So quite a bit has happened since my last post, but I will try to keep it short and interesting.  Since my last update I had another 4th place in my MX5 race at Barber and then the series headed to my two home tracks: Autobahn Country Club and Road America. 

 

Long story short, at Autobahn I had what I thought to be a rather poor qualifying session and would start the race in 7th.  I should have been in the top 3 in qualifying as I was pretty quick in the earlier sessions but I made a few small mistakes on my quick qualifying lap.I made arespectable start and by the end of the first lap I was in 5th, challenging for 4th place.  However, I was soon required to run defensive lines for much of the race as I battled a hard-charging Ara Malkassian.  Ara was eventually able to get by me on one of the last laps and I was unable to fight back on the last lap and had to settle for 6th place.  I was pretty disappointed in my poor showing, but I couldn't dwell on that for very long because I had to start preparing for my 2nd race of the day!

 

No it was not a double-header weekend like New Jersey, I was fortunate enough to be pulling double-duty with an Aston Martin DBRS9 in Speed World Challenge GT!  This came about very last minute.  Originally, my dad was supposed to run this car, but he had some other commitments pop up at the last minute.  In place of withdrawing the entry and taking into account that we had nearly 100 customers of our dealership (Lake Forest Sportscars) and people from Aston Martin coming out to watch the race, he decided to let me take over for the weekend!  This was a dream opportunity for any driver, but there was one small problem: I had never even sat in the car before!!  It was a huge opportunity so I would stay late at the track and make sure I was comfortable with the cockpit of the car and how to operate all the switches etc.  To add even more pressure, we were having some software problems with the car and it caused us to miss most of the testing and practice sessions throughout the weekend.  On top of this, the car has virtually no aids to assist me: no Traction Control, no ABS, no Launch Control, and a street car gearbox (meaning I would have to heel and toe downshift); meanwhile, the frontrunners in the GT class have fancy sequential gearboxes and all sorts of electronic aids!  Simply put, it was just me and a 550hp V12; talk about a different experience than my 150hp Mazda MX5!

 

 The night before qualifying we made some MASSIVE setup changes so I can't say that the car was 100% happy during the session and we only manage d to qualify P17 out of the 22 car field.  However, it was a bit of a moot point as we were going to elect to start from the pit lane anyways.  We figured this was a safer alternative given that we had never done a standing start with the car and my bank account would be depleted if I were to scratch a wheel let alone get rear ended by a Corvette going 50mph faster on the start!  The pit lane start meant that I, unfortunately, did not get a warm up lap.  We had again changed the setup of the car overnight from qualifying, so this meant that I was starting the race on cold tires, with a completely new setup, in a car that I had maybe 20 minutes of seat time in!  To add further pressure, I did NOT have the option of spinning or crashing as we were running the car on a pretty tight budget and there were lots of LFSC guests at the track.  On the start of the race, I was held by the officials in pit lane as I had to wait for the rest of the 21 or so cars to go by before they could release me.  There were a couple of cars that had bad starts so I had to wait quite a while before I could get going.  I did not want to stall the car so I laid down some nice rubber and left a trail of smoke as I left pit lane and began my game of catch-up.  It turned out that we had a very good showing for our debut of the car as we moved up to finish in 9th place; and to get a top-ten finish out of a weekend like that was unbelievable.  To be honest, I didn't really do anything spectacular, I just stayed out of trouble and passed a few cars when the opportunities presented themselves.  Another nice boost to the weekend was that we secured the SCCA Pro Sunoco Hard Charger award for advancing the most amount of positions throughout the race!  So I was the hard charger and secured a top-10 in my World Challenge debut; cool!!  The car is magnificent to drive and sounds as good as it looks, I was just trying to do it justice.

 

To add onto an already fantastic day I was approached by my friends Greg Morris and Mike "Scoop" Heavey, who happen to also be fighter pilots and did the flyover of the race after the National Anthem was sung.  So just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, Mike offered for me to "ride" back with them!  So after an OK finish in my Mazda race and driving a V12 Aston Marting DBRS9 I was going to go up in a fighter jet!  It was one of the best experiences of my life.  It is absolutely unbelievable to experience that level of g-force (we were pulling close to 7gs), and especially to experience it three dimensionally.  As a racecar driver, I probably experience more lateral g-force than the average person, but when you roll an L39 warplane and have 7gs push you straight down into your seat, I'd be lying if I said I didn't come close to blacking out about 12 times!  I even got the chance to fly the plane for about 15 minutes, performing mock dog fighting maneuvers chasing Greg in the L29 and even getting to do some barrel rolls; what a rush!!!  A big thanks to Greg and Scoop for showing me an amazing time, and if anyone out there knows of a company or individual who would like to buy into a package of flight hours for one of the most thrilling rides of their life just let me know and I will hook you up with the pilots!

