Kopp Motorsports

The Season Has Begun

2011-04-20T07:58:00.006-04:00

Great Falls, VA April 20 2011

The 2011 racing season is upon us and Kopp Motorsports has prepared two cars for the new season competing in the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series and the Spec Miata class of the SCCA Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series (MARRS).

The MX5 Cup car (left) and the Spec Miata (right)

Kevin logged our first victory of the season at Summit Point Motorsports Park last weekend in the first MARRS race, winning the pole in the rain during Saturday qualifying and then leading every lap to take the win in the feature race Sunday.

Qualifying in the rain (Danyel Torres in the spray behind)

However, our season really began six weeks ago at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the first race of the Mazda MX-5 Cup pro series. This is our first season pro racing and first race with a very new car – there’s a lot to learn.

We struggled with the chassis set-up on the car trying to get it to run well on both the banked portion of the NASCAR oval as well the tight portions of the infield. Unfortunately, we did not have the set-up sorted when the time to qualify came around and ended up 9th on the grid for the start of the race on Saturday.

We made a few more chassis adjustments before the race (that turned out to be well-chosen) and Kevin got a huge jump on the field when the green flag fell moving quickly up to 4th from the 9th spot. The top three cars were drafting together while we were running alone and unable to catch the tail end of the draft. Kevin waited for two more cars to catch up and the three then formed a second drafting pack and began to hunt down the leaders. Unfortunately, and unintentional mistake by the last car in our three car train spun Kevin and put him into a wall ending our race.

On the pre-grid at Homestead waiting for the start

The end result from Homestead is not what we had had hoped for, but we are encouraged by the fact that we ran very close to the front and would have been in the lead pack if we had qualified better. So we are optimistic as we look forward to the second race at Road Atlanta in 10 days. You can follow all the action by logging on to live timing and scoring at the Mazda MX-5 Cup series website.

2011 Season Plans

2011-02-09T11:45:00.012-05:00

Great Falls, VA February 8, 2011
After three wonderful seasons running in Spec Miata in the Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series, Kopp Motorsports has decided it is time to change things up a bit. We have decided to move to a SCCA Pro-Series, but are not straying that far from our Mazda Roots. We will be running the Playboy MX-5 Cup for the 2011 season.

It was a long and hard decision, but we believe that this series is the right place for us. We spent the winter months making the difficult decision to leave MARRS and acquiring a MX-5 car.

The past two months have been spent tearing down the car and rebuilding it, turning it into a Kopp Motorsports car. There is still a lot of work to be done on the car before the first race at Homestead Miami Speedway on March 2nd, but we are on schedule. We will be testing the new MX-5 car at Virginia Motorsports Raceway February 18-20 and will be assisting our technical partners, Brimtek Motorsports, with the testing of their new World Challenge car. If you plan to attend this NASA event at VIR, please stop by our pits.

We are looking forward to our first "Pro" experience in Miami, eager to meet the other teams and hoping to enjoy at least a bit of the Grand Am action taking place the same weekend. We hope our fans will continue to support us as we move into the new series.

MARRS Season Ends With a Win

2010-10-24T15:29:00.004-04:00

Great Falls, VA October 24, 2010
The MARRS season ended on a high note with a Kopp Motorsports win in the last feature race of the year, but sadly we came up short in the series Championship and had to settle for second – but not without a lot of drama.

Start of the Sunday's Race - First Turn - Kevin is dark silver in the middle

We started out on the wrong foot Thursday afternoon during a private test day at the track (Summit Point Raceway Park in West Virginia) when we blew up our 3rd new race engine (in the last three weeks). Our engine builder (Dave Freeman) sped back to his shop, assembled a spare engine and brought it back to the track at about 8:00 PM. Long past mid-night we had the new engine in the car. Very early Friday morning we had the car on his Dave’s dyno. Many dyno pulls later everything looked good and we were back at the track around noon for the official SCCA test day.

First two runs on the track were OK and then the new engine started making familiar (and ominous) noises. At this point Friday afternoon we believed there was a gremlin in the fuel and computer systems that had been causing all of our engine failures over the last month. Throughout the rest of day Friday we swapped out every part that had to do with fuel system or computer electronics.

Saturday we’re up 7:00 AM and prep the car for the first round of qualifying at 8:30 AM. We sacrifice our weight advantage and run 60 more pounds of fuel than normal in case our engine issue is really a fuel “pick-up” problem in the tank (we believed this could also be part of the problem – fuel starvation). Kevin set a blistering lap a few minutes into the 20 minute qualifying session. To save the engine we bring the car in and hope that lap will be good enough for a decent qualifying position. As it turns out, the lap is good enough to win the pole position.

Saturday afternoon is the 100 point, 10 lap heat race. On the first lap two cars pass Kevin in the exit of turn one (a fellow not in the championship hunt and one that is – Scott Brunk). For the next 7 laps Kevin and Scott swap the lead back-and-forth. Two laps to go and the electronics on our car start acting up. The car is misfiring badly and we fully expect the motor to let go. Kevin is passed by the other Championship competitor, Kenny Zalner. One lap to go, the engine hangs on, but Kevin is passed by six more cars and ends up finishing 9th. Scott and Kenny finish 1-2 and we lose another 60 points in the Championship. By our point calculations we’re now toast.

When we come into the pits after the race we’re told SCCA is impounding the cars that have a chance to win the championship (all three of us). Four hours go by before we can even lift the hood to see the state of the engine. At about 6:00 PM we are allowed to work on the cars in the tech area. We find out what we really have is an electrical issue with the alternator and voltage regulator which is sending out low and erratic power to the engine computer and all the sensors. The insufficient voltage is completely screwing up the engine computer. This is very likely the root cause of all our engine failures over the last month.

At 8:00 PM we are forced to stop work and the car and it is locked up in a garage with the other two. We get access Sunday at 8:00 AM and start again to trouble shoot the problem. We have two hours before the final race of the season - 300 points, 18 laps. Thanks to Dave Freeman we make a lot of good guesses, override a bunch of systems and head to the grid. Good crowd on hand to watch this battle (it's been years since the championship was decided on the last race and even more years since there were three drivers with a chance to win).

Kevin still has the pole, but our championship hopes are done. The Green Flag falls, the war begins. First turn Kevin gives up the lead to someone not in the Championship hunt and slots into second. Kevin is passed by Kenny and Scott on the second lap. On the third lap Scott suffers a brake failure into turn one and ends up in the gravel trap (his championship hopes are done).

For the next six laps Kenny and Kevin run 1-2, but battling each other allows three other cars to catch the leaders. On lap 9 Kevin takes the lead and Kenny is passed on lap 10 and moved back to 3rd. Hoping the engine holds together, Kevin now runs as hard as he can alone at the front in clear air and we win by three tenths of a second.

The cars are now back in impound and the tech guys are going to start taking them apart. As it turns out, we miss calculated the championship points. While in impound we are told that Kenny and Kevin are tied 2500 points apiece after a whole season (20 races). The race officials now have look up the tie breaker rules. The tie breaker is number of 1st place finishes – turns out they both have the same amount of wins and are still tied. Next tie breaker -- number of second place finishes – they both have 3. We are now down to number of 3rd place finishes and our string runs out. Kenny Zalner wins the 2010 MARRS Spec Miata Championship.

There is no shame in losing to a driver like Kenny Zalner and the team that has supported him all season, but to be so close and lose still stings.

While the MARRS season is over and the Championship decided, there is one race left for Kopp Motorsports – The ARRC (pronounced “The Ark”) at Road Atlanta – the annual end of season gathering of 100s of east coast racers at a historic track.

Numquam Cedere

Last Race of the MARRS 2010 Season

2010-10-08T09:18:00.014-04:00

This weekend marks the last race of the MARRS 2010 season. This race is an important one, as it will decide the SM championship. Going into this weekend there is a virutal tie between the top three: Brunk, Kopp, and Zalner. The difference between the amount of points these drives currently have and the amount of points left up for grabs is very small. Most likely, the championship will come down to this Sunday's race. This is the closest the SM championship has been in years. This season has also seen the fastest lap times for SM at Summit Point. The track record was reset last race at 1:26:179 by Tim Jacobs, and some SM drivers are hoping to break into the 25's. Jedd Fahnestock and Danyel Torres will be racing with Kopp Motorsports this weekend. The weather is looking good for this weekend, but we are always hoping for rain.

After all the engine trouble we had at the Labor Day Double, we had a lot to do in the few off weeks. Kopp Motorsports spent more time doing engine work than we did on the track during MARRS 9 & 10. We blew a motor in Friday practice and had to swap it out for a back-up that day. After Saturday's qualifying and race, our back-up motor went. Saturday afternoon was spent merging the working parts of both motors together.

We rebuilt our blown motor and got it back in the car this week. We were hoping to be able to break it in a little during a track day yesterday.

Unfortunately, the re-built motor blew yesterday. We scrambled to get a spare and put it in the car last night. Hopefully practice and the rest of the weekend go well, because it's hard to come across working motors.

Without a doubt, this weekend will be exciting. There have already been intense last minute rebuilds, and official practice just started this morning. Fall races always hold the possibility of setting track records, and this weekend is no different. Kopp Motorsports will also be watching the ITB championship and cheering on Tom Martin and Tristan Herbet of Brimtek Motorsports.

SM is race group 2. Qualifying will take place early Saturday morning with the sprint race around lunch time. Sunday's main race should take place around 9:30. Come out to Summit Point Motorsports Park in WV and support Kopp Motorsports in the final race of the season! Hope to see you there.

New Jersey Update

2010-08-24T16:27:00.004-04:00

August 24, 2010 Great Falls, VA
The gods of New Jersey racing are not kind to Kopp Motorsports. Our second trip this season to New Jersey Motorsports Park ended with as much frustration as the first outing in July where we lost a spark plug wire with two laps to go while running comfortably in the lead Sunday.

This past weekend Kevin qualified the Piper Motorsport #6 car on the pole Saturday morning (as we had done in July), then won the Saturday afternoon sprint race (as we had done in July), and started on the pole for the important feature race Sunday (as we had done in July). With two laps to go, in the lead, the car sputtered and ran out of fuel. Kevin managed to coax and coast the car to a 7th place finish, but as we had done in July we kicked away a win.

Start of Sunday's race.

In the space of six weeks we have lost two opportunities to wrap-up the 2010 MARRS Championship through our own errors in New Jersey. Given the level of the competition in MARRS – Kenny Zalner, Scott Brunk, and Tim Jacobs to name a few – errors like the ones we have made are inexcusable. We have taken this hard lesson to heart and have turned it from frustration to motivation.

