At last year's Motor State Challenge, Mark ran a 1:34.58 in Jackass--That's faster than this year's best overall time. So there is some more time in the new car for sure. We will get to see how The Red Devil Competes against bona fide track cars and world class supercars at the Pirelli Ultimate Track Car Challenge at VIR July 23rd.

The real story here is Brian Finch. He ran very quick on the road course, but beat Stielow by a wide margin on the autocross. When I post them, lap times will show that Brian needed to make up time on the road course. And he stepped up his game. We work hard at the Motor State Challenge to keep frontrunners current on their rank. That way they can work towards improving their times throughout the day.

I'll work on an official Motor State Challenge recap thread tonight.

Oh yeah. Here are answers to a coupla questions:

-No, we do not count style points.

-We weigh autocross and road course equally. Some folks are just naturally better at one discipline or the other. Equal points avoids any advantage other than driver skill.

Congradulations to Brian Finch he did a great job! He has a great car and drives it very well. He had those cars hooked up in the AutoX! :hail:

Looking forward to get my car out and getting it sorted and getting some sleep. :thumbsup:

Stielow

Congrats to Brian and Mark. :thumbsup:

What car won for Brian? the '69 or the '70?

Ah, sleep is over-rated, although I needed the 9 hours I slept last night. I want to apologize to all the #1 group for slowing everyone down with my off track antics. The third session, when I spun out to the inside of turn 10, was the best. Watching everyone go by at speed was caught on my Go-pro. Unfortunately, it did not have enough range to pick up Marks exhaust flames going into the carousel. Mark I have to say, seeing how deep you entered that corner under throttle, the trail braking and how quick you were back in the throttle, was priceless. Congrats to all the competitors, great job!!! :thumbsup:

We just got home and the Camaro now has an extra 1205 miles on it from the past 4 days, some of them harder than the others. We had a great time at this event and taking home another win is just icing on the cake. The best part as always was the people and getting see old friends and make new ones.

Mark's car is a work of art and is so well put together you would never believe it was just finished the night before. I knew if he showed we would have our work cut out for us and boy did we. I have never been so happy to finish second place as to be as close as I was to a car and driver of that caliber has given me a boost. The Prodigy engine ran great with no issues and feels like it is making even more power as it is getting broken in. I love the torque out of the turns as you don't have to focus on keeping the engine wound up, Just focus on hitting your marks.

Having the top 6 go out in order of times was great for the runoff and I think only one person actually had to pass during the finals. I could see Mark at the end of the back straight each lap and when I could see he was just putting a little distance on me each lap I started pushing it harder and harder. Without that I would have never put down the numbers I did so a big thanks to Mark for giving me something to chase.

Now that Mark has his invite to Pahrump I will need to dig deep into my bag of tricks to try and close the gap. I know it is a big challenge as he will only continue to get faster as the car gets sorted out.

A big thanks to everyone who put this on and especially to Scott at Motorstate as we could not have been there without their great support.

Congratulations Brian. You are turning out to be a prime role model for our hobby. Build it in your garage, get it done, drive it, and race it.

As a reminder, you don't need o wait until Pahrump. The invitation is still open for you to participate in the Pirelli Ultimate Track Car Challenge. That's where the big boys will be running -- including Stielow and the Red Devil. It's a chance to see how you rank against an entire field of fast cars and established drivers. Not just a few good pro touring drivers.

And since we created a Pro Touring Trophy Cup for this years event, we also get to see another Finch / Stielow match-up.

Does anyone else want to see Stielow and Finch run again? July 23. VIR.

Here's the link:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/events/utcc2010/

Brian, I cant promise 100%, I don't know my schedule yet. But I will fly out to watch this one. You will need to get a competition license prior. Not sure if there is time for that or not. But I am one on the list, just think, full blown racing, on full blown race tires. If you have never raced on GOOD tires, well, its like great Sex!!! DO IT!!!!! :thumbsup:

Some photos
 

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/q...10GMSO_304.jpg

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/q...10GMSO_310.jpg

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/q...10GMSO_374.jpg

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/q...10GMSO_075.jpg

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/q...10GMSO_228.jpg

"In the picture of the Chevelle smoking the tires you can see the tire marks where Dave Michaels made his first pass frying the tires just about all the way down the front straight. That is Dave in the reflection photo with Stielow. The Chevelle is Brian Thomsons. Brian built Stielow's engine. His company is www.thomsonengines.com and he is a perfectionist when it comes to engines. His Chevelle is basically a LS9 but 454 inches. It makes 900 ft pounds of torque and 850 hp and it idles at 650 rpm. I think the 900 ft lbs was at 3400 rpm. He drove it on all of Power Tour then drove it to Motorstates. Has done a bunch of development work for GM. The June issue of Hot Rod features a 800 HP LS7 that he built. One of the really nice guys in the industry that I am happy to call a friend."

From - Charley Lillard

Stielow
__________________

What is the process to gain a Comp license through Nasa? I still have my R1's with only a few laps on them so............

In the picture of the Chevelle smoking the tires you can see the tire marks where Dave Michaels made his first pass frying the tires just about all the way down the front straight. That is Dave in the reflection photo with Stielow. The Chevelle is Brian Thomsons. Brian built Stielow's engine. His company is www.thomsonengines.com and he is a perfectionist when it comes to engines. His Chevelle is basically a LS9 but 454 inches. It makes 900 ft pounds of torque and 850 hp and it idles at 650 rpm. I think the 900 ft lbs was at 3400 rpm. He drove it on all of Power Tour then drove it to Motorstates. Has done a bunch of development work for GM. The June issue of Hot Rod features a 800 HP LS7 that he built. One of the really nice guys in the industry that I am happy to call a friend.:cheers:

WOW!!! That is awesome. Car looks killer going fast and standing still. VERY NICE!!:bow: :thumbsup:
Good to know about thompson engines too!:thumbsup:

You guys are all amazing:bow::thumbsup: ....can I be in your group of friends?...:D :_paranoid

you only need a time trial license for utcc, but it will take a few events to attain, as you do there hpde program.
the comp license you need a full caged,2 door bar, race car, with personal safety equipment etc.

Pictures from Motor State
 

Here's a link to the pictures I took over the weekend.

http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/n...0State%202010/

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture031.jpg

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture001.jpg


http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture033.jpg

Thanks Jake, I assume I need to attend Nasa events to get the time trial license?

Brian,
Call me or email. 386-239-0523.

:bow: :hail: :bow: :hail:

You guys that go are going to love VIR! It's a first class place. I've run the WS6 out there for some HPDE's and short Circuit cross events on the Patriot loop. One day I'll get the '67 done and run that.

Anybody need any Pit help? I'll be more than glad to offer my services. VIR is only a 3.5 hour drive for me.

From DSE's site
 

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...te-10-145L.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...te-10-153L.jpg