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

Posted on February 24, 2024February 24, 2024 by Gama Aguilar

New Track, New Car, Who Dis?

The second stop in the 2024 SCCA Hoosier Super Tour schedule for the team was NOLA Motorsports Park – a new track for all the drivers and most of the team. Relatively flat, built on a swamp and host of SRO GT Americas race events the past few years, NOLA ended up being a decently technical track and the Louisiana weather initially welcomed us with 70F, sunny and with a breeze weather. But once the test day came, the cold air from up north and a weather system from down south decided to join the party and aside from Sunday, we had low 40F temps, rain, and wind. Why do we even leave the PNW to go racing???

Thoughts on NOLA

Flat, minor (but critical) banking in some corners, no point-n-shoot corners and not a lot of time above 120mph meant that balancing the car in the cornering bits was going to be a premium.

NOLA has 16 corners with 10-11 of them (depending on how you count the corners) are right hand corners and there are two sections of the track where you have consecutive right hand-corners, which makes those left-side tires important. From Turn 4, you are only making right hand turns until Turn 10! Turn 4 is a slower speed corner which requires a good amount of mechanical grip. Turns 5, 6 and 7 are higher speed corners where you are trying really hard to not over-slow for turns 5 and 6 but as you try to carry the speed into those corners, the left rear tire is taking a beating from the slight high-speed yaw action when trying to rotate the car and then accelerating through the corner.

The esses complex is relatively straight forward but carrying speed into Turn 9 (the first ess) is critical and sets up the rhythm through the rest of the complex.

Finally, the left side tires only get a mini-break before needing to turn hard at Turn 13 and then suffer through a long duration compound section of Turns 13-14, which leads onto the main straightaway.

If you’d like a more detailed walkthrough of the track, check out this video that came in super handy from ASM and Tom O’Gorman.

YouTube player — Credit: ASM + TOMO Coaching

Ann’s new baby shark! 991.2 Porsche GT3 Cup Car

As some of you may have read in past posts, Ann has been developing at a rapid pace the past couple of years and driven the wheels off a Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, mostly in SCCA GT2 and T1 classes. At the end of the 2023 season, with the repairs needed on the car from a failed tire during the runoffs, Ann made the decision to move on from the Cayman and jump into a GT3 Cup Car. So she spent the off-season looking for options and just in time for the NOLA race, we took delivery of her new steed on the Wednesday before the race weekend. Exciting but yikes!

With her car being new to the team and her and limited information of the running state, we set low expectations for the weekend: get the car on track, have it circulate consistently and have Ann start to build confidence in the car. Any specific result was not a consideration at all for the weekend.

Look at the butt on that! Yeah – it must work out. Ann’s new 991.2 Porsche GT3 Cup Car!

Jordan got to work on the car and after completing a full inspection, we were in decent shape! There were a couple of suspension bits to monitor, some to proactively replace but aside from that, it was just work to get the car personalized to Ann’s preferences and get the car out on the track so we could know more confidently, what we had on our hands. The car was ready to test on Friday but straight up gross, wet, and cold conditions, we made the team decision we’d wait until Saturday where there was a window of potential dry weather.

Saturday started off wet but the rain started slowing around 9-10am, just in time for qualifying. Ann went out on wet tires in case it started raining again (it didn’t) for her maiden voyage and by the end of the session, we had a clean bill of health! By the afternoon race, we fitted a set of the used tires the car came with and sent her out to get more laps, see what breaks and build confidence! After race 1, she moved up several positions, finished P6, nothing broke and ended the race with the last 2-3 laps at a decent enough pace where we could actually start looking at performance.

On Sunday, we finally got a break in the weather with the system that ended up delaying the Daytona 500, moving south of us, leaving us with clear skies but COLD winds. Beggars can’t be choosers! Ann continued to take time off her lap times during qualifying and exchanged places to finish P6 out of 13 in her first race! In race 2, Ann picked right back up where she left off, took another 2 seconds off her fastest lap time to finish with 4 laps in the low 1:50’s. All again on 2 year old used tires with unknown number of heat cycles. Safe to say that Ann is loving her new Porsche GT3 Cup Car and is ready to build on this for the next race at Road Atlanta!

One last thing on Ann to put things in perspective. Just a few years ago, she had never been on a race track, let alone raced wheel to wheel. ~3 years in and developing at a very high rate in a Cayman GT4 Clubsport which is mega fast but has a lot of driver aides, she decided to move onto a monster of a platform. She not only jumped in with full confidence to drive, but she truly slayed this beast on her first outings in it. Incredible job, Ann!!!

Ann driving back into the pits from her first on-track session in her new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car!

