McBreen & West Clinch IMSA Lites 2

With a record 9 out of 10 wins in the Lites 2 category West Races cars dominated the inaugural 2006 IMSA Lites Championship season. West customer Dan McBreen clinched the Lites 2 Driver’s Championship in race one with a second place finish. McBreen recorded a total 4 wins and 3 second place finishes earning the best overall record of the IMSA Lites 2 field for the season. All this occurred at the 9th running of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta which was the setting for the final IMSA Lites Championship event supporting the American Le Mans Series for its Petit Le Mans event.

West factory driver Duncan Ende led the race through lap 15 but retired early with gearbox problems. In race two however Ende dominated the 20 lap sprint recording the fastest lap for the weekend with a time of 1:25.42. Ende completed his IMSA Lites season with a near perfect record of 5 wins out of 6 events entered. West Race Cars completed the IMSA Lites championship with a record 9 out of 10 wins for it’s WR1000 Lites 2 cars.

“This has been the most successful period in the 5 year history of the company,” said West Executive Director Ted Spooner. “Not only have we grown and developed IMSA Lites with our partners at Elan and IMSA, but we’ve also opened new markets for the sports-racer category with our success in Australia. This success is the result of the creativity and dedication of our valued employees. I’d like to especially thank both Leo Matthews and John Bender for their efforts in developing our products to the winning standard we see today.”
Tim Mayer – IMSA Chief Operating Officer, “We look forward to a continued strong partnership with West for the expanded 2007 IMSA Lites season. The West team has delivered not only highly competitive cars to the Lites 2 category but quality teams and drivers.”

“We want to thank all our partner teams and suppliers that helped make this inaugural IMSA Lites season such a huge success,” remarked West President Ben Odenborg. “With the support of Jon Batos at Formula Motorsports, Rob Muzzy of Muzzy Performance Products, Kawasaki of America, Quaife Engineering, Swift Engineering, Kit Composites and all our valued suppliers we have created a truly winning team.

[ IMSA Lites Series ]

[ West Race Cars, LLC ]
2774 North Hayden Island Drive
Portland, Oregon 97217
503.283.1400

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Saunders Takes Back B Mod Solo II Title

Tommy Saunders of Southlake, Texas, took his turn at the top after teammte Stuart Lumpkin of McKinney, Texas, took the championship in 2005. Saunder finished the final day of competition, at the 34th Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals, where he started it, right at the top of the 16 car B modified entry list. Saunder and Lumpkins again shared seat time in their 2006 Dragon FartFire.

Saunders had a combined time of 93.359 seconds, 1.186 seconds ahead of Lumpkin who had a combined time of 94.545.

Finishing in third was Evan Brauch in a 1998 Omni Fab Cheetah SR1. Brauch's combined time of 94.927 seconds was only 0.382 of a second behind second place Lumpkin.

With a final time of 97.347 second, Bruce Domeck claimed forth in his 1982 Ralt RT-4, 2.420 seconds behind Brauch.

Taking the final trophy in fifth position was Bob Sonntag in his 1979 LeGrand Mk25. Sonntag's combined time was 98.259 seconds, 0.912 of a second out of the forth spot.

Other drivers in sports racers included
6th Keith Starr - 1982 Tiga DSR - 98.336 seconds
7th Jeff Brauch - 1998 Omni-Fab Cheetah SR1 - 99.071
8th Bryan Frtizler - 2003 Frtizler FTO3 - 99.253
9th Joseph Hernandez - 2002 Pocket Rocket DSR - 100.329

Dragon SR1 Chassis page

Cheetah Chassis page

LeGrand Chassis page

Tiga Chassis page

Fritzler Chassis page


Complete Results for 2006 The Tire Rack Solo National Championships

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First Track Drive for dp1 w/Video

Dennis Palatov, who took a first drive out of the shop earlier last week, tested his dpcars dp1 at a local kart track and shared video.

This was the first real shakedown of the car without bodywork, just to check everything out.


In Car Video :: 28MB file


Exterior video :: 7MB mpg file

For more information and larger images, see:
the dpcars Chassis page, here on the Sports Racer Network,

or visit the dpcars dp1 test log.

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Saunders & Lumpkin Leading B Mod

Tommy Saunders of Southlake, Texas, and Stuart Lumpkin of McKinney, Texas, are at the top of the B modified class again at the this year's SCCA Solo II Nationals, going into the final day of competition.

Saunders is in first, with Lumpkin trailing by 0.106 of a second in second. Both are driving the Dragon that took Lumpkin to the 2005 title, with Saunders finishing in second.

In the B Modified Ladies class, Kiersten Scharnberg-Koch of Stilwell, Kansas, in her Ralt leads Janis Hernandez of N. Richland Hills, in her pocket Pocket Rocket by 3.763 seconds.

Dragon SR1 Chassis page

Full story on the SCCA website

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Galmer Name on New Cobra DSR

Alan Mertens of Galmer Inc. has entered into an agreement with Cobra International Company Ltd. to manufacture the newly designed Galmer D-Sports Race car. The D-Sports Race car will built by Cobra in Chonburi, Thailand, and marketed under the Galmer Name. The car is expected to be ready by early 2007.

