2016 NASA East Coast Championship Recap
09-27-2016, 12:50 PM
#1
2016 NASA East Coast Championship Recap
This past weekend I ended my first NASA East Coast Championship race with a 2nd place finished. The journey to race in Honda Challenge officially started last September when I met Andrew Wikstrom from Tachterion Driver Development (http://tachterion.us/). My family bought me my first coaching sessions with him for my 30th birthday. Drew asked me early on what my goals were and I stated it was to race in Honda Challenge next year. I was unaware how much time, effort, money and devotion that goal would take BUT my mind was set. Prior to meeting Drew I had only done about 10 events in my s2000 (rollbar, 255 RS3, big fsb, kw v3) but I was determined to race wheel to wheel again. I grew up racing dirtbikes, atvs and shifter karts and missed it.
So I met Drew for the first time at NJMP Lighting in September and I couldn't believe how much I learned in just one day of coaching. From there I worked with Drew again at NYST at one of the s2000 days I had held and was able to shave 4 seconds off my previous time there.
https://youtu.be/W_sgNKyPCkI
After that event I began ordering all the parts to convert my stockish s2000 to a full out racecar. I consulted with Drew for most of the build and bought some amazing Penske Anze DA shocks from him. I was then directed to Jeff Ricca from CIP (http://www.cipmotorsports.com/info.html) to have my cage built. Once I picked up my car from Jeff in February it was a mad scramble to get it ready to race in April. I had a ton of help from my brothers as well as Frank, Ryan and Mike (team mate who came in 1st this year and broke every record along the way). I had some hiccups including some electrical gremlins but ultimately the car was ready about 2 weeks prior to my first race. I went to NJMP Thunderbolt with Drew and shook down the car and myself. It was the first time I was driving on r comps and it was quite the learning curve. Overall the first day of testing was cut short due to a horrible wreck at turn 1 but I was excited to move onto the next event which was competition school and my first race.
My first race weekend was at NJMP Lightning and it was started by completing competition school to get my race license. The school went by very fast but was was a blast to go through. I even got my first tire mark on my door from doing some side by side drills. Next up was my first qualifying session which went well and I actually was p2 in front of John Oldt who has been racing in H1 since 2006. I was ecstatic with that result but on my second lap of the Saturday race I spun out and ended up finishing in the back of the pack. The Sunday race was much the same and I had an early spin. My take away from this weekend was that I needed to spend more time learning the new setup and in particular the limit on r comps. In addition I also realized that my car was extremely heavy compared to the rest of the field (tipping the scales in the high 2800s). So the next step was to remove all the AC, heating, delete air system and anything else that could be unbolted.
https://youtu.be/sIOVXqXjQRo
https://youtu.be/Das-gtS3JaQ
So I scheduled a track day with Chin Motorsports at Palmer. Once again I worked with Drew on both car and driver setup. It was great having 2 full days to get used to the new setup and start dialing it in. I was able to put down some 1.47s which I was very happy with progress. I left feeling much more connected with the car again and began to have some confidence in it.
My second race weekend was at NJMP Thunderbolt. I hired Drew for the entire weekend this time around and it was worth every penny. Drew taught me a lot about how to approach a race weekend and ultimately it lead to a much smoother event. I finished 3rd on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday which was much more competitive. I left this weekend with even more drive to prepare for the next race. I continued to work on the car setup and weight reduction. I switched to full sphericals and 95a mounts after this race since I tore my tranny mount and compliance bushings.
https://youtu.be/wmyLXjg1HOY
My third race weekend was at Palmer. It was the hottest race of the year and thankfully Eric Kaul and the team at CoolShirt (http://coolshirt.com/) provided me with one of their systems to use. I STRONGLY recommend this system to anyone who does track days. It kept me cool while being in a very hot race car. I was very tired for the Saturday race but managed to qualify p1 and finished 1st. Sunday I qualified p1 but the start of the race got botched due to the car in front of me starting in the wrong gear and ultimately lost several spots before the 3rd turn. In the process I also got bumped front and rear and got my first real race damage (headlights and bumpers). I chased down Justin but made a rookie mistake and we had contact leaving Justinunable to finish the race. I ended up with another first place but not a satisfying one.
https://youtu.be/RYhLmbQFW50
My next focus was prepping for the championship race at WGI so I scheduled an open track day with Track Masters. I was able to get the car to turn some 2.13s BUT I realized that my car was in some serious need of power compared to my teammates car (nearly 3 seconds a lap). My stock ecu ap1 was only able to turn 125mph down to turn 4 where as a tuned ap2 was doing 130mph. I had some serious doubts about even competing at nationals because I was having trouble justifying the additional cost of AEM infinity and a tune. Ultimately my friends and family helped me pull the trigger on the new ecu. I contacted Science of Speed for their new s2000 AEM infinity kit (https://www.scienceofspeed.com/index...0-2000-05.html) and scheduled a tune with Evans Tuning (http://www.evans-tuning.com/). I got the AEM installed with the help of Science of Speeds AMAZING customer service; they remote logged in AFTER hours to help get my car up and running. They also advised me to have the tuned done based on TPS and boy was that the way to go. Evans Tuning did an awesome job getting me an appointment less than a week away from Nationals and did a phenomenal job with it. From there I did a final once over and loaded the car.