Dave continues building on his BMW Z4 M Coupe

Dave took his new-to-him BMW Z4 M-Coupe out at Sebring for the first race weekend and made solid progress on the new platform but NOLA brought a whole new set of challenges with the weather and the gearing. The Z4M has won the SCCA Runoffs the last 2 years in a row, in large part due to the M3 based gearing. Nice and tall gears to let it stretch it’s legs out on the long straight aways. NOLA doesn’t have any long straight aways, so we knew going into the weekend that the gearing wouldn’t be optimal for the car but we’d still make the most of it.

Dave took part in all of the test day sessions but as covered previously, the conditions were horrible so they were good for getting a sense of the track from simulator preparations but gave next to no representative data for what ended up being dry the rest of the weekend.

Dave (and Gama) qualified on Saturday AM on wet tires (along with the rest of the field) but it ended up being damp to drying track surface. In race 1 Dave got out to a good start, avoided spinning on the oil left by a T4 car that dropped oil around the final corners leading to the main straight away and finished P6, one spot behind Gama who spun on that oil and had to battle his way back from last place.

On Sunday, Dave worked committing to throttle in one smooth motion during qualifying and dropped another almost 2 seconds from his personal best! In the race, which finally brought some track temperature with the sun appearing, he built on those learnings, took advantage of mistakes from other drivers and came in P5, chipping away at the gap to P4! Road Atlanta should be better suited for the powerhouse BMW Z4M with that long back straight away, two uphill sections where torque pays off big time and it being Dave’s 3rd time back to the track!

NISMO 370Z Starts to Deliver on it’s Potential

At Sebring, we saw signs that the 370z could compete for podium positions but rain in the wiring and dealing with the ice mode issue held us back from being able to truly show the car’s potential. Fast forward to NOLA where the brake vacuum controller that was requested to be allowed, was approved (yay!!) but not legal until March 1st, we had to figure out how to make due with an ABS System that could freak out at any point. We tried a few different things and while not perfect, they were good enough for us to feel comfortable running the car for the weekend.

On the morning of the test day, we decided to switch to wet tires due to the rain that had started but a wheel stud failed when trying to remove the wheel. Ugh! Memo jumped on the problem and 3-4 hours later, the car was ready to go, only to make the last test session of the day, just to make sure everything stayed together. Hats off to Memo’s effort and problem solving – as we chatted on the sidelines through the repair, had this type of an issue occurred while any of us drivers would have been there on our own – game over. Someone help me push this thing into the trailer but with Memo and or team on-hand, dang near anything can come up and as long as it’s safe, they’ll get the car back on the grid.

In the Saturday AM qualifying, we went out on wet tires like everyone else and finished P4, believing we had more pace in the car and on the second row, so all the things to play for. In the Saturday afternoon race, towards the end of lap 2, someone lost an engine, dropped oil all around the last couple corners. In the heat of the battle and with wet spots all around, I didn’t spot the oil (though the team had radio’ed it in) and got caught out when the rear tires hit the oil.

It took me a bit to get the car re-fired and out of the completely soaked grass but got going again, put my head down, worked my way back to P5 and was catching the leading group at 1-2 seconds per lap (of which I didn’t realize at the time and was somewhat frustrated with my pace).

The next day for the Sunday AM qualifying, we swapped on some lower heat cycle tires (specifically, the tires that I used during the VIR Runoffs in the installation laps/sessions) and a new tire on the front left corner. Better tires but still not a full on sticker run. First flying lap was good but I wasn’t pushing 100% and tires weren’t fully into the working window. The 3rd flying lap I let it all out and found myself a very fast Danny Stein in his Mazda STL car which provided a nice tow around the track, which resulted in a 1:55.2XX and pole for T3! On the next lap, I was slightly up on that 1:55.2XX lap time and I was going for another flyer to try and improve. I braked at the same point for Turn 1, did my downshift, turned in and then full front end lock up – sigh. This would end up being a telling sign of the rest of the day.

For the race, we decided to raise the car all around to help with compliance around the bumpy track. Thanks to fellow Nissan racers Rick Kulach and Richard Baldwin, we were able to get our hands on some taller front springs and made the change in time for the race.

When the race started, I focused on getting a good start and ideally not be competing for the corner going into Turn 1. Luckily that happened and after the first lap, decided to pump out the fastest laps I can could muster so that I could build a healthy gap to P2. All was going to plan until I locked up going into T13 and had to take the escape road. Lesson learned that even though I thought the tires were still fresh, it was simply too much speed for this *awesome* (sarcasm) brake system to handle. From then on, I focused on braking a little earlier and softer in all braking zones, knowing I’d be leaving some time on the table but that would be better than locking up and flying off the track.

My plan was to steadily build the gap so that by the time we hit lapped traffic, I could use that pull away. Unfortunately, the rest of the competitors were not aware of my plan. haha

Sometime about mid-way through the race, someone lost a big lip spoiler or some strip of something that was 4-5′ long and right at the exit of Turn 8 of which I didn’t see until it was too late to do anything but run right over it. There was some loud banging as it went under the car and I had to slow to figure out if anything had impacted the handling/safety of the car. No issues but I lost a solid 1-2 seconds.

