Gumout and SCCA Team Up at Road America

As you may know, Gumout is the preferred performance chemical of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).  Each year in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin the SCCA hosts their Club Racing National Runoffs Championship race at the legendary Road America road racing course. The original race was run through the streets of scenic Elkhart Lake starting in 1950 and ran through 1952.

SCCA Runoffs Road America

SCCA Runoffs

Elkhart Lake Road Race Circuits Sign

The success of these races spawned the development of the Road America track which is one of the most well known road racing courses in the world. Phill Hill won the inaugural 148 mile feature race in a Ferrari Monza.  Since then, the 4.048-mile, 14-turn track has hosted many NASCAR, Championship Car, CART , Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Racing Series, CanAm, Trans-Am, AMA and American Lemans series races.

Gumout has been a major supporter of the Runoffs each year. We are the main sponsor of the pole awards, which celebrates all of the pole award winners from the various SCCA classes!  The winners receive a cash prize and a selection of Gumout products.

Runoff Winners

In addition, Gumout is a title sponsor for the GT-2 class which was won this year by Tom Wickersham in his Porsche 911.  Here’s a shot of him being interviewed after winning.

Besides our involvement with the race teams and drivers, Gumout also pays tribute to all of the people that work very hard behind the scenes to make the race run smoothly, and most importantly keep everyone safe.  Gumout donates product at the volunteer of the year ceremony that highlights the top SCCA volunteers from each of the regions.

Gumout’s VW golf can also be seen on the track running ahead of each race to ensure the track is ready for racing. Once cleared, the racers are ready to show off their talents on the track and aim for the checkered flag.  Check out the following video from the view of the driver!

SCCA Runoffs Driver’s Point of View

The Results Don’t Lie

Jesse Prather Motorsports put Gumout All-In-One to the test and now he has a new recommendation for his customers.

Topeka, KS – During the 2012 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Club Racing season, Jesse Prather conducted a test to measure the benefits of Gumout All-In-One Fuel System Cleaner. Now the three-time SCCA Champion says, “The results don’t lie.”

Jesse Prather Motorsports, regarded as the top Mazda prep shop in SCCA Production Category racing, conducted the test in its F Production class Mazda Miata 1600s. A test car was run with a bottle of Gumout All-In-One each weekend of the SCCA Club Racing season and a baseline car was run without. At the end of the season, the cylinder heads were removed to inspect for the build-up of carbon deposits that can impact performance.

The results were clear to Prather, “The baseline car had significantly more carbon deposits on the valves and the top of the piston when compared to the Gumout test car.”

Test engine with deposit build up without Gumout

Test engine with deposit build up without Gumout

Prather also reported that the test car actually tuned for more power at the end of the season. “We were able to tune the car before the runoffs and got even more power. Usually the power falls off but with Gumout the power increased. Usually the leak-down gets worse and power is lost. That was not the case here,” said Prather.

Prather let the results speak for themselves. “The results don’t lie, Gumout All-In-One works in our high performance race engines.” Using Gumout, Eric Prill drove the Gumout Car to victory in 11 National SCCA Races and won the Pole Position at the National Championship runoffs.

The champion engine builder says he will recommend it for his customers, “Based on the results of the comparison test in our engines, I am recommending that my customers use the product each race weekend to keep their entire fuel system clean.”

Test Engine – With Gumout

To learn more about Gumout All-In-One by clicking here: Gumout All-In-One Cleaner

About the shop: Jesse Prather Motorsports

Gumout All-Star Shootout Returns to Solo Nationals

For the second time, Gumout and the SCCA are putting on the all-star race at the Tire Rack Solo National Championship.

The top drivers in each heat will compete head-to-head in the Gumout/BFGoodrich Tires “Use Your Motorhead” Volkswagen Golf. The quickest single run driver will be named the winner of the Gumout All-Star Shootout.

Ten drivers will be eligible for each of the two shootouts. The selected participants from the Tuesday/Wednesday runs will be held during Heat 1 on Thursday morning, while the Thursday/Friday participants will run near the end of the day on Friday. Eligibility will be based on PAX, with the top driver from each heat receiving an invitation. Each driver will take two runs in the Street Touring® prepared machine. The runs will determine the winner, with the top three drivers taking cash prizes, courtesy of Gumout.

Gumout, the Official Performance Chemicals of SCCA, will post a total prize package of $1,750 to the top three of each Gumout All-Star Shootout (Thursday and Friday), with the winner taking $500, $250 to the runner-up and $125 for third place.

