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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 2019 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 Road Atlanta Grand Prix in March. We started in 7th position and began to make up positions quickly, by lap 10 we were in 5th place in our race group, 1st in class, lapping at 1:30.000. Then disaster struck. At the apex of corner 10 B, our mighty 13B rotary engine seized. This caused the transaxle to lock up and spun the car. Luckily, we were in a low speed part of the track and not on the race line. Click here for our detailed race report for the SVRA Road Atlanta Grand Prix.  Our 2nd race of the 2019 race season was the 2019 VARAC VGP at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Clarington, Ontario in June. On the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 5 times; practice and qualifying on Friday, a fun race Friday night, followed by Race 1 & 2 on Saturday and Race 3 on Sunday. We chased an oil leak all weekend and retired before Race 4 to avoid the black flag. Click here for our detailed race report for the 2019 VARAC VGP.  At speed at the VARAC VGP at CTMP Our 3rd race of the 2018 season was the HMSA/HSR 2019 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. We mounted a new set of tires for the first qualifying session – we qualified in 6th position with a 1:39.788 – better than our best time last year by ½ a second!! In the second qualification session, we backed off our speed and qualified 7th, however our fast time from the first session guaranteed us in the 6th grid position for Race 1. We were fortunate to finish Race 1 in 5th position, doing much better than we expected with such a high horsepower field. In Race 2, we were gridded in 5th position, unfortunately we did not have a great start and ended up 9th by the end of the first lap. In the end, we maintained our 9th position during Race 2, with a disappointing but respectable best lap of 1:41.00. Fortunately, we had an amazing start and made up three places at the green flag. Click here for our detailed race report for the HMSA/HSR 2019 le Sommet de Legendes at Circuit Mont-Tremblant.  On the grid at Mont Tremblant Our 4th race of the season was the SVRA 2019 Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Over the course of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 10 times; 4 on-track practices during the Wednesday test day, followed by 2 practice sessions, two qualifying sessions, Race 1, and Race 2. In our 1st practice session with our race group on the Thursday, we ended up being 5th fastest in our group and 1st in our class with a lap time of 1:33.105!! A 2 second improvement – an awesome accomplishment! Our 2nd practice session was shortened due to a muffler failure, however, we managed to be 3rd fastest in our group during that session and 1st in our class with a lap time of 1:34.000. In Race 1 we gridded in 10th position and had a very good start at the drop of the green flag. We made up several positions, at one point, we were in 6th position. Late in the race we were overtaken by 2 of the cars that we had passed at the start to finish in 8th position, 3rd in class with a personal best lap time of 1:32.681!! For Race 2, we started 8th position. We had a terrific start, at one point we are up to 5th position. Over the course of the race the higher powered cars that we had passed at corner 1 repassed us late in the race - we finished Race 2 in 8th place, 2nd in our class. Our best lap time was 1:33.628 – a little slower than our best time on Saturday, but very respectable given our tire wear. Click here for our detailed race report for the SVRA 2019 Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  On the grid in Gasoline Alley at Indy Our 5th and final race of the 2019 season was the SVRA U.S. Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International in September. Over the course of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 9 times; 4 on track practices during the spilt Wednesday/Thursday test day, followed by one practice, two qualifying sessions, Race 1, and Race 2. For Race 1, 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 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, with a career best 1:56.859!! Click here for our detailed race report for the SVRA U.S. Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International.  Chasing the #41 Pro Mazda at the Glen During 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. Our plan includes the addition of four shock sensors for 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 weeks and months we will be posting pictures of our progress with the various installation and maintenance programs that we have planned. In the meantime, stay tuned to our Facebook page and to our website for ongoing updates. Our car performed very well this past season - a very big thank you to our sponsors; STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions , 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 and allows us to continue to do this racing thing……….  Teddy Subject Murdoch, our biggest fan!!
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