Lap 2, John Anderson (92) recovers third place, from an early braking Andrew Wait (23), Michael Edick (36), Steeve Hoogs, Jay Streets and Paul Kitchen pressing hard.
Race Number 3 and another epic fun weekend
CSRG had a great turn out for the weekend boosted by the Miata grid that now comes regularly to the Willows events and the Crossflow Cup's 22 cars that all came for round 3 at Thunderhill Raceway Park. We had most of the regular historic grid, and three new club ford competitors, Alan Dezanni, Tom Duncan and Michael Edick joining Club Ford points leader Dan Wise. And for the second time in the series a Formula Ford only grid. Thunderhill provided fast close racing, perfect weather and the low key fun of a club event, and the cheap beer and eats of the various watering holes around Willows. We also had a new anonymous Champagne sponsor, you know who you are.. thanks!!
The Champagne soaked Podium
The Race
About half the field tested on Friday and one could see throughout the weekend the guys with the extra practice under their belts surge forward a bit. Thunderhill is fast and flowing and there are two corners that separate people who go well there, Turn 9, and turn 15. Get through the former really fast with minimal braking and exit the latter onto the long main straight and you will generate a quick lap.
Saturday morning Qualifying was again held in cool temperatures with most of the grid running about a second a lap below their best pace. And once again, the field divided up into 3 distinct races, each group shaded by a second or less. The overall pole was set by Tom Duncan, followed by Nic Colyvas, Tom Kreger, Martin Lauber, John Anderson and Andrew Wait. Hot on their heels was Michael Edick, trying hard to adjust to the vintage treaded tires, Steve Hoogs and Roger Pujol who fought a car that felt just a bit odd all weekend, Ed Lauber and Paul Kitchen, who continues to make progress up the grid. The tightest group in the field, covered by less than a second was led by Jay Streets, Dave Alvarado, Jim Cody and Alan Dezzani (also figuring out the Avons) Jonathan Kitchen, Greg Vroman adjusting to a Formula Ford and Dan Wise whose engine was making some ominous sounds. The next battle was set between Geir Ramleth, returning to Thill after a long absence in his beautiful Lotus, Jack Wilson, Dan Wardman, and George Jewett, all covered by just a few tenths.
Just inches separated Jim Cody, Dave Alvarado, Jonathan Kitchen, and Alan Dezzani
Track temperatures were ideal for the afternoon points race, and Tom Duncan and NIc Colyvas led the field out for a tight, picture perfect first gear start. By turn one Martin Lauber, Andrew Wait and Roger Pujol gained several spots with Martin exiting turn 6 in the lead, Andrew in 4th place and Roger pushing past Steve Hoogs. By lap two the midfield fight formed up with Alan Dezzani, Paul Kitchen, Dave Alvarado, Jay Streets and Jim Cody running a pitched battle that did not organize fully until the end. Then entering turn 14 on lap 3, Andrew Wait inexplicably braked early, letting John Anderson and Steve Hoogs by, setting up a chase that did not settle out until the last lap and included the sportsman of the weekend, Michael Edick. By lap 5 everyone’s rhythm was established and some big improvements were being posted. Greg Vroman knocked 3 seconds off his qualy lap, so did Jack Wilson, Geir Ramleth, and Jonathan Kitchen... and Dan Wardman a full 5 seconds off his qualy laps! With just a few laps to go, the battle at the front, with Colyvas, Duncan and Lauber trading 2 minute laps changed dramatically as points leader Colyvas spun off turn nine and then moments later Club Ford points leader Dan Wise parked on the outside of turn 13.
Michael Edick running on treaded tires for the first time, pressures Andrew Wait and Steve Hoogs and a surging Paul Kitchen looks for a way past
Martin Lauber took the checkered first, followed by Tom Duncan 5 second later and then Tom Kreger, John Anderson and Andrew Wait. Steve Hoogs, Nic Colyvas and Michael Edick came next. The intense midfield battlers crossed next led by Roger Pujol, Ed Lauber, Alan Dezzani. Paul Kitchen and David Alvarado crossed almost side by side, followed by Jay Streets, Jim Cody again setting personal best times, and Greg Vroman, Jonathan Kitchen, Geir Ramleth Dan Wardman, George Jewett and Jack Wilson in the final group.
