2012! Let's Race!

A chilly damp February morning met 28 shiny BMWs at Infineon Raceway Saturday morning for the first round of the 2012 NASA Norcal Spec e30 championships. Overnight rain left the track puddled, but clouds were clearing, and it looked to be yet another gorgeous day racing in Sonoma.

Team BTM Motorwerks returned with both cars ready for action, the old 2011 Champ #91 car rebadged the new #1 car, and most of the body repainted for the occasion. The #19 car also sported some fresh paint, and both cars had been meticulously prepared by the BTM Motorwerks crew.

And ready they were - mid-morning qualifying went off cleanly, and Chittum managed to find room in between the other 27 Spec e30s and 18 Spec Miatas on the tight track to lay down the first sub 1:57 lap of the season. Chittum's 1:56.9 was a good four tenths faster than 2nd place's Loren Trefethen in fact, and McClure was right behind with a 1:57.6. Steve Ferrario and Team Race 38 North filled out the top five.

The racers lined up for the typical standing start, and took off with a minimal amount of carnage given the long winter break. Chittum and Trefethen on the front row took off side by side charged up the hill toward T2. Typically, one car would have the advantage by T3, but both cars still managed to stay neck and neck until the exit of 3, where Chittum found some marbles on the outside exit, and lost just enough ground that Trefethen got that crucial half length to stay ahead. Rather than experience the even worse grip on the outside of T4, Chittum dropped back and filed in behind the speedy #10 car to look for an opening.

Meanwhile, from the 4th grid position, McClure got a slightly worse launch, losing ground to silver and neon #93 driven by Steve Ferrario, and, on the exit of T4, going slightly wide and being passed by Bennett McMicking's characteristic red and yellow #17 car. Brad recovered quickly though, got back by the #17 car quickly and charged after Ferrario. Setting the fast lap of the race just on one thousandth faster than Chittum's pole lap, he caught up to the three way battle making it into a four way train.

For fully half the race then Trefethen - Chittum - Ferrario - McClure motored on. Chittum got an opportunity on Trefethen coming out of the carousel, but overlapping Trefethen in T7, he quickly had to defend against Ferrario. Nearly passing Chittum, then Ferrario had to fight off a McClure right on his heels. While this repeated several times, in the end the top four ended up finishing in just that order, with a 2nd and a 4th to Team BTM Motorwerks.

Sunday started drier and a little colder, but that didn't stop Loren Trefethen's momentum from the previous day, and he laid down a smoking 1:56.5 lap for pole position, with Chittum just a few tenths off his pace. The #114 Team Race 38 North car qualified 3rd, and Brad qualified the #1 BTM Motorwerks car in 4th.

Proving once again for 2012 they have not only a sense for crazy fun but also a rather dark sense of humor, the NASA officials inverted the grid for the top ten starters, meaning that McClure would start in 7th, and Chittum back in 9th, next to Trefethen in 10th. Several other fast runners had been unable to qualify well, however, Ferrario's #93 car started in the first few rows as well as one of the other front-runners in the field, Tommy O in the #11 car. BTM Motorwerks 2011 Rookie of the Year DJ Riley took the honors having qualified 10th, and lead the grid out on pole.

All 27 cars lined up for the standing start again, and after a slightly late green flag they lit up their Toyo RA-1s once again to charge into Infineon's super-technical Turn 2. Being on the inside line, McClure and Chittum made up several spots each as a few cars on the right side of the track got very slow getaways. Trefethen proved to be quite slippery as well though and got through that mayhem and filed in behind McClure and Chittum, running 5th and 6th by T3. Reaching T11 once again in a tight train of cars, McClure locked up his rear tires under braking. Chittum and Trefethen scattered to give him room, which let Chittum sneak through on the inside and took off after Scott Clough, running in 4th.



Chittum once again charged up T2, but Clough's new #444 car slowed, forcing Chittum to go wide in T2, compromise T3 slightly, and before he could recover, Trefethen and McClure both made it up the inside of T4, dropping Chittum from 5th to 7th. Trefethen then was able to attack Clough right away in T7, and McClure and Chittum both attacked and got by on the inside of T11 the same lap. A few laps later, Trefethen, McClure and Chittum reached the top three cars, Ferrario, DJ Riley, and Derek Welch driving the green 76 car, as teammates with Greg Petersen this year. Trefethen attacked, lost momentum, and McClure got by into 4th. Half a lap later, McClure attacked, lost momentum, and Trefethen got back by. In spite of the cool weather at this point, both cars' tires looked to be pretty cooked, with both cars putting two tires in the dirt in the exit of 3 and 4. But a yellow flag at the exit of 6 put a stop to the action - some of the cars further back in the field had tangled, leaving a fair amount of debris at the entrance to T8, and a full course yellow was called to regroup the field and allow the fine NASA safety crew to tow a damaged car and sweep off the track.