Kenny Zalner has now stepped out to a 90 Championship point lead over Kevin with three races remaining. The Championship is still in sight and is in our hands – we simply need to win the next three.

We want express our thanks to our technical partners – Piper Motorsport, King Rat Motorsports, D&R Racing and WBR Graphics for all their support and to OG Racing for their generous sponsorship. Also, thanks to our close friends at Brimtek Motorsports with whom we share good and bad times (and a beer or two).

Numquam Cedere

MARRS Championship – Dead Even after 7 Races

2010-08-15T22:04:00.009-04:00

Great Falls, VA August 15, 2010
A full two thirds of the 2010 MARRS season is gone and who will be the Spec Miata Season Champion is still unknown. With four races remaining Kenny Zalner, Scott Brunk and Kevin Kopp are in a virtual dead heat for the top spot in the point standings. When the season points are calculated to include the three allowed “drops” a mere sixty points separates first place (Kopp) from third place (Zalner). Since the difference in points between first and third for a given race is 80 points, it’s easy to see that anyone who stumbles in any of the next four races and fails to finish on the podium is toast.

The seventh race of the MARRS season, a week ago at Summit Point, produced some incredibly fast, close and thrilling racing. The track surface had been recently resealed and helped cure a great many of the tire issues we and the other teams have been struggling with all season at Summit. Testing Friday revealed that the optimal car set-up was soft tires, and a low and stiff chassis – just about the opposite of what we had been running at Summit. Testing on Friday also revealed that with the proper car set-up the track was incredibly fast – faster than it had been all season. Given this is August with ambient air temps in the 90s, such a fast track is quite an anomaly.

Spec Miatas qualified at 10:30 AM Saturday morning. Air temp was 85 degrees, not as hot as it has been this summer, but still not very conducive to producing a lot of horsepower and setting fast lap times. Nevertheless, on the 5th qualifying lap Kevin broke his own Summit Point track record set last season with a 1:27.15. On the 6th lap he broke it again – 1:27.01 and then on the 7th and last lap he shattered the record with a 1:26.77 to take the pole.

The qualifying positions for the sprint race Saturday afternoon were Kopp, Jacobs, Zalner and Brunk. Team mate Jedd Fahnestock qualified a very respectable 6th. The start of the race favored the 1.8 liter cars of Tim Jacobs and Scott Brunk. Kevin and Tim came out of turn 1 side-by-side as they did turns 2 and 3. Heading down the Shute into turn 5 it became clear both Tim and Kevin wanted the same piece of track real estate in turn 5 at the same time. The cars came together hard. Kevin was pushed off the track and fell back to 6th while Tim managed to escape unscathed and sped away in first. Kevin’s car (#6) was a bit wounded, but still managed to gain back two positions to finish fourth, with the final order being Jacobs, Zalner, Brunk, Kopp.

Kevin again had the pole for Sunday’s feature race. The start this time was more to our liking and Kevin slotted into the lead in the first turn. We had tried to repair Saturday’s chassis damage overnight and the car was close to the correct alignment, but not perfect. Kevin held the lead for the first half of the race, but was then passed by Zalner and we just didn’t have enough car to re-pass. The final finishing order was Zalner, Kopp, Jacobs and Brunk.

We’ve been in the shop this week preparing for the next race this coming weekend back at New Jersey Motorsports Park, this time on the Thunder course. We took the entire rear chassis out of the car, replaced all the components on the driver’s side (the impact side from Saturday’s shunt), reassembled the car, spent endless hours realigning the chassis and will send the car off to the dyno Tuesday. Wednesday we pack, Thursday trek back up 95 to NJ and test Friday. All the craziness then starts again with MARRS 8 qualifying Saturday morning. Stay tuned.

We want express our thanks to our technical partners – Piper Motorsport, King Rat Motorsports and D&R Racing and WBR Graphics for all their support and to OG Racing for their generous sponsorship. Also, special thanks to team photographers Scott Cain and Phil Ackley who took some fabulous photos at this race.

Numquam Cedere

Racing Luck Runs Out in New Jersey

2010-07-15T10:09:00.002-04:00

Great Falls, VA July 15, 2010

Obviously car and driver are the two most important factors determining the outcome of races, but that intangible factor called racing luck should never be overlooked. Sunday afternoon in the MARRS 6 feature race at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) our string of good luck ran out. Kevin started the feature race from the pole in Piper Motorsports #6 and for the first three quarters of the race led every. But on lap 19 a spark plug wire was jostled lose and Kevin was forced to retire. Had the plug wire problem not arose there is no guarantee Kevin would have held off the second place car (Scott Brunk) for the remaining three laps to win, but Kevin was the fastest car all weekend and set the fastest lap in Sunday’s race before his forced retirement.

While we were (and still are) terribly disappointed with Sunday’s race, setting the race aside the weekend was generally very positive. The test day Friday was spent as usual on chassis set-up. We have raced the 1.8 mile Lightning course at NJMP only once before and in a different car, so lacking data we needed all five test sessions Friday to dial in the chassis. At the end of the day Kevin was the fastest Miata on the track.

Rain moved in late Friday night and by the time our qualifying session rolled around Saturday morning the track was wet and we were experiencing a light steady rain. Its generally acknowledged that the two best rain drivers in the current MARRS Spec Miata series are Kevin and Scott Brunk, but we expected some local New Jersey drivers (who know the track in wet conditions) to run right up front. After it was all said and done Kevin had won the pole over Scott by a mere 3 100ths of a second, but the third placed car was a full second and a half behind.

The nine lap Saturday sprint race for the Miatas was due to start around 3:00 in the afternoon. As the time drew near the rain stopped (actually, just paused) and the track began to dry leaving us with a very tough choice – should we run a wet chassis set-up and rain tires, or should we gamble the track will dry during the sprint race and set the car up for a dry track and mount slick tires. We waited in the pits mulling the decisions as long as we could. At the very last minute we made the decision to go dry. We quickly changed chassis settings, mounted the dry weather slick tires and raced to the starting grid. As we looked around the grid we quickly realized we and one other car were the only teams that made the decision to go dry, everyone else was “full wet.” We were going to look like race strategy geniuses or bums.

The race started with Kevin on the pole. Scott Brunk, on rain tires passed Kevin in the first turn. For next four laps Kevin had everything he could do to keep the car on the track. On the 5th lap the car lost all grip on the exit of turn 7 and Kevin slid off the track losing two more positions and a lot more time to Brunk who was now out front by himself.

But, the track was drying and on the next lap an important high speed bowl section of the track (called the “light bulb”) had dried enough that Kevin’s slick tires and stiff chassis began to work. On the following lap the equally important turn 1 dried and Kevin was now on a charge. With two laps to go Kevin set the fastest lap of the race, caught and passed Scott, and drove on to take the win.

We are now back in the shop and have three weeks off to completely rebuild the car before the second half of the MARRS season resumes at Summit Point August 7 & 8. One thing we will surely do is replace the spark plug wires!

We want express our thanks to our technical partners – Piper Motorsport, King Rat Motorsports, D&R Racing and WBR Graphics for all their support, and to OG Racing for their generous sponsorship. Also, thanks to Chris Windsor who supplied very accurate weather forecasts all weekend.

Numquam Cedere

Another Pole and Another Win

2010-06-30T17:32:00.009-04:00

Great Falls June 30, 2010

(photo - Sunday Feature race victory lap)

We rarely discard old racing parts – we just label them and store them for some unknown future purpose. The same is true of old race tires that still have a few heat cycles left, but have hardened to the point where they are no longer fast. Who would have thought that we and all the other MARRS teams would be revisiting their stacks of old tires looking for the hardest tires they can find to race. A new surface on the Summit Point Main Circuit makes new soft tires useless. They grain badly after three laps slowing lap times by perhaps 2-3 seconds. Thus, everyone who has access to old tires, with many heat cycles (making them hard) is racing them and leaving the brand new tires (which should be fast, but are not) in the shop.

(photo - start of Sunday's Feature race - cars heading in turn 1 hairpin)

Fortunately, we have some decent old tires and when combined with a well prepared car (Piper Motorsport #6) and a driver (Kevin Kopp) who has been flawless for the last several races led to a pole position and win this past weekend in the fifth race of the MARRS season at Summit Point.

All of Friday’s test day was spent developing the 46 car piloted by Danyel Torres. #46 had just received some new suspension pieces that permitted the chassis set-up used on the winning #6 car to be duplicated on #46. After a few track sessions it became clear the new components and chassis set-up were working far better than we had expected and Danyel was setting some very fast lap times.

(photo - exit of turn one, first lap)

Qualifying Saturday morning took place under dry, but very hot conditions. Each of the Kopp Motorsports cars (#6, #44, #46) ran the hardest tires on hand. Kevin set consistently fast lap times throughout the session and won the pole with a respectable 1:27.47 (the lap record is 1:27.2). Danyel set his fastest time on the last lap of the session and slotted into P11 while Jedd Fahnestock took the P14 slot.

We saved the qualifying tires to run during the important feature race Sunday and mounted some softer (and slower) tires for the 10 lap sprint race Saturday afternoon. Kevin starting from the pole, led the first half of the race hounded by a back of five other cars. On the seventh lap he was freight trained in turn 10 and dropped to 4th, but on the last lap he gained a position to finish on the podium in 3rd. Danyel moved up three lots to finish 8th and Jedd finished 16th.

It was again brutally hot for the feature race Sunday afternoon. No one in the Saturday sprint race beat Kevin’s qualifying time so he remained on the pole for the Feature. Danyel was pushed back to 9th, but Jedd moved up a slot to 13th.

(photo - Kevin and Scott Brunk, last lap of Sunday Feature race)

The qualifying tires were back on the #6 car and after a few laps it became a two car race – Kevin and Scott Brunk. Kevin led every lap of the race. Scott managed to pass once, but Kevin re-passed a few turns later. It was a sprint to the checker on the last lap, but Kevin held off Scott’s charge and won by a tenth of a second. Importantly, Danyel set the fastest lap of the race suggesting the car and driver are developing very quickly.

(photo - post race debrief)

Now it’s off to MARRS 6 and New Jersey Motorsports Park with season point totals almost dead even after the first five races – Scott has 1,300 and Kevin sits at 1,270, Kenny Zalner is in third at 1,160.

