Caddell Motorsports

Monday, October 16, 2006

Wow, what a long race but ends with a WIN!

We can't believe it!

Andrew led the race from flag to flag and is the 2006 SCCA Spec Miata National Champion!

We are sitting in the Kansas City Airport and this is our first opportunity to have internet availability.

We will be posting some videos as well as other images in the next couple of days.

Thanks to the MANY folks that have helped out to get Andrew this very important win.

Special thanks to Robert Caddell, Neil Bryant, and Geoff Cochran who went into the tech barn with us and worked for a solid 6 hours on giving the SCCA tech folks the parts they wanted.

We now have a car on its way back to Washington with no engine, trans, or rear end in it as all 3 were completly torn apart.

They also checked shocks, sway bars, ECU, and even had us remove the entire front suspension subframe!

We have at least a couple of months before this car could be raced even if we wanted to!

The fine folks from Rebello Engines were also right there with us and did all the teardown on the motor... Rebello's were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the finish! Thanks Dave, Mike, and Brian.

Thanks again to everybody and I hope we all recover in the next couple of weeks to try to do it all again!

Roger

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Final Prep!

Well, tomorrow is the big race where Andrew will be starting on the front row.

We are finishing the changing of fluids and final settings based on what we think the weather will be tomorrow.

Latest forcast I have seen is a 20% chance of showers before noon (our race is at 10:20am local time) with more rain forcast as the day moves ahead.

Andrew has been doing a great job and the car is good so I am still optimistic for a good finish.

Andrew did his short live radio from the track on a Seattle radio station (570 KVI) this morning, he had a good time and it went well.

I will try to update you on the weather or maybe some of you can update me via this blog on what you are seeing on some of the weather sites.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Final Qualifying notes

Well... 2nd place and on the front row is not bad is it?? Not sure I have convinced Andrew of that yet.

Blake Clements ripped off a great lap to take the pole and Andrews lap from the first qual session kept him on the front row.

Sammy Valafar jumped up to 3rd overall only .002 behind Andrew.

Traffic was VERY bad in todays session and Andrew finally got some free/clean laps right at the end but the tire pressures had grown more that I thought they would in the cold air and they were 2 psi higher than what we like and slowed down his best chance at a good lap.

The weather is set to get better as the rest of the week goes on with our race on Sunday being the best day with a high of 75 degrees.

I will try to post something everyday as we move onto the race.

Pre - Fourth Qualifying Notes

It is sunny here in Topeka but still 45 or so degrees. The wind is constant at about 20mph but across the 2 main straights so times may well be good.

They have officially dropped Matt Cross's time from yesterday as he did cut a couple of corners on that lap so Andrew's 2:01.059 is the time everybody is shooting for.

Live timing should still be working for our last qualifying session at 3:20pm local time (1:20pm Pacific)

Remember that the live timing only shows the times from the current session and your grid position for the race is based on your best time from any of the 4 qualifying sessions.

Andrews 2:01.059 is what everybody is shooting for!

We have put on our best set of tires as we think the track may be faster in this session, so look for the times to drop some.

We also should not be in tech today (at least not as long as yesterday) so I should get a update out much faster today.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

3rd Qualifying session

In the 3rd Qualifying session today, Andrew did not better his time but nobody went faster than his first session time so he is still on the provisional pole with 1 qualifying session left.

Andrew was 4th fast today.

The last session will be at 3:20pm local time (1:20pm Pacific) and if nobody goes faster than a 2:01.058 Andrew will have the pole!

Sorry for the delay in posting but after our qualifying session today, we were pulled into tech and they checked the following items:

Camshafts
Compression Ratio
Brake rotor size
Shocks
Sway bar size
Roll cage gussets
Any chassis welding for stiffening

We easily passed all of the tech items.

Then Andrew went to a spot for a SpeedTV video shoot that will be used for the opening of the TV show.

Neil from Pinnacle Mazda has arrived and is enjoying himself!

It is very cold here with the clouds going in and out. ut it is supposed to be warmer for the weekend.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Tuesday Rain

Still raining here but it is slowing down, the weatherman is calling for another front to come through late this afternoon and then it will start to clear out and get cold.

We will not go out today if it is a wet practice as raceday looks dry and 70 or so.

Tomorrows qualifying is fairly early and should be very cool as they are calling for a frost in the morning but Thursday should be a day that everybody should be able to better their times.

Plenty of time for anybody that missed on their setup to get it right.

We have a few more things to try that should help us find a little more speed.

Andrew's lap before his fast lap was actually .30 faster but he caught some traffic in the last turn and it slowed him down so we have some more available as well and will try to put it to good use!!

Time to go have some warm soup and try to wait out the rain!

Monday, October 09, 2006

Provisional Pole for Andrew!

Andrew ran his best lap of the weekend on his final qualifying lap. He was second until that time behind Blake Clements by .02 until the last lap.

But first, the rest of the story...