Jim Cody (right) and his pit crew, Eric Sidebotham, Kurt Joerger and crew chief Max Sidebotham (lower center)
The back stories that stood out.
Michael Edick not only raced as sportsmanlike a race as ever, but also found time to weld Geir Ramleth’s oil can back together so he could run the CSRG feature on Sunday afternoon. Michael is a skilled fabricator and produced a lab quality fix, while welding out in a windy paddock.
Greg Vroman came out in his exquisitely beautiful Lotus, trading in his Formula B car, for the crowded hand to hand combat for the Fords. He had a great time and looked faster and faster as the weekend progressed.
The line of the weekend, was Tom Duncan's... as he was handed his bottle of Champagne, he cried out "I've never done this before, what do I do!?"... he was soon thereafter utterly ambushed by his podium mates. The advice as always, when faced with a podium full of champagne, the best defense is a good offense!
The mechanical heart-ache of the weekend was Dan Wise. His motor went from sounding and feeling odd, to producing a death rattle somewhere in the crank area that brought his weekend to an end. Dan recovered nicely with the help of some Champagne and his usual optimistic grit. We will see Dan out again very soon.
Roger Pujol won the hard charger award, having lost several places and then gained 11 places back, with a car that felt odd. Roger will be spending some time in his shop diagnosing things before the next race.
Happy Lauber brothers and Race Director Geoff Pitts
Driving Observations
The main theme of the weekend was the interaction between the front of the pack, with everyone else. Some key things to keep in mind.
1. If you come up on 5 guys racing for position, keep in mind their race is incredibly important to them as well, and it is very challenging to pass a group of 4-5 cars who are racing each other. Only the guy at the back of that group is aware of you. Further discussion is required here, including possibly neutralizing the front of the field.
2. There was no contact during the points race, but there was the next day, Moving forward you will be DQ’d from the points event for any contact at any point in the weekend.
Dan Wise enjoying Michael's upgraded sponsor champagne
The Thank Yous... without sponsors this would NOT be possible, so let's please support them!
We have a new wine sponsor, www.sonomaviewvineyard.com . This is the Kitchen Family winery, and the wine is superb, lots of it was consumed Saturday night. They only make 50 cases a year and the only way to buy it is to email info@sonomaviewvineyard.com
Auction City www.auctioncity.com and www.19york.com and Car Week Concierge for the beer
rogerkrausracing.com for tires and support, and the end of season Trophies
www.iveyengines.com for race-day support and the end of season grand prize
HJC-motorsports.com for their Champion Grand Prize
www.nicolashunziker.com for the really cool shoes... discount code for the racers: NORWESTFF will give everyone 15% of all purchases (ps. several of us have a pair and love them)
www.parrlawgroup.com for the “Scales of Justice” and legal support
Joerger Financial, www.joergerfinancial.com for graphics, decals and patches
Mike Summers, John Anderson, Eric Sidebotham, Kurt Joerger and Jim Cody for operations and moral support.
Other updates and Things to know for the next race
The next race is at Portland September 2-3 where we are guests of SOVREN. There will be a test day on Friday September 1. And we will be following up with a lot more detail on how to prepare for that race, where to stay and so on. This will be huge fun with over 35 cars expected.
If you did not get series decals or patches let us know we have both the small and larger sizes for trailers and street cars.
We also have a Cafepress store up if you want to buy FF Anniversary schwag, http://www.cafepress.com/formulaford50th
Thanks, and we will see you Portland!
