Gingerman Raceway 6/9 & 6/10 2012

Race number 3 for the NASA Midwest series was held at Gingerman Raceway in beautiful South Haven, MI. NASA would once again be runng the full course which incorporated the new extension that was added not too long ago.
This race weekend would be the first time that we would try tires from a new manufacturer on the Evo. A new set of 275 wide BF Goodrich R1-S were mounted and ready to go. This is a brand new compound that was just released for use by the general public earlier this season.

In the first 2 sessions an older set of Hoosiers with quite a few heat cycles were used to get the feel of the track once again and secure a good grid position. After the second session of the day the Vance Motorsports Evo was third on grid overall with a time of 1:40.388. Unfortunately both cars ahead on grid were also TTS class cars so we were in 3rd place out of 3. First and second place were held by the same competitors that we have struggled against all season long. Both are very talented drivers and have national podium positions/championships on their resume`.
For session three right after lunch it was time to give the BF Goodrich tires a try. Bingo! The new tires had considerble more grip then the old Hoosiers and helped put down a time of 1:39.051 which was almost a full second better than we had ran at this track in 2011. The new tires felt good and the times were reflectant of it.
By the time session four rolled around the track was starting to get greasy and the air temp was in the low 90's. A time of 1:39.259 was all that could be accomplished and it was time to call it a day and skip the last session since the track was clearly not going to produce any quicker lap times due to the conditions.
Final standings for Saturday was a 3rd place finish out of three in the class. Second place was 1:37.542 and first place was 1:36.968 which are both some very fast lap times at this track.

Since the weather was good for the weekend we decided to camp out at the track for the weekend. This ended up being a lot of fun and also gave us a chance to walk the track Saturday evening. Walking the track can be quite beneficial to identify surface changes and see other details that sometimes can be missed when the car is flying over them so quickly.

Sunday morning the TT group were the first ones to compete at 8:00am. The air was already starting to heat up quickly at this time and everyone could feel that we were in for another really hot day.
In the first session a new fast time of 1:38.393 was ran which was a new personal best time for Jeff at this track. In the second session on just the second lap the car got loose in the rear end coming around turn 9 and then entering the transition onto the new track extension. Luckily nothing was damaged and the car only had some minor scratches from some tall weeds that the car went through before finally coming to a stop. DNF for session 2.
Session number three after lunch was skipped and the fourth session would be used just to make sure everthing on the car felt ok after the long off track excursion. The good news was that it felt ok and no damage was suffered.
The final standing for Sunday turned out the same way as Saturday, with each driver in the class gaining a small amount over their time from Saturday.

The BF Goodrich R1-S seem to be a good tire for this series, however it has been noted that it does take longer to reach full grip that the Hoosier A6 does. Grip levels are nearly the same once heated up however. The BFG does seem to have a bit more responsive turn in at corner entry which is good. The only down side seen so far is that they do not seem to give much notice before breaking loose...

Putnam Park 5/12-13, 2012

Second race weekend of the NASA Midwest Region was held at Putnam Park just outside Indianapolis, Indiana. We drove to the track on Friday and set things up for the weekend. Attendance was heavy for the event and there were a lot of cars since this was a crossover event between the Midwest and Great Lake Regions.

In the first warmup session of the weekend the 145 Evo ran a 1:20.9 which was quick enough to secure fourth spot on grid out of 38 cars. Grid position was going to be critical all weekend long since there were so may Time Trial cars and it would only take 2 laps or less for the lead cars to catch the back of the pack and lose out on their opportunity for good lap times.

Session 2 - a lap time of 1:20.6 was ran which was only good enough for third place out of four cars in the class. The busy traffic was making it very difficult to get a good lap in unless you pushed all out on the first hot lap. Time for session three was a bit better at 1:19.9, but still need some improvement. Since the tires that were being used had quite a few heat cycles on them and were very slick it was time for a change to a new set of Hoosier A6's for run number 4.

Success!! Even though the track was getting quite greasy in the afternoon, the new tires made a huge difference and the Evo ran a 1:17.8 which was good enough to move into second place by nearly 2 full seconds.

