Ferrari Challenge Montreal

A great week end of racing for CG and Axis in Montreal.

Two second place finishes, two fast laps and two survived brushes with the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's infamous Wall of Champions!

Both races were won by Ricardo Perez, F1's Sergio Perez's cousin and an experienced touring car racer in his native Mexico, with CG glued to his bumper.

Montreal, 7 June – The drivers of the North American Ferrari Challenge, fueled by the glamorous and exciting Formula One backdrop, put on a true racing spectacle in the fourth race of the 2014 season.
In the first leg of the two classes, there was some hard racing all the way to the flag. Damon Ockey (Ferrari of Ontario) started in pole, and tried to defend his position from the attack of Ricardo Perez (Ferrari of Houston) who finished first despite several attempts to overtake him by Carlos Gomez (Ferrari of San Francisco). In the end, the Trofeo Pirelli podium was completed by Emmanuel Anassis (Ferrari of Quebec).
Of the Coppa Shell drivers, the victory went to Chris Ruud (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) who led from the start all the way to the finish line. James Weiland (Ferrari of San Francisco) maintained his position as well, arriving in second place. Robert Herjavec (Ferrari of Ontario) moved swiftly ahead of the pack and finished third.
The second and final race of the Ferrari Challenge weekend will take place tomorrow morning at 11:15 AM and will precede the official 2014 Formula One Grand Prix of Canada which will start at 2 PM.

Race 2 saw a hefty shunt when Chris Ruud and Ugo Colombo tangled exactly where Massa and Perez would later in the day.   Colombo walked away from the 150 mph hit, a testament to Ferrari engineering and safety design of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Montreal, 8 June – A glorious Ferrari weekend continued today with the second Ferrari Challenge race taking place just hours before the official start of the 2014 Formula One Grand Prix of Canada. The Trofeo Prielli and Coppa Shell drivers prepared the ground this exciting race Sunday morning.
In the Trofeo Pirelli class, Ricardo Perez (Ferrari of Houston) maintained his ground, fiercely battling for his first place win against Carlos Gomez (Ferrari of San Francisco) who finished second with the fastest lap time in today’s race. Damon Ockey came in third after a daring overtake in the first turn of the race, competing against his Ferrari of Ontario teammate, Marc Muzzo, to ultimately take the podium.
Robert Herjavec (Ferrari of Ontario) was all smiles as he finished on top of the podium today, taking victory in the Coppa Shell class. Herjavec took the lead from Chris Ruud (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) after a collision with Ugo Colombo (The Collection) at the end of the straightaway. However, Ruud was able to maintain his podium standing, finishing behind his teammate, Jon Becker, for a third place finish.
The fifth round of the North American series of the Ferrari Challenge will stay in Canada to take place at Mont Tremblant in Quebec on June 27-29.

Postcards from Montreal

Not a good Saturday for Ferrari, especially for Kimi and barring alien intervention it will be a very long Sunday too.

On the other hand CG did very well in the Ferrari Challenge race coming second overall despite one of his competitors out braking himself, cutting through the Senna essex and not giving the position back.   CG also collected the fastest race lap by a good margin.

Race two Sunday morning will have the Axis car starting on the front row with a clear shot at turn 2.

How to Ricky Bobby a 458 Challenge around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Set aside for a moment that this report was redacted by one 'Mike Honcho",   there's a lot of great information from the team coach in this handout CG got before his first Ferrari Challenge race in Montreal, two years ago.   (Names of the drivers have been redacted to protect the innocent...)

All data geeks and driver coaches will love this!

2012 MON Pre Race Report Blanked1

Ride in the Axis 458 Challenge at Daytona

Halston Pitman/MotorSportMedia

Ride with Carlos in the Axis 458 Challenge at Daytona.   Above is race 1 on Friday, where CG scored a third place podium.   Note how top speed of the 458 is 184 mph in clear air but 191 drafting. Turn 1 apex speed is about 45 mph so you are scrubbing145 mph to make it around.  Hairy.

Below is race 2.   Track was damp on Saturday morning making conditions so tricky the pole sitter lost it on the warm up lap and crashed into the wall...D'oh!

At the start of first clip, Carlos makes a move for the lead into turn 3, losing his left mirror in the process.

In the second clip things get more exciting as CG, blind on his left comes under attack.    Did I mention turning in to the bus stop was tricky?

Podium finish for Axis in the first 2014 Ferrari Challenge race at Daytona

2014 Ferrari Challenge at Daytona.  Photo: Ferrari 

Driving the #26 Axis of Oversteer Ferrari 458 Challenge,  Carlos Gomez  scored a third place finish in the first race of the the 2014 Ferrari Challenge North America Series at Daytona on Friday.  The race was won by Scott Tucker/  In second place, it was Mexican driver Ricardo Perez.

