the engine and the brake booster and can adjust the amount of vacuum fed to the brake booster and thus adjusting the maximum about of brake boosting, the booster can provide.

Learnings

After installing the vacuum controller, we turned it all the way “off” in that it didn’t apply any adjustment to the vacuum levels, we hit the brakes (with ending running) with a 10/10 brake pedal effort hit and saw the impact to the brake pressure sensor —> 2,000psi! Holy moly! That is insane. Now granted, that took a massive pedal effort that frankly isn’t realistic in any conditions but our normal pedal effort braking still resulted in ~1,800psi of brake pressure. That is still insane – not even Motorsport ABS systems can handle those levels of brake pressure in a system. We then modulated the pedal effort to see what it took to keep brake pressure below 1,000psi (generally accepted as about the max range most braking systems can handle *and* slow the car down – anything above these levels will not only make the ABS system overwork but it won’t effectively further slow the car down). The result was that it was dang near impossible to repeatedly be that gentle with the brake pedal and the modulation window from 600-900psi was even more difficult.

We don’t know 100% that this is the root of the issue behind Ice Mode but this sure as heck isn’t helping things. So we found the adjustment level where the max brake pressure we could possibly hit was ~1,000psi.

We also tested 2-piece rotors from Paragon, which have a more Motorsport focus hat design for better heat consistency across the rings and hats and we experimented with different brake pads, with all of them being in a direction of less aggressive pads.

Catching the overall theme here? All experiments were around making it harder for the OEM ABS system to freak out from sudden spikes in brake pressure and/or changes in wheel speeds.

The results? We’re going in the right direction. Prior to adjusting the controller to max ~1,000psi brake pressure, we didn’t hit ice mode but were able to get the wheels to consistently lockup in “heavier” brake application. Interesting that a functional ant-lock braking (ABS) system, still allowed tires to lock up. Hhhhmmm….

After making the adjustment and going straight into a race due to the transmission failing during the last test day session, the brake pedal was MUCH better and finally allowed me (Gama) to start building confidence in the brakes.

I started at the very back of the Touring field (split start) in P24. By the end of the race, I’d moved up 13 positions total, finished in P8, right on the tail of the next few cars in class and ending with the 3rd fastest lap of the race! Starting to cook with some real fire!

For Sunday’s race, we’d start closer to the front but in full wet conditions. The start was okay, picking up a position but not able to be more aggressive because how bad the spray was in front – literally couldn’t see more than 10-15 feet in front. Once the cars started stringing out, made up some more positions and mid-way through second lap was in P2 in class. Then suddenly the electronic controls inside the car went dead but the car was still running – clearly water had gotten in somewhere and started causing shorts.

Gama Aguilar moving to P2 before an eventual DNF due to water in electronics.

Going into T17, I broke early and soft but with the amount of water on the track and how bumpy the track is, I ended up spinning along with several other cars and thankfully, came to a stop before making contact with anything. With no functioning electronic controls in the car, I wasn’t able to get it running again and had to DNF.

Making Lemonade out of Lemons

To top things off, a fellow competitor in Touring 3 decided to protest me in the 370Z for running an illegal part, even though we had been openly discussing and sharing the testing plan, as the goal was to figure out how to make these cars safe, not to achieve a performance advantage. We were prepared and okay with this potential scenario but it was still disappointing for someone to protest the car when the focus was on safety *and* that competitor finished ahead of me on both races – e.g. no impact to his or anyone in the podium position places.

Despite that, we leave Sebring optimistic about what we’ve learned to make these cars safe for people to race in Touring 3 class. We are not only going to make a rules change proposal to allow this non-in-car adjustable controller for the Nissan 370Z and we are looking at ways in which we can still limit the vacuum to the booster, without the addition of a controller in case that proposal doesn’t go through.

What’s next? Round 2 at NOLA Motorsports Park!

The next round in the 2024 SCCA Hoosier Super Tour is at NOLA Motorsports Park in New Orleans, LA in February. Dave and Gama will be there for sure. Simon is TBD based on the outcomes of repairing the Cup Car and Ann is targeting to join at NOLA. This will be a new track for everyone so lots of time in the simulator is in store for all of us between now and the weekend of February 18th!