Once I got to WGI for the NASA East Coast Championship it was a bit of a surreal feeling. I couldn't believe that less than 1 year prior I was just starting this journey. Thursday I signed up for the testing day and I was glad I did. I ran into a bunch of random setup issues like losing a rear caliper bolt, loose ball joints, loose and misaligned sway bar end links, etc. Thankfully my crew kept fixing whatever issues I ran into and kept my car running all day.
Friday I qualified p3 and was happy with that result. The next step was racing in the qualifying race where I had an awful launch and went from p3 to p7 in a blink of an eye. I worked hard to fight my way back to p2 but unfortunately we had a double yellow where the rest of the field caught back up. On the restart a prelude made a good move on me and I dropped back to p3 but I once again fought back and we went side by side through 7-11 but I ultimately made contact with the wall on turn 11. I stayed in it despite the contact and completed the pass for p2 taking the checkered flag. I was happy with the finish but now my work was cut out for me to get the car ready for Saturday. I damaged the entire drivers side and shifted the subframes enough to cause the camber to be -1.5 on L and -4 on R. My team worked hard late into the night to get the car "driveable" for Saturday.
Saturday I started p2 and ultimately had an awesome battle with John Oldt (most fun I have had in a car) in which he capitalized on a mistake I made and took p2 and the race finished under a red flag. I set a new personal best with a 2.11 despite having a car with an awful setup alignment wise. I cooked the drivers side tires due to the lack of camber and me over driving them trying to keep John behind me. During this race I also saw first hand the amazing difference the tune had made because I hit a WHOPPING 133mph to turn 4 when previously I had not gone above 125mph.
https://youtu.be/yY3Kv4E5Clo
Sunday I started p2 which was based on the average finishes of the past two days. At the start of the race I had an okay launch and was able to build a sizable lead in p2 behind Mike but once again there was a double yellow that allowed the rest of the field to catch back up. At the restart I made a couple good moves that got me in front of Mike (another car made contact with him) but ultimately the champ made a nice clean pass on me and I finished the race p2. I was beyond excited to finish my first season in Honda Challenge on the podium and what made it even better was that Mike took first in front of me. Mike is the hardest working and most dedicated racer I have ever met and it payed off for him.
https://youtu.be/zgKsbNwJq7w
Special thanks goes to the following:
My amazing fiance, Lina, for putting up with me this past year spending countless hours working on the car and always having my back to keep going after my goal.
My brothers; Billy, Phil and Shawn for helping work on the car and supporting me through all of this.
My parents for introducing me to the world of racing from an early age and helping support me through it all.
Frank and Ryan for becoming family and pushing me to keep having fun from the first track day I did with them (car caught on fire and was totaled). There have been many times where I questioned if I should continue down this road of racing and they always helped keep me going in the right direction. They also have spent countless hours helping me prep and manage the car at and for all the races this year.
Mike for being one hell of a teammate and pushing me to drive faster and develop my car further. "shakeNbake"
Andrew Wikstrom for guiding me down this road from car setup to mental preparedness to late night "voodoo" track alignments
Science Of Speed for giving me top notch product support
Evans Tuning for giving me a race winning tune to keep up with those kswapped cars and ap2 motors
CoolShirt for donating a setup for both the Palmer race and WGI race that helped keep me cool all weekend long.
3 years ago when I signed up for my first HPDE event with NASA I didn't know what to expect but I am so glad I went. I left with a totaled car but 2 new brothers (Frank and Ryan). From there it was a slippery slope but my track family has grown and I can't wait to see what the next 3 years bring. Anyone thinking about going to the track I strongly suggest signing up NOW.
So I met Drew for the first time at NJMP Lighting in September and I couldn't believe how much I learned in just one day of coaching. From there I worked with Drew again at NYST at one of the s2000 days I had held and was able to shave 4 seconds off my previous time there.
https://youtu.be/W_sgNKyPCkI
After that event I began ordering all the parts to convert my stockish s2000 to a full out racecar. I consulted with Drew for most of the build and bought some amazing Penske Anze DA shocks from him. I was then directed to Jeff Ricca from CIP (http://www.cipmotorsports.com/info.html) to have my cage built. Once I picked up my car from Jeff in February it was a mad scramble to get it ready to race in April. I had a ton of help from my brothers as well as Frank, Ryan and Mike (team mate who came in 1st this year and broke every record along the way). I had some hiccups including some electrical gremlins but ultimately the car was ready about 2 weeks prior to my first race. I went to NJMP Thunderbolt with Drew and shook down the car and myself. It was the first time I was driving on r comps and it was quite the learning curve. Overall the first day of testing was cut short due to a horrible wreck at turn 1 but I was excited to move onto the next event which was competition school and my first race.
