2025 Season

 Here is the 2025 New England Region Schedule

Does not mean we will be at all races - exact schedule to follow.

5/10/2025 NER Tech Day

5/24/2025 NER #1 New Hampshire Motor Speedway

5/25/2025 NER #1 New Hampshire Motor Speedway

6/13/2025 NER #2 Lime Rock

6/14/2025 NER #2 Lime Rock

7/5/2025         NER#3 Thompson Motor Speedway  (Day and Night Race)

7/26/2025 NER #4 New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Racing against Leukemia)

7/27/2025 NER #4 New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Racing against Leukemia)

8/15/2025 Majors Thompson Motor Speedway

8/16/2025 Majors Thompson Motor Speedway

9/6/2025         NER#5 Pig Roast - Palmer Motorsports Park

9/7/2025         NER#5 Pig Roast - Palmer Motorsports Park

10/17/2025 NER#6 Thompson Motor Speedway

10/18/2025 NER#6 Thompson Motor Speedway

Lime Rock Results

 Lime Rock was special in That Justin almost got his first win having to settle for 2nd by a tenth of a second and turning the fastest lap which put him pole for the Sam Posey Anniversary Race, and finished 3nd on the track and a formal podium.

Lime Rock Release on Sam Posey Race

In the last race Justin was running for 2nd and slipped off in Big Bend dropping to 4th, but he was in the battle up to the last lap.

Chris did not have a great weekend, but good.  Starting with a new engine, he was not sure what to expect.

He qualified decently and the car was running well.  

In the first 2 races he finished 11 and 9th respectfully,  and was looking to more in the last race.  Unfortunately, a car spinning in the first turn on the first lap left Chris no where to go.  He went over that car and then another car ended up on top of him.  So his race never got to more than one turn.

The car rolled on the trailer after a change of a wheel and tire, but there is work to be done before New Hampshire.

Lime Rock Results   (Group 7)

Lime rock here we come?

The next race on the 2024 schedule is Lime Rock - June 14-15.   Justin and I are both entered, but you can pull the entry as long as you do not turn a wheel on the track.  I have changed the engine from Palmer and just finishing up working on Justin's car.  So if everything goes well we will be on track on Friday.  

As of this writing, there are 34 cars entered, one of the largest fields for this year.

Palmer 1 - 2024

 The first race of the year at Palmer proved to be an interesting one.  Everything was going well until the second lap of practice when my engine started making funny sounds.  I pulled off and waited for the end of the session which came quick as:

• once car had a stuck throttle and stopped on course
• one car had a oil filter blow and stopped on course
• one car had an oil line break and oiled down the course
• and I was off on another part.

Now on the first lap, Justin lost part of his exhaust and where I stopped was close enough to go find it:

https://youtu.be/gRWWPmqCZQ4?si=JONvtqNlCcLchVpw

I ended up parking the car and went into crew chief mode for Justin.  He had a good weekend with finishes of 6, 6 and 7 and some good races.

The next race is Lime Rock and time to swap out engines if I plan to run.

Palmer 2023

 It was an interesting weekend.  Our race at Palmer was Saturday and Sunday.  After a beautiful week, the forecast was for rain and especially thunderstorms.  This is a problem as we can race in the rain, but the corner workers can not be outside in a lightning storm.  

Justin went up on Friday Night in order to get his car’s annual inspection.  I was thinking about it but then the rains hit Torrington.  I went to sleep and got up at 5am to drive up.

We had to scramble to set up our paddock space, but everything was well set up before 9am.

Our group went out around 10:30 for practice - on a dry track.  I told Justin I would lead him around for a few laps because he had never raced here.  (WE had reviewed my videos and he had watched many more)  Of course on the third lap, who passed me like I was standing still?…  I settled in following him, to see how good a teacher I was and how good a student he was.  Toward the end of the session he was pushing his knowledge and I was using his draft - and ended up with a qualifying time 1 second faster than him - this ended up being important.