Big shout out to the whole Racer on Rails crew who made getting the cars ready and transported across the country, happen!

Posted on February 22, 2023February 22, 2023 by Gama Aguilar

Race Report 1: Sebring International Raceways

We made it! Last year (2022) we had Sebring as our first race of the year and first stop on the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour but epic levels of snow across the mountain passes had us locked in the Pacific Northwest but this year, the snow hit earlier in December and by the first week in January, the passes were clear!

The January 12 – 15 race weekend which included a test day on Thursday, qualifying on Friday/Saturday AM and two feature races on Saturday and Sunday, would not only be the first race of the year for the team, organizing body and the drivers! We came prepared with patience, positive attitudes and a singular goal: improvement.

Each of our drivers put in serious hours of training on the simulator, studying historical race videos and watching track walk videos from the likes of Ross Bentley, so that when they got on the track for the first time, they could focus on getting comfortable leaning on the car and not worrying about where to turn next!

Let’s just be honest; racing is just an excuse to get together with friends and have several meals in an empty parking lot/temporary village and an occasional restaurant like Chicane’s in Sebring, FL!

2023 Driver Lineup and a new addition!

For the 2023 tour, we continued with the same driver team from 2022 with Ann Doherty in her Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport but now competing in Touring 1 class (versus GT2). Starting in 2023, the Touring 1 SCCA class has changed to allow the GT4 race cars that are currently competing in SRO and IMSA series, a place to race in SCCA Club Racing. You might ask, but why? They are professional level race cars – shouldn’t SCCA club racing be about non-professionally built race cars?

Historically, that has been true and most would agree but a couple things are happening that have forced the hand of SCCA and we are in full support. First, for many years as Pro level cars have aged out of the pro series (new cars have shown up and the “old” cars are no longer allowed to compete in the pro leagues) they have been sold to amateur drivers and teams, who then drive them at track days and increasingly, club racing leagues. For example, many of the old IMSA/Grand Am Continental Tire Series Grand Sport (GS) cars that were retired from pro racing, trickled down into SCCA Touring 1. IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS class is the new version of the old Conti Challenge and the top class (GS) is made up exclusively of FIA homologated GT4 race cars.

Second, and the biggest variable, is that newer street cars come with advanced electronics that need to balance performance with emissions and safety regulations. These systems are so advanced that it has become increasingly difficult, cost prohibitive and in some cases, impossible to tweak the OEM controllers so that the car can run reliably in race conditions.

The net result is it is equally as expensive to build a Touring 1 level car from a street car and less reliable than simply buying a factory built race car, like the GT4 race cars. So in an effort to save the Touring 1 class, SCCA has moved to allow these cars in T1. Not only do we fully support the shift to the future for the class but specifically for the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, it’s inline with the spirit of Touring class cars (race on Sunday, sell on Monday) and it has a much better chance to compete at the front, compared to GT2 cars that have thrown most connections to the street cars, out the window (along with the windows!).

Ann Doherty piloting her Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport in the SCCA Touring 1 Class

In the Touring 3 class, we had Dave Orem returning in his #44 2001 BMW 330ci in Spec E46 trim, Simon Asselin in his #81 Spec E46, Gama Aguilar in his #109 Spec E46 and joining the group is Thad Berger in his #60 Spec E46! As you can probably tell, we love them BMW Spec E46’s at Racer on Rails!

Unfortunately for Simon, his engine developed an issue on the very first test day session which sounded like an engine throwing the white flag so he jumped into Gama’s #109 to finish the weekend. Gama would end up sitting out the weekend and focused on coaching.

Speaking of coaching, we welcomed back Ray Phillips from Precision Driving Analytics and Seth Thomas, who coached the 2022 team to significant improvements, multiple podiums, some race wins and personal bests that simply couldn’t have been possible for drivers coming to the bucket list tracks we drove at in 2022.

Finally, Simon Asselin was not just piloting a Spec E46 but on the way to Sebring, we made a detour stop to pickup his new (to him) 991.1 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car that races in the GT2 class! While we normally would not advise anyone to pickup a race car on the way to running said race car in a competition weekend, we worked with Autometrics Motorsports out of Summerville, SC (who was the previous custodian of the car) to get it as prepared as possible for competition in SCCA GT2 class. A big thank you to Adam, Gordon and the Autometrics team for helping it a smooth transition process for Simon and our team!

