2015 VDCA Wild Hare run at Virginia International Raceway

A little over a month ago I had the opportunity to take part in my second race weekend of the year at the Virginia International Raceway. Once again I would be driving Jack Velden’s 1986 Swift DB2 Sports 2000 car and we would be looking to pick up where we had left off in Sebring, Florida.

I had been to VIR once before, but that was in a front wheel drive Saab, so the Sports 2000 would be an almost entirely different experience. However, I knew that I would feel comfortable in the car and I’m a firm believer that if you’re comfortable in the car then you can push it with confidence at any track. From the offset things looked great and I was able to lead every practice session and managed to qualify on pole. The race wouldn’t prove as easy however with Ben Sinnott applying constant pressure from behind as we navigated some lap traffic at ludicrous speed (see video below). Luckily I was able to hold on for the win and followed that result up with another victory on Sunday completing a nearly perfect weekend.

Thanks to Jack Velden for preparing an excellent car, my dad for his continued support, Bill Stoler for some excellent photos and the wonderful people at Sasco Sports for their hospitality throughout the weekend at their home track. Next up we’ll tackle the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway at one of the largest vintage races in the country. Thanks for tuning in!

1/20 scale Mclaren MP4/8- Tamiya

Over the winter I decided to try my hand at modeling and bought a few kits from the Japanese manufacturer Tamiya. Tamiya produces a very impressive and diverse range of kits ranging from obscure military vehicles to modern F1 race cars and MotoGP bikes. I had built several model cars and planes in the past, but these “models” often ended up looking more like lopsided turds than actual cars. I figured that a few years to grow up (kind of) and acquiring a little bit of patience in the process would serve me well.

I first built Red Bull Racing’s 2010 contender, the RB6 and it went very well (I’ll post photos of that soon). That encouraged me to get Ayrton Senna’s last McLaren: the MP4-8. The MP4-8 was McLaren’s 1993 challenger and it was powered by an infamously weak Ford powerplant. Senna manged to still propel the MP4-8 to 5 wins, none more famous than his incredible drive at Donnington Park in monsoon conditions.

Like the Red Bull I found no problems with the quality and fit of the parts and the kit went together like a dream. I bought some aftermarket Marlboro decals to finish the car and I think it turned out quite well.

MP4-8 Ford V8 engine

rear cowling masked off for fluorescent red paint

nice sharp lines

I added in a wire to support the floor- similar to the real car

I added some slight weathering to the exhaust pipes as well. I was pleased with the result.

Vintage Racing at Sebring

Well I didn’t get to drive in the 12 Hour last weekend, but I did get to throw a 1985 Swift DB2 Sports 2000 around Sebring International Raceway a few weeks ago. Sports 2000 cars are fairly similar in handling to the F2000 cars that I’m used to, but the cars’ bias ply tires and the chassis’ relative lack of rigidity make the chassis move around much more under braking and through the corners. The lack of aero allows the cars to really scoot down the straights though and we saw max speeds right below 140mph on the back straight.

Gallery: Best of Summer 2014

This summer has been a great experience. On top of my own racing in the F2000 Championship Series, USF2000, IMSA Lites and Spec Miata, I was also lucky enough to work for CJ Wilson Racing as their marketing intern. I had the opportunity to see many new tracks for the first time such as Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Lime Rock Park, Watkins Glen, Mosport, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Road America. Definitely a summer that I’ll remember for a long time!

Meeting Simon Pagenaud after Prototype Lites testing at Sebring

Turn 11 at Mid Ohio

CJ and Andris from CJ Wilson Racing

USF2000 testing at Mid Ohio with ArmsUp Motorsports

A lovely dinner with Peter Portante and Aaron Telitz

Stevan McAleer is ready for The Show

Stevan mean mugging at Road America

Doing important things with Chad McCumbee and Stevan McAleer

Patty Ice

Racing is so damn serious

Monterey California with Patrick

Monterey

Laguna Seca

Stevan got lost on the way to his car

Dale, ladies and gentleman.

Joey Bickers and Craig Boermester visualize before every race

I had my first In-N-Out experience and it lived up to the hype!

Laguna was such a scenic race track. I can’t wait to go back

I got on TV!

I had some good food….

… and drinks haha

MLB pitcher, CJ Wilson owned the race team I worked for

Flying to Laguna with some good friends

21st Amendment Brewerey in San Francisco

Pat and I almost rented one of these. We probably would’ve been on the news for all the wrong reasons.

Crab legs in SF

Alcatraz

Patrick and I were lucky enough to have some awesome weather in SF

We had been wanting to hang off the trolleys all trip, so we were super excited to finally get the chance.