Back in the pits, we prepared the cars for the afternoon race.  I was starting 6th and he started 8th.  The flag dropped and off we went.  Justin did a great job and made it up to 7th, while Chris dropped to 10th as some faster cars made up for their bad qualifying and avoiding an out of control car cost him the draft.  However, Chris’s time from qualifying was still faster that Justin’s race time, so Chris would start in front of Justin again for the next race.

Then things got interesting for Justin.  The race ended before 4pm, and he had to go back to Norfolk for his annual Volunteer Firefighter dinner.  No problem, the trip was 90 minutes - enough time for him to get home and get ready.  He would just have to repeat the trip the next morning, but had plenty of time since we were not expected to race until 10am.  The weather forecast was for rain,  the same rain that had not materialized on Saturday.

So Justin went to his dinner and then home for the night to get a good night's sleep and wash his driving suit so it would be fresh to go the next day.  That was until the call came in at 3:45 am for a house on fire - right around the corner from his house.  Jumping into his fire gear, he and the other firefighters who had been at the dinner, along with crews from surrounding towns, fough the fire until 7am,  when he was able to head to the track, having gotten about 3 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours - not to mention fighting the fire.  Arriving at the track around 9am, and not feeling much like racing, he was saved by the fact that the ambulance had been delayed getting to the track.  Sent back to his trailer to get 1.5 hours of sleep, he was back at the car ready to race.  Did I mention the rain was still holding off?

The cars lined up for the start and Chris went off in 7th and Justin in 8th - side by side.   For the first few laps Chris held onto 6th but in trying to waive Justin by Chris Barry took the opportunity to get ahead.  Justin followed the next lap, putting Chris down to 8th.  Then came the slip up and Chris ran wide in one turn, and Frank Varano came through to put Chris back in 9th.  The race settled down but Stephan Zavos in the Predator was starting to drop some oil.  Justin saw this and he and Chris Barry got by, but Frank and ChrisZ got stuck behind.  Chris Barry and Justin traded places at the head of the train while Stephen, Frank and Chris lurked just behind.

On the last lap, in the same turn Chris got passed by Frank, Justin made a slight error, it was just a few inches at 75 mph, but the car slid just off the track, letting the 4 cars past.  By the time Justin had recovered from his spectacular save (cars don’t go well on the grass) Kevin O’Day had passed him. The race ended with Chris in 8th and Justin in 10th.  Not the finish that he wanted, but considering he had never been on the track before this weekend, not bad.  And we still had a race to go - or did we.

Around 2:30 pm the skies got dark and lightning struck.  This is an automatic 30 minute hold.  30 minutes later another bolt and again at 3:15.  By 3:30, knowing that if we did race it would be in the rain, ½ of all cars had packed up.  At this time they called the racing off.  We were done for the day - packed up and had an early return home.  It would have been interesting if we had raced again, rain or dry.  I am sure Justin is looking to get back next year and put his knowledge to good use.

New Hampshire RAL/OWDE Weekend

 To follow

Thompson Night Race

 To follow

Lime Rock 2023

 It was an interesting weekend - it turned out good for us and not so good for some of our competitors.

There were 5 cars damaged during the weekend so they could not continue.  There were another 3 or 4 that had mechanical issues that forced them to drop out of the races.

On the other hand - our cars ran like a clock and were able to take advantage of some others misfortunes to score some good points.

In the first race we actually got to race and changed positions back and forth several times before Chris pulled out what he thought was a good lead.  However, the crash of other cars and Chris cooling off his tires let Justin catch up and he took advantage of that to catch and pass Chris.  Chris did not have a chance to repass as they checkered the race one lap early.

The second race also was affected by a crash and blown engines as they interrupted the racing.  Chris Started 9th and finished 7th, while Justin started 7th, dropped to 9th at one point and made his way all the way up to finish 3rd!  This was his second third in his racing history.

