Racing, Cars and Technology
Sunday, June 29, 2025
USTCC Round 3 - MX5 Hooked Up and Driving Through the Field
Saturday, May 31, 2025
USTCC Round 2 - Laguna Seca Comeback to Victory
Press Release May 24th - Andy Chittum - Mad Man Motorsport
Chittum Wins Round 2 at Laguna Seca with astounding comeback victory
May 23rd and 24th the United States Touring Car Championship was back in action a mere two weeks after the 2.5 hour endurance race at Sonoma Raceway. Mad Man Motorsport was riding high from an authoritative victory, but the endurance race relied on a combination of teamwork and car management, while a sprint race back at Weathertech Laguna Seca would be pure speed and nothing else, beginning with the signature touring car standing start on the front straight of the challenging 2.238 mile course.
Qualifying saw colder than usual temperatures, with sea air keeping the track cool and relatively slippery, challenging the drivers to keep get their cars up to temperature and set down a fast lap. Chittum quickly got the big Hankook tires up to temperature and, clearing some space in the field, put down two quick laps both right at a 1:43, quick times for the 2 liter Mazda MX5. Pulling in for the team to check tire temperatures and pressures, the team looked to have Pole Position in hand, so pulled in to the pits to see if anyone else in the USTCC Sportsman class could challenge.
Unfortunately, right about that time, one of the TC class cars had an incident in the famous corkscrew turn, and clearing the wreck took the rest of qualifying time, bringing the session to a close early.
Next morning race day proved to be even more challenging weather wise with a fog front rolling in to the ocean-adjacent track, and while the track wasn't exactly wet during the busy race schedule, it remained rather slippery in spite of the repaving within the last year.
18 cars lined up to take the green flag, with Chittum on pole position for Sportsman class, with Tom Lepper also on the front row in GogoGear.com's legitimately fast K24 fortified EG civic. This proved to be quite the challenge as Lepper and Chittum left the line neck and neck, but with an additional 1500rpms and 400ccs of torque, he pulled away as both cars banged 3rd gear, and quickly gained 10 lengths on the MX5 down into the Andretti hairpin, passing some of the TC cars.
Chittum, for his part took advantage of the superior braking of the MX5 and threw the little car well up the inside of the hairpin, gaining much of the advantage back. The two cars battled, however, once Chittum was able to get more momentum going, he was able to double under Lepper entering turn 3, then absolutely send the car into T4, running uncontested into T5, and negating the Honda's power advantage. From that point, Chittum was able to pull out a gap, put some out of class cars between them, and drive it home to victory.
USTCC will return to Sonoma Raceway June 21-22 for Round 3, where once again, a standing start and intense wheel to wheel racing will decide the winner.
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
USTCC Round 1 - 2.5 Hr Enduro Win
Press Release May 11th - Andy Chittum - Mad Man Motorsport
The 2025 USTCC Season kicked off May 10th and 11th with a 2 1/2 hour endurance race around the iconic 2.52 mile course that twists through the hillsides and offers some of the most challenging corners on the schedule.
Saturday found Chittum in the distinctive bright orange Mazda MX5 ready for warmup and qualifying. Having practiced in March at the twisty track, the team was ready, however, the team was surprised to find some minor rubbing with the meaty Hankook F200 tires in an area of the MX5 body that had previously been repaired, and the team quickly jumped to action to clearance the area and have the car ready. Given the issue, Chittum was limited to just 3 hot laps in qualifying lest a tire be compromised, but still managed pole position ahead of former series champion Tom Lepper driving GogoGear's powerful engine swapped EG Honda Civic.
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The beefy Hankooks needed a just little more room than the previous spec. |
Finishing the work and prep Sunday morning just before the grid closed, Chittum managed to slowly pull away from the Sportsman field, balancing speed from the grippy Hankook tires while keeping gas consumption low on the 2 liter Mazda engine. A few yellow flags and other broken cars helped at the beginning of the race, but Chittum settled in for a full 40 lap stint aligning gas consumption perfectly with the end of the pit window toward the end of the race.
The Mad Man Motorsport team gave Chittum a clockwork pitstop with 10 gallons of fuel, a quick check over the car, and discharged him back to the fray just 5 seconds over the mandated pit stop time.
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Once back on track Chittum found himself approximately 27 seconds ahead of second place and was able to cruise the last half of the race to victory.
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Victorious team - Chittum still squinting from a Champagne blast to the eye. Will work on that technique next race. |
Andy Chittum and the Mad Man Motorsport team will return with the Mazda MX5 at round 2 of the United States Touring Car series at Laguna Seca on May 24th. Stay tuned to USTCC.com and Chittum.net for more hard charging race action!
Sunday, January 9, 2022
The Dark Horse Rides: Moorewood Creative 2021 25 Hours of Thunderhill
Day Before...A Beautiful Morning |
36 cars, 7 classes and 983 bajillion crew |
Black Car Crew Chief Craig |
Lots of waiting between those busy 90 seconds |
Andy, Milas & Justin, hamming it up. |
Thanks Team!!! |
Sunday, August 29, 2021
Dissassembling Perfectly Good Cars Since 2005
Your Brand New Car! Again...