We were pumped

SF Trolleys

We even met Alex Kirby

I tried finding some sponsorship in the Vegas airport

Seneca Lodge in Watkins Glen

Peter and I at the Seneca Lodge

Shoot to Thrill

My badass rain paints matched Finelli’s car

Watkins Glen

Tyler McQuarrie doing a rain dance

Guys, I think thats a race car driver!

Mid Ohio panoramic

Rubbing is racing in SM

Helmet is still looking good

USF test

Helmet hair

Brother Bri

I had some great feedback for the straightaways

High stakes at Columbus Motor Speedway

The Carousel at Mid Ohio

Finelli enjoying the finer things in life

I told some jokes

And I broke some stuff

Poutin in Canada!

We also flew some dones in Canada

Breakfast at Marion’s in Mosport

Chad watching himself as Dale Jr in the movie “3”

Around the outside at Mid Ohio

Lime Rock panoramic

Family photo at the Mid Ohio Majors

❤

Peter and I

This maniac insisted on chaning the head at the track

I picked up a few nametags at Mid Ohio after the tweetup

Sebring with Pops

Racing SM with this guy is always a good time

Mid Ohio fan tweetup at the Indycar weekend.

Testing with ArmsUp at Road America

Driving like idiots at the rental track at Road America

Maniacs

Steve Welk gave me some awesome coaching this summer

We’re probably telling jokes in this one

Getting the car scaled

Mama Selmants

Watching Tudor practice at IMS

F2000 Championship Series- Watkins Glen 2014

Greetings readers. Things have been relatively quiet on this blog and I’ve decided that that needed changing. So without further ado, here is my first post of the year to fill you in on the happenings of my 2014 racing season thus far.

Things kicked off for me this year with Rounds 3 and 4 of the F2000 Championship Series at the historic Watkins Glen International race track in upstate New York. Watkins Glen is a track steeped in history and had long been a circuit that I had wanted to visit, so you can imagine my excitement to hit the track upon arrival. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans and made the one and only practice day a wet and soggy affair. With the rest of the weekend’s forecast calling for clear and sunny skies, we elected to skip the practice sessions and instead wait until Saturday’s qualifying session to get our first taste of the circuit.

How Fast do you Go?

“How fast do you go? ”   I’ve been on the receiving end of this question more often than I care to think about. Countless times I’ve tried to answer it by rattling off top speeds of various cars that I’ve raced before and then witnessed the individual’s eyes glaze over as I try unsuccessfully to explain that while top speed is fairly impressive, it is how this speed is generated that should be stressed.

2008 Acura ARX-01b

I guess it isn’t that terrible of a question because top speed is an easy concept to grasp for those unfamiliar with racing. Plus, for years horsepower and top speed were, indeed, the all-important targets that racing engineers and manufacturers chased in their pursuit of ultimate lap times. The late Mark Donohue was quoted as saying “If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower.” Donohue applied this notion with great success as he and Roger Penske campaigned the 1500 horsepower Porsche 917/30 to complete domination of the 1973 Can-Am championship.

Video: Nelson Ledges Pole Lap

Ah, qualifying, how I love you.

There’s something magical about about chasing that ever elusive “perfect” lap and while I always feel I made some mistakes, securing a commanding pole position quickly push those thoughts away and give way to pure jubilation.

This video comes from my first race of the season in our Spec Miata at Nelson Ledges. I had terribly bad luck with traffic for most of the session, until the final lap of qualifying where I manged to throw down my fastest lap ever around Nelson’s and take the pole by 1.2 seconds over the field. As you can see, I was mildly pleased with the result!

F2000 Championship Series Round 12

Well, that’s a wrap folks. Another racing weekend come and gone far too soon, but this one could end up being hard to top.

Coming into the weekend, I couldn’t help but feel cautiously optimistic about my chances. The F2000 Championship Series is incredibly competitive, but I felt ready to build off of a solid Top 5 finishing position in the series’ last visit to Mid Ohio two weeks prior. Not only did I have some positive momentum rolling for myself, but I was lucky enough to have the beautiful, black Van Diemen affectionately known as Mrs. Draper, as my trusty steed and the expertise of the best F2000 engineer in the country, John Walko, to rely on.

Things are never as straightforward as they appear, however, and this weekend would prove to be no different. It was a hectic weekend for the Selmants family, as not only did we have a truck and race car trailer to pack, but my younger brother was moving into Ohio State on Friday, so things were quite busy to say the least. The move in would mean that instead of unloading the car on Thursday and having the benefit of practice days on Thursday and Friday, I would instead be jumping directly into qualifying  on Sunday morning without any practice.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog everybody! It’s been far too long since the last time I was writing consistently and a personal blog like this gives me the perfect avenue to give my perspective from my various racing events. Look for photos, onboard videos and race recaps on here. Enjoy!