0Spec Corvette

We had incredibly close racing, it got rough a couple of times and a few mechanical issues, but we all teamed together to get cars back on track.

It is amazing how equal these cars are in speed and the racing is so tight. The driver development is impressive,too. That leads to drivers getting faster, better at race craft and exciting racing.

Thanks to series sponsors,
Penske Racing Shocks
Falken Tires
Wilwood Racing Brakes
FFP Racing Fire Protection
Trackspec Motorsports
TPS Motorsports
Forgeline Wheels
Attracktion Motorsports
Maxima Racing Oils

Here are some pictures and short video clips:

Video from the footbridge into the esses at COTA

One of the race pre-grids


Josh Carrol #17 DNF, then 1st place and then 2nd place, John Nguyen #15 DNS first race, then 2nd and then a 3rd.


Craig Dale had an a-arm mount come loose and the stress on the other mount broke it. With team work and parts sharing he made the race.



John's car getting a crank seal repair


Rod Markovits of NOLA region


Ben Hocevar, 2nd on Saturday and 3rd on Sunday race #1

0Spec Corvette

This was our weather on Friday night before Spec Corvette racing at COTA

0Spec Corvette

The racers from the NOLA region put on a paddock cookout to die for. Perfect filet mignon and Louisiana lobster (crawfish) cooked in an big bad-*** pot like stew.

STANG KILLA SS

pics arent working.
i got to meet a few of yall, and got pics of every car. was really cool seeing yall out there. often close batttles for the first few laps.
hope it sparks some texas builds.

by the final race it looked like the pack had droped form about 8 entries to 5. attrition i guess.

0Spec Corvette

Picks should be fixed now. We are having bandwidth trouble through the AZ desert on the trip home.

We were supposed to have 10 cars make it total. Four from California as one driver could not make it last minute, and five from NOLA. We were hoping for more cars, but some drivers were not ready to make the haul. We have Laguna Seca at the end of August and Sonoma in September. Those races should have good turn-outs. We will continue to race in local regions in between.

STANG KILLA SS

was great to have you guys. and watching.

pics arent fixed though.

0Spec Corvette

We had three different winners this weekend and very different podiums.

On podium, Bill Higgins standing in for Craig Dale who won the fist race on Saturday. Bill is out newest Spec Corvette racer from the TX region. He was a pleasure to have hanging with us in the paddock, although his car was not ready to race. Craig had to head home early. Second place is young Ben Hovecar and Wayne Caudill. All drove a fantastic race.


The second race was Sunday morning. It was a blistering battle up front with Josh Carroll reminding everyone how great he drives for a win. All over him and keeping him honest is second place finisher and Mr. Trackspec Motorsports, John Nguyen, and Ben in third.


Sundays second race has no picture, but the podium was Oli Thordarson, Josh Carroll and John Nguyen.

Olitho

I had a great time racing at COTA. It was my second time there and I am already looking forward to next year. It would be even better if it could be coupled with a race at NOLA the week before or after.

The NOLA drivers are very talented. I had some great racing with both Alexis Hovecar and Wayne Caudle. I owe Wayne an apology for bumping and spinning him. It was not intentional. Wayne came back strong in the third race and drove like a rocket. He led a good portion of that race and he wasn't the least bit disturbed by a lot of pressure being put on him. That man is going places when it comes to driving. Alexis and I diced it up pretty good too until some lapped traffic got he and I separated a bit.

I didn't get any direct racing with Ben Hovecar and Rod Markovits, maybe next time. And of course the racing with the usual So California crew was as competitive and fun as usual.

I took my fast lap in the Friday morning practice and sent that to Dion at Racer360.com for some coaching for me and the rest of the group. The first video below is the fast lap. The second video is the one cut-up and edited by Dion for driver coaching purposes. I thought I would share them both.

captain awesome

I spy a new sponsor. When will we be learning more?

y5e06

I was out at COTA on sunday for brief spectating, trying to keep tabs on my CMC/AI history. I caught the ST2/Spec Corvette Blitz Race2 on Sunday early afteroon. I enjoyed seeing the SC cars out there. My initial thought was "wow, spec corvette has really taken off here in TX... turns out you all were from CA or Louisiana! bummer, I am really intrigued by Spec Corvette and thought there might be a burgeoning class here. I'm really pleased seeing how basic the cars are with the rules set keeping cost over-run in check.

I have a CMC car, but it has been idle for a handful of years. I spoke to 5-6 SC folks between races on sunday (big guy on a mountain bike). I'm looking forward to seeing the series progress.