The next couple of laps, I had to take Turn 8 more cautiously so that I could see where that object was and not run over it again. Perfect. 🙁

Some laps later, Richard’s 350Z had a tire failure and he pulled off to the right of the essess, causing a local yellow. I ran up on a lapped T3 Mustang right in that spot and there went my entire gap to P2. From then on, it was a battle to steadily build up that gap.

2011 Nissan NISMO 370Z SCCA Touring 3 Spec at night with lights on. — Clearly bias but look at this thing!

Another thing that I have been struggling with is the shifter and specifically, the 5th to 4th shift where the shifter doesn’t self-center and will easily drop into 6th gear, not 4th gear. That shift is critical for Turn 8 and I had to over slow to make sure I got the shift done right and even then, I screwed it up a couple of times – another .5-.75 seconds lost on each screw up.

With a few laps left in the race, started coming up fast on a T4 car going into the essess and made the judgement call to make the pass before we got perpendicular to the standing yellow flag – barely made it!

Finally, going into the last lap, I was focused on matching or improving my personal best, knowing the left side tires were struggling. Half way through the lap, I was almost matching my fastest lap but knew I was vulnerable in the essess due to the 5th to 4th shift but still had a decent run through the section. P2 car was on my rear bumper so going into Turn 13, I ran a more defensive line, braked earlier and softer, go the downshift done and when I started turning, the front end locked up again.

My only choices were to continue plowing forward and straight into the grass, of which when that happens, I would have likely lost control of the car until it hit the asphalt again OR come of the brake and straighten the wheel so I could take the escape road. I did the second path as I had earlier in the race, then focused on making sure I didn’t make contact with anyone while rejoining the course. Coasted through the escape road, looked to my right, saw no cars and then rejoined with a primary concern of not causing a wreck.

Ended the race in P1 but post-race, the stewards felt like I gained an unfair advantage by taking the escape road and while that wasn’t my intent at all, I had no argument against it. Minor disappointment but in the grand scheme of things, very pleased with the results.

We made it through a weekend without the brake vacuum regulator and no damage to the car or other cars, learned more about the car and finally got consecutive on-track sessions to build base level confidence in the car. This car is finally showing the potential we know it has!

Mega thanks to the whole Racer on Rails team that made the NOLA SCCA Hoosier Super Tour weekend a massive success! Next up is Road Atlanta in March where the team is looking to build on success and momentum in 2023. Let’s go!!!

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!)

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 20, 2022May 20, 2022 by Gama Aguilar

Race Report 5 & 6: Portland International Raceways – Finally!

And we’re back from the winter 2022 trip with four race weekends under our belt, at new tracks for most of us and ready to come back to familiar ground where nothing would be easier but instead the challenges would be different.

This is post will cover two race weekends as we were at Portland International Raceways April 29 – May 1 for the ICSCC season opening race (Rose City Opener, hosted by Cascade Sports Car Club) and then back again two weeks later, for the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour stop, a part of the US Majors Tour.

Home track advantage

Wait, aren’t most of the people who race at these events, also from the region? For the ICSCC race – absolutely. A little less for the Hoosier Super Tour but that’s not exactly what we mean here. One of the many challenges of each of the stops on the winter trip was that even though we spent countless hours on the simulator training for each track, and it made a massive impact – we were still driving the tracks either for the first time or the first time in the specific race car each of us were driving.

That’s not a BMW or Porsche?!?!? Gama taking the EK Honda Civic with a K24 swap out for it’s maiden race weekend at a known and comfortable space – Portland International Raceways. Photo credit: Doug Berger

That means that at minimum, some material amount of our mental capacity was still being allocated for learning the track. That also means less mental capacity to think about improving on a specific corner or to focus on race craft.

So what happens when you get to a track that you’ve driven hundreds, if not thousands of laps on in real life, simulator and in a variety of conditions and cars? All that occupied mental capacity (and some), comes back and becomes available to be used on another area of improvement. That could be anything from fine tuning a specific setup component for given conditions, exploring different lines/entry speeds into a corner or working on race craft.

It could be anything but the bottom line is that the ability to learn and improve is simply easier because there is one big important thing to think about much less.

So what happened? New Personal Bests All Around!

The ICSCC weekend was held using the non-chicane configuration which further simplifies the course and results in really only ~7 corners total.

Ann in the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport – Finally!!!

Ann in the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport had never driven PIR without a chicane but we had a sense of what her pace would have been from her lap times at Portland last August (2021) with a chicane.

This would also be Ann’s first time driving on Hoosier A7 tires. Results? Ann immediately jumped into the 1:13’s early in the weekend and while she was able to sustain that pace, it looked like there was more low hanging fruit.

