Snails - Racing for Real

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Mark Krueger Motorsports
Krueger Tuned Racing​

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These are the two teams I race with. I share my experiences on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. At this point, I've mainly done autocross events with the Finger Lakes Region SCCA and wheel to wheel racing with ChumpCar ChampCar.

This past weekend I raced in a 16-hour race at Pittsburgh International Race Complex with Krueger Tuned Racing North. We had our best overall finish, 16th of 51 cars and we won our class (EC).

Here are a few videos from my racing at PIRC.

My fastest lap

7-lap battle with Kim Jung Il Racing

Full hour long session
 

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My Video/Update Hub
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2017
2017 Schedule
2017 schedule.jpg


2016

2016 McRace Memorial Sunday Race 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO1V2aratR4

2016 McRae Memorial Sunday Race 2
https://youtu.be/P9Kg2iibCqw

2016 Spring Sprints CACC #2 Saturday Race 1 CRASH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0aopNqg7C4

2016 CACC #3 Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9L7hQGvUQo

2016 CACC #4 Sunday Race 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0nncXPTug4

2016 BCHMR Vintage Race Saturday Race 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGCGok6cWUI

2016 Season Highlights!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LltRHVHXaGU

2015
2015 Season Recap


Oct. 11th 2015 Race 2


Oct. 11th 2015 Race 1


Aug. 8th 2015 Race


Jul. 18th 2015 Race (First Novice Race)
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I just bought a car that makes me want to look for roads that are fun to drive on. Be going on a scouting trip this Sunday to check out one of the nearby SCCA Autocross events. My plan is to start autocrossing this;

SAM_0216.JPG

at the beginning of next season. At some point I'd like to run a couple HDPE events on a honest to goodness track. Hopefully, making contact with the nearby SCCA club will put me on that path as well.

When I'm not driving the above cage I can be found with my knees in the breeze on this;
20150315_124537.jpg


And a side by side;
SAM_0207.JPG


Don't know how 2 different manufacturers managed it, 18 years apart, but that shade of blue is so close to matching...

@CoachMK21 , Does Krueger Tuned Racing have any suggestions for mods to the Camaro? Hook a brother up?
 
Dragonwhisky
I just bought a car that makes me want to look for roads that are fun to drive on. Be going on a scouting trip this Sunday to check out one of the nearby SCCA Autocross events. My plan is to start autocrossing this;

View attachment 459545
at the beginning of next season. At some point I'd like to run a couple HDPE events on a honest to goodness track. Hopefully, making contact with the nearby SCCA club will put me on that path as well.

When I'm not driving the above cage I can be found with my knees in the breeze on this;
View attachment 459546

And a side by side;
View attachment 459547

Don't know how 2 different manufacturers managed it, 18 years apart, but that shade of blue is so close to matching...

@CoachMK21 , Does Krueger Tuned Racing have any suggestions for mods to the Camaro? Hook a brother up?
Click to expand...

My opinion on modifications are the basics. Brakes and tires first, suspension next, then add power. It's simple enough to buy better brake pads and stickier tires. Costly, but simple. Best tires for HPDE/autocross are 200TW tires, like Hankook RS3, BFGoodrich Rival S, Bridgestone RE-71R, Dunlop Direzza ZII (star spec). I like Hawk brake pads. A set of HPS in the proper size are good for street use, autocross and a moderate track day. A quality shock, like Koni Yellows are relatively cheap (~600-800). Bolt ons like cat-back exhaust, cold air intake are easy to do as well. Everything I've mentioned, except the CAI, can be done and keep you in the Street class of any SCCA event.

How about some more info on the Camaro? Year, model, etc?
 
