Finally! Hitting the track at NHMS Date: 4/14/08 PHOTOS: Doug Koza McHaffies everywhere! Hugh tests the red Grand Am MX-5, while Craig chucks his Spec Miata into NHMS's Turn 3. Brr! April 10-13 featured a test day, driving school, and Regional race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (formerly New Hampshire International Speedway), and the weather gods emptied out their quiver – we saw picture-perfect 70-degree days, bitter winds that went right through us, and everything in between. Arrive & Drive Todd Bubar, despite devoting most of his test and qualifying time to engine break-in, ran a strong race in his ITS RX-7 and brought home a Top 10 finish. Pete Punderson encountered some frustration due to contact, but put on one of the weekend’s best battles: a four-way tussle for second spot during Sunday’s SSM race. Pundo’s number 99 Miata led the scramble until Pete got loose in NHMS’s tricky Turn 12, giving up spots. Hugh and Craig McHaffie put together a strong weekend, testing Hugh’s new Grand Am KONI Challenge MX-5 and racing in both SM and SSM. Driving the number 63 ’99 Miata, Hugh showed Top 5 qualifying speed and finished seventh in the race. In the number 67 Miata, Craig continued his strong progress toward the front. Rentals As usual for the first big school and race of the season, we had a full slate of terrific renters – it’s a pleasure to watch these drivers gain confidence and experience, and we thank them all! Scott James signed on for the test day and race. The practice paid off: Scott put on a flawless show in number 59, scoring a Top 20 finish with competitive lap times. Attilio Albani, Tim Estella, and Dennis Valet ran our trio of Miatas during the school. They all had a great time. Driving number 00, Tim got the added bonus of a backwards trip into the wall in the hairy NASCAR oval! The Flatout crew thrashed to fix the Miata, and Tim has a story to tell his future grandkids. We congratulate Dennis, Tim and Attilio for being signed off at the conclusion of the school; Tim and Attilio stuck around for the Regional Sunday. They ran clean, heads-up races and stepped from their cars wearing big grins. Team cars Nick Leverone and Andy Bettencourt both put on strong showings despite setbacks. Driving the number 31 ’99 Miata, Nick qualified second and ran a screaming race lap of 1:16.6; he was locked in a battle with eventual winner Steve Gorriarian until contact created some separation. Nick finished an easy second. Andy’s number 09 ITA Miata wasn’t ready for the race, so he put fresh race rubber on Flatout’s number 91 Spec Miata – and ran with the leaders in full-bore ITA cars! Andy qualified fourth and finished third in the race. We want to thank SCCA race organizers and volunteers for putting on their customary top-notch school and race. We’re also very grateful to Flatout’s crew members, who braved the elements, the sleep deprivation, and the grouchy drivers to keep everyone running! It's tight quarters as Pete Punderson goes doorhandle-to-doorhandle with a competitor.   Grand-Am MX-5 hits the track! Date: 3/31/08 We hauled Hugh McHaffie's fresh-from-the-oven Mazda MX-5 down to Virginia International Raceway last weekend for its initial shakedown. Nick Leverone, Forrest Stevens, and the rest of the Flatout crew hit the setup right, and the car - which is destined for Grand-Am KONI Challenge competition - was a screamer as soon as it rolled off the trailer. As you can see, McHaffie's got a full brace of MX-5s - both blue-and-yellow cars are his too! Check here for regular updates on our Grand-Am program.   Profile: Jeff Harding gears up for another run at NARRC crown Date: 3/6/08 A familiar sight in 2007: Harding enjoys a victory lap in his ITS RX-7. In 2007, Jeff Harding made it oh so close to the top of the ITS totem pole, winning a dozen races but losing the North American Road Race Championship points battle by the slimmest of margins. For Jeff, a longtime Flatout Motorsports Arrive & Drive client, 2008 will be devoted to nabbing that NARRC crown. Jeff got in touch with Flatout in 2005; it was the culmination of a whirlwind intro-to-motorsports year during which Harding checked out a skid school; a Sports Car Driving Association HPDE; a few autocrosses; and a three-day Skip Barber school. “I had my SCCA license less than a month