Shortcutsleeping

Local Texas racer here, you guys were great to run with and thank you for making the trek to COTA!

I was in the red c5z in ST2 and took vid (one of you looped it behind me....oops!...caught it on the rear cam) of the first race on Sunday. I have Saturday's race as well but not processed it.

I was surprised to see you all in impound and realize you're on Falken Azenis....ya'll are hustlin pretty dang good on street tires!!!!

Enjoy!


A crew of mine is looking to get back into racing and REALLY likes the SpecVette idea so he got to see a few cars up close.

Costas
cars and such...

KnightDriveTV

Can't wait until we see some spec corvette cars on the market as guys build news one or evolve. Love buying a racecar vs building one...lol

Olitho

Thanks Costas for sharing that video. That was good racing going on there. You guys passed me in the carousel. I saw you got out of the throttle a bit and you were cautious about going by me. I totally get it as you didn't know who I am, who was driving and whether I knew you were there, I did keep a lane open for you though. In Sunday's second race you guys caught me again. I tried to time it right so you guys could pass before the Esses, but you didn't get there in time. I elected to keep you guys behind me until exiting Turn 10 where I ran out into the runoff area so the three of you could all pass at once. I suspected you were all in the same class and it turns out two of you were. I know it can be a bit frustrating coming through traffic, but I did not want to be a wedge in your race in such a long section of hard-to-pass track segment.

Olitho

I haven't seen any up for sale yet, but the builds are very straightforward. So far everyone racing them just keeps racing them. They are so much fun to drive.

Shortcutsleeping

MASSIVE THANK YOU for all the consideration. As I said, you guys were GREAT to race with. You did awesome holding the line in the carousel and I praised my race tires and aero to sneak past you! Thanks for going "dirty"in T19 and letting us through. All three are GSpeed cars, but I was ST2 and they were in SU, but both SU cars shaking down new builds and learning the track still. Yes, I was a bit cautious, but once I saw you were solid I stuck the nose in....heh!

I have race vid from Saturday as well and I'll try and process it soon and get it posted.

I run an SU car as well...and then in WRL we run a GP4 car (slowest class!!) so I see both ends of the spectrum and really appreciate the consideration...not all drivers do and it is a blessing when it happens!

thanks thanks!
Costas
cars and such...

smitty2919

It is interesting to see those 468ci pull like that on the straight , also interesting seeing the different driving lines. Cool video!

Is that hood flutter from sheer speed/aero? Or from track bumps? Stock hood with vents?

There were moments where it seemed you could have overtaken one of the C6's in the Esses due to braking and driving line. Would be interesting to see your times if you were behind the wheel of the C6!

thebishman

Are these particular cars running ‘slicks’?

what hp are they running?

weight of the cars?

TIA

Olitho

No, they are running a 200 tread wear street tire from Falken, the 615K+. We slip and slide a lot on those tires, but that adds to the fun. Spec Corvette racers, like many of the other products we use, get the tires for nearly 50% discount. The best part is that they don't heat cycle out. I won the third race on Sunday on tires I drove on for three 30 minute sessions and one 20 minute session at COTA on Friday, I then qualified three times and did three 30 minute races over Saturday on Sunday with the same tires... wait a minute, that is not the best part. The best part is that I did four races on those same tires over a month earlier at CVR and then another Saturday of racing on them in Spec Corvette at WSIR. I have at least one more weekend on those tires and they are still capable of winning. Last year I drove to WSIR, raced and drove home in my Spec Corvette. Another weekend I raced NASA ST2 in the rain, won, drove the car to the awards ceremony at a restaurant offsite and then back to my motorhome at the track.

The engine and drive train in the Spec Corvettes are all OEM LS6 Corvette. That means you can convert your LS1 coupe engine to LS6 or drop in an 136,000 mile LS6 like I did. No engine mods allowed, but you are open on the exhaust past the OEM exhaust manifolds. Most cars make about 360-370 RWHP, but we limit the class to 380 RWHP to avoid the temptation for monkey business with HP. We limit end-of-race weight to 3200 lbs minimum. We regularly weigh cars and racers must be on-guard for random dyno tests. This is all done to keep the costs down and the cars incredibly equal.

If you put on Hoosier A7s they will turn competitive T1 lap times.

Olitho

More info at www.SpecCorvette.com

Racer35

Thanks for sharing the coaching video, Oli! It was super helpful to me last weekend and inspired me to get a better camera setup. Here's some video from race #2, at least the first 10 minutes of it before my memory card ran out of space.