One of these is not like the others. Ann Doherty in her Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport crashing the GT1 class party.

In the Group 4 race, where she was in the middle of GT1 class cars — You read that correctly, while she was competing in the GT2 class (there were only 2 cars in class that weekend), she was in the front half of the GT1 cars! She put her head down to defend and get as far up the grid as possible and she dropped into the 1:12’s with a scorching 1:12.842. In that race, she would have finished in P3 overall and P3 amongst the GT1 class cars.

And the prior days Group 1 race, when the race started in wet conditions and transitioned to somewhat dry conditions, she was P1 overall and lapped almost every single car except the EK Honda Civic (driven by Gama and more on that below)… twice!

Mega, mega, mega drive by Ann.

Cascade Sports Car Club – Rose City Opener XXX at Portland International Raceway | Ann (#4) and Gama (#309) lapping every single car in the field one time and lapped almost every car a second time before finishing P1 and P2 overall and in SPM class. Photo credit: Doug Berger

When we returned two weeks later for the Hoosier Super Tour event May 13 – 15, the goal was to build on the gains from the first PIR weekend to put it all to work against a stacked GT2 field featuring a Dodge Viper, TA2 Chevy Camaro, a few additional stock cars, nearly tube-frame chassis E46 M3 and even a Porsche 997 Carrera Cup car!

Results? Even more gains and finally, finally – Ann’s 1st SCCA Hoosier Super Tour podium (P2) came on Sunday afternoon’s final race in complete downpour conditions. In dry conditions? Ann improved her personal best lap time by 4.5 seconds from the prior August – incredible progress! In clear air, Ann was competitive for podium contention but in the race, the straight line advantage for the more powerful cars was simply too much for her to keep them behind her for the entire race distance.

So many close podiums in the first 4 races of the year but it finally all came together for Ann in Portland and in the rain.

Simon in the BMW 330ci Spec E46 running in SE46, Touring 3 and SPM

For Simon, we had done 8 Hour Enduro in his car last October and he had done mid-1:19’s here and there and average fast pace was in the high 1:19’s/1:20’s.

Similar to Ann, Simon was immediately on the pace, consistently in the 1:19’s, along with a few other Spec E46 cars but by the end of the weekend, Simon was one of only two Spec E46’s to drop into the 1:18’s and separating himself from the pack of Spec E46’s and closing the gap to Chris Hart, who is an incredibly fast, consistent and national caliber driver. Chris placed P3 in the 2021 SCCA Runoffs in Touring 3 class, past PRO3 champion and spent many years driving stock cars professionally – this guy can wheel!

Simon in the hunt, looking for a way around a turbocharged Subaru WRX STI in the Group 1, SPM race. Photo credit: Doug Berger

During the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour stop, Simon similarly built on his gains from the first weekend and was immediately doing 1:26 lap times – improving his past personal best but on Hoosier Tires versus Toyo Proxes prior. About mid-day on the test day, we did a lead follow session with Simon and I (Gama) with first Simon leading and Gama following – doing mid to low 1:26 lap times and then we switched. Simon was able to follow closely and we both consistently did mid to high 1:25’s – BOOM! New personal bests and now having done lap times that are at the very pointy edge of the Touring 3 and Spec E46 field.

Saturday, Simon qualified on pole for his first Hoosier Super Tour pole position and in wet conditions! During the race, we had dry conditions so at the start Gama got in front of Simon and Chris Hart. About 4-5 laps into the race, Chris had an overheating issue and DNF’ed while Chris, Gama and Simon were running almost nose to tail.

After Chris pulled off track, Simon stuck to the rear of Gama’s bumper and finished P2 for another Hoosier Super Tour podium finish!

Simon’s 4th podium of the year and currently leading the Hoosier Super Tour points standing in Touring 3 (with Dave in 2nd place)

Unfortunately a failing lower ball joint was found in Simon’s car post-race and due to not having press tools at the track, that ended his weekend.

Simon leading a pack of ground pounders through Turn 12 at Portland International Raceways. Photo credit: Doug Berger

Dave skipped the first ICSCC Portland race and drove at Pacific Raceways during our second stop at PIR.

But wait – there were a lot more cars in the Racer on Rails Paddock(s)!

Now that we’re in the thick of the PNW racing season, the SCCA US Majors and Hoosier Super Tour races start to die down (races are still held but mostly out of our region) and we start to dial up the races from our local sanctioning body, the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs (ICSCC).

For the Rose City Opener, we had our group of PRO3 drivers out for their first race of the year and I (Gama) brought out a personal passion project for it’s second race weekend but it’s first with the current power plant – a JDM K24A swap with a JDM Honda Integra Type R transmission and a pretty heavy duty Limited Slip Differential from MFactory.