Numquam Cedere

Double – Triple at HYPERFEST

2010-06-22T09:51:00.006-04:00

Great Falls June 22. 2010
Kopp Motorsports extended its winning streak at Hyperfest this past weekend. Racing for the first time this season with competitors from NASA (National Auto Sport Association) Kevin placed the Piper Motorsports / OG Racing #6 on the pole for the race Saturday afternoon a full second faster than the second place car. In a race that suffered from a good deal of carnage, confusion and two full course cautions, Kevin completed the hat-trick by setting the fastest lap and winning the race.

Kevin was even quicker in qualifying Sunday morning and again won the pole position this time a second and a half over the second place car. Starting from the pole in the 23 lap feature race Sunday, Kevin completed his second triple of the weekend again setting the fastest lap of the race and winning the race a full lap ahead of the second place car. In addition, he led every lap.

However, there is little time to savor these victories. In three days we pack the trailer and head back to the war that is the SCCA MARRS series.

Numquam Cedere

Hyperfest This Coming Weekend

2010-06-15T09:38:00.006-04:00

Kopp Motorsports will be racing this weekend at HyperFest. HyperFest is an annual event sponsored by NASA and held at Summit Point Motorsports Park in Summit Point, WV. Come out and enjoy a day filled with car racing, kart racing, drifting, stunt bikes, roll over contests, driving schools, shot gun rides, car shows, girls of Hyperfest, live music, and fireworks. Kopp Motorsports will be pitted by the turn 10 tower (usual spot), so stop by! Hope to see you out there!

Commitment is Rewarded

2010-06-08T11:58:00.015-04:00

Great Falls June 8, 2010
To survive and thrive in motorsports you must be willing to endure incredible disappointment so you can truly enjoy the exhilaration of success. Without the experience of disappointment success is lackluster. For those of you who follow Kopp Motorsports you know we have had more than our fair share of disappointment and we’re running a good size deficit on the success side of the ledger.

This past weekend we returned to our home track at Summit Point for the 4th racing weekend of the MARRS series. We were trailing badly in the season point standings (in 6th place, over 400 points behind leader Kenny Zalner) due to the failure of the differential in Saturday’s race at VIR two weeks earlier. But, we brought to Summit a well prepared car and importantly, an always positive attitude and belief we can win any race we enter. This weekend motor racing paid us back for our commitment to the sport. Starting 6th on the grid in both the sprint race on Saturday and the feature race on Sunday Kevin quickly moved to front and won both races -- our first ever back-to-back SCCA victories.

Friday was a test day and we spent the five on track sessions working on chassis set up. We also developed a tire strategy since the track has been recently resurfaced causing an incredible amount of tire wear. By the time the test day ended both the # 6 and # 46 (driven by Danyel Torres) cars were dialed in and ready for the important Saturday morning qualifying session. We had convinced ourselves that the chassis set-up on both cars would permit us to run a soft compound tire even though the abrasion of the new surface argued for a hard tire.

Saturday morning our third car arrived -- # 44 driven by Jedd Fahnestock -- and we headed to the grid. By the second lap of qualifying we realized we had made a huge mistake on tires. The soft tires grained badly and all three cars were off the pace by as much as 1.5 seconds. In the 40 car field Kevin managed to claim the 6th slot, Dan 7th and Jedd 15th. Given how badly the tires performed, we counted ourselves lucky to qualify that well.

By the time the afternoon sprint race rolled around racing luck was shinning on us and it had begun to rain. While many teams dread the rain, we love it, and the fact that it was raining meant a simple tire choice – rain tires. It took Kevin one lap to move from 6th to the front and that’s how the race ended. Jedd had a great race finishing in 6th and Danyel in 8th placing all three cars in the top ten. The weekend was beginning to look a lot better.

Unfortunately, the track was bone dry for the feature race Sunday morning. We had to choose tires and this time we choose the hardest tires we had hoping they would survive the 20 laps on the abrasive circuit.

The green flag fell on the race and within three laps Kevin had moved into third behind opposing team mates Kenny Zalner and Scott Brunk. On lap 6 both Kevin and Scott passed Kenny and were now running 1-2 and beginning to put some distance on the rest of the field. Kevin took the lead on lap 10 and Scott took it back on lap 13. With three laps to go Kevin passed Scott for the last time and held on to win by 7/10s of a second. Danyel finished a strong 8th and Jedd 14th.

Success this weekend did a lot to raise our spirits, reinforce our confidence and commitment, and move us up in the points to second. We want express our thanks to our technical partners – Piper Motorsport, King Rat Motorsports and D&R Racing for all their support and to OG Racing for their generous sponsorship.

Kopp Motorsports will be taking a break from SCCA and the MARRS series to race at Hyperfest in ten days after which we return to MARRS.

Numquam Cedere

The Virtues of Body Work

2010-05-31T14:58:00.012-04:00

Great Falls, VA May 31, 2010
There’s no better way to spend a long Memorial Day weekend than repairing body work on a race car. Well actually there is, there’s lots of better ways to spend the Holiday, but it’s not healthy to dwell on the possibilities. Best to just dive in recognizing no one likes body work (at least no sane person).

There are four things to keep in mind went repairing body panels on a race car. First, if you’re reading this it is unlikely you will be repairing body panels on an F1 car, or any car for that matter with heavy sponsorship dollars at stake. There are no guys worrying that the car will not look its best on someone’s 70 inch HD TV. The only one you have to please is you. Second, this is a race car. Think about the comparison of a pit bull to a show dog. That fact that the pit bulls ears are a bit chewed up is irrelevant. Same holds true for race cars. They only need to look good from 20 feet. Third, there is a better than even chance some competitor will run into the same panel you have just prepared in the very next race. That fact will dampen your enthusiasm for using the 1200 grit wet sand paper on the primer coat. Finally, and perhaps most important, make sure the finished product does not look like you knew what you were doing. Remember, no sane person likes body work. If word spreads among your racing buddies that you can do competent body work, you will be hassled to death to “help” them with theirs.

We came home from VIR with a badly damaged right rear quarter panel. In hindsight we probably should have skinned the panel, that is, cut off the old panel and weld in a new one. We’ve done this procedure a few times and it’s a pain, but the finished product is quite nice. This time we figured we could pull out the dented portions of the panel, hammer the metal back to shape and then fill and touch up with body putty (Bondo).

Unfortunately, we did not take photos of the metal work on the panel. Essentially the process is one of tack welding a bolt onto the panel where it is dented in and screwing the threads of the bolt on to a slide hammer and pulling the dent out. You then cut the tack welds, move the bolt and repeat as many times as necessary (lots of times). This process took about six hours on Saturday and then was followed Sunday with repeated applications and sanding of body putty until we finally quit for some well deserved margaritas and to watch the pre-recorded Turkish GP (Vettel ?&%%$#).

Monday it was time to paint. First off we wet sanded the completed panel.

Then it was time to mask the areas that would get fresh paint.

Next we shot the primer coat, let it dry and then another quick wet sand.

Next comes the color coat.

And then the clear coat and the finished product.

Looks fine from 20 feet (that's not a race tire or wheel, rather we use old street wheels and tires when we're working on the car). Granted, not the best way to spend a long weekend, but it's good for the soul and builds character.

Podium Finish at VIR

2010-05-24T11:27:00.006-04:00

May 24, 2010 Great Falls, VA
Kopp Motorsports is back in the shop after the MARRS/SARRC annual Al Fairer Challenge race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). As Yogi Bera is credited as saying our race weekend at VIR was like “déjà vu all over again”. This is the 4th year we have competed in the Al Fairer Challenge and like all previous years the Saturday race was incredibly disappointing and disheartening, while the Sunday race served to raise our spirits.

Friday was a test day and with the exception of an early morning incident that left us with some minor body damage, the test day went very well. We used the five on track sessions to work on chassis set-up, make tire choice decisions, improve our estimates of fuel consumption on this long (3.8 miles) and high speed track, and try alternate race lines through the most important corners. By Friday evening we had collected a huge amount of data and had the car set-up for Saturday morning qualifying. While the weather forecast contained a reasonable probability of rain, the track remained dry all weekend.

Forty five cars lined up for the 15 minute Saturday morning qualifying round. On the long VIR course 15 minutes means about 4 hot laps so there is little time to come up to speed and pass slower cars in search of clear track. We were very pleased with our qualifying performance. Kevin slotted into P2 (outside, front row) on his last hot lap.

The green flag fell on the feature race Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM. Kevin and the pole sitter (Alex Gaines) lead the pack into the first turn – a clean start oddly enough – and Kevin tucked in on Gaines’ bumper. Three corners latter, still on the first lap, came the radio transmission from Kevin that the differential had given up. Kevin parked the wounded car in the runoff area and for the next 30 minutes was forced to watch a race we could have won.

Back in the paddock we quickly discovered the differential suffered a catastrophic failure and we spent the next many hours removing the damaged differential, scrounging a replacement and bolting it in. By the time Sunday qualifying rolled around the car was ready to go. Unfortunately, the replacement part was not as well race prepared as the damaged part and added extra drag to the driveline, but nevertheless Kevin managed to qualify 4th (outside second row) and we counted ourselves lucky to be in the race at all.

Sunday’s feature race turned into a classic Spec Miata battle. Kevin and four other cars broke away from the 40+ car field early in the race. Neil ORourke (from the DC Region) and Kevin ran 1-2 for the first 2/3 of the race.

Kevin took the lead briefly on lap #9 (three laps to go) only to be “freight-trained” on the front straight by two drafting cars pushing him to the outside of turn two where he dropped a wheel in the dirt, was shuffled back to 4th and lost contact with the three leaders with two laps to go. Realizing the race was about to end Kevin closed on the leaders with a blistering lap a full two seconds faster than the lead pack and managed to pull up on their bumpers. That lap seriously overheated the tires and there was not enough grip left to make a pass. We settled for 4th place overall and 3rd place among the MARRS competitors. Kevin did manage to set the fastest lap of the race.

Back in the shop we’re building a new differential (to our specifications), repairing the bodywork and preparing for the next race June 5-6 at Summit Point.

Numquam Cedere

MAARS Heads South to VIR

2010-05-05T10:46:00.004-04:00

May 6, 2010 Great Falls VA
The second and third races of the 2010 DC Region MARRS series will be held this Mother’s Day weekend at the historic Virginia International Raceway just outside of Danville, VA. The DC Region racers are hosted by the North Carolina region in the combined MARRS/SARRC (South Atlantic Road Racing series) annual Al Fairer Challenge.

