Bad Matt
05-16-2005, 04:21 PM
I finally got around to writing my report from the FUSA race in Road America. If the theme for last month’s race report was planning, this month’s theme will have to be reacting. I could not have planned for this weekend with the experiences I have collected in my racing career. I once again walked away from this weekend with a whole new set of processes to get me through a race. It was good to see my contingency plans were in place and working. I felt I went deep into my bag of tricks to keep running.
The weekend started when my brother dropped me off at the airport. I grabbed my bags and thanked Dan for the ride. He wished me luck and sped off into the traffic. I headed in to wait in line. By the time I got taken care of, I was running pretty tight to make my flight. I checked my luggage in at the counter and headed off towards the security check point.
The crackling speaker overheard produced sounds that resembled my name and a request for me to return to the ticket counter. I hurried back to the ticketing agent. I checked the clock as I went. Boarding was due to start in six minutes.
As I approach the counter I see a baggage handler with a pair of channel lock pliers in one hand and my Ohlins shock in the other. This is the same rear shock that Phil Douglas of Aftershocks had personally driven down to my house to make sure I had it for the coming race weekend. The moron is about to open up the fitting on the reservoir! I stop him before he can send parts of my suspension into his cranium and simultaneously prevent me from making my flight. I am sure it would have made the news. Not the kind of press coverage I am looking to be published about MB Racing. He said “Oh, its ok. It is just air in there. I have one of these on my mountain bike.” Oh, my…
The Transportation Security Agency agent had decided that this was a dangerous item and should not be shipped in my check in luggage. I explain that it is filled with nitrogen. The same gas they have in the wheels on the aircraft. I talked with the agent at the counter for a moment. The clocked was ticking away. Two minutes to boarding.
They suggested I ship it overnight. I asked “Won’t they put it on a plane?” They all looked at each other and said, “Well, yes…” I scooped up the shock and headed off from the counter with comments trailing behind me that I could leave it there for some one to pick up or I could even fill out the forms and they would… blah blah blah. I dismissed them with a wave and headed off with something about calling my brother and having him pick it up. Got to go, man!
I have learned long ago that one person’s opinion is subject to another’s second opinion. That is of course unless I agree with it in the first opinion in the first place. To the security checkpoint I go! I nervously get in line with the shock in my briefcase. I glance at the regulations of prohibited items posted on the placard next to me. I see nothing listed that would prevent the shipment of the shock in my check in luggage. It could be a different story as a carry on item. I could see them arguing that it is a “club like” object. I envisioned myself saying “I don’t think it is very club like. Well, maybe more of a flail or a morning star, but, it would make a nice hand held weapon.” I start laughing inside. I am so screwed. I am either going to miss my flight or have to leave a precision tuned piece of Swedish machinery in the hands of cretins.
I remove my shoes and walk through the portal of the security point and look back to the screener. The rhythmic staccato of the conveyer belt is interrupted. There is no doubt in my mind; my briefcase is under the microscope. The screener looks up and his gaze falls on me staring at him. He asks me if this is my bag with the shock in it. “Very good!” I retort. I tell him about the carburetors from my trip to Daytona. I pass it off as “the trials and tribulations of a motorcycle racer”. He seems satisfied that I do not have some dark agenda with my motorcycle parts and allows me to pass. I like this second opinion much better than the first.
I quickly gather my things and walk to the gate. I head straight onto the plane as they call my row upon my arrival. What impeccable timing. The good part about this was the parts I had with me were redundant. I could have left them behind without a second thought.
A few hours later I am standing in Ohio. It is eighty degrees out! What great weather. As I get into my van and get it ready my trip to Wisconsin I begin thinking about what could go wrong. I ask about the temperature since I dropped off the van a month earlier. I was concerned about the freeze plugs after my pit mate’s debacle in Florida. I was reassured that it had been fantastic since I left and never dropped below freezing.
The drive up to Road America was uneventful. I passed by my company’s World Wide Headquarters in Chicago. I was very pleased to see the new signage letting the world know we are Hospira and that we are advancing wellness. Along the way I also talked to my friend from Colorado. He was not going to make it up for the races. I called on Al Harris to make sure he was going to be there. I was not about to head up to the track and not have anyone there to lend a hand. He was already at the track and practicing.