The Crossflow Cup Team
Geir Ramleth's Lotus 51
Race Number 2 goes into the History Books
The weather, the size and depth of the grid, the great racing and the free beer all made for another epic weekend. 29 cars entered, including 4 guys running their cars for the very first time, at least one running his first ever formula ford race. It was also our first split start with the Formula B cars, and for about 5 drivers their first time at Sonoma. This is a tricky, technical track and in spite of all the "firsts" we had an exceptionally clean weekend with a lot of hard, heads up driving, up and down the grid and several drivers setting personal bests or huge improvements. We shared the track and podium party with the Formula B Continental Challenge drivers and rightly earned the praise of the B drivers, probably for the first time!
29 cars, drivers and crew
The Race
For most of the grid, Laguna had knocked off the cobwebs, and for those that did not make Laguna there was Friday testing to get comfortable with Sonoma' Raceway. There was some lead-follow coaching on Friday and some chalk-talks to help out, but for the most part, everyone woke up Saturday ready to go.
Qualifying was held in cool temperatures, a mixed grid and less than perfect grip. As usual Ethan Shippert did not disappoint, producing more of his usual pro-level speed and setting the overall pole and the Club Ford Pole time. The Historic Ford pole was set by Martin Lauber, just .7 seconds shy of Ethan, and followed by Art Hebert running his newly acquired Titan, Nic Colyvas, Andrew Wait, Tom Kreger and David Cooper all in the 1:50's or better. The next group headed by Mike Wirrick were all covered by less than a second, included Sonoma newbie Nic Hunziker, and veterans Rob Laroque, Steve Hoogs, Ed Lauber and Roger Pujol. And then a third group also all covered by less than a second included Paul Kitchen, Dave Alvarado and Mark Colbert, the latter two in their newly acquired Titans. Qualifying also saw Michael McDermott set a new personal best since his comeback to racing. A fourth group headed by Dan Wise, had four cars in it, all covered by less than .4 seconds, so Matt Ammer, Jonathan Kitchen and Jim Cody all set for what looked like the tightest race in the field.
Qualifying set up 4 distinct races within a race, and as driver observer Kurt Joerger up on turn two noted, there were amazing battles up and down the grid.
The Fords were released a little late for the split start which meant a slightly more strung out field than ideal took the green flag; but we still saw some great racing up the hill with several sets of cars three wide, struggling for grip in the marbles outside of turn 2 and taking wide outside lines at four. By the time the field rounded turn 11 and started lap 2, Dave Alvarado, Geir Ramleth, Jim Cody, Mark Colbert, Bob Hancock, Dan Wise and Jonathan Kitchen were clearly on the move, all of them finishing with 5 place improvements over their starting spots. Mark Colbert earned the RaceHero hard charger badge. Further up the field Ed Lauber and Steve Hoogs dueled hard and Mike Wirrick, Rob Laroque, Mark Colbert and Roger Pujol ran nose to tail, with Rob and Mike lead-changing a few times until Mike finally passed him to finish .01 seconds ahead at the finish. Mitch Roth and Paul Kitchen ran nose to tail the whole race and crossed almost side by side.
12 laps later crossing the line with the overall and Club Ford win was Ethan Shippert, followed by Historic Ford winner Martin Lauber, then Nic Colyvas, Tom Kreger, Andrew Wait and hyper focused and steadily gaining David Cooper; all covered by less than two seconds. The field came in three tight racing groups with the tightest being Ed Lauber, Mitch Roth and Jack Wilson, all fighting hard and crossing the line less than three seconds apart, the later two within less than a tenth of a second of each other. Also running together at the end of a huge dice were Jim Cody, Jonathan Kitchen, Geir Ramleth and Matt Ammer
The CF, FF and FB podium, totally soaked in Champagne, with Rebecca standing in for baby-holding Ethan
Once again there are way too many back-stories to outline here, but below are just a few.
The benefits of showing up are huge, and no one is doing better than Dan Wise who now leads the Club Ford standings by getting in the game. Jim Cody's best lap was a full 6 seconds a lap faster than his best lap at the 2016 Charity Challenge; a huge improvement and testament to hard work on fitness and driving over the off-season. After a lot of winter testing and preparation, George Jewett finished his first ever formula ford race in style, and came out of the weekend with a huge smile and some great racing under his belt. Geir Ramleth shook down his exquisite, newly restored Lotus 51, which everyone needs to come and see.