After a long period of yellow, the safety car pulled off, and the race resumed - Ferrario - Riley - Welch - Trefethen - Chittum all took off again. After the yellow as well Grand Am Driver Gregory Liefooghe, driving the new #12 car caught up to the melee and joined in the fun.

Hitting the front straight the next lap and getting the white flag, both Trefethen and McClure got a run on the Green #76 driven by Welch. Loren went inside and Welch defended, giving a slightly more advantageous line to McClure who made it around the outside of 1 and took the apex in 2 to slip into a podium position with less than a lap to go. Welch and Trefethen's speed was compromised which gave Chittum an opportunity to either go for the gusto and try to pass Trefethen or defend against Liefooghe. He nearly made it up the inside of 3, but once again, the marbles on the outside of 3a caused the #19 car to wash out slightly, giving the wiley veteran the only chance he needed to pass.



Charging down the hill, Chittum got a great run through 10 and 11, and onto the start finish, had the opportunity to pass both the 12 and 76 cars ahead of him on the front straight, but alas, the checkered flag flew, and the race was over.

In all, Team BTM Motorwerks brought home two podiums and a pole position for the opening weekend, and if Chittum's outright speed and McClure's gritty racing determination in the first event are any indication, the team will have another fantastic season in 2012.



Team BTM Motorwerks would also like to thank NASA for a fabulous 2011 season banquet on Saturday night, as well as Nichols Wealth Management for sponsoring the 2011 series championship team with jackets commemorating the season.

NASA Spec e30 will return to Infineon Raceway March 10th and 11th. Come on out and cheer us on!

Ready...Set...

Less than 24 hours before Team BTM Motorwerks hits the track at Sears Point. Paint - Shiny. Weather forecast - Rainy. Drivers - Ready.

Hit it!

If you build it, they will inspect it

2011 took off with a blast, and finished with a Stephen J. Cannell style ending, but 2012 is time to begin another chapter. There's still time to slip into the Art of Road Racing Racing School, where BTM driver Andy Chittum will be instructing, but Team BTM has spent some time this winter going over 2011 data, overhauling both cars, and planning for another good year of hard fair racing.

NASA Norcal, and the fine technical inspection crew that help govern Spec e30 play a large part in keeping huge Spec e30 fields fair, after all, with fields likely to surpass 35 cars in 2012, the last thing that a competitor wants to worry about is that car just ahead that seems to be magically just a little faster than possible. Looking through a year of 2011 tech notes, the thoroughness of the NASA tech crew was amazing:

• Air Mass Meters inspected, checked for compliance.
• Intake opened up, camera inserted looking for signs of machining anywhere on the intake
• Fuel was removed from each car and analyzed. NASA didn't specify the scope of the analysis.
• Steering Racks were checked for ratio and proper part number.
• Front and rear camber was checked multiple times throughout the year for compliance.
• Front and rear track were checked multiple times throughout the year for compliance.
• Differential gear ratio was checked
• Rear LSD breakaway force was checked
• Spare Tire weight was checked
• Wheel Weight was checked - NASA took a wheel from each car, removed the tire, weighed the rim and had AIM reinstall and rebalance the tire on the wheel.
• Car Weight was checked on most every car after nearly every qualifying, and top cars after the race.
• HP & Torque was checked on the dyno at Thunderhill.
• Flywheel was removed, weighed and checked for modification.

What is telling is that the championship winning #91 car was inspected in just about every one of these procedures (one of the downsides of finishing up front!) that car never had any technical infractions. In fact, the top cars in the series remained all relatively free of trouble, a testament to the fine competitors and camaraderie in NASA Norcal Spec e30.

The early pre-season announcements look to have tons of excellent incentives, prizes, excitement and fun for the group, so stay tuned to this spot for Team BTM Motorwerks' defense of their championship in 2012!