My first race weekend was at NJMP Lightning and it was started by completing competition school to get my race license. The school went by very fast but was was a blast to go through. I even got my first tire mark on my door from doing some side by side drills. Next up was my first qualifying session which went well and I actually was p2 in front of John Oldt who has been racing in H1 since 2006. I was ecstatic with that result but on my second lap of the Saturday race I spun out and ended up finishing in the back of the pack. The Sunday race was much the same and I had an early spin. My take away from this weekend was that I needed to spend more time learning the new setup and in particular the limit on r comps. In addition I also realized that my car was extremely heavy compared to the rest of the field (tipping the scales in the high 2800s). So the next step was to remove all the AC, heating, delete air system and anything else that could be unbolted.
https://youtu.be/sIOVXqXjQRo
https://youtu.be/Das-gtS3JaQ
So I scheduled a track day with Chin Motorsports at Palmer. Once again I worked with Drew on both car and driver setup. It was great having 2 full days to get used to the new setup and start dialing it in. I was able to put down some 1.47s which I was very happy with progress. I left feeling much more connected with the car again and began to have some confidence in it.
My second race weekend was at NJMP Thunderbolt. I hired Drew for the entire weekend this time around and it was worth every penny. Drew taught me a lot about how to approach a race weekend and ultimately it lead to a much smoother event. I finished 3rd on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday which was much more competitive. I left this weekend with even more drive to prepare for the next race. I continued to work on the car setup and weight reduction. I switched to full sphericals and 95a mounts after this race since I tore my tranny mount and compliance bushings.
https://youtu.be/wmyLXjg1HOY
My third race weekend was at Palmer. It was the hottest race of the year and thankfully Eric Kaul and the team at CoolShirt (http://coolshirt.com/) provided me with one of their systems to use. I STRONGLY recommend this system to anyone who does track days. It kept me cool while being in a very hot race car. I was very tired for the Saturday race but managed to qualify p1 and finished 1st. Sunday I qualified p1 but the start of the race got botched due to the car in front of me starting in the wrong gear and ultimately lost several spots before the 3rd turn. In the process I also got bumped front and rear and got my first real race damage (headlights and bumpers). I chased down Justin but made a rookie mistake and we had contact leaving Justinunable to finish the race. I ended up with another first place but not a satisfying one.
https://youtu.be/RYhLmbQFW50
My next focus was prepping for the championship race at WGI so I scheduled an open track day with Track Masters. I was able to get the car to turn some 2.13s BUT I realized that my car was in some serious need of power compared to my teammates car (nearly 3 seconds a lap). My stock ecu ap1 was only able to turn 125mph down to turn 4 where as a tuned ap2 was doing 130mph. I had some serious doubts about even competing at nationals because I was having trouble justifying the additional cost of AEM infinity and a tune. Ultimately my friends and family helped me pull the trigger on the new ecu. I contacted Science of Speed for their new s2000 AEM infinity kit (https://www.scienceofspeed.com/index...0-2000-05.html) and scheduled a tune with Evans Tuning (http://www.evans-tuning.com/). I got the AEM installed with the help of Science of Speeds AMAZING customer service; they remote logged in AFTER hours to help get my car up and running. They also advised me to have the tuned done based on TPS and boy was that the way to go. Evans Tuning did an awesome job getting me an appointment less than a week away from Nationals and did a phenomenal job with it. From there I did a final once over and loaded the car.
Once I got to WGI for the NASA East Coast Championship it was a bit of a surreal feeling. I couldn't believe that less than 1 year prior I was just starting this journey. Thursday I signed up for the testing day and I was glad I did. I ran into a bunch of random setup issues like losing a rear caliper bolt, loose ball joints, loose and misaligned sway bar end links, etc. Thankfully my crew kept fixing whatever issues I ran into and kept my car running all day.
Friday I qualified p3 and was happy with that result. The next step was racing in the qualifying race where I had an awful launch and went from p3 to p7 in a blink of an eye. I worked hard to fight my way back to p2 but unfortunately we had a double yellow where the rest of the field caught back up. On the restart a prelude made a good move on me and I dropped back to p3 but I once again fought back and we went side by side through 7-11 but I ultimately made contact with the wall on turn 11. I stayed in it despite the contact and completed the pass for p2 taking the checkered flag. I was happy with the finish but now my work was cut out for me to get the car ready for Saturday. I damaged the entire drivers side and shifted the subframes enough to cause the camber to be -1.5 on L and -4 on R. My team worked hard late into the night to get the car "driveable" for Saturday.