 

Well I'm getting a bit sick of writing at this point and probably only a small percentage of people are still reading by this point so I will sum up my Road America weekend VERY briefly.  We were going to campaign the Aston Martin again but we faced similar electrical issues so we figured it was best to pull the entry and truly fix the problem before racing it again.  I did, however, manage to run a few laps at Road America in it and it was a beautiful experience.  I qualified 5th for MX5 and was running as high as 3rd before one of my teammates had a braking problem and we made contact entering turn 5, where I got stuck in the gravel for a bit and barely managed to battle back to 10th place.  My teammate Jeff is still the best teammate in the world and I know it was truly not his fault as the ABS acts up sometimes in the MX5s; in fact, I almost took out my teammate Mark in the same turn a few laps earlier!

 

Now I am off to Miller Motorsports Park in Utah next weekend and we only have 2 races at VIR after that so time to get some points!  Well I should probably get back to work now, but as always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to shoot me an email or write me a message through my website.  Thanks to everyone who reads this and hopefully I will have some interesting news about the 2010 season in the near future!

 

Thanks,

Nick

So not only did our Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series make the move from the Western US to the East, but so did I.  The teams had to cover quite a bit of ground from our last race in Monterey, CA to our next race in Millville, NJ and I moved from sunny Santa Barbara back home to Chicago.  I am now an official college graduate and have moved back to good ol' Illinois.  However, back to what anyone really cares about: the racing!

So I arrived in New Jersey with a different attitude, one of conservative aggression as I thought this to be a potential turning point in my season.  A good result in both of the races held here could really bolster my overall championship standings and a poor one could potentially break my season.  Well I had both!

Race 1:  In race one I made a mistake on my fast lap in qualifying that cost me about 8/10 of a second (which is huge in these MX5 Cup cars) so I had to start from 12th.  However, I am usually pretty good on the starts so I was not too worried.  On the formation lap, my "buddy" from the Mazda Raceway incident managed to spin on the formation lap so he had to go start from the back of the field.  So I made what was possibly the most conservative start I have ever made (afterall I needed points!) and only gained a few positions and was nicely tucked in behind the car in front of me preparing to follow him through Turn 1 and race later and then BAM!  The same driver who ruined my race at Mazda Raceway managed to come flying up through the field and used me as a brake.  The hit was hard enough to pick my rear wheels up off the ground, but I thought that I might be able to continue.  However, as I soon noticed after a few corners the car was simply undriveable.  There was not very much mechanical damage, but the rear bumper was so crushed in that the rear tires had very little room to travel and the spring rates would essentially go to infinity every time I would turn into a corner.  Watch the video footage of the first lap and keep an eye on my car and you will see what it is like to drive an ill-handling car.  Unfortunately this meant that I had to come into the pits and bust out the least elegant tools in the pit-crews arsenal: the hammer and crow bar.  Team MER did a great job and managed to pound out the fenders and pry the wheel wells out and got me out on the lead lap.  However, in a racing series where a missed shift usually costs you a few positions a minute long pit stop does not do you any favors.  I went out and the car was OK, but not great so I just put my head down and ran as fast as the car would go.  I think I ran 8-10 laps within a few hundreths of a second of eachother and that was all I could do.  Unfortunately for me there was not as much attrition as I had hoped for and I ended up finishing 19th...



Race 2:
The earlier race in NJ effectively ended me having any hope for a good overall position in the year-end championship standings, so for the rest of the season I really have very little to lose.  This time I hit the setup right for qualifying and made no mistakes on my good lap.  I may have been a touch overly cautious, but I qualified 4th so it could have been worse!  It was a tight field though, I think the 5-7 place cars were only a few hundreths of a second of my qualifying time.  I made a decent start and worked my way into 3rd place for the first part of the race.  The two leaders had managed to pull a gap and check out so me and the 4th place driver Justin Piscitel worked together for the majority of the race to try and catch up.  I missed a shift going into the back section of the track and lost my momentum allowing Justin to pass me on the front straight.  We traded positions for the last podium spot a few times, but spent the majority of the race drafting eachother in an effort to catch the leaders.  I have to give credit to Justin for a great clean race and I just didn't have enough to get around him for 3rd without him making a mistake.  I really wanted that podium but a 4th place result is alright.