Coming Soon...

Winter projects...

And One for the Win!

And the Season Finale -

With just one weekend off, the entire field of Spec e30 racers returned to Infineon Raceway at Sears Point, and as usual welcomed a few new racers with brand-new cars, and looked toward the sharp end of the field where the veterans would play a part in a storybook ending for the challenging 16 race season. Brad McClure, Andy Chittum, Greg Petersen, Loren Trefethen, Steve Ferrario, Tommy Oliver, and the rest of the 25 car field would all figure in the hard-charging drama. With Brad’s misstep in the Saturday race the previous weekend, and Loren losing an engine and falling far back down the field the previous Sunday, just four points separated Team BTM Motorwerks with Loren's speedy TFB Performance car. Considering there were 200 points available for a 1st place, the entire season was going to simply be down to who could get their car across the line first. With rain forecast, many racers prepared for it, and the morning warmup session was typical Sears Point soggy, with enough overnight rain on the track to cause puddles and spray. One surprise was John Trefethen joining the field for the second time laying down a warmup lap two seconds a lap faster than anyone else - when questioned about it later he claimed he was ‘just getting a feel for the car’ but many took note he could be a force to be reckoned with if it were to rain.

But, by the time qualifying began midday Saturday, the Sonoma sunshine was warming things up, and the racers found themselves on a very green very dry track. Andy managed to make the best of a busy track and qualify 3rd with a 1:58.141 and Brad did one better by throwing down a 1.58.105, just 4 hundreths faster. But the session would belong to Tommy Oliver who managed a near-magical 1:57.8 on the slippery track. Season points leader Loren Trefethen ended up just one position behind Andy, with Greg Peterson and Steve Ferrario right behind him.

The NASA organizers also contributed to the excitement by scheduling qualifying for Saturday, then Sunday run a 30 minute race followed by a 50 minute race later in the day. The racers would need to mind their cars in the morning race to be sure they were ready for the longer afternoon event.

But as can happen, the morning race’s drama began sooner than expected... in fact right about the time everyone was hitting second gear from the spec e30 standing start. Everyone except Tommy O - lining up on pole position he took off as the green flag fell, but the experienced NASA racer missed getting into 2nd gear. Brad, lined up on the outside also missed his shift to 2nd, but managed to recover quickly and take off after a speeding Loren Trefethen who took excellent advantage of the mayhem on the inside of the track. Andy hit second gear perfectly just to find Tommy slowing in front of him. Andy tried to avoid on the inside of the track, but the pressure from the other 25 cars behind the leader caught up too quickly. He glanced off Tommy’s rear bumper, which in turn knocked his car out of gear. As he recovered and got up to speed, a number of other cars had already passed him, putting him in 10th position. Luckily the #19 car was not damaged badly from the contact, and Chittum took off after the leaders.





Up front Brad caught up to Loren and pulled out a gap over Steve Ferrario and series organizer Scott Neville who had both benefited from the chaotic start - Scott had managed to stay clear of the mess and made it up to 4th from his start in 12th, all in the first half lap.

But heading out of the carousel and up the hill for the first time, Brad got a great run and got inside Loren. He braked so hard he locked up his tires, but somehow in the resulting smoke he was able to get the mighty 91 car turned and took the lead.
Loren pressed Brad continually throughout the race, but wasn’t able to take back the lost position.

Meanwhile, Andy had his work cut out for him coming back through the field. He worked the field, passing cars up to 6th place, but after getting by the blue #2 Shawhan car, the top 5 cars had a several second gap. He took off after them setting the fastest lap of the race catching up to the familiar green #76 car driven by Greg Petersen. Greg must have seem him coming as well, because the two caught and Greg passed Scott Neville in a single fell swoop on the inside of the Turn 11 hairpin. Chittum snuck by the 44 car as well on the inside of the double-apex turn 7 shortly thereafter. But even though Chittum had the speed, and harried the 76 car repeatedly, Chittum had to settle for 5th behind Peterson. Tommy O recovered from even further back in the field after his fatal mis-shift, and managed an impressive 7th, still possibly in the hunt should Loren and Brad not finish the race for any reason.

The morning race was to set the grid for the long afternoon race, Team BTM Motorwerks then held down the 1st and 5th positions, and as it turned out would be key in the final battle. Brad had finished ahead of Loren and the 91 car had retaken the series point lead, but given the double points given out at this particular event, he still couldn’t let Loren get away, it was still very likely which ever car crossed over the line in the final event would be the series champion.

