2011 National Championship Race (final race)

#1

Great coverage on Speedcast! There was a great battle going for second between Anthony, Robert and Eric.

Finish order was:

Robert Grace
Eric Palacio
Johnathon Allen
Anthony Magagnoli
Sean Curran

Congrats Fellas!

#2

Congrats juiceboy!

#3

Trefethen got robbed!!

Good coverage other than missing the start of the SE30 guys completely. FAIL. We fix that by having a run group big enough to have our own race group. With ALL the SE30 guys on the east coast, im baffled as to why there was a small car count?

#4

Yeah, awesome watching online! I was raving mad when they skipped the standing start, but once we got those 944 out of the way I was glued to the screen.

Nice win by Grace.

Sorry to see the contact between Loren T and Carter Hunt, that was going to be an exciting battle that was just starting. Definitely rooting for our NorCal boy Loren, it looked like he was just getting warmed up with some great passes.

#5

They skipped the standing start last year also. Anyway I wasn’t able to get on in time to watch it live and now I can’t find an option to watch it on demand.

#6

Looks like the 2011 Replay is a VERY long video that has all the racing of the day in it:

http://speedcasttv.com/#/races/240

Congrats to everyone especially Eric from the Southeast.

#7

Congrats to everyone. I started 18th, worked up to around 12th, spun just missed the front straight wall. Got back to 11th again, yellow came out, I got killed at the restart. Then just let the leaders through and watched the fun. Unfortunately my tape died at the time the yellow came out so I don’t have that last lap.

http://www.vimeo.com/28873565

#8

what time do I need to ff to to see the race.

#9

[quote=“bmcqueen” post=59688]
Nice win by Grace.

Sorry to see the contact between Loren T and Carter Hunt, that was going to be an exciting battle that was just starting. Definitely rooting for our NorCal boy Loren, it looked like he was just getting warmed up with some great passes.[/quote]

Congrats to Robert Grace, Eric, and Jonney Allen.

Was a damned shame that Carter and Loren took themselves out. Me and the kids were hollering “NOOOOOOOOOOO”. Was cool to see the convertable, but Carter has a deserved rep for being unbeatable in the rain.

#10

starts at around 292.

#11

I don’t know him, but I must say that that sucks.

#12

I dont know him either but I was very impressed watching him rim ride around the absolute outside of the track and making time doing it!

I dont blame anyone for his impact with the tire barrier, thats just racing. he chose the inside and it happened to be the wrong decision. Sometimes all it takes is one small mistake to ruin ones race and this was an example. Im sorry for both guys to get taken out like that, was a great race put on by both drivers up front. Just goes to show you that anyone can win these things!

#13

Congratulations to Juice Boy. Very sorry to hear about all the contact and damage. Last year the Juice was charging to the front and had suspension failure, sounds like this was his year. Way to hang tough and come back for another go Robert!

Championship racing in the rain must have been an incredible challenge. You are all better drivers than me. My hat is off to all of you!

Cheers

#14

Congratulations to Robert Grace for the win! Robert proves again and again that the dude can wheel. Way to go Robert, you earned it!
Very impressive drive by Palacio for a 2nd place finish.
Congratulations to Jon Allen for 3rd place finish!
Anthony Magagnoli drove the snot out of a borrowed car and locked down the 4th spot.
An excellent drive by Sean Curran landing him a solid 5th place finish.

Nicely done guys!

#15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K7S3ogqvqM part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzUbPX3WXs0 part 2

Car stalls on grid, I go to dead last, work my way up to 6th, hit oil, and get stuck in China Beach.

#16

Video: http://www.vimeo.com/28907963

The title in the video is incorrect, it’s the final race.

Started 4th, fell back to 12th at some point, but stayed on the track to finish 6th.

#17

Great racing with some very fast drivers. I have never been to Mid Ohio before and did not plan on going to Nationals until August 31. I had little time to get everything ready before Nationals so I quickly ran the car to the shop to check over everything and then a run to BMW for alignment and I was off. I signed up for test and tune on Tuesday and the car felt good. I got down to 1 min 43 seconds on a very fast and fun course. On Tuesday my shifter rod broke and Robert Grace and Seth had a spare which saved my weekend. Thanks guys!

Wednesday was a NASA test and tune which was full so I had to watch from the side lines. It rained all day Wednesday so having no practice in the rain I was just trying to watch from different areas to get the line from a spectators view point.

On Thursday the rained continued for practice and I backed the car in the pit wall when I got onto the sealer. Qualify was wet as well, I still could not find a good wet line so I started 18th for the race. For the race the track dried out right before hand. I threw on the dry setup and went from 18th to 5th in a crazy 20 minute race.