The mechanical heart-ache of the weekend was Ross Lindell, in his beautifully restored Merlyn, that fogged oil into the cockpit, gently enveloping its driver in an oily mist. Some help by the Ivey family reduced the problem somewhat so Ross could have a full weekend of racing.
Sadly we also bid farewell to Bob Hancock, Matt Ammer and Mike Wirrick who continue their Grand Tour of the country's great racetracks by heading east to Indy, Elkhart Lake, VIR and more. It was great racing with you guys and we hope to see you back here.
Fantastic Grid
Driving Observations
It was a very clean weekend, but not a perfect one. We had two incidents, one light contact between two cars that left one with body damage, and the other due to an aggressive B car pass that left the Ford Driver with diminished options, but thankfully minimal damage. We also had one pass under the yellow right under the starter's stand that required a re-score. Again, we are becoming a very high-profile group, and our big grids amplify some challenges that always exist in racing. So a few of important reminders.
1. Check your mirrors on the straights and if you see cars approaching fast, you can gently move a bit to give them room or hold your line... but don't make large moves that might compromise your safety. It is their responsibility to pass you safely, yours to only be courteous and predictable.
2. Every track has places where passing is tempting but not always possible safely. Identify those places and manage them carefully... especially under very hard braking. If in doubt, wait to make the safe pass.
3. Flags. Remember there is no passing after a yellow flag until the next flagger station. If there is no yellow there, continue racing.
All possible thanks to your generous sponsors!
The Thank Yous... without sponsors this would NOT be possible, so let's please support them!
We have a new wine sponsor, www.sonomaviewvineyard.com . This is the Kitchen Family winery, and the wine is superb. They only make 50 cases a year and the only way to buy it is to email info@sonomaviewvineyard.com
Auction City www.auctioncity.com and www.19york.com and Car Week Concierge for the beer
rogerkrausracing.com for tires and support, and the end of season Trophies
www.iveyengines.com for race-day support and the end of season grand prize
HJC-motorsports.com
www.nicolashunziker.com for the really cool shoes... discount code for the racers: NORWESTFF will give everyone 15% of all purchases
www.parrlawgroup.com for the “Scales of Justice” and legal support
www.infinitykarting.com for the raffle prize
Joerger Financial for graphics, decals and patches
Mike Wirrick for the Podium Champagne https://mikesracing.com/
Mike Summers, John Anderson, Eric Sidebotham, Kurt Joerger and Jim Cody for operations and moral support.
Other updates and Things to know for the next race
The next race is the Thunderhill event April 28-30 and early registration is still available. Thunderhill is a really fun, challenging track, but with wide open run-off areas and some classic corners.
Some of you did not come to the podium celebration, please do attend, we have the beer budget with you in mind, and to add an extra incentive, you will need to be present to win any prizes. It is more fun, and safer to race guys you know so come to the party.
The Sonoma group photos are available at https://historicmotorprints.com/collections/2017-david-love-memorial we are still working on getting the Laguna Group photos up as well.
If you did not get series decals or patches let us know we have both the small and larger sizes for trailers and street cars.
We also have a Cafepress store up if you want to buy FF Anniversary schwag, http://www.cafepress.com/formulaford50th
Thanks, and we will see you all at Thunderhill!
The Crossflow Cup Team
See you next time
Historic Ford and Club Ford Standings
The Wow!
The drivers that attended the opener at iconic Laguna Seca Raceway, had a ton of fun and set a really positive the tone for the series. There was great racing up and down the grid, new friendships were made, and we truly celebrated these historically relevant racecars. If we keep this up, those of you that plan to run future races are in for a treat. The weather was great and we had VIP treatment from HMSA (including a group photo taken at the top of the corkscrew, and big shiny trophies for the overall podium finisher).