"This car is vastly improved from the earlier version manufactured by Merloy Racing and will have new features not available on the previous version. The car is simpler and lighter with new front and rear underbody aerodynamics along with new body design features not previously seen before. Build quality will be constantly supervised in Thailand by qualified International Engineers and Technicians. Expect the car to be ready by early 2007."

Galmer, a name synonymous with CART competition (CART PPG World Championships 1990) and the Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis 500 Winners 1992) through 1988 to 2001, will be used as the moniker for Cobra International’s Arbitrage GT and the DSR or D-Sports Race Car, both being manufactured by Cobra International.

Alan Mertens, lead Engineer of the Galmer Arbitrage GT project, was awarded the Louis Schwitzer Award by the Indiana Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers for his design of the Galmer G92 Indy Car Chassis. The award recognizes excellence and innovation in race car design and development. This car went on to win the prestigious USA Indianapolis 500 with Al Unser Jr. and Danny Sullivan as drivers the same year. With March Engineering (as technical Director) and Galmer Engineering (President/Technical Director), Alan Mertens has been responsible for 74 Indy Car wins, including 6 at the USA Indianapolis 500.

For more information and images, see the
Galmer Chassis page

Contact:
Kevin Gallahan
Cobra International Co., Ltd.
(66) 06-781-8326
kgallahan@yahoo.com
www.arbitragecars.com

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Preview of the SCCA Runoffs®

73 drivers are entered in sports racers at the upcoming Sports Car Club of America's National Runoffs^®. The entry list includes 19 drivers in CSR, 36 drivers in DSR, and 18 drivers in the S2000 class. Practice for the 43rd annual amateur championships begins on Monday, October 9, at Heartland Park Topeka, Kansas. Final races will be Friday-Sunday, October 13-15.

The 19 CSR entries will range from a Mazda rotary engined 1980 March of Michael Vellone (Mesa, AZ), to 2006 models including the Panoz Elan dp02 of Kerry Jacobsen (Deland, FL) and the Kawasaki motorcycle engined Stohr WF1-BPS of Mark Jaremko (Spokane, WA). Other marques in the field will include Beasley, Lola, Radical, Ralt, Swift, Van Dieman SRSCCA, Viking, and Wynnfurst.

After dominating the 2005 Runoffs^® with the debut of the Stohr WF1, Mark Jaremko returns to defend his DSR title along with 9 other WF1 owners who think that's the car to have. 7 drivers with either a West or first generation Stohr chassis fill out the remaining half of the field which will be in a Lee Stohr designs. 4 Omni Fab Cheetahs and 2 Speads RS chassis are the only other marque that will be represented by more than a single entry. The remaining 36 DSR entries care made up of A-Mac, BNCU, Bobsy, Dragon, Gloria, Hentech, Lola, Maloy, Mystery, OMS, Swift, Van Diemen SSR, and Zephrus.

The 18 S2000 entries are made up of Carbir, Lola, Shannon, and Swift.

The early entry deadline cutoff for this year’s SCCA National Championship Runoffs® was Friday night, Sept. 8. Entries received after 11:59 p.m. (CDT) on Friday night will be assessed the $500 late entry fee in addition to the base fee of $300.


CSR Entry list

DSR Entry List

S2000 Entry List

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Palatov's Dream Comes Alive

After four and a half years since his project began, Dennis Palatov drove his own creation today. Starting from mere sketches and a clear concept in his head, Dennis laid out plans to design his dream car then build it from the ground up. A small, lightweight street/track car, powered by a motorcycle engine driving all four wheels.

At the start of the project Palatov said, "I've always wanted to do my own car, but it was just a vague idea without much focus. Recently I completed a Westfield Megabusa kit and drove it on the track for the first time. I absolutely love the engine and gearbox, which came from a Suzuki Hayabusa bike. The Westfield weighs in at almost exactly 1,000 lbs and is an absolute blast to drive. It's almost as much fun as my recently acquired shifter kart. These two vehicles have made my [Lotus] Elise S190 seem luxurious and large...

But of course too much is never enough, and I got the desire to take it further. To combine the best attributes of all my fun machines, and take it up a notch. Or two. It quickly became clear that I had to do my own car. It would be powered by a Hayabusa engine, of course, and use its 6-speed sequential gearbox. And it had to be smaller and lighter than the Westfield, while retaining the ability to be driven on the street on occasion. I've looked around and done some comparisons, and realized that a target weight of 700 lbs should be within reach if I make it a single-seater."

Dennis related that, "As such things often go, at some point I suddenly and clearly visualized what the layout would look like: a scaled-up version of a shifter kart with engine beside the driver and a driveshaft running forward and back in a central backbone chassis."

Dennis chronicled the development of his Solid Works CAD design from the beginning, and shared it with the world via his Log of the Initial Design Phase. Many viewers and readers asked questions and offered ideas and advise along the way. Dennis later created a second Log for the Build Phase of the project, after the bodywork was completed.

