Who races in real life?

[fortbo]

With a 2nd top 10 finish in a row coming in 7th against the fastest road legal cars in the country, Gridlife Midwest was definitely a successful weekend. By nature, drivers are greedy, we always want to go faster and that’s exactly how I felt throughout the weekend. With first through 7th only separated by a little over 2 seconds, we were in the mix, but sadly due to an exhaust plug melting, we were down around 100 whp after the first session meaning that I couldn’t improve on my time of 1:35.589. Although as a driver this was frustrating, the fact that I was able to put together a lap that fast in the very first session of the weekend has given me the confidence knowing that it’s not going to be long until we’re fighting for wins this season. With a 7th place finish and a time so close to the front, we also were able to secure a solid starting position in the championship points standings. Really excited for what the rest of this season has to bring.

 

[miata13B]

I race in Lucky Dog in the US. It's an endurance race series for older/cheap cars.

This is me driving at Thunder Hill last November. A ton of laps and battles on my channel.

We currently race in a Corolla FX with a V6 swap. It's.......fun.

New item by Kevin Michael

photos.app.goo.gl

Tell Cathy that Alex said "Hi :-)" Just mention crazy pants and she will know exactly who it is.

Anyways, I have run in Lucky Dog at CMP and the Charlotte Roval. I also run in AER over on the east coast of the US and Champcar. We are prepping three cars currently to compete in AER in three different classes as we speak. The goal is to get into the ever so hard to enter WRL for the 2023 season.

Another GTP member named Rish has raced with me two years ago in the 24 Hours of Lemons and now that he has finished up college he will be joining our ever growing team.

 

[EDK]

Tell Cathy that Alex said "Hi :-)" Just mention crazy pants and she will know exactly who it is.

Anyways, I have run in Lucky Dog at CMP and the Charlotte Roval. I also run in AER over on the east coast of the US and Champcar. We are prepping three cars currently to compete in AER in three different classes as we speak. The goal is to get into the ever so hard to enter WRL for the 2023 season.

Another GTP member named Rish has raced with me two years ago in the 24 Hours of Lemons and now that he has finished up college he will be joining our ever growing team.
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Back in Portland this weekend.

 

[miata13B]

Back in Portland this weekend.

Hey if you see Lonnie (Deaf Stig) or Jeff Wright tell them I said Hi as well. Love those guys

 

[EDK]

Hey if you see Lonnie (Deaf Stig) or Jeff Wright tell them I said Hi as well. Love those guys

I know them. 👍

 

[Tuning_Maniac]

With a 2nd top 10 finish in a row coming in 7th against the fastest road legal cars in the country, Gridlife Midwest was definitely a successful weekend. By nature, drivers are greedy, we always want to go faster and that’s exactly how I felt throughout the weekend. With first through 7th only separated by a little over 2 seconds, we were in the mix, but sadly due to an exhaust plug melting, we were down around 100 whp after the first session meaning that I couldn’t improve on my time of 1:35.589. Although as a driver this was frustrating, the fact that I was able to put together a lap that fast in the very first session of the weekend has given me the confidence knowing that it’s not going to be long until we’re fighting for wins this season. With a 7th place finish and a time so close to the front, we also were able to secure a solid starting position in the championship points standings. Really excited for what the rest of this season has to bring.
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Amazing! Well done.
Lost track of this thread because I didn't get notified for some reason, but I love the livery and suspension you received.
Car looks amazing and very unfortunate that have that part breaking. Reading that, I think you'll be fighting for the podium next time with some luck.

 

[Tuning_Maniac]

Tell Cathy that Alex said "Hi :-)" Just mention crazy pants and she will know exactly who it is.

Anyways, I have run in Lucky Dog at CMP and the Charlotte Roval. I also run in AER over on the east coast of the US and Champcar. We are prepping three cars currently to compete in AER in three different classes as we speak. The goal is to get into the ever so hard to enter WRL for the 2023 season.

Another GTP member named Rish has raced with me two years ago in the 24 Hours of Lemons and now that he has finished up college he will be joining our ever growing team.
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That's awesome

 

[Tuning_Maniac]

Last saturday was the third race for the SLK Cup, back at the Zandvoort circuit.

You can see the race report here: YouTube Race Report

Qualifying went well for me: 10th out of 23 competitors.
Race 1: very good start where I immediately took 2 places and then during the race I gained another spot when another competitor had some issues.
Race 2: Again a very good start where I took 2 places so I was lying in 5th place. When I lost a place I had to protect even more for the guys behind me and all of a sudden I had brake fade and whacked into the side of the guy who overtook me. Completely my fault due to my brakes, it really wasn't a desperate attempt to get him back. Luckily it was only body panel damage for the both of us. But I dropped back to 11th place because of that moment.
Race 3: Yet again 2 places won during the start and after some great battles that's where I finished in 9th position.

