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gixxerdrew said:
HUGE NEWS HUGE NEWS!!!

Guys, next week I WAS INVITED AND I AM GOING TO LA FOR THE LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX, American Le Mans Series!!! I will be working as crew (mostly doing data aquisition) for the LG Motorsports #28 car in GT2 of Lou Gigliotti. Please watch the race! 12:30 eastern on ABC network sunday the 19th. Please root for the team and wish me luck!!! I/WE need it! I am really excited and also nervous!! But racing has a way of being this wave that just owns you so hard you dont get time to think how you feel about it, so that will help. I just have to manage to sleep between now and then. haha
Click to expand...

Wow Drew, your team's car was definitely the center of a lot of attention today. A crash and later a fire. Looked like the driver crawled out of that mess just in time although his lungs are probably feeling it right now.

Quite an exciting and memorable event for your welcome into the world of professional racing. I'm glad everyone's ok.:)

For those who didn't see the race:

YouTube - LG Motorsports GT2 Corvette Catches Fire at Long Beach 2009
 
romeen said:
Wow Drew, your team's car was definitely the center of a lot of attention today. A crash and later a fire. Looked like the driver crawled out of that mess just in time although his lungs are probably feeling it right now.

Quite an exciting and memorable event for your welcome into the world of professional racing. I'm glad everyone's ok.:)

For those who didn't see the race:

YouTube - LG Motorsports GT2 Corvette Catches Fire at Long Beach 2009
Click to expand...


shiet! so thats what happened! man, I was watching it on TV too then I just went upstairs to do something then when I got back, the caution flag is out and I looked up and didnt see the LG Corvette on the field position. then I thought there might be a mechanical failure (or something) but then it was worst than what I thought! good thing the driver came out ok.


aite, peace.
 
The #90 car got into the side of us about 10 minutes left in the race. Bent the exhaust pipe in and it was blowing into the RR body work. Eventually the Carbon lit fire, the fire traveled until it burned through a fuel line POOF as you can see from the video the car was instantly engulfed in fire.

more info:
Corvette: Sales, News & Lifestyle: [VIDEO] LG Motorsports GT2 Corvette Catches Fire at Long Beach

some amazing photos:
2009 American Le Mans at Long Beach

I'm trying to catch up on work today so I have to just post quickly... back later...
 
gixxerdrew said:
Thaks guys, sorry Chris meaning to do something about the tuners drivers thing. Just so busy at the race. It's like I just got picked up by a tornado you dont know which way is up and so much shit is swirling around you, just try to get your work done!
Click to expand...
No prob man. Just send me a PM when you get a chance and we'll hash out the details.
 
an update from the race:

I'll start with the bad, everyone always wants the bad news first:

If Boris had been seriously hurt in the fire, I could not afford optimism, and so I am extremely grateful for that. At times I find myself offensively optimistic and I find the good in situations and 'failures' even when people are occasionally offended by that optimism and refusal to feel sorry or give up, so I really hope that I dont tread on that with anyone especially Louis and the guys after that loss and damages to the car. I think it comes from my engineering background where failures are opportunities for improvement and if you dont keep that kind of optimism youd find yourself in despair.

But when it comes time to fix the car I am willing to be there and getting my hands dirty as well if my help is needed. I have a feeling that hard work is only a small part of the picture of what is needed. I think there are a lot of things that only cash will replace. One thing that stands out is a bunch of very expensive electronics that were sitting in a huge puddle of fire suppression liquids. That car had some very very nice equipment as well.

Boris seemed genuinely shaken up, and I have been a driver before (although on a much lower level) I cannot imagine anything more terrifying than being in the middle of a fire like this:
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Honestly, I feel we are very lucky everything came out OK and that the damage is even repairable on the Corvette, thanks to the IMSA fire team quick reaction and especially spraying down boris while he was bailing out.

sequence of photos is taken from here:
2009 American Le Mans at Long Beach

Thank you to that amazing photographer
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Boris did have some injuries, he had 3rd degree burns on his right tricep, 2nd degree on his left and I read that he had some light burns on or near his eyes, that sounds really painful. But I am really glad he will be OK in the end.


The good:
Back in I think it was 2005 or 2006 I got a chance to go to a world challenge race. My good friends father was supporting Tripoint Mazda in touring class. That day had a huge effect on me. I knew where I wanted to go from there and the car that stood out the most to me in the whole field was the Corvette of Lou Gigliotti. I didnt care much for the factory sponsored big $$$ teams. Those cars were so far out there in terms of the concessions they had in the rules and the money that was spent. I pretty much skip right over factory teams and look at privateers to see who really knows how to put it together on a shoestring. Money solves so many problems. I was rooting for Gigliotti every race since then and they were winning with all those things against them. That was so cool to me.