CoachMK21
My opinion on modifications are the basics. Brakes and tires first, suspension next, then add power. It's simple enough to buy better brake pads and stickier tires. Costly, but simple. Best tires for HPDE/autocross are 200TW tires, like Hankook RS3, BFGoodrich Rival S, Bridgestone RE-71R, Dunlop Direzza ZII (star spec). I like Hawk brake pads. A set of HPS in the proper size are good for street use, autocross and a moderate track day. A quality shock, like Koni Yellows are relatively cheap (~600-800). Bolt ons like cat-back exhaust, cold air intake are easy to do as well. Everything I've mentioned, except the CAI, can be done and keep you in the Street class of any SCCA event.

How about some more info on the Camaro? Year, model, etc?
Click to expand...

In my sig? Was there something more specific you needed? 3.6 V6, 3 mode auto trans. Base model 1LT.
 
Dragonwhisky
I just bought a car that makes me want to look for roads that are fun to drive on. Be going on a scouting trip this Sunday to check out one of the nearby SCCA Autocross events. My plan is to start autocrossing this;

View attachment 459545
at the beginning of next season. At some point I'd like to run a couple HDPE events on a honest to goodness track. Hopefully, making contact with the nearby SCCA club will put me on that path as well.

When I'm not driving the above cage I can be found with my knees in the breeze on this;
View attachment 459546

And a side by side;
View attachment 459547

Don't know how 2 different manufacturers managed it, 18 years apart, but that shade of blue is so close to matching...

@CoachMK21 , Does Krueger Tuned Racing have any suggestions for mods to the Camaro? Hook a brother up?
Click to expand...
Ahh, this looks awesome Dragon, wish you have fun with that Duo and on the other side I feel the formils in my hands and feet to ride a bike again after so many years, my last one was a Suzuki GS750 watercooled lool

Suzuki-GT750-39-Kettle-39-Engine-Casings-Stainless-Allen-Screw-Kit_700_600_3LMXP.jpg


PS just wondering if your bike as car have the same color :confused:

:cheers: cheers from Vienna, JC
 
STEAMER62
PS just wondering if your bike as car have the same color :confused:
Click to expand...

Both bike and car sport factory paint jobs. Like I mentioned below side by side pic, I have no idea how it got managed but the colors are damn close. The only "official" color name I've been able to find for the B12 I have is CDY Dusk Blue and Chevy calls the blue on the car Blue Velvet Metallic. So no, they are not precisely the same color. I'm sure the late evening lighting the side by was taken with contributed to the shade looking as close as it does. Will have to get some bright sunshine shots for a better comparison.
 
Dragonwhisky
Both bike and car sport factory paint jobs. Like I mentioned below side by side pic, I have no idea how it got managed but the colors are damn close. The only "official" color name I've been able to find for the B12 I have is CDY Dusk Blue and Chevy calls the blue on the car Blue Velvet Metallic. So no, they are not precisely the same color. I'm sure the late evening lighting the side by was taken with contributed to the shade looking as close as it does. Will have to get some bright sunshine shots for a better comparison.
Click to expand...
..anyway, like your new avatar 👍 ;)
:cheers:
 
I had a pretty decent day at the kart track. Today was the 5th and final race of the fall rental league. The turnout was the lightest of the series (12 today) so they ran everybody at once rather than separating by weight. I qualified 2nd 0.270 behind the quick kid. The Pre-Final was awesome. It had begun to drizzle between heats, so the track was fairly slick until the line dried out. My first experience in mixed conditions was a blast! My SNAIL time with cars that demanded smooth throttle input really paid off here. If it weren't for having a kart that was slow off the line I think I could have won that race, but I had to spend time getting by a couple drivers that got by me at the start. I finished 2nd. The Final was less than stellar however. A good rally after beating myself... I finished 5th. *shrug*

Fortunately, that 5th place finish didn't significantly hamper my overall for the series. I took first place and received a free "arrive & drive". That's not your typical arrive and drive either. This is actually a 1 on 1 session with an instructor and a race prepared LO206 kart. For those that may not know, the LO206 is a bit more powerful 4-stroke than the rentals have, but it's also a true race chassis which I understand is about 100 lbs. lighter than the rental karts. The track sells these sessions for $450. So yeah... I'm pretty stoked. :D


FINAL (check back later if it's not finished processing)
 
I had my final autocross of the season today at Ralph Wilson Stadium. It's by far the largest lot we have in the surrounding area. I ended up having my best finish of the season, 3rd of 17 in Street and 9th of 77 overall. Here is a combo video, main, PIP and data. The wind was pretty bad and it's louder on the video than I would like.