Overall result of the day: 8th

 

[fortbo]

Finally race week again, this time I’ll be at New Jersey Motorsport Park. The races are all live on YouTube so if anyone’s interested in checking it out, let me know and I’ll put the links in this thread!

 

[miata13B]

Finally race week again, this time I’ll be at New Jersey Motorsport Park. The races are all live on YouTube so if anyone’s interested in checking it out, let me know and I’ll put the links in this thread!

You racing at Thunderbolt or Lightning?

I was just there a few weeks ago and had a blast.

I just got back from VIR and it was a great race last weekend. Could have gone better for both teams I raced for but the old quote “that is racing” happened.

Ran in a 96 Integra which suffered transmission problems both days. Should have been a good fight in class for the lead and when it was running we set the outright pace for class… but then racing happened and two transmissions later we DNF’ed both races.

The second team was in a class lower in a Lexus IS300. On Sunday we had a very comfortable lead but one of the drivers got sick in the car and needed to get out. I was handed over the car in 2nd place because of the extra pit and was given a double stint to finish the race. The previous driver reported weird braking tendencies and it would come back to bite me in the butt late in the race. Coming down the roller coaster and hogpen the front right tire felt like it went flat and I heard a very strange grinding noise. I missed the pit in unfortunately and going into turn one the Rim decided to divorce itself from itself. This was on the front right. Made it through turn 1 and 2 but going into turn three the car had terminal understeer at a slowed pace and I had to be brought in on the tow truck. The brake caliper broke the lower bolt and it dragged along the inside of the rim for quite sometime. The rim machined itself in half and that was all she wrote for any chance to regain the lead. We got her fixed and back out to save a 3rd place finish.

Here is a pic of the rim.

 

[fortbo]

You racing at Thunderbolt or Lightning?

I was just there a few weeks ago and had a blast.

I just got back from VIR and it was a great race last weekend. Could have gone better for both teams I raced for but the old quote “that is racing” happened.

Ran in a 96 Integra which suffered transmission problems both days. Should have been a good fight in class for the lead and when it was running we set the outright pace for class… but then racing happened and two transmissions later we DNF’ed both races.

The second team was in a class lower in a Lexus IS300. On Sunday we had a very comfortable lead but one of the drivers got sick in the car and needed to get out. I was handed over the car in 2nd place because of the extra pit and was given a double stint to finish the race. The previous driver reported weird braking tendencies and it would come back to bite me in the butt late in the race. Coming down the roller coaster and hogpen the front right tire felt like it went flat and I heard a very strange grinding noise. I missed the pit in unfortunately and going into turn one the Rim decided to divorce itself from itself. This was on the front right. Made it through turn 1 and 2 but going into turn three the car had terminal understeer at a slowed pace and I had to be brought in on the tow truck. The brake caliper broke the lower bolt and it dragged along the inside of the rim for quite sometime. The rim machined itself in half and that was all she wrote for any chance to regain the lead. We got her fixed and back out to save a 3rd place finish.

Here is a pic of the rim.

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Third place given the circumstances is great! I’ll be running Thunderbolt this weekend, I’ve never ran there before but it seems pretty fun based on Iracing. Temps are looking to be well into the 90’s though so that should make things interesting.

 

[miata13B]

Third place given the circumstances is great! I’ll be running Thunderbolt this weekend, I’ve never ran there before but it seems pretty fun based on Iracing. Temps are looking to be well into the 90’s though so that should make things interesting.

I had a lot of friends there this weekend. Bill and Vicki Fischer of Garage Heroes in Training, Chris and Chrissy from 3PM as well. They were running two civic hatchbacks, the one dressed in Chrissy’s Mom’s Cookies and the white K swapped one.

I love Thunderbolt, it is a shame NJMP never connected Lightning and Thunderbolt because it would have been the longest track in America if it did.

Did you run the turn 3 Chicane? I feel the track is a lot more fun that way. Also how many times did you hear people say “don’t lift once you’ve entered the final turn”? I almost got killed there in 2018 chasing down an Integra in our Miata. Following him into the turn I noticed his rear end lift up about two to three inches meaning he lifted. Knew he was going to hit the inside wall and bounce back. I found out that the outside curbing has three parts, a slight flat part at first to a huge crown to a drop off that will break subframe bracing on Miatas. Then proceeded to mow the lawn for about a third of the front straight. The Integra missed my rear end by mere millimeters.

 

[BossBattle]

Third place given the circumstances is great! I’ll be running Thunderbolt this weekend, I’ve never ran there before but it seems pretty fun based on Iracing. Temps are looking to be well into the 90’s though so that should make things interesting.

Hey dude! It’s @bossbattle.rx7 / @bossbattle.auto on IG! You looked good out there at Thunderbolt! Yes..it was HOT!

