It all started off with Pierre and I’s car in the 1st practice session having some sputtering up through the RPM range, so we started swapping piggybacks and checking wiring, after the session the crew found some ground wires that were lose, okay no big deal, so we go out for session 2 of the promoter test day, no difference, we try swapping the piggyback computers and resetting etc etc, nothing helps, so we decide to just run with it and work on setup and fix the problem after practice. So the crew thrashes on the car that night and we swap piggyback computers with the other ms3 on our team to rule out the piggyback as a problem.

So now its friday and we only have 2 practice sessions left, we go out in the morning session hoping and praying that the problem is fixed! After one corner i no we are in troube.. the car only accelerates to 5000 rpm then just dies! in every gear! So i pull into the pits and they start swapping computers and resetting etc etc, nothing helps.. So we decide to pull off the track after 3 laps and go hard on fixing the car. I also forgot to mention that we have no powersteering during this and these cars are almost impossible to drive without it!

The crew thrashes in the 100 degree + heat and swaps an entire wiring harness, and checks all of the other sensors and componenets, fuel system, injectors everything! We skip our last practice session beacuse the car is not back together as the harness is a big job. Then later that night we run the cars through the gears on jackstands (while applying brake to simulate load) and everthing seems fine. We decide to call it a night and cross our fingers that everything will be fine for qualifying.

Well turns out all of that hard work by the mechanics was for nothing, same 5000rpm limp mode and no power-steering. I put around just trying to keep as much momentum up as possible to maybe get a couple of spots but to no avail.

Same problem on our teammate MS3 the 31 car of Todd and Glenn minus the power-steering. So with both cars at the back of the field and no resolution to our problems in sight we consider not even running the race and risking damaging the cars. But like all competitive race drivers are we couldn’t throw in the towel just yet! The crew went back to work to try and resolve our electrical problems before the race just a few hours away.

I jump in the car to take it to the pre-grid and find the power steering is still not working, it is too big of a risk to drive this car without it as the rack is not designed for it and is extremely hard to steer. We would be doing more harm than good trying to run with it and possibly ending up in the wall. So the crew comes up with a quick fix, to try and remove the PS pump and just route the lines with a reservoir to make it easier to steer. We drop the car down minutes before the race and i manage to barely make it out before pit lane closes. I burn around the track to catch up to the field before they roll off, while feeling out the car to make sure it is safely raceable.

The power steering trick semi-worked, it was fine and easy to steer when you were on the gas, but off off it was near impossible. So i brought it into the pits and back to the garage. I would be watching this race from the sidelines.

With our teammate car retiring early in the race from the same ECU problems and the other team Sahlen MS3 retiring early on as well, we knew we had alot of work to do before Trois-Rivere (Three Rivers for all of you americans ;p). Im sure the guys will solve the problem and continue the development of the cars so we will hopefully be at Trois Riveres with cars that can finish the race, cars that can finish on the podium..

vir crash

Hey guys, sorry for not updating you for a while… Reason being that i am super busy working 6 days a week when not racing and i am tired and unmotivated writing the same story every time!!!

If you haven’t seen the results we have had our bright moments but in the end they all seem to turn out the same..
We have not crossed the start finish line on the lead lap in 5 of 7 races… pretty poor results.

Not due to poor driving or team mistakes, but due to car mechanicals. Yes it is supposed to be a developmental year but this is just crazy! With all 4 I-moto drivers extremely capable of being on the podium and not even coming close, you know something just isn’t right.

I personally had a great race/ stint and mid-ohio a few weeks ago, my first time at the track i was able to qualify 4th! Moving up one spot on the start running 3rd for most of my stint and then leading the race for the last quarter!! BUT unfortunately like all of our other races the fun must come to an end.. We got completely screwed over by missing our pit window when a full course caution came out and we were stuck pitting last.. so we came out in almost last place.. coming into the pits leading the race, this is not what we wanted..

But showing some glimmering hope we have to keep our heads high as we know one of these races things are going to go our way and we will finish where we deserve!

ON THE PODIUM!

The car and our position was constantly improving, making little refinements to get the car towards the top of the timesheet. It also helps alot with the team morale, naturally when things are going well it puts everyone in a good mood, allowing everyone to really focus on their tasks and strive to be that much better. So after the practice sessions it was on to qualifying.

Going into qualifying i was confident we had a top-10 car maybe even a top 5. Yes i was going to have to drive the crap out of it to get there but i felt we had the chance to achive it! My teammate in the #31 I-moto mazdaspeed 3 Glenn Bocchino and i had a plan to go out in qualifying and draft eachouther to hopefully get a few extra tenths and a couple more positions on the timesheet. We went out on our out lap and warmed up the car and tires, then when we came accross the start finish line it was on!