At a familiar place, the goal with the Honda was to simply get some race mileage on the new chassis, make sure it was running properly, figure out what likes to shake loose and see if we could put down some consistent competitive laps at 80-90% effort. And boy did the Honda deliver!

That little K24A Honda Civic, leading the pack (aside from Ann who had checked out in her Porsche Cayman) to Turn 1 at the start of the SPM Sunday afternoon race. Photo credit: Doug Berger

We worked through some gremlins but with absolutely zero focus on speed, the Honda was consistently doing extremely fast Spec E46 lap times and on Yokohama A052 tires (a really sticky street tire but nothing like a Hoosier tire). There is some serious potential in this car and we’re excited to further develop it over the season. It will be mid June before we see the Honda out again and it should have some new upgrades that will help with reliability and maybe a bit more speed.

Across the rest of the team, every driver improved their personal best lap times with no Chicane at Portland in a 20+ car field and pushing towards the front in PRO3 and a 10+ car field in Spec E46.

Dirk in the #136 Jägermeister, Jack Curtis in the #166 Spec E46, Mat Hennessy in the #58 Spec E46, Tim Wisner in the #109 RoR Spec E46, Scott Thompson in the #86 PRO3, Gama Aguilar in the #309 Honda Civic and Will Kellogg in the #78 PRO3 | Photo credit: Doug Berger

What better way to end this race report than with some in-car video of what a very angry Honda 4 cylinder engine based Civic sounds like, bombing around Portland International Raceways at the same speeds that a front running Spec E46 does?

Turn those headphones down a tiny bit and enjoy!

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 January 20, 2022January 20, 2022 by Gama Aguilar

Race Report 1: Buttonwillow SCCA US Majors January 14 – 16 2022

Fully loaded team for SCCA weekend at Buttonwillow

2022 is going to be a busy and exciting race schedule for the Racer on Rails crew and the first stop was this past weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway Park.

Note, originally we were supposed to be at Sebring International Raceways for the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour but the beautiful white Christmas we had in the PNW overstayed its welcome and by the time we need to have the trucks on the road to the SE, all the passes out of WA were closed due to blizzard conditions and the alternate route going down the west coast and across the SW was riddled with freezing or snow conditions in New Mexico, Texas and even parts of Alabama.

So with about 10 days’ notice, we made the change to instead to go sunny southern California where last year, we attended this same race but it was held at Autoclub Motor Speedway in Fontana, CA.

The Team

For the first race, we had three Spec E46’s running in Touring 3 (T3) trim and one Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport running in GT2 class.

Racer on Rails drivers - 3 Spec E46's and one Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport — #44 Dave Orem, #81 Simon Asselin, #109 Gama Aguilar and #4 Ann Doherty

The normal crew of Jordan, Bryce and Gama were on hand but this was also the first official race weekend with our new Motorsports Director, Memo Calderon and our service advisor, Reid Morris.

The Fog

Not going to mince words here, it was a tough weekend and mostly due to dense fog that rolled in each night and resulted in each morning’s scheduled run groups to be postponed due to low visibility conditions. One of the locals at one of the on-site race shops with a retail space mentioned that it had been close to 27 years since they had seen such thick fog and turns out that the volcano eruption in Tonga might have contributed to the fog conditions.

In the end, each day we didn’t get started on-track until 11am – 12noon. On the Friday test day, the run groups ran per the schedule as the organizer simply picked up when we started and had the 3 run groups doing 20 minute sessions each hour, until 5pm.

Racer on Rails cars ready to go on-track but under a fog hold on the Friday test day

Thank You Safety Equipment!

There is never a shortage of reasons to not skimp on safety equipment choices, design and preventative maintenance as we never plan on having an issue where safety equipment is needed but we’re always glad when it’s there and it works.

We had two incidents on the test day:

Failed front-right lower ball joint in the control arm (SE46): The #109 SE36 running in T3 trim got a near complete overhaul prior to the 2021 SCCA Runoffs at Indy, which included brand new lower control arms. Unfortunately it got taken out on lap 1 of the race which resulted in a front end impact with at least energy going through the suspension components but not a direct hit or contact. All in, the control arm and lower ball joint had 1-1.5 hours of run time prior to this weekend. On the very first session when the fog broke, lap 2, braking for Sunset corner (the last corner before s/f), the inner lower ball joint failed and the car went plowing through the corner and came to a stand still on the exit of the corner. On top of needing to make repairs to get the car back up and running, it also caused a black flag which ended running for everyone else.
Rollover on the exit of the kink before Phil Hill: With the fog and being in mid-January, the track was not just green each morning from fog moisture but also stone cold. It was 38F on Friday morning and barely broke 50F once the fog cleared for the afternoon. This meant really tough conditions in terms of finding grip and in the 3rd session of the test day, the #44 took the same line as in previous laps with maybe a tiny bit more steering angle, hit the curb of the kink like normal but this time it upset the car a tad bit too much and the backend came around. The car slid off-track and when it hit the dirt, which with the moisture and temperatures was more like mud, the wheels hooked into the dirt and the car barrel rolled. We’ll have another post in the future to dissect and share how the cage and all the safety equipment faired.

