United Sports Car Championship (USCC)

CHKMINI · Oct 7, 2014

minirab said: ↑

I miss going to MO.
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I remember a guy that drove a black MINI from Maryland that we would see at Mid-Ohio....oh yeah, that was you!

Steve · Oct 7, 2014

2014 Petit Le Mans broadcast, in three parts:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EJC_r9vjFo"]2014 Petit Le Mans Broadcast - Part 1 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILFpxRE4LkQ"]2014 Petit Le Mans Broadcast - Part 2 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwzmioPvUTU"]2014 Petit Le Mans Broadcast - Part 3 - YouTube[/ame]

minirab · Oct 8, 2014

CHKMINI said: ↑

I remember a guy that drove a black MINI from Maryland that we would see at Mid-Ohio....oh yeah, that was you!
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If you sell Dark Helmet what the hell I'm I supposed to do?!!!

CHKMINI · Oct 8, 2014

Sell yours and buy a GP1

Steve · Oct 8, 2014

IMSA: Risi team still fuming after Petit Le Mans crash, series responds (racer.com)

Marshall Pruett | Tuesday, 07 October 2014

Temperatures within the Risi Competizione camp have only just begun to cool since the team was crashed out of the lead while leading Saturday's season finale at Road Atlanta.

The team's frustrating exit just three hours into the 10-hour event was one of many low points in a caution-filled and crash-marred 17th anniversary for Petit Le Mans, and in the wake of a non-call by IMSA on the competitor who authored the No. 62 GTLM Ferrari's demise, the team's anger has yet to subside.

Prior to closing the year at Petit Le Mans, Risi opened its 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship account with a destroyed Ferrari F458 chassis at Round 1 in Daytona, suffered another heavy crash with its replacement at Round 2 in Sebring, and with the chance of a positive end to a trying year in sight, the Risi outfit was forced to retire last weekend when driver Pierre Kaffer was pummeled from behind by Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet.

Pilet, who had just strapped in and was shown on camera looking down at his seat belts while driving down pit lane, eventually looked up and was clearly surprised to find Kaffer parked and obeying the red light that held cars at pit exit. With no time or space to avoid a crash, the Frenchman struck Kaffer's car in the right rear, and Pilet was then hit from behind by Corvette's Jan Magnussen. The net effect left Risi's Prancing Horse sitting with its hind quarters damaged beyond immediate repair.

The Porsche and Corvette would continue after their respective crews made repairs. Unfortunately, the innocent party in the melee was dealt the most severe blow, and if the race-ending damage wasn't enough to cause team owner Giuseppe Risi's blood to boil, the inaction by IMSA in regard to Pilet's negligence pushed the respected team owner over the edge.

A strongly-worded release was issued by Risi during the event, making his disappointment over the incident and officiating abundantly clear.

"We've had no response to our request to Race Control for review or action although, in the past, any misdeeds by our team or drivers have been punished severely and immediately," said Risi (LEFT). "This leads me to question whether the series even cares if there is a full-season GTLM Ferrari in the race or not, and it must also color my opinion going forward as to whether I want to continue in this championship or not."

With a few days to bring to situation from a boil to a simmer, team manager Dave Sims says the ALMS championship-winning team is still fuming and struggles to understand how the crash resulted in a non-call.

"We just had a horrendous race getting taken out in the pits getting hit from behind," Sims told RACER. "It wasn't reviewed, and when I couldn't get a response, I walked all the way over to the tower and was refused access to Race Control because I didn't have a media pass! I went and asked the red light man, who said it was on and our car stopped properly. No apology from [IMSA]. We came in, beat everyone else on our pit stop, and came out No. 1. It drives you mad to see what happen take place, and then for the driver who caused the whole thing to get off without as much as a slap on the wrist is a whole other level of injustice piled on top of it."
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Full story here.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYfDEfw_FRg"]No. 911 Porsche, No. 62 Ferrari, No. 3 Corvette Wreck on Pit Road - Petit Le Mans 2014 - YouTube[/ame]

minirab · Oct 8, 2014

CHKMINI said: ↑

Sell yours and buy a GP1
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Should have kept my 06 R53 instead of trading it in, that way I could have

two (and both black!).

minimark · Oct 12, 2014

IMSA: Petit Le Mans posts big rating on FOX

Steve · Oct 29, 2014

Why are GTD teams choosing Pirelli World Challenge? (racer.com)

Marshall Pruett | Wednesday, 29 October 2014

If you read the headlines last week, there's every reason to believe the TUDOR Championship is in the early stages of a mass exodus with its GT Daytona class.

To quickly recap, the first big shot came from GTD champions Turner Motorsport who were crowned on Oct. 3, and by Oct. 20, announced they were packing their bags and ditching IMSA in favor of the Pirelli World Challenge series. NGT Motorsport followed Turner's news, confirming their switch from GTD to PWC later the same day, and Flying Lizard Motorsport is close to joining them.

If all three are confirmed, four cars will be lost from the GTD grid, and provided their expanded PWC plans come to pass, those three teams could turn around and add between seven and eight cars to PWC's GT class alone. NGT also has designs on entering PWC's new Porsche Cup class with a few cars, bringing the potential PWC gain to 10 cars.

