It’s a New Season - 2013 NASA Norcal Spec E30 Racing

Maybe it’s just me, but it always seems the new race season starts way too early. Reading on the SpecE30 forum, everyone is getting new cars, paint jobs, engines, and my #1 car seems like sits in the trailer during the Holidays then January comes around and finally get to think about what we got to do to prepare for the next season. Luckily the #1 BTM motorwerks spec E30 only needed a quater panel and decals to get ready!

Round 1: This year Spec E30 approved a new TOYO RR1, supposedly a faster more stable tire. With e #1 car equiped with the new tires and calibrated alignment, we set a smoking qualifying time of 1:54.9 for a P1 pole position. The next time set .83 sec slower is new comer Jason Godfrey for a p2 position, 3rd place is DeeJay Raily, Bennet McMicking in 3rd, Lauren Trefethan in 4th, and the Iron Man Ferrario in 4th, Gary Reiger in 4th, and Mike Shawhan in 5th. we had 23 drivers in total.
The start of the race, The BTM car #1 gets a good launch, but Godfrey also launches good for a dragrace into turn two. Godfrey with a slight lead exiting T2 gets sidways and bumps me into the dirt allowing McMicking, Ferrario, Reiger, and Larry Frasier to walk on by. The battle of the top 5 lasted till the end of the race, with Ferrrario 1st, Rieger 2nd, and BTM in 3rd. It was a epic race with great battles. BTM Motorwerks with Brad McClure driving sets a new lap record of 1:51.1.
There were a couple typo’s in the video, sorry about that.

Round 2: Qualifying. BTM motorwerks Brad McClure takes P1 again, Ferrario P2, Godfrey P2, and Michael Shawhan BTM Motorwerks new Team Member in P4, Deejay Raily in P5, and Reiger in P6. The start of the race was clean and McClure pulled Ferarrio to T2 and began a good lead. Several alp into the race Ferrario had a grea run exiting T6 and got the inside line on McClure into T7 for the lead. After a few laps McClure got a fast exit of T11 adnd drag raced Ferrario to T12, T1, and made the pass going into T2 and lead the race to the Checker flag. Ferrario in 2nd, Godfrey in 3rd, Reiger4th, and Shawhan in 4th. It was a good clean race that the fans loved to watch.
For the season points, Ferrario leads McClure by 5 points. It’s going to be a exciting season who claems the 2013 Championship. Ferrarion still trying for a Championship, McClure going for a 3rd time Champion. Next race in 5 weeks!

-- Brad
Saturdays Race Click Here!

Team BTM Motorwerks 2012 NASA Norcal BMW Spec e30 Champions!

With two 2nd place finishes this weekend at Sears Point, Brad locks up the 2012 NASA Norcal BMW Spec e30 Championship for Team BTM Motorwerks, successfully defending the team's 2011 title.

And with a 3rd and a 4th place finish this weekend, Andy brings the #19 BTM car home in 3rd overall for the season.

Full story, Video, and more coming soon!

BTM Triple!

The NASA Norcal Spec e30 Championship returned to Sears Point October 27th and 28th for the penultimate weekend of racing in the 2012 season, rounds 15 and 16 of 18.  The fantastic Sonoma weather treated the team to a weekend of balmy 80 degree temperatures after a week of rain, which left a relatively green track.

Fresh from his late season resurgence, Brad McClure led the team off the two cars managing 3rd on the grid and Andy Chittum right behind in 4th after recovering from a broken front sway bar link.  Eric Deck and Matt Row led off the field.

At the start, Andy managed to get around Matt and slot into 2nd, however, an spinning car in turn 2 ahead of Brad meant he had to slow, and another car hit the rear of the series-leading #1 car.  Undaunted, Brad fought back and finished the race in 5th place.

Andy stayed just a few feed off Eric Deck's rear bumper and, though he had more speed, and even overlapped the car down the front straight, he was unable to make a clean pass and finished the race in 2nd, with Eric earning his first win in the series.

Sunday found an all BTM front row, with Brad qualifying on Pole, Andy 2nd, and new BTM employee Mike Shawhan in 3rd.  At the flag, it was Andy that got the hole shot into T2 and a notably incident-free field behind.  Several laps into the race, Andy overshot T7 slightly, and Brad took advantage getting into the lead.  After many more laps of battling, the trio crossed the line Brad 1st, Andy 2nd, and Mike 3rd, with BTM Motorwerks taking its first podium sweep.

