Beertech Sponsor Tom and I attended the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge tonight. Thanks to a top secret connection with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, we had front row seats. While Beertech is more into the kind of racing with both left and right turns, there's no denying the entertainment value of the stock car boys. The PCC was pretty cool, and it did a great job of combining individual skills (jack man, tire changer, gas man, etc) with team efforts to really show which pit crews had the guts to pull through. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, and Steve Smith of the Panthers all made token appearances. I was really impressed by the skill of the tire change guys, as well as the brute strength of the teams as pushed the cars 40 yards (the final challenge); I've always sort of dug NASCAR as a spectacle, but this reinforces the more competitive aspects.....that is, unless its rigged....
Corporate Rob
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
BeerTech Spring Cook-Out
So by now you've got a pretty good idea that BeerTech is about some guys who are car nuts. And being nuts doesn't make us great drivers. But it's something we are passionate about.
But there's more to BeerTech than cars. There's also Go Karts... and food... and Beer.
Hooray BEER!
A few weeks ago we had our 1st Annual Spring BeerTech Cook-Out.
We wanted to do something to celebrate my 40th and the fact that Rob and Brook had just run off and gotten married.
Hooray Rob!
It was a full day of fun. We started the day with the Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez double feature... GRIND HOUSE. Sure it won't win any academy awards but it was an all out perfect guys flick. Fast cars, girls with guns, pocket bikes and lots of explosions. Quentin's move could have been 15 minutes shorter... But I digress.
If you want a review of the movie? Google "Grind House, review"... but I wouldn't trust anything you read on the internet.
Promptly following the movie, we headed to Greensboro's finest new attraction... the indoor Go Cart track (Greensboro Grand Prix). We didn't set any track records... but we had fun and gave the guys in the supposedly faster super carts a run for their money.
By know your asking... where's the cook-out? Well that's what we did after the go carting.
We headed to my house, where we met up with our better halves.
While we were doing our thing... the girls had been off getting manicures and stuff.
While the food cooked on the grill, the guys spent the evening out the garage talking cars and stuff. We all had just the right amount of food and adult beverage. At some point however, we decided to pay a quick visit to our favorite bar, Fishbones.
Rob and Brook left the group at this point to go and enjoy there BeerTech Honeymoon at the O'Henry. While the rest of us head back to my place to catch the late night viewing of the F1 race live from somewhere halfway around the world. I think some red car won?
So there's more to BeerTech than Cars, Go Karts, Food, and Beer... there's good times and good friends.
-Scott
Car 467 Returns to Action
Just a quick Update:
It was down to the wire to make it to the race this weekend at CMP. But through the amazing work done by Steve Bassan (the man is a magician), the good folks at Greensboro Maaco, the generosity of Steven Canterbury and JP... car 467 is back and better than before.
It was great to be back on track however I'm going to leave the race report to JP (see Below). I was a bit timid to say the least. The only thing I wanted to do was have a clean weekend. Get my 2 sigs and bring my car back in one piece. Not a very lofty goal but with all the damaged e30 metal incurred by BeerTech this year, I figured I'd do my part to help keep the price of parts from going through the roof.
Not sure why... but I ran a faster lap on Saturday than I did on Sunday. Oh well...
All in all I liked the track at CMP. It's both fast and technical. I think I'll fair much better the next time I go.
Scott... Out
Monday, May 7, 2007
Carolina Motorsports Park Recap
This weekend was MUCH different from the others. . . . none of the BeerTech cars found a wall!!! We were racing in lovely Kershaw SC. The track is really strange. The first 11 turns are great flowing turns, awesome. The last three are the worst set of turns I've ever done. No flow at all, it totally ruins the track. Oh well, at least there's only three of them.
Saturday started with cloudy skies that gave way to rain right before practice. It only rained lightly all days so dry tires would work. That's great seeing as we are too poor for rain tires, ha! Practice was our first time on the track, so it was throw away just to learn the track. I qualified 12th out of 18, and I believe Scott qualified 17th out of 18. I love the rain. We did a standing start which is REALLY fun. I spun all the way through 1st and 2nd gear and had to defend against a fast moving Steven Canterbury on the outside of Turn 1. The pack stayed close and I tucked in and tried to stay with them. I had a nice long spin coming out of turn 14 doing a nice 360 into the grass. I lost a handful of spots but got going again in front of Steven. I spent the entire rest of the race reeling in Herrington and Al Taylor who were in an epic battle. I made up about 10 car lengths to challenge them on the last two laps before we all got screwed by a turdbo 944 that ruined our race. He wasn't even racing for position. I finished 12th I think. Scott had a clean spin free race and brought the car home in one piece, really nice given the condition and considering he spun 3 or 4 times through practice/quali.
