We spoke to the guys after an exciting Touring Car race that unfortunately didn't have the expected results. See below as Nick talks about a charity that is close to his heart, and James tells us his side of some on track incidents.
The 2008 season is over so the free t-shirt offer is winding down. We'll do a 2008 season wrap up where we ask the guys as many questions as they'll answer (possibly released in parts so they don't cramp up their driving hands typing).
(James) It seems like you guys do a pretty extensive check of the cars between sessions. Can you talk about the importance of that process, and what your guys are checking / doing before the car goes back out on track?
[James Clay] Our cars are full solid mounted (bushings, etc) and driven extremely hard every time they touch the track (if you aren’t turning your best possible lap every time, you are wasting money running it around the track) they need quite a bit of maintenance. The crew has a checklist of all the wear parts to review and inspect/replace if needed. The car is cleaned so the guys can inspect for leaks, cracks, etc. Past that, we do a lot of tweaking on the cars for setup between sessions. The drivers in World Challenge come fast out of the box to the track – a lot of the speed difference as the weekend progresses is captured by small tweaks to the car. Finally, after the day is over and certainly before qualifying or the race, the car gets a thorough inspection and nut and bolt to make sure everything is as it should be and ready to run full-tilt with no issues.
(James) ***Spoiler Alert*** You had a run in with multiple Tri-Point Mazda's during the race. It was unclear - given some of the angles and footage - exactly what transpired but seemed like you held your line and were maybe 'squeezed' a little too much resulting in various contact. What did it look like from your seat?
[James Clay] I am not at all happy about my Atlanta race. Specifically with the Tri-Point cars, I had two issues with contact, both of which I ended up on the “good side” of, but the truth is no one wins in this situation and it is bad for everyone. I had one place on the track that I could pull off a pass in our cars – acceleration on the back straight where I would gain about 4 car lengths out of the draft and into a very hard braking zone where our cars always excel. The first contact with Espenlaub happened on our 3rd or 4th time through 10a together – every time I was pushing it a little harder to set up a turn 12 pass that put me on the podium in 2007 here. I feel like the contact on this occasion was due to Charles slightly crossing the track under braking after we had both chosen our positions and were under threshold braking – not a time to change your plan for evasion. Charles and I talked after the race and had a gentleman’s agreement on the matter and I consider it case closed – certainly I imagine it will be on the broadcast and you can draw your own conclusion.
Saini on the other hand was blatantly crossing the track under braking when he lost sight of me and didn’t think about the blind spot we all learn about in driver’s ed. After the race in our “discussions” I was told that I had more room on my right that I should have used, but I guess the engineer in me realized that the coefficient of friction with two tires on grass is not as good as when you keep them on pavement so I chose to maintain my line along the edge of the track. I have plenty of thoughts on the matter but this one will hopefully be in the broadcast as well and I think the fans will see who was at fault.
(Nick) Tell us a little bit about your involvement with SpecialOps.org.
When I started racing WC in 2004 I knew I was fortunate to be able to race at this level. To give something back I was evaluating charities and a friend of mine in San Diego told me about the Special Operations Warriors Foundation and explained how they help the kids of the SF guys killed in action or training. I contacted them and they had people at Sebring working with the SCCA, Realtime, and I to promote the cause. When we met some of the kids the foundation had helped as well as some of the SF guys, it became a mission of mine to bring awareness to this special charity. These guys leave their families for sometime 18 months, they go to the darkest corners of the earth to deal with things the average person will never know about, and they do it for little pay and at great risk to themselves. My small contribution is to let them know someone is looking after their kids if the worst happens. Find out more about SpecialOps.org and what you can do to help here.
(Nick) Road Atlanta featured what is probably a BimmerWorld first, with a team driver taking the wheel behind a GT Mustang. Can you give us a little insight into how the TC / GT cars compare?
Mike Davis has been very generous in allowing me to test some of the ACS cars. I didn’t even qualify the car so I squeezed a hardship lap in and started from the back and we immediately had a brake problem. Those are the problems that never improve with time so I pulled it off. Having tested the GT cars in the past they simply have more weight, power, and ultimate grip... The Touring Cars require more finesse as well as keeping the momentum of the car up, especially when you are in traffic with 15 other guys all within a second. The GT cars have such a big performance envelope you really don’t get a break in the action as things are happening at a much faster pace. I’d love to race in both classes but it's tough to jump from one car to the other, not to mention the economics. I give Galati and Randy a lot of credit to be effective in both classes.
(Nick) You had a great race at Road Atlanta and a good finish. How does it feel ending the season on a high note?
At a minimum, this is where I expected to run all season. I’m pleased having a good result and finishing up the season with three top tens but overall I wasn’t satisfied with what I accomplished this year. There is no question running against the factory teams is a challenge and as we saw some of the teams could put almost anyone in their cars and they were a hero... And good for them. Our development continued through the year and we finally got there at the end of the year where we were able to keep pace. I feel confident the E90s will be the car to beat in 2009. If you have a bad last race you have six months of sleepless nights and anxiousness. This finish put me at ease and motivates me to get ready to fight and win next year.