Like my home made phone holder? I forgot my windshield mount.
 
CoachMK21
I had my final autocross of the season today at Ralph Wilson Stadium. It's by far the largest lot we have in the surrounding area. I ended up having my best finish of the season, 3rd of 17 in Street and 9th of 77 overall. Here is a combo video, main, PIP and data. The wind was pretty bad and it's louder on the video than I would like.



Like my home made phone holder? I forgot my windshield mount.
Click to expand...


Painters tape eh? The true depth of what is learned racing in Chumpcar. :)
 
Well, here's the final race of the season... Not the way I wanted to end it by any means. Busted the drum and snapped many other parts of the car due to a second car clipping me after the spin. figured spinning myself out instead of hitting my dad (White car) was the better option... maybe not.


Race one is being uploaded as we speak
 
RobbiefromBC
Well, here's the final race of the season... Not the way I wanted to end it by any means. Busted the drum and snapped many other parts of the car due to a second car clipping me after the spin. figured spinning myself out instead of hitting my dad (White car) was the better option... maybe not.


Race one is being uploaded as we speak
Click to expand...

Hoii Robbie, don't let you bring down, sh:censored:t happens and it always should be a learning courve, fall down 5 times and stand up 6 times, you'll surely do better on next race, anyway great video 👍, :cheers: , cheers JC
 
RobbiefromBC
Well, here's the final race of the season... Not the way I wanted to end it by any means. Busted the drum and snapped many other parts of the car due to a second car clipping me after the spin. figured spinning myself out instead of hitting my dad (White car) was the better option... maybe not.
Click to expand...

I hope 6:19 - 6:24 is the worst you ever face on the track. :)

Thanks for sharing.
 
RobbiefromBC
Well, here's the final race of the season... Not the way I wanted to end it by any means. Busted the drum and snapped many other parts of the car due to a second car clipping me after the spin. figured spinning myself out instead of hitting my dad (White car) was the better option... maybe not.


Race one is being uploaded as we speak
Click to expand...


Sucks about the bad luck on that spin. Look forward to seeing you on track next season. I didn't get the time to get back out for a lapping day, but hopefully in the spring sometime! Will then need to find a reason to get my license too :D
 
Not sure when the track is open for rentals again, the schedule is normally released mid February for when races take place
 
RobbiefromBC
Well, here's the final race of the season... Not the way I wanted to end it by any means. Busted the drum and snapped many other parts of the car due to a second car clipping me after the spin. figured spinning myself out instead of hitting my dad (White car) was the better option... maybe not.


Race one is being uploaded as we speak
Click to expand...

Ahhh, aside from the crash that was fun to watch. Sucks mang
 
Race 1 from Sunday. Also my first 'Senior' race sees me start on pole for Formula Vee. Race was black flagged due to an incident on the front straight, and restarted. I got a much better start the second go 'round, and managed to hold the lead for about half the race until Paul passed me for the lead. Finished second in the race, and beat the old man in doing so ;)
 
Nice vid Robbie. 👍

Any of you all left foot brake your DDs? Been left foot braking in GT since day one with the DFGT. Left footing a G27 pedal, even with a spring mod, ain't nothing like a real car. I've been calling my left foot stupid a lot when I work on training it in the Camaro
chevy.gif
. It's got about 5 months to learn this before the Ax season starts back up around here. If it don't learn all proper like, I may have to lop it off.