 

[fortbo]

Hey dude! It’s @bossbattle.rx7 / @bossbattle.auto on IG! You looked good out there at Thunderbolt! Yes..it was HOT!

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Glad you came out! Definitely a hot weekend but had some great battles on track. Almost had a podium but still very happy with 4th so early on in this car’s development.

 

[GTracer38]

Here is a cool shot from a couple of weeks ago at Winton:

I was a tad ambitious after an SC period.

Unfortunately the motor let go in the last race so we are parked up for the moment.

 

[fortbo]

I had a lot of friends there this weekend. Bill and Vicki Fischer of Garage Heroes in Training, Chris and Chrissy from 3PM as well. They were running two civic hatchbacks, the one dressed in Chrissy’s Mom’s Cookies and the white K swapped one.

I love Thunderbolt, it is a shame NJMP never connected Lightning and Thunderbolt because it would have been the longest track in America if it did.

Did you run the turn 3 Chicane? I feel the track is a lot more fun that way. Also how many times did you hear people say “don’t lift once you’ve entered the final turn”? I almost got killed there in 2018 chasing down an Integra in our Miata. Following him into the turn I noticed his rear end lift up about two to three inches meaning he lifted. Knew he was going to hit the inside wall and bounce back. I found out that the outside curbing has three parts, a slight flat part at first to a huge crown to a drop off that will break subframe bracing on Miatas. Then proceeded to mow the lawn for about a third of the front straight. The Integra missed my rear end by mere millimeters.

Totally missed this message but we ran without the chicane. I ended up taking the final corner flat out but the downforce was definitely helping with that. Still on the edge going through it though with the kind of speed I was carrying. I was hitting a little over 150 mph on the front straight.

 

[fortbo]

I think this picture realty shows why time attack is so great, no BOP and yet a GC8 Impreza and a AMG GTS are within a matter of tenths of each other throughout an entire weekend.

 

[Tuning_Maniac]

End of July I had my first race for the Belcar Skylimit Sprint Cup in Belgium.
It is a mixed championship which I'm competing in just to get more track time on different tracks. Was seeing this race as a good test for my upcoming SLK cup race at the circuit of Zolder end of August, but it was pouring down with rain the whole morning and only ended just before race 1.
In the SLK cup we all use the same intermediate tires and I never planned on buying full wets or full slicks for this Belcar Sprint Cup because that would just bring up the costs of the season.
However it was way too wet for my intermediates in race 1 so I was drifting in nearly every corner. Race 2 was much better and I had some really nice battles.
I had to overcome clutch issues with every start though, which went horribly wrong in race 1 by stalling. Once the car got going it was fine.
--> After the races I've brought the car to the garage because it was even worse then, had the clutch pedal on the floor and once I put the car in gear it already started moving....new clutch and clutch cylinder are already installed.

YouTube race report

Belcar Skylimit Sprint Cup - TV coverage
--> the TV broadcast where I'm mentioned quite a few times and you can see me quite often as well (had an onboard camera in the car)

 

[fortbo]

Had the opportunity to race at two iconic tracks within the same month! Currently coming off of another top 5 finish at Lime Rock park, still so close to a podium, and a 6th place finish at Mid Ohio, again frustratingly close to a podium. Still incredibly happy to be able to put up a fight against the fastest road legal cars in America and I know that first podium and that first win will come soon.

Here’s a full lap of Lime Rock Park.

 

[fortbo]

We got P2 in Colorado at Pikes Peak International Raceway! This is my first ever podium in the Street Modified class and this is only the first year running this car. To do this at one of the biggest events of the season (Alpine Horizon Fest) is literally a dream come true!

 

[Tuning_Maniac]

Great job @fortbo !!

It's been a while since I posted here so I've got a couple to mention now

End of August the SLK Cup went to visit my home track, Zolder in Belgium.
Being the only Belgian in the championship meant all eyes were on me. It all went well, but again the top 3 was just a bit too fast for me. In both races I came in 4th place.

Youtube Report:

Then on the 18th of September it was again time for a race for the Belcar Skylimit Sprint Cup and this time they went to the Nurburgring GP. It was raining in the morning, so I was again in trouble on my intermediate tires, but I did fairly well in my races. 19th overall, 3rd in class and in race 2 I finished in 11th position and 2nd in class.
I must say, in the dry this track is so amazing. Best track I've ever raced on with the SLK!!