Some more reader submissions and a few questions for the guys on Road Atlanta.
If you're in radio range and can pick up 790AM (The Zone) listen for Seth Thomas and other WC drivers as they are interviewed on Mike Bell's popular program "The Speed Zone". Or if you're near downtown they'll be broadcasting live from Fox Sports Grill.
On to the questions! If you're local to Atlanta please stop by and watch the guys battle it out at Road Atlanta on Friday. We'll be in the paddock area. You can find the event schedule here. Last year was an amazing race in the wet that had Clay on the podium in third, while Seth led almost the entire way until an unfortunate spin at the end of the back straight took him out of the race. Come see if the guys can end a great season with some great racing at one of their home tracks.
(James) How much (if any) support do you get from BMW, and is there any technology shared with the WTC cars? Reader: Gerry Sparks
[James Clay]The BMW support network is interesting and a little confusing. I can say that we don’t get a check at the beginning of the year to cover our racing budget… Unfortunately, our specs are a bit different that the WTCC cars so we had to do a lot of the development on the cars ourselves and come up with our own racing solutions. On the plus side, we have really engineered this car from the ground up and we are a lot sharper for the time spend in R&D, which is evident when we design parts to sell our customers. A few parts we use are WTCC spec though, and we talk to the BMW engineers when we are having an issue and they can typically point us in the right direction.
(James) Care to comment on the proposed 2009 rules? Do you forsee any positive / negative impacts for the BW team? Reader: Kurt Ristow
[James Clay] I think it is way too early to tell. Certainly with Acura building new cars for 2009 and Mazda for late 2009/2010, things will be shuffled up a bit. Acura will have to contend with the same modern larger chassis that we work with, so we won’t be the only ones crying the blues on frontal area. Mazda will be in a new 3, which is a smaller car, but they will move to a Macpherson strut with this change as well, so that will ding them a little bit. We have been working a lot through the season this year and will continue to do so to make our package stronger, but it will certainly be a dynamic year in 2009.
(James) Do you guys get to talk to each other on the radio during the race? What's the regular chatter like? Who's the most talkative? Reader: Jesse Clark
[James Clay] The general rule is the most talkative is the one being hit. I prefer not to talk a lot and really our whole team follows suit. In the past, we have run separate channels for different drivers that do like to talk, but everyone is on the same one this year, which I prefer for strategy and information sharing. I will tell you though that if you don’t see the problem, you might BE the problem… I have been told that during test sessions, I spend more than my fair share of time discussing handling issues to get the car sorted…
(James) What preparations or work does the team do in the off season to prepare for next year? Is there any time off or does the team go right back at it on Monday after Petit Le Mans?
[James Clay] Everyone has to take a little time off. The guys get some vacation time. We go to the SEMA and PRI shows to meet with sponsors, look for new ones, get ideas, find new products to sell (for BimmerWorld), etc. The cars also undergo a full strip to a bare chassis and then refresh sometime through the winter – everything comes apart, is cleaned and inspected, then reassembled as a fresh car. Testing typically starts for us in January, but every winter is different, depending on the demands of the workload.
(Seth) I know the World Challenge series switched to Toyo R888’s for this season. How has this new tire affected the set up’s over the Toyo Ra1? Also how much are the tires shaved down in order to race on them? Generally what have you learned about these tires over the course of a season in comparison to the RA1's Reader: Mike Carter
[Seth Thomas] We started off the season thinking the R888 was going to be a very similar tire as the RA1 was. It appeared the compound was the same just with a little bit stiffer sidewall. This might be the case but the tires do require a different setup. The cars on the R888s didn’t like the stiffer setup that we had run before that which made them very twitchy. Since then we have done a lot of testing to get setup right with these tires and made a lot of changes to the cars. Basically what we have found with the R888s shaved to 3/32nds is they like a little bit of a softer spring setup and slightly less camber.
(Seth) Do you feel the BMW is easier on the tires than the front drive World Challenge cars? Do you have an advantage later in the race? Reader: Kurt Ristow
[Seth Thomas] I do think so because the FWD cars will burn off their front tires a lot quicker than we do. So later in the race they are having a problem getting the cars pointed where they want entering the turns. I have seen some of the tires on the FWD cars be very close to showing cords after a race. We have our cars setup so they are neutral to begin with and the get a little bit on the loose side later on. This is not a huge factor as the race goes on since they stay predictable and do what they do best throughout the race.
(Seth) Thanks for soliciting questions and comments from those of us over at BimmerForums.com! World Challenge TC races once featured large, diverse fields. In recent seasons though, only a couple of touring car models have proven competitive (Acura, BMW & Mazda this year) and the majority of racers drive for multi-car efforts. The result has been races like this season's Watkins Glen event, where about 1/3 of the field raced for a single team. Do you see this trend as being beneficial for the series? In what ways do you see the World Challenge evolving to better compete for spectator and sponsor attention? Reader: Ian Trenbeath
[Seth Thomas] You guys are more than welcome. It is fun having a group of BMW guys that a cool to hang out with all over the country. The series having teams with multi-car efforts that make up the majority of the field is a positive for the series. It improves the level of competition and car prep with every team. Look at the results from this year. The qualifying for most of the races is determined by less than 1 second from first to 10th or 15th. The competition doesn’t get any closer. The evolution of World Challenge from here will only be better. The series is doing things to help keep the competition where it is and to make it easier on new competitors coming into the series. They are doing things to help increase our fan base and keeping the series on the front page of fans viewing. A couple of examples are creating a Facebook page with links to all the teams websites, videos from in-car footage, dates and times of driver appearances. This Tuesday Randy Pobst and I are doing a radio interview in Atlanta after we test our cars to help promote the race at the Petit LeMans.
