Motorsports archive at Grip and Hammer

Archive for the 'Motorsports' Category

Jun

How to Obtain Sponsorships

By BernieR 0 Comments

Categories: Automobiles - General, Bicycling, Motorsports and Running

This article will help you have a better understanding of the different types of sponsorships out there as well as how to get them. The most important thing to remember while working with a sponsor is to always be positive as possible about the product you are representing. Ideally you want to be able to believe in every product you have but there will be sometimes when you may question a product. To the public you need to represent the products your are working with. However, you also need to be honest with your sponsor to make sure that their product is of value (to be done behind closed doors out of the public image).

Now that that is out of the way, let’s carry on with the types of sponsorships that are available out there.

Partial Sponsorship: These are sponsorships that will allow for discounted prices on items that you need. These will also be the type of sponsorships that have little or no recognition for advertising space on your car or racing suit.
Half Sponsorship: These are nice to have because this is where you get product for free. However, you may be in an agreement where at the end of a season you return the product so the sponsor can analyze the product for future development and evolving the product. This isn’t always the case. The purpose here is mostly for the advertising at events that you participate in.
Full Sponsorship: This is where you get product for free and you get additional benefits such as being paid, getting funds to get into events and getting help with any other event costs like shipping. These sponsors will have the loudest form of advertising and take up the most space on a car or racing suit. Full Sponsorships will also most likely entail a contract of some sort and may require a lawyer on your part to look over all the details.

Now on to how to obtain a sponsorship. Unless you are talented enough to where companies are contacting you to represent their product, you are more than likely going to have to do some footwork yourself. The key important piece here is that you will have to sell your talents. You will need to think about this process in reverse to make this work for you and for them. The final answer and the first thing to think about is, “How is this going to benefit you [the sponsor] and why you should consider me to represent your product?” You will need to come up with a list of things that you will be doing in the benefit of the sponsor. Consider this partial list when looking at sponsors:

list of events you’ll be attending
list of past performances relative to the area sponsorship interests
How the sponsor will be represented/advertised
Give updates on recent events and prepare a full season review in a professional portfolio as a gift
List the ways you plan to promote the product(s) outside events

The list can go on but these are some of the more important and common things. Work with your sponsor to come up with a plan and ideas on how to make it worth their time and effort for your sponsorship. Remember that you will need to do a majority of the footwork though because they are also trying to run a business and would rather not waste the time and energy on something that they will have some initial costs. Also be loyal to your sponsor. There is nothing worse for your reputation than taking another competitive sponsor after having spent so much time with your current sponsor.

Communication is key with any relationship and in the end will be beneficial to the overall objective. I hope that this will help you with the start of some ideas on how to get sponsorships and help you establish a relationship that could last for many, many seasons.

Jun

How To: Build and Modify Your Car

By BernieR 0 Comments

Categories: Automobiles - General and Motorsports

Over the last several years, countless people have contacted me for advice on how to modify their car. They tell me what they want to do their car but somewhere along the way, there is a place where I stop them and tell them to re-think about what they are trying to do.

Remember that everything is relative to the owner, you. What your friend’s interest or better yet, what your local car shop’s interests are not the same as yours. Don’t get caught up on what products people are selling as the best and you “need this part”. Although friends and shops are a great place to gather information and they are useful. Do your homework and remember that you want to build a car to your liking.

There is a great modifying/tuning cliche out there that goes something like this: “High Performance, Low Price, Very Reliable… pick any two.” This is important in remembering your overall objective and for setting realistic budgets for your project. Also be aware that forums usually have group-buys. Meaning that the more people that commit to buying the product the cheaper the price. Take advantage of great sales and don’t be afraid to use auctioning sites, just be aware of the drawbacks too and calculate if they are too risky for you.

Before participating in the modification of your car, I recommend that you join a car club of some sort in the area of your interest (see below for the categories). This will help you decide on the types of parts that will work for you and the parts that could get you disqualified if done incorrectly.

The following is an ever evolving list of things to consider when modifying your car. More often than not, I hear from people that they bought a part for their car only to find out that later that part is not compatible with other parts they are wanting to have in future installs. I hope that this will be an easy guideline of what to think about when modifying your car and the processes involved.