We went barreling down into turn 1 hard on the brakes and rolling lots of speed through the corner thanks to the amazing handling of the mazdaspeed 3. Drafting eachouther all the way, then going into turn 3 a turning brake zone Glenn drove in a little to hot and the rear end spun around causing both of us to be off time on that lap. Also loosing the draft off of eachouther for the remainder of qualifying as we got seperated. Unfortunately the Continental tires have a real -sweet spot- being the 2nd lap on track where the tires have alot more grip than afterwards, so we also lost that advantage, not a big deal its just somthing that happens in racing. In qualifying you have to drive %110 and leave nothing on the table, which can and does lead to mistakes. Now i knew i had to just put my head down and drive to the best of the car and I’s ability. I managed to put down a good lap with no draft and normal grip on the tires (yea yea excuses excuses, what drivers are famous for) gridding us in 9th spot. We knew there was still more time in the car but it was still a respectible position, also its a long race so its not the biggest deal in the world.

So then it was on to the race! With the forecast calling for rain and dark clounds looming overhead we were debating on wether or not to change the setup if indeed the track did go wet. Luckily we held off and so did the rain! I was comfortable starting in p9 since it was on the inside, turn 1 of any track on a start is always risky since there is so many cars vying for the small amount of track, its safer on the inside where you shouldnt have any cars spinning into you.

I got off to a good start holding my position on the inside and outside for the firs couple of turns and managing to come out in p9. Nothing ventured nothing gained, and the car came out clean so now it was time to use some racecraft and get around the cars ahead.

About 5 laps into the race a lead pack was starting to pull away from the rest of the field, i was at the end of the lead pack but also pulling away from everyone else. A comfortable feeling as a driver not having any pressure from behind and being able to focus on the task ahead. Unfortunately that didnt last as i made a mistake coming on to the front straightaway hitting a curb to hard causing me to take a little venture off track loosing 2 positions. You cant let it get to you though as staying calm and focused behind the wheel is a must to have fast consistient laps. Thats exactly what i did and was able to pass them and catch back up to the lead group. Pushing the car to its limits and driving the crap out of the car i was able to overcome our “down on power” situation and actually keep up with the lead group, having a great battle with one of the Compass 360 civics for 8th spot eventually coming out with the position! Then also being able to pass the other mazdaspeed 3’s in the race was a great feeling knowing that my team and myselfs hard work was finially paying off and we had some speed!

Now it was about an hour into the race and i was seeing alot of parts and bodywork around the track, everyone had spread out and there was a bit of a lull in the racing. Then there was a full course caution due to the heavy amount of debris on the racetrack. So everyone bunched up and some teams made pit stops. We were trying to make the race on a 1 stop strategy which required us to stretch our fuel window a little longer than this caution period so hopefully later on we would get another caution period where we could re-fuel and preform our driver change. Unfortunately we never got a chance to do that.

We had a good clean restart managing to hold on to our current postion of 7th i believe it was making it all the way up through the esses and to the entry of turn 10. As i was cresting the hill at close to 100mph i came over the crest to see cars crashing to the left and the right of me, so naturally i had to take the middle road which was a big dust cloud, cars were everywhere and i was hoping to make it through unscaythed but deep in that dust cloud was a BMW M3 Which i hit in its right rear quarter panel causing damage to my car as well as to his already immobilized car. It was a decent impact i was fortunately unhurt and managed to crawl the car back to the pits looking through a small gap under the hood as it had flew up and smashed my windshield, only to find that the damage was a bit worse than i thought and we could not continue.

Fortunately our damage was not as bad as it could have been as 3 other cars were totalled in the accident (BMW M3/VW Jetta/Mazda MX5) and other drivers sustained injuries.

It was a big dissapointment for the whole I-moto/Mazdaspeed crew as we have all worked so hard to get these cars up to the front and once we finally get there to have this happen was just really dissapointing and frusturating for everyone.

But you have to stay positive and look on the bright side! We accomplished so much in this last race at VIR, we have the car handling like its on rails! (now we just need a bit more power) We also now know we can run up front and run consistient lap times and also bonded more as a team. So now we go into our next race at LimeRock hungry for a top 5 finishing position!