The NASA Norcal Spec e30 series will return November 10th and 11th for the final weekend of racing for the 2012 season.  Brad looks poised to take Team BTM Motorwerks to their second consecutive championship, and Andy has a chance of a top-three finish in the series as a solo entrant.  Stay Tuned!

Summer Catchup

Catch the story of Brad pulling out podium finishes at the ultimate Norcal vs. Socal showdown, the first NASA California Cup at Buttonwillow Raceway!

Mayhem Hill, Part 2

NASA Nocal Spec e30 returned to Thunderhill Raceway May 19th and 20th, and the racers found themselves in store for even crazier weekend than the first trip there in April. Qualifying worked out well for Team BTM Motorwerks, with Brad on the front row, though Andy was only able to manage 7th with some slight oversteer issues in the #19 car. So close was the competition that Brad's 2:06.972 was only 49 thousandths off pole position sitter Paul Blickman. Being a second slower would have put a driver in 14th. 

The tight pack charged off at the drop of the green, and Brad McClure got one of his signature starts, blasting to the front of the field and leading for the first few laps. Further back, Andy god a good start and filed in behind Steve Ferrario who had qualified 5th, and pulled alongside the powerful #93 car several times on the first two laps, but was unable to make a pass stick. But the race was cut short as further back in the pack the new #45 car had a low tire – when he pulled off track to let everyone by, the hot car caught fire and the NASA emergency crew had to respond and put out the small ensuing brush fire. While the driver was unhurt, the car was destroyed.

Sunday qualifying was to be based on the Saturday finish to make another 50 minute race for the spec e30 field. Again, the racers took off, Brad from the pole, and Andy from 6th. Start of the start was Bennett McMicking who got ahead of Brad and had a two car lead going into T2. Jimmy B also started well from 3rd, and made some time on Brad, but the BTM Motorwerks driver held 2nd. Steve Ferrario took over 4th, and Chittum and the #9 car took off side by side through T1. Going into T2, however, Chittum in the #19 and the #9 car brushed each other side to side, which resulted in the #9 going into a slow spin that took him off T2 on the inside, and back onto the track again, unfortunately collecting 3 other cars. The race was stopped for several minutes while the NASA emergency crew untangled everyone. Luckily, none of the drivers were hurt.

The race restarted then with other cars filling in and taking off once more. On the start Brad managed to maintain 2nd position, with Bennett leading and Jimmy B right behind. Mike Shawhan in the new blue #2 got an insanely good start launching from several rows back but passing both Chittum and Ferrario on the outside of T2. By the time the train reached T8, a charging McClure tried a pass on Bennett for the lead, but both drivers ended up side by side with compromised momentum. That led to Jimmy B passing the two going into T9, leading to a 3 wide stackup, slowing Shawhan, Ferrario, and Chittum, which let Larry Fraiser move past the group as well.

The train continued on for several laps then, with Jimmy B leading, Bennett in second, and Brad in third. Eventually Ferrario made a move and got by Shawhan, and later Shawhan slide off on the outside of T9 – the mighty neon 93 had been leaking gas, and Shawhan fell victim to the Spy Hunter like move from the crafty veteran.

Larry Fraiser wasn't done either, he got a good run on Brad late in the race coming out of T11, then pitched his car sideways going into T14. Brad went wide avoiding the fishtailing rookie, but Larry hung on and moved into 3rd. Ferrario was then able to take adavantage of Brad's lost momentum and pass for 4th.

And so the race ended, with a surprise win from the NASA Norcal Spec e30 co-coordinator, in the #68 car – another podium for Bennett, and a very nice bit of driving from Larry Fraiser charging up from a 7th grid position to the last step of the podium. Brad and Andy finished 5th and 6th, not exactly the results they were hoping for, but they did maintain 1st and 2nd in the overall points totals for NASA Norcal, and good momentum for the following event - the California Crown, held June 23rd and 24th 2012 – the series first trip to beautiful Buttonwillow Raceway since 2009.