This annual event has been known to be a bit rough and tumble (at least in the Spec Miata class). Last year we were taken out in the first turn of the first lap in Saturday’s race, but managed to repair the car and finish on the podium in Sunday’s race. You can view the start and first lap of Sunday’s race last year in the video below. The camera is in a mid-pack car (a very unsafe place to be). Kevin is well up front out of the “kill” zone. Aside from the bumping, banging and general carnage that all too often characterizes a Spec Miata start; you will get an idea of the beauty of VIR, its length (3.8 miles) and the elevation change.

Click here to view the video

We plan to post to the blog all weekend, so check back often for updates and follow us on Twitter.

Great Drivers are born in the DC Region of SCCA

2010-04-29T11:16:00.008-04:00

Great Falls,VA April 29, 2010
There is no doubt that some of the best drivers in the pro ranks got their early race training in the DC Region of SCCA. This past weekend brought a great deal of success to several of our friends and ex teammates who are now running in the pro leagues.

Top of the list is Dean Copeland, our Spec Miata teammate for many years who made the jump to MX-5 Cup. Dean finished 2nd (by 2 100ths of a second!) this weekend at VIR in the first race of the MX-5 Cup season.

What is really impressive is the fact that Dean does not race for one of the multi-car, high dollar teams with the half million dollar rigs and 10 man crews. No way. He and his dad drag their stuff to the track in the same trailer they used when Dean was 12 and raced karts with Kevin. Way to go guys! It’s great to see that talent, dedication and tons of hard work still trump money (at least once in a while).

VIR was the place to be this past weekend with multiple pro races on the schedule. Next up was the opening double round of the VW Jetta TDI Cup.

Drivers compete in identical Jetta TDIs prepared by VW Racing. If there’s ever a series that depended almost entirely on driver skill (and of course some racing luck) this is it. The first race Saturday was won by ex DC Region Spec Miata pilot Ryan Ellis, while the 3rd position was taken by 2008 DC Region ITA champion AJ Nealey. AJ got his start in karts with the local Woodbridge Kart Club, the same club that spawned Dean Copeland and Kevin Kopp. Sunday, Ryan repeated and won the second race with AJ this time finishing 4th out of the field of 26. Great performance guys!

We’ll continue to follow and report on these drivers throughout the season and we wish them the best of luck and good fortune.

MARRS 1 Update

2010-04-27T13:07:00.014-04:00

Great Falls, VA April 27, 2010
The first race of the MARRS season is in the bank and the results for Kopp Motorsports are respectable. Kevin, driving the Piper Motorsport #6, finished 4th in the 32 car field Sunday. Danyel (Kopp Motorsports #46) finished in the top 10 with a hard earned 8th and Jedd claimed the 12th spot in his first race (in a long time) in a brand new car, Piper Motorsport #44. Importantly, all three cars survived the mayhem that is Spec Miata and came home untouched (well, there were a few bumps and bruises).

Rain threatened all weekend, but the only wet on-track session was the Saturday morning qualifying round. In fact, the track was damp, not wet and everyone went out on dry tires. Those who have been following Kopp Motorsports for some time know the results of a wet session are fairly predictable. Kevin won the provisional pole with a 1:28.9; a full 1.5 seconds faster than the second place car. Car control dominated horsepower in the damp conditions allowing Jedd to slot into 7th and Danyel into 8th.

The second qualifying session was a 10 lap race held in the afternoon. The best time from the morning session and afternoon race sets the grid positions for Sunday’s race. The track was bone dry for the 10-lap qualifier and horsepower tended to dominate over driver car control. Nevertheless, Kevin finished 2nd and Danyel 5th. Jedd had an ignition problem right at the start and lost a lap while it was remedied.

The weather forecast for the race Sunday morning suggested a 50% chance the track would be wet, and it was damp, but after the first race finished and by the time the Miatas were on the grid the track had dried out. After 5 laps of the 18 lap race it became readily apparent that Kevin had a serious horsepower disadvantage with respect to the front runners. Each lap the two yellow Performance Auto Works cars (driven by Ken Zalner and Scott Brunk) slowly inched away from Kevin, and while the #6 was hooked-up and handling very well, the horsepower difference could not be overcome.

Danyel and Jedd both drove very consistent and error free races in new cars that have not had any real development time. We fully expect both drivers to move to the front as the season progresses and we develop the cars.

For now the cars are back in the shop and preparation for the important SARRC/MARRS Challenge at VIR over Mother’s Day is underway. Stay tuned. Follow the Kopp Motorsports VIR action on Twitter and Facebook as well as this blog – we will be posting from the track as the race weekend progresses.

Checkout www.twitter.com/koppmotorsports for pics and live weekend updates

2010-04-23T15:07:00.002-04:00

We're Ready!

2010-04-21T21:59:00.004-04:00

See you at MARRS 1. Pray for rain.

Come by, say hi at MARRS

2010-04-15T09:21:00.006-04:00

Great Falls, VA April 15, 2010
If you’re an avid fan of motorsports or if you have never been to a race in your life, you’re just as likely to enjoy a day at Summit Point Motorsports Park April 23-24 when the SCCA MARRS racing series returns to the Point for the 2010 season. MARRS attracts the best drivers and hundreds of race cars including very high horsepower American and European sports cars, purpose built open and closed wheel racing machines, as well as cars you will easily recognize (like Miatas). In all there will be nine groups of race cars participating in the weekend events.

Kopp Motorsports will arrive at Summit Point Thursday evening April 22. Friday is a test day for all MARRS participants. Official racing begins Saturday morning with qualifying. We participate in the Spec Miata (SM) class (the largest and certainly most competitive SCCA class). SM will race in group 2 meaning that qualifying Saturday will take place about 9:00 AM. After all the race groups have qualified each group will compete in a 20 minute, 10 lap sprint race – the first race should start just before, or immediately after the lunch break (noon to 1:00 PM). These races are wars and they are great fun watch. Given their short length, drivers must race all-out from the first turn and this makes for a lot of excitement.

The feature races (20 laps of the 2.0 mile Summit Point main circuit) are run on Sunday. Again, given SM is designated as group 2 this weekend, the SM race will be green flagged about 9:30 AM. Even if this is too early for you to get your butt to West Virginia, we’d love to see you and you can experience a full day of racing at Summit Point on either Saturday or Sunday, even if you arrive only in time for lunch :).

If you trek out to the Point drop by Kopp Motorsports. We pit in first row facing the track and will have three Spec Miatas in our pit -- #6, driven by Kevin Kopp #46, piloted by Brazilian Ace Danyel Torres and #44, driven by returning star Jedd Fahnestock. If you can’t find us just ask the first person you see in the pits near a Miata. Everyone knows who we are. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the track.

Summit Point is 1.5 hours from downtown DC just this side of Winchester, VA. (click here for directions). The motorsport complex contains three tracks (these are European style road courses, not ovals) and a great karting facility where you can test your own skills on a full scale kart racing circuit in FAST karts. A small admission price at the gate gives you access to all of Summit Point including the pit area.

See you at the races.

MARRS 1 is Fast Approaching

2010-04-12T12:44:00.011-04:00

Great Falls, VA April 12, 2010
Less than two weeks to go before the Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Season (MARRS) kicks off at Summit Point Motorsports Park and we are making good progress on the rebuild of #6.

The fresh engine and transmission were rejoined with the chassis on Saturday.

Sunday the car was taken to Piper Motorsport for the installation of a new Racetech Halo seat that required some custom fabrication, while back at the shop we mixed some paint and touched up a few bits and pieces.

2010 Season Begins in Four Weeks

2010-03-28T15:28:00.013-04:00

Great Falls, VA March 28, 2010
The first race of the 2010 season for Kopp Motorsports is still four weeks off (April 24-25 at Summit Point Motorsports Park), but the pace of activity here in the shop is picking up. Last year’s #6 car was completely disassembled after the season and is now in the process of reassembly.

Over the winter engines, transmissions and differentials were rebuilt and a good many suspension pieces replaced (it’s amazing the stress that’s placed on the suspension components – especially with a driver that likes to use the curbs).

Competition is likely to again be very strong in the Spec Miata class. In addition to the returning Zalner brothers (who finished first and second in the 2009 MARRS point standings), Mike Collins has built a new car with heavy corporate sponsorship (as indicated by the over the top wrap on the car pictured below) and everyone expects Mike to be fast.

The first race of the season is always exciting. The temperatures will be cool, meaning the engines will be producing maximum horsepower, the Summit track surface may have been repaved (we’ll see) and faster than last year. There will many new drivers. Some new to the sport, others experienced drivers moving into the region or returning after some time off. Look out for returning driver Jedd Fahnestock driving for Piper Motorsport. Of course, the front runners from last year are looking to pick up right where they left off.

The race weekend format is unchanged from last year. Qualifying will take place Saturday morning followed by a 10 lap sprint race Saturday afternoon. The feature race (20 laps) will take place on Sunday. Spec Miata will be the second group on track for this first race meaning qualifying will be very early Saturday morning and the feature race early Sunday morning.

Cool morning temperatures make lots of horsepower, but also a very cold and slippery track. A 50 car field, a handful of green drivers, rusty reaction times among all drivers due to the long off season, and a lot of adrenalin should make for an interesting start to Sunday’s race.

Asked for his views regarding the upsoming season, "It's about time" responded team principal and director of computational fluid dynamics Mr. Enzo. "Our new diffuser has been finished for months, I'm so bored I'm going to burst."

2010 Schedule

2010-02-04T13:15:00.002-05:00

2010 Schedule

Kopp Motorsports will be racing the MARRS series this season in the SM class. Most of the races will be at our home track: Summit Point Motorsports Park in WV. Come out and show your support. Practice is held on Fridays, Qualifying sessions and a mini-races are held on Saturdays, and the main races are held on Sundays.

April 24-25 Summit Point

May 8-9 VIR

June 5-6 Summit Point

June 19-20 Hyperfest

June 26-27 Summit Point

July 10-11 NJMP (Lightning)

August 7-8 Summit Point

August 21-22 NJMP (Thunder)

Sept 4-5-6 Summit Point (double)

Oct 9-10 Summit Point

How to Build a Race Car

2009-11-30T07:49:00.000-05:00

Great Falls,VA November 30, 2009

While many readers of this blog have a very good understanding of the Spec Miata (SM) class we race, there are many who might enjoy the blog more if they knew more about the cars. So here is a quick introduction to the Spec Miata.

