The beautiful track and facilities at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch is the venue where the Lotus Challenge Series will end it's second season. It's been a season of growth for both the series itself and it's participants. The times are coming down rapidly as drivers continue to dial in their cars and the wheel-to-wheel racing has matured from demo racing into a points-paying championship.
I've been talking with some of the drivers and organizers here at track about the wheel-to-wheel racing and the future of the series which we'll be sharing with you via Sector111 Podcast in the next few weeks.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Nurburgring/Data Acquisition Tech Seminar! Sept. 26
We would like to invite you to a special Tech Seminar @ Sector111 on Saturday, September 26, 2009 @ 11am
This tech seminar will feature OEM ride & handling engineer and proven hot-shoe, Dave Thilenius. Dave has logged over 200 laps of the 14-mile Nurburgring testing performance vehicles for major auto manufactures. He's currently putting his talents to good use as a driver in the Koni Challenge Series as seen on the SPEED Channel.
Dave's Technical Seminar will focus around OEM development on the "Ring" as well as his extensive knowledge of data acquisition. He'll explain how the pros use data acquisition equipment and how those same methods can be used by amateurs to improve their lap times. During a Lotus Challenge Series event at Spring Mt., Dave used some sophisticated data acquisition tools to help Shinoo save significant time off his laps. Dave will share all his data secrets with you!
To RSVP: call 951-296-6762 or e-mail: bill@sector111.com
Tech Seminar Location:
Sector111
41740 Enterprise Circle N. Ste 101
Temecula, CA 92590
This tech seminar will feature OEM ride & handling engineer and proven hot-shoe, Dave Thilenius. Dave has logged over 200 laps of the 14-mile Nurburgring testing performance vehicles for major auto manufactures. He's currently putting his talents to good use as a driver in the Koni Challenge Series as seen on the SPEED Channel.
Dave's Technical Seminar will focus around OEM development on the "Ring" as well as his extensive knowledge of data acquisition. He'll explain how the pros use data acquisition equipment and how those same methods can be used by amateurs to improve their lap times. During a Lotus Challenge Series event at Spring Mt., Dave used some sophisticated data acquisition tools to help Shinoo save significant time off his laps. Dave will share all his data secrets with you!
To RSVP: call 951-296-6762 or e-mail: bill@sector111.com
Tech Seminar Location:
Sector111
41740 Enterprise Circle N. Ste 101
Temecula, CA 92590
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Interview with Jim Navarro
We've posted a podcast of our interview with LCS founder and organizer Jim Navarro. Click here to listen to the podcast: Sector111 Podcasts
This is the first of 3 podcasts that we are publishing from the LCS event at Laguna Seca. We will release one each week so stay tuned.....
Friday, July 17, 2009
Shout Out to Kelley!
I have to give a shout out to Kelley Spieldberg! This last session just ended a few minutes ago and Kelley dominated. She passed at least 6 or 7 cars. She flew by and pulled away from a Porsche 911 along with about 5 other LCS cars. I got a chance to talk with her yesterday and she's really been working on improving her times. Its definitely paid off! Great work Kelley!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
An Amazing Race!
Everyone had a great first day on the track at Laguna Seca today. Jim has done a fantastic job putting together this event. It really could not have gone better. The demo race was at the end of the day and was incredible! The drivers pushed HARD but were all safe and had a great time. The 12 car field separated into their respected classes pretty quickly as the faster cars pulled away. This created about four mini battles throughout the race. It was so much fun watching these battles play out on the track. This series has come a long way. LCS organizer, Jim Navarro, said if you told him a year ago the Lotus Challenge Series would be running wheel-to-wheel at Laguna Seca, he'd laugh. Great work getting it done Jim!
Contrats to Brent for a great race and win. He fought with Kevin, who put up a fight, the entire race.
Mid-day at Laguna Seca
The lap times are starting to drop. Drivers are starting to get more familiar with the track and pick the pace a up quite a bit. We've only had two spins so far. Nothing serious but one cause a black flag to clear gravel off the track.
I talked to Any Kern who has raced and taken classes here before. This is his first time here with his Lotus Exige S and he said he is really starting to feel comfortable. The one difficult portion of the track is turn 6 which is a fast left hander setting you up for a fairly long up-hill straight. Andy says he's loosing time in that turn because he is lifting a little too much and not carrying enough speed up the hill toward the corkscrew. I'll check in with him after his next session to see if he's able to drop any time in this sector.
In the garage right now, some guys are making some minor tweaks like brake pads, suspension settings and so on. The next run starts in about 10 min. This session is where we'll probably really see some times drop.
I talked to Any Kern who has raced and taken classes here before. This is his first time here with his Lotus Exige S and he said he is really starting to feel comfortable. The one difficult portion of the track is turn 6 which is a fast left hander setting you up for a fairly long up-hill straight. Andy says he's loosing time in that turn because he is lifting a little too much and not carrying enough speed up the hill toward the corkscrew. I'll check in with him after his next session to see if he's able to drop any time in this sector.
In the garage right now, some guys are making some minor tweaks like brake pads, suspension settings and so on. The next run starts in about 10 min. This session is where we'll probably really see some times drop.
1st Session Done
WOW. I really cant believe how amazing this track is. The corkscrew is MUCH steeper in person. The first few laps everyone took it a little too hot and a few guys actually slid down it and went off a little. The laps following everyone started to take the turn a little more cautiously.
Nirvana looked great too. Shinoo was very happy with the way the car felt. Remember, he drove it all the up to the track (400 miles). It looked planted, smooth and fast. Shinoo is still getting acquainted with Laguna Seca so his lap times didn't break any records but sub-2 minutes for his first time out is still very good. He's working with an instructor right now to go over a few racing lines on some of the tougher corners (6,8, 9 &10).
In the garages right now, a few of the guys are changing out exhausts to pass the sound limit. Laguna Seca is a surrounded by homes and is one of the few race tracks in the country with a sound dB level limit. Needless to say, some stock exhausts are going on for the next session.
Nirvana looked great too. Shinoo was very happy with the way the car felt. Remember, he drove it all the up to the track (400 miles). It looked planted, smooth and fast. Shinoo is still getting acquainted with Laguna Seca so his lap times didn't break any records but sub-2 minutes for his first time out is still very good. He's working with an instructor right now to go over a few racing lines on some of the tougher corners (6,8, 9 &10).
In the garages right now, a few of the guys are changing out exhausts to pass the sound limit. Laguna Seca is a surrounded by homes and is one of the few race tracks in the country with a sound dB level limit. Needless to say, some stock exhausts are going on for the next session.
The picture uploader is not doing well with the broadband card. So, you can view a full gallery on our Facebook page HERE.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)