Simon Asselin in a heated battle in GT2 with another Porsche GT3 Cup Car

Ramping up on new tracks fast and competing at the front

One of the biggest challenges of going on the Hoosier Super Tour, being based out of Seattle, WA and generally, the Pacific Northwest, is that these are all new or relatively new tracks for each driver. Drivers can’t lean on their thousands of laps at local tracks like Pacific Raceways (that is literally our back or front yard now!). The competition tough, the fields are big and track time is limited. Even with a test day.

So the drivers and we as a team have to figure out how to get up to a respectable pace fast and improve every session. As mentioned above, each driver put in 10+ hours on the simulator before the race weekend and little by little, each driver progressed, chipping away at lap times and every once in a while, taking large chunks.

The grid had a lot of HRSRS in the GT2 and T1 group!

Over time what has happened, especially for the drivers that were part of this tour in 2022, is that they got a lot of experience learning new tracks and they got better throughout each weekend. Over the races, they started developing not a library of tracks that they reference, but instead a library of corners. So a new track isn’t a completely new thing they haven’t driven before, but instead a track that is a collection of corners that some they have driven before. So for example, turn 1 at Sebring is a lot like turn 1 at the Ridge (high speed left hand corner where you float as much speed as possible into the corner). Turn 7 (Hairpin) is similar to Turn 11 at COTA – slow speed corner where there are multiple lines that can be taken and the exit is paramount due to the straight away that follows. The bumps at Sebring, especially the exit of Sunset Bend (respect the bumps!) is similar to the exit of Turn 9 at Pacific Raceways (respect the bumps!).

We find (and found!) that when drivers start thinking about new tracks in that way, they are able to anchor themselves to a familiar feeling of what the car should feel like and a sensation for the speed. It doesn’t mean that you treat the corners the same but it’s a high informed starting point to begin really leaning on the car and the tires. Because until a driver really starts leaning on the car and tires, the lap times won’t drop materially.

Touring 3

With a solid day’s worth of practice, Thad, Dave and Simon were set to go after a solid qualifying position to start the races. Qualifying 1 was rained out and with no further rain expected the rest of the weekend, most of the grid didn’t quality for T3 including Dave and Thad. In qualifying 2, Simon locked up P3, Dave had a time good enough for P4 but his transponder decided to quit on us so he would start race 1 from the back and need to make his way through the field. Thad started P6 and knew exactly what he needed to to gain positions and lap time.

Race 1 was close battling from start to finish! Simon lost some positions on the start but jumped back in, regained positions and while simultaneously battling T3, T4 and T2 cars, mustered out a P2! Dave let the lap 1, turn 1 mayhem happen and then got to work, moving his way through almost the entire T4 field, five T3 cars and came home in P3, on top of improving on his personal best time of the weekend!

Thad was in the thick of the front T4 battle but he took no prisoners, held his ground and took out 2.6 seconds off his qualifying 2 lap time. Let the big dog eat!

Simon (P2) and Dave (P3) sharing the podium at Sebring AND special bonus, Todd Clarke, also a PNW driver in P1. A full PNW podium in T3, in Florida!

For race 2, everyone started in better positions and the themes were similar. Hard racing the entire race for each driver, further improvements in personal bests and not a moment to catch your breath! Thad dropped a further .9 seconds off his personal best to a 2:32.7 and finished P4 in his second ever Hoosier Super Tour.

Thad Berger, riding into the sunset after an amazing first stop of the Hoosier Super Tour at Sebring International Raceways.

Want to pause here and emphasize what Thad did. Thad has been wheel to wheel racing for less than 1 year. He jumped into the deep end of the pool, competing against experienced/fast drivers, at the Hoosier Super Tour and at a bucket list track that he had never driven. On top of all of that – in qualifying 2, on the first flying lap, he had a real big moment at Sunset Bend (Turn 17) where legitimately almost put the car into the wall. But he didn’t. He gathered the car up, drove through pit lane for a quick visual check on the car – everything looked good and he immediately got back at it. That is something he and we all, will never forget. Great job, Thad!

