SVRA U.S. Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International – September 7th through 11th Race Report

The Enhanced Performance, STANMECH Technologies, Good Cars Only, Gabo Solutions, Melanoma Canada #77 Formula Mazda Team had an awesome race weekend at the 2022 SVRA U.S. Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International.
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We ran in Group 9 – Monoposto Wings and Slicks.  The weather was mixed with rain on a number of days with temperatures ranging from the mid-teens to the low 20’s Celsius. Over the course of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we were on track a total of 8 times; 2 on track practices during the spilt Wednesday/Thursday test day, followed by 2 practices, 2 qualifying sessions, Race 1, and Race 2.  There was a large speed differential within the qualifying group!!  We definitely had our work cut out for us, as most everyone in our group had much more horsepower than we did. Here is a list of the cars in our race group:

In the first practice session qualifying session, we placed 11th of 25 race cars, 1st in our 9F4 class. In the second practice session, we placed 13th of 24 race cars, 1st in our class with a best lap time of 2:01.160.  In the 1st qualification session on the 9th of September, we qualified 13th out of 21 cars, 1st in our class with best lap time of 1:58.858. In the 2nd qualification session on the 10th of September, we qualified 11th out of 20 cars, 1st in our class with best lap time of 2:00.327. 

For Race 1, on the afternoon of the 10th of September, our race Group 9 included 24 amazing high powered open wheel race cars, including Lola’s, Elan’s, Ralt’s, Swift’s and a number of F5000’s.  The weather was perfect for racing, clear and mild, about 20 Celsius. We started in 11th and finished in 14th position, 1st in our class, with a best lap time of 1:58.773, our best lap time of the weekend!! Here is the YouTube video link to our first race https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MabBBohvzfM.

​In Race 2, on the 11th of September, weather was abysmal with a ongoing down pour during out entire race. Sadly, only 5 race cars participated in the event – we finished 1st in our class and 2nd in our race group, with an acceptable full wet best lap time of 2:25.268 – here is a YouTube video link of our very wet 2nd race https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeQxRHMtY4k!!! An eventful race weekend and our #77 Formula Mazda performed flawlessly.

A special thank you Bill and Shirley Vallis of Vallis Motor Sport for their trackside support.
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A very big thank you to the SVRA for hosting such a great event!!  And last, but certainly not least, once again we want to thank our long suffering and tormented family which follows us from racetrack to racetrack and allows us to continue to do the racing thing…….