The afternoon race’s start was a bit less dramatic, Brad again not quite getting his 2nd gear shift right, but managing to avoid any major carnage. Loren again got a blistering start and blasted off into the lead, and Greg shot by the mis-shifing McClure followed by Steve Ferrario, Andy, and Tommy O right behind them. While this time the racers knew they’d be out punishing their 205mm Toyo RA-1 tires for a full 50 minutes of racing, the less-chaotic start meant that nearly the entire field crossed the start-finish line nose to tail on the first lap...it wouldn’t stay quiet for long.



A few laps later found bunched up field each looking for an advantage, and the first one to find it was Greg, getting a good run inside Loren in T 11. At the same time, just a few cars back, Andy had tried to get a run on Steve, but couldn’t quite get it done and lost speed in T10, leaving the door open on the inside of 11. As Greg powered around Loren nearly followed by an opportunistic McClure, Tommy O got inside Andy and got the inside line in T10. Tommy motored off after the top 5, but Andy had to deal with traffic for a few laps before getting back up to speed. And shortly later, Brad was also able to get a run inside Loren in T11 and took over second going into T2.



Andy gapped the rest of the field then, on his way back up to the front. As he caught up to Tommy O and Steve’s battle, the two got together on the slippery entrance to T7, and Andy slipped by on the inside.

This left Greg still leading, Brad in 2nd, and Loren right behind, with Andy about 10 lengths back...and the race still only half over. For a few more laps, everyone still driving flat out, Andy struggled to make up time on the three leaders. Furthermore Loren started to push as well, starting to try moves on Brad. If the cars finished as they were at this moment in the race, Team BTM would win the championship, but not if Lauren could make up any more positions.

As their battle intensified, Greg was able to relax a little, but Brad came further under fire, twice running wide in T11, T7, and once even nearly off in T1 - Lauren’s assault was both solid and persistent, sometimes even drawing even with the 91 BTM car. While Brad’s style of driving was solid and persistent if occasionally sideways like Nigel Mansell, Lauren played the perfect part of a Montoya, completely fearless, completely unforgiving, lightning fast and completely willing to put his car anywhere jaw-droppingly necessary to get the job done. It seemed that Brad’s defense was weakening...



And then Andy caught back up to the three leaders. Making contact coming out of 4, he nearly got by Lauren going into the carousel, but Loren fought back quickly closing the door and preventing Andy from sliding down the inside of 7. But while he was able to keep Andy from stealing the last podium position, including some extra-difficult-to-pass sideways action, Brad was free to recover his car, and give Greg a final chase before the end of the race. Andy also gave Loren a serious run for his money as well, finishing just about a half second behind the last podium spot. But, with Brad in the 91 car ahead of Loren, that gave Team BTM Motorwerks the points boost needed to take home the season championship for the first time. 3rd in 2009, 2nd in 2010, and finally a season win for the team.

And an especially heartfelt congratulations to Greg and his family for their new baby - a great drive on his return to the series.



Brad and Andy would like to thank:

Ross Martindale, Gary McClure, and Jennifer Chittum
QStarz Motorsports GPS Lap Timer
LPI, Inc
NASA, Scott Neville, and our fellow Spec e30 Competitors!
We’ll see you all next year!

Massive Shift - Season Heats up in Cool Sonoma

With two race weekends left to go in the 2011 championship, Team BTM Motorwerks returned in full force to Infineon Raceway at Sears Point. Andy had done some between-race testing and identified a weak point on both the new #19 and the venerable #91 car that benefited from some re-freshening and after a few nights wrenching all three team members would be ready to race, Brad again in the mighty 91, Andy back in Spec e30 with the 19, and Ross taking the 19 in GTS Challenge. Beautiful Sonoma California obliged with gorgeous mild October weather in the mid 70s with no chance of rain, and the entire field was excited to get back racing.



The weekend started off in fine fashion with Andy laying down a blistering lap in qualifying to take the first Pole Position of the weekend. Mike C of the always-fast Team Courtney-Olivier set a time only four one-thousandths slower, Lauren T a relatively distant one one-hundredth behind Andy. Brad in the 91 qualified three-tenths behind that group with Bennett M two one-hundredths behind him. As usual being a second off the pace would put you down somewhere between 13th and 18th




Over twenty other Spec e30s took to the track behind the leaders, as the canny NASA officials decided to mix the racing action up by mandating a rolling start instead of the typical standing start. Generally seen to be an easier, less incident-filled method of starting a field of cars, the field managed its full quota of mayhem the first lap.