Saturday Start
Sunday the skies cleared and the track dried out. I pulled off before we went out for practice because I left my jack in the trunk. Whoops. When I went back out, the car started to overheat on the first lap. I pulled it in and found a cut coolant hose. The motor/chassis flexing was letting the fan hit the hose. Fortunately for me, the Rev. Al Taylor came prepared with spares and donated a hose to BeerTech in return for our further support of his inebriation. With the car fixed, quali began. I ran a 2 min flat, 3 seconds off pole, not bad for my 4th session on the track. It put me right back in 12th again. Scott qualified 17th with no spins. The start of the race was a blast and I got a great launch, but not enough to get by anyone. After that it was pretty boring as I was about .5 seconds off of Travis and Al's pace, so I was losing about a car length a lap. I spent the rest of the race lapping by myself. . . . BORING. Scott and I finished where we started and had no wrecks or spins.
Not the best racing I've had, but the track was fun and the Spec E30 guys always make the weekend a blast. Johnny Allen, Team Salazar, Gasman, and the Al and Travis show had us laughing (and Al burping and farting) all weekend. I hope Earl takes a little longer to get an "I" car because he's going to be quick when he does. It was great the see the Canterbury race family again - James is a hangman pro and a hot dog terrorist. The BeerWreck curse continued when Vic had contact early and went off late in the race promptly after getting a sticker, DAMN YOU SALAZARRRR!!! Johnny didn't put his off though when he got a sticker. . . . he must be more talented than Vic. . .
Thanks for tuning in.
JP
Saturday started with cloudy skies that gave way to rain right before practice. It only rained lightly all days so dry tires would work. That's great seeing as we are too poor for rain tires, ha! Practice was our first time on the track, so it was throw away just to learn the track. I qualified 12th out of 18, and I believe Scott qualified 17th out of 18. I love the rain. We did a standing start which is REALLY fun. I spun all the way through 1st and 2nd gear and had to defend against a fast moving Steven Canterbury on the outside of Turn 1. The pack stayed close and I tucked in and tried to stay with them. I had a nice long spin coming out of turn 14 doing a nice 360 into the grass. I lost a handful of spots but got going again in front of Steven. I spent the entire rest of the race reeling in Herrington and Al Taylor who were in an epic battle. I made up about 10 car lengths to challenge them on the last two laps before we all got screwed by a turdbo 944 that ruined our race. He wasn't even racing for position. I finished 12th I think. Scott had a clean spin free race and brought the car home in one piece, really nice given the condition and considering he spun 3 or 4 times through practice/quali.
Saturday Start
Sunday the skies cleared and the track dried out. I pulled off before we went out for practice because I left my jack in the trunk. Whoops. When I went back out, the car started to overheat on the first lap. I pulled it in and found a cut coolant hose. The motor/chassis flexing was letting the fan hit the hose. Fortunately for me, the Rev. Al Taylor came prepared with spares and donated a hose to BeerTech in return for our further support of his inebriation. With the car fixed, quali began. I ran a 2 min flat, 3 seconds off pole, not bad for my 4th session on the track. It put me right back in 12th again. Scott qualified 17th with no spins. The start of the race was a blast and I got a great launch, but not enough to get by anyone. After that it was pretty boring as I was about .5 seconds off of Travis and Al's pace, so I was losing about a car length a lap. I spent the rest of the race lapping by myself. . . . BORING. Scott and I finished where we started and had no wrecks or spins.
Not the best racing I've had, but the track was fun and the Spec E30 guys always make the weekend a blast. Johnny Allen, Team Salazar, Gasman, and the Al and Travis show had us laughing (and Al burping and farting) all weekend. I hope Earl takes a little longer to get an "I" car because he's going to be quick when he does. It was great the see the Canterbury race family again - James is a hangman pro and a hot dog terrorist. The BeerWreck curse continued when Vic had contact early and went off late in the race promptly after getting a sticker, DAMN YOU SALAZARRRR!!! Johnny didn't put his off though when he got a sticker. . . . he must be more talented than Vic. . .
Thanks for tuning in.
JP
Friday, May 4, 2007
CMP this weekend
Scott and I(JP) will be tackling CMP, Carolina Motorsports Park, this weekend. It will be my 3rd weekend and Scott's first time racing since his wreck. I wouldn't expect to see any podium finishes as neither of us has ever driven this track. Wish us well.
Brian - get you ass in gear. Do work Son!
-JP
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Rob in a cave
I spent this weekend installing a Beertech sticker on the Acura washer/dryer combo. Got it straight with no bubbles, sweet.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Rockingham Race Recap
Well, I know its a bit late, but here is my story of my second race weekend at Rockingham:
I spent the morning getting ready for practice and making sure I had all of my excuses for being slow lined up. Fortunately, I was able to use one immediately as I only did one "hot" lap before I felt a nasty thumping/ga
llop from the right front. This is especially scary with the high banking that Rockingham has. I brought it in fearing the worst and it only turned out to be loose lugs on the right front. I must have forgotten to tighten those down while telling lies to Travis and Al. Whoops! Even with loose lugs an one lap in, I was still only 3 seconds off the pace. I ran a 1:15.8 for the first practice session.