But it was the last race that was the best.  Starting 3rd, Justin ran with the leaders the entire race and was part of one of the closest finishes this year.  Even though he came home fourth, the first 4 cars finished under 1 second apart - the winning margin being .014 of a second.

If you want to see a first person view of the race - click here.

Chris had a lonely race, finishing about 19 seconds behind the leaders in 8th.

The good news is both cars went back on the trailer in one piece with good input on what we need to go faster.  Let's see what happens at the next race.

2023 Racing Calender

CZ Racing 2023 Calendar

All dates are tentative - confirm before attending  cmz55-CZRacing@yahoo.com

Lime Rock  CT SCCA Regional June 16 - 17 (Friday/Saturday)

Note Friday is free admission - there is a charge for Saturday

Thompson CT SCCA Regional July 8 (Saturday)

One day event - 2 races - last on after 8pm under the lights

NHMS NH SCCA Regional July 29/30 (Saturday/Sunday)

FV Festival/ OWDE

Thompson CT SCCA Major August 19/20 (Friday/Saturday)

National Race - not confirmed we will run

Palmer MA SCCA Regional September 9/10 (Saturday/Sunday)

Near Springfield

Thompson CT SCCA Regional October 13/14 (Friday/Saturday)

End of year Championship race

================================================================

All races predicated on how our year (and our budget) goes.

9/16-17 is at Watkins Glen - really would like to do this but it means cutting out one or more of the other races…..

Chris and Justin may split weekends based on finances and personal schedule.

Palmer oh Palmer

 Well it was back on the track and this time at Palmer.  Justin could not make it so this was the first solo run for me and the car in 3 years.

Got up early on Saturday and the guys in tech were great with a quick annual.  I had paddocked close by and that spot worked great all weekend.

The first qualifying/Practice session was cut short after 4 laps as one car blew it's engine and another couple spun in turn one, littering the track with bodywork.  Since I had not been there in 3 years, I was hoping for some more time, but was in the top 50% for qualifying time.

Note: We talk about the difference between sit up and laydown cars in FV.  I had only driven the track in my Citation (sit up) and now driving the Caracal (laydown).  Since Palmer has lots of hills and blind turns, I had to relearn all my track markers!

First race was a learning experience - for some reason was not getting a good jump at the start.  I still say the Start Tower is in a bad position and the green flag gets lost in the background of trees. But we had 3 laps under yellow while they removed a car that made it all the way to turn 2...

When the flag dropped, I settled in and got a decent 13th with a fun race behind Guy Bellingham and ahead of Mike Sampson.  No thrilled with the lap time, but there is always tomorrow.

Tomorrow dawned with the threat of rain.  Now I needed Justin.  The rain tires were out, partially on and then off for the race.  The track was "dry" but with occasional sprinkles. The turns that got wet first were T1 through T3, the fastest on the track.  On lap one, into T3 one car locked up and punted another and 3 cars went around.  I took it easy with the track damp in places as others went around.  In the end I finished 10th and the lap time, while no better than the day before, was closer to those in front.

BTW - Great video was lost when my helmet cam stopped working.  Will probably be running two cameras from now on!  The fantastic moves only exist in my head right now...

The third race was, from my POV the best, but others had issues.  There was a spin and crash after turn 5, and 3 or 4 cars got caught up in that.  Guy Bellingham got the worst of it, but in the red flag that followed, several other cars sustained damage....

Back to the race and it was quiet until Kevin caught back up.  He had to start at the back, but when he Jeff and I got together, it was the perfect drafting train.  At the end Kevin got in front and threw a perfect pick with a lapped car.  So I finished 10th again but knocked 3 seconds off my fast time.

Thanks James Ray for the picture

Just before Kevin took the lead of this group.

So for me the weekend was almost perfect - just add gas and check the tires.  Did get to do some tuning and the changes made seem to help.  Now some more tweaking and then off to Thompson for the last race of the year.