Last weekend we had a bad result, but I got to be a part of something so cool, and to stand next to and take a photo with Lou Gigliotti. On race days your so busy and so caught up in what your doing but you do get these rare moments when you can relax long enough to realize how much you love what you do and what exactly is happening at that moment. I had one of those moments and I got to take this photo to show for it:

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The thing that really sets the guys apart to me too, is in the midst of something like that you see the sort of calm and control that you know the guys on the team are top notch. I could see the gears turning in Louis head and I really think that somethings gonna come through. You just do what you gotta do at every moment. I know they are milling through contingency plans now and chipping away to find a way. This is a photo of Louis, the crew chief. He's a real cool guy and I thank him and Jeff Hester giving me such a wonderful opportunity. I was actually really impressed when Jeff told me how old he was because hes way ahead of his age with where he's at.

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Sorry for the bad photos guys, really I snapped them in the rare chances I got. iPhone has the worst camera in a mobile phone since like 2001 LOL.

Lou and Boris signing autographs. I got my logbook signed which was pretty cool (to an Engineer anyway)
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I took this mini panorama of where I was sitting doing my job during a practice day
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some of the guys:
You dont wear a firesuit in the pits on practice days
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I learned a lot that day, and I hope the car can continue in any level of contingency plan. I was filling in as an alternate that day for Hester, so I dont know if there will be any future for me with LG, but I really hope so and that was a day I'll always remember.

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I'm struck by how quickly the event/track staff handled the fire. Watching the video, there couldn't have been more than 30 seconds from the car being stopped to the fire being out.

In the last major drag fire I can recall, the car burned to the ground while the driver and owner watched and waited for the local fire department to arrive, after the track staff used up their hand-held extinguishers.

The idea of a fire in a car I'm piloting scares the shit out of me. I said it elsewhere, but I'm glad to hear Boris came away with minor injuries. I don't know the man, but the presence of mind it took to get safely off the track and bring the car to a stop while the cockpit was on fire is one hell of a measure of his character.
 
Seeing that car in flames scares the hell out of me. thank god the driver came out ok.

That being said i'm glad you were able to experiance being on lg's crew for a day. It was a great way to represent the dsm community on a proffesional level
 
more news! body shop is chugging along a little behind schedule but the parts are getting painted right now.
one of the members of the forum contacted a magazine who has now contacted me and the car will be in either import tuner or modified magazine. Though it takes a long time for the magazines to come out. I need to arrange with them when/where to shoot the car.
 
Thank you, and in case anyone missed it.... I posted a link to that video in this thread too..

gixxerdrew said:
Video!!!!

High Quality Quicktime (downloadable):
MobileMe Gallery

LOW quality youtube streaming:
www[DOT]youtube[DOT]com/watch?v=SNlzBrI8uZs

sorry for the funny link when it auto embeds it you lose the widescreen and stuff gets cut off, so you have to open that URL in the browser manually
Click to expand...
 
Awesome, way to score some major coverage for the DSM world! it's been a good minute since I have seen a DSM in any of the major car mags.




The car, is going to be painted by the photo shoot right?
 
Definately it will be painted by then. Most of the body will be painted in the next couple days than the front bumper with the custom canard setup will be done shortly after that.

If you guys want to thank someone for the media coverage that would be Turano from this forum. He was in contact with the magazine and connected them to me!
 
some small updates from work done at Angry Panda:
rear chassis reinforcement bar
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body parts getting painted
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you guys have NO IDEA what it took to make that piece of junk hood work well aero wise:
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greengoblin said:
That rocks. The can't wait to see the car painted.

How is the bump steer on your car? Are you looking to correct it some how?

Kevin
Click to expand...

I don't have a problem with bump steer on my car but thats why I was looking into the custom spindles earlier, so that I could continue to lower the CG height without screwing up various geometry I'm still working on that, the last quote I got was $50,000 or pre order of 2000 units!!!
 
What are you plans for a rear diffuser?

The car is looking sweet though. Diffinently not pretty, but is all function. :hellyeah:
 
gixxerdrew said:
diffuser /underbody work wont make it by this race. I think the car and new paint looks gorgeous and is the best looking DSM I have ever seen hands down. But I'm biased ;)
Click to expand...

The only reason that it is gorgeous is because it is all functional. Functional aero work could be ugly as sin but would still be sweet because of the effort and science behind it. :hellyeah: Oh yeah shit looks great :sneaky:
 
I just read the whole thread and Congrats man.....Last night i was watching dyno vids on youtube and came across your videos. Your turbo hits so hard once it spools!!. sooo i did some searching and found your thread ...I love your car i like the fact the you walk a different path and dont cookie cut. Thats the reason why i built my 420a. just some Q's

What kind of turbo are you running?
I know your hood is custom but were do you get the vents from?
were dose your exhaust exit?

and BIG PROPS to you
 
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