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please feel free to ask on here or on my twitter page. (hacquardracing)
Bye for now!
Taylor

It was my first time at Barber and wow what a beautiful track it is! You would think you were at a golf course if it wasnt for the roar of the engines! The track itself is also alot of fun with all of its elevation changes makes for a real challenge! So it took me a practice session or two to learn the track, shift points, breaking points, turn in etc etc. I also visited the Barber Motorsports museum while i was there, it was mainly motorcycles of all vintages up to recent day! All beautifully restored to running condition! They also had a bunch of older f1 and indy cars there, its amazing to see what drivers drove back in the day and seeing what the saftey precautions were that they were pretty brave.

So on to qualifying, i went out in qualifying hoping for a top 10, although we did not achive that it was still a decent starting position. The first lap out in qualifying i noticed the car felt differently than it did in practice and that we were actually getting the car to rotate and carve out of the corner! But it was not exactly what i felt was right, but again i am new to the fwd game and thought i just needed to change my driving and that the setup was getting better!

Boy was i wrong! I started the race in p12 right behind my teammate Glenn Bocchino in another mazdaspeed 3, we got off to a clean start narrowly avoiding a wreck when a mini hit the wall hard going into the corkscrew. That brought out the full course caution and then it was on to another re-start. During all of this i noticed that the car was really loose turning right, but ok turning left. So i thought i just needed to change my driving as i have never experienced this before, this wasnt the case. The car as we discovered after the race had some suspension problems some of the bolts had come loose allowing the wheels to actively change camber and toe throughout the race and each turn! There was nothing really we could do about it in the race as we didnt know what exactly the problem was so it would take to much time to diagnose and fix. So my co driver Pierre and i just had to drive through it making for an interesting race to say the least.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful for us just trying to bring the car home in one piece and stay on the lead lap. We had some great pit stops though doing one for driver change, tires and fuel. Then another to change the left rear tire (to try and fix the looseness we were having) and a splash of fuel to make it to the end. All which went beautifully, so it was good to get a positive out of the race.

So we will have to clear our heads of the dissapointment and fix the problems as we head for VIR in a couple of weeks. There were some positives we can take out of the weekend including the pit stops and differential progress we made. Also we have to remember this is still a car in the developemental stages and there will be setbacks, so all you can do is take the positives, learn from the problems and move on!

See you at Virginia Intl Raceway on the 24th!

Taylor Hacquard

Well race 2 of the Conti series didnt go as well as the first due to a mechanical problem but we made alot of progress on car setup and tweeks here and there making our way closer and closer to the front.

This race at Homestead Speedway was the 2nd consecutive race in the beautiful state of florida, thankfully this time it wasnt snowing!!! This race was still in a Mazda Mazdaspeed3 but this time with a different team. The team i will be racing with for the rest of the season is I-Moto Racing (www.i-motoracing.com). Also met my new co-driver Pierre Kleinubing, he is an amazing driver and ex speed world challenge touring car champion! It is a great oppourtunity for me and i will learn a tonne off of him this season!

The Race started out well, we were quick in the practice sessions finishing as high as p3! a definite confidence booster to see the car is getting faster and faster as we develop it! Then it was off to qualifying, i qualified the car tied for p7! i have never been tied with another car to the thousandth!! pretty amazing after a 2.3 mile 11 turn lap to have the same lap time…

anyways on to the race, we were gridded 8th due to the car we were tied with having a faster 2nd lap time, but he was unable to start the race due to having wrecked in qualifying. We got off to a good clean start making it through t1 without any contact, moving up a position or two. Then running consistent laps and keeping the car clean and towards the front was the goal. after pulling away in the lead pack the GS (faster class) cars caught up to us. Unfortunately i got caught in some bad traffic at the wrong times losing a couple positions in class and falling away from the leaders, it was a bit frusturating as i have never been in this position before but its part of the racing so i will have to learn to cope with it and try to use it to my advantage.

After completing a fuel only pitstop under caution it was back to racing with the group bunched up i managed to pick up a couple positions. After a couple more caution periods and restarts i had moved up to p4! It was now time to hand the car over to Pierre we made a late decision to pit and take advantage of the caution period, unfortunately i didnt loosen the belts enough and Pierre had a bit of trouble buckling in, im new to this pitstop driver change process but should have it programmed for Barber.

We Exited the pits in p14, we dropped back due to other cars not pitting, so we would move up when they have to pit later in the race.

Pierre was driving a great race and putting down fast laps, with about 30 min left in the race he pitted with brake problems. When he got to the pit box we could see the front rotors were red hot. So we had to take it behind the wall for repairs, we managed to get back out for the last 2 laps, with the front brakes not working.

Turns out the hot brake temperature melted the abs sensor, so the computer thought the wheel was locked up and constantly engaged the abs.