The class was established by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) perhaps 9 years ago and was intended to offer low cost, highly competitive racing. Certainly in the mid-Atlantic region of the country where we reside and likely elsewhere as well, Spec Miata has become the dominant SCCA class. In our DC Region Spec Miatas account for about a third of all cars raced at SCCA events. Perhaps you have seen a Mazda advisement that claims “on any weekend more Mazdas are road raced that any other brand.” True statement. What Mazda does not say is that vast majority of those Mazdas are Miatas.

You can turn any model year Miata from 1990 to 2005 into a Spec Miata race car. All these very different vintages compete against each other at the same time. Clearly the newer cars are more technically sophisticated and have more horsepower
, so to keep all the vintages on the same even playing field rules require the newer cars to carry more weight and run a restrictor plate (similar to stock cars racing in NASCAR) that limits the amount of air that can enter the fuel injection system, thereby limiting torque and horsepower. All things considered, the vintages are fairly even and old cars run right up front with the new cars. One of our current cars is a 1990 and it holds the track record at Summit Point.

While Spec Miatas look like their street brethren, they are not. A Spec Miata has a protective steel cage welded into the chassis of the car (see photo below). Not only does this give protection to the driver, but importantly, it greatly stiffens the chassis and that added stiffness improves the handling. Next, the stock suspension of the car is replaced with racing shock absorbers, coil springs and sway bars.

Next comes the wheels and tires. The stock wheels on a street Miata are 14 inch diameter by 6 inches wide and the stock tire is a 185/60-14. SM wheels are 15 by 7 inches and the tires are 205/50R15 racing tires (far sticker than a street tire). Rubber brake lines are placed with braided stainless steel and the brake pads are replaced with proper racing pads.

As far as the drive line is concerned, everything other than the clutch (racing clutches are allowed) is to remain stock. However, unless you want to be relegated to the middle or back of the field you don’t simply bolt in a stock engine and race. Engines of all the front runners have been meticulously rebuilt to get out every hidden horsepower. This rebuilding called “blueprinting” is intended to ensure every tolerance is perfect and that rules specifying what can and cannot be done to the engine have be pushed to legal limit. Transmissions must be stock, but again, it helps to rebuild them ensuring there is no parasitic drag and they shift as smooth as possible. Cars not equipped with limited slip differentials are allowed to fit these pieces.

Compression ratios must not be altered from stock and this means SM engines are very happy running on regular pump fuel. Ignition timing has been advanced (on vintages where this is legal) far beyond stock specs so most competitors run at least 93 octane pump fuel. Since the SCCA rules on fuel are lax to say the least (hopefully they will be tightened for 2010), some competitors are known to have run custom blended fuels with a rather steep price - $40/gal.

So that’s a Spec Miata. Making it go fast is a story for another time.

Off-season Activity

2009-11-27T15:48:00.000-05:00

Great Falls, VA November 27, 2009

You know it’s the off season when you have time to work on your street car.

While the turkey was cooking yesterday we rolled our 1995 daily driver Miata into the shop for a long overdue head gasket replacement, oil change and general all around tune up (last week the same car was treated to a four–wheel alignment!). Two hours later we finished (with the exception of torquing the head) and had time to watch “50 Years of Formula 1” and “the Speed Odyssey” (a wonderful history of the CAN-AM series 1967-73) before we sat down to a great Thanksgiving dinner.

A good deal of the dinner conversation concerned plans for next season. We ended the 2009 season finishing third in the SCCA DC Region Spec Miata class behind Kenny and Brian Zalner. Third is not where we wanted to finish, but our performance improved toward the end of the season with wins and a new Spec Miata track record at Summit Point, so we are reasonably satisfied.

The question now is what goals will we set for ourselves for next season? Amateur racing with SCCA is fun, no doubt about that. But, is amateur racing the future of Kopp Motorsports? We certainly hope not. At some point we want to make the jump to pro racing, but that takes resources far beyond our capacity to self finance. We need a partner who can provide financial resources while we provide the experience, knowledge and sweat equity to launch a pro team. We have put together a thoughtful proposal and business plan for the team, and have focused our attention on the SCCA Pro Mazda MX-5 Cup in 2010.

We’re currently undertaking some quiet marketing of the proposal. Watch this space for developments.

GoRacing TV - Official ARRC Footage

2009-11-20T14:48:00.000-05:00

GoRacing TV has posted video footage of the SM Regional Chapmionship at the ARRC.

http://videos.goracingtv.com/featured_landing.php?reset=true

Follow the link and under the "play list" tab on the right, click on "2009 ARRC Group1 Race ASM SSM Part 1".

The grid starting postions are shown starting at 2:20 and the race footage starts at 2:54.

There is some really great track footage as well as in car videos from select drivers.

Turn up the volume and enjoy!

ARRC Video Added

2009-11-12T15:42:00.000-05:00

Great Falls, VA November 12, 2009

If a picture is worth 1000 words how about a video? The photo below was taken from turn one at Road Atlanta at the start of the Spec Miata Championship race (brave photographer).

The video clip below is start and first lap shot from Kevin’s in-board camera. Turn up the volume.

We Survived the ARRC

2009-11-11T13:57:00.000-05:00

Great Falls, VA November 11, 2009

Like the old pilot’s adage – “any landing you walk away from is a good landing” – any ARRC (American Road Race of Champions) you run that leaves car and driver whole is a good ARRC. Not only did we bring both car and driver back home without a scratch, we managed very respectable top five finishes in both the Pro-IT race and the ARRC championship race.

If anyone doubts the level of competition at the ARRC have a look at the photo below taken at the start of the Championship race Saturday morning. That is a 50 car field about 5 wide and ten deep heading into turn one. The white arrow points to Kevin who passed 5 cars after the green and before turn one to slot into 4th at the start.

We knew going in our 1990 car we would be down on horsepower compared to newer vintages of Spec Miatas, but we also knew our car’s race set-up was just about perfect and that Kevin can drive with the best the east coast has to offer. Practice on Thursday proved what we expected regarding chassis set-up. The car was dialed-in and performed beautifully. The only change we made was to soften the rear just a hair to make the car more compliant allowing Kevin to use more curb.

Qualifying for the ARRC took place at 8:30 Friday morning. The only way to qualify well in a Spec Miata is to have a drafting partner, or better yet a drafting group of about four cars. On a track like Road Atlanta there can be a second and a half between a lap in a good draft and one with no draft at all. While we made arrangements for a drafting partner during qualifying, we were only able to keep the draft for one lap before it was broken and for the rest of the qualify session we were on our own. After it was all said and done we qualified 9th with a 1:44.29. The pole was a 1:43.54.

Qualifying for the Pro-IT race took place just after lunch Friday and caught us off guard. We had assumed the morning ARRC qualifying would set the Pro-IT grid and did not expect nor were prepared to qualify again for the Pro-IT. It is only when we heard the track announcer calling out times of drivers we race with did we realize that Pro-IT qualifying was underway. Fortunately, the car was ready to go, but we managed to post only one lap in the qualifying round – good enough for 14th on the grid. Had we missed qualifying altogether we would have started 50th on the grid.

The green flag fell on the Pro-IT race late Friday afternoon. This race mixes several classes of cars (many of them faster than the Miatas), but Kevin quickly moved from 14th to 10th in the first two laps. At that point several cars tangled with each other bringing out a full course caution and the pace car as the workers cleaned up the carnage. Three laps later the race resumed with a single file restart. We lost a position on the restart and fell back to 11th.

An incident on lap 14 again brought out the pace car and we ran under caution for 4 laps. With two laps remaining Kevin gained two positions to finish 9th overall, and a respectable 5th in the Miata class.

The green flag fell on the rolling start of the Spec Miata Championship race under crystal clear blue skies early Saturday morning. Kevin had a great start moving up through the center of the lead pack down the pit straight and then moving to the inside just before the entrance to turn 1 and slotting into 4th as the lead pack raced up the hill. In the next lap Kevin again took the inside line on turn 1 and moved into 3rd. Unfortunately, that was as far as we would get in the race and eventually had to settle for 5th.

Due to the high level competition and the great track that is Road Atlanta, the ARRC is always one of the best race weekends of the year. However, the ARRC is also a fabulous end-of-season social event. More on the social nature of the ARRC soon.

Last Race of the Season - The ARRC

2009-10-26T20:55:00.000-04:00

Great Falls, VA October 12 2009

The last race of the 2010 season will take place at Road Atlanta, a 2.5-mile, 12-turn world class road course situated on 750 park-like acres in the rolling hills of Northeast Georgia. The race is the American Road Race of Champions (ARRC), known simply as the ARRC (pronounced “The Ark”).

The ARRC will draw the best SCCA racers from regions up and down the east coast to compete in three days of racing in multiple classes and formats ranging from 6 lap sprint races to 3 hour endurance races.

Road Atlanta (RA) is one of the best racing circuits on the east coast. It has very high speed turns and an incredible elevation change making it a true driver’s track -- which suits us well. On the downside, RA has a very long back straight where Miatas with horsepower can use their legs. Those cars tend to be the later model 1999s.

Our car, a 1990, will have to make up time lost on the straights on the twisty parts of the track -- like the hair raising down hill esses in the photo at left.

If we can manage to draft the faster cars down the back straight there is the chance to pass them under heavy braking into turn 1 -- a deceptively simple, very high speed right hander exiting to a long up hill pull. As the photo below from the 2007 ARRC reveals, turn 1 can be problematic. Kevin is in the silver car (white arrow head pointing to the car), attempting to make an outside pass to avoid the inside carnage. Kevin did miss the big wreck on the inside, but ran very wide and lost 5 positions.

Our plan is to load the trailer Tuesday night November 3 and drive to RA Wednesday. Thursday is a test day where we will work on chassis and set-up. Friday morning is qualifying, then a 6 lap sprint race, followed late in the afternoon with the 20 lap Pro-IT race. Saturday is the ARRC race. Our cllass will compete first Saturday morning with the green flag dropping about 8:30 AM. The air will be cool and the track will be fast.

Sunday is reserved for a 3-hour endurance race. At present we do not plan to participate in the race with our car, but if other teams are searching for extra drivers we would like take part.

Weather at RA in November can be quite variable. Under the best conditions it is cold in the morning, but then warms up very nicely in the afternoon. On occasion it rains. The hills of Northeast Georgia are not where you want to be in a cold November rain – unless of course, you are Kopp Motorsports. Rain is the great equalizer; it devalues horsepower and advances the driver. So if you wake up early Saturday morning, check the Weather Channel and see that it’s raining in Atlanta – rejoice.