Making Lemonade Out of Lemons

New track, very limited run time and low grip conditions – what do you do? Make the most of it and work on the learning process! Expectations for big results are low, so instead focus on developing and that’s exactly what each driver did, with the help of driver coaches Seth Thomas and Ray Phillips!

Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport driver, Ann Doherty, studying the track notes and areas of improvement. — Ann D studying her track notes and mentally preparing for the next time on-track.

Through the coaching from Seth and Ray, each driver made progress across the limited running and culminated in a podium position for each driver! Below are some areas that were focused on throughout the weekend:

Squaring off corners better in low grip/wet conditions and to setup exit of the following straights
Timing of transitions from brake to gas and vice versa
Establishing a connection or translation layer between what driving Buttonwillow in the simulator felt like relative to real life
Mentality to have when going into a race with changing conditions (both getting worse and getting better)
How to explore grip when conditions are improving

Ray Phillips doing a quick debrief after a session while in post-session tech.

Moving forward to COTA in February

So we came out of Buttonwillow with 3 of the 4 cars running, 4 trophies, 1 race win, 5+ second improvements in dry running lap times from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, a new T3 track record for Buttonwillow CW14 configuration with a 1:55.376 and ready for the next round at Circuit of the Americas February 4 – 6, 2022.

Simon made gains across both races and had an epic battle with a T3 Porsche Boxer, having led a good part of Race 2
Ann made a massive step from Saturday to Sunday, dropping 8 seconds in one day and snagging two podium positions in GT2
Dave had limited running due to the incident but was fully healthy after being checked out by medics and will be back on track for COTA
Gama won race 1, broke the track record by multiple seconds and was leading race 2 (and in a battle with an STU car) but the coolant expansion tank failed, resulting in an overheating engine which forced him to retire the race but not before improving on the track record

With one new track for most of our drivers under our belt, we can adjust the preparation in the simulator and the development plans for the test day and each of the on-track race sessions.

Thanks to the team, Ann, Dave, Simon, Ray, Seth and everyone from the Cal Club who made this weekend possible and making the most out of a pretty tough first race of the year.

Stay tuned for more of our adventures in 2022!

Posted on January 24, 2021January 24, 2021 by Gama Aguilar

Andy Porterfield Memorial SCCA U.S. Majors @ Auto Club Speedway

Not even a couple weeks into 2021, we kicked off the racing season with a trip to Southern California for our very first SCCA race weekend and a U.S. Majors Tour event at that!

We love the Spec E46 class and series because it’s a national class where these cars can be raced all over the country in a variety of series. In 2019 we did a NASA National Championship run, racing in California at Sonoma and Thunderhill to qualify for the National Championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. We were all set for a similar campaign and with more cars and the national championships at Utah Motorsports Park but COVID threw a wrench into those plans (and everything else in the world).

With the 2021 NASA National Championships to be held at Daytona International Speedway, we decided to instead participate in the SCCA Run Offs (SCCA’s National Championship) which is set to be held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. To be able to compete in the Run Offs, you have to qualify by competing in a minimum number of US Majors/Hoosier Super Tour events (minimum 3 weekends and finish minimum of 3 races in the same class) or participate in 4 Divisional race weekends and finish in the top 3 of the divisional points race in that same class.

This race weekend would be the first of our “winter” Southwest road trip, followed by a Hoosier Super Tour event at Circuit of the Americas in February, Buttonwillow in late February and Thunderhill in March. With this “trip” we should have all the races taken cared of to qualify for the Runoffs before the PNW racing season gets going.

New track, trailer and tires

By the time the cars hit the track on Friday mid-day, we had gotten through three new firsts:

New track: This would be a new track for everyone on the team but being able to get some simulator time on iRacing in the Mazda Global MX-5 Cup Car helped us get up to speed on the track and some sense for braking points and a rough setup direction.
New trailer: With a few cars to transport and what is looking like a packed racing year, it was time for us to invest into the shop and buy a larger trailer. This was our inaugural outing in the new truck and trailer. We’ll still be seeing our trusty individual trailers for other weekends but the new trailer made this trip much easier to manage.
New tires: This also was the first time we strapped on Hoosier tires for T3 competition on any of the SE46’s in our fleet. While the Hoosier’s are technically more narrow in diameter 225/45/17 versus the 255/40/17 spec for the Toyo RR’s. We measured them and the Hoosier is still wider than the Toyo RR. 😮

Learning a new track and an roval

Having some time on the simulator really helped out and after a couple sessions, each of the three drivers started developing a rhythm and we were able to start focusing on specific sections of the track. While a decent sized track, it ended up being relatively simple. Kind of like Portland International Raceways, it felt like figuring out how to get the first 85-90% came relatively easy but that last 10-15% took a good amount of discipline and intestinal fortitude.