Race 2 will start this morning at 9:45ET

Carlos Gomez in the Axis of Oversteer Ferrari 458 Challenge. Daytona 2014. Photo;Ferrari

190 mph in the Axis Ferrari 458 Challenge at Daytona.

Carlos Gomez, Axis of Oversteer 458 Challenge at Daytona. Photo: Halston Pitman.

Carlos Gomez,  qualified fourth for the 2014 Ferrari Challenge season opener at Daytona International Speedway

Gomez's lap of 1:48.689 assured him a spot on row two of the grid along with  Ryan Ockey and just  behind  Ricardo Perez and pole sitter  Harry Cheung.

The race will start Friday morning at 10:30 AM ET.  Live timing and scoring is available at Livetiming.net/fc  Race two will take place Saturday morning.

Having no wing is a big help on the long straights at Daytona but it makes the braking zones..a bit hairy!

Ferrari 458 Challenge Evoluzione rips around Monza

Turn it up because the improved version of the 458 Challenge racer, now with more downforce and better bits from it's GT versions, sounds as good as it looks!

Axis wins in Austin!

@axisCG and Stefano Domenicali

Big props to out own CG for winning Ferrari Challenge race 2,  also know as "the good one" because it's on Sunday, at Circuit of the Americas.

After starting from  P5,  Carlos escaped a first lap pile up which caused a long full course yellow and made a mess of the track.



When the race resumed,  the Orange and Chrome Axis 458 was in third and still experiencing some of the handling issues which troubled it all week end.  In the final laps, second place runner Harry Cheung made a lunge at race leader Damon Ockey spinning him.   The incident was caught,  sort of, with full emotion by Mrs CG...

Cheung went on to cross the finish line first with CG behind but was given a penalty for causing the spin and the #26 awarded victory.

After having all the speed but none of the luck earlier this year in Montreal, Carlos happily takes the luck and the win!   Brilliant.

Again, if you were at the race and took pictures of the car, send them to us for a chance at some Axis swag!

PS, there is no in car video because Mr B will fine you $250K if you are caught running a camera on track during GP week end!

Learning The Circuit of The Americas

CG will race Ferrari Challenge in support of the Formula One Grand Prix in Austin this November and is clever enough to realize COTA is not the kind of  track you can just pick up with the short sessions available on race week end, some practice is in order.

Carlos did not do too bad at all for his first time there, coming within 3/100ths of last years best practice time of 2:16.36 set by Alex Popow.     His report:  "The track is worth every penny of the $300Million it cost to build!"

There's more speed to come so,  if you go to the race, make sure to cheer for Axis!

Gone Fishing....

Regular programming will resume when we return...

Axis Invades Canada: 2 Axis cars to race in Montreal

Photo: Bradford Speers

There will be two Axis of Oversteer branded cars competing on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal this coming week end.

Ferrari eating Challenge

Don't paint teeth on the front of your car if you are going to try bonehead moves like this one, you will just open yourself up to all kinds of bad puns.
Then again, as CG says, Racing IS a contact sport!

Gravel trap!

Another great image from the Ferrari World Finals in Valencia..

Ferrari 458 Challenge testing video

A video of a Ferrari 458 Challenge testing different aero configuration at Fiorano.

The car is pushed by the same 570HP motor as the street version but with a radical weight loss, brakes from 599XX and 19 inch Pirelli slicks, achieved a lap time of 1:16.5. Compare that with the 1:24 of the 599GTO and the 1:16.2 of the Ferrari FXX. That's without using a rear wing, imagine what the 458 GT will be like...


(auto-motor-sport)
!end of post

Crowd Favorite

NASA Mid Atlantic peeps have been used to seeing the screaming yellow Ferrari like this...
(WARNING, this clip includes an excited and possibly intoxicated tracktard dropping the f-bomb and no, the "F" does not stand for Ferrari!)



Now that it has officially started on its road to Daytona, the underdog Bennet Racing Ferrari can be cheered by Spec e30 racers across the country on SpeedTV's Grand Am broadcasts.

But you get a bit of an inside line, Mike Skeen sent us a clip that lets you ride along in the Bennett Ferrari in its season debut start at VIR. Turn it up!



More AFTER THE JUMP






Bennett Racing Accomplishes First Mission by Completing Maiden Run in GRAND-AM Rolex Series With 15th Place Run at Virginia International Raceway

ALTON, Va. (April 24, 2010) – The mission was clear for Bennett Racing and co-drivers Skip Bennett and Mike Skeen in their debut race in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, the Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway.


That mission was to learn everything they could about themselves, their team and their bright yellow No. 56 South River Marina & Mercruiser Ferrari F430 Challenge. After two hours and 45 minutes and 77 laps around the twisting 3.27-mile, 17-turn VIR road circuit on Saturday afternoon, it was mission accomplished. Skeen and Bennett combined to bring the lone Ferrari in the field home in 15th place in the GT class, exactly the position where Skeen qualified it on Friday.