Kopp Sets New Track Record at Summit Point!

2009-10-12T13:03:00.000-04:00

Great Falls, VA October 12 2009

The # 6 Piper Motorsport car has been running great the last few races and we were hoping to end the MARRS season this past weekend on a high note with podium finishes Saturday and Sunday. However, we had never contemplated breaking the SCCA Spec Miata track record at Summit Point.

Again this race weekend we ran two cars -- the Piper Motorsport #6 and the FunKtion Auto #7. This would be only the second race for the #7 piloted by Danyel Torres and a good deal of development work is still needed, but nevertheless, the car is coming along and Dan is a great car development driver.

Practice went well on Friday. The #6 was on rails and we were happy to let it sit in the pits most the day allowing us to concentrate on set-up on #7.

It rained Friday night washing some of the rubber off the track, but by the time the Spec Miatas went out for their qualifying runs Saturday morning the pervious race groups had rubbered-in the track. An uneventful qualifying round followed with the usual suspects running well. Tim Jacobs grabbed the pole (his first!) followed by Kenny Zalner and Kevin. All three lap times within a 1/10th of a second.

Demonstrating the importance of car development, Danyel qualified the #7 car 8th -- a 7 grid spot improvement from three weeks ago at Summit where he qualified 15th.

Weather conditions for a record run were good during the Saturday afternoon 10-lap sprint race – cool temperatures giving rise to dense air and horsepower. The track surface was also very cool so we started the race with high tire pressures in both cars, bringing the tire temperatures up to their optimal range as fast as possible. No need to worry about overheating the tires in such a short race.

Danyel, starting in 8th on the outside row and dirty side of the track, could only watch as the green fell and the inside row, getting a much faster start, freight trained past into turn one, causing him to loose several positions, but gaining a few back during the race to finish 12th.

Kevin, starting 3rd, slotted into second on the first lap, but was shuffled back to 4th on lap 7. On lap 8, running in 4th, Kevin laid down a killer lap, almost a second faster than the leader of the race, and set a new track record of 1:27.238. That fast lap was good enough to move Kevin up to 3rd and on the bumper of the 2nd place car with a lap to go. Kevin and the second place car (Brian Price) came out of the last turn (T-10) on to the front straight with the checker in sight. Both cars were loose at the exit of 10, but Kevin managed to drop to the inside and won the drag race to the checker by 3/1000s of a second to take second place.

The race winner was Tim Jacobs who ran a perfect race and led every lap. This was also one of the best races of the year if you were a spectator. As the photos below show (all shot by Phil Ackley) you could not race much closer or much harder. All four drivers in the lead pack (Tim, Kevin, Kenny Zalner and Brian Price) raced as hard and as clean as possible and watching this 4-car train exit the high speed T-10 was mind blowing.

Believe it or not, there are four Miatas in the photo below

This was Tim’s first SCCA race win and demonstrates the parity in this spec class. It is also a testament to Tim’s commitment to developing his driving skills and car for over two years. I can tell you, he and his family were very happy campers Saturday night.

Kevin’s lap record put him on the pole for Sunday’s 20 lap feature race while Dan would start in 9th, but now on the inside row. Temperatures had warmed up into the 60s and it was a bright sunny day by the time the Miatas took to the track Sunday afternoon. Kevin led the first half of the race, but could not separate himself from Kenny Zalner and Brian Price. Tim Jacobs had a tire blow out in the 5th lap and was forced to retire. Danyel ran wide in T-10, had to run half way down the main straight in the grass (at 100+ MPH) and entered back on the racing surface several 100 yards later. He lost a lot of positions, but undeterred, raced hard gaining all the spots back an finishing in the top 10.

Meanwhile, Zalner, Kopp and Price were beginning to lap the field. Kenny Z managed to catch a few lappers just right and put some space between himself and Kopp and Price. With 5 laps to go, seemingly acres of slower cars ahead of them, and tires starting to give up, Kenny’s three car-length lead would be good enough for the win. Like Saturday, Kevin and Price again came out of T-10 for the checker side-by-side, but this time Price took second and we had to settle for the 3rd step of the podium.

Not the best end to the season, but very respectable. Given the 100s of different Spec Miatas that have raced at Summit Point since the class began 5 years ago and the 1000s of laps those cars have laid down, it is rewarding to know that at least until next spring we have built and piloted the fastest Miata on the block.

Mr. Enzo is Happy

Finally, three podiums 2 WINS

2009-09-08T21:04:00.000-04:00

Great Falls, VA September 8, 2009

In any motorsport where the competition is strong and deep it takes continuing commitment, focus and hard work to get to the front of the pack – and this is as it should be. Winning without commitment and sacrifice is certainly not what we consider success. So, after almost two and half years of commitment and untold hours of labor we can say with some degree of confidence that we fought our way to the front of the pack.

This past Labor Day weekend we raced the MARRS Double at Summit Point – our home track and the home of the largest grids of Spec Miatas in the east. The weekend consists of a qualifying round and 13 lap sprint race on Saturday, a similar qualifying round and 13 lap sprint race on Sunday, and then a 20 lap feature on Monday. In addition to racing in the biggest weekend of the MARRS season, we also traditionally celebrate Kevin’s birthday (turned 21 today) and provide “meat-on-a-stick” for friends, supporters and anyone else who drops by our pits Saturday night.

Friday was a practice day. The new #6 car (debuted in New Jersey two weeks ago) continued to run strong and after three rounds of practice we parked the car and concentrated on the second car, white #7, raced by teammate, Brazilian karting champion, and close friend Danyel Torres. This car was literally assembled from parts in about three weeks and completed just in time to bring to the track Thursday evening before Friday practice. We had no chance to do any engine dyno tuning on the box stock motor and used the Friday practice to work on suspension tuning. Thanks to a fairly careful, albeit rapid build, we had no mechanical issues with the car all weekend, but it was seriously low on horsepower.

10:00 AM Saturday morning we took the track for a 15 minute qualifying session to set the grid for the afternoon 13 lap sprint race. Kevin qualified the silver #6 car 3rd in a field of 32, while Danyel managed a very respectable 13th in the untested, undeveloped and low power #7 car. The green dropped on the sprint race about 2:30 PM Saturday. Kevin made two great passes to move by Brian Zalner (currently running second in the MARRS series points) and Devin Cates (Pro TDI Challenge Cup racer) to take the lead early in the race, only to give up the lead to Zalner on the last lap when Kevin tangled with a car he was lapping. Not the perfect finish, but a second place podium finish nevertheless. Danyel ran a great clean race in the new car and finished 14th.

Saturday evening – with both cars in good shape and not in need of any real attention – we celebrated Kevin’s 21st birthday with what has now become a Kopp Motorsports tradition, upstate New York style “speidies” or what is affectionately known around the pits as meat-on-stick. Basically, well marinated beef (that’s the way we make them) barbequed on bamboo skewers (on charcoal – no gas).

Sunday morning we retuned to the track for a second round of qualifying that would set the grid for the sprint race Sunday afternoon and the 20 lap feature race Monday afternoon. We made a few last minute chassis changes to the #6 care before the round and they paid off. Kevin took the pole with a 1:27.66, 2/10th faster than Devin Cates who qualified second (#23 car in the photo below). Danyel, struggling with an ill-handling car on old tires qualified P15.

Kevin got a poor start when a quick green flag was thrown in the Sunday afternoon sprint race and was running 3rd coming out of the first turn. Cates lead the first lap, followed by Kevin in second. Kevin took the lead in turn one on the second lap and led every remaining lap to take the sprint race victory. Danyel gained a position and finished 14th. This was our first SCCA win at Summit Point – but it was a 13 lap sprint race and not the more prestigious 20 lap feature race.

After perfect blue skies all weekend the weather Monday morning looked ominous. Rain was in the forecast for later in the day, but the Spec Miata feature race was due to begin just before noon. By race time we were fairly certain it would not rain during the race and we set the car up for dry conditions.

Kevin began the race on the pole, but unlike the start the day before timed the green flag well and led the pack of 30 cars into the first turn. Cates and Zalner had a chance to pass at the exit of turn 1, but a combination of great driving and a car that seemed to be on rails all weekend, was good enough to keep the pair of hot shoes in the rear view mirror. As it turned out, that was the one and only chance Cates and Zalner had to pass. Kevin set fastest lap and led every lap on his way to our first SCCA feature race win.

Thanks to everyone who tuned out to help this weekend, especially Santee and Doug who left their shops and race teams in Miami and Pennsylvania to help out the Kopp family and of course Danyel who has supported us over these past several seasons.

Mr. Enzo is pleased.

A Real Frog Swallower at NJMP

2009-09-02T10:35:00.000-04:00

Kopp Motorsports returned to NJMP to race at Thunder with a new car, after July’s bad luck at Lightening . They dark silver 1.6 was totaled during practice at Lightening and was unsalvageable. We acquired a tub and did an entire build in the two weeks between MARRS 7 and 8.

The result of this extreme effort was the reincarnation of our 1.6 in this new dark silver car.

Practice on Friday looked promising, as the car set some of the fastest lap times in the SM group. Saturday morning’s qualifying was a little damp after the down pour from that morning. Kevin qualified P2 behind Brian Price, whom had made the decision to run on rain tires. The afternoon’s qualifying race started in Kevin’s favorite conditions, wet.
There was a slight drizzle at the start of the race that turned into a full downpour about half way through the race. Kevin managed to attain P1 and gapped the field with the help of some rain. Kevin won the sprint race and was starting on pole for Sunday’s race. Thanks to the torrential downpour at NJMP Saturday afternoon, portions of the track flooded and the remainder of the day’s races were cancelled until Sunday.
Sunday’s race was a tight competition between the first three cars, Kopp, B. Zalner, and Price. It seemed every lap had a different leader, with someone else attempting to pass and take the lead over. All three drivers lead the race at one point or another. Unfortunately, half through the exciting race, Kevin had severe break issues and lost his place in the top three.

The past two weeks have been spent preparing the 1.6 for this weekend’s Labor Day Double and Summit Point. A last minute decision has also been made to run the Blue 1.8 in the SSM class at this weekend’s race. Kopp Motorsports is expecting a busy weekend running two cars in two classes, and although the forecasts look pleasant, we are always hoping for some rain.