After a successful season in 2019, we were looking for new challenges, and settled on the relatively new up and coming Spec MX5 class of cars being built from the 3rd generation Mazda MX5s...not technically called a 'Miata' anymore in the US.
- Relatively affordable prebuilt cars available, rules allow build your own if you are either skilled or nuts. (Turned out about 28/72 for us)
- Nationwide racing in Spec MX5, but compatible with ST5 for NASA or STL for SCCA, and legal to jump into SP for USTCC. Mazda offers varying contingencies on these classes from good to amazing.
- Parts readily available directly from Mazda or other reasonable sources.
A few months of stalking the local Copart in Morgan Hill, CA, and I came up with a 2007 MX5 with no body damage, a stick shift, and a blown motor. I ended up with that fabulous car in my garage for about $1750 after some negotiation.
The winter spent wrestling suspension bits gave way to a pandemic spring swapping and stripping, then renovating and reinstalling around the new TC Designs cage and other safety equipment. Finally a new Spec MX5 motor by Haag Performance, drivetrain installed by BTM Motorwerks, and we had a car ready to hit the track.In the midst of the new project the old #100 Spec e30 went to a new home...of course it's only after selling a perfectly dialed in reliable race car and start really taking things apart, when you start to question your sanity for starting over again.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
2019 Spec e30 Season Finale
Saturday!
In the morning meeting, series organizer Nick Theimann pointed out that Andy Chittum was the points leader for the season, leading by a formidable 117 points, but with 600 on tap for the double points weekend, one misstep could shake up the order significantly. Just to prove his point, Thiemann, in second position for the season then went out for qualifying and set a fast 1:56.8 lap on the twisty technical 2.52 mile course a good 8 tenths faster than previous round winner Chittum.
But it was veteran Spec e30 racer Scott Clough that did Nick one better with a 1.56.3 that initially set the pace until local race hero Tim Barber stepped in with a legitimately fast 1.56.0 to take pole position. Brian Shiflett, and Forrest Cook filled out the top 6, and the rest of the field fell within the 1.58s, just behind the leaders.
At the drop of the green the roared off the line without a single bauble on the standing start, but the right hand side of the track seemed to be slightly faster, with Clough getting the jump on Barber and Chittum just edging ahead of Theimann. By the time the field poured into T4, the side by side had worked its way out and they filed into T6 in that order.
But Chittum missed a shift coming out of T6, allowing Theimann to come motoring by, and the rest of the field right on his bumper into T7. Chittum got his act back together narrowly got out of the reach of the field, and chased down Theimann, while Barber took advantage of his speed advantage to sneak back by Clough with an over-under into T7 and making it stick in 8. By the end of the first lap, the field had mostly settled down, except for sometime Spec e30 hotshoe Aristotle Balogh who had missed qualifying and making up nearly half the field on the first two laps.
While Barber slowly pulled away from Clough, Chittum caught up to Theimann and began pondering how he could make it by the fast #21 car. Initially, Theimann proved difficult to figure out, but with Balogh free of the rest of the field, and starting to bridge a 6 second gap up to 4th place, Chittum began to push harder.
With a fast run through 10, Chittum made it through 11 just inches from Theimann's bumper drafted down the front straight, then cut inside, overlapping in T1 and up into T2. But Theimann still held an advantage, and was able to stay ahead in T3. Next lap Chittum did the same thing, but this time doubling up in T2, and was able to get up the inside of the exit of T3, making the pass stick. Slowly, Chittum was able to pull ahead, just as Balogh reached the battle.
With Barber and Clough checked out, Chittum got a good gap, and was able to hold it as Balogh made his way around Theimann. The two held even for a few laps, but with lapped traffic, Balogh was able to catch Chittum and make it past just before the end of the race.
Sunday!
With a hard fought race on a oddly greasy and difficult track the day before, cooler temperatures were forecast, but higher winds, which were sure to produce the battle of the year. Unfortunately, due to nearby forest fires, NASA was unable to secure Emergency Ambulances for the Sunday event, so they were forced to cancel the event.
Season Points!
With a 117 point lead going into the final weekend, Chittum then retained the lead at the end, and pending official results becomes the 2019 NASA Norcal Champion. This is Chittum's 3rd Championship, but 1st as a solo driver, previously teaming up as Team BTM Motorwerks and winning in 2011 and 2012. Nick Theimann, while leading for much of the year held on to second place overall, and Forest Cook was able to make up enough points on JP Cadoux in the final race to hold on to third.
NASA Norcal Spec e30 will return March 14-15 2020 back at beautiful Sonoma Raceway for a whole new season, stay tuned for more!
Sunday, September 29, 2019
USTCC Go Go Go - In 3 days
Wednesday afternoon. Phone call.
