Shiva at Spring Mountain Raceway, Pahrump, NV, March 22, 2008
Reasons why I should be invited to the 2008 GRM UTCC (Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge).
1. Shiva is a Mini Cooper S - the giant killer.
2. I'm a card carrying AARP member - geezers need respect.
3. I'm a track day junkie and scary fast.
4. My full race prepped John Cooper Works Mini Cooper S will be one of the safest vehicles in the field.
5. I started reading GRM when it was still a folio sized newsprint fishwrapper back in Florida in the 80's and I was autocrossing a Honda CRX. Good times! ARRRRrrrrrr!
Chapter 1 - Sad Arthur II arrives in January 2005
When the BMW engineers added a limited slip differential as an option for the 2005 MCS, it made my 2004 JCW MCS obsolete. Luckily my wife agreed and Sad Arthur II was picked up in the Chicago area and broken in on the way back to California. Already enamored of the handling characteristics of the little supercharged screamer, SA II continued to be the test mule for my driver education program. It is my firm belief that the best mod you can make to any car is to tweak the carbon unit and so I enrolled in 2 Jim Russell race schools and continued doing track day events at 9 tracks around California and Nevada.
Sad Arthurs I and II get acquainted in Berkeley
Chapter 2 - Trackdays
First track day
Starting with SA 1 in the fall of 2003, we hit the track as much as possible. That's a lot with three world class tracks within two hours of the SF Bay Area: Laguna Seca in Monterey, Infineon at Sears Point and Thunderhill in Willows. Altogether through two permutations of Mini, we have done over 500 trackdays in the last 5 years. We advanced slowly up the ladder from HPDE 1 to 2 to 3 to 4, then to Time Trials with NASA . Along the way I started instructing and fell in love with it. Luckily I don't get carsick and I've been off so many times and wrecked so many cars that the danger of strapping into a perfect stranger's right seat and showing him/her how to go fast on a racetrack just doesn't bother me any more. And all the time these thousands of laps were going into muscle memory and helping me to go faster.
Chapter 3 - The Mods
It wasn't long before the car started talking to me about what it needed to go faster. The supercharged 1.6 liter 4 was plenty strong, but the car wasn't balanced well. The first to go were the run flat tires and the heavy stock wheels. Next it was a bigger rear sway bar and then we reached the limits of the John Cooper Works suspension and it was time for a full bore suspension upgrade: Koni coil over shocks, Hotchkiss camber plates, ALTA front tower brace, Alta front sway bar and a Stop Tech big brake kit. Finally, I added 17 X 7.5 SSR wheels so I could run 235/40/17 tires (stock size is 205/45/17)for the biggest possible footprint. By the summer of 2007 I was getting this new system pretty well checked out and in full play and the lap times were still going down. In addition, I had learned to fly.
Chapter 4 - The Wreck
After improving all year in NASA's Time Trials (I eventually placed third for the season) I met my nemesis in Turn 7 at Infineon on the last weekend of the racing year. I put the car up on two wheels and then flipped it over on its back to avoid another driver. End of season. End of car, for that matter since all agreed it was a totaled wreck. Bummer.
Chapter 5 - Phoenix rising
This is the best time to have another brain on the job. My friend and expert Mini tweaker, Jacques Andres of Bay Bridge Motors in Oakland, had a closer look one evening at the shop and called me to say he was going to try some chassis pulls and if they turned out OK, there might be a way to save the car. The question was did I want to invest the money? I briefly toyed with the idea of parting the Mini out and just buying a race Miata, but the thought of sitting in a swarm of buzzing Miatas going as fast as possible and having a Mini dive through like a dog through a flock of pigeons was just anathema to me. So I pulled the trigger and at the same time decided to go all the way. We gutted the interior, added a Recaro seat, a 6 point racing harness, fire extinguisher, master cutoff switch and a full roll cage. Sad Arthur was reborn as Shiva, the Destroyer; lighter, stronger and with a new paint scheme.
Shiva
Shiva waits on the grid
Chapter 6 USTCC
Now we're getting to the good stuff. My laptimes caught the attention of the US Touring Car Championship folks and I was invited to join their pro series. Pro - that's where they pay you for racing. So along with my sponsors, Mini Mania and Bay Bridge Motors, I moved up to the big time. All I have to do to qualify for my national NASA racing license is to complete four incident free races. Three down and one to go at Thunderhill this weekend. Stay tuned.
Shiva kicks some Acura butt at Infineon - by jim williams photo
Turn 2 - by jim williams photo
Old No. 37 - by jim williams photo
I just thought you folks might like to know what I've done and am doing for MINIUSA in my Rookie season in the Western US Touring Car Championship Pro Series, thanks to my sponsors. MiniMania and Bay Bridge Motors.
To see the current points chart, go to ustcc.com then click on "points".
As you can see, I am 3rd in points for the overall championship, 1st in points for Rookie of the Year, and Bob Scheer and I have combined to place MINI at the top of the Manufacturer's Championship with one event to go. I've had one podium finish, but didn't submit for contingency money because there were only 9 cars in the field. I'm hoping to make it back up there when there are 10 or more runners.
You can find me on page 137 of the October Issue of Grassroots Motorsports and on Final Drive TV #3 in the photo/video section of ustcc.com (to play the video, choose #3, then mouse to the top of the screen and click "download this video" on the pop up button.)
Final event this weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA for all the goodies.
August 1, 2009.
I finished the 2008 season third overall in USTCC and won Rookie of the Year. I've had a great run these last seven years but it's time for someone else to have some fun. I sold the car last weekend to an enthusiast from Phoenix who is about where I was 6 years ago. He's pleased and so am I. Time to move on.
Cheers,
Jerry
