by Jerry (Siddhartha) Bradbury


Canyon Motorsports and Tuslo Motorsports (not cool enough for a website yet) will again field their racing Minis in a US Touring Car Championship event, this time at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California.

It looks like Bob has overcome the gremlins that plagued his effort last season and has come out this year sparkling and faster than ever. He barely missed a podium finish last race and should be up there in the champagne shower this time around.

Jerry will be racing under a provisional license for the next seven events, which requires that he be involved in NO incidents, including off track excursions. Those of you who know his driving style will appreciate how difficult this will be for him. Consequently his strategy will be to lurk at the back of the pack and observe. Unless, of course, an opportunity presents itself.

With TWO Mini owner/drivers racing in a professional series, it would be great to see some of our Mini forum peeps in the paddock. We always have time to visit and chat as long as folks remember that prepping the car comes first. NASA throws a free barbeque for everyone on Saturday evening which is a great opportunity for socializing.

So come on down and root for your homeboys, grab some meat or a big juicy carrot off the grill and a cold beer and hang out. We'd love to see you!

 

Jerry,
We are looking on coming up Sat or Sun...undecided at this point. Terri will most likely be on crutches....simpathy factor...her words, not mine. What's the schedule for practice/qualifing and the race? Is it on the NASA web site?
Wm.....

 

It will be good to see you both. Here's the schedule for the weekend.

As usual, the car is in pieces and will be wrenched on until race day. I'm all for early prep and just letting it sit for awhile, but that never seems to happen. :-)

 

Got it...thanks.!
We'll be there.... as early as possible! to hang with the racer dude's 'n dudet's.

 

See you on Sunday for sure.

 

Bob and Vince and Mickey and I are all close together. We can make room for you. See you tomorrow. Hope Terri's surgery went OK.

 

We had a great time yesterday. Thanks for the VIP parking. Hope you get the HP issues sorted out.....and "probie" status behind you! Working on the T-hill dates in May.

 

Race Report - 2nd Round USTCC at Infineon Raceway


by Jerry (Siddhartha) Bradbury

Infineon Raceway, April 11, 2008

One of the best things about a NASA event is that there is something for everyone. You can bring your daily driver and run a High Performance Driving Event. Anything will do as long as it’s roadworthy and safe. Looking out my door once, I saw a Ford GT40, a GMC pickup, a Toyota Camry, a Porsche GT3 and a Mini Cooper S, all lined up to go out in HPDE 1. As your experience and driving skills improve you can bring your modded up street machine, change to race wheels and tires and run with the faster HPDE groups, 2, 3 and 4. Some folks have been happily doing this for years. Since these are non-competitive instructional driving events with instructors on board, your insurance should cover any mishaps (NOTE: check with your own provider to be sure). In addition, there are many classes of racing to watch featuring exciting door-to-door competition. Add to that a free barbeque Saturday night and you’ve got a really fine weekend at the track.

Canyon Bob and I are here for the second round of the US Touring Car Championship series. Bob is way faster than me but because he's not used to the track, we qualify close and we're side by side on the grid for the race. Finally in the late afternoon our turn to race arrives. The flag drops and off they go while I try manfully to find second gear. Again. Same mistake as in the NAMCC race. Rookie mistake. all the USTCC racers disappear over the hill and I am left at the mercy of the Honda Challenge cars. The Civic in front of me is just a little slower than me and is braking just a little sooner. I pull up next to him several times but I’m running with the pirates now. They show no mercy and give no quarter and I just don’t have the skills yet to shoulder my way by and get away.


And so I finish last. In spite of the embarrassing start it was far from a wasted effort. I have completed two more events as a provisional rookie racer without incident or going off track. One more and I can apply for my NASA National racing license and the gloves can come off. Before that happens, though, I have homework to do. I have to find more horsepower for the car and I have to practice standing starts until that 1-2 shift is automatic. Next time will be different.


It was great to have some of you Mini owners at the track cheering us on. Next time at Thunderhill on May 3-4, Bob and I should be joined on the grid by Rich Peterson in his USTCC MCS. Hopefully as more Minis join the racing we will see more of you out there, too!

Pix here.

Visit my Mini Mania blog for the expanded version here.

Mini Mania supports me with speed parts and cash. You can help me and Mini racing in general by clicking on my sponsor's LINK. There's no better place to get your aftermarket mods than there.

 

My racing sponsorship depends on website hits, so if you would please hit the blog site you will be doing me a favor and also supporting Mini racing! Come on out and watch if you can. It's only going to get better.

Cheers,
Sid