Banning all the annoyingly slow folks from my practice road would be helpful too. Dunno how I'll manage that, but Imma gunna think on it some. Maybe I just need to liberate a few "Road Closed due to Construction" barricades.
 
Servus @RobbiefromBC , such an awesome racing doc, I really appreciated your Apex Hit Quote, well done man 👍 , and thx for sharing this with the SNAIL Community :bowdown: , I only miss one thing on the following picture, and by this ask @zer05ive , why not only ship 2 SNAIL stickers to this racer without auction stuff or whatelse :D ;) , the white helmet is too white loool

upload_2015-10-17_14-27-5-jpeg.463606


cheers JC :cheers:

PS well done race, hang on Robbie :cool:
 
Dragonwhisky
Any of you all left foot brake your DDs?
Click to expand...

I do occasionally. I started dabbling with it a couple years ago after my first karting experience. I wanted to condition my left leg muscles to be more sensitive and precise. It was pretty jolting the first few times I tried it and I was very cautious to do it with traffic in front of me. I'm still very careful since It's still not as natural as the right.
 
I use left foot 'as needed' - quite a bit in AX. Slalom is probably the most common place for me, where I want to manage the front / back balance of the car. A brush of the middle pedal to start the front tires getting a bite for changing direction, then back on throttle to keep stable and planted.

Sometimes I use left foot on a track, but it seems less common there. The bus stop at Watkins Glen used it, and maybe about 1 turn per track on average for me.

Autocross went fantastic last weekend. My upgraded brakes and corrective adjustment to the sway bar, coupled with an extra 8 track days since the last regular AX event made a huge impact.

Normally, I place about 25-30th out of 60. Probably just about half are Boxster S or Cayman S cars, most of the rest are 911. About 8 of us are air-cooled.

This time, all my runs were top 10 and I ended up 5th overall. The 2012 GT-R ran 57.1, the 991 GT3 RS ran 57.2, and I had a clean 57.3. I ran a 57.1, while a 250 lb photographer rode along for our publicity shoot, but just clipped a cone.

My last scheduled DE is next week. I will make sure my GoPro is charged and I have the extra batteries with me - not at home. :boggled:

My friend, Gary, was my instructor at the Intro to HPDE event a year ago. He beat me by 0.04 on this run


On a different note, this website has been a decent resource for driving techniques and track guides. YMMV.

http://winhpde.com
 
Well, I had a good experience at my Arrive & Drive yesterday. I was told the power is basically identical to the rental karts. Race tires and 100lbs. less weight make a huge difference. I was told 1:06-:07 is pretty good. I managed a 1:09 the first time out, and a 1:08 during the 2nd. The last run wasn't quick at all. Probably because it was quickly getting colder and it had drizzled a bit prior (oh, and a flat front left). Looking at mylaps.com it seems those kind of times were being put up in July which is probably close to 30* warmer than now. My instructer races shifters so it was cool hearing some of his stories, especially the fact that he's raced against some big names; AJ Almendinger, Jamie Mcmurray and the late Dan Wheldon. I can't wait to get going with my own gear, especially since he felt I wouldn't be in over my head in the faster Yamaha class. I have vid, but it's just me lapping and not particularly exciting.
 
STEAMER62
Servus @RobbiefromBC , such an awesome racing doc, I really appreciated your Apex Hit Quote, well done man 👍 , and thx for sharing this with the SNAIL Community :bowdown: , I only miss one thing on the following picture, and by this ask @zer05ive , why not only ship 2 SNAIL stickers to this racer without auction stuff or whatelse :D ;) , the white helmet is too white loool

upload_2015-10-17_14-27-5-jpeg.463606


cheers JC :cheers:

PS well done race, hang on Robbie :cool:
Click to expand...
I didn't want to do anything with this helmet because it's becoming obsolete at the end of the season. A new helmet may call for a new colour scheme ;)
 

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