2016 Long Beach Grand Prix

What an action packed weekend! Coming straight off a flight from Chicago, I drove to the Long Beach Grand Prix. The week kicked off Thursday with the Road Racing Drivers Club dinner to honor George Follmer, an F1, INDYCAR, NASCAR, Trans-Am, and Can-Am racing driver. I arrived a few hours early to help with setup, and I have to say, it is incredible how much work goes into putting on one of these events. Jeremy Shaw and Tamy Valkosky along with the Doug Mockett and Company crew did a stellar job getting everything organized for the event.

Come 7 p.m. it was time to take our seats and listen to some of the amazing stories that Mr. Follmer, Mr. Roger Penske, and Mr. Bobby Rahal had to offer. The room was filled with my racing idols. The likes of Parnelli Jones, Bryan Herta, Joel Miller, Arie Luyendyk, and Mike Hull were attending just to name a few, all of whom were accessible and willing to talk after the event had concluded. It was a very enjoyable experience that benefited the Team USA Scholarship and SafeisFast and as someone who has been a part of these programs, I can’t thank everyone enough those who attended and those who made this event possible.

If I had to describe Friday in 3 words, it would be Mazda, Mazda, and Mazda. I arrived at the track around 9 a.m. right after the No. 55 Mazda Prototype car put it in P1 in practice while the No. 70 car was tied for P3. It was a great showing for Mazda in the first on track session of the day. I was then fortunate enough to be brought into their pit to see the inner workings of what it takes to run the BEST prototype team in paddock (no, I am not biased in any way). It was an amazing experience and I thank Mr. Tremblay and all the guys at Mazda Motorsports for taking me in. In the middle of the day, I had an opportunity to sit down with some of our local media outlets that support our grass roots Mazda drivers. We were able to chat over lunch at the Hard Rock Café.

After this, I went to the convention center where the Mazda Factory drivers were briefly hanging out (what a coincidence…). They were playing around on Mazda’s virtual pit stop screen (check out Mazda Motorsports’ Facebook page for the shenanigans). Next stop was to visit something that is an interest of mine as a college student. A group of students participating in Formula SAE, a college level program that promotes careers and excellence in engineering as it encompasses all aspects of the automotive industry, had a booth set up. They were very passionate about the engineering aspect of the automobile and even build their own racecars. Seems like a pretty great program to me.

The following two days I was able to meet with friends and fellow racers and watched a few of the races. The INDYCAR qualifying was very exciting as it seemed like the entire field were within tenths of each other. Directly after qualifying was the start of the 100 minute IMSA race where the Mazda Prototype cars would start 3rd and 5th. It was a nail biter the entire race. Tom Long made a great start and did everything he could to fend off the pack, while Tristan Nunez worked his way up through the field. At one point, the pair of Mazdas were 1 and 2 which was extremely exciting. At the end of the day, the Mazda boys finished with two top 5 finishes and left the event with some serious pace.

Leading into Sunday, I watched an action-packed, white knuckled battle in the Pirelli World Challenge race. Lots of passing, lots of contact, and a great finish completed their race weekend. The final race of the weekend for me was the INDYCAR race. It was crazy to say at the end of the race there were no cautions for the entire 80 laps they were racing. I don’t want to spoil any results for those of you who haven’t watched the broadcast, but it had a mix of everything - a good start, passing, weird pit strategies, and a bit of drama at the end of the race just to add that final touch.

All in all it was a great, sun-filled weekend that I am extremely grateful that I was able to experience. Long Beach always brings out great racing and passionate fans and I can’t wait to head back next year.

Dakota

Update - Testing Days at Autobahn Country Club

San Diego, CA- I’ve just arrived back home to sunny and warm San Diego, California after two solid test days at Autobahn Country Club in Chicago, Illinois. The team and I decided to go testing to improve on our results from Rounds 1 and 2 of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Series powered by Mazda. The Streets of St. Petersburg was a learning process for all of us and it really showed that there was work to be done all-around. Going into Autobahn, there were a number of items that we wanted to work on. The 3 main items were the overall setup of the car, improving my speed and consistency, and developing my communication skills with my engineer.

Testing at Autobahn Country Club in Chicago, IL

The setup of the car was something that we wanted to test after St. Pete just to get a better handle as to what exactly did what on the car. We had nearly 12, 30 minute sessions during our two days in chilly Chicago. We were making changes to the car each session whether it was tire pressures or ride heights. It was very insightful on my end to feel exactly what each setup change did to the balance of the car especially in the high speed, long duration corners which are similar to that of Barber Motorsports Park (the next track we visit). It was also great to have some tighter corners on this course which are similar to those at the Indianapolis Grand Prix and Streets of Toronto. All in all, we have quite a few tools in our back pocket that I feel will be very helpful in the coming races.