YouTube Report:

And then two weeks ago I had another race for the SLK Cup on the Zandvoort track.
The qualifying was wet and I got my very first POLE POSITION
I was 1.2 seconds faster than the guy in 2nd and he was again 1 second faster than the guy in 3rd.
Unfortunately it did not remain wet. First of all I messed up the start of race 1 (nerves probably) and then I lost some places in the first laps, again in 4th behind the 3 main title contenders.
Race 2 was amazing again with battle from 4th to 12th place, so the smallest error made you loose places. I lost 2 places because the guys behind just had more pace on the straight in 2 laps so I finished 6th
Race 3 I made a bad start again (strongest point all year long but this weekend the starts just did not go well) and lost 1 place. I was seeing the top 6 battle right in front of me, but I just could not get close enough to launch an attack.
This championship is becoming so competitive at the top it's amazing, but also frustrating if you just can't find that tiny bit of extra pace on race day.

YouTube report:

On to the last race of the season, in November. I'm currently 5th in the championship and because we have 1 result scrapped, it means that mathematically I still have a change to become champion, but it would mean that all 4 guys in front of me do not finish any race, so very unlikely Will fight hard to keep 5th though.

Nürburgring GP

Zolder

Zandvoort

 

[fortbo]

Let’s get this thread going again! Here’s the full 2023 schedule for me this season! I’ll be running the full festival tour with Gridlife, as well as a couple GLTC races, a one off event at COTA for Super Lap Battle, and some endurance racing!

 

[Tuning_Maniac]

Good luck this season!
Grid Life seems so cool, I hear and see a lot of it thanks to Larry Chen's YouTube channel.
Can't wait to see your updates next year and follow what you're doing.

For me, I still need to take the car to the garage to get it ready for next season. Our season start first weekend of April so I still have time, not so much that needs to be fixed on my car.
Mercedes' really are tanks

 

[fortbo]

Good luck this season!
Grid Life seems so cool, I hear and see a lot of it thanks to Larry Chen's YouTube channel.
Can't wait to see your updates next year and follow what you're doing.

For me, I still need to take the car to the garage to get it ready for next season. Our season start first weekend of April so I still have time, not so much that needs to be fixed on my car.
Mercedes' really are tanks

Yeah it’s really turning into something great! As a series is still pretty new but it’s growing incredibly fast. I started with them back in 2017 and the scale of the events now compared to back then is a night and day difference on just about every level. Much faster lap times, higher profile tracks, and a ton of spectators. It’s really cool seeing it grow over the years like that.

 

[fortbo]

It’s race week for the first event of the season! Going out to Circuit of the Americas for Super Lap Battle! Compared to last year, it’s going to feel like I’m driving an entirely different car. Just about every aspect has gotten a drastic upgrade and I’m ready to see what we can do against some of the best competition we’ll see all season. We’ll be right around 730 whp which will help a ton especially on the back straight at COTA!

 

[Tuning_Maniac]

It’s race week for the first event of the season! Going out to Circuit of the Americas for Super Lap Battle! Compared to last year, it’s going to feel like I’m driving an entirely different car. Just about every aspect has gotten a drastic upgrade and I’m ready to see what we can do against some of the best competition we’ll see all season. We’ll be right around 730 whp which will help a ton especially on the back straight at COTA!

Good luck!
I still have to wait a month until my season starts. Haven't done anything yet to the car though because I'm currently going through a divorce.
Will keep on racing though, but we'll see what the budget allows me to do this season.

Looking forward to seeing your results, photo's and perhaps videos of this event!

 

[fortbo]

Calm before the storm at COTA. Everything will be live on Super Lap Battle’s YouTube channel!

 

[fortbo]

Figured I’d revive this thread a bit to announce that I’ll be running with Gridlife as a support series to NASCAR at Road America this year alongside the Porsche Carrera Cup!

 

[Tuning_Maniac]

Figured I’d revive this thread a bit to announce that I’ll be running with Gridlife as a support series to NASCAR at Road America this year alongside the Porsche Carrera Cup!

Thanks for the revival, I also keep forgetting to post over here.

But that's amazing news! Must be so cool to be a support series. Full grandstands probably.


I've already had 2 race days (6 races) and I'm currently second in the championship, so all is going well for me
Race report - Race day 1

Race report - Race day 2

 

[Tuning_Maniac]

An update from my end, keep forgetting this thread.

I had 2 more race in the meantime. One at Zandvoort and one at Assen.
Currently I'm still third in the championship but it's going to be a though fight during the last race in October to keep that place.

I did miss race 5 at my home track in Belgium: Zolder. This was because it was September 1st and that's the day kids need to go back to school after summerbreak. I had my 4 year old son (divorced since this year), so I really wanted to be there for the little guy. That's why I have skipped the Zolder race. Luckily we have 3 results that will not count at the end of the year.

And last sunday I had a sponsor event for one of my sponsors: SPtools.
They asked me to provide passenger rides.
In the end I drove 233 km on the circuit of Meppen, because the other invited cars kept breaking down.
But so much fun to get a smile on people's faces.

Race 3 Zandvoort

Race 4 at Assen

Passenger rides at SPtools Race Day