Andy had opted to start on the outside of Turn 1, noting a huge oil slick from an earlier race's incident on the outside of Turn 2, but as the cars took off under green, Andy and Mike stayed side by side through one, and either the NASA safety crews had done an exemplary job of cleaning up the track, or the speedy #10 car had mystically found grip through the mess. In any case, going side-by side worked fine through the first part of the track, rarely led to anything good happening in the turn 3 left-right over crest complex at Sears Point. Andy tucked in behind Mike rather than potentially becoming a hood ornament to Brad and Lauren's onslaught.

Brad had fared better, getting around Lauren at the start, and snuggling up to Andy's bumper. For about four laps, Mike, Andy, Brad, and Lauren made a high-speed train, with Andy getting occasional peeks around his bumper, to keep him honest, but finding no advantage large enough to capitalize on.

Finally, after nearly getting alongside Mike approaching T8, Andy had a slightly compromised run through T10, and Brad made his move on the inside. Andy gave him room on the inside of T11, but unfortunately Brad went just a little late into T11, locked his front tires, and slid into the the #10 car. Andy and Lauren quickly darted to the inside and Brad managed to untangle himself and get back underway in 5th. Brad would later apologize to the team of the #10 car admitting to an uncharacteristic mistake in the midst of the close and hard fought action.

From the mayhem, Andy re-took the lead with Lauren close behind. For the last half of the race, the #19 and #69 cars fought for inches over the same 5 car lead that Andy held since the incident. Finally with the checkered flag literally just around the corner Andy missed a shift coming out of T11. This allowed Lauren to come alongside the 19 car, and just like in qualifying the two cars finished inches apart, Lauren just twelve thousandths ahead of Andy.

Although Andy would have much preferred the top podium step, 2nd place was a great result, and best result the new 19 car had seen all season. The entire team was happy the car has proven it can run up front. Unfortunately, for the contact that the #91 and #10 car had, NASA officials ruled it avoidable, and DQ'd the championship leading car. The team accepted the result, and focused on the next day's race.



Sunday's festivities began with an announcement by the NASA officials that Group A Spec e30 and Spec Miatas would be running a modified course – the long Turn 4 to the long Turn 7, essentially the NASCAR course. Laptimes quickly dropped into the low 1:33s during qualifying, and when the dust was settled, Team Courtney-Olivier cranked out a 1:32.9 for pole position. Steve F slotted in right behind, and Brad qualified the #91 BTM Motorwerks in third.

On the heels of a brilliant qualifying session the previous day, Andy started a smoking fast lap, then suddenly realized he'd corded a rear tire right at the start of the session. With no time to swap tires out, he heroically threw down the fastest lap possible under the conditions, but given the competition, he was to start 13th.

On the start Brad was held position in 3rd, poking his nose around the Steve F's car, with Paul B and Rick M right behind. Everyone held steady for several laps until Brad mis-shifted in T2 and both Paul and Rick got around him. He was able to re-take 4th, but though he got alongside Rick twice going into Turn 2, he wasn't able to make the pass stick and had to settle for a non-podium position.

In the middle of the pack, Andy steadily worked his way up to 8th before being punted on the last lap by car 20, and getting knocked back to 13th again.

Team BTM Motorwerks will return in just one weeks' time to Infineon Raceway at Sears Point for the season finale where the season Championship will be decided between their venerable #91 car and the #69 car driven by Loren Trefethen...only 4 points separate the two. Stay tuned to this blog or follow us at the addresses below to be sure not to miss a moment of the hard charging racing action!

http://www.facebook.com/bradford.t.mcclure
http://www.facebook.com/achittum

Brad's twitter - @btmmotorwerks
Andy's twitter - @mmmotors





Thanks to QStarz Racing, and Livermore Performance Inc!

Andy Spends a Weekend with USTCC in a MINI

Last weekend's Team BTM Motorwerks Racing Update will be available soon. In the meantime, check out Andy's Blog Update with Video of the hard-charging racing action with USTCC at Buttonwillow Raceway!