It Only Takes Time & Money

2009-08-03T11:19:00.000-04:00

Great Falls, VA - August 3, 2009

There is an old adage in Motorsport – every hour on the track requires 50 hours in the garage – so true.

Four days to go before the next race (MARRS 7, Summit Point) and we are crashing on three projects. Top of the list is preparation of the back-up car for this weekend’s race. If you read last week’s post you already know the prime car (1.6 liter - the silver car pictured atop the blog) was damaged beyond repair at New Jersey Motorsports Park and we were forced to race the back-up (1.8 liter) car pictured above. The 1.8 has not benefited from the 2 years of development work that went into the 1.6 and was not competitive at New Jersey. However, the 1.8 has been carefully prepared for this weekend’s race and now enjoys a few engineering improvements over its New Jersey trim – we’re hopeful.

The second project is a new 1.6 liter car built for team member Danyel Torres. The build activity began before the team traveled to New Jersey and the 90% completed car was transferred this past weekend to FunKtion Auto for final assembly. The plan is to have the car ready for testing at Summit in four days.

The third project is a new car to serve as the replacement for the damaged 1.6. The chassis of the original car was badly bent, but all the drive line and suspension components survived unharmed. We decided it was best not to attempt to straighten the chassis, but rather, locate a usable street Miata, strip it down to the bear chassis, and build it back up into a race car using all the parts from the damaged car. A donor was located last week, stripped over the weekend, and is now at Piper Motorsport where Kevin is fabricating the cage. Planned completition date for the new car is August 20, just in time to load it in the trailer and head back to New Jersey for MARRS 8.

Luck Runs Out In New Jersey

2009-07-24T10:33:00.000-04:00

July 24, 2009 Great Falls, VA

Careful preparation and continued development of the #6 car resulted in a pair of wins in early June at HyperFest and a second place MARRS finish in late June. Based on this performance we had very high hopes for the race this past weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). Unfortunately, racing luck trumps preparation and development.

Kevin trailered the car and gear to NJMP last Thursday night. Friday was a designated test day at the track and our intention was to use the full day to dial-in the chassis set-up and for Kevin to learn this brand new track. On lap five of the very first test round Friday morning a car spun in front of Kevin in a high speed section of the track. Kevin zigged when he likely should have zagged to avoid the spinning car and it caught the left front of our car hard (very hard). While at first glance the damage did not look bad, it was. The frame rails just forward of the firewall were buckled and this essentially means the car is a total loss.

Winding back to Friday morning just after the incident and recognizing the severity of the damage, Kevin loaded the wounded car in the trailer, and headed back to Great Falls to pick up the back-up car. While this was taking place Ray was flying home from a business trip to Italy and caught up with Kevin, Kristin and Dan (good friend and part-time co-driver) in Great Falls around 6:00 PM Friday night. The back-up car was loaded and the four headed back to NJMP arriving VERY LATE Friday night.

The alarm clock sounds at 6:00 AM Saturday morning and the team is up and preparing the car for qualifying at 8:00 AM. The car is a pig on the track – massive oversteer – but Kevin manages to qualify 9th in a field of about 40 cars. We make a ton of chassis changes before the 10 lap sprint race Saturday afternoon, but can only manage to hold on to the 9th spot at the finish of the race.

Back in the pits after the race we try to diagnose the issues with the car. Kevin’s view from the cockpit is clear -- there is something radically wrong with the car that is not going to be fixed with small suspension tweaks. We spend Saturday night looking for failed parts, checking alignment, ride height and corner weights on the car. Everything checks out, no obvious causes of the poor handling are found. Late Saturday we convince ourselves the problems must be related to the shocks. We speculate that one or both of the rears are going bad, although we don’t know the cause of their failure. Unfortunately, we have no spare shocks with us and are forced to simply switch the rear shocks from one side to the other hoping the left side shock (the one doing most of the work) is bad and the right side is OK.

The feature race begins first thing Sunday morning, the car is a bit better, but Kevin still cannot accelerate hard out of high speed turns without the car over steering. He manages to move from ninth to finish seventh, which is an OK finish, but not what we had hoped for or expected a week earlier.

Now we are faced with the reality that the car we have been developing for the past two years will likely not race again and the back-up car is uncompetitive, at least in its current trim. We have some tough decisions ahead – stay tuned.

Trans Install and New Car Build

2009-07-06T20:42:00.000-04:00

July 6, 2009 Great Falls, VA

It was a very busy Holiday weekend in the shop. First order of business was to remove the loaner transmission from the race car. That process involves removing the rear sub-frame brace, power plant frame, exhaust, drive shaft, starter, clutch slave cylinder, and the 10 or so hard to get at bolts that secure the transmission to the bell housing; all while lying on the floor under the car.

So far so good, now you must disengage the transmission drive from the clutch, pull the whole 100 pound transmission back and hope it doesn’t crush any important human parts when it comes loose and pins you to the floor. Reinstall new transmission in reverse order – total time, about 2 hours (don’t try this at home!).

Next on the Holiday agenda, build a new race car. We need another race car like we need a hole in the head, so why you ask would we build another – answer, it’s free (more or less). Here’s the story. A fellow we know, Tom, owns Sterling Hot Rods just behind Dulles Airport. Tom is a true car guy and raced Miatas (among other things) for a good long while. Six years ago he found a very clean and straight (i.e., not crashed) 1990 Miata and planned to make it into a race car. He had gutted the car of all the interior pieces and had a nice roll cage installed by the best in the business, Mitch Piper. Tom secured an engine, transmission, all the proper suspension components, but never built the car. Year after year it sat in his shop, collecting dust.

Enter aspiring race car driver, Brazilian karting champion, manager of FunkTion Auto, Kevin’s housemate, and owner of NO race cars, Dan. Tom, being a great guy tells Dan, “you build the car and you can race it this season.” According to Tom. “I have all the parts, you just need to bolt it together.” Kevin’s guesses at assembly time (four of us working on the project) – four hours. In hindsight, a tad optimistic.

Car arrives at Kopp Motorsports Skunk Works Friday night. There is a recognizable car in our trailer and several boxes of very random parts and hardware. We take a fast inventory. List in hand we agree to meet Tom at his shop at 8:00 AM Saturday morning and collect the missing pieces. First of all, 8:00 AM Saturday morning is not what the younger members of team consider a civilize hour if you are not racing; and second, Tom was overly optimistic when he said he has all the parts. More parts were brought back to the shop, but not everything.

Undeterred, we set forth. Dan and Coop worked pulling the dash, painting the interior of the gutted car and the role cage. Kevin built engine and dad (Ray) worked on the brakes and suspension (we could add lots of expletives with respect to the brake components). When we ran out of parts at about 6:30 PM we stopped. Thankfully, team mom, and all around unbelievably understanding and supportive team principal (Linda) had arranged for barbequed burgers and beer. Now refreshed, we planned for tomorrow.

Sunday Kristin (Kopp Motorsport VP for Marketing and importantly team morale – not to mention all trackside festivity planning) joined the build. We added the fly wheel, clutch, down pipe and transmission to engine and dropped the lump into the car. A good deal of time was spent cussing the power plant frame (some gremlins had not read their shop manuals when disassembling said unit), installing a lot of under car stuff (exhaust, starter, slave cylinder, drive shaft, etc.) by Kevin and connecting all the electronics (Dan and Ray).

Again, when we ran out of stuff to do, we stopped, had grilled chicken and a few beers and talked about racing. We’re still missing a few crucial pieces, but overall things went well. Hopefully we will have it on the track at Summit Point and Dan at the wheel for the first race in August.

2nd Place at MARRS 5

2009-06-30T20:29:00.000-04:00

Not a win, but second place in the highly competitive MARRS series is reason to celebrate. However, all was not sweetness and light all weekend. Given the constraints imposed by “day jobs” on all the team members, we are not able to practice during the Friday open track days. This means we have to guess at set-up and tires and just go qualify Saturday morning, which we did and managed to qualify 4th. – not bad.

We decided to switch tires after qualifying for the afternoon sprint race and mounted some relatively new, but “flat spotted” tires from the MARRS 1 encounter with the turn 7 wall. The flat spot on two of the tires caused almost unmanageable vibrations in the car and sent Kevin off for a bouncing ride in turn 10 during the race. That harsh treatment of the car loosened a rear suspensions component (which made the handling that much worse) and on the second to last lap the transmission froze in 4th gear – game over as David Hobbs would say.

The rest of afternoon was spent trying to beg, borrow or steal a transmission. Fortunately, a competitor and all-around great guy Bret De Pedro loaned us a trans. We yanked the broken unit out Saturday night (but still had time for a few beers) and installed the borrowed unit early Sunday morning.

Unlike a few of the previous MARRS races, the start of the 20 lap feature race Sunday afternoon was clean. The lead pack – K. Zalner, B. Zalner, Cates. Kopp. Collins, Jacobs and Price rather quickly separated themselves from the rest of the field. At the half way point it was K. Zalner, Collins, Cates and Kopp in a tight pack. With 2 laps to go it was K. Zalner, Collins and Kopp. Kevin passed Mike Collins out-breaking him in the turn 1 hair pin, but finished 3 seconds behind Zalner. However, Kevin did set the fastest lap of the race.

All in all, an OK weekend. A lot of wrench turning and more to come, we still need to replace the borrowed transmission. Next race – MARRS 6 – will be a new track, New Jersey Motorsports Park. We are looking forward to the new venue.

Rain Racing

2009-06-24T20:59:00.001-04:00

The new photo above was taken this past weekend at HyperFest during the rain soaked qualifying session Saturday morning. Unlike a lot of racers, we love the rain. In the wet horsepower does not matter, it's all about chassis set-up and driver.

HyperFest Fun

2009-06-23T08:14:00.001-04:00

Normally we race in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series (MARRS), but this past weekend we switched sanctioning bodies to race at HyperFest hosted by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA). HyperFest is held each June at Summit Point where all three Summit Point tracks are utilized and where spectators enjoy sports car racing, drifting, rally racing, music, car shows and a huge party.

After our win Saturday we celebrated by filling the bed of a team vehicle (Ford F-350 pick-up) with water, loading in team members and friends, and leaving the racing paddock to join the party and watch the drifting championships.

Click Here to see a slide show of team photos taken at HyperFest.

This weekend we rejoin MARRS for the 5th race of the season. Currently we are 6th in the season point standings and looking to move up. Stay tuned.

