And It Just Gets Better!

While the hordes of rabid Spec e30 fans can point to a lot of firsts and best evers from the March 19th - 20th NASA race weekend at Infineon Raceway, one can hardly deny this was most certainly the weekend of The Brad. Dominating victories both Saturday in abysmal monsoon conditions and in just regular rain on Sunday, the combination of the 91 car and Mr. BTM Motorwerks himself has proven to be a winning combination again.

Interestingly, the few weeks leading up to the race weekend was anything but. The entire BTM team, Brad, Andy and Ross, worked tirelessly to finish the new 19 car, with the old 91 just an afterthought. Thursday night both cars were still in pieces, and Friday meant loading up late to get to Infineon early the next morning.



Saturday morning involved just a few tweaks to get the new car running, and the 91 purred to life as usual.

But the Sonoma winter proved to have a few surprises for the entire field. While a Norcal record thirty-two Spec e30s lined up to grid, the day's steady rain turned into classic Sonoma weather that floods the Napa river, turns the valley into mush, and lays down enough water that grapes are still happily growing six months later. Any experienced driver at Infineon Raceway will tell you about the utter lack of grip in T2, the lake in T5, the river that spans the straightaway from 6 to 7, and the rising water that altogether removes T10 from view. Normal stuff. Saturday's weather was some order of magnitude worse.



And yet, Brad managed to place the 91 car on pole by a solid second and a half over Lauren T and the rest of the field. Stories of him drifting sideways throughout the entire track started to circulate in the paddock - crazy, skilled or both, the Brad and 91 car combo was really working well. Further back, Andy experienced the one minor failure in the new car - an unpowered transponder. Ironically, the BTM cars would be starting on opposite ends of the grid, pole position, and 31st.

And at the standing start, Brad launched, and was gone. A spin by Lauren T right in the middle of T1 undoubtedly made for good video as all 31 other cars filed around him before he could get the car pointing the right direction again and take up the chase. '10 champ Gary R challenged for the lead early on, and that characterized the race with he and Brad disappearing from the field in a misty blast, sometimes on, sometimes off the track. In the end, Brad finished second, but was awarded the top step when the NASA tech crew found an infraction on the reigning champ's car.

Andy, trying to break in the new motor gently, survive the blunt end of the field, and surf up through the field drove a more conservative race, but steadily moved up to 7th by the checkered flag, possibly setting some sort of record for a 24 place gain in a Spec e30 race.

Sunday was a bit more normal qualifying and race, Brad again set a blistering pole on pole and Andy a respectable 4th with the new car. Ever-bent on excitement and drama, the NASA crew inverted the top 10 places, leaving the BTM cars starting 6th and 10th. Once again, the standing start amazed fans and drivers alike, with several of the further-behind fast drivers getting excellent starts and making things very busy indeed at the front. It was Brad again who, amidst duels with Lauren T and Donnie E managed to motor to the front, and drift sideways to the top podium step again. Andy brought up the rear of the top six, holding position in spite of going easy on the new engine.



BTM Motorwerks will return with both cars April 16th and 17th for Round 3, this time at Thunderhill Raceway in beautiful Willows, CA. We'll see you all there!

-Andy

Starting the Year Off Right - Spec e30 Infineon

The first race weekend of the year is always filled with anticipation, excitement, and uncertainty - everyone's ready to race after the long winter break, and everyone wants to be that guy to get that holeshot and be the first around the first corner and get that racing season started.

BTM Motorwerks #91 car was driven mostly by Brad McClure last year, with some occasional help from Andy Chittum, and after a lot of work, the car was really working well, good enough for 2nd overall for the year. But a few issues with NASA's fine technical crew that morning meant a missed warmup session, and a slightly late start to the qualifying session.

Andy took to the track, was stuck in traffic for two laps, then broke free and managed what felt like two more good solid laps with a little time on the table. It was quite a surprise then, to find out that Andy's effort had brought in a 1:56.4, a new lap record for Spece30 at Infineon amidst the largest field to date.

Gary R, the 2010 Champion lined up next to Andy for the early afternoon start. At a Thunderhill event the previous summer, Gary had managed to pull an amazing standing start and leave the BTM car standing, but this time Chittum was ready for the green flag, and Gary fell back to fourth behind Greg P and Loren T. A late charge in the race brought him back up to the front, but Chittum managed keep the BTM car on track and land the top podium position.

The next race of the afternoon was GTS 1, where McClure took over and also managed to drive away from the field. Two wins for the BTM car for the day!

Sunday began more quietly, with Brad taking over driving duties for both the Spec e30 and GTS Challenge races. Qualifying second to Gary R again, Brad lined up next to the 2010 Champion and once again got an amazing start. This time Gary also had a good start, and latched right on to the BTM car's bumper. After getting a few car length lead, both competitors worked to wring every bit out of their cars to gain a tenth on the other, and for 12 hot sweaty laps, they gained and lost mere inches from each other. Once again though the BTM car took the checkered flag with Gary R just seconds behind.