Simultaneously, I was focusing very hard on running consistent laps that were also competitive to that of our baseline time. This year’s field is extremely competitive, bringing drivers from all-around the world. The spec Mazda engines in the USF2000 cars also creates very tight racing. It is not only essential to be able to run fast, but to also be able to do this for nearly 20 laps in a row. I’ve been told that consistency comes with comfort. I am getting more and more comfortable as I put down more laps, and the speed is also starting to show. We practiced some longer runs and I found myself within a couple tenths of my own laps each time I came around, while still being able to run near our baseline. It really brought me back to the training with RaceCraft1 that I did prior to going across the pond for the Team USA Scholarship. I feel that as time progresses, I will only continue to improve my own skills in the car.

The last major item that I wanted to work on was my communication skills with my engineer. Being able to relay accurate and detailed information to an engineer is essential. Relating back to running consistent, if I am unable to consistently drive a lap, it is hard to judge the true balance of the car. I have to be able to run consistently, feel what the car is doing, and accurately relay all of this back to my engineer. Doing this is somewhat of an art and is actually quite hard to master which is exactly why it was great to practice this in these private test days. I found it easiest to break up the corner in 3 separate sections: corner entry, middle, and exit. Then from that, feel the balance of the car in each section. Finally, assess what is happening and why. With this process, I found it to be a much more accurate way of communicating with my engineer, and as a result, better benefit from changes that remedy a problem.

Working with the team to find ways to improve

I strongly believe that if we can apply everything that we learned and tested here at Autobahn to Barber, we will have a great outing and result. Unlike the Streets of St. Petersburg, I will have a number of on track sessions before getting into qualifying. We wrapped up our series test days at Barber back in early March, and now we have two promoter test sessions along with two official practice sessions before we head on track Friday morning for qualifying. This really gives us quite a bit of track time before getting into the most important parts of the weekend. Our Mazda Engine from Elite Engines felt very strong at Autobahn and our Cooper Tires were working great which gives me even more confidence heading into the race weekend.

We will be posting updates via our social media channels (hopefully with this Soul Red car at the pointy end of the field) so be sure to check in! Let me know what you liked and what you would like to hear in our future blogs.

Thank you again to everyone who has supported us and to all of you who have been reading and following our blog updates!

Dakota

 

Q&A Part 2

Keep those questions coming and let me know what you'd like to learn about racing! This week, I'll be answering two more questions.

Question 1, from Clement Lee, “How do you contrast aero vs. mechanical grip? Can you "feel" when you are about to exceed aero grip or do you just "go off the cliff"?”

For me, this is all still a learning process but from what I have experienced, it seems as if the aero is not your limiting factor of grip in these cars in the high speed corners. They generate over 1000lbs of down force at 150mph. This means that if you are going through a high speed corner like turn 7 at Barber Motorsports Park (the reason I’m using this corner is because I went off here during testing) and you over step the limits of the aero, you are most likely going to “fall of the cliff.” Both figuratively and literally. It is incredibly hard to catch a big slide in these cars whereas say in the Mazda Miata, you can really get the car rotated, possibly overstep the limits of mechanical grip in the tires, and come back.

To recap, from what I’ve experienced in the USF2000 car is that you can anticipate a loss of grip and “falling off the cliff”, but there is not much you can do about it once it happens, whereas in a solely mechanical grip car, there is an opportunity to correct this.

This is how I made up 10 spots in 2 corners at St. Petersburg

Round 1 Race start of the 2016 Cooper Tires USF2000 Series powered by Mazda. Started 16th, ended up 6th out of the 2nd corner.

Question 2, from Darwin Felix, regarding the incident in the final laps of race two at the GP of St. Petersburg. “For the Sunday race, what would you change inside the helmet if you had that race to do over again?”

First and foremost, thank you very much Darwin and to anyone else out there that was watching the races. It is truly awesome that the fans are able to tune into our races and watch live stream, with commentary. I hope you all enjoyed the races.

There were a lot of different aspects to race 2 compared to race 1 on Saturday, mainly due to the fact that we had over 3 times the amount of green flag running. There were multiple things that I could have done better in that race.