1. What to do?

When all is said and done what do you ultimately want to do with the car. Whatever you decide to do though, it is essential that you pay attention to laws in your area and if you’re planning to race the car be sure to get the rule book(s) so you know what you can and can not modify. For a general idea this is how I break it down:

Street: Car setup is made for driving as a daily driver. You want more power, better handling and better looking car. The key thing to remember is that this car has to be drivable on the street and needs to be reliable. So you do not want a suspension setup that is too harsh for speed bumps or pot holes and you’ll need a little body roll for rain or snow setups. Common first upgrades to this are wheels, tires, rear sway-bars (most common in All-Wheel-Drive cars) and air intake.
.
You’ll notice that I didn’t say exhaust system. The reason is because you will need to decide if you want to put a turbo or supercharger in the car, then you should be looking at a different type of exhaust system. Again, the key here is to not spend money in the same place twice. So don’t buy a 2.5″ cat-back system only to find out that you’ll need to replace it later with another one that will be compatible with the mods you’re making (example: 3″ Turbo-Back exhaust). The only exception to this is if you find sponsorships. Then, that’s a different ball game. I will cover that in an upcoming article on how to get sponsorships and the different types to look for.
.

Car Shows: If you plan to build a Show Car, then also be aware that you will have to consider not only the parts you want to put on the car but also the custom and fabrication work involved. Find out what the trends are and what they soon will be. Yesterday’s car mods won’t get you a win, you will have to plan to push the envelope to generate wins. Before entering a show though, first go to a show and find out the categories you’ll want to compete in. Sometimes you can compete in more than one category at the same time in the same show. Do your research on how you can prepare for a show.
.
Drag Racing: First find the category of drag racing you’ll want to compete in. Look at the rules carefully and build your car from there. Generally speaking you’ll want to look at lots of horsepower, making the car light weight and suspension become less important (I’m not saying that it’s not important though!). Eventually the will become less and less street-able.
.
Auto-Cross and/or Rally-Cross and/or Hill Climbing: Generally speaking, power is fun but not as essential as suspension and weight savings. Time and time again, I’ve seen less horsepower cars beat the pants of high horsepower cars. The key is the setup and adapting to the environment (weather, track conditions, course layout, etc.).
.
Drifting: A good power to weight ratio is recommended and stiff suspension make for ideal setup. However, learning your car into a drift will take practice. Ideally, you won’t want to have a turbo system with a lot of lag and a small power range.
.
Track Car: Most people drive their cars to the track but some people have to trailer their car to the track because there are emission issues that prevent them from driving on the street. Track days are usually put on by car clubs, so be sure to find out what is acceptable by them and be sure to find an instructor that has an idea of what your car can and can not do.
.
Full Racing Setup: If you ever plan to compete in full race setups such as Rally, Grand Touring, Endurance racing then be sure to look into those groups and find out from other racers on what worked for them and then apply that knowledge to your car. In most cases the will be a very expense project and you’ll already have some good contacts in the industry. If you haven’t got much input from other driver, manufacturers or team, then I recommend that you see if you can help service at an event. Doing so could save you a lot of time and effort.

In upcoming articles I can go a little deeper into a subject depending on your requests. Feel free to post your questions here and I’ll do my best to answer them for you. I also plan to do a write-up on sponsorships and how you can get them and maintain them.

Oct

SIRS Mid Season Update

By JoeF 1 Comment

Categories: Motorsports

With just three more races remaining in the season lets take a look out how each driver is doing in the class championship running.

Scott Santiani running in both P2 and GT4 is shaping up to another great season for the veteran. He has scored an impressive 6 podium finishes so far this season! He is the current points leader in GT4 and is sitting in fourth place in the P2 standings. Scott is currently the two time defending champion for the GT4 class can he make it three in a row!?

P2 Points Standing -

1. Greg Olsen 30.5

2. Tim McKinney 26

3. Milan Diebel 21.5

4. Scott Santiani 16

5. Zach Koping 16

GT4 Points Standing –

1. Scott Santiani 34.5

2. Zach koping 32.5

3. Bob Segui

4. Alfredo Oyague

5. Travis Geny

In GT2 both Jimmy and Ralph have been doing a fantastic job competing in there first ever season in the SIRS. Not to mention a class full of veterans of 4+ years to the SIRS. Jimmy had an awesome performance week 4 and got his first podium finish of the season. Each race Jimmy has gotten faster and is beginning to put pressure on the veterans. Ralph has showed improvements each week as well. He has consistently gotten faster each week and has shaved off a full second on his average lap times since SIRS began!

