Lola T70 @ BIR/SCCA-LoL race over LaborDay

I was walking the pits being all social like at my last event and about tripped when I saw this sitting.  My buddy Shane did a great photo shoot and write-up about the car and it's owner.

 scca-feature-peter-jankoviskis-and-his-lola-t70

LuckyDog Endurance Racing @ Brainerd International Raceway

 Back from a great weekend racing at Brainerd with Lucky Dog Racing.

I'm sure they classed us wrong last year and this year.  A '94 Miata with a '94 Miata engine in the fastest class? How does that happen.  But since we finished 2nd overall both days it was pretty hard to argue...)

So that's the short form: 2nd in class A (and overall) both days.

We ran 17 hours with zero errors.  Not one extra moment in the pits - even when we ran out at pit-in and had to push the car 100 yards.

Day 1 started with lots of rain, and a bit of drama.  I decided to test the splitter integrity by going off one lap 1, turn 3, and scooping up about 15 pounds of mud.  I put in a very solid 2 hours with non-stop rain, and turned the car over to the next driver in 6th over all; who moved us up into 3rd or so.  Last driver went next and ran like clock-work - zero drama and rock steady lap times.  The care owner went in last, 5 laps out of 3rd place, and just looked to bring it home safely.  But with 12 minutes to go, I saw the 2nd place car - 45th Parallel - pull off track with a mechanical.  12 minutes to make 5 laps - should be easy.  Then we saw the getting towed, and realized that if they get pulled over the timing loop I'd need one more lap.  Hammer down he wanted to squeeze in the extra part lap after the 5pm finish.  And it JUST worked.  Never stop pushing.

Day 2, we figured it was going to be tougher.  We needed to make one more stop than the fast BMWs, the Corvette was running strong, and Finndurance was coming for us too.  All we could do was run a fast clean race and hope for the best.

Same order: Aaron did great, but our power deficit meant we were 5th overall, behind 4 other cars in our class.  Gordon next ripped a 1.49 but we were still stuck in 4th.  Eric went 3rd, and handed the car over to me in 3rd place.  I went out 2 laps down on the 2 lead BMWs (Dirty 30 and Gorilla Sticker).  I had a few laps hanging with Gorilla Sticker, and when we hit some traffic, I got past while Glenn got hung up.  I thought he must have stopped for fuel or something, but some laps later I passed him again.  And one more time before the end of my stint.  They had developed a bad miss, and were just trying to finish ahead of us.

We stopped with 40 minutes left having put the car in 2nd, but our fuel stop put us back in 3rd, 2 laps down with 40 minutes to go.  Time for Gordon to put on a show.  He as taking 7-10 seconds a lap out of the BMW, but math said it wasn't quite enough.  With 7 minutes left he was 70 seconds down.  We needed something to happen, and we let Gordon know.  But he had the good sense to keep the leader's car behind him, meaning one more lap after the checker's flew.  

Then the BMW slowed WAY down.  With 1 lap to go, Gordon passed him 50 feet before the finish line to put us in 2nd!  About as close as it could be.

Harvey West Memorial Race with SCCA-LoL @ Brainderd International Raceway 5/28 & 29

 <draft>...more videos and pics to come....

Full gallery from Shane (Digital Displacement), FYI I am in Group 3.

Full gallery from Jerry Winker

Sunday's race from the Garmin

Jungle MotorSports on the Garage Heros In Training Podcast

I was an honored guest of the Garage Heroes - In Training podcast...we spend over an hour discussing dozens of topics surrounding High Performance Driving and amature racing.  Find it on any podcast player of your choosing, by searching for "Garage Heros In Trainging" or the direct link here: https://tinyurl.com/AaronJongbloedt    

If/When their is a next time I will get a real microphone, consintrate on using less "umms and ahhhs", and remember that even though this was a Zoom call, when it gets turned into an audio podcast, one doesn't see body language!  LOL.   

Shoutouts to: Land O' Lakes Region   SCCA-racing.com, Heyward Wagner, Burnt Ends Endurance Racing, NASA Central Region, Dave Royce, Joey Todd, Brainerd International Raceway, BIR Performance Driving School, and Charlie Laing

GHIT 0292: Aaron Jongbloedt

Aaron Jongbloedt from Jungle Motorsports joins us for this episode and we discuss all things racing, even ice boating.  Aaron seems to race in all series and all types of racing, we may even be able to make it to an ice racing event with him post plague.  Since he has such a wide range of experiences, we try to cover many of them as possible to show how each series and club can vary and each offers a different blend of driving and racing flavor.  The best thing you can do to start is try as many as you can and you will undoubtedly find one that matches your interests and maximizes the fun.  Plus an impromptu race car intervention, lol.

volunteering as an avenue to start getting into racing and saving on the amount of money needed.

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/AaronJongbloedt

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that would be greatly appreciated.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would greatly appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights for this episode include:

1)  Why he selected Spec Miata as a primary racing class and why he also includes and enjoys other types of racing. 

2)  Aaron opens up the trap door to a quick summary of our racing cars and HPDE cars.  We need to get a bit more focus.  Time for a garage sale.  We may have a race car (or truck) for you, lol

3)  Vicki is not familiar with the track at Brainerd, but after our discussion it sounds like we will be soon, lol.  Top tip:  Also obey the team CFO.

4)  Some of the plusses and minuses of racing Spec Miata and how it has influenced hos racing approach and philosophy.

5)  Are there significant differences between instructing in autocross and instructing on a race track?  Also a discussion of the potential benefits of autocross before driving on track.  The skills are complimentary but the approach can be quite different in some ways.

6)  Aaron discusses his experience with almost all of the amateur endurance racing series and some of the new ones starting this season.

7)  As expected, we also discuss Spec Miata and Vicki is still intimidated with the concept of bump drafting.  This will likely change with time.  We have a NB Spec Miata car that needs a bit of love to race this season, but we are hopeful.  Bilstein shocks may be in our future.

8)  Why does Aaron seem to prefer arrive and drive (Seat Rentals) for endurance racing events.  Bill has always had concerns and questions that has prevented him from doing many arrive and drives.  We discuss several of them.

9)  Money saving tips and insight into what is required and what is avoidable to be competitive in the series, locally and nationally. 

10)  Somehow we return to the topic of our cars.  It appears we are in the midst of an informal race car intervention.  lol.  (Probably long overdue)

11)  We also have a discussion of the storage required for a racing car and team.  Aaron is curious about the hangar that we use as our teams primary hub.

12)  How volunteering at events can minimize or potentially eliminate the cost of racing.

13)  How our "press" claim was received by a racing series.  (as you would expect)

14)  Just when you thought it was over, we get into a discussion of some of the local midwestern tracks that Aaron suggest we try.  As always, the answer is "yes"

 

To follow Aaron further: 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/aaron.jongbloedt 

His blog:  https://junglemotorsports.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/GarageHeroesIT

Ice racing with IIRA 2/13/22

 IIRA (International Ice Racing Association) was racing in Lindsrtom lake.  I got out late to turn a few laps and socialize.