Since the track conditions continued to worsen after the race groups had ran, we skipped the last session knowing that it would be hard for anyone to improve on times. The gamble paid off and second place was achieved for Saturday!

Sunday everyone agreed to count the frist session of the day. The Evo ran a 1:18.6 which was good enough to start the day in second place out of five cars in the class that day. It was going to be difficult to put down comparable times to Saturday due to Sunday being a rather hot sunny day and the track was even slicker than the day before.

Sessions 2 & 3 were a bit faster at 1:18.5 and 1:18.2. The race groups had their race between the TT session 3 and 4. Once the race groups had been out on track it was going to be impossible to improve on times due the heavy amount of rubber that they put down and the hot sun beating down on the track. Very few ran cars participated in session 4 and even fewer for session 5.

Once again it was a second place finish in the class!

Overall a good weekend given the track conditions and the number of cars at the event.

Thanks as always to everyone who helped make it a successful weekend.

Season Opener - Autobahn Country Club

April 21st and 22nd was the season opener for the NASA Midwest region. The Vance Motorsports Mitsubishi Evo was prepped and ready to go. After a long offseason and a few changes to the car we were excited to go racing.

We left at 4:15 in the morning to arrive at the track around 6:30am. When we arrived at the track temps were cold and still in the 30's. The good news was that things were dry and foreacted to be dry the entire weekend.

First session out was taken slow to bed in new brake pads and get the feel of the car. Everything felt good on the car and it was time to push harder for session 2. In the second session a time of 1:34.3 was ran and was good enough for 4th place overall on grid for session 3 and 1st in class so far. There were just 4 cars in TTS on Saturday. A Lotus Exige, Corvette, myself and another Evo.

In session 3 for the day a time of 1:34.1 was ran, however the Lotus ran a 1:33.0 and took the lead in the class. Jeremy in the other Evo ran a 1:34.5 and was learning the track very quickly for it being his first time there.

In session 4 Jeremy turned a 1:33.3 compared to Jeff's time of 1:33.4. There was some great competition going on between the two Evo's.

The track conditions were good for the final session of the day and everyone was ready to push one last time. In the end Jeremy put down and incredible lap of 1:31.1 to take first place in the class. Jeff ran a 1:33.2 which fell just short of what was needed to take second place. It was a third place finish on the first day for the Vance Motorsports Evo.

On Sunday the weather was chilly once again. The wind had picked up and continued to howl across the track. At least it was still dry out however!

Sunday saw the addition of more car to the class. Nathan Pitcher decided to play with us in TTS. Now there were 3 Evo's in the class! Nothing like some good friendly competition.

Session 1 was a slow one as the track was still quite cold and did not offer as much grip as we were hoping for. Throughout the remainder of the day on Sunday the Vance Motorsports Evo just didn't operate as well as we hoped. Several changes were made to the shocks but we were still far from finding a better setup that was going to work. When all was said and done the Lotus took home
first place in the class, followed by Nathan (Evo), Jeremy (Evo), Jeff (Evo) and then the Corvette.

It was super exciting to see the Evo's all do well and set some great lap times. This was the first of 3 visits to this track this season so hopefully the friendly competition will pick right back up when we return in July.

Special note of acknowledgement to fellow Evo driver Jarrod Hoops who had the fast lap of the weekend and also set the TTU and TTR lap records. That is one fast Evo!! Great job Jarrod.

In conclusion a few thoughts about the changes done over the winter.
1. New AP Racing front brake setup - the system felt good, however not convinced it was worth the money for using in TT competition. This setup might shine more in wheel to wheel use where overheating becomes more of an issue. More comments on this after a few more events are ran.
2. TRE Max Lock 1.5 way rear differential - this rear diff does exactly as advertised. Unfortunately the rear tires kept lifting in several key corners and therefore the car was "hopping" around the corner. Once we get some more droop in the suspension and a few other tweeks done the rear diff should start to show more of a difference one it can pushed to the limit.
3. Spring rate change - this seemed to help keep the nose of the car from diving as much in brake zones as hoped for.

Next event is at Putnam Park on May 12,13. There are quite a few things to work on with the suspension before that time. Stay tuned for updates on how things go.
Thanks to all my family, friends and sponsors who help make this happen. After a few more changes hopefully we can get the car to the place it has the potential to be at. Once that finally happens things are going to get interesting!!!