GT2 Points Standing -

1. Mike Smith 28.5

2. Adam Kellerman 27.5

3. Brent Palmer 21

4. Kyle Hamer 16

5. Jimmy Moore 12

6. Pat Cherry 10

7. Chris Naficy 9

8. Ralph Boeckman 6

David Tanioka has been having a outstanding season putting him first place in GT3! He has put major pressure on GT3 defending champion and teammate Joe Filipanko. David is driving like a SIRS veteran in his first year and has a very good chance of taking the class championship if he keeps up his performance. Joe has scored 3 podium finishes this season and will need a few more to stay in the running for class championship.

GT3 Points Standing –

1. David Tanioka 27

2. Tim McKinney 25

3. Joe Filipanko 24

4. Fernando Gaete 22

5. Britain Smith 13

With the season half over and some very impressive performances, team Grip and Hammer hopes to bring home a few class championships this year!

Oct

David and Scott Claim Checkered Flag!

By JoeF 1 Comment

Categories: Motorsports

Round 2 would begin a series first running the track in reverse direction. This would be a challenge for drivers to find the fast line around the track and adapt to some very slick spots we don’t normally drive on while running in the forward direction. The starting grid would be determined how we finished in week one, than inverted. So round one winners would be starting in last place and so on. GT1 would be the first class running tonight so we all were able to watch other drivers and learn what we could before our drivers buckled up!

The second race of the night hosted P2 and GT2 class. This was the most exciting race of the night to watch but had to be a nightmare for the drivers. At the drop of the green flag drivers would begin shuffling for position. The first corner had a good jam leading to a few drivers being spun out. Scott chose to make a early pit stop to get out of all the mayhem ahead of him. When Scott came out of the pits he would be behind most of the GT class. The next lap another P2 driver was exiting the pits and forced Scott into a GT driver, to avoid them Scott had to break hard resulting in him spinning out. Scott now in last place would have to fight his way back to the lead pack. On lap 30 Scott had caught 4th place and made the pass for position. With 5 Laps to go the yellow flag came out, a GT2 driver had spun and was getting back on track. Scott came into the corner with caution and fifth place had plowed into him spinning him out and loosing position. With no black flag on the driver that spun Scott, he would be unable to regain his position and finish the race in 5th place. Jimmy and Ralph would have similar outcomes to their race as well. Jimmy was having a great race and had worked his way to 4th place. With five laps to go an aggressive move from a P2 driver would spin Jimmy out sending him back to 7th place. Ralph had many issues all race from aggressive passes from the P2 drivers and finished the night in 8th place.

Race three would be GT3 and P1. David would make an early stop on lap 2 and take advantage of some open track. Running very consistent, David would work his way to second place behind Joe who had not yet made his pit stop. On lap 31 Joe came into the pits and David was able to take first place with a six second lead! The race would end with David taking the checkered flag and Joe finishing behind him. Great Podium finishes for the team!

The last race of the night would be GT4. Scott starting in the back decided to make his stop on lap 1. The rest of the field was battling for position while Scott had open track running very consistent laps. After all the GT4 drivers had made their pit stops Scott would claim first place. Scott finished the race taking the checkered flag with a 6 second lead. Another dominating performance by Scott!

Another great night of racing for the team! Join us next week for Round 3 Monday October 12th!

Aug

Team Cavallino Win Victory Racing Camp’s “Speed and Feed”

By BernieR 2 Comments

Categories: Motorsports and Uncategorized

Victory Racing Camp hosted a fundraiser event for its camp members by running a two-hour event known as a “Speed and Feed” at Pat’s Acres Racing Complex. Teams raced, strategized, endured and overcame ever-changing conditions for this two-hour enduro. The four member squad consisting of veterans Bernie Russnogle and Scott Santiani and new comers Ralph Boeckman and Jimmy Moore joined together to become “Team Cavallino”. Bernie has competed in the Victory Racing Camp “Speed and Feeds” for the last three years. Scott did the previous “Speed and Feed” earlier in the year and the other two; Ralph and Jimmy, this was their first time at the challenge. All, however, are experienced kart racers and compete in the various racing leagues.