Dave continued his progress through the field after losing a couple positions on the start, focused on consistency and dropped another .5 seconds off his fastest time of the weekend for a 2:31.4 and with Simon’s DNF, a P3 and a double podium weekend!

Dave Orem holding off a Global MX5 Cup Car in Touring 3 class.

Finally, Simon had one of the most intense races ever, battling T2, T3 and T4 cars again! And while he also took almost a full second out of his fastest time of the weekend for a 2:30.1 lap time, with a lap to go, he went a little hot into a corner, got the car sideways and was unfortunately collected by a really competitive out of class car. That unfortunately ended the race for him but he sustained no issues and the 109 has already been repaired – the incident did not detract from the weekend as a whole. Watch Simon’s race below (with picture in picture of the SCCA broadcast!)

YouTube player — Race 2 of the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour for Simon Asselin in the RoR #109 in Touring 3 class

Touring 1 and GT2

Lucky for us, both Ann and Simon race in the same group but in two different classes so we got lots to follow during their group race!

While Ann hadn’t been to Sebring, she has developed a reputation for ramping up quickly at each new track and by the end of the race weekend, competing towards the front of the grid or the front of the mid-pack and that was last year, in GT2! Well she did not disappoint! After missing qualy 1 as it was also a wet session and no forecasted wet sessions for the rest of the weekend, she qualified P6 out of 10. And while she finished P6 in both races, she finished only about 1.5 seconds off the race pace of the podium finishers and the five drivers in front of her were ex-professional IMSA drivers, current SRO drivers, multi-national champions and seasoned (and fast) Touring 1 cars/drivers. Lots of work left to get close to the top 5 type of drivers but her performance coming out of the gates and through the weekend were amazing!

Ann takes the green flag for the Touring 1 race and in the mix with a combination of new GT4 and historical Touring 1 race cars.

This was Simon’s first weekend with the Porsche GT3 Cup Car and we all came into the weekend with specific expectations: learn the car, get quality laps, and have fun! With a new car to the team and no testing beforehand, we had really no gauge for how the car and Simon could perform. However, we were all extremely pleased to get the car running by mid-morning of the test day. Seth Thomas drove it on it’s maiden track session under the Racer on Rails umbrella, to provide a baseline for how the car simply ran and once confidence built up, a gauge for the pace of the car.

The verdict? It’s a great GT3 Cup Car! While it wasn’t fully compliant to GT2 rules at the time (hadn’t added the full ballast required), the lap times Seth put down were well within the front of GT2 class range that we saw throughout the weekend and it gave Simon a rabbit to chase throughout the weekend. You might be asking – how can you figure that after a single person driving the car in one session/5 laps? First, the team has worked on factory built Porsche’s throughout the years so we had a solid foundation of what to expect re the machinery itself and setups. Second, Seth has driven a wide variety of race cars and including several Porsche GT3 Cup Cars (along with being somewhat of a Porsche nut himself) and he’s driven/raced at Sebring dozens of times, with likely thousands of laps at Sebring. So after he had 3-4 laps underneath him and the tires were finally in a working range, he was able to start really leaning into the car.

The results? Simon finished P5 in race 1 after a hard fought battle with another 991 GT3 Cup car and P6 in race 2 where his tires started to show signs of aging after taking a couple of qualifying sessions and a full race 1. All in all, Simon ended up ~2 seconds off the race winner but only ~1 second off the leading Porsche GT3 Cup car in the field. Awesome first outing and race weekend for Simon in the Porsche GT3 Cup Car.

Check out the in-car and live broadcast from Simon’s first race below!

Catch the next race report that recaps our stop at Circuit of the Americas!

Posted on May 18, 2022May 18, 2022 by Gama Aguilar

Race Report 4: Virginia International Raceways SCCA Hoosier Super Tour 2022

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.

BMW Spec E46 Touring 3 SCCA — 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.

BMW M240iR in Touring 2 class at VIR NASCAR Bend — 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.

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.

Posted on March 18, 2022March 20, 2022 by Gama Aguilar

Race Report 3: Micheline Raceway Road Atlanta SCCA Hoosier Super Tour

Tyler doing his Road Atlanta Happy Dance

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.

Want to know how the previous two stops went? Get caught up by checking out our Buttonwillow and Circuit of the Americas Race Reports.

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!