On Friday the car felt ok on newer tires but they were getting chewed up pretty bad but still good for a 4th place in the race. At the start of the race I got a great start and slotted in right behind Rob Gagliardo for second place. We went side by side a few turns but I backed out thinking about the big picture, the championship race.

Before the Saturday championship race I was asked to redyno my car and on the dyno my car was not hitting the rev limiter at the right rpm. We changed computers and the problem was fixed so I got dq’ed for both my hard fought races earlier that week. I was completely caught off guard with this problem but I tried to take it in stride and not have it ruin my championship race. After changing computers I went from 151 hp to 150 hp but still illegal so I understand Scotts decision.

I started last for the race instead of second but was able to fight my way up to 10th before the checkered flag. Good strong racing by everyone this weekend and a job well done to Robert Grace for the win!

Everyone out on track was very competitive but friendly in the paddock. Hats off to drive gear for doing a lunch for all the drivers on Thursday and the Great Lakes doing lunch on both Friday and Saturday. I hope to come back and race with the great lakes some more, a good group of guys that race hard but clean.

-Brandon

#18

Great write up Brandon and a nice performance. I have a few ECUs that you are more than welcome to try them (however - none of them gave my car more than 147hp) out. I agree about the Great Lakes guys, they are a solid group of guys and I’d go wheel to wheel with them any day of the week.

#19

Wow. What a week. A big thanks to everyone for the congratulations, I really appreciate it. It was certainly a wild couple of days but really came together in the end. I was very impressed with the overall pace of the group, on Friday afternoon I honestly felt like there were about 8 cars with a realistic shot. The Great Lakes guys know that place like the back of their hand, a few of the west coast guys had some strong equipment, and the East coast was well represented with some of the top talent from the SE, MA, and NE. I finished 3rd in Friday’s quali race but was very excited to see that the MA swept the podium. Over the course of the regular season I had a strong feeling that the guys I battle every weekend would be the ones I would have to get through at Mid-O. Sure enough Rob Gagliardo and Brandon Hey were wicked fast out of the box and Jon Allen and Carter Hunt put the speed tune on over the course of the week and were on point come Saturday. Tough break for Hey, I know it’s no consolation but keep diggin’…I know all too well the feeling of being blindsided by a DQ at Nationals and having your week unravel.

The speedcast didn’t show much of our first lap, I got a nice launch and was able to get through T1 and the Keyhole on my own line which allowed me to pull a little gap. I kept pushing hoping to build a comfortable gap…as I went into the carousel and got on the brakes a funny thing happened, the car kept on going! I went off track and spun in the grass, thankfully I didn’t get stuck but I was next to last when I was able to rejoin the field. For about 5 seconds I thought “I just blew it” this thought was quickly followed by “This is going to be fun.”

Here is the video from Saturday’s Championship race:

http://youtu.be/uRG83tln9ss

The mutual respect and support from my fellow MA racers has been crucial over the years. When you’re a rookie in a region with names like Chris Cobetto, Jon Allen, Mike Skeen, Mike Davidson you simply have no choice but to improve. This series is so competitive that if you aren’t continually improving, you’re losing. The fierce competition with those guys and the current MA hot shoes like Gagliardo, Hey, and the rest really sharpens the skills.

I hate to make a list of thank you’s because I’m sure to forget many, but a special Thanks to Andrew Zimmermann and Jon Allen of DriveGear.com, their support of the series and knowledge of E30’s has kept my car running on numerous weekends…not to mention my DriveGear transmission that is as crisp as new after taking years of abuse. Rick Marini for always making the best of a soup sandwich, Chris and Laura Cobetto for putting on a great show every month, Mike Skeen, the Ott’s, Carter Hunt, Gags for always bringin’ the heat, I have parts on my car from probably 8 different competitors so thank you, my family, my wrench turnin’ Dad, and everyone else that makes the time in the paddock as enjoyable as the time on the track. Some of our regional and national sponsors including Bimmerparts, Toyo, TC Motorsports, Bimmerworld, and Hawk really make it a lot easier to get what we need to be competitive, thank you for your support of the series.

See you guys next time!

#20

Here is a link to a somewhat detailed write up of Anthony Magagnoli’s and I’s weekend. Anthony lost the engine in his car on Thursday, so we ran my car and had a shot to win. Guys in the Southeast might recognize the car.

Congrats to Grace. You were by far the fastest that day.

http://www.adrenalineautosport.com/denny/blog/2011-nasa-national-championships/