OUCH, twas a dismal day for Automatic and RSR?????

 

I am very sorry to report the terrible results at Barber. Lady luck really left us out this weekend.

1) 197 = Sarah was 'punted' off the track on lap one by Nic Johnson in the #10 Kinetic KIA. It WAS NOT a racing incident. We filed a formal protest with Grand Am.

We have the video . . . Sarah put a clean pass on the KIA and he responded by ramming her in the right rear and sending her into the ARMCO. It tore the front end off the car. There is substantial damage. At the post race interviews the A** H*** was bragging about the intentional hit.

Hopefully Grand Am will take some action but regardless, Sarah and VJ's day was done without completing a lap.

2) 198 = BJ set the fast lap of the race. He was flying. About mid race the header/exhaust broke. The heat was dumping on the fuel cell. BJ brought the car to the pit where if caught fire. Thank God the race crew and the fire crew were on the ball. They got him out without injury but the car is really BAD. It will be sidelined for a while.

3) 197 = Dicky (Riegel) drove the first stint at a safe and quick pace. He turned the car to Owen at the 75 minute mark. Owen was then a 'man-a-fire'. He stormed through the field like everyone else was parked. At the two hour mark, now in third place with enough fuel to run to the end, the ECU gave it up.

The engine went to fault mode and he was done. He came back to the pit. We recycled everything and got him back on the track. He climbed back to 16th and it faulted again. We parked it. Owen had the second fastest lap of the day.

The cars were the class of the field. We deserved a podium . . . actually a win.

Certainly luck is part of the game . . . and we had none today.

I feel really bad about disappointing everyone. We have our work cut out for us as the schedule tightens up. The 197 is already at the body shop. The 198 however will not be on track again for a race or two. we will take this opportunity to completely rebuild it . . . wiring . . . fuel . . . exhaust, etc.

As far as the ECU's go . . . Grand Am has approved the change to a Bosch racing engine management system. We are working on it. We hope to be on track with the Bosch by Lime Rock. At that point, the electronics problems will be behind us.


Randy

 

. . . by the way, the Automatic BMW was also sidlined when it was spun by a Mustang. It also received substantial damage when it hit the wall. Barry was running fourth at the time.

Bad day for the entire team!!

Randy

 

I don't know the whole story but none of the Mini's made it to the end. And I believe the 198 was on fire over in the pits at one point. Not a good weekend for the Team.


Edit!!! I post this from my phone and didn't see Randy's post at the point I posted this.

 

Thanks for the report Randy.

You know your fans will stick with RSR through the thick and thin!

 

Randy: you never have to apologize to the MINI nation. Your efforts are appreciated. You have spent much effort and money to take the marque to a great level. I knew that some bizzare things happened when I saw the results. You have solid cars and a great driver line-up. We are with you win or tie. thank you for your efforts. Even racing gods have to love a MINI once in a while......

 

I'm sorry for the RSR. I think the Fastest Mini that day was me. I drove back from Cullman Alabama which was a hour away. Left at 2:30 and made it to the race at around lap 3.

Anyway I had to make it back to see your Team race. I hate I know so much about Mini's because when the 196 come back me I knew the ECU or something bad like that had happen. It sounded really bad.

The 198 on fire was really bad . That was a lot of smoke and you could see the Flames from across the track on the back Stretch.

I hate that I didn't make it back to see 197 even on the track . Stupid Kia Driver.

By the way the Mini's did sound good while they where on the Track. I had a db meter and the Mini's hit 119db from about 300 yards from the track.

Also I tried to get back to paddock after the race but couldn't make it over there.

Good Luck for the rest of the Year.

 

Looks like latest schedule on Speed has the broadcast of the race at 3:00pm ET on April 17, then again at 3:00am ET on April 22?

http://www.speedtv.com/programs/cont...llenge-series/

Will be tuning in this Saturday, at least for the good parts!!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzyg1...layer_embedded

Sarah's 'bump' on lap one.
Pit fire in the 198.

 

I watched the race on SPEED Channel and the incident with the #197 MINI and the KIA of Nic Jonsson was totally wrong! This is just another example of poor (not to mention dangerous) sportsmanship that needs to be eliminated.

Jonsson's on-track antics could have cost Sarah life and limb, not too mention the damage to the #197 and any loss to other racers who were in the area of the incident.

Then again I shouldn't be surprised as this is Grand-Am, the road racing bastard child of NASCAR. Just like NASCAR they will probably publicly condemn this kind of driving behavior, yet secretly condone it in the same stroke (minor fines and penalties) because it is good for ticket sales. Why even Grand-Am's TV commercials glorify the trading of paint and the physical confrontation (trading fists) of drivers. Unfortunately it seems that in NASCAR/Grand-Am's way of thinking it is these types of circuses that keep the cash registers ringing (Ka-ching! $$$)

So it comes as no shock to hear Nic Jonsson bragging about the incident with the #197 (in a post race interview) , "if they hit us we're going to hit them back!"

Hit them back? That wasn't a love-tap he sent, letting Sarah know about his displeasure, it was an outright mugging! It was wrong on so many levels... I feel for Sarah, you and the team.

Lets hope that Grand-Am officials take their job seriously and take the appropriate steps against the Kinetic Motorsports team and enforce a lasting penalty! Is this incident any worse than the one in NASCAR involving Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski at Atlanta? Certainly not! Just as stupid, just as dangerous, and reeking of childish revenge!

 

Sarah was rightfully pissed during that interview.

So has there been a ruling yet?

 

No ruling. We are at VIR this coming weekend. I will inquire....

Randy

 

http://community.grand-am.com/forums...c-ea1bb3556aab

Interesting thread on the Grand Am site. Nic Jonnson is not a very popular guy.

 

Did Grand-Am have an answer for you? Thanks.

 

Cue the sound of crickets ...

 

Kia does get a lot of CTC SPEED airtime.

 

The crickets died of old age.