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The STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda Team will be going through a series of maintenance repairs and reviews during the course of the next several months. During our 2018 racing season, we were able to experience some spectacular racing at a number of world renowned road racing facilities. Our 1st race of the 2018 season was the SVRA Spring Vintage Festival at Road America in May. The #77 Formula Mazda performed flawlessly throughout the entire weekend. We were fortunate to finish P1 in class for both of our races on that weekend. Click here for our detailed race report for the SVRA Spring Vintage Festival. Our 2nd race of the 2018 race season was the VARAC 2018 VGP held at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in June. Once again the #77 Formula Mazda performed perfectly during the race weekend allowing us to finish P1 for each of the 4 races we were in. Sadly, our weekend was marred by the death of Jeff Green, who passed away as a result of a racing incident during the weekend. Click here for our detailed race report for the VARAC 2018 VGP. Our 3rd race of the 2018 season was the HMSA/HSR 2018 le Sommet de Legendes at Circuit Mont-Tremblant in July. The weather for this race weekend was outstanding, with a mix of sunny and humid days. In the first qualifying session, we qualified 10th. In the second qualification session, we qualified 8th, however a number of the faster cars from the previous qualifying session did not both the run the second qualifying session, so we were gridded to start in the 10th position for Race 1. We finished Race 1 in 10th position, unable to make up any significant ground on the high horsepower field. Before the warm up, we elected to scuff in a new set of tires for Race 2. Fortunately, we had an amazing start and made up three places at the green flag. We were able to maintain our position for the duration of the race and we set our fastest lap time of the weekend, a 1:40.276!! Click here for our detailed race report. Our 4th and final race of the 2018 season was the US Vintage Grand Pre-at Watkins Glen International in September. The weather was perfect for the entire race weekend allowing us to lay down some very quick lap times. For Race 1, our race Group 9 included 16 amazing high powered open wheel race cars, including 4 Lolas, 2 Ralts, 2 Swifts and more – the competition was stiff for the diminutive Formula Mazda. We finished in 14th position, 3rd in class with a career best lap time of 1:57.289; we were faster than the 2nd place race car by 64 hundredths of a second, but we were unable to make up the distance as our race was shortened to 6 laps. In Race 2, we started in 12th and managed to finish in 8th position, once again 3rd in class. We set our fastest lap time of the weekend, a 1:56.859!! Click here for our detailed race report from this event. During the last several days and now into the next few months we will be performing our annual maintenance and repair plan on the STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions #77 Formula Mazda. This plan will include an upgrade of our data management system as well as preventative maintenance on the race cars’, body components, fuel, electrical, exhaust, chassis and transmission systems. Over the course of the next several weeks we will be posting pictures of our progress with the various installation and maintenance programs that will be carried out. In the meantime, we suggest that you stay tuned to our Facebook page and to our website for ongoing updates.
Our car performed flawlessly during the entire event - a very big thank you to our sponsors; STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions , to our race engineer Ken Ferrell, and to Bill and Shirley Vallis of Vallis Motor Sport for their excellent track side support. And last, but certainly not least, we want to thank our long suffering and tormented family which follows us from race track to race track allows us to continue to do the racing thing………. |