Dan Cowdrey lines up for the Saturday race
The Racing
The first race of the season always seems to have an added element of tension, and this was no exception. The winter cobwebs for most and a new track for some, meant the first session needed to be clean, provide a good learning experience and good warm up. Things got off to a rocky start, with a black flag all on the first lap caused by Kurt Joerger's brand new engine throwing a rod through its block. But after a pause in the pits, we went back out and qualified 26 cars without further incident. Dan Cowdrey set the pole-winning time, followed by Nic Colyvas, Eric Sidebotham, Tom Kruger, John Anderson, and David Cooper all breaking the 1:45 barrier.
The race started with an unfortunate mechanical, on the start Eric Sidebotham's engine also failed, but everyone successfully got by. There were great battles up and down the grid and everyone got a race. 11 laps later Nic Colyvas finished first, having escaped his pursuers in traffic and crossing the line with a 12 second lead, followed home by Dan Cowdrey, Tom Kruger, and John Anderson, all covered by less than a second. David Cooper fought back from a busy start for 5th overall, followed by Norm Cowdrey the day's Club Ford winner. Right behind Norm, Adom Moutafian, Nic Hunziker, Ed Lauber had a massive dice, watched closely by Andrew Wait... all four cars crossed the finish line within a second of each other. Steve Hoogs, Mike Wirrick, Paul Kitchen Dan Wise (second in Club Ford) and Jason Zide were the next batch to cross the line. Mike, in particular, got a monster start gaining and keeping 4 places on this qualifying spot. Jim Cody showing his strongest form to-date, led home Jay Streets, Matt Ammer, Jonathan Kitchen and David Buchanan and the tail gunners with Dan Wardman and Bob Hancock brought the first edition of the Crossflow cup over the line in style.
In the end, the final historic ford podium promoted John Anderson into third, as in the rush to change gears, Tom Kruger did not fuel up completely and came in a few pounds underweight (his car quit as it rolled up to the scales!).
There were stand-out stories and drives all up and down the grid, and to call them all out would make this too big an update, but to call out a few.
David Buchanan got his first ever open wheel experience in Martin Lauber's car. He had so much fun, anyone with a nice car for sale should contact him. There were two father and son teams. Norm and Dan Cowdrey both podiumed in their classes. And Paul and Jonathan Kitchen were out for the first time in their Lotus 61's after a very long, arduous restoration process. Its one thing to race, but another to be so visibly having so much father-son fun. Jason Zide had two big firsts; he was out in his car for the very first time, and at Laguna for the first time and scored creditable lap times and the confidence of the more experienced guys around him with his smooth driving. It's also nice to see the younger generation represented so well by Jason, Dan and Paul, lets draw in more young people! Mark Ammer and Bob Hancock are out on their grand tour together with Mark's super rare Koing-Heath F1, and one of the best organized two car trailers ever. And it was also great to see John Anderson back in his car after almost two years away from the cockpit. In typical fashion, Kurt set aside the exploded engine blues, and he and Roland pitched in to help Mike Wirrick align his car and Nic Hunziker broke a record... he posted a well-edited video of his race about 4 minutes after getting out of his car!
Norm and Dan, the Club Ford Podium!
Driving observations
Driving standards on Saturday looked good, with guys running very very close but heads up and respectfully; and we pulled off the reverse grid blend and race procedure on Sunday perfectly. However on Sunday during the non-points exhibition race things got a little tougher with two minor incidents. They were minor but nonetheless, two incidents too many. Keep in mind the other clubs we run with are far less tolerant of over the top behavior, and for us to have real longevity, we need to prove to all of them, that we are keeping the competitive elements in perspective.
Our driver/observers and the course marshals had a few comments.