“It was definitely a great experience,” Skeen said. “The pit stops were better than I expected being the first time out for all these guys--they did an awesome job. I think we were pretty much running the pace that we expected. I won’t lie. It was a little bit disappointing that we couldn’t keep up a little better because the racer in me wants to do battle at the front of the pack. All of us are used to being at the front in the other forms of racing that we’ve done, but we know that takes time. We’ve got to develop the car more. We didn’t have the straight-line speed to keep up, and that part of it was disappointing. But at the same time, we exceeded our rational expectations.”


Skeen started the car 15th following a best lap at 1:54.288 (103.002 mph) from the15-minute qualifying session on Friday afternoon. He drove a trouble-free first stint in the race and came onto pit lane just prior to the 45-minute mark in the race to turn the controls over to team owner/driver Bennett, who pedaled the Ferrari for a clean middle stint before giving way to Skeen with slightly more than an hour remaining in the race.



“They’re definitely pros,” said Bennett of his on-track competition. “Hands down, these guys are pros and they want to finish the race. There’s a lot of respect out there. I’m a slower driver in a slower car and there were absolutely no problems at all. Do I think I’m a pro now? No. Do I think I can do better? Absolutely. Do I think the car and the team will do better? Absolutely, but you’ve got to remember that to do better than what we did, there’s a lot to do.”


Both drivers pointed out that—for starters—the car needs to be roughly 200 pounds lighter. Bennett remarked that a few changes to the chassis are in order, as the car needs to pick up roughly four seconds to compete at the front of the GT field. However, Skeen noted that the team needed this race to learn where the car’s shortcomings were.


“For the beginning stint, I was right behind the (No. 40) Dempsey Racing Mazda,” Skeen said. “In my second stint, there were several caution periods where we ended up being amongst the leaders in GT going to green, so we had some chances to mix it up—albeit a lap down—with the leaders. We did get a chance to see and feel where the other cars are gaining and losing speed. For the most part, we were off sequence pit strategy wise with the guys that were a position ahead or a position behind us. We didn’t have a whole lot of position battles on the track.”


One area where Bennett and Skeen came away extremely satisfied was the ability of their volunteer crew on pit road. Just as it was the first time in a Rolex Series race on the track for the drivers, it was also the first time the crew worked together in the pits. The drivers couldn’t have asked for better service.


“Our crew was tremendous,” Bennett said. “I watched a lot of the other crews and our guys looked better and they were faster. I’m not trying to blow smoke. This is a fact. When Mike came in for a gas-and-go under a yellow, he wasn’t the first guy into the pit, but he was the first guy out of the pit. That gave us a lap back. Our pit guys were awesome.”


“One of the coolest things was in one of our team meetings (on Friday),” Skeen added. “We were sitting around in the back of the transporter and we’ve got a guy from South Africa, we’ve got a couple of guys from Georgia, a guy from the Czech Republic, Virginia, North Carolina and guys have been on a bunch of different teams. One of them spoke up and said, ‘I’ve only known you guys for five days. We’ve only worked together a few times and already this team is really, really gelling.’ We’ve got great camaraderie, it’s a big family and everybody has got a lot of respect for each other.”


With the Bosch Engineering 250 now in the rearview mirror, the team’s focus shifts to making improvements to the car ahead of its next scheduled Rolex Series appearance in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on the weekend of June 4-5. Bennett expects to share the car with co-drivers Mike Davidson and Jonathan Allen for their first attempt at a Rolex Series endurance race, while Skeen will be competing in an SCCA Trans-Am Series event at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah that weekend.


Chris Cobetto, another of the team’s drivers, will get some seat time in the car later this season. The team plans to make four Rolex Series starts this season: at VIR, the Watkins Glen enduro in June, and sprint races at Daytona International Speedway and New Jersey Motorsports Park in July. All of this is being done with an eye toward competing in the 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona next January.


“The car is now going to go to UUC Motorsports in Georgia and they’re going to do a couple things,” Bennett said. “We’re going to continue with our plan, which is to get four races under our belt to get the car sorted out so we can do Daytona in January. We could definitely use some sponsors to help us, as it will take a lot of time and a lot of money to get the car where we want it to be. We have to do some significant things to the car. We know what they are and we know what they’re going to mean when we get them accomplished.”

Just like the team’s mission in its debut this weekend.

Trackday World Championship: American XX Edition

(photo:Michael Jozwiak)

Eight of the latest Ferrari track only but not for racing toys, the 599XX, were on track on a cold and windy Miller Motorsport Park in Utah this past week end.
Along with the über coupes were few of their big brothers, the FXX and Ferrari Challenge cars, who were actually racing. Ferrari used the event to show the new Ferrari 458 Italia publicly for the first time in the USA.

Here are some clips from spectators at the event, turn up to 11 and enjoy the music. More after the jump.