Details of the Gumout All-Star Shootout are as follows:

• At the conclusion of each heat competition Wednesday and Friday, times will be indexed based on PAX, and a single Gumout Heat All Star will be identified
• PAX is an indexing system that applies a correction factor to overall times based on the class an individual is competing in. The goal of PAX is to remove the class variable, focusing on driver performance
• Each driver will make two runs, with regular National Championship rules applying
• Drivers will not be able to make any adjustments to the car. Tire Pressures will be maintained at the same level for each run
• As this competition is for fun, final results of the Gumout All-Star Shootout are not protestable

E Stock National Champion Bartek Borowski and H Stock National Champion James Feinberg earned the $500 checks for topping the two competitions a year ago.

More information on the SCCA Series is available at http://www.scca.com/

References:

SCCA Inc. http://www.scca.com/news/index.cfm?cid=51120

Gumout VW Golf Gets Social

If you’re new to the Project Motorhead blog allow us to introduce ourselves, we transformed a standard 2011 VW Golf into a competitive SCCA racer and took Gumout enthusiasts and fellow Motorheads along for the ride!  Check out our Behind the Build and our Final Results posts for all the details.

After a very busy racing season last year and an extremely successful Collegiate Shootout earlier this year, we wanted the Gumout VW Golf to stand out even more.  And what better way to do that then to spice up the graphics!  Check out our photos and tell us what you think!  If you see the Project Motorhead Golf on the road or at the race track, take a pic and share it on our Facebook page.  Who knows…you may just get a little something in return!

Gumout VW Golf & BFGoodrich

Gumout is pleased to announce a new Project Motorhead Partnership with BFGoodrich!  BFGoodrich is a proud supporter of the SAE Collegiate Challenge and generously provided the Gumout VW Golf with brand new, high performance track tires, the g-Force R1-S.  Perfect for the summer racing season, the g-Force R1-S was designed for quicker warmup, auto-crossing and sprint racing.

Benefits of BFGoodrich:

Keep Your Car Cool!

Nothing can ruin a hot summer day faster than your car breaking down on the highway.  Here are some quick and easy tips to help keep your car “cool” this summer:

• Change the oil.  Changing the oil provides lubrication protection for your car’s engine.  We recommend switching to a heavier motor oil or synthetic in hot summer months
• Check your air conditioner.  Nothing is worse than your air conditioner blowing hot air in the summer.  If the A/C is not blowing out cold air, the refrigerant charge is probably low.  Save yourself a headache (and some cash!) by checking your system for leaks before adding refrigerant though
• Does the cooling fan work?  The cooling fan should come on when you turn the A/C up to MAX.  If your fan does not engage, this could mean that it is defective or you have an electrical problem
• Check your tires.  Check the pressure of all your tires.  Under-inflated tires make the tires run hot and increases the risk of a blowout
• Keep the interior cool.  Keep your windows and your sunroof cracked if your car is going to be parked for a while.  Leave your sunroof shade open about an inch to keep air flowing through the car.  If you can’t park in the shade, buy a reflective sun shade for the windshield to reflect the light
• Apply a protectant.  Any vinyl surface, such as the steering wheel and the dashboard, are susceptible to cracking, sun damage and fading.  Be sure to apply a protectant at the beginning of the season and touch up regularly.  A cracked dashboard will not only look terrible but the noise will annoy you for seasons to come
• Wax the body.  The body of your car should be waxed or sprayed with some type of protectant to help shield the paint from intense UV rays
• Check the age of your battery.  If your battery is over 5 years old, it will most likely need to be replaced soon.  Hot weather is harder on the battery than cold weather.
• Check the level and strength of the coolant.  A low coolant level might allow your engine to overheat.  However, don’t open a radiator cap on a hot radiator to check the coolant level. Wait until your engine is cool.

References:

• The Weather Channel: Keep Your Car Cool in Hot Weather
• Be Car Aware: Summer Can Be Tough on Cars; July 2011
• How Stuff Works: Top 10 Car Summer Maintenance Tips; Dave Roos
• Auto Heroes: Summer Car Care Tips

Savini Wins Gumout Super Challenge at Lincoln ProSolo

Anthony Savini, of Cochranville, Pa., qualified tops among A Stock competitors during the Tire Rack SCCA Lincoln ProSolo and completed eliminations as the Gumout Super Challenge winner during the holiday weekend Spring Nationals doubleheader at the Lincoln (Neb.) Airpark.

Savini conquered the Howard Duncan-designed course, held for the second straight year at the same site that hosts the season-ending Tire Rack ProSolo Finale and the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships.

With sunny skies making weather a non-factor, Savini’s Stranoparts.com/Evo School Chevrolet Corvette qualified for the elimination round as the 22nd seed in the 32-driver bracket. Savini dispatched A Street Prepared top qualifier Aaron Miller’s Mitsubishi Evo in the opening round, then moved past Street Touring FWD top qualifier and multi-time ProSolo Champion Andy Hollis (GRM/AST/Power Curve Dyno/FTW MAZDA2) in the second round.

