Brian Lock Tests Grand-Am GT3 Cup Car for TRG
Scotts Valley CA, 6/30/2008
Grand-Am Koni Challenge Racer, Brian Lock, participated in an all day test at the Rolex Series special test day at Mid-Ohio June 23. Lock, a promising talent from Scotts Valley CA, has been turning heads in Koni competition since 2006. Even on an extremely limited schedule, Brian makes his presence felt in the ST class, with remarkable drives, fast laps, and even a lap record at Miller Motorsports Park in 2007. Although pleased with his success in touring cars, it was time to take the next step and accept an invitation to test a Rolex GT car.
Brian spent the day with TRG drivers, Spencer Pumpelly and Andy Lally, who extended his stay in Ohio to help coach Brian's first laps in a Porsche. "He was able to jump into a car that was nothing like any other that he had driven before and showed both maturity and speed right off the bat", Lally said. Spencer, who was Brian's co-driver for the day, was complimentary as well. "I was instantly impressed by Brian's driving. He took the right approach bringing the car up to speed in a short few laps but was well within his comfort level. Before long he was turning times that would have been competitive in last weekend's race."
Brian was naturally thrilled with the opportunity to test with such a prestigious team. "The day that I have dreamt about for 5 years, driving for a Grand-Am Rolex team, was about to happen. Most of the nerves that I had were from my realization that the next few dozen laps I turned this day would determine if I had been wasting the last 5 years of my life. What a relief to know that I haven't been."
Lock is hopeful to join the team for the Sunchaser 1000K at Miller Motorsports Park, the venue of his first Koni Podium finish.
TRG was founded in 1993 and has been competing at the top level of sports car racing ever since. The team has the most wins of any team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with 23, including the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Series GT championship trophy to go along with wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours or Le Mans.
TRG is a manufacturer and distributor of high-performance racing parts. The group specializes in engine and chassis building as well as full service professional race car preparation. The company also provides electrical and mechanical engineering services, driver development and arrive-and-drive opportunities. TRG is based in Petaluma, Calif., near its home track of Infineon Raceway in Sonoma as well as its new facility in Charlotte.
More information and a complete press kit can be found at www.theracersgroup.com. Please contact press@theracersgroup.com or 707-935-3999 for additional information.
The Highs and Lows of Mid-Ohio
by: J. Chilcott
Scotts Valley, CA 06/22/2008
The EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio is now over. It was a long race weekend punctuated with extreme highs and lows, where the whole team demonstrated their never give up attitude. It all started out when the GOTO crew stopped off in Las Vegas, and decided to do a little gambling. Brian Lock, usually a crack blackjack player, was down $100 in the end, an ominous sign of the week to come. The next hiccup came just outside of Topeka, Kansas, where the team stopped to make an inspection of the rig and stretch their legs when Steve noticed one of the wheels looked like it was ready to fall off. A bearing had seized, but with the help of a local shop, six hours later the axel was tied up and the rig was on its way with five wheels instead of six.
The rest of the drive went by without incident, and lead to the first day of testing at Mid-Ohio. Prior testing back in California had the Legacy GT was ready to race. But the first session revealed an oiling issue, with an abundance of oil coming out of the head breathers and filling the catch cans. The cause of the problem: a new baffled oil pan. You are probably thinking to yourself, “How can a baffle in the oil pan cause the catch can system to fill up?” Well you are not alone, since it took the team most of the day to diagnose the issue. The mechanics pulled the baffle, and also replaced the intake manifold because of a suspected boost leak.
With all of that out of the way we took to the track Saturday. The car ran great in the morning practice session. Chris Lock noted to the crew that the rear brakes seemed to have a bad vibration in heavy braking. Thanks to the ICY racing team, the crew was able to source new rear rotors for qualifying. Chris was scheduled to run qualifying; the teams had the car ready early and were the first car to Mid-Ohio's "false" grid. But the bad luck quickly returned to the team, as Chris reported that he was significantly down on boost. Since the crew is not allowed to work on the car during qualifying, Chris ended up placing the Legacy GT in the 37th grid spot.
The crew quickly diagnosed that the problem was an electrical gremlin effecting the wastegate. The car was fixed for the Sunday morning practice session and the drivers were back at the top of the speed charts.
The race started and every one on the team was eager to watch Chris work his way up through the field. He did not disappoint, when the field came around from starting on the back straight away he had worked his way up to 29th, passing 8 cars on the first lap. By lap 33 he had cracked the top 10. When a yellow came out an hour into the race, it landed neatly in the planned pit window and the team called Chris in for a driver change. The sky had started to drop some rain, but it looked like it wasn’t going to be much more that a spritzing, so we made the call to stay on dry tires. Brian Lock took over driving duties and returned in 18th. Shortly after this, the Ohio weather made it’s presence known: the sky opened up and the rain began to come down in buckets.
This is when the bad luck struck. Brian went back out on rains and started working his way through the field, but contact in the rear bumper from the I-Moto car sent Brian off track and into a sand trap. Thanks to the AWD, Brian did not get stuck. He brought the car in, the team made the repairs, and sent the car back out on dry tires. Shortly thereafter, the right front tire was cut down, so Brian came back in to get that replaced. After that, Brian put his head down and was flying, unfortunately the contact and the ensuing repairs put the team 4 laps down, with a final finishing position of 24th of 51 starters. Not the result we were hoping for, but respectable given the circumstances.
Looking at the weekend in review, some might say that the weekend was a failure. Not the GOTO:Racing crew. This weekend was a great learning experience, and really showed that everyone involved has a never give up attitude. GOTO:Racing looks forward to using everything we learned at Mid-Ohio at our next race at Miller Motorsports Park in September. Also look for some big announcements from GOTO:Racing about their future in Grand Am.
Check out the race on SPEED this Saturday at 11am Pacific, or check your local listings.
Also, don't forget that GOTO will be at Miller Motorsports Park this weekend for GTLive, offering rides in the Legacy GT Grand-Am race car. See everyone there!