And they aren't alone. There are other GTD owners who weren't ready to speak publically, but have told me they are strongly considering some level of PWC participation in 2015. In fact, it took quite a few calls to find a few GTD owners who aren't interested in PWC.

Based on a series of conversations I've had with GTD team owners over the last 10 days, everything from leaving IMSA altogether to race in PWC, to running a full-season of PWC interspersed with IMSA's crown jewel events at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Petit Le Mans have been mentioned as possibilities.

With the GTD class accounting for almost 40 percent of IMSA's TUDOR Championship entries, there's a genuine reason for the series to be concerned about losing more cars and teams to PWC. And is the grass truly greener over in PWC? I started by asking members of the GTD paddock to list the main reasons PWC has become the go-to series for disenfranchised owners and drivers, and a few themes quickly emerged.

"I'm pretty sure the unanimous factor in teams looking at the Pirelli World Challenge is budget, pure and simple," said Magnus Racing owner John Potter. "Sprint racing is cheaper. If you add up the combined run-time of all races on the 2015 PWC schedule, you won't even match TUDOR's season-opening Rolex 24... let alone the other nine races. Between that and lack of pit stops, you're not spending anywhere close to the same on tires, consumables, car wear, and without pit stops you can get away with less crew and pit equipment.

"The budgets for GTD in 2014 went beyond everyone's expectations, so it should be no surprise that the customer-driven teams would gravitate towards a series that can run similar cars for significantly less. One key thing to note on this, however, is the teams who have either announced or are seriously evaluating PWC participation, are primarily customer-driven teams."

NGT Motorsport owner Ramez Wahab added a few budget numbers to the GTD-vs.-PWC equation.

"To do the full GTD season, to do it right, you're talking $2 million," he said, referring to a single-car program. "That's a lot of money, and some guys out there spent more. We work with a lot of [Porsche] GT3 Cup drivers, and when they're spending $350,000 for a season, it's a big jump to $2 million. You have a hard time finding those guys who want to spend that kind of money overnight. How many clients can you convince to do that?

"These guys made themselves successful in business, and they are smart; they aren't going to throw money away. Even if I quote them $1.7 million, or $1.5 million, it's very hard to sell [GTD] to my customers now."

Eric Ingraham runs the Flying Lizard team, and with a move to PWC looking like a probability, he's spent a lot of time running the numbers to quantify the costs differences their customers would face.

"With World Challenge, I think you're looking at a worst-case [budget reduction] of 30 to 50 percent for one car compared to GTD," he said. "The good news with World Challenge is you get to go racing 19 times (with double-headers) for a fraction of the money. The good thing with TUDOR is with that budget, you'll do more racing by the end of January than you will all year in World Challenge. Depending on which budget model fits your needs, you know what you'll be getting in return."

Combining the big ALMS and Grand-Am endurance races gave TUDOR Championship competitors an amazing schedule of events, but it also caused a significant budget increase. As the GTD-to-PWC migrations continue, IMSA's dream calendar could end up being the root cause behind many of those moves.
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That's a snip, full article here.

CHKMINI · Oct 30, 2014

Everyone saw this coming before the season started.

mrntd · Oct 30, 2014

PWC is my favorite series.

ScottinBend · Oct 30, 2014

......if they had any kind of decent TV coverage there would be many more cars.

Crashton · Oct 30, 2014

Maybe with more cars & larger fields they may get a better TV package. It's a very good show for those at the track watching the action.

Steve · Nov 15, 2014

An interesting and, IMO, very cool update from Memo Gidley. I had no idea how bad his injuries were! Looks like he's well over the hump now and it's cool to read about his seemingly excellent mental state and attitude.

Two More Surgeries, All Going in the Right Direction, Throttle Down! (memogidley.com)

Memo Gidley | November 15, 2014

Hi Everybody,

Thanks again for all your support and interest in my recovery. It has been quite a journey, but like I believe and say, it definitely could have been worse. I do want all my friends and fans to know that the healing and recovery is definitely going in the right direction and their interest and support really helps me to recover. I have, at least up to a couple of days ago, been making progress on all fronts.

My slight detour, three days ago, I went in for knee surgery to smooth out the inside of my right fractured knee cap and remove left leg hardware. I previously could not kneel down without pain in both knees. So now, I am back in a bit of recovery mode. Two days ago, I spent all day in bed and it brought back bad memories of my early post-accident months. But, the knees are recovering and they feel much better today. I can walk around slowly and plan to get outside for some fresh air and sun today.

It seems crazy to me (and anybody that I tell) that I have a broken bone tally of something like fourteen broken bones. And now after this weekâ€™s two more surgeries, five different surgeries from my Daytona accident alone. And still one more surgery planned in the near future that needs to be done on my left elbow (it has some issues).