Third-seeded Mark Madarash, who led E Street Prepared in his Pontiac Trans-Am, was Savini’s last hurdle to the semi-finals.

After moving past Madarash, Savini was left to face Los Angeles-resident James Yom in the Evasive Motorsports/Hardrace/Velocity Honda S2000, in a final four match that encapsulates the Spring National event – west coast and east coast drivers meeting in the heartland in a nationwide match-up.

Savini’s semi-final win left him to face Tim Aro, the C Street Prepared top qualifier who had beaten Kinch Reindl (Street Touring Compact class YourFreedomPodcast.com Honda Civic Si) in the second semi-final match-up.

Aro’s SoloPro Driving School Mazda Miata couldn’t match the adjusted time of Savini’s Corvette, giving Savini the Gumout Super Challenge crown. Reindl topped Yom for third place in the consolation run.

The large Lincoln site, as well as the promise of the Tire Rack SCCA National Tour event over Sunday and Monday, enticed 244 entries to the ProSolo event – matching the inaugural year. The high number of competitors allowed for the largest Ladies Challenge of the season, with Meridith Brown, of Los Alamos, N.M., capturing the title.

The top qualifier from Ladies Class 2, Brown drove the Plastic PP Racing/MidAtlantic Motorsport Chevrolet Corvette to the win. Nicole Nagler fell to Brown in the final behind the wheel of the Toyo Tires/ProParts USA Honda Civic Si, with Beth McClure-Strelnieks (Hoosier/OS Giken/JC AutoSpec Mazda RX-7) finishing third.

The Tire Rack ProSolo Series is back on track again at the Arkansas Aeroplex for the 2012 Blytheville ProSolo, June 8-9.

More information on the TireRack SCCA ProSolo Series is available at www.scca.com.

References:

SCCA Inc. http://www.scca.com/solo/news.cfm?cid=51024

Is Your Car Road Trip Ready?

Planning to take a road trip this Holiday Weekend?  Gumout has some tips to get your car in tip-top shape to ensure your road trip (and your car) can stay on track without any interruptions:

1. Check Your Tire Tread: Tire tread keeps the vehicle rolling along safely without losing grip on the road. Before heading out on your trip, check the tread by inserting a penny between the tread grooves. If the top of the rubber only reaches the top of Abe Lincoln’s forehead, or doesn’t even reach this mark, it’s time to replace the tire. Driving your car with low-tread tires increases your chance of experiencing a flat or a blowout – a roadside hazard you don’t want to encounter
2. Refill the Fluids: Before you depart on your trip, check the levels of oil, transmission fluid and brake fluid — fast, simple procedures that could save you a lot of trouble. Top off these fluid supplies if needed, depending on your manufacturer’s specifications
3. Clean the Battery: According to AAA, approximately 1.7 million road-tripping drivers experience dead batteries during their summer travels. Before you head out, pop the hood and check to make sure that the battery cables are securely clamped onto the terminals
4. Tire Pressure: Check your tire pressure before you leave for your drive and ideally every time you stop for gas.  Use the tire pressure recommendations printed in your car’s manual
5. Clear Out Your Trunk: Before your trip, take out everything that you don’t need for your actual trip.  The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that every 100 lb. of extra stuff in your car lowers your gas mileage by up to 2%
6. Replace Your Wiper Blades: Check your wiper blades before your trip.  If your wipers take more than one swipe of the blade to clear the windshield, it’s time for new ones.  You don’t want to get caught in inclement weather with bad wipers. We hear Rain-X has some great options…

For Driving Best Practices and more information on Gumout Fuel Additives visit our website at www.Gumout.com

Motonishi Earns First Gumout Super Challenge Win At Tire Rack SCCA El Toro Pro Solo

Longtime top soloist Ken Motonishi had never made it past round eight in a Gumout Super Challenge at a Tire Rack SCCAProSolo event and wasn’t about to waste a chance to finally grab that elusive win this weekend at the El Toro Pro Solo in Irvine, Calif.

Motonishi qualified for the elimination-bracket Gumout Super Challenge as just the fourth-quickest driver in the 26-car Street Touring R class.

Once in, however, the work was hardly done. Motonishi’s OS Giken/A.R.E./bjoinfilms.com Mazda MX-5 was matched against Andy McKee’s Goodyear/A.R.E./Sias Tuning/7parts.com Mazda RX-7. Motonishi knew that McKee’s RX-7 would be much quicker on the second run once the tires were warmed, but was only able to carry a narrow lead after the first pair of runs. By his own accord, Motonishi drove his best lap of the event to keep the margin over McKee and motor on to Round Two. After dodging that bullet, Motonishi was able to settle in and run consistent laps to move through the field.