1. There was a bit too much blocking and ignoring blue flags especially in the practice sessions. If you are in a practice session and there is a car in your mirrors, let him pass. He is faster than you. If you defend, you will mess up your session and his. Instead, let him by and try following him to see what line he drives, when he brakes, et cetera. In the races, defending is permitted, but blocking is not. You get one move, not as many as required to keep a guy behind you. And remember, this is vintage racing for a $2 trophy. So if a guy is behind you pressuring you for two laps, he is clearly faster. So let him by, and then get in his draft and together you can get into the fight further up the road. If he is not faster then you can repass him. But blocking is frustrating and not in the spirit of what we do.
2. There were too many locked wheels banzai passes. Again, remember this is vintage racing in 50-year-old open wheel cars. Banzai passes are not safe for anyone. Laguna is wide, and the walls, for the most part, are fairly far away. But as we go to more technical tracks like Sonoma and Portland, with harder edges, the margin for error will go away. Plan your passes, and try to execute them on the exits of turns, which is safer and more fun!
3. When we combine fast locals, with guys new to the track, let's give each other more room and avoid passes on the tricky stuff, like the corkscrew. A very close pass freaks out the guy trying to find his way around.
4. Know the flags, and know what not to do when a flag was shown. During Saturday’s practice session, the course went from full course yellow on the parade lap to waving black. A solo waiving black flag does not warrant threshold breaking on the front straight. A black flag combined with a yellow is an indication that you are approaching the incident. A waiving black flag just means that you need to head back into the pits.
The Thank Yous... without support this would NOT be possible
Auction City www.auctioncity.com and www.19york.com for the beer
rogerkrausracing.com for tires and support
www.iveyengines.com for race-day support
HJC-motorsports.com
www.nicolashunziker.com for the really cool shoes... discount code for the racers: NORWESTFF will give everyone 15% of all purchases
www.parrlawgroup.com for the scales and legal support
Mike Wirrick for the Podium Champagne
Mike Summers, John Anderson, Eric Sidebotham, Kurt Joerger and Jim Cody for operations and moral support.
Things to know for the next race
Early registration is still available for the next few days, so sign up soon. There are 26 cars registered so far, we expect 3-4 more.
Many of you are coming to Sonoma for the first time. It is technical, a bit unforgiving and huge fun. So if you test on Friday, there will be local drivers available to do lead follow with you and we will have chalk-talks and coaching for anyone that needs it. We will have driver observers there to help you find speed and enjoyment at Sonoma. As a special run group, anyone not in a garage should try to pit in the lane opposite the garages so we are all grouped together.
Some of you did not come to the podium celebration, please do attend, we have the beer budget with you in mind, and to add an extra incentive, you will need to be present to win any prizes. It is more fun, and safer to race guys you know so come to the party.
If you did not get series decals or patches, there will be more available at Sonoma.
Results and more news will be posted on www.norwestff.com and the facebook page within the next few days.
Thanks, and we will see you all and more at Sonoma.
The Crossflow Cup Team
Fellow racer Mike Wirrick, will be documenting his adventures racing in the midwest and east at tracks like Elkhart Lake, Mid-Ohio and Indy. Track his progress at https://mikesracing.com/
Our friends down in Southern California are kicking things off in two weeks at Willow Springs. Check out https://www.vararacing.com/
Nick Colyvas is one of the fastest guys in the CSRG Ford Group, with 15 years of historic racing experience in pretty much every open wheel Class. This video show you the fast line... watch and learn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLGy06ZFpDg&t=503s
Jeff Rogers is super quick at Portland and drives a really nice line... check his video out.
We have a big season of racing coming up, and here are a couple of ideas to help you prepare.
If you have not been to one of the tracks, like Laguna or Portland, one great way to learn the various secrets is simulator training. Many of us have gone to see Tom Pabst at PRS Driver Development.
Another great option is Karting. If you don't own a Kart, call Infinity Karting, they will rent you a true racing kart, and provide you with support and coaching at the Sonoma Kart track.
And finally, get out for some test days, here in Northern California, many of us gather at Sonoma raceway for test days. They are a great seat-time value, see the Sonoma Raceway testing schedule and the Thunderhill Testing Schedule.
