MINI Cooper Invitational IV was held on April 13th, 2008. Same as last year, I set a limit of 12 racers. That's not a popular thing to do and once again this year I risked upsetting some people who may have been offended by not being invited. I'm truly sorry for that - but my track is located in my basement, which just isn't that big. More than 12, and it's VERY crowded down there - and the day gets very long. Heck, even with 12 guys it's a tight fit...

I wanted to do some things different this year - some of which I accomplished, and some not. I had a small batch of T-shirts made, which turned out great! We eliminated the qualifying round and drew numbers for starting position instead. Also, we setup a webcam and "broadcast" the race on the internet.

The race format stayed pretty much the same: First we run the IROC (Italian Job MINIs, 2 minute heats) and then run the main event (VHORS Super Stock, 3 minute heats). Laps and sections are added together from those 2 events to determine the overall winner.

The "theme" this year seemed to be "exhaustion"! Henry arrived very tired after a trip back from Pittsburgh. Tony had been working long hours all week on the NJ Devils playoff games. Dave Lockwood (the surprise visitor from out of town!) has a 2+ hr drive to get down here. John Gero always stays up late tuning cars. And I was up late the night before doing last minute preparations for the race. Note to self: make room for a cot next to the track for next years race...

As I mentioned, there was no qualifying this year. (If you're curious, fast laps I saw in practice were in the low 7's.) Instead of qualifying, numbers were drawn at random for each racer, and that was their starting order in the IROC race. The results of the IROC race would determine who raced who in the Main.

As I've done for 4 years now, the IROC race works as follows: I supply 4 nearly identical T-jets (we all know that no 2 T-jets are ever really identical) all sporting Vincent rims and custom-made Mini Cooper bodies from Fandango Racing, done in the style of "The Italian Job". (See race photos) Drivers each use their own controllers and race 2 minute heats. It was proposed that next year I also supply 4 identical controllers. I kinda like that idea! But you guys might not like the 4 identical controllers that I come up with... ;-)

The tricky part of the IROC is what happens between heats. Marshalls have to reposition the cars so that drivers can start their next heat from the same position where their car stopped after the previous heat. So if someone is driving in the yellow lane and does 11 laps, 12 sections - the marshalls have to setup the next heat so that the Blue car starts at section 12. It sounds simple, but it can be very confusing. This year I supplied small driver name cards which were used as markers, and that seemed to help the confusion a little.

Here's the IROC results:

Well, just like last year, the lap counter was not 100% trustworthy. It appeared the blue lane lap counter was awarding a few extra laps in the first heat. We blew out the gap in the dead section and ran it again. No one actually caught the lap counter registering any extra laps after that. But we use the "tough shit" rule: That means we go by the lap counter and if you don't like it, well, tough shit. Otherwise we could sit all day arguing over the number displayed on the lap counter. So yes, it's probable that a couple of guys might have been scored an extra lap or 2 in the blue lane. The lap counter itself isn't the problem, it's the poor design of the early version of the max track dead section that's the issue. They have since redesigned it and corrected the flaw, but I'm stuck with the old one.

The other issue in the IROC was the rear tires on the 4 MINIs. They were fading away fast, and drivers found that after just 4-5 laps, the rear was hard to control. I think this is most evident on Henry's run on the red lane.

The IROC results determined the starting order for the MAIN. For the MAIN we run 3 minute heats so that the results would be weighted towards this race. After IROC ended, a few guys jumped on the track for more lap time, but most headed up to the kitchen for lunch. Some track owners ask for a $5 entry fee and only put out a few snacks - NOT HERE! We had a full spread of hot meatball subs, cold subs from Jersey Mike's, plus chips, snacks, sodas, etc. throughout the day. NO ONE GOES HOME HUNGRY AFTER A RACE AT MY HOUSE! :-)

But we had to get the Main started, because Tony was on a tight schedule. After about a 15 min break, we got enough guys back at the track to get things started.

Here's the run down of who was racing what:

(Pictures of each car will be in the photos section)

Here's the MAIN results:

We ran the Main bottom-up - that is, drivers were ranked and grouped based on their finish in the IROC, and we raced the group with the lowest lap counts first. That would be myself, Tony, Eric, and Henry. Overall lap counts were pretty consistent - mostly 22's and 23's. I had a problem in the second heat - my car started squealing in the blue lane, which would have been my best lane. Someone threw me my oil, and I got back running fine - but I lost 2-3 laps in the process. Stupid move of the day: Not having my oil with me at the track! Doh! As a small consolation prize in the 4th heat when I was in the red lane, Henry would jump into my lane and "donate" one of his laps to me. 2nd heat was John, BigMac, Chief, and Dave - all top contenders normally. Chief just can't get dialed in on my track though, despite beating us almost every Friday night at NJHobby. Dave ran the inside lanes very well, but struggled in the gutters. Finally the 3rd and final group ran: Rich, Joe, Rob, and Ian. Rich was smooth and consistent, and JoeRinn was running a great pace - and then in the 4th heat, with about 90 seconds left on the clock, JoeRinn's car stuttered and stumbled. It looked like it was going to burn up. The marshalls checked it and it was very hot. Joe removed the car from the track in disgust. When Joe tore the car down after the race, he didn't see anything obvious - but the car wasn't toasted. He thinks it might have been oil on the brushes. Truly a shame, as that's the best car I've seen Joe run in this race to date.

Here's the overall final results:

Congratulations to Rich for winning both the IROC and the MAIN event, and of course, taking the overall win and the coveted MCI IV trophy.

NOTE: This was not Rich's first win at G.A.S. - Go back and look at the results from 12-29-2002!

This report would not be complete without some special thanks:

-> Fandango Racing! Jack has supported this race 4 years in a row now without even being asked! This year he provided Fandango racing bodies which were given away as door prizes. It's no coincedence that EVERY SINGLE car in this race this year ran a Fandango body; the quality of his bodies and tires are second to none!

-> My wife Nancy who year after year helps me get the place cleaned up before the race, and keeps us all fed on race day. Plus this year she also found time to setup the webcam!

-> Dennis "Captain Pit Stop" Moore, for tuning the IROC cars for me this year. It was a major bummer that he couldn't make the race due to a last minute change at his job.

-> Evergreen Graphics of Frederick MD. Craig did the t-shirt design for me and gave us a great deal on the shirts, even though we had a fairly small order. I know I'll be using Craig's business again for custom shirts in the future.