For more information and larger images, see:
the dpcars Chassis page, here on the Sports Racer Network,

or visit the dpcars website.

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Miller Claims Inaugural NASA SU Championship

Jeremy Miller, driving a Suzuki Hayabusa powered first generation Stohr CSR, was crowned the 2006 National Champion in the Super Unlimited class by the Nastional Auto Sport Association.

Miller's bright yellow sports racer circled the Mid-Ohio track at the front in the two qualifying races on Friday and Saturday, earning the pole position for Sunday's main race. Miller's best time in the race, run with the chicane between turn one and the keyhole, was a 1:31.161 lap. He battled a Competition Viper and a Porsche for the pole and overall win on each of the three race days, but was under little pressure for the final race win.

Jeremy has been running with NASA for a few years in a Porsche 993 and bought his Stohr CSR about a year ago. He runs an unmodified stock Suzuki engine becasue it's fast enough for now. He's located on the east coast and would like to see more sports racers to come race with him at NASA events.

NASA Championships (pdf file)

Group D race results (pdf file).

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Hessel Takes First NASA TT-R Championship

Edward Hessel, driving a 2.3 liter Oldsmobile Quad 4 powered Shannon PS94 CSR, was crowned the 2006 National Champion in the Time Trial-Race class by the Nastional Auto Sport Association.

In a best of six timed session format (two sessoins per day), Edward laid down the gauntlet with a lap time of 1:35.050 during the afternoon session on Friday. Fortunately, this lap time held up through the final two timed sessions on Saturday, as the input shaft broke on Edward's transmission during the morning practice on Saturday.

After deciding to venture away from racing his Porsche 993, Edward bought the Shannon and entered NASA Time Trails in 2006 to "learn the car both driving and mechanically." In the TT-R class, he has competed against high powered Corvettes (including a Speedvision one), a 500+ bhp AWD Mitsubishi Evo 8s, an American Stock Car Monte Carlo, and 997 Cup Porsches. In 2007, Edward looks forward to racing his Shannon, wheel to wheel, and attending the "30 Years of S2000" event.

NASA Time Trial

NASA TT is an automobile road course series which provides a venue for spirited on-track competition with a high degree of both safety and convenience. NASA TT allows qualified individuals to compete in a "best lap time" format in a prepared car in advanced level open-passing sessions, and bridges the gap between HPDE 4 and wheel to wheel racing.

The TTR class is designated as a truly unlimited racecar class. It is intended for purpose built, tube frame, never street legal, and very high-end modified streetcars with a low weight/hp ratio. Modifications are completely unlimited, although open wheel cars are not legal.

NASA Championships

NASA Time Trial (NASA TT) Rules (pdf file)

Group I - TTA/TTC/TTR/TTU Results (pdf file).

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Fusion Details Enclosed CSR / DSR

Fusion Racing showed their FRC-06 which will be sold configured for CSR and DSR racing, as well as trackday events. The most significant design element of the car is its enclosed top "Grand Am-like" canopy.

"The Fusion FRC-06 is a two seat, mid-engine sports racer with chromoly space frame, non-stressed engine and full bodywork. Driver protection, structural strength and
construction technology comply with SCCA regulations. Low weight, stock motorcycle drive train and off-theshelf parts yield a unique combination of high performance with economy, making the car affordable to purchase and operate."

Safe and Versitile
"We made the concept decision that the new car would have an enclosed cockpit in addition to well design crush zones. One only has to look as far as the Rolex series to validate the increased safety of the enclosed chassis."

"Almost on a par with safety was a true 2 seat design. This would give the car the flexibility to serve in a track day capacity as well as pureblood racer. So we created a cockpit that will comfortably accommodate at least a 6’4” 250lb driver & passenger. The chassis also had to have
room for both Motorcycle engine/Quaife LSD or Automotive engine/transaxle combinations."

Engines
The CSR motorcycle engine will be the awesome new Kawasaki ZX-14R, while the DSR will be powered by the Kawasaki ZX-10R (175HP). Fuel injected, naturally aspirated. Stock integral 6-speed sequential gearbox and racing clutch. Both will transfer their power the rear wheels via a Quaife gear driven limited slip torque biasing differential with reverse (designed for Fusion)."

There is also the option of having the CSR powered by an 200+ HP automotive engine with Hewland s-speed FTR transaxle.

Suspension Design
"Utilizing software that analyzed all key segments of cornering, 2 months and hundreds of tweaks later [our engineer, Titus Midgley,] had a design that had less than .3 of a degree of camber change and a roll center that moved less than 25 thousands of an inch over the full range of suspension travel."

"It has been the better part of 10 months since we first announced our intentions with that small blurb in the [February 2006] SCCA buyer’s guide. In hindsight, it was probably a little premature to say anything but it was either jump in back then or wait another year, and we were confident the car would be on the track before the next buyers guide issue."

More images and specification are available on the Fusion Chassis page.

Fusion Racing's website

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