(Seth) We know you spend a lot of time coaching club level drivers. Do you think that with enough time and effort the average racer could make it to the WC ranks, or is there a certain level of talent and ability that can't be taught? What qualities do the top level drivers all share?
[Seth Thomas] Yes I do. I was the average racer once. I started out doing BMWCCA Driver Schools at Road Atlanta and all the tracks in the southeast. So I think I started from the roots and did what it took to get here. I didn’t hire a coach so it took me a little bit longer than if I had but I learned a lot along with way. And I am still learning. I benefit from having James and Nick around. They act as my coaches on race weekends. The advantage to having a driving coach is the future racer will gain knowledge of how to drive faster, do it consistently every lap, and how to handle certain race situations a lot quicker than I did. They can learn without having to experience them first hand, which can be costly.
Every top level driver has one thing in common, the will to win. We all want to win and we all want to do it every time we drive a car on the track. Nobody is faster than me and nobody is going to beat me. We are always looking for ways to be faster than our competitors and when our competitors are faster than us, we keep searching for how we are going to come out on top. The continual search for going faster is what makes us top level drivers. We never become stagnant with where we are. We are always wanting the next tenth of a second even if the data tells them it isn’t there. We want it!
(Nick) Do you ever see the opportunity/possibility for a BMW Club racing event to run as a support race for a WC/TC event? Reader: Jenny Santoso
[Nick Esayian] Anything is possible but right now motor sports is about economics. When you have a televised series you tend to share the weekend with other televised series to share costs. In the past we have shared weekend with Formula BMW so depending on what BMW and BMWCCA have up there sleeve (ala VW Cup) we could see something similar.
(Nick ) What is the paddock atmosphere like? Is it anything like club racing where there’s a friendly, hang out after the race together feel to it? Does the pro-level competition, manufacturer involvement and dollars involved take that away? For example, what’s the best practical joke that’s been played in the paddock by one team on another, or does that just not happen? Reader: Eric Henrich
[Nick Esayian] I think the first few races in the WC paddock are a bit intimidating for a new driver. The WC paddock is pretty tight on and off the track and it takes some time for a new guy to gain the respect of everyone on the track as well as being party to the shenanigans off the track. All the drives and teams are constantly giving each other shit and playing practical jokes. Nothing to serious but when you spend 60 plus days with a group of guys doing what we do, you tend to become a big family, albeit a competitive one. From my experience the camaraderie is the same in pro racing as it is in club racing. Lots of fun and a lot of characters.
(Nick) With a company like Debt Cures and the economy where it is currently at, you're probably doing all right! Thoughts on how this will impact motor sports in the coming months / year, if at all?
[Nick Esayian] We saw the clouds on the horizon in early 2007, wrote the book, hired a host, and produced the infomercial. The government had guaranteed all these home loans via Freddy and Fannie to get people into homes that should not have been. Once that happened the greed ensued and banks, builders, and everyone else saw easy money. Add credit card debt in, 2nd mortgages, and the supply of homes outrunning demand and you have a mess. I blame the government for the “social experiment” which started all this. We have sold over 1,000,000 books and collateral on TV and a few hundred thousand units in retail so we are doing ok. Based on the email we have gotten we have helped a lot of folks. It’s been a life changing success but these things have a finite life cycle so we are already working on the next project.
(Nick) As BimmerWorld approaches the last race of the season on one of their 'home' tracks, how much of an advantage does that local knowledge and experience give? Is it more of an advantage in a pure lap time sense or more in a race craft sense (knowing where passes will work / won't)?
[Nick Esayian] Most of the WC guys have raced on all these tracks multiple times so unless we hit a new venue on the schedule like VIR I don’t think it makes a huge difference. Look at Mosport. The entire TC field was less than .7 second apart on the grid and there were guys in the field that have raced that track literally dozens of times. This group is probably the most competitive in any type of motor sports today. That’s a big claim but it is the truth.
When I started racing WC in 2004 I knew I was fortunate to be able to race at this level. To give something back I was evaluating charities and a friend of mine in San Diego told me about the Special Operations Warriors Foundation and explained how they help the kids of the SF guys killed in action or training. I contacted them and they had people at Sebring working with the SCCA, Realtime, and I to promote the cause. When we met some of the kids the foundation had helped as well as some of the SF guys, it became a mission of mine to bring awareness to this special charity. These guys leave their families for sometime 18 months, they go to the darkest corners of the earth to deal with things the average person will never know about, and they do it for little pay and at great risk to themselves. My small contribution is to let them know someone is looking after their kids if the worst happens.