Saturday I started p2 and ultimately had an awesome battle with John Oldt (most fun I have had in a car) in which he capitalized on a mistake I made and took p2 and the race finished under a red flag. I set a new personal best with a 2.11 despite having a car with an awful setup alignment wise. I cooked the drivers side tires due to the lack of camber and me over driving them trying to keep John behind me. During this race I also saw first hand the amazing difference the tune had made because I hit a WHOPPING 133mph to turn 4 when previously I had not gone above 125mph.
https://youtu.be/yY3Kv4E5Clo
Sunday I started p2 which was based on the average finishes of the past two days. At the start of the race I had an okay launch and was able to build a sizable lead in p2 behind Mike but once again there was a double yellow that allowed the rest of the field to catch back up. At the restart I made a couple good moves that got me in front of Mike (another car made contact with him) but ultimately the champ made a nice clean pass on me and I finished the race p2. I was beyond excited to finish my first season in Honda Challenge on the podium and what made it even better was that Mike took first in front of me. Mike is the hardest working and most dedicated racer I have ever met and it payed off for him.
https://youtu.be/zgKsbNwJq7w
Special thanks goes to the following:
My amazing fiance, Lina, for putting up with me this past year spending countless hours working on the car and always having my back to keep going after my goal.
My brothers; Billy, Phil and Shawn for helping work on the car and supporting me through all of this.
My parents for introducing me to the world of racing from an early age and helping support me through it all.
Frank and Ryan for becoming family and pushing me to keep having fun from the first track day I did with them (car caught on fire and was totaled). There have been many times where I questioned if I should continue down this road of racing and they always helped keep me going in the right direction. They also have spent countless hours helping me prep and manage the car at and for all the races this year.
Mike for being one hell of a teammate and pushing me to drive faster and develop my car further. "shakeNbake"
Andrew Wikstrom for guiding me down this road from car setup to mental preparedness to late night "voodoo" track alignments
Science Of Speed for giving me top notch product support
Evans Tuning for giving me a race winning tune to keep up with those kswapped cars and ap2 motors
CoolShirt for donating a setup for both the Palmer race and WGI race that helped keep me cool all weekend long.
3 years ago when I signed up for my first HPDE event with NASA I didn't know what to expect but I am so glad I went. I left with a totaled car but 2 new brothers (Frank and Ryan). From there it was a slippery slope but my track family has grown and I can't wait to see what the next 3 years bring. Anyone thinking about going to the track I strongly suggest signing up NOW.
09-27-2016, 04:09 PM
#4
Community Organizer
It was great seeing you there Dan. I think your girl was just as excited as you were when you were on the podium. Her smile was a mile wide.
You worked hard and made it happen.
It's nice of you to post this follow-up here.
See you at NJMP in October? More importantly, I wanna see you at Sebring, maybe put an end to the smack talk.
HONDA CHALLENGE!!!!!!
You worked hard and made it happen.
It's nice of you to post this follow-up here.
See you at NJMP in October? More importantly, I wanna see you at Sebring, maybe put an end to the smack talk.
HONDA CHALLENGE!!!!!!
09-27-2016, 04:14 PM
#5
Thanks! She has been so supportive of this endeavor and wanted me to get a podium just as much as I did.
I wanted to give people a little perspective on what it takes because prior to this year I had NO idea. I raced other venues so I got the general gist but racing cars is a whole different platform. I have also had tons of help through this forum and its members so I wanted this to be a place where I could maybe help other future Honda Challenge members on their journeys.
I will likely not be at NJMP because of the damage to my car but you never know. If I can get it prepped and ready I will be there.
https://youtu.be/7dip0BXpvm8 is the video of hitting the wall to finish P2
Sebring is far away but you never know.
I wanted to give people a little perspective on what it takes because prior to this year I had NO idea. I raced other venues so I got the general gist but racing cars is a whole different platform. I have also had tons of help through this forum and its members so I wanted this to be a place where I could maybe help other future Honda Challenge members on their journeys.
I will likely not be at NJMP because of the damage to my car but you never know. If I can get it prepped and ready I will be there.
https://youtu.be/7dip0BXpvm8 is the video of hitting the wall to finish P2
Sebring is far away but you never know.
09-28-2016, 03:25 AM
#6
Community Organizer
OUCH!!
09-28-2016, 05:06 AM
#7
Former Moderator
Great write up and props to you for making the transition from hobbyist to race car driver so fast.
Please keep the updates coming. It's always good to read racing stories.
Please keep the updates coming. It's always good to read racing stories.