We went to the on site chassis dyno about 30 minutes before our session and with some changes with the help of the Rebello racing crew we were able to find about 4 more hp in a great tuneup for the actual conditions we were going to qualify under.

Andrew tried to work together with a few cars and that did work well but about 2 laps to go he found a gap large enough that he got the last flying lap without catching another car. With about 60 cars on the track, that was a miracle!

Now we all need to remember that this was just the first qualifying session of 4 total so others could easily go faster but even if we do not I think we will stay near the top of the board, probably not dropping out of the top 5.

Here are the top 10 times:

Andrew - 2:01.058
Clements - 2:01.289
Mark Pombo - 2:01.313
Valafar - 2:01.533
Matt Pombo - 2:01.579
Willlenborg - 2:01.626
Rampelberg - 2:01.645
Coello - 2:01.689
McSpadden - 2:01.814
Reynolds - 2:01.822

Live Timing Update and Link

Here is a link to the live timing:

http://leaderboard.vfx.com/SCCA/Runoffs/LiveTiming.asp?

Andrew and the rest of the Spec Miata class goes out at 12:10pm local time - (10:10am Pacific)

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Sunday Practice THREE Notes

There were maybe 65 cars or so on the track for the last practice so finding a open spot for a full lap was tough!

But we made it through without any problems or dented fenders and while he never had any clean laps, he did say our changes and calls on our tires were finally paying off.

The top laptimes were:

Charlie James - 2:02.086
Mark Bennett - 2:02.089
Matt Cross - 2:02.163
John Willenburg - 2:02.293
Craig Chima - 2:02.509
Andrew - 2:02.569
Rampelberg - 2:02.686
McSpaden - 2:02.740

We qualify in our first of 4 sessions tomorrow at 12:10pm local time, 10:10am Pacific. I think live timing will be available at www.scca.com and I will try to get more info about that and post it here.

Sunday Practice TWO Notes

We got the car better for the second practice, both handling and engine tuning.

Andrew was second fastest but there was much traffic on this last test day before qualifying.

He still has a bit of understeer and we are still trying to get a set of tires to the optimal wear for our qualifying session(s).

Here were the top 5 times

1st - John Willenberg - 2:01.528
2nd - Andrew - 2:01.731
3rd - Matt Cross - 2:02.221
4th - Brad Rampelberg - 2:02.246
5th - Charlie James - 2:02.362

One last practice here today at 4:30pm local time - 2:30 Pacific.

Sunday Practice ONE Notes

Weather is nice and sunny here but a little cool and windy at night.

Practice this morning we struggled again a bit with some handling problems as well as missing a little on the fuel mixture.

The cool morning sessions compared to the hot afternoon sessions seem to want a different chassis and engine setup.

Andrew was 4th in this mornings practice.

1st - Matt Pombo - 2:00.872 (Wow!)
2nd - John Willenborg - 2:01.525
3rd - Matt Cross - 2:01.568
4th - Andrew - 2:01.859
5th - Marc Hoover - 2:02.196

No problems again and a nice clean practice!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Saturday Practice FOUR Notes

Things went a little better for this practice as we made some adjustments for what we changed in practice three as well as trying to get our setup to compensate for the hot afternoon temps.

Andrew went out in traffic on purpose to get a better handle of the passing zones.

He ended up 2nd fast in the session as everybody slowed down a bit.

Here were the top 5 times:

Mark Pombo - 2:01.732
Andrew - 2:02.267
Matt Cross - 2:02.309
Reynolds - 2:02.382
Rampelberg - 2:02.606

3 more practices tomorrow and then qualifying starts on Monday!

Saturday Practice THREE Notes

For this session we tried a few things to see how the car react and... they were bad ideas!

We slowed down to 5th fastest in the session. The best times were:

#10 Mark Pombo - 2:01.864
Matt Cross - 2:02.499
Matt Pombo - 2:02.607
Harry Manning - 2:02.747
Then Andrew at - 2:02.966

We now have a coule of things that we know not to try!!

Still nothing broke on the car and all is going well.

Saturday Practice TWO Notes

Another session with no problems!

Andrew was the fastest of the cars in our class again, of course some may be not running their timing transponders or even sandbagging!

Andrews best was a 2:01.497 and he ran 3 laps in the 2:01's and the other probably would have been but he started near the back and had some passing practice.

Next fast was #01 Matt Pombo at a 2:01.968 and he only ran 1 2:01.xx lap.

Reynolds was 3rd at a 2:01.988

Matt Cross was 4th at a 2:02.053

5th was #10 Mark Pombo at 2:02.058

Next practice is at about 3:15pm local time (1:15 Pacific) and we will be putting on new tires I think to see if that will help Andrews only concern which is a overall lack of grip.

He is very happy with his new Carbotech brakes!

Saturday Practice ONE Notes

No problems in our first practice session about 30 minutes ago.

Andrew was the fastest of the cars that had their timing transponders on. He ran his best time of a 2:01.706 and the second fastest was Harry Manning (many time National champion) at a 2:02.018

Andrew ran 4 laps in the 2:01's and nobody else was in the 2:01's.

