LAKEVILLE, Conn.--RSR Motorsports heads to Lime Rock Park this weekend for the fifth round of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, and they are ready to race on a track that was made for MINIs. "Lime Rock's tight track really serves the MINI well because of the car's cornering and maneuverability," says Dicky Riegel, who will co-drive the No. 196 RSR Motorsports MINI Cooper S with Owen Trinkler. "The corners at Lime Rick are fairly demanding, yet they present passing opportunities for the MINIs that other cars may not have." Riegel, who lives just one hour away in Bedford Hills, New York, considers Lime Rock his home track. He will really live the "Lime Rock experience" during the weekend: Riegel and his children will arrive in a 1954 Chevy pick-up towing a restored 1954 Airstream trailer. They will camp in the infield all weekend in vintage style. Riegel's co-driver Trinkler has been busy preparing the new RSR Motorsports shop in Kissimmee, Florida. The team moved into the 8,000-square foot facility last month. "The team is really excited about this opportunity and what (team owner) Randall Smalley has done with the facility," says Trinkler. "I think we're all looking forward to preparing the cars in-house at this new shop." VJ Mirzayan and Sarah Cattaneo have suffered a string of misfortunes at the past two rounds, but they feel the No. 197 RSR Motorsports MINI Cooper S is a contender for the win at Lime Rock. "We've got to take our recent experiences, learn from them, and move on," says Cattaneo. "Lime Rock is probably the best track on the schedule for us. It's all about cornering and the balance of the car, and the MINIs are perfect in those aspects." "Lime Rock isn't a simple track. There is no room for errors there," adds Mirzayan. "I think we're due for an opportunity to showcase what we're really capable of, and hopefully this race will afford that opportunity." BJ Zacharias and Craig Conway will be back in action in the No. 198 RSR Motorsports MINI Cooper S. They missed round four at Virginia International Raceway following a fire at Barber Motorsports Park. "I am looking forward to driving the No. 198 MINI: now that it has the new wiring and Bosch system, it should be more reliable and faster than ever," says Conway, whose Lime Rock credits include a class win. "The RSR team works hard and I think we will win soon." -source: rsr motorsports
Looks like both cars got knocked out for some reason. The 197 car of Cattaneo / Mirzayan came in 28th completing 84 of the 139 laps. The 196 car of Riegel / Smalley / Trinkler was 32nd only completing 28 laps. The 198 car was withdrawn from the race.
When one considers how seemingly poised they were at the end of last year and at Daytona this year to have a great season, it truly is.... Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Imagine the frustration within the team. Must be hard to keep shaking that off and moving on. I've only seen the results posted though, wonder what actually happened.
Same old "throwing belts" story and a crash. Think they have the Bosch ECU now, so they can't blame the ECU anymore... Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Basically been like watching an ongoing train wreck sense Homestead..... Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Lime Rock wrap up Grand-Am Memorial Day 2010 Saturday-0 This picture kind of tells you how our day went . . . 196 . . . Dicky was driving the 196 and spun the SC belt off at turn one with 6th to 3rd shift. The belt drive is the Achilles heel of the R53 and Dicky made the fatal error. We replaced the belt, Owen got in the car, he turned the fastest race lap and the belt came off again. We knew it would not last because the idler pulley was damaged after the 1st incident. 197 You saw the evidence above . . . what else is there to be said ? VJ was rearended and sent into the wall. He could have had a top 5. 198 was withdrawn before practice. We have been scrambling for the last two weeks to get it ready after the fire at Barber. The car was in INDY on the dyno with the Bosch Engineers. There was a problem with the new engine harness that delayed the process for two days . . . therefore, no a show. Now the good news............ The 197 is already fixed and ready for Watkins Glen this weekend. The 196 is also fixed and ready to go. The 198 is now in transit to Watkins and (fingers crossed) should be race ready. Next Saturday . . .
The 198 will debut the Bosch at Watkins Glen this coming weekend. The 196 and 197 are still running the stock ECU until after Mid Ohio. Looking forward to good things. Randy
Why do you think they have been throwing belts since Daytona/Homestead Randy? Weren't throwing them last year were you? Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
I wish I had a simple answer for that . . . I don't. We've thrown three belts this year . . . Sarah at Miami and VIR . . . now Dicky at Lime Rock. In all cases they were due to improper downshifts. The data is on the AIM dash and we can see where the mistakes happened. Why the motors are more sensitive to these mistakes this year is puzzling. It's a work in progress . . . we use the best belt that money can buy and the tensioner's are modified and strengthened. Nothing new here . . . At this point, we need to have better prerace driver instuctions. Some driver's have NEVER thrown a belt . . . ie: Owen, Randy. We need to find out why and pass that knowledge to the others. Randy
Looks like you may get a little coverage in the upcoming AWOL episode. This is just a preview of the second episode, but the MINI appears for a second around 1:20. AWOL | Air & Water on Land | Capturing the essence of auto enthusiasts worldwide