Now my goal for the rest of the year is at least to get a podium and to try and win one of these darn races.  And luckily for me there are two races coming up at my "home" tracks so it should be interesting....

PS I finally updated my website so have a look around.


Thanks,
Nick

Hey All,

I have definitely been a bit MIA and will unfortunately continue to be for another week or so as I am trying to finish up my college career and move back across the country so I apologize for my website being left on the back burner.  Soon I will update everything to reflect what has been happening so far in the 2009 season.  A quick synopsis for those who are interested on the inside scoop: I signed with the great Team M.E.R. to run this year's Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series.  Team M.E.R. is a fantastic group and have won the championship for the past three years in a row.  I have also partnered with a fantastic company for this season (and hopefully beyond!) named Tire Lyna so be sure to check out www.TireLyna.com.  Unfortunately, I have not had the best start to this year but there is still plenty of time to turn things around. 

In Atlanta for the opening weekend we were chasing the setup on my car all weekend and I seemed to be going in a different direction than most of my teammates.  It is tough because I am still not sure exactly what these great little cars are "supposed" to feel like so at times it can be tricky to nail the setup.  I feel pretty good about Road Atlanta as a track, but the best I could manage was to qualify 6th.  However, in post qualifying tech we discovered that there was a problem with my car.  Long story short, there was a piece in the suspension that some people ran in the 2007 season but was outlawed for 2008 and the car I am racing did not run any pro races last year so it was inadvertently left in.  Not only did it cause all of my qualifying times to be disallowed, but it was also probably the reason for the poor handling of my car!!  Anyways, it was an oversight on our part and surely will not happen again.  So now I had to start from the back of the field, but I was confident in my ability to make my way through the pack.  I did just that at the start, but it cost me dearly.  I made what has to be one of the better starts in an MX5 Cup race as I estimated that I passed 13 cars before Turn 3 on the opening lap!  However, not more than 5 seconds into the race I got crunched between two cars as I made my way through them; I don't think either driver even knew I was there!  Now hindsight is 20/20 and every racing driver also thinks they are the next Ayrton Senna, but turning into turn 5 on the opening lap the car did not feel right; perhaps something had bent/cracked when I got crunched or perhaps I just messed up, but in either case I ended up in the wall.  After entering the esses I was nicely tucked between two of my teammates and entered Turn 5 normally and suddenly understeered off the track driver's right where there is a large bump and some gravel waiting for you.  I clipped the bump and had a massive "tank slapper" going down the following straight and saved it about 10 times but lost it 11 and hit the wall.  it was a pretty good whack and my day was over on the spot; not exactly the best way to start off a new season!  However, luckily the new MX5 rules for this year allow you to drop one race in the points so all was not lost.  I felt really bad as I knew I had the speed to run up front and the M.E.R. crew had put a really great car underneath me, but I had to look forward to the next race at that point.

Laguna...excuse me, Mazda Raceway was our next stop.  I'm trying to write a quick synopsis right now as I don't have many good pictures yet and nobody wants to read a long block of monotonous font so I will keep it short.  Mazda Raceway Lagua Seca is an unbelievable track and to finally drive somewhere with such historical significance is truly an honor.  There are a few tracks in our country that are simply so much larger than life: Indy, Daytona, and Mazda Raceway to name a few; so I savored every moment of my time there.  Anyways, I will try to skip this poetic/nostalgiac verbage and cut to some of the facts to save us both a bit of time.  I felt good from my first session on track.  In qualifying I made a "slight" error that then caused the setup to be "slightly" off.  So with the steering wheel cocked about 45 degrees sideways for most of the session I was happy to squeak into the top 5, but knew there was much more potential in the car and myself.  M.E.R. worked really hard to give me a great car for the race and it was just that.  I slotted into the top 3 early and held that spot for quite a while.  Again the toe had gotten knocked loose somehow in the front left corner (this time not my fault!) and it was making the car difficult to drive, but you don't have much choice but to drive-what-you-got in a 45 minute sprint race.  I got caught out by a very strange restart in the middle of the race and lost several positions.  I was starting to work my way back up through the field and then on the last lap I was hit from behind going into the infamous Corkscrew.  It was one of those situations where I think he was wrong and he thinks I was wrong, but I was not very happy as I got spun around and watched several cars fly by my from the bottom of the hill.  Luckily I got going again, but by that time I had already dropped back to 11th position and that is where I finished.  Again a tough pill to swallow: finishing 11th when I ran in the top 5 for the majority of the race, but such is racing.  I know that I have the potential to win one of these races and that is definitely one of my goals this year, but with it being so early in the season still I have to keep my eye on that championship and produce consistently good results.  