So it was a dissapointing finish to what would have been a promising race. The Mazda Mazdaspeed3 performed flawlessly other than the brake sensor and once we sort it all out it will be a bullett!It was great to work with and meet everyone at I-Moto, everyone was very knowledgeable and strived to get the car up front its first time out. I am sure we will be on the podium soon!

We were also working on driving trying to figure out how to get more and more time off of our lap times. Along with setup changes we made big steps every practice along with getting used to the track and car. Ryan qualified the car, it was his first time qualifying in the series and i think he was a little nervous and maybe over-drove the car a bit so it wasnt his best session. We qualified 28th in class 65th overall, so the goal in the race was to keep it clean and run consistient times and hopefully we would move up!

On Friday we had a morning warm-up/practice session, working on big setup changes as we had nothing to loose and hopefully it would pay off in the race. In Grand-am the driver who qualifies has to start the race so Ryan was starting, the goal here was to stay out of trouble on the start hopefully make up some positions on those who got into trobule. Thats exactly what he did, kept it clean and drove a great very consistent first half capitializing on the mistakes and problems of other drivers.

It was about my turn to get in the car 1hr into the race i started to prepare to get in the car, suiting up and getting my helmet on so i could be ready to get in at any time if there was a yellow flag situation. Ryan had moved the car up to 22nd in class geting by 6 cars then there was a full course caution so he was coming in to pit.

We had bit of a problem with the driver change, both of us were newbies so it was not un expected. The steering wheel fell off the dash into the seat just before i got in so i had to deal with that instead of getting my belts on, after that i belted up, plugged in the radio and put on the steering wheel, then Ryan and i were putting up the saftey nets and on of them got snagged so we lost a little more time, eventually we got out on track still under caution so we didnt lose a whole lot. Driving out of the pits i realized between the two of us we never moved the seat back so i was driving alot closer to the wheel and pedals then my liking. Hoping for a quick caution that i never got there was finally a caution about 20 min into my stint, i was then able to move my seat back and re adjust the belts, whew what a relief!

About half way into my stint we decieded to come in for a splash of fuel just to be safe, as my teammates Patrick Dempsey (yes the famous greys anatomy actor) and John Edwards (Star Mazda and Atlantic Winner) ran out of fuel on their first stint. The splash and go went without a problem. Now it was coming down to it, about 20-30 min to go in the race the battle was on! It was time to start to really push the car and myself to strive to get every position i could. All of the cars teams and drivers were in the same position trying to move up the grid.

I drove 100% battling with cars passing back and forth for the last 20 minutes, boy were they intense! Not without a little bumping and grinding passing cars up to the last lap i made up 12 spots in class!! Putting us in 10th place!! 33rd overall!!! a top 10 for the first race with a new car was a great feeling, especially for my first time racing in the series and first time racing a Front wheel drive car! Everyone was very happy with the end result i was the highest finishing Mazda Mazdaspeed 3! The crew and team did a great job along with my co driver Ryan Ellis it was a great team effort and the results show it!

Now i look ahead to the Grand Prix of Miami at the Homestead Miami Speedway March 5-6. Stay tune for more blogs!
Taylor Hacquard

Daytona Race

Hello everyone! Well after a short hiatus from the sport i am back again racing! I am racing this year in the Grand-Am series Continental Tire Championship. I am racing a new 2010 Mazda Mazdaspeed3! It is an awesome car, new to the series and racing so like any new racecar it has its problems that need to be worked out, but after that we should be up on the podium in no time!

The Mazdaspeed3 is a great racing platform, it fits exceptionally well in the Continental Tire series formally known as the Koni Challenge. The Grand-Am sanctioned racing series has 2 classes, GS (grand sport) and ST (sport touring) i am running in the ST class, it hosts a large variation of production modified vehicles, other cars include Honda Civics, BMW 330’s, Volkswagen Jetta’s and Mazda RX8’s. They are all Production cars modified for racing but still bear many of the origional parts. It is a 10 race series racing at tracks all around North America. It is an extremly competitive and fun series to drive in, and to be part of developing a new car adds to the experience.

The races are 2.5 to 3 hours long, the teams are all composed of 2 drivers per car. One driver qualifys and starts the race and strives to keep the car in good shape and the other driver battles for position and finishes the race, So it is a team effort. The race requires at least one pit-stop and driver change. The Mazda Mazdaspeed3 is a great platform, features the same turbocharged 2.3-litre DISI Turbo I4 engine from the Mazdaspeed 6. It produces 263 reliable horsepower to the front wheels. It has a 6 speed transmission than can hold up to the riggors of racing. The car features some modifications including fully removed interior, full rollcage, fuel cell, downpipe exhaust, full suspension dampers and springs and of course runs Continental Tires!