I pulled up to the track and shivered. It was six in the morning on Friday. The temperature was a heck of a lot lower here in Wisconsin. The mercury was hovering in the high 30s. The weather report was for cold stormy weather all weekend. I was not looking forward to circulating the track in freezing cold rain. I got checked in and found Al Harris in the pits. We unloaded my gear, got through tech, and got ready to head out for the first practice session.
The A bike would not start. The engine turned over a few times and then seized up. At first I thought it was electrical. I hooked up a quick charger and learned it was not. Maybe it was the starter? Nope- rotated the motor and keyed the switch and it cranked a moment and came to a sudden stop. Bad- I had no time for this now. I got the B bike out and prepped it up.
I took the track for the first time. It looked a lot less familiar than I had recalled from my trip to Road America in August of 2002. The trees in the woods had been lush and gave the track an image of a country lane. Spring had just barely arrived to this northern climate. The now naked trees now did nothing to conceal the concrete and steel walls that lined the track. I did not remember any of those! The run off space was well covered with gravel traps, though. The surface of the track was even worse than I remembered. That wicked bump was still ever present in turn 1. The best surprise was the chicane they added in that made turns 10 and 11. Thankfully, I was not relying on the knowledge of my previous trip by this point.
My plan was to use the CCS races as additional practice time. It ended up being the majority of the practice I was able to get in. I think I will add the solo team challenge race for the next few rounds. This will allow me get in more track time before the FUSA Thunderbike race.
Friday gave me the opportunity to get used to my new Oxtar boots. Chad Romiti made sure I got them just in time for the round. The size 47 was way too tight and the size 48 is a bit loose. I ended up wearing a second pair of socks with the size 48 boot. They felt great. I am certain that the extra room will be advantageous in the much hotter climate I normally race in. The soles of the boots felt much stiffer than my old boots. At first, I was worried that the soles would not have enough traction when I was hanging off at extreme angles. Ultimately, the boots are very comfortable, extremely confidence inspiring, and the stiffness also prevented fatigue I have experienced in the past with other boots.
During the course of the day on Friday I opened up the top end of the A bike motor and discovered what I had feared. The rear cylinder head was missing a freeze plug and another had been pushed well out of place. The missing plug was, no doubt, jammed up somewhere in the bottom end. This motor was done for the weekend. I felt pretty foolish to be sitting in this position after dealing with that issue in Florida four weeks earlier. I hate getting reminded of lessons I already learned.
I was now looking at racing a motor that I had never intended to use. It is bone stock and making in the neighborhood of 69 horsepower. That is a 29% reduction from what I thought I was going to have. While I have the top end open, I momentarily entertain thoughts of tearing down the motors and at least swapping the cams out. Is it worth the risk? I come up with a nagging little thought of the old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. I will run the rest of the weekend with what I have and that is that. I push the bike up into the back of the van to keep it from freezing over night.
The first race of the weekend was CCS Thunderbike. It was my second session on the track. I never even went to see the results. I looked at it as a practice session. I identified a few adjustments I needed to make. The second race was the 25 minute GT Lights. The bike was working the way I wanted it to, however, the brakes on this bike were not up to the set I had in my A bike. I intended to swap them out after the race for the better set up.
Nearing the end of the GT lights race, the engine started to fail. I ended up pulling into the pits before the end of the race. There was electrical problem either with the charging system or the battery. I ended up swapping the battery when I came in for the one off of the A bike and kept it on a charger for the rest of the weekend.
Gregg Spears of Spears Enterprises and I had already made plans to have one of these motors come back out to California for some modifications. I had been flipping the mental coin as to which motor to pull on Sunday night. Now the decision had been made for me on Friday morning. I began pulling the parts off and drained the fluids. The oil is so thick when I open it up that I decided to call it a night and let it ooze out over night.
Saturday morning rolls in with a bitter north wind greeting. There is snow flying as we head out for practice. There are so few racers at the track that the officials open the session to all riders. I am able to make about 6 laps before my hands start losing feeling from the cold. The Pirelli tires perform quite well after I get them up to operating temperature. I only find a couple of tricky spots on the track. I would have stayed out longer if I was not worried about getting frost bite. Riding in the snow was a surreal experience.
Other rider came off complaining about their face shield fogging up. I did not have this problem at all. The stock Suomy face shield I was running was fog free. I had originally chosen to use it because it was the lightest tint of all the screens I had with me. The side benefit is that it has an incredible anti-fog coating on the inside of the screen. I had a little spot in the corner that hazed over. I would highly recommend the use of this screen in inclement weather situations to anyone.