The track is made up of a two chicanes which are similar to the PIR chicane, one very tricky decreasing radius right hander, a deceivingly simple final sector that leads to oval section and longest full throttle sequence and a turn 1 and 2 on the oval that requires a good amount of commitment to stay full throttle the entire time. It wasn’t until after Saturday’s qualifying and race sessions that we were convinced it was possible to stay 100% full throttle through the whole oval and bets were laid out to see who the first one was to stay flat on Sunday AM’s qualifying.

Gama Aguilar in the #209 Full Throttle in the Oval Section

Saturday Podiums and Progress

The story of the day on Saturday was to keep learning and bring back some hardware. With a limited field in T3, podium spots were almost guaranteed but there were other cars from other classes that qualified amongst the T3 runners, which were made up of our fleet of 3 BMW E46’s and the #12 BMW SpecE46 of Brian Ghidinelli.

Racer on Rails customers John Hennessy and Russell Seewald had an incredible battle the entire race where Russell was able to hold off a late race charge from John to hold on for P3 in T3.

Gama Aguilar (person writing this article 😁) got behind Brian Ghidinelli, who qualified on pole and stuck behind him for the majority of the race, waiting for an opening to make a pass. About 3/4 of the way through the race there was an opening going into the last chicane of the track. I came out of his draft right before going to brakes, moved into the inside and got side by side. As I started trailing to turn in, I looked at the body language of Brian’s car and it looked like he didn’t see me so I started backing out of the move but he turned in too quickly and we ended up making contact with Brian spinning out.

I made sure the car was still working (it was) and while I thought it was a clean move, I didn’t want any questions or discussions with stewards so I backed off and waited for Brian to catch up. Once he did, I waived him through to give the position back and resume racing. The goal is to qualify for the Runoffs. Winning every race is a goal and would be awesome but that’s not the ultimate goal.

Saturday Race Results: 1. Brian Ghidinelli, 2. Gama Aguilar, 3. Russell Seewald, 4. John Hennessy

Sunday AM Qualifying and Final Race

After getting the bets on the table for who would got flat through the oval first and John Hennessy strapping on some sticker tires, we went out for qualifying. Gama and Russell both went out on scrubbed but still fresh Hoosier A7’s and with qualifying time of 8am PST, the track conditions were going to be near perfect.

Everybody improved across the board, dropping at minimum 1.5 seconds. John Hennessy put in a MEGA lap of 1:52.106, less than 1 tenth of second behind Brian Ghidinelli with a 1:52.048 – both of which broke the previous T3 track record. Gama came in with a 1:52.652 and Russell came in with a 1:54.655.

With the starting grid for Sunday’s race based on fastest lap from all officially timed sessions on Saturday and Sunday so far, we ended up being gridded across multiple cars from other classes.

The start of the race was a bit faster than of us expected as the overall pole setter had us well into 4th gear before the green flag flew. John got caught off guard a bit with that start and missed opportunities to tuck into the inside lane and lost some spots by the time we were braking for the chicane.

Russell took advantage of that and stuck behind John but on the second lap going into braking for the first chicane, he had a spicy downshift into 3rd gear which locked up the rears and sent him on a ride. Fortunately, no walls or bumpers were hurt during the spin. Russell got back on the track, finished the race and made the most of some flat spotted rear tires.

John got into a rhythm but the lost positions at the start created a gap to the P1 and P2 battle that was unfolding.

Gama (err… I) got a couple of positions on the start of the race and was behind Brian by mid-way through lap 1 but an out of class Corvette was getting around me on the big straight aways and getting in the way for the braking zones. It took a couple of laps but eventually created enough space to not have to worry about it.

I started putting my head down to eat away at the gap Brian had created (probably around 3-5 second gap) and around lap 4, a spun out Mazda Rx7 GT2 car almost took me out in the first chicane. Was able to put down some fast laps and eventually, the Rx7 got around me and while it slowed me down a little, it eventually went out of sight and caught up to Brian.

About half-way through the race, the RX7, Brian and I were all bunched up and it became apparent that the RX7 didn’t have the braking or handling performance to hang with us in the corners and while it would motor away on the straights, the lap time gap wasn’t big enough to create separation. It would turn into who would be the last person to have a lap or a sector screwed up by the RX7 and giving the opportunity to the other driver. We both benefited and took hits from managing the RX7 but unfortunately for me, it ended up being on the second to last lap (as I was leading) that the RX7 parked it on the sequence that leads on to the main start/finish straight. I had to lift and adjust my line to not take us both out and by the time I was back on throttle and had cleared the RX7, I looked to my left to take the inside line (and thus make Brian go around me on the outside to overtake), he was already tucked in with some overlap.

