# Nitto NT01 & Rotora - PIR - New Track Record and Triple Win



## ralphwarren (Aug 26, 2003)

As in the spring, the AZ guys treated us to an incredible weekend of racing, hospitality and club racing spirit. They ordered us up perfect weather and the track stayed in pretty good shape throughout the weekend. The drifters made a mess of things a few times but they were fun to watch.

Here's a report from the Nitto NT01 - Rotora BMW M3 Team. Other misc notes from the weekend are below...

The Nitto NT01 - Rotora E46 M3 ran well overall in HP and was able to pick up 3 needed "point-and-a-half" races this weekend. The SMG problem is STILL nagging us, but I changed our line around the track a bit and make things work shifting only 2 times per lap. The S54 motor really is a gem pulling from under 3000 and up to 8000.

In the first race we struggled a bit in traffic and just barely was able to hold off our competition in the HP class. A full-course yellow brought the field together but we ended under yellow so we got the win.

Going into the weekend we had the class track record of 1:09.6 and lost the record on that first Saturday race to a very well-driven E36 LTW Jon-Paul Devore who did a 1:08.1 DANG! We continued to move forward with the car and made slight changes to a number of things as the weekend progressed.

For the second Sat race, the changes we made helped and I got a better start which helped us manage traffic a bit better. After having a comfortable lead on JP in the LTW, a full-course yellow brought him right up to me. With only a couple lappers between us, the restart was vital so I held them back a bit and bolted away on the restart from the lappers leaving him behind. Our car's weight is a hassle sometimes, but boy - our power is a very good thing. I was able to keep other lappers between us for the rest of the race and got the win. 

Checking the time sheets he still had the track record by a measly .016. The car changed as the race went on so we decided to set the car up for Sunday so it was better at the end of the race. Setting the track record with the car setup for the end of the race going to be tricky.

We qualified 3rd which was great and got a killer start. All the stars aligned and I was able to do my first flying lap tucked right up under Tom Miller's CM wing as his slicks came up to temp slower than my Nitto NT01 DOT tires... so nice! I got my golden lap in and re-claimed the track record with a 1:07.3. Tom pulled away leaving me in 3rd. Mario's motor crapped out so now we were sitting in 2nd. Gabor's PTG car caught me easy and I held him off strong for about ohhh 2 seconds - bye bye! 3rd was ok by me. With JP in the LTW stuck battling with Brad and Greg Dalgam I had a huge lead on him so we were hoping for no full-course yellows.

The race was clean and full-course yellow-free and we took the class win and 3rd overall again. Not bad for a 3300lb street-legal car on DOT tires.

We picked up 3 wins, 53 points, reset track the track class record and had a blast doing it. Thanks for Scott Cary (car owner), Dave ("Animal") Beekman, and Kyle & Zane who also helped us out enormously.

As usual, the Nitto NT01 tires were consistent, tunable and quick and the Rotora brakes were powerful, consistent and easy to modulate. I'm willing to share any Nitto/Rotora tire/brake setup info with anyone off line. They both continue to perform for us flawlessly. You can get Rotora brakes and additional pad and tuning info from the boys at evosport.

-Ralph Warren



Other misc notes from the weekend...

This was pretty much Mario Rigoli's weekend. He was fastest in just about every session and won the first two races. In the final race while setting the fastest times of the weekend and jamming on his high-strung S14 guitar, he popped a string and he pulled over while leading. It turned out to be a head gasket.

We saw the Blue Angles. One of them buzzed the track and showed us what power really is. We'd stick him in Super-Mod for sure! - but I'm sure he'd complain about it.

A slight hang-up with lappers, a pinch point, a nasty transition and a pretty good closing rate brought a couple DM cars together to end a race a bit short but the drivers are ok so that's good. It has been confirmed that both cars are going to be repaired. 

Sat AM Andrew Sanchez gave a short speech on taking it easy on equipment and keeping the racing clean at the dangerous PIR. By the end of the weekend, all the faster DM cars were out and he cruised to the victory. Andrew smart, Andrew keep clean, Andrew get win (insert Rain Man - "yeah").

Louis Goldsman had a nagging oil leak. In the interest of his engine budget and the cleanliness and safety of the track, he missed the final race on Sun.

Brett Strom took care of JS but Joe Nelson did have the fastest car that was driven to the track. Weinstein and Flucky were less than a second behind in lap times but Brett got good starts and kept it up front. I'm looking forward to the Strom-McNutt-Koneval showdown at Buttonwillow. 

Holder set great times right off the trailer but Tom Miller got him in Race 1 for CM. Tom picked up an incredible 65 points this weekend.

Lots of yellows, dirt on track, spins and restarts continued to prove that good radios are important. I sell radios by the way.

Gabor Jilly's confidence grew each session in his ex-PTG car. By the final race he worked his way to the front and took 2nd overall and first in SM. Nice driving Gabor!

The grid this weekend was FAST. In pretty much every session, we had 10 or so cars doing 1:10 or better. That is very quick for cars that deep on the time sheet.

Nitto NT01 Tires are continuing to infiltrate the front runners. Marc Ghafouri took 2 out of 3 in IP and got valuable data for the upcoming 25 Hours of Thunderhill where we will be running them.

Marc let Mickey Miller race his car in the GTS race late Sunday. With a bit of lead removed and Micky's slicks on Marc's car, he was doing 1:06 while terrorizing the Porsches and other front-runners. Go Mick!!!

The dinner Saturday night was nice. Locals won al the good raffle prizes... fixed! fixed! ...jut kidding. It was a nice chance to gather and relax for a bit. I couldn't find anyone with good scotch on Saturday night - so sad.

Rotora brakes are showing up on front-runners. Brad was running them on Carl's CM car and John Holder replaced his Brembos with them too. No issues at all!

Spare tires on trailers - or lack there of - continue to reek havoc on BMW CCA Club Racers. When will we learn?

Rainbow stickers were-a-plenty.

I think I'm missing one guy but Ayers, Zakin, Weinstein and I think one other from the east coast made the trip out.

After the Watkins Glen incident, Zakin was racing again with us in his own car but got ill and missed pretty much the whole weekend. He took it all in stride and hung out with us. He won the sprit of club racing award.

Bits Fajardo and Darryl Kwan had good battles and Darryl drove the family race car all weekend. Wenny - who is showing now - says he got her pregnant just so he didn't have to share the race car with her so much. Very clever Darryl.

Brian Morgan was there so the side-stories in the Roundel in a couple of months will not be as embellished as usual.

Mills had a better Sunday then Saturday. Lori Schmidt brought her daughter and took care of tech pretty much without an issue. Things were calm and organized for the most part.

There was an LS car in the field! Although well-driven by Ralph Evans, the front runners showed us all what hundreds of labor hours, hundreds of pounds of less weight and hundreds of additional horsepower can do on a track.

In trying to fix the SMG issue leading up to the event, Crevier took the car again did a good job connecting with the right people at BMW to help us with the SMG issue - up until when BMW said "it's a race car and we unable to help race teams in that capacity". Funny how the next day BMW put out their press release saying they were flying qty (2) E90 diesels from Germany to do the 25 Hours of Thunderhill with factory support and pro drivers. Hmmmm.

...see you at Buttonwillow - can't wait!!!


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