My lap times were much faster than the previous day. They were also better than the racers I was hoping to beat. I now secretly hoped the nasty cold would stick around for Sunday. As miserable as it would be, I proved to myself that I could perform pretty well in the conditions. As it turned out, the weather broke and it began to warm up. It was nearly 40 degrees by the time I raced in the Super Twins race. I picked up a fifth place finish despite the lack of horsepower. Chris Van Andel set my brakes up late last year and they are unrivaled. My corner speeds were much better in the technical section due to my confidence in the Pirelli tires.
Later in the day I raced in the Lightweight Grand Prix. The temperature was dropping off again. I was able to get into fourth place as we entered turn two. I worked past the third place rider in turn five. I was astounded at how quickly the leader took off from the rest of us. That rider turned out to be Ed Keyes. Word in the paddock was this was the first time in six years he has been bested at Road America. This was not one of those races.
I followed the second place racer for a lap. I was working hard on just keeping up with his pace. He had me on the straights, but, I was able to catch up in the technical section. I guess he felt some pressure as he threw it away as we came around to turn three for the third time. We had already left the rest of the field and I came home with a second place finish behind the legendary Ed Keyes.
Sunday was much of the same weather. Cold! I would have gone home long ago had this been a local race. From the barren look of the paddock, a lot of the guys did just that.
I made a huge mistake in practice that sent me sliding between two riders in turn 12. I ended up deep in the gravel trap. I killed the motor and was unable to get the bike to re-fire. I spent the rest of the session watching from the sidelines. I was just happy to have an undamaged bike.
I had a fairly successful Lightweight Superbike race later that morning. This was a tedious race against much more powerful bikes. I was gnashing my teeth as we exited turn three onto the middle straight away. The first four racers simply opened the throttle and motored away from me. They were out of sight within moments. I held off the remaining riders by braking extremely late and carrying much faster lines through the corners. After a lap or two, I was all by myself. One of the other racers in the lead group must have failed to finish as I ended up with a fourth place finish.
The grids for the FUSA races did not seem to suffer for the weather though. It cooperated and the temperature came up into the low 50s by the time we got onto the track for the Thunderbike race. I was pleased to be on the grid at this point with a functional bike.
The start was pretty frightening as I came from the fifth row to pass Dan Bilansky. He was sitting on the front row with a stalled motor. I worked my way up as far as I could into the turn one fracas. As we rolled out through the slight bend in the track they call turn two I picked off two more riders. At the entrance of turn three, a rider on a 125cc two stroke GP bike slipped by. I chased him down on the straightaway into turn five. He out braked me only to run up into the traffic we had closed on. He threw a couple of elbows at the riders near him and then cut the next one off. I had seen him in a combined race earlier that morning. He reminded me that this was an all out race. He disappeared down through the traffic.
I eventually got caught up in a small skirmish that would take us through the end of the race with a couple of Buell riders. I was going up against riders that weigh next to nothing with well over 100 horsepower in their bikes. I was frustrated to no end. I passed them on nearly every lap only to have them motor by me about 15-20 feet in front of the start finish line. I kept thinking about how I would not be in this predicament if I had drained the water out of my engine last month. I ended up 16th. I could see the next three positions and know I should have been ahead of all of them.
I ended up sticking around for one last running of the weekend. It started out as a repeat of the other races of the day; not enough horsepower to get the job done right. Ultimately, I was able to carry a better line and use my brakes. I worked my way past two riders on the last lap. I was unable to get the official results of that race. It was more for fun than anything else. I had to get back to Ohio to catch my flight home.
Right now I am sitting at sixteen of thirty seven racers in the FUSA Thunderbike class. Not where I wanted to be, but, better than where I could be. There are still six more races to improve upon. Next month I am off to Summit Point West Virginia and hopefully better weather. Between now and then we have two motors to build and a couple of local races to test then on. I think the biggest lack of redundancy is a spare motor at this point. I also identified a few key tools that are missing from my spartanly filled box. Planning is an ongoing effort.