This turned into the most exciting sector of the weekend where we went side by side through the entire oval sector for the last lap and I stayed flat for as long as possible to try to keep the position but Brian had the inside line for the chicane and unless he completely over slowed, it would have been near impossible to keep the position by going around him on the outside.

#12 pulling away on the final lap as the RX7 refuses to go away.

From then on, the RX7 hassled me on another two corners which sealed the deal for Brian. Overall, was a great race and incredible time at our first time as a Racer on Rails team, going to a super speedway and roval course.

Sunday Race Results: 1. Brian Ghidinelli, 2. Gama Aguilar, 3. John Hennessy, 4. Russell Seewald

Thank you to everyone at the SCCA Cal Club, Hoosier Tires and all the volunteers who made this race weekend happen without a single issue and in the middle of a pandemic. THANK YOU!

Speed Nerd Bonus Content: What changed over 1 day?

From Saturday to Sunday, the qualifying laps, average race laps and fastest race laps all came down by at least 1.5 seconds. So what happened? Below is a comparison of the fastest race lap time on Saturday versus Sunday. Here’s what we think happened:

More seat time: Saturday was only the third or fifth time any of the RoR drivers had ever driven on the track in real life. Each session would help find more speed.
Staying flat on the oval: Every little bit counts and as we got comfortable with the track, it became clear that you could take it flat every lap and while a little sketchy, it was possible. Just had to believe and trust that it was possible and it appears to have resulted in almost .75 seconds gained before hitting the brakes for the chicane.
Patience on the exit of corners: This is likely tied to #1 but as I understood the track more and more, I started focusing on corner exits – do anything possible to not need to lift or hesitate too much when ascending to full throttle. Still not perfect at all but I think it got much better.
Use that purple crack: The additional grip of these Hoosier A7’s relative to the Toyo RR’s is significant. For example, on sticker tires in the Toyo’s, coming out the hot pits I can drop it into 1st or 2nd gear and light up the rear tires. That was near impossible with the Hoosier tires. I think we got more comfortable with the tires and what they could take under all aspects of a corner. I think we still left grip on the table but that just gives us something to look forward to.

#209 Gama Aguilar Fast Laps from Saturday and Sunday Races

Next up: Circuit of the Americas February 6-7, 2021

Posted on January 19, 2021January 11, 2022 by Gama Aguilar

2021 Race and Track Support Schedule

Well, 2020 was a bit of a weird year. So what’s the best way to forget about it? Look forward to an awesome and packed 2021 racing and driving calendar.

We are in the business of making smiles and lifetime memories and one of the main ways we do this is by helping people get onto a track. We can help you with the car set up and care, as well as trying to improve the performance of both you and the vehicle.

We want to announce and extend an open invite for those that are interested that we are here to help. Our team has a calendar of events planned with room for additional support for each weekend as needed! Our current SCCA, ICSCC (Conference) and Global Time Attack events are listed below. If there are any race weekends you would like some crew and coaching support for, please feel free to contact us via e-mail, phone or messenger! Let us help you be your best on track!

Give us an E-mail or call to discuss options! raceronrails@gmail.com – (206)475-1114

2021 Race and Track Schedule:

January 15 – 17: Auto Club Speedway SCCA Majors Tour – Fontana, CA
February 5 – 7: Circuit of the Americas SCCA Majors Tour – Austin, TX
February 19 – 21: Buttonwillow SCCA Majors/Hoosier Super Tour – Buttonwillow, CA
March 19 – 20: Thunderhill Raceway SCCA Majors Tour – Willows, CA
April 2 – 4: The Ridge Motorsports Park Global Time Attack – Shelton, WA
April 30 – May 2: Portland International Raceway Cascade Sports Car Club – Portland, OR
May 14 – 16: Pacific Raceways IRDC Tribute to the Volunteers – Kent, WA
May 28 – 30: Pacific Raceways SCCA Majors Tour – Kent, WA
June 4 – 6: Spokane County Raceway Park ICSCC – Spokane, WA
Jun 18 – 20: Portland International Raceway Cascade Sports Car Club – Portland, OR
July 16 – 18: Pacific Raceways IRDC Summer Classic – Kent, Washington
July 23 – 25: The Ridge Motorsports Park Global Time Attack – Shelton, WA
August 13 – 15: Portland International Raceway Cascade Sports Car Club Dash for Kids – Portland, OR
August 27-29: The Ridge Motorsports Park IRDC – Shelton, WA
September 28 – October 3: Indianapolis Motor Speedway SCCA Runoffs – Indianapolis, IN
October 16: Portland International Raceway 8 Hour Endurance Race – Portland, OR (tentative)
November 12 – 14: Buttonwillow Global Time Attack Final – Buttonwillow, CA
December 4 – 5: Circuit of the Americas World Racing League – Austin, TX