Motonishi disposed of Doug Rowse’s D Street Prepared-leading Hoosier/Evolution/Cortez BMW 330 in the second round and exorcised his round-of-eight demons with a win against Ryan Buetzer’s ChaseCam/Albin Bowling Supply Pontiac Solstice to move into the semi-finals.

Not ready to miss an opportunity, Motonishi locked down Morgan Trotter’s Road Tire C2 Motorsports/TheRacersStore.com Dodge SRT-4 in the round of four. In the opposite bracket, Steve Lau’s A Stock qualifying Porsche Cayman topped best-qualifying Street Modified’s Mike Simanyi (OS Giken/ABL Original Parts BMW M3) to square off with Motonishi in the championship round.

While Motonishi was landing the Gumout Super Challenge title, Simanyi bested Trotter for third place.

Christine Grice drove her top qualifying Berry Family Racing/Hoosier/OS Giken Mitsubishi Evo to the Ladies Challenge title over Nicole Nagler. Nagler was the top qualifier in Ladies Class 3, driving the Toyo Tires/ProParts USA Honda Civic past Kim Whitener to make the finals. Grice topped Round 1 Ladies Challenge winner Shelly Monfort in the semi-finals.

The Tire Rack ProSolo Series returns to action Memorial Day weekend in a tune-up for the finale at the Lincoln ProSolo at Lincoln Airpark and hosted by the Nebraska Region. The Tire Rack ProSolo event will take place Friday and Saturday, May 25-26, followed by a Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour event, May 27-28.

Information, including results, from the El Toro ProSolo is available here.

References:

SCCA Inc. http://www.scca.com/news/index.cfm?cid=51017

Tire Rack SCCA Tour Makes Waves in San Diego with Gumout Golf

The San Diego Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour event is one of the season favorites, combining the scenic location and Southern California sunshine with the Qualcomm Stadiumparking lot that is a solo event dream – elevation changes and enough space to lay out an excellent course.

Multi-time E Modified champion Jeff Kiesel designed this year’s layout, taking advantage of that space to design a fast, flowing course. The competition remained tight, with no class battle tighter than the H Stock competition, won by Barbara LeRoy-Boehme by just 0.159-second over Joseph Austin. LeRoy-Boehme, from San Diego, won the class in the C2 Mini Cooper.

The San Diego Super Tour was the first round of 2012 to host the Gumout Collegiate Shootout. The program pits area Formula SAE teams head-to-head behind the wheel of the Gumout “Use Your Motorhead” Project Volkswagen Golf, with each driver getting three runs on the course in San Diego. Elias Izpisua-Rodriguez, from USC, captured the first title over UC-San Diego’s Andrew Homan by 0.302-second, with Richard Mazur from Arizona State University in third.

Elsewhere in class competition, Josh Salvage grabbed the lead during Saturday’s runs in the FF Tech Mitsubishi Evo and held off day-two charges from co-driver Sean O’Boyle and Ken Motonishi to take his first-ever National Tour victory.

Twenty-five Stock Category drivers elected to participate in the indexed Road Tire classes in San Diego. New to the National Tour events in 2012, the Road Tire classes are split into simplified Road Tire FWD and Road Tire RWD classes, where Morgan Trotter took the FWD win in the Chula Vista Photo Dodge SRT-4 ACR that would typically have been classed in G Stock, while Stephen Hui’s Honda S2000 snagged the win in the class for rear-wheel drive cars.

Street Touring R, which is traditionally the largest class at a Tire Rack National Tour event, didn’t disappoint in sunny California. When the dust settled on the 32-car class, Jeff Cawthorne had posted a 0.782-second win in a Honda S2000. Jonathan Lugod’s A.R.E./C2 Motorsports Honda S2000 was second, followed by Bob Endicott’s King Motorsports Honda S2000.

The long history of Lotus was on display in Super Street Prepared at San Diego. While Jason Uyeda grabbed the win in a 2005 Lotus Elise by 0.274-second over a similar machine piloted by Jason Munchof, Ted Lewis was driving his 1965 Lotus Elan to third place – just 0.278-second behind Uyeda’s class win.

The Tire Rack Solo National Tour meets up in the Nebraska Region for the 2012 Lincoln National Tour Central States Championship on Memorial Day weekend, May 27-28, in a four-day event that also includes a Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo stop. The event held at the Lincoln Airpark in a preview for the season-ending Tire Rack SCCA National Championship event and is expected to attract competitors from across the country.

More information on the SCCA Solo programs is available at www.scca.com/solo.

References:

SCCA Inc. http://www.scca.com/events/news.cfm?eid=3597&cid=51001