It was a lot about learning the different aspects of racing wheel to wheel in this series. We started 16th, on the outside row. We managed to move up to I believe it was 10th place by lap 2. There were 1 or 2 opportunities for me to gain a position, but at the same time I didn’t want my race to end prematurely. Going through the race, it was mainly defense for me. I had to do a lot of defending during the green flag periods and there wasn’t much I would change about that. The field is extremely competitive in this field, which makes it hard to overtake. We had a full course caution with about 15 minutes remaining.

Where I feel like I really could have improved, not only for the 2nd race but for the weekend in general, were the restarts. If I could have improved my position on the restart, the end of the race might have been an entire different story. With about 5 minutes remaining, I continued to defend from 2 cars behind me. We were going into turn 4, I was defending down the inside, the car behind me moved left to the driving line, and the car two behind me went to the right in an attempt to overtake the both of us. I gave the inside car room but it wasn’t enough as his front left tire and my right rear tire connected.

This, in turn, ended my race as the right rear corner of my car was facing the sky. If I had to change something about that incident I would have possibly given the inside driver more room, but at the same time in no way do I have the intention of just giving up a position.

There were multiple things that could have prevented that accident, but sometimes racing is just racing. It happens. All in all, I think I can reflect on St. Pete, especially race 2, and come out of it with a lot more knowledge, and head into Rounds 3 and 4 at Barber Motorsports Park even stronger.

Take a look at the incident from my point-of-view.

A bit of contact going through turn 4 at the Streets of St. Petersburg, during the 2016 Cooper Tires USF2000 Series Powered by Mazda.

Stay tuned for more answers, and don't forget to send your questions!

Q&A Part 1

Thank you to all of those who sent in your questions last week. We will be doing more of these so if you have a question, post it in the comments! This will be the first of a multi-part series.

Question 1, from Tyler Swartz, “When can we swap seats for a day?"

Well, if we could pull off something as organized as the Tony Stewart/ Lewis Hamilton stunt I would be all for it. What would be interesting is if you stopped by for one of our races in Indianapolis this year.

We have the Indy GP and then an Oval race at Lucas Oil Raceway. Since it’ll be my first time on an oval in a formula car, I’m sure you could give me some great advice! In return, we always bring a 3rd car to the races. Now I’m not saying you can take it out on track, but there is a 3rd car…

 

Question 2 is from Aaron Meyer. He asked, “What kind of training regiment do you do to stay in shape through the year?"

A lot of the training I do to stay in shape is cardio. The minimum weight in these cars is 1,220 lbs. That means the drivers wet weight (weight with all his gear on) has to be anywhere between 165-175 lbs in order to not be too far over the minimum weight. As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, I had to lose nearly 20 lbs in order to not only be in good condition to race, but to also not be a hindrance to the performance of the car.

That being said, I still have a bit of work to go. I usually run and bike on a daily basis. For me, it is definitely not the most fun thing to do, but at the same time I think of it as the more weight I lose, the faster I go in the car! Living 15 minutes from the beach also helps as it is always a nice view to run or swim at the beach. It is also key to make sure the I am strong enough to push the car to its limits for the entirety of the race.

Back at the end of 2015, I first tested in the USF2000 car with Afterburner Autosport and realized how much more physically demanding these cars were compared to say the Skip Barber Formula 2000 cars or the Mazda Spec Miata. I was really feeling sore in my shoulders, forearms, and neck. There are some good workouts that help muscle groups like these, so I followed specific training regimens until my test in February. I felt much better in the car and was able to run more consistent lap times. Jim Leo from PitFit Training works with a lot of top level racing professionals, and while I haven’t been able to work with him much, he would be my number one recommendation for any drivers wanting to up their physical game.

 

Stay tuned for more answers, and don't forget to send your questions!

Race Report - Rounds 1 & 2

St. Petersburg, Fl

It was a rough and bumpy first race weekend for us here in St. Petersburg… literally. The weekend kicked off Thursday morning with an hour long track walk. It was amazing seeing the differences in track surface from runway to street to asphalt. There was a lot of camber in the road due to the streets natural crowning, causing the car to often slide right out to the walls on corner exit. Then there were the walls themselves. If I had to describe them in one word, it would be “close.” They were always right there reminding you of the limit.