Watch the full race video here: http://vimeo.com/42606031

April Mayhem

The first event for NASA Norcal at the famous Thunderhill Raceway promised to be full of the unknown, with a full week of rain leading up to the event, and the 39 drivers with points on the board for the season more more accustomed to Infineon Raceway at Sears Point where the last 4 race weekends had been held. As everyone was soon to find out, expectations for pure chaos were far behind. Team BTM Motorwerks looked to be in great shape for the year, with Chittum and McClure heading up the season points standings with two 1 - 2 finishes at the last event. As the teams converged on Willows California, the weather cleared, and spirits ran high at a typical Casa Ramos evening the night before racing began. Saturday Qualifying began normally for the racers, and when the smoke cleared Brad had a credible 3rd place in qualifying behind Paul Blickman and the ever-speedy #10 car usually driven by Loren Trefethen. While Loren was unable to make the race Saturday, Tim Barber stepped in and put the car on the front row . Ray Zanatto slipped in right behind Brad, and, after some minor difficulty with setup for this new track, Chittum qualified fifth next to a fired-up Steve Ferrario. The hallmark standing start and blastoff was fantastic - completely the crack cocaine equivalent that racers spend long nights polishing a washer to achieve. Blickman, Zanatto and Ferrario got fantastic launches, and Brad’s was good as well. Chittum’s was okay, but Ferrario stormed ahead of him in 2nd gear. Barber’s launch from the front row consisted of a long smoky burnout, very impressive, but not the fastest way off the line.

As the pack hit 3rd gear and stuffed three-wide into Thunderhill’s T1, Blickman led Zanatto and McClure with a good margin, and Barber, right behind him dove to the inside, with Ferrario right behind. Chittum had better momentum, and dove back to the outside, neatly passing both Barber and Ferrario on the outside the long T2, and securing 4th by the exit of T3. The racers lined up looking for advantages through 4, 5 and 6. The line bombed through T8, but Blickman appeared to slow slightly heading up the hill for T9. Zanatto took a flying dive up the inside, and the two went side by side into T9. But out on the marbles, Blickman wasn’t able to keep his car from going nearly sideways, and he went off on the well-worn dirt on the outside of T9, later to rejoin in 11th. The Zanatto - McClure - Chittum - Barber then rounded T14 and T15 onto the front straight - and found a yellow flag. Unfortunately, the Miata field that started behind the Spec e30s had several cars crash, and it took most of the remaining time in the session to clean up the mess. NASA officials granted points for the race based on qualifying, and set up the grid for the Sunday 50 minute race as well. Sunday’s race took off in the same order, with Trefethen and McClure on the front row, with Chittum and Zanatto 3rd and 4th. At the drop of the green, all 4 cars got decent launches, with Trefethen edging out McClure, and Zanatto getting ahead of Chittum. Once again, the pack ended up nose to tail and for the first few laps, none of the front runners could seem to get an advantage on any of others.

But, up in front, Trefethen seemed to be having problems. McClure, King of the T5 Rodeo got a good run on him going into T6, but Trefethen ran wide, taking McClure right off the outside. Next Zanatto caught up to the canny racer, and made a credible pass attempt on the outside of Thunderhill’s super fast T1. He ended up on the outside of T1 in the marbles, and got a rough ride on the grass before rejoining the race. That left Chittum in 2nd behind Trefethen, with only a little breathing room before Greg Petersen and Steve Ferrario caught up and made his life difficult. But noticing Trefethen seemed to have the most problem with right hand turns on the predominantly left-turning track, Chittum set up for an undercut going into T14, and sure enough, Trefethen went wide, barely able to keep the car on the track. Later, Trefethen would pit, and return to the fray with a new rear tire - he’d somehow managed to get a slow leak, and his car’s handling had suffered progressively in the race.

This left Chittum with a few lengths of lead that he slowly stretched into just about a full straightaway by late in the race. In fact, he looked set to clinch another win, but the mayhem was not yet played out. First, an incident in T9 that affected several cars including McClure on his way back to the front that left a car stranded on the outside of the turn. NASA officials initially ran a full-course yellow that bunched the field up while they towed a few other suck cars, then later had a yellow in T7 through T9 to finish the cleanup. Chittum got a good gap on the restart, but got caught behind a lapped car in T1. Unable to begin passing until just after T9, Zanatto was able to keep more speed through the yellow area and pass both cars going into T10. In one last surreal moment, the #12 A-1 Autowerks car caught and passed Chittum going into T1 with the white flag flying. So hard was the car pushing, that it went right back off the track again in T5, to finish back off the podium.

Finally, at some point during the race, the entire timing system conked out, so while unofficially it looked like Zanatto, Chittum and Peterson finally made the podium, we will update this space once the official Sunday results are published. Team BTM Motowerks will return to Thunderhill Raceway May 19th and 20th to contest Rounds 7 and 8 of the 16 round NASA Norcal Spec e30 Championship.

Brad's Saturday Race Video!

Head on over to YouTube and catch Brad's Saturday drive from 11th to 2nd!