Next session at about 11:00am local time... 9:00am Pacific.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Getting ready, panic, and then ready again!

What a day...

We worked on the car most of the morning. Finished the trans and clutch install, installed all new brakes and then cleaned up the car real good for Andrews interview and autograph session.

The interview and autograph session went well with Andrew signing many autographs and a long TV interview with a local station!

We then went back to the track to finish final preperations for tomorrows first practice session and while changing spark plugs one stripped out!!

After 3 hours of panic we were able to find the right tools, the right technique, and some luck and was able to fix the car. Putting a Helicoil in a Miata head is not real easy!

Time for bed as we have a drivers meeting at 7am local time (5am pst) and we are on the track at 7:30am local time on Saturdays latest revised schedule!

After our 4 practices tomorrow, it looks like Andrew will be on a crew for a drag car at the drag strip here at Topeka for a episode of the SpeedTV hit show Pinks that will be being taping for air later this year.

Check back tomorrow for how we are doing after our first day on the track!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Were Here!

We made it to the track today and Andrew, his Cousin Robert, and I installed our new clutch and transmission before calling it a day and going out for a fun dinner with my brother (Andrews Uncle) David and his wife Kathy who watched over our trailer in between races back here in Kansas.

Tomorrow we put all new Carbotech brakes on the car and look over the rest of the car before our first practice session of the Runoffs on Saturday.

Also tomorrow Andrew has his first radio interview and autograph session! A few stories from this and hopefully a few pictures as well!

Tomorrow we should have some times on some of the other Spec Miatas for Andrew to shoot at on Saturday.

Roger

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Andrew's Interviews

Andrew has several interviews and autograph sessions scheduled for the Runoffs week in Topeka.

They will be:

Friday, Oct 6th - 1:30 to 5:00pm pdt - Radio interview and Autograph session at the Super8 Hotel near the track

Wednesday, Oct 11th - Noon pdt - Speed TV Runoffs Shoot as Andrew was selected as "Someone to Watch" in the SM race and will be featured with 5 others in the opening of the SM race broadcast.

Saturday, Oct 14th - 6:00am to 8:00am pdt - KVI 570AM (Seattle) Radio Interview - Andrew will be interviewed directly from the track on "The Northwest Auto Show" with Tom Turner. We will have the actual time of the interview soon and it will be posted here!

Monday, October 02, 2006

Runoffs Schedule

Here is our schedule. All times shown are Pacific Daylight Time

Thursday, Oct 5th - Travel day and arrive at Heartland Park
- Leave Seattle at 6:15am and arrive in Kansas City at 11:05am
- Arrive at track at appx 2:oopm

Friday, Oct 6th - Prep the car and setup our pit spot
- Andrew has a Radio interview and autograph session in Topeka from 1:30pm to 5:00pm

Saturday, Oct 7th - Test Day - Andrew is in "Group C"
- 1st session: 6:15 - 6:35am
- 2nd session: 9:45 - 10:05am
- 3rd session: 2:25 - 2:45pm

Sunday, Oct 8th - Test Day - Andrew is in "Group C"
- 1st session: 6:15 - 6:35am
- 2nd session: 9:05 - 9:25am
- 3rd session: 2:30 - 2:50pm

Monday, Oct 9th - 1st Qualifying Day
- Session: 10:10 - 10:30am

Tuesday, Oct 10th - 2nd Qualifying Day
- Mazdaspeed/Victory Lane Data Seminar: 11:00am - 12:30pm in Mazdaspeed tent
- Session: 3:40 - 4:00pm

Wednesday, Oct 11th - 3rd Qualifying Day
- Session: 7:50 - 8:10am
- Speed/Runoffs Television Shoot - Noon - Andrew has been selected as "Someone to Watch" at this years Runoffs and will be featured in a brief open segment of the Spec Miata Speed broadcast!

Thursday, Oct 12th - 4th Qualifying Day
- Session: 1:20 - 1:40pm

Friday, Oct 13th - No on track activities

Saturday, Oct 14th - No on track activities

- KVI 570AM (Seattle) Radio Interview - 6am to 8am - Andrew will be interviewed directly from the track on "The Northwest Auto Show" with Tom Turner. We will have the actual time of the interview soon and it will be posted here!

Sunday, Oct 15th - Race Day!
- Warmup Session: 6:10 - 6:20am
- National Championship Race: 8:25am (18laps or 40 minutes, whichever comes first)

Monday, October 16th - Travel day
- Leave Kansas City at 2:35pm and arrive in Seattle at 7:40pm

All times shown are Pacific Daylight Time

Introduction

Welcome to the 2006 SCCA Runoffs blog for the #88 Spec Miata driven by Andrew Caddell!

This is where we will be posting experiences, images, results, ect from our 2006 "Run to the Runoffs"!

This is of course depending on our internet access at the Heartland Park racetrack in Topeka.

Please place your own thoughts here as well as the week goes on.