The race started off around 9:30am. Team Cavallino’s strategy and running order was Jimmy, Ralph, Bernie and Scott. Jimmy seemed to be one of the fastest in the field and we relied on him to make a good start and try to take the lead for the first stint. This would also burn fuel for Jimmy to keep consistent with lap-times by having a better power to weight ratio. After Ralph’s stint, we would refuel and Bernie, being the lightest of the group, would try and burn fuel for Scott for the final stint. As good of a plan as that was, not all things went accordingly.

Jimmy took a great line going into turn one and past two competitors by the exit of the first corner. By turn three, Jimmy had taken the lead and started to spread a gap on second place. After four laps into the race he caught lap traffic and began working his way through them. On lap ten though, it all started to go wrong for the team. In an effort to work around traffic and stay within the “Speed and Feed” rules, Jimmy spun on turn two (or three depending on how you interpret the course) in an effort to avoid hitting another driver. In doing so the only safe way to reposition himself on the course was to do a drive off. By doing this, it was assessed with an automatic driver change penalty. Frantically, Ralph had to get ready to race, twenty minutes before he needed to. Team Cavallino called in Jimmy for the driver exchange and the pit stop went flawless. In accordance with the event rules there needed to be four pitstops with one of them being allowed for the mandatory four-minute fuel stop. In our case though, a penalty will not count as a pitstop so the team had to quickly rethink the strategy.

Ralph went out and worked his way back into first place after it was lost with the driver exchange penalty. Although Ralph’s stint was uneventful he still powered his way through the field giving any possible buffer for unforeseen events. With Jimmy only having completed ten minutes, we decided that our first exchange would be with Ralph handing off to Jimmy to complete his share of the stint. Again the exchange went flawlessly. Scott’s pit-board proved to be a huge asset to the team by displaying lap-times and giving driver updates as needed. The rest of Jimmy’s stint was fast and even posted the fastest lap of the event of 50.1 seconds for the short course (although the team stop watch clocked him at 49.9 seconds).

The dilemma that Team Cavallino had at this point in the race was the thought of when to take on fuel. Unfortunately, being half way though the race, this was also on everyone else’s minds. Fighting to find a time of when to bring Jimmy in for the refueling stop and working around when other teams come in was a bit of a circus act. The team decided to go ahead and bring Jimmy in to first do an exchange to Bernie and then during his stint, come in for fuel when the refueling station was open. This mix-up ended up being a blessing in disguise. By doing the driver exchange and for Bernie to do the refueling, this would relieve our mandatory four stops (after Bernie handed off to Scott) along with our mandatory refueling stop. At this point in the race we had already had the lead by six laps. Again, Bernie’s stint was uneventful but still quick by team standards. This also still allowed Bernie to burn fuel before Scott got in to do the final stint.

Finally, the hand-off from Bernie to Scott took place and Team Cavallino had little to worry about as for event requirements. Bernie stayed suited up as Scott went out for the final thirty minutes. Bernie did this in the event of another driver exchange penalty was assessed. However, this was not needed Scott drove excellent to bring home the victory and the team’s closest competitor ended up 10-laps down. The main thing is that everyone drove relatively consistent and everyone turned around the same lap-times (mostly between 52-55 second lap-times). Competition was still tough though and was not taken for granted. There were a couple of teams there that, if given a good kart, could have challenged Team Cavallino for the win.

Team Cavallino

All in all though, even with Team Cavallino’s win, this was for a great cause. Victory Racing Camp’s mission is to get kids, teenagers and council members connected to God through motorsport. If you’re interested in participating in this even please visit: http://www.victoryracingcamp.org

Aug

Ferrari right… Red Bull and Williams wrong

By BernieR 0 Comments

Categories: Motorsports

Earlier this week we saw that Michael Schumacher’s decision to help the Scudaria Ferrari team by taking the place of the now hospitalized Felipe Massa. In an effort to get Michael up to speed on the newer F60, Ferrari have asked all the teams permission to allow Michael to try out the new car. Currently, under the rules there is no outside testing allowed durring the racing season. However, with the approval of all the teams, some cases have been approved.