after that first SCDA day, then rented a Spec Miata from Flatout for three SM races,” Jeff says. “It was so easy to get started I was kicking myself for not doing it earlier.” He neglects to mention that part of the ease came from his own raw talent – Harding was fast right out of the box. He enjoyed the tight Miata racing, but longed for more power. Jeff didn’t have to look far, as Flatout’s Nick Leverone was running at the front of the ITS class in the first car we ever built, the number 04 Mazda RX-7. “I was impressed with the competition in the class, and with the respect the drivers showed each other,” Harding says. Leverone was selling the Mazda to move over to Grand Am Cup racing, and a deal was struck. Moreover, Flatout was launching its Arrive & Drive program, and Harding – who has a busy family life and is software manager at the Noyes Test and Inspection division of AFL Telecommunications – knew that was the way to go. “If it wasn't for Flatout maintaining the car and Nick coaching me as a driver, I never would have gotten to where I am so quickly,” Jeff says. And where is he, exactly? Right at the sharp end of one of the most competitive classes in the northeast, racking up poles, lap records, and wins in his second full ITS season. This year, Jeff will be running hard to win that elusive NARRC points championship. But he’s a genuine hot shoe, and even bigger challenges await. “I’d be interested in running a national class in 2009, or perhaps a pro series like Pro MX-5 or Grand Am KONI Challenge. I just have to find sponsors!” Jeff is a blast to have around the track, in part because racing is a true family activity for Team Harding. One of his early investments was a motor home, and on race weekends wife Nikki and daughters Melanie, Ellie and Didi are part of the gang (indeed, Harding himself can skip a race once in awhile, but we demand Nikki’s lasagna at every event). Jeff’s parents, too, love to catch a race and are always welcome.   Sebring here we come! Date: 2/18/08 Top: Jon Farbman’s new 1.8. Bottom: One of three MX-5s in the McHaffie quiver. It’s February, it’s 34 degrees and raining (tomorrow it’ll be 22 degrees and snowing), and the Patriots lost the Super Bowl. Only one thing to do, boys. Road trip! That’s right, we’re loading up the Renegade and rumbling to sunny Sebring, Florida, for an SCCA Regional race Feb. 23-24. In addition to soaking up rays and sampling one of North America’s legendary tracks, we’ll be shaking down a couple of fresh-from-the-oven Spec Miatas. Both cars are ’99 1.8s, and both are immaculate builds, if we may say so ourselves. The green-and-black number 31, carrying Drillmasters sponsorship, belongs to Arrive & Drive client Jon Farbman (who actually came up with the idea for the trip), while the blue-and-yellow number 65 is the new ride for A&D client Hugh McHaffie. We couldn’t let the customers have all the fun, so Flatout team drivers Nick Leverone and Steve Ulfelder will be running a Spec Miata and an ITS RX-7, respectively. Team Flatout looks forward to meeting up with our hot-shoe friends from the southeast – come by, say hello, and check out our new Miatas!   Profile: Pete Punderson sets sights on SSM crown Date: 2/1/08 Pundo! A few years back, when Pete Punderson was climbing into a rented Spec Miata for his first SCCA race, a well-meaning bystander offered advice on the start. Don’t worry about the chaos, the bystander said; follow somebody into Turn 1, make it through unscathed, run your own race … The bystander noticed he was getting a chilly look from Punderson – and then realized that while Pundo, as he’s called, was indeed an SCCA rookie, he was a racing veteran with hundreds of races under his belt, including professional races shown on TV. Pundo launched his career in the 1970s, running club 4X4 races. After winning over 100 amateur races, he stepped up to the pro ranks, augmented by Goodyear sponsorship. Thus began an outstanding pro career. Punderson took over operations of Leduc Off Road in West Springfield, Mass. “Owning the off-road shop was key to the success that I had,” he says. He spent the next several years running pro off-road races in Michigan, Wisconsin and Canada, including popular stadium events, and was often featured on ESPN as well as Canadian television. Pundo’s fondest memory