I want to extend my gratitude to all of those people that helped me at the track this weekend. Huge thanks go out to Spears Enterprises, Aftershocks, Wheel 2 Wheel, Raceimage.net, Motorex, Oxtar, Held, Suomy, Motion Pro, Ferodo, Spyder and Cycle Gear. I could not do this without all your support. I look forward to telling you all the up coming tales!
The weekend started when my brother dropped me off at the airport. I grabbed my bags and thanked Dan for the ride. He wished me luck and sped off into the traffic. I headed in to wait in line. By the time I got taken care of, I was running pretty tight to make my flight. I checked my luggage in at the counter and headed off towards the security check point.
The crackling speaker overheard produced sounds that resembled my name and a request for me to return to the ticket counter. I hurried back to the ticketing agent. I checked the clock as I went. Boarding was due to start in six minutes.
As I approach the counter I see a baggage handler with a pair of channel lock pliers in one hand and my Ohlins shock in the other. This is the same rear shock that Phil Douglas of Aftershocks had personally driven down to my house to make sure I had it for the coming race weekend. The moron is about to open up the fitting on the reservoir! I stop him before he can send parts of my suspension into his cranium and simultaneously prevent me from making my flight. I am sure it would have made the news. Not the kind of press coverage I am looking to be published about MB Racing. He said “Oh, its ok. It is just air in there. I have one of these on my mountain bike.” Oh, my…
The Transportation Security Agency agent had decided that this was a dangerous item and should not be shipped in my check in luggage. I explain that it is filled with nitrogen. The same gas they have in the wheels on the aircraft. I talked with the agent at the counter for a moment. The clocked was ticking away. Two minutes to boarding.
They suggested I ship it overnight. I asked “Won’t they put it on a plane?” They all looked at each other and said, “Well, yes…” I scooped up the shock and headed off from the counter with comments trailing behind me that I could leave it there for some one to pick up or I could even fill out the forms and they would… blah blah blah. I dismissed them with a wave and headed off with something about calling my brother and having him pick it up. Got to go, man!
I have learned long ago that one person’s opinion is subject to another’s second opinion. That is of course unless I agree with it in the first opinion in the first place. To the security checkpoint I go! I nervously get in line with the shock in my briefcase. I glance at the regulations of prohibited items posted on the placard next to me. I see nothing listed that would prevent the shipment of the shock in my check in luggage. It could be a different story as a carry on item. I could see them arguing that it is a “club like” object. I envisioned myself saying “I don’t think it is very club like. Well, maybe more of a flail or a morning star, but, it would make a nice hand held weapon.” I start laughing inside. I am so screwed. I am either going to miss my flight or have to leave a precision tuned piece of Swedish machinery in the hands of cretins.
I remove my shoes and walk through the portal of the security point and look back to the screener. The rhythmic staccato of the conveyer belt is interrupted. There is no doubt in my mind; my briefcase is under the microscope. The screener looks up and his gaze falls on me staring at him. He asks me if this is my bag with the shock in it. “Very good!” I retort. I tell him about the carburetors from my trip to Daytona. I pass it off as “the trials and tribulations of a motorcycle racer”. He seems satisfied that I do not have some dark agenda with my motorcycle parts and allows me to pass. I like this second opinion much better than the first.
I quickly gather my things and walk to the gate. I head straight onto the plane as they call my row upon my arrival. What impeccable timing. The good part about this was the parts I had with me were redundant. I could have left them behind without a second thought.
A few hours later I am standing in Ohio. It is eighty degrees out! What great weather. As I get into my van and get it ready my trip to Wisconsin I begin thinking about what could go wrong. I ask about the temperature since I dropped off the van a month earlier. I was concerned about the freeze plugs after my pit mate’s debacle in Florida. I was reassured that it had been fantastic since I left and never dropped below freezing.
The drive up to Road America was uneventful. I passed by my company’s World Wide Headquarters in Chicago. I was very pleased to see the new signage letting the world know we are Hospira and that we are advancing wellness. Along the way I also talked to my friend from Colorado. He was not going to make it up for the races. I called on Al Harris to make sure he was going to be there. I was not about to head up to the track and not have anyone there to lend a hand. He was already at the track and practicing.
I pulled up to the track and shivered. It was six in the morning on Friday. The temperature was a heck of a lot lower here in Wisconsin. The mercury was hovering in the high 30s. The weather report was for cold stormy weather all weekend. I was not looking forward to circulating the track in freezing cold rain. I got checked in and found Al Harris in the pits. We unloaded my gear, got through tech, and got ready to head out for the first practice session.