I just don’t get it. Some teams are just not understanding of the situation. In the case of Red Bull, they “chose” to let Sebastian B. go when they didn’t have to. Whereas, Felipe Massa got into an accident and was hospitalized. Now Ferrari do NOT have a choice and need a second driver to complete the team. Is this not a “safety” issue? How can you expect anyone to get into a vehicle and race it in anger and not push the limits of the car? This is Formula One… arguably the highest form of motorsport! There should be some sort of ruling to allow for teams to test in situations like this. Even if there has to be an FIA official to make sure that they are not modifying the car or have new pices on the car. I just don’t get it.

Jul

Michael Schumacher Back To Driver Status in F1

By BernieR 0 Comments

Categories: Motorsports

Well, baring Michael Schumacher having a bad physical, we will be looking at Felipe Massa’s replacement in the Ferrari garage. This brings up some very interesting questions though. For example; why aren’t one of the two Ferrari F1 test drivers being considered for the role next to Kimi Raikkonen? What kind of shape will Michael be in after his motorcycle fall earlier in the year? What is Ferrari trying to accomplish by getting Schumie back into the driver seat?

First, I think that Michael will be competitive, however I do not think he will win. As much as a lot of us would like to see him win, I’m not sure if he can because of how the car is today along with him not being in an F1 car in over a year.

Michael Schumacher Back In The Saddle Again

So what is it that Ferrari is trying to do here? I think part of it has to do with the development of the car. Michael is well known for his abilities in creating and developing a car to become as fast as it can. We all know that this is not Kimi’s strong point (because he just drives any car well whether it’s good or not) and Massa is still learning from Michael on the optimum setup of a car (who probably is still better than Kimi). This development of the car will be ideal for Ferrari and potentially make the car even better, stronger and more reliable than the Red Bull and Brawn teams. Even though they are out of the hunt for the manufacturer’s title, they can still make some huge ground on the competition ahead.

Publicity may help with moral and hopefully bring a new spark to the team. I think that the devoted Ferrari Tifosi will see and feed of that spark which will translate in bringing new life and new hope to the team. With Brawn and Red Bull taking the headlines for a majority of the year, this could be the big boost that Italian team have been looking for. Oh the passion.

As we all hope that Felipe Massa’s quick recovery, I can’t help but wonder how the 40 year old German will do in Massa’s place. A large part of me hopes that he continues where he left off… but maybe not ahead of Kimi. The other part of me says that that era is gone and it’s time to let the new bread carry on with the torch. Either way, Ferrari F1 will be exciting to watch and with new twist, hopefully a new reign.

Jul

Hungaroring: Ferrari and McLaren Back in Order

By BernieR 0 Comments

Categories: Motorsports

The Hungarian Grand Prix saw a mixture of emotions at the old order of Ferrari and McLaren worked their way back to the front and Brawn GP started to show some weakness and chinks in their armor.

Aside from the podium finish however, were several sides story that surrounded the weekend. Jaime Alguersuari is now the new Scudaria Toro Roso (Red Bull’s second string team) with the ousting of Sebastian Bourdais. The concord agreement is in the final stages of being signed. But the biggest news of the weekend was Filipe Massa’s accident. The Ferrari driver hit Rubens Barrichello’s spring that ejected from his car’s suspension, at high impact. Knocking the Brazilian unconscious he had a head-on collision with the tire wall. Emergency personnel moved to the Brazilian quickly and efficiently. He was airlifted to a hospital and had an emergency surgery done to relieve pressure on the brain and deal with his fractured skull. Althouh his health is improving, Ferrari seem optimistic on his return to Formula One however the doctors have yet to decide. We here at GripAndHammer.com wish Massa a fast recovery and a quick return to Ferrari.

Massa's Accident at the Hungaroring

The start of the Kimi was attempting to make up some grid position but got squeezed into other cars which brought an investigation and a decision to be determined at the end of the race by the stewards. They called it a racing accident and assest no penalty to Raikkonen or any of the cars involved.

Mark Webber was under investigation for aggressive driving while leaving the pit lane. We have yet to hear an official word on that action.

During the race, Fernando Alonso had a tire leave the car. The crew were unable to lock the wheel in place and two-thirds on the out-lap the Spaniard lost his front right wheel. Now the FIA have suspended them from the Valencia race but Renault have appealed the suspension.

So with Massa’s injury and time out, who will take his place? Also will this put on hold the Raikkonen rumors of his retirement and now it could be a Raikkonen and Alonso teaming up at Ferrari? Will there be any test drivers that will come forth to take the Brazilian’s place next to Kimi? There are four weeks till the next race so there’s time before Ferrari has to make a decision.