With the lugs all secured, it was time for quali. I had some good clean laps and even got to dice a little with a white 944 for the last two laps. I ran a 1:11.776 putting me squarely into 6th out of seven racers. Not as fast as I wanted, but it would suffice. Robert Patton took the pole with a blistering 1:08.917! That is an eternity faster on such a small track.
When race time came I found that I was surprisingly calm and relaxed as I was sitting on grid waiting to go out. The green flag fell and I got and alright start. I found myself staring at the car in front of my instead of the starter. I settled into position and started racing. On about the third or forth lap,
Steven Canterbury pulled a perfect pass into the braking zone for turn 3. This rattled me a bit because I've never actually been passed for position. I tucked in behind and focused on staying with him for the next few laps. The chance to take back my position came in turn 4, fishhook. Steven was running wide on turn in and leaving the door open. I trail-braked in and snuck along side him. I got a great run out of the turn and the position was mine. Steven follow me the rest of the race, never really letting me relax. Al Taylor overheated early allowing me to finish 5th for my 3rd ever race.
Results:
ht racers. Al got by early and then promptly overheated again (thanks Al). Steven, David Herrington and myself all diced for the entire race. I got shuffled back to last place and fought back up to finish 5th. That was a great race. There was never a dull moment as I was either passing, being passed, or watching my mirror to anticipate a pass the entire time.
Sunday:
Sunday morning we all got up with great expectations only to have them doused by nice rain showers. Stephen got an emergency phone call from his wife and had to pack up and leave first thing (everything was OK later). However, before he left, he let me use his rain tires for our first race. I qualified 3rd less than a second behind the pole. I LOVED the rain.
At the start I got a good run on Al, who was second, and pulled along side him before the banking. However, I forgot that I was in third and when I hit the rev limiter, Al pulled ahead. David Herrington then came from no where and passed me putting me back to 4th. Al and Herrington checked out in the lead while I was racing with Robert Patton. He has a VERY strong motor and would pull me substantially down the straight away and through the banking. I was turning faster laps but I couldn't get past him the whole race. Finally at the end Travis and I got by him with one lap to go. I held Travis off for the entire lap until the last turn. I ran a very defensive inside line while Travis swung wide and got a great run off of turn 7 and pulled up beside me. It was a drag race to the finish from there. When we crossed the line, I was ahead by a fender for third place. My first, and probably only one this year.
My time from the first race again put me 3rd on the grid for the 4th and final race of the weekend. This one was going to be an hour long. The rain was going off and on in between the races. When race time rolled around, the entire Spec E30 field had made the call to run on dry tires. As the pace car pulled off, rain drops started to fall. This is where I was taught a valuable lesson by
Robert Patton - The apron is a racing surface. I had a great run on Travis and Al and this time I even remembered to shift to 4th!. I looked in my mirror and saw Robert closing fast so I moved down to the apron line to defend the position. The next thing I know Robert is on the dirty flat apron of the track flat out passing everyone. The apron was so dirty with rubber and dirt that he literally had a rooster tail of debris coming off of his tires.
This is where the mess happens. As the pack rounds turn seven headed for the start/finish there is a wall of rain - and we're all on shaved dry tires! It was raining so hard that if I was driving on the street, I would h
ave pulled over. The top 4 guys; Al, Robert, Travis, and David all checked out as I limped my car around. They got out to about a half lap lead on me. I was just going fast enough to keep Laura Patton behind me. This was not easy. The rain only lasted about 5 min. Then it was time to play catch-up. The leaders were racing and catching traffic and there were caution flags everywhere which means no passing. I had clear track and put my head down and tried to run fast laps. I caught Herrington with about 4 laps to go. In the meantime, Travis had gone off in Turn 1 and was stuck in the gravel trap. It came down to the last lap with me right on David's bum
per. I tried to stick the nose inside in every corner and even got beside him coming out of fish hook, but I couldn't make it stick. I crossed the line in 4th.
Al ended up winning the race with Patton in 2nd and Herrington in 3rd. Great race and a great learning experience for me.
All in all this was by far the best track weekend I've every experienced. The racing was close and clean and the camaraderie and sportsmanship of the Southeast racers is unparalleled. Rockingham is really not a very nice track but after this weekend, I'll be at every race they have there.