The A bike would not start. The engine turned over a few times and then seized up. At first I thought it was electrical. I hooked up a quick charger and learned it was not. Maybe it was the starter? Nope- rotated the motor and keyed the switch and it cranked a moment and came to a sudden stop. Bad- I had no time for this now. I got the B bike out and prepped it up.
I took the track for the first time. It looked a lot less familiar than I had recalled from my trip to Road America in August of 2002. The trees in the woods had been lush and gave the track an image of a country lane. Spring had just barely arrived to this northern climate. The now naked trees now did nothing to conceal the concrete and steel walls that lined the track. I did not remember any of those! The run off space was well covered with gravel traps, though. The surface of the track was even worse than I remembered. That wicked bump was still ever present in turn 1. The best surprise was the chicane they added in that made turns 10 and 11. Thankfully, I was not relying on the knowledge of my previous trip by this point.
My plan was to use the CCS races as additional practice time. It ended up being the majority of the practice I was able to get in. I think I will add the solo team challenge race for the next few rounds. This will allow me get in more track time before the FUSA Thunderbike race.
Friday gave me the opportunity to get used to my new Oxtar boots. Chad Romiti made sure I got them just in time for the round. The size 47 was way too tight and the size 48 is a bit loose. I ended up wearing a second pair of socks with the size 48 boot. They felt great. I am certain that the extra room will be advantageous in the much hotter climate I normally race in. The soles of the boots felt much stiffer than my old boots. At first, I was worried that the soles would not have enough traction when I was hanging off at extreme angles. Ultimately, the boots are very comfortable, extremely confidence inspiring, and the stiffness also prevented fatigue I have experienced in the past with other boots.
During the course of the day on Friday I opened up the top end of the A bike motor and discovered what I had feared. The rear cylinder head was missing a freeze plug and another had been pushed well out of place. The missing plug was, no doubt, jammed up somewhere in the bottom end. This motor was done for the weekend. I felt pretty foolish to be sitting in this position after dealing with that issue in Florida four weeks earlier. I hate getting reminded of lessons I already learned.
I was now looking at racing a motor that I had never intended to use. It is bone stock and making in the neighborhood of 69 horsepower. That is a 29% reduction from what I thought I was going to have. While I have the top end open, I momentarily entertain thoughts of tearing down the motors and at least swapping the cams out. Is it worth the risk? I come up with a nagging little thought of the old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. I will run the rest of the weekend with what I have and that is that. I push the bike up into the back of the van to keep it from freezing over night.
The first race of the weekend was CCS Thunderbike. It was my second session on the track. I never even went to see the results. I looked at it as a practice session. I identified a few adjustments I needed to make. The second race was the 25 minute GT Lights. The bike was working the way I wanted it to, however, the brakes on this bike were not up to the set I had in my A bike. I intended to swap them out after the race for the better set up.
Nearing the end of the GT lights race, the engine started to fail. I ended up pulling into the pits before the end of the race. There was electrical problem either with the charging system or the battery. I ended up swapping the battery when I came in for the one off of the A bike and kept it on a charger for the rest of the weekend.
Gregg Spears of Spears Enterprises and I had already made plans to have one of these motors come back out to California for some modifications. I had been flipping the mental coin as to which motor to pull on Sunday night. Now the decision had been made for me on Friday morning. I began pulling the parts off and drained the fluids. The oil is so thick when I open it up that I decided to call it a night and let it ooze out over night.
Saturday morning rolls in with a bitter north wind greeting. There is snow flying as we head out for practice. There are so few racers at the track that the officials open the session to all riders. I am able to make about 6 laps before my hands start losing feeling from the cold. The Pirelli tires perform quite well after I get them up to operating temperature. I only find a couple of tricky spots on the track. I would have stayed out longer if I was not worried about getting frost bite. Riding in the snow was a surreal experience.
Other rider came off complaining about their face shield fogging up. I did not have this problem at all. The stock Suomy face shield I was running was fog free. I had originally chosen to use it because it was the lightest tint of all the screens I had with me. The side benefit is that it has an incredible anti-fog coating on the inside of the screen. I had a little spot in the corner that hazed over. I would highly recommend the use of this screen in inclement weather situations to anyone.