from that era is “a victory at the Toronto SkyDome. It was broadcast live on national TV, and we were racing in front of 45,000 screaming fans. Great stuff!” What interrupted Punderson’s rise to glory? Family pressures, what else! (Raise your hand if that sounds familiar.) The racing bug never went away; after exiting the off-road arena, Punderson bought a circle-track car, but he sold it to launch the oil businesses he still owns today: Meadows Energy, Community Oil Co., East Longmeadow Discount Oil and Scantic Valley Oil. A few years ago, Pundo was pulled into the SCCA orbit by ITS competitor and fellow Springfielder Brian Bagnall. Punderson began his roadrace career renting Miatas from Flatout and showed the immediate speed of a veteran. In 2007, Pundo began driving a specially prepared Flatout Miata. He generously gives us a share of the credit for his quick rise to Top 5 status. “The professionalism of Flatout, the rig, the support – it makes going to all the tracks a blast, and lets me just focus on driving. It’s an unbeatable combination.” Aw shucks. Punderson showed last season he can run up front. His 2008 goals are lofty but achievable. “I’m going to run in both SM and SSM at each [NARRC] event,” he says. “My goals are to win some SM races and to win the SSM championship.” Don’t bet against him!   New year brings new HQ! Date: 1/4/08 Home sweet home! Flatout’s new building is newer, nicer, bigger, and equipped with a paint booth. The continuing growth of Flatout Motorsports has made our present home a tight fit for quite awhile; some days, it seems we spend as much time pushing cars around to make room as we do actually working on them! But all that changes this month as we move to a bigger, better space right down the street. The address: Flatout Motorsports Inc. 57C Mendon St. Bellingham, MA 02019 The new shop is a bit closer to Route 495, making it more convenient for most customers. It’s significantly bigger, gives us an additional lift, and boasts excellent office space. Best of all, we now have a paint booth (the building used to house a body shop), so Flatout Motorsports is proud to be a full-service facility. Expect the move to be completed by early February, and drop by to see us sometime!   Cool tool! Universal rotisserie now in the shop Date: 11/29/07 Check it out! Continuing the ceaseless push to make our builds as thorough as possible, Flatout Motorsports has invested in a rotisserie for easy access to every nook and cranny of every car. We’ve also added an engine room and a rollcage-building setup, so we can bring full Flatout quality to virtually all aspects of a build. Speaking of cages, we’re pleased with the one you see here, on the state-of-the-art ’99 Spec Miata we’re building for Hugh McHaffie. Take a good look and see if you agree that it’s cutting-edge in both safety and performance.   Profile: Hugh McHaffie eyes a Grand Am bid Date: 11/1/07 Hugh McHaffie (right) with son Ryan. Part of an occasional series in which we profile Flatout Motorsports Arrive & Drive clients. Like any race shop, Flatout Motorsports has a steady stream of project and donor cars. The novelty of this influx wore off long ago; these days, nobody even notices when fresh iron rolls in. Until a few weeks ago, that is. Everybody’s eyes lit up when we took delivery of a brand-spankin’-new 2008 Mazda MX-5, done up in True Red – even jaded techs get a kick out of tearing apart a brand new car. The MX-5 is owned by Hugh McHaffie, one of our esteemed Arrive & Drive customers. It’s an important ride because it’s a harbinger of our next foray into pro racing: McHaffie will develop the Mazda in 2008 at SCCA Club races and a few Grand Am KONI Challenge Series events, then launch a full-season Grand Am program in ’09. He’ll share the wheel with Nick Leverone, the Flatout hotshoe who has Grand Am and SCCA World Challenge experience. By day, Hugh is president of John Hancock’s Wealth Management division. His trek from Club Racing to the pros may be on the fast track, but in most ways his story is a typical one. A longtime motorsports fan, he’s especially devoted to Formula One. “I go to the Canadian Grand Prix every year with my sons,” he says, “and my hero is Gilles Villeneuve.” Hero Number Two? Gilles’ son Jacques, former F1 champ and now NASCAR pilot. This Villeneuve