To quote Travis "This ain't no high school beer party"
JP
I spent the morning getting ready for practice and making sure I had all of my excuses for being slow lined up. Fortunately, I was able to use one immediately as I only did one "hot" lap before I felt a nasty thumping/ga
llop from the right front. This is especially scary with the high banking that Rockingham has. I brought it in fearing the worst and it only turned out to be loose lugs on the right front. I must have forgotten to tighten those down while telling lies to Travis and Al. Whoops! Even with loose lugs an one lap in, I was still only 3 seconds off the pace. I ran a 1:15.8 for the first practice session.With the lugs all secured, it was time for quali. I had some good clean laps and even got to dice a little with a white 944 for the last two laps. I ran a 1:11.776 putting me squarely into 6th out of seven racers. Not as fast as I wanted, but it would suffice. Robert Patton took the pole with a blistering 1:08.917! That is an eternity faster on such a small track.
When race time came I found that I was surprisingly calm and relaxed as I was sitting on grid waiting to go out. The green flag fell and I got and alright start. I found myself staring at the car in front of my instead of the starter. I settled into position and started racing. On about the third or forth lap,
Steven Canterbury pulled a perfect pass into the braking zone for turn 3. This rattled me a bit because I've never actually been passed for position. I tucked in behind and focused on staying with him for the next few laps. The chance to take back my position came in turn 4, fishhook. Steven was running wide on turn in and leaving the door open. I trail-braked in and snuck along side him. I got a great run out of the turn and the position was mine. Steven follow me the rest of the race, never really letting me relax. Al Taylor overheated early allowing me to finish 5th for my 3rd ever race.Results:
- Robert Patton
- Mike Skeen
- Travis Wilson
- Laura Patton
- JP Coates
- Steven Canterbury
- Al Taylor
ht racers. Al got by early and then promptly overheated again (thanks Al). Steven, David Herrington and myself all diced for the entire race. I got shuffled back to last place and fought back up to finish 5th. That was a great race. There was never a dull moment as I was either passing, being passed, or watching my mirror to anticipate a pass the entire time.Sunday:
Sunday morning we all got up with great expectations only to have them doused by nice rain showers. Stephen got an emergency phone call from his wife and had to pack up and leave first thing (everything was OK later). However, before he left, he let me use his rain tires for our first race. I qualified 3rd less than a second behind the pole. I LOVED the rain.
At the start I got a good run on Al, who was second, and pulled along side him before the banking. However, I forgot that I was in third and when I hit the rev limiter, Al pulled ahead. David Herrington then came from no where and passed me putting me back to 4th. Al and Herrington checked out in the lead while I was racing with Robert Patton. He has a VERY strong motor and would pull me substantially down the straight away and through the banking. I was turning faster laps but I couldn't get past him the whole race. Finally at the end Travis and I got by him with one lap to go. I held Travis off for the entire lap until the last turn. I ran a very defensive inside line while Travis swung wide and got a great run off of turn 7 and pulled up beside me. It was a drag race to the finish from there. When we crossed the line, I was ahead by a fender for third place. My first, and probably only one this year.
My time from the first race again put me 3rd on the grid for the 4th and final race of the weekend. This one was going to be an hour long. The rain was going off and on in between the races. When race time rolled around, the entire Spec E30 field had made the call to run on dry tires. As the pace car pulled off, rain drops started to fall. This is where I was taught a valuable lesson by
Robert Patton - The apron is a racing surface. I had a great run on Travis and Al and this time I even remembered to shift to 4th!. I looked in my mirror and saw Robert closing fast so I moved down to the apron line to defend the position. The next thing I know Robert is on the dirty flat apron of the track flat out passing everyone. The apron was so dirty with rubber and dirt that he literally had a rooster tail of debris coming off of his tires.This is where the mess happens. As the pack rounds turn seven headed for the start/finish there is a wall of rain - and we're all on shaved dry tires! It was raining so hard that if I was driving on the street, I would h
ave pulled over. The top 4 guys; Al, Robert, Travis, and David all checked out as I limped my car around. They got out to about a half lap lead on me. I was just going fast enough to keep Laura Patton behind me. This was not easy. The rain only lasted about 5 min. Then it was time to play catch-up. The leaders were racing and catching traffic and there were caution flags everywhere which means no passing. I had clear track and put my head down and tried to run fast laps. I caught Herrington with about 4 laps to go. In the meantime, Travis had gone off in Turn 1 and was stuck in the gravel trap. It came down to the last lap with me right on David's bum
per. I tried to stick the nose inside in every corner and even got beside him coming out of fish hook, but I couldn't make it stick. I crossed the line in 4th.Al ended up winning the race with Patton in 2nd and Herrington in 3rd. Great race and a great learning experience for me.
All in all this was by far the best track weekend I've every experienced. The racing was close and clean and the camaraderie and sportsmanship of the Southeast racers is unparalleled. Rockingham is really not a very nice track but after this weekend, I'll be at every race they have there.
To quote Travis "This ain't no high school beer party"
JP
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