So with that mindset I head into New Jersey this weekend so wish me luck (and looking at the weather report I just may need it!).  After New Jersey and after my move back to Chicago things should calm down a bit and I will do some much needed site renovation, but for now it is back to the books so I can actually graduate college.  Although another year out in California wouldn't be all bad.....

Thanks for checking in,

-Nick

I will post soon on some info for the 2009 season for which I am finalizing the deal as we speak, but I did want to throw up a quick picture from my recent 15 day trip into Amazonian Ecuador.  There will be some more photos to follow and feel free to email me with any questions!

Thanks,
Nick

Now check this out:



yeah....

First off, I definitely understand why many people pay a webmaster to keep their sites up to date.  Secondly, I will post soon with more details on the end of my VW season.  Essentially it was this:

Running 4th at Lime Rock: Tire and Mechanical failure; finish almost last

Running 4th at Iowa Speedway: Taken out by a dumb overtaking maneuver; finish almost last

Qualify 6th at New Jersey race #1: Car overheats on grid, have to pull in to pits; finish last

Qualify 5th at NJ race #2: Timing and scoring error moves me back to 19th to start, get caught up in some bad stuff; finish at the back

Qualifying at Atlanta: Cooling fans cut through my radiator hose and lose fluid cutting my quali session short; start race in lucky #13, best I could get was 10th.  Missed out on setting fastest race lap by a few thousandths of a second.

So, as you can see, not the most stellar end to a disappointing season.  But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it relates to this press release featured below:

 

Sunday, December 7th, 2008

Nick Mancuso Racing LLC

 

NICK MANCUSO AND TEAM M.E.R. CLAIM 1ST PLACE IN THE 25 HOURS OF THUNDERHILL

 

Willows, California--  At 3:00pm this past Sunday, the checkered flag fell upon North America’s longest endurance racing event.  The 25 Hours of Thunderhill has been put on by the National Auto Sports Association (NASA) for the past six years at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California.  Featuring cars from all walks of life- from purpose built Daytona Prototypes to modified Volkswagen Beetles, and everything in between- it was the #29 Mazda Miata MX-5 Cup car piloted by Nick Mancuso and co-drivers that took the honors in the E1 class and finished an amazing 5th place overall in the field of 68 cars.

    After 475 grueling laps around the 3.0 mile, 15-turn circuit it was simply a relief when the checkered flag fell.  “Honestly, the hardest part of the event was the last 30 minutes,” said Mancuso, “and I wasn’t even in the car!  Endurance racing really is a team sport and it’s really tough to sit on the sidelines and have everything be outside of your control.”  Coming into the event Mancuso had modest expectations.  “I knew that we had the speed to win, but the element of luck comes heavily into play in the longer races.  We kept our nose clean out on the track and the crew did a phenomenal job in the pits; what more could you ask for?  Many thanks to Team M.E.R., MAZDASPEED, and Hoosier Tires for making this win possible.”

    Though the #29 car won by a margin of nearly three laps to its nearest competitor, it was a nail-biter to the very end.  Starting from pole position, Mancuso’s car led for most of the race, but a win was far from certain until the checkered flag fell.  The decisive element of luck was exemplified by the overall leading car when, with 35 minutes left in the race, the #98 Mustang had differential problems and was forced to retire.  Though this style of racing was much different than the sprint format Mancuso has previously driven in, it looks like he may be back for more: “it was a very nice way to cap off a disappointing 2008 season.  Although my plans for the 2009 season may still be uncertain, I definitely know of at least one race that I will be driving in next year!”

-Nick Mancuso Racing LLC

Founded in 2007, Nick Mancuso Racing LLC was set up by aspiring racecar driver Nick Mancuso.  After nearly winning the SCCA National title in a Sports2000 in his 8th race ever, Nick was selected as the SCCA National Rookie of the Year.  He would then go on to land a factory seat in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup after beating out nearly 800 other competitors.  Currently a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Mancuso has set his sights on a career in professional motorsports.  If you would like to know more about Nick or his race in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill please visit www.NickMancusoRacing.com. 

"

 

Thanks,

Nick