"Andy, I need your help. I bought a car yesterday, super cheap - it hasn't be run in a over a decade, and I want it to race this weekend."
On the one hand, something every race driver wants to hear - someone needs them to drive their car. On the other, so many questions. Are there tires? Condition of the shocks? The engine works? Setup? Testing? By the way, what kind of car is it anyway?
The car was a 5th gen Honda Civic equipped with a B18C of uncertain build. Shocks had been rebuilt by the prior owner recently, the engine had started when they tried it, they had some old Hankook F200s laying around and all the rest would be taken care of at the track Saturday before the race Sunday.
Sure thing, I'm in.
This car turned out to be the newest to race for USTCC Team Gogogear.com's stable, which includes other cars spread from the Sportsman class, where the Civic fit in, to the Super Touring class featuring a gorgeous S54 equipped BMW e90 driven by Lary Bani. In fact, the team had another similar Civic painted in the distinctive team yellow-orange to be driven by Reza Arsham, which became my template for working things up, and figuring out what the car liked.
Saturday, with a reduced testing schedule, there was just time enough for the car's new owner Ali Arsham to jump into the car and give it a quick once over, as well as have to team update a few safety items before Sunday.
Warmup - Really Warm
Sunday dawned with perfect spring Sonoma Raceway Weather, sunny, 80 degrees and a light breeze. I slid into the Honda, and headed out for a warmup. The one minor issue noted in the shakedown Saturday was a slight tendency for the car to overheat, so with one eye on the temp gauge, I worked on figuring out the car.
After two laps, I'd started to drop my times pretty quickly - the little car had tons of stick, and could do more each lap. The newly rebuilt shocks handled the uneven pavement well in T1. T3 was a light dance. T6 pulled my cheeks sideways and the chicane for T8 was well balanced all the way through. Even the (not my favorite) FIA configuration chicane in T9 worked better than I'd have thought for a smaller car.
On my 3rd time across the line I got a signal to pit, so I came in, the GogoGear Guys did the tires, and we pulled in to look at the data from the run.
To combat the unusual water temperature, the GogoGear team put together a makeshift shroud to force more cool air through the radiator. I discussed tire pressures and setup with Reza again, and we settled on the final plans for qualifying and the race.
Qualifying - If Ida Had One More Lap
For qualifying late morning the Gogogear team put me on scrubbed slicks, and I found it a challenge to get the big Hankook F200 race slicks warmed up on the 2300lb car. After some major scrubbing, I got a decent lap in for the bank, and looked to really give it the beans, hoping I had enough thermal runway to make it a good one. I had put everything I'd learned in the morning together and put a good lap together, but I got the signal to pit again, and had to abort the lap.
The setup on the car looked good, but there was still some tinkering to be done so we came in and started prepping for the race. Edgar Lau's #9 BMW 330i had some legs on the field with a roughly 3 second advantage, but the next 4 of us were separated by a half second, putting me inside second row to start.
Go Go Go
At 1:10 PM the entire USTCC field took a green flag, and 22 cars left stripes of sweet Hankook rubber en route to a chaotic blast through Sears Point's T1. While Lau quickly checked out, the rest of the SP field upended on the first lap. I figured out a pretty good standing launch procedure and moved up, while both Bovenberg and Gardner had trouble getting away. Reza Arsham made a great start up through T2 and made another pass into T5, but I managed to get around him on the mid-exit of T6, and come across the line in 2nd place on the first lap.
Awesome Race Start Video!
Awesome Overtake Video!
The battle for 2nd settled in Chittum - Arsham - Bovenberg - Milbourn - Gardner for the first 5 laps or so, and I was able to manage the pace, pushing harder for a lap, gaining a gap on the field, then taking it a little easier for a bit. Coming out of T9 on lap 5 I was a little overly easy just to get the engine temperature down, and Reza managed to overlap me into 11. I didn't protest too hard with my teammate, and we charged up into T2 together.
As I unwound the steering wheel for T2, suddenly, there was an impact on the back of the car, the car was pitched to the left, and I got a lovely view of the pedestrian bridge out the windshield as I slid sideways up the hill at about 80 mph. It's always interesting to see what comes to mind in such a situation like this, and I recall simply - 'dontrollover, dontrollover, dontrollover' until a deluge of dirt and grass blasted through the passenger side windows and the car headed for the tire barrier. The tires didn't catch in the dirt, and I came to an easy rest not too far from the tire barrier. Barely missing a beat, I got the car back in gear and took off up T3, but there was a lot of dirt and grass built up, and it took a few slow turns to get the car to work normally again.
Awesome get punted off video!
By that time, the water temperature was right at the upper end of workable, so my best choice was to pull it in, and save the car rather than trying to chase down the field and risk blowing the engine.
Later, Ali expressed his appreciation that the car showed good speed in the class, and ran as high as second place. It seemed like he was just about an upgraded radiator away from a very competitive car. Maybe even at the next USTCC event, October 26 and 27th with NASA. Maybe I'll even get another phone call.