Does anyone know why Jeff Kiesel and his co-driver were DQed at Nats? I just realized it when I saw the rundown in Sportscar.

 

Something about the rear taillights, I think, as his entire front and rear bodywork is composed of a one-piece shell of carbon-fiber with no provisions for rear lights.

Personally, I think it should have been thrown out, as his car was something like 80lbs overweight as it was, and any benefit of that modification was literally outweighed.

Tough year for protests, the car that SHOULD have won STS was one that I built and developed last year with Paul Bonnacorsi and L&W Enterprises/Roy E. Whitehead, Inc., now driven by Will Kalman & others....long story, but while the protest was valid and noone was questioning its validity, it was done in a very sneaky way....something that could have been corrected if another competitor had brought it up to the driver/team rather than waiting....anyway, nevermind.

Crazy, 'cause last year while SO MUCH could have been protested in many classes, there were hardly any. Oh well.

-JamesW

 

What was the protest about? Was it just something that was forgotten about on race day?

 

The header was too long. The cat was further back than stock.

 

ALWAYS check the work of whoever installs your stuff, even if you photocopy the rulebook and highlight the pages and give it to them. Having been deeply involved with the buildup of that car last year, I can say that it was an honest mistake that the guys (this year) made, with no intentions of bringing an illegal car. The repair was made after Day 1, and they were allowed to compete on Day 2, but their times were thrown out. If the protesting parties had notified the team BEFORE during practice or the other 3 days before competition they were there, instead of scheming to "catch them in a lie" or have an "ace in the hole". I am good friends with both parties, it was just poorly done, simple as that, no permanent harm done but a strict lesson learned. I would have liked to believe that the Solo community as a whole work together to have good clean competition, as we are still amateur racers, and I have seen numerous instances where "hey, that part seems to be illegal....let me help you fix it before we get racing so there is no problems", just not this time.

New RX-7 is running great, we will have it out in STS2 at the next local event 11/6 with BMWCCA.

-JamesW

 

You really need to drop the conspiracy theory over this protest. I know the protestor very well and he did not know about this prior to the event. This topic has been beaten to death on SCCAforums, and to bring it here and badmouth someone indirectly behind their backs is very poor form. The fact is the car you built was illegal and it was protested when discovered, and upheld. Deal with it!!!

 

Heh, I thought that guy that ended up third looked pretty good too, for his 4th time ever in a Corvette!

Still, the margin was pretty big. Andy already scared me away once, from BS to STS, now I'm retreating again, from 600hp engines and 335 V710s to the land of gutless street tired econoboxes aka STS.

Run away run away!

 

Erik Strelnieks with a 3 Rotor now too? I think I am putting a rollbar in my Miata and making it a open track day car and buying something else for autocrossing so I can go to a easy class. My girlfriend never has been to excited about having to beat Angela Moffet for the regional series anyway.

 

Erik-

I know both parties well as well, and have a little better understanding of the *actual* condition of the vehicle in question, as well as the people and circumstances surrounding the issue in question. Subject of protests came up, but if you'd like it dropped, consider it done. I have nothing to "prove", a description of the protest in Fastrack will be an accurate depiction of the events that occured, we can read about it then.

BTW-- I/we/my shop did not do the buildup, I was the development driver and setup monkey when I was working for Paul W. in his construction business, just in case your comments may indirectly suggest that my current business has a propesity for "building illegal cars". No worries though.

Good to see you still have an RX-7, I remember the win in '99 in SS :-)

 

I realize that this was an oversight that was not intentional, and probably didn't make the amount of difference that Wil put on the class. It was a unfortunate and stressful situation for all involved, and good that it is now in the past.
With Jeff's protest, the rear frame that holds the rear glass and such had been removed to allow for the one piece rear unit. This technically makes it a "tube-frame" type chassis that should incur a 10% weight penalty (~220lbs), therefore making his car overweight, as he was running with non-tube frame weight (and yes 80lbs over that limit). I don't know if Stan new about this problem before the Solo2...