David Dupuis… with his rare and very cool Gemini
Sonoma Details.
There is a lot to cover, so please look this over and if you have any questions, please let us know or bring them to the driver's meeting.
Podium Party - It will be at 5pm, in the John Anderson paddock spot, opposite the garages. Please get there on time, given we have a lot to get through and we will be celebrating along with our brothers and sisters from group 4, so bring all your friends and family. We will be raffling off a very cool prize courtesy of Shippert Racing Services, as well as awarding 5 awards (including the Ivey Engines Crossflow Cup), 5 honorable mentions, and the 9 championship trophies!
More goodies - We also have participation medals for everyone AND a Series T-shirt for every entered driver and several guests and VIPs. Details on how to get your T-Shirts to follow.
The Right Spirit - As usual, remember, we are here to have fun, and to race for each other, not at each other. You are here to make friends and race hard, in that order.
Starts - We have a really nice grid of 35 cars, which includes some very new drivers. So a tight start, form up by turn 9 at the latest. Roll up to the start at the usual 3500 RPM in first gear. Doing this will make for a great looking start and help avoid lots of lapped cars. At the green flag it will be a normal start, but please, please avoid anything more than 2 wide into turn 2.
Fairness and Room - Do not split backmarkers. We have not had any backmarker issues this year, because of this rule.. let's keep it that way. And give each other room. If you are next to a newbie, or someone you don't know, give them lots of extra room.
Qualifying - We are going to self-seed the grid for Saturday morning qualifying. So if you run sub 1:49, grid at the front, 1:50-1:52, grid in the middle, over 1:53, grid a bit further back. This will keep frustration low and clean laps high.
Danger Zones - Passing at the entrance to turns 8, 8A and especially 10, is to be avoided. Fast guys neutralize your race if you have a bunch of slower cars at these turns. Passing exiting 8A is fine, but pick a side please (faster cars to the outside tends to work a bit better)
Visibility - Sit in your car, and note the cones of visibility in your mirrors. If you are not in that cone for the car in front of you, they can't see you. If you are not next to, and by that I mean, abeam the driver, going into a corner, you are unlikely to be seen at the turn-in point. Newer drivers, in particular, can't look in their mirrors and focus on the turn-in point simultaneously. So if you are not clearly next to them, they might not see you when the turn-in point rushes up and they will turn into you. This is particularly true at turn 3A, 4, 7, 8, 10 and 11. If you sense a car next to you or a bit behind you, take a sec at these corners to glance inside. If there is a car there, give them room.
Flags - We did kind of a crap job of this in the Sunday morning race at Monterey. So take time during Friday practice to look for the flag stations. It is VERY easy to miss the flags at the entrance of turn 2 (outside), 3 (left side), 7, and 8 and 10 (opening in the wall, right opposite the apex!). In all those cases the turn is cresting, or the flag station is well to right or left of the turn-in point. Watch the pace lap on this video as see if you can spot all 13 flag stations (it's not easy). See how easy it is to miss the flagging station on the left of turn two or the one just under the bridge, going up the hill to turn 2.
Friday Practice - Will be a mixed open wheel group, with Atlantic, Formula B etc. cars. Just exercise extra caution, please.
Okay, in terms of the nagging, that should cover it. One last note...
Sending a young American to Italy
William Ferguson is one of the fastest young Karting Champs the US has produced. And as is so often the challenge for our athletes on this side of the pond, getting onto the world stage is expensive and beyond their reach financially. So read William's message below and if you can help a bit, click on the go-fund-me link and let's give him a hand.
"Dear Charity Challenge drivers... my name is William Ferguson. Though I am only 15 years old, I have developed a very deep passion for racing. I have been karting for several years now, and thus far I have one national championship, two regional championships and many race wins under my belt. I aspire to one day become a professional racing driver. I started out hauling my first kart around in a homemade trailer behind the family Prius but, in 2017, after a lot of hard work and success, I was signed as a driver under the team SpeedSense Motorsports under team boss Austin Elliott. In April, due in large part to the awesome support of SpeedSense, I secured my first national level championship at Challenge of the Americas. Because of this, I have earned the amazing opportunity to compete in Garda Italy at the Rok Cup Super Final in October. This will be the most intense race of my career thus far and I am proud to be representing Northern California racing internationally. My team and I have strategized a plan to make competing at this level a success. We will be arriving in Milan, Italy October 2nd, and will spend eight full days at the track for practice, fine-tuning our strategy to optimum driving, chassis setup, and engine tuning, etc. We will be pitting with a highly respected international team, WARD Racing, using a proven race-winning chassis brand as well as being supplied a proven race engine that has the capability to run in the front of the pack. The race will be held at Lonato del Garda on Oct 10-12. This solid plan gives me the best chance in winning this race, however the cost as you can imagine is quite high. We have raised some of the money by arranging a fundraiser golf tournament, but to make it across the finish line, I am keenly interested in partnering with racing enthusiasts like me but who have happened to achieve success in business and who wish to give back to this awesome sport.
If you are up for supporting me, you can visit my gofundme page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/ferguson-rok-italy.
Thanks, and best of luck to all you at the Charity Challenge. Go fast and stay safe -William"