Two Wins at HyperFest

2009-06-22T13:39:00.001-04:00

Kopp Motorsports scored its first win of the season Saturday at HyperFest (a Gear Head extravaganza held each year in June at Summit Point, West Virginia). Kevin Kopp and ex-team mate, now pro MX-5 Cup racer Dean Copeland captured the front row in a pouring rain, early morning qualifying session. However, the rain soon stopped and when the green flag dropped for afternoon race the pair quickly gapped the rest of the field on the dry track. Within a few laps they caught the tail end of the field and for the rest of the race were passing lapped cars in large bunches. Kevin and Dean swapped positions throughout the race. With two laps to go Dean ran wide in the turn 1 hairpin and Kevin took the lead and held on for the win.

Qualifying Sunday morning for the race later in the day produced the same result – Dean and Kevin 1-2 on the grid. Sunday’s race was a replay of Saturday, but on a faster track due to all the rubber that had been laid down by nonstop racing all weekend. Dean edged Kevin for win at the flag, but was disqualified after a dispute regarding metal to metal contact with another car. As a result Kevin was awarded the win.

In addition to great racing, HyperFest is a huge party! Watch for a post soon describing the Kopp Motorsports rolling hot-tub (made from a Ford F-350 diesel pickup).

MARRS 4 Update

2009-06-01T11:12:00.000-04:00

Racing luck broke our way this weekend and we avoided a 1st lap, 1st turn incident. The first video is from a car quite far back in the field http://www.vimeo.com/4937448, while the second video is in-car footage from Bret de Pedro who took the brunt of the hit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np9rpQQV5U4). Kenny and Brian Zalner are the two yellow cars on the inside row in Bret's video. Kevin is the dark silver car making the scary outside pass as they enter turn one.

Fortunately, Kevin started 4th, got a great jump on the green flag and slotted into second before the accident -- literally 6 feet behind. The accident stopped the race while track workers cleared the carnage (fortunately, no injuries other than some sore bodies). The race was shortened 5 laps and resumed about 10 minutes later with a single file restart in the original grid order. For the remainder of the race it was Kenny Zalner in the lead with brother Brian Zalner and Kevin swapping second and third positions all race. In the end Brian took second and Kevin finished 3rd. After the race Kevin was penalized 2 positions for passing under a yellow pushing us back to 5th.

In contrast, the 10 lap sprint race Saturday was sedate. Kenny won that race as well with Kevin again battling brother Brian, but in Saturday’s race Kevin took second and Brian 3rd.

Two weeks off and no major repairs needed to the car! Next race is Hyperfest http://www.hyper-fest.com/events/hyperShow.html June 20-21 at Summit Point - a huge gear-head festival with some racing thrown in.

VIR Podium Photo

2009-05-20T17:29:00.000-04:00

Our first podium finish of the season at VIR made the long tow home almost bearable. The winner (middle) is Todd Lamb, a professional driver. The second place finisher (left) is Kenny Zalner, current Mid-Atlantic Spec Miata Champion. They began the race from the 1-2 positions and finished that way. Kevin fought his way from eighth to take the last spot on the podium.

More Body Work

2009-05-18T12:51:00.000-04:00

VIR was not very kind to the brand new paint and body work (required after some serious fender banging at Summit Point four weeks ago). A race incident on the first lap in Saturday’s race at VIR bent both front fenders, punched a hole in the nose, scraped up a door and crushed in the driver’s side quarter panel. Saturday was spent remvoing the damaged parts and checking for any hidden damage. Believe me, removing a rear quarter panel that is welded on is no fun, but Kevin is becoming quite expert at that task.

Late Saturday and early Sunday we repaired the fenders, front nose and rear bumper (a lot of banging, fiberglass and Bondo) and painted them with primer.

Sunday afternoon was spent fitting the new quarter panel.

We have 10 days to repaint all the parts, reassemble the car (replace a cracked windshield), conduct the normal pre-race preparation on the car’s mechanicals, figure out how to make the car 2/10ths of a second per laps faster at Summit, pack the trailer and be ready to practice at 8:00 AM May 29.

Mother's Day Update from VIR

2009-05-11T14:27:00.000-04:00

We arrived home from VIR Sunday night. Like most race weekends, this one was a collection of highs and lows. On the low side, we have a lot more body work to do – both front fenders and nose, and the left rear quarter panel. We had a reasonably good qualifying position for Saturday’s race starting 5th in a field of 40. The green flag waved and Kevin slotted into the 4th position at the entrance to the first turn. About mid-turn Kevin was hammered in the rear. Our in-car video doesn’t show much other than the impact of a car hitting the left rear and spinning Kevin around where he was hit by other on-coming cars. We could have raced on with the body damage, but the second round impact bent both steering rack tie rods and made the car undrivable.

Several hours later, scrounging for parts and beating on body work, the car was back together. It didn’t look great, but it ran. A few hours of sleep and we were ready for Sunday morning qualifying. Unfortunately, we had a horrible qualifying round – could not get a clear lap without a slower car killing our time. Kevin ended up qualifying 8th on the grid. To make a long story short, Todd Lamb started from the pole, gapped the field and won the race, but Kevin drove really well and moved up to 3rd for our first podium finish this season. Lamb had the quickest lap at 2:20.129, but Kevin had the second quickest at 2:20.521. Kenny Zalner who finished second was third quickest at 2:20.865.

Preparing for VIR

2009-05-06T12:10:00.000-04:00

The next race of the season, SCCA SARRC/MARRS Challenge, is this weekend at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) – practice Friday, qualify and race Saturday, qualify and race again Sunday. We are still busting knuckles to repair the #6 car from its encounter with a wall at Summit Point two weeks ago. Fortunately, there was only body damage and nothing structural. However, we are developing a full appreciation for why body shops charge such exorbitant prices – this work is no fun at all.

MARRS 1 Update

2009-05-03T13:22:00.000-04:00

The first Spec Miata race of the MARRS season took place April 18-19 under clear, cool skies at Summit Point enabling quick lap times all weekend. We had just finished paint and body work on the #6 car a few days before the race (new dark silver paint).

At the last minute we decided to run the #46 car as well piloted by Danyel Torres.

MARRS has a new race format for 2009 – qualifying Saturday morning, followed by a 10 lap sprint race Saturday afternoon and concluding with a 20 lap race Sunday. The start of the 10 lap sprint race with 40-50 car SM fields is exciting to say the least!

Both Kevin and Dan had trouble getting clean laps in Saturday morning qualifying (42 car field). Kevin posted a 1:28.7 for P9 and Dan a 1:30.1 to take P19. Compare these to the pole sitter’s time of 1:26.8 and you see we were in trouble.

Saturday’s race started well. Kevin gained 4 positions in the first 4 laps and was running P5 at the mid-point of the race. Dan had moved up three slots to P16. On the white flag lap Kevin passed three cars – two in T3 and one in T5 and was now running P3 with the second place car in sight. Unfortunately, Kevin and Kenny Zalner tangled in the entrance to T10 and both spun off losing many positions. Kevin finished P15 and Dan P16.

Kevin and Dan started Sunday’s 20 lap race in P10 and P21 respectively. Dan managed to advance through the 44 car field to P12 with 6 laps to go, but was forced off in T3 and finished P36 with body damage to the driver’s side. Kevin caught the lead pack and ran in P6 with a lap to go when a lapped car forced him off in T7 where he hit the tire wall, ending the race in P31.

The Commendatore (Mr. Enzo) was not at all happy with the team's performance.

Schedule

2009-04-10T13:58:00.000-04:00

Kopp Motorsports will be racing the MARRS series this season in the SM class. Most of the races will be at our home track: Summit Point Motorsports Park in WV. Come out and show your support. Practice is held on Fridays, Qualifying sessions and a mini-races are held on Saturdays, and the main races are held on Sundays.

April 18-19: Summit Point Motorsports Park

May 9-10: Virginia International Raceway

May 16-17: National @ Summit Point Motorsports Park

May 30-31-1: Summit Point Motorsports Park

June 20: Hyperfest at Summit Point Motorsports Park

June 27-28: Summit Point Motorsports Park

July 18-19: New Jersey Motorsports Park – Lightning

August 8-9: Summit Point Motorsports Park

August 22-23: New Jersey Motorsports Park - Thunderbolt

Sept. 5-7: Summit Point Motorsports Park

October 10: Summit Point Motorsports Park

Driver Bio - Kevin Kopp

2009-04-10T09:33:00.000-04:00

Kevin began Karting at age 9 racing pavement ovals in 4-cycle Briggs powered karts at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia.

A few years latter he was road racing Yamaha powered 2-cycle karts at Summit Point Motorsports Park. By age 13 Kevin was racing karts up and down the east coast in the World Karting Association (WKA) Dunlop Tire National Road Racing Series and at 14 won the WKA National Road Racing Championship in Junior Sprint Lite. That same season he won both the Woodbridge Kart Club and Dart Kart Club Junior Sprint Lite and Heavy season championships and was selected Woodbridge Kart Club Junior Driver of the Year.

Kevin skipped his last year as a WKA junior driver in 2004 to race as a senior where he won his second WKA National Championship this time as a senior driver. In 2005 Kevin continued WKA Road Racing in three different classes, while simultaneously competing in the WKA Manufacturers Cup sprint racing series and the highly competitive Stars of Karting sprint series. When the WKA 2005 season ended at Road Atlanta in November Kevin had captured two more national championships.

Turning 17 in September 2005 Kevin took his first SCCA drivers School in October at Summit Point and began to build a Spec Miata over the winter. However, his Karting career was not quite over. A WKA World Karting Championships at Daytona during Kart Week had eluded him for four years. That drought came to a fitting end December 2005 at the World Karting Championships on the Rolex 24 Hour course where he won three times, in three days, in three different classes, setting fastest lap in each race.

Kevin’s first race in car with seatbelts was in 2006 at MARRS 1 in a Spec Miata he built and where he managed a respectable 6th place finish in the field of 42. His first Spec Miata win came in July at the SCCA Freedom Double Regional at Mid-Ohio. Kevin was the SCCA DC Region Rookie of the Year in 2006.

Kevin left for School in Orlando, Florida in early winter 2007 and missed most of the racing season. During 2008 he commuted back and forth between Orlando and DC to run selected MARRS races in both SM and SSM.

Date of Birth: 9/8/1988
Height: 182 cm
Weight: 68 kg
Favorite tracks: VIR, Mid-Ohio
Favorite drivers: Aryton Senna, Ari Vatanen
Current Race Car: Mazda Spec Miata

Daily Driver: Ford F350 Power Stroke Diesel