The Sunday GTS Challenge race manged to be more incident filled. The rolling start put McClure in good position, but was nearly passed a number of times by the Bennett M's car. Traffic in the busier race both helped and hindered each car, both again pushing each other for tenths. Finally, late in the race a faster overtaking car from another class dove inside the battle, and hit Bennett's car squarely in the rear quarter panel. Able to continue, he fought on, but McClure once again brought the BTM car back in 1st position.

So, what started as a crazy weekend turned out to be a very good start to the racing season. Sixteen more races will come and go though before we crown a season winner, and every year has come down to the very last race. NASA has promised inverted grids, and other mixups to keep things interesting, but you'll hear all about it right here. Stay tuned!!!

October Rounds 13 &14 @ Infineon Raceway

Infineon Raceway, October 9th

• GTS1: McClure qualifies on the pole and wins race!
  

• Spec E30: Brad McClure Qualifies in 2nd position next to Trefethen on the Pole with Gary in third.
  

• 1	69	Loren Trefethen	1:57.568
  2	91	Team BTM Motorwerks	1:57.666

• After two restarts, and Team Berkley got black flagged, the BTM Motorwerks BMW walks away from the field, post fast lap of the race with a 1:58.491 and takes 1st Place.

Oct 10th, round 14

• GTS1: McClure again Qualifies P1 and wins race.
  

• Spec E30"Round 14 qualifying was almost a copy of Saturdays results with Trefethen on Pole, Brad Mcclure, Greg Petersen, and McMicking

		Loren Trefethen	1:58.740	4
		Team BTM Motorwerks	1:58.863

Due to a horrible starting in Saturdays race the official decided to penalize us with inverting the grid. The funny part is, that Team Berkley who has been winning a lot of races this season, for some reason qualified 3 seconds off pace, and now with the inverted field, he's up in front again. A little suspicious. In addition to the inverted grid, the track configuration was changed to the Indy setup.
The start was great, Brad McClure nails the start and jumps 5 position as he heads in to turn 2 with 17 anxious Spec E30 drivers. Fortunately for the first lap, it was all clean tight racing. The BTM Motorwerks BMW was working up in the field, dodging Scott Nevels punt/spin in turn 4 and then later the Berkley car gets punted in turn 7, making McClure go really wide and gets passed by 3 cars.
The rest of the race, was just a serious battle to the front like if you were in a concert trying to get to the front bar.
We ended up in Second Place for the event. What a great race it was.

Our Next event in November 6th & 7th for the season finally. BTM Motorwerks is currently in 3rd place.

A RS America in Marina

BTM Motorwerks racing has been visiting Marina, CA with the Porsche club during the summer break when NASA Road racing series takes some time off.

Here is a great Picture of Ross & Keli Martindales 1994 RS America at Marina.

Our own Porsche Carrera RS Turbo is getting dialed in. Unfortunately on the second run, we broke a axle. The turbo power comes on in a fierce way and with the 335/35/17 Hoosiers, something is going to give way. I'm glad it was just the axle and not the 915 gearbox.

We will be at Infineon Raceway on October 9th and 10th for round 7 of the Nor Cal Spec E30 racing series http://norcalspece30.com/ Anyone is welcome to come by. Just look for the Big black truck & trailer with the BTM Motorwerks.

Cheers

Brad.

Thunderhill Backwards is Llihrednuht.

NASA's May return to Thunderhill had racing going the opposite (clockwise) direction around the track as the previous event, so Team BTM mixed things up as well by having me run Spece30 Saturday, and Brad running the full schedule Sunday at the aptly-named Llihrednuht track.

Aside from a broken suspension piece causing a dismal 11th place qualifying for the Saturday Spec e30 race, qualifying was relatively uneventful and we prepped the 91 car for a GTS Challenge race followed by a Spec e30 race later in the day. Known to be built in the center of an unpredictable weather zone that would put the Bermuda triangle to shame, just about 20 minutes before the GTS race, the skies clouded over and put a significant amount of water down on the track, leaving the field scrambling for tires and setup options.

The large Norcal GTS Challenge field took its usual rolling start and had a surprisingly uneventful trip through turns 15 and 14, a sole 911 slowly spinning off out of the rest of the field's way. One standout though, was the BTM 91 car picking up a few places from its midfield start in the first turn. But it didn't stop there. Even though running in the slower GTS2 class, Brad began to reel in several GTS3 and 4 cars, eventually running in 2nd overall for most of the race. While his wet-weather skills were unparalled, the track's unpredictability hit again, this time drying out, and allowing Team Roadrunner's Austin N. to catch up and challenge, finally passing Brad in a daring move going into T15. Brad brought home 2nd place, still ahead of several much higher classed cars.