On the good side, I did recently have a doctorâ€™s appointment where they took an eight month spine x-ray. It was great to hear from my doctor that my fusion looked secure and had not moved. He said he assumed that the bone growth was also good, but as he explained, bone growth on a spine does not really show up on an x-ray until at about the one year point from the accident. It has something to do with when the calcium travels into the bone which then makes the bone visible on an x-ray. And more good news, because of the nice x-ray, all of my physical therapy (PT) restrictions on my back and core area were removed! I asked my doctors if that means I can jump on my jet ski tomorrow or do sit ups right now!â€¦he said to me with his eyes a little crossed â€œjust work up to things SLOWLYâ€. â€œYes, ok, I get itâ€, I said. They also said it would take a few more months (at the one year mark) to get their support of me getting back into a racecar.

So, my workouts programs have gotten more advancedâ€¦and longer! Between 4-6 hours a day in my gym with different power programs, depending on the muscles I am working, for different days. Also included in the gym every time, cardio, stretching and my favorite, swimming laps. Itâ€™s been good.

I also am doing my personal list of projects, which, because of the physical effort required by most, I do consider them physical therapy. Everything from making visits to local races to help and see my friends, taking my RV camping with my family, working on the house, washing my sailboat, managing my affairs, all normal life stuff. But, it sure feels great to be able to get more and more personal things done on a daily basis.

Most all of this whole experience that I have dealt with since the accident has been something I wished had never happened to meâ€¦it was horrible at times. I do hope what happened to me helps people, especially drivers and racing officials, learn from the experience, and it never happens again. As bad as this experience was, I have also learned a few things and I am thankful for this.

One, I now know what it is like to be 95 years old and what older people deal with. I went there overnight because of the accident, and then lived there for monthsâ€¦with very slow progressions heading towards my real age (I am not there yet). Whether it is feeling physical pain, not being able to do much on your own, being tired often and sleeping a lot, not being able to go to the bathroom, going to the bathroom when you donâ€™t want to, having to be showered and dressed by others , being lonely, being embarrassed, feeling helplessâ€¦I was there. I have always had respect for older people because of how I was raised. But now I have even more and I have a better idea what they are dealing with. Itâ€™s part of life to get older, but I just experienced it overnight which was shocking. I want to do what I can to make older people feel good, have fun, and enjoy what life is left for them.

I am not healed yet, but I started out spending so much time dealing with debilitating injuries. I was in numerous physical therapy programs working with other people like me, some better and some unfortunately were worse. I have been at numerous hospitals, worked with dozens of all types of doctors, lived (at a certain time literally) in rehabilitation centers, gone to gyms and swam in rehabilitation pools. In these environments, I have met and talked with so many people also dealing with injuries and painâ€¦some of them were healing like me but some of them it's just part of their lives and they had to deal with itâ€¦daily. I have so much respect for injured people and people that deal with pain daily. Actually, thinking of some of these people brings tears to my eyes. I have such an understanding of what they are going through. And because of this, I presently and plan to for the rest of my life, try to give them some enjoyment from me, if even the smallest thing like a smile.

I am not 100% healed yet. I still deal with pain and do not like to sit for long durations (ironic since sitting is part of my job). Still probably from nerve damage but it does seem to be getting less as whatever (even the doctors donâ€™t know) is healing. I did drive to see my daughters cross country finals recently and was in the seat for close to two hours! Yes, I am getting close to a Daytona three hour stint! The Docs say sitting without pain will take the longest to heal. My pain walking around is much less so now I can be on my feet all day. Pain lying down or sleeping is pretty much gone, YES!!!! It feels so good to be pain free that when I wake up in the morning, I like to lie in bed and dream that this is how my day will be soon.

Also physically, I am definitely getting strong. My knees were really holding me back so now with my most recent knee surgeries, I should get them back to normal (or closer), and I am very excited. I have also really enjoyed being in the gym the last month or so. This is because I am at times pain freeâ€¦which feels fantasticâ€¦and just building muscle which is very satisfying. Trust me, I will now never feel bad because of muscle pain from working outâ€¦it feels good to me.

It is amazing how many simple things that I took for granted in life. Things like putting on my own socks, going to the bathroom, driving places, riding my bike (not quite on it yet), being around family and friends, and not living with daily painâ€¦the list is endless. I see people on the freeway so furious and worked up because they are stuck in traffic and someone moved into their lane. I can just think to myself, trust me, life could be worse. This applies to so many things. I hope my more relaxed energy helps other people relax about these things (except for my not so relaxed desire of wanting to win on the racetrack that does not count!).

I was raised by parents that told me to do what makes me happy and enjoy life. For those who know me from before, now I have even more passion about the idea to live life the way I want, have fun and work hard at things I enjoy!

Racing, YES! I do enjoy competition, a race, and the preparation and work that goes into a winning result. So, the next time you all hear from me, I do see myself in one of the things I really enjoy, a race!

To my fans, friends, and familyâ€¦thanks again for everything from the bottom of my heart. I canâ€™t tell you how thankful I am and canâ€™t wait to see you all at a race track soon.

Thank you.
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Crashton · Nov 16, 2014

Very glad that Memo is nearing his goal. Still a long way too go, but with his attitude & hard work I wouldn't be surprised to see him on next years grid at Daytona. I knew he was hurt badly, but didn't realize how badly that was.

Keep on truckin Memo!

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