My lap times were much faster than the previous day. They were also better than the racers I was hoping to beat. I now secretly hoped the nasty cold would stick around for Sunday. As miserable as it would be, I proved to myself that I could perform pretty well in the conditions. As it turned out, the weather broke and it began to warm up. It was nearly 40 degrees by the time I raced in the Super Twins race. I picked up a fifth place finish despite the lack of horsepower. Chris Van Andel set my brakes up late last year and they are unrivaled. My corner speeds were much better in the technical section due to my confidence in the Pirelli tires.
Later in the day I raced in the Lightweight Grand Prix. The temperature was dropping off again. I was able to get into fourth place as we entered turn two. I worked past the third place rider in turn five. I was astounded at how quickly the leader took off from the rest of us. That rider turned out to be Ed Keyes. Word in the paddock was this was the first time in six years he has been bested at Road America. This was not one of those races.
I followed the second place racer for a lap. I was working hard on just keeping up with his pace. He had me on the straights, but, I was able to catch up in the technical section. I guess he felt some pressure as he threw it away as we came around to turn three for the third time. We had already left the rest of the field and I came home with a second place finish behind the legendary Ed Keyes.
Sunday was much of the same weather. Cold! I would have gone home long ago had this been a local race. From the barren look of the paddock, a lot of the guys did just that.
I made a huge mistake in practice that sent me sliding between two riders in turn 12. I ended up deep in the gravel trap. I killed the motor and was unable to get the bike to re-fire. I spent the rest of the session watching from the sidelines. I was just happy to have an undamaged bike.
I had a fairly successful Lightweight Superbike race later that morning. This was a tedious race against much more powerful bikes. I was gnashing my teeth as we exited turn three onto the middle straight away. The first four racers simply opened the throttle and motored away from me. They were out of sight within moments. I held off the remaining riders by braking extremely late and carrying much faster lines through the corners. After a lap or two, I was all by myself. One of the other racers in the lead group must have failed to finish as I ended up with a fourth place finish.
The grids for the FUSA races did not seem to suffer for the weather though. It cooperated and the temperature came up into the low 50s by the time we got onto the track for the Thunderbike race. I was pleased to be on the grid at this point with a functional bike.
The start was pretty frightening as I came from the fifth row to pass Dan Bilansky. He was sitting on the front row with a stalled motor. I worked my way up as far as I could into the turn one fracas. As we rolled out through the slight bend in the track they call turn two I picked off two more riders. At the entrance of turn three, a rider on a 125cc two stroke GP bike slipped by. I chased him down on the straightaway into turn five. He out braked me only to run up into the traffic we had closed on. He threw a couple of elbows at the riders near him and then cut the next one off. I had seen him in a combined race earlier that morning. He reminded me that this was an all out race. He disappeared down through the traffic.
I eventually got caught up in a small skirmish that would take us through the end of the race with a couple of Buell riders. I was going up against riders that weigh next to nothing with well over 100 horsepower in their bikes. I was frustrated to no end. I passed them on nearly every lap only to have them motor by me about 15-20 feet in front of the start finish line. I kept thinking about how I would not be in this predicament if I had drained the water out of my engine last month. I ended up 16th. I could see the next three positions and know I should have been ahead of all of them.
I ended up sticking around for one last running of the weekend. It started out as a repeat of the other races of the day; not enough horsepower to get the job done right. Ultimately, I was able to carry a better line and use my brakes. I worked my way past two riders on the last lap. I was unable to get the official results of that race. It was more for fun than anything else. I had to get back to Ohio to catch my flight home.
Right now I am sitting at sixteen of thirty seven racers in the FUSA Thunderbike class. Not where I wanted to be, but, better than where I could be. There are still six more races to improve upon. Next month I am off to Summit Point West Virginia and hopefully better weather. Between now and then we have two motors to build and a couple of local races to test then on. I think the biggest lack of redundancy is a spare motor at this point. I also identified a few key tools that are missing from my spartanly filled box. Planning is an ongoing effort.
I want to extend my gratitude to all of those people that helped me at the track this weekend. Huge thanks go out to Spears Enterprises, Aftershocks, Wheel 2 Wheel, Raceimage.net, Motorex, Oxtar, Held, Suomy, Motion Pro, Ferodo, Spyder and Cycle Gear. I could not do this without all your support. I look forward to telling you all the up coming tales!