Pre-Season Testing

With the race season about to begin a test day is in order. This will help determine how the changes made over the winter feel and also experiment with a couple different setups. Test day to take place on Saturday at the opening weekend for Gingerman Raceway in South Haven, MI.
Stay tuned for details on how the testing went. The weather for tomorrow calls for lots of sun and high of 65.  The morning will be chilly however since low tonight is 32.
Happy Easter weekend everyone!

2012 Season on the way!

Even though it is still February and there is snow on the ground here in northern Illinois it's time to start preparing for the 2012 season. Several projects are underway on the car and a few new parts are being added as we speak. More details on the new items will be discussed at a later date.

The 2012 season schedule has been updated on the blog. Mark your calendars for these dates. The 2012 schedule listed are the known competition days. There will be several testing days sprinkled in amoungst the competition days.

2011 Season Recap

Hard to believe, but the 2011 season is complete.

Jeff Vance took home 2nd season in TTS for the Midwest Region season points and 3rd place in the Great Lakes Region.

2011 was a season that had it's share of difficulties and issues, but overall was a good season. Many thanks to all who helped make this season a successful one. I couldn't have done it without all of your help and support throughout the season. Hopefully we can take the knowledge and experience gained in 2011 and apply it to the 2012 season.

There are many things to think about and consider over the next few upcoming months. Stay tuned for updates on plans for 2012!

Road America - 2011 Season Finale

October 8th and 9th were the final race weekend for the NASA Midwest and Great Lakes Region. The event was held at Road America at Elkhart Lake,WI. Whenever you head to this track in October the weather can be totally unpredictable. Suprisingly the weather was beautiful and so was the scenery. All the beatiful colors of the changing leaves made for a great backdrop for pictures. It was an incredibly nice weekend! So much so that it really did not seem like the season should be ending.

This was the first event back on track for the EVO after suffering a broken valve spring at the prior event at Autobahn Country Club. The car ran flawlessly and was mechanically sound once again. Saturday was a double points day since the year end awards banquet was to take place on Saturday night. This meant that there would only be two morning sessions that counted towards points and then two afternoon sessions that counted towards points. With season ending standings on the line it was inportant that we finish as well as possible.

In the warmup session on Saturday we were out on track at 8:00am. Luckily the track was dry and ready to go that early in the day. The first session went well and the car was running good. Road America is definately a horsepower track and it showed. The higher class Corvettes had enough horsepower to run lap times just slightly better than the EVO in TTS trim. In the corners however we could hang with them and in some cases out corner them. This made for some great laps all weekend long.

TTS class had just three cars in it on Saturday. A Lotus Exige, the 145 Evo and a Porsche Trophy Cup Car. After the end of the second competition session we were in second place for the first day's points. Best time ran was 2:32.4 in the second session. Not a great time, but good enough to accomplish what we needed to do for locking in season points.

The third and fourth sessions were the second day worth of points. The 145 Evo was the only car in the class to make runs in the last 2 sessions. The last session of the day a time of 2:31.6 was ran. This was the 7th fastest time out of 35 TT cars that ran in the last 2 sessions. Not too bad considering most of the cars with quicker times were either National Championship podium finishers or cars with 100+ more horsepower.

For Sunday it was more less a just for fun track day. Since there were no points or competition on the line we decided to turn up the boost just a little bit and have fun finishing off the Hoosier A6's we had been running. The added boost helped gain about 3 mph more on the long uphill straight. The EVO hit a top speed of 147 on the front straight! Unfortunately since the tires were wearing out the lap times were not much better, but it was a lot of fun. Kris Von Sydow from VS Motorsports was there in his M3 having fun playing with NASA that weekend. I got to play some chase-follow with him which was extremely fun. Unfortunately for him I had a power advantage, however Chris is an awesome driver and was able to turn nearly identical lap times. He was making up lots of time in the carousel and the "kink". Both of those sections are pure guts when it comes to pushing harder. Hopefully next time back at that track the Evo will be ready to push harder in those areas.

Thanks to my family and friends for a great season finale weekend!!