It is a brand new car to racing and the series so as with any new car it has its problems, we go faster and faster every session and make improvements to the car so you should see us up on the podium soon! The first race is in Daytona Beach Florida, at the Daytona Intl. Speedway!

In the next practice session we had to get the car exactly where we wanted it setup wise and me driving wise, as this was our last session before qualifying. We made a bunch of big changes to the car and all were positive, we went faster every time we made a change and managed to use every second of track time we had and used it well!

Off the track and in between sessions we kept busy discussing setup changes and driving changes with the plan to go faster and faster. We felt we had a good car going into qualifying and a car that was able to flat (full throttle) the entire track as it needed to be.

Now for qualifying, This was the first time I ran this qualifying format, in an Indy car or Nascar style format where only 1 car is on the track at one time, and you only have 2 laps to get your best time in!
It was my turn, I went out on the warm-up laps driving hard to get the tires up to temperature so when the time came to throw it down they would be ready. I took the green flag that started my qualifying run, I held the pedal to the floor and turned down into turn one hoping it would stick the entire lap, I kept it too the floor for the 2 laps I had and only managed a couple bobbles.

I felt good about the run feeling it was all that we had to show with the amount of track time we had. We were at a bit of a disadvantage coming in to this race seeing that we had never been to this track before and everyone but us had days of testing under their belt as where we had an hour and 20 minutes, so to qualify only 3 tenths of a second off of 1st place was not bad at all. We were starting 11th which I was somewhat happy with seeing we were on the inside so we wouldn’t get freight trained around the track.

Now it was time for the race, I was going in with the mindset of driving aggressively and charging to the front as I knew we had a consistent car that could run up there. We had a good start narrowly avoiding an accident when 2 cars in front of me got together which caused a full course caution. The restart was a bit of a mess I think a lot of people caught the green flag off guard and expected to do another pace lap. We made it through turn 1 and 2 ok still in 10th place and I drove the car down into turn 3 trying to keep a front wing flap in clean air to get the car to turn and all of the sudden the rear end stepped out really quickly.

I tried to catch it and managed to drift it sideways for a bit but to no avail the rear end came fully around on me and i went sliding backwards dead on into the wall at over 100mph! I hit the wall with the rear then the front and at the same time another car drove into the front/over top of me sending me back down the banking where I was clipped by another car. When everything came to a stop it felt like i had been hit by a truck, my head was pounding, I was a little dazed not knowing exactly what just happened.

After the ambulance ride and they cleared me from the infield medical center with a concussion I got a ride back to the tent to look at the car. It was pretty bad, the engine/bell housing and transmission were all cracked, keep in mind these are thick cast metal pieces. The front end was gone, rear end was all bent and broken. The cockpit surround was even broken just showing how fast my head flew back.

Then as time went by I felt sorer and sorer and I started to notice other things that were hurting as well. So it was a bad way to end what I thought might have been a good race. Overall I don’t think it was a total loss, you have to always take positives from any race and I felt with the track time we had we used it extremely well and got up to speed very quickly. I would have really liked to get a good finish for not only me and my family but for everyone who works on my car and my team.

Well I’m back home now and for the most part all dried out from the 3 days of intense storms in Milwaukee so I figured I’d tell you guys how my race went!

After not getting to qualify because of the nascar truck race being rained out the day before we started the race in p8. They gridded us in order from our practice times that we just barely got in due to huge storms! This was my first oval race and as I learned quickly being on the outside is not the place to be. So after a rolling start and a restart around 15 laps in I was already back to 15th place! I got freight trained around the track losing spot after spot due to being on the outside in corners and getting bad runs down the straight. But my team gave me a great car and I was able to battle back up to p9 before the closing lap. It is especially hard to pass on the ovals since the competition is so close it makes it hard to gain ground. Also our cars are very aero-dependent and when you get behind another car in “the draft” it takes the wind off of your car rendering the wings useless, making it hard to carry decent speed through the turns. Also star I guess doesn’t give penalties anymore for blocking… as I was blocked with around 5 laps to go, I had a great run off of turn 2 and my opponent in front of me had a bad one. Long story short I went to pass going around 10mph faster than he was, there was no way I wouldn’t have got around him unless he blocked me and took me down to the grass which is illegal and “should” be an automatic 1 position penalty..

All this aside I cant complain, yes we should/could have been in a better finishing position but hey thats racing and usually things don’t go exactly to plan. We finished in the top 10, our first of the season and my team and I are getting better and better every race! So now I look towards Iowa, a track I have never run on but I feel we have good speed on the ovals and we will look for an even better result there!