I jumped in the 91 car fresh from earlier qualifying repairs and lined up a dismal 11th. No rain or other extenuating circumstances appeared to be imminent for the race, but I knew I could surprise a few people with a car faster than it was in qualifying. The signature Spec e30 standing start went off without a hitch, and the field charged into the 15 - 14 complex 3 wide. With some good anticipation and help from a spinning car, I worked through the field, and got a good run coming out of 10 for the charge up to 9. A few more optimal turns, and after the 1st lap I found myself in 6th. And while I'd taken 5 cars on the 1st lap, the next 10 laps turned into an epic battle with the Team Roadrunner car again, this time driven by teammate Kevin N.

It took a good 4 laps of picture-perfect turns to get up to the rear bumper, and a few more laps to figure out where I could possibly get around Kevin. One lap I got alongside in T6, and we battled side by side, over 5, 4, 3, and finally he was able to make it back around in T2.

It ended up that I wasn't making time on him on the front straight in spite of the draft, but his line into 9 seemed to be where I could make up the most. I set him up for that, passed going out of 9, and came alongside braking for 8, a full-speed downhill bumpy camber-challenged no runoff turn. We again stayed side by side all the way into T6, but this time, I was able to make the gap stick. Kevin dogged me all the way to the finish line, but a hard-fought 5th place went to the BTM car.

Sunday went even better - Brad brought a few more tweaks to the GTS challenge race, got pole, and motored away from the pack. Stay tuned for pics and video!

-- Andy Chittum

BTM - T for Thunder

There comes a time in each racer's career when they've looked at, sat in, raced, and smelled a car for some period of time. You know each curve, crease, scrape and could tell the tire pressures or lug nut torque just by looking at them. Then a moment of revelation. "Oh, you idiot!" Then a few minutes later on the track, you're going a second and a half a lap faster.

That was my day at Thunderhill yesterday. Brad masterfully kicked the weekend off with a win in GTS2 and a strong 2nd place in Spec e30. Usually there's someone on Saturday night at Casa Ramos who's collecting more than their fair share of slaps on the back, and that night it was Brad. The BTM car has done okay this year, but the rising Norcal Se30 talent has kept it off the podium so far. Brad had done some very good Saturday driving. And perhaps those few subtle tweaks at the shop since round 2 really helped.

With Brad heading back to Campbell Sunday to build a customer motor, I got the 91 car up and running, warmed up and qualified. Aside from running out of gas early in the GTS Challenge qualifying session, the car felt fine, but not great. There was just something not jelling - my times were close to Brad (three-tenths can easily cover the top 10 Se30 qualifiers) I still felt that I was fighting the car instead of melding with it. And qualifying 7th in GTS and 6th in Se30, nearly 2 seconds back.

Then the moment. 20 minutes before I needed to be on grid for the GTS Challenge race, I knew what was wrong. 19 minutes later I was ready to go.

The flying start for NASA's Sunday GTS Challenge race ended up being a little ragged - the faster GTS cars and se30s not exactly all taking off at the same time, but I was able to take good advantage, and by the time I was setting up for the T5 bypass I'd moved from 6th in GTS2 to 2nd and looking for 1st. Greg Petersen's Green Machine was working well too and we had a great battle to the end of the race, picking off American Muscle-Buggy traffic left from the group ahead of us, each gaining and losing inches each lap.

20 minutes after finishing, the Se30 field took off and this time, a near picture-perfect start made me really work for the passes. A few good moves on the first lap, and I found myself at the tail of a Petersen - Zwain - Clough - Neville train practically glued together at the bumpers.

Under pressure from Scott N, Scott C did some high-speed lawn-mowing on the outside of Turn 1 about 5 laps in, and we motored by him. After a short yellow to clear another car, Scott N also went wide in T6, and I caught up to Tony Z. While I was able to get a nose around in a few places, and finish with my tail lights even with his doors at the end of Thunderhill's long front straight, I had to settle for 3rd, and 2nd podium of the day.

Thanks to Brad for building a great little car. Looking forward to going really fast once I get to know it better...



Andy Chittum

BTM Motorwerks Porsche RSR revieled

Sunday Feb 7th, 2010
BTM Motorwerks revieled there Porsche RSR Turbo at the SCCA Solo II Race.
Designed specifically for Solo II X Prepared, this car utilizes full race suspension components from ERP and Smart Racing. with a power output of 390 HP and weighing just over 2000 Lbs, acceleration is fierce.
Sundays runs were planned shake down runs and data gathering. Overall, once tire temps started to increase, the performance was impressive. For the 1st shakedown we were only 2 seconds off TTOD.
Stay tuned for more info.