The rest of Thursday for me was an absolute blast off track. Immediately after the track walk I went to a luncheon where I was interviewed by news and radio stations up until the top guys showed up. To my surprise, Helio Castroneves, Will Power, Scott Dixon, and Spencer Pigot all joined me and the other Mazda Scholarship drivers for lunch and an interview in front of the Gran Prix partners and city officials. All of them were more than willing to give me advice and were very personable. I later went on to participate in a few media training sessions with all the drivers from the Mazda Road to Indy and an awesome Mazda photo shoot with the two other Scholarship drivers Nico Jamin and Santiago Urrutia. Then we wrapped up the day with the part I had been waiting for - getting on track.

The team strapped me in and I was out for the first time in my life on the Streets of St. Petersburg! It was exhilarating the first lap out. The walls were flying by me, there were cars all around; it was such an amazing first experience. We had about 3 laps until the session was red flagged due to a car hitting the wall. With about 10 minutes left in the session we got back on track and had a few more flying laps. All in all, we had about 10 laps around the course by the end of the session and were P6 of 27 cars. Not too shabby. We were definitely looking forward to the next couple of days.

Day Two started off early in the morning with a 7:30 a.m. practice and a 10:10 a.m. qualifying. I was extremely anxious to get back on track to try and improve our previous position but it was short-lived as the rear axle broke about 5 laps into the session cutting me short of throwing down a good lap. It was unfortunate especially because we needed as much track time as possible but the mechanics did an amazing job of getting the car fixed in the short amount of time between practice and qualifying. The boys finished up the car and we rolled onto grid for our qualifying session.

Qualifying up front at this track is extremely important as it is hard to pass and is usually littered with full course cautions. We got out for the first half of the session and were not where we wanted to be, around mid pack. We made some changes, threw on new tires, and went back out to try to throw down a faster lap which we did but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. We qualified 17th overall. This was a huge blow to our confidence but we knew it wasn’t over. We had the engine builder come over and check everything out just to make sure the motor was okay and they did find out a few different issues that could have prevented the engine from performing at its full potential. This gave us a ray of hope for our races the next day.

Races 1 & 2

Again, we were out on track in the morning and afternoon for races 1 and 2. We were starting p16 after a couple of drivers were moved around post qualifying. I started the race on the outside, 8 rows back. It was nearly impossible to see in front of me because of the rear wings on these cars but my spotter yelled “Green, Green, Green” and we were off for our first race. I was given some great advice from Mazda Factory driver, Joel Miller, telling me that there is usually someone who goes down the inside, makes contact and slides up the race track leaving an open lane on the inside corner apex. All 27 of us were barreling down into turn one. I moved to the outside racing line while the majority of the pack was along the inside wall. I broke slightly early anticipating a wreck and a moment later I saw one car in the air, and more cars hitting each other. I immediately darted to the inside then held my line around two more cars in turn 2. A full course caution was called not to long after turn 3 and it’s hard to express how happy I was when I only counted 5 cars in front of me. We were able to pass 10 cars in the first 2 corners of the race putting us in 6th. We cruised behind the pace car for about 5 laps which put us 1/3 of the way through the race length. Then onto my first restart. It wasn’t pretty, but after a wreck on the front straight which we avoided, I was now in 7th place. Again, we were behind the pace car for another 5 laps or so which only left us with 6 minutes of race time when we took the green for our second restart. It was a true battle with cars in front and behind always putting on pressure. All in all we took an 8th place finish in our first ever Cooper Tires USF2000 series powered by Mazda race.

Race two began mid day with the sun shining down on us and a slight breeze blowing. Our grid position for race two is determined by the 2nd fastest qualifying time or the fastest race lap, whichever is faster. This left us again in the back of the pack, position 17, for the start of race 2. As the green flag flew, I darted to the outside and managed to grab a few positions in the first corner. By the end of the 2nd lap we made it up to 10th position before a brief full course caution came out. We knew it was going to be a battle after the caution. We had a lot of very talented drivers behind us and passing was also going to be difficult. After some very hard racing, we had an incident with another driver going into turn 4 that took us out of the race with 2 laps to go. Our right rear corner of the car was pretty torn up and I had no option but to say hi to the safety crew at the corner exit of turn 5. It was unfortunate but ultimately a result of very hard racing and was a great learning experience for our first race weekend.

We were definitely hoping to get our Soul Red car closer to the front of the pack but we are going to be doing a lot of work between now and rounds 3&4 at Barber Motorsports Park in order to ensure this. Thank you to everyone who supported us during this race and followed all of our updates on our social media handles this past week. I hope everyone enjoyed the live video stream of the race, interviews, and insights courtesy of the “Road to Indy TV” app and the guys on the Mazda Road to Indy TV.

All the best,

Dakota