Raikkonen had a blistering pace the weekend and took second place to Louis Hamilton’s maden podium and win for 2009. It seems like the stars are finally start t align back up and everything is returning back to order. Now if Kimi can only get back on to the top of the podium… then it would be back to “perfect”.

Jul

FIA Backing Down In Hopes of FOTA Rethinking

By BernieR 0 Comments

Categories: Motorsports

A post just put out by www.autoblog.com stating that the FIA have already dropped the charges against FOTA in hopes that it will help bring the two organizations back to the negotiation table. Although the post was interesting, I actually found that the responses were more interesting. Most people were still hoping that FOTA come up with their new race series and rules. They want to see the “cutting edge technology” return to open wheeled racing with little regulation.

This is both good and bad. As I’ve stated in earlier posts, that the FIA are heading in the right direction but they’re doing it in the wrong fashion. We have to remember that anytime there is a rule change, that it will end up costing the teams millions upon millions of dollars or pounds. There has to be a progression and a plan in place and not drastic jumps in rule changes (unless it will save money in the long run). Also remember the Formula One is supposed to be the example in which the auto industry will follow. F1 should be able to make more “green” cars and they should be able to use technologies that are not in cars. It’s not just about racing but about how that technology brings racing to the next level. Padel shifting is a great example of this, along with many others and it’s these types of technologies that work their way into our everyday cars (well… almost everyday, exotic sports cars).

I’m also surprised by the FIA backing down a little bit. I actually thought this was going to end in a stalemate with both actually creating their own sport. However we’ve seen that with the possiblity of the teams and the FIA working together. This may pan out for the fans and the teams. I’m not holding my breath though, we all know how Mr. Mosley can screw it up. The question is “How?”

Jun

FOTA and FIA, who do you favor?

By BernieR 0 Comments

Categories: Motorsports

For the many of you that have watched Formula One over the years and how the rules have changed back and forth over the years, I’m interested to hear your thoughts on FOTA versus the FIA. It’s well known that Ferrari, Red Bull (both teams) and others have voiced that they do not care for the multi-tier cars in one series as well as the sudden budget drop due to happen in 2010. Rumors are already around about Ferrari and other manufacturers joining another racing series or creating one themselves. Please feel free to voice your thoughts and support your answers.

Personally, I would like to see Ferrari and the other teams to stay in Formula One. However, the FIA need to change their thinking and make it attractive for fans, teams and marketing. The problem that I see now is that the FIA have the right intentions with bringing the cost of the teams down. However, too drastic of a drop can make it nearly impossible for a team that has already spent the millions to get their teams at the top. A great example of this is Red Bull. For years they were at the bottom of the grid. They worked hard and now they are starting to see the rewards of their efforts. Now with the budget caps new teams can come in (Brawn GP) and with little money and support can be at the top.

Having a multi-tier car system doesn’t work for a single championship. Not even Le Mans does that. They still separate the racing categories and give championship points separately even though they are run at the same time. This doesn’t work.

The other part the FIA are missing marketing the new 2010 series. They are looking to the past results of what Formula One has brought to the world of Motorsport. However, with these new rules how will this be beneficial to marketing teams as well as fan support? There is a spending cap for 2010 now, so having sponsorship dollars going to the car will be very limited.

Should FOTA run Formula One? Part of me says yes and the other part says no. You need to have an outsider’s input to the series to help keep the sport fair. However, I think that a large part of the decision making should be done with the inclusion of FOTA. These are the teams that put their money, safety and reputations on the line and they should have a say on what should and shouldn’t be allowed. I think that both FOTA and FIA have to work together to get the most out of the sport.

The last thing that I want to say is that I think that the FIA are losing the vision of the epitomy of what Formula One should be. This is the best of the best. EVERYONE wants to be in Formula One. This is where technology should thrive and cars should sore. This is where automotive discoveries need to be found. I agree that Formula One should also start to look at more inovative ways that keep with current trends and lifestyles. An excellent example of this would be the developments in the KERS (Kintetic Energy Recovery System) and bio-fuels. These are the steps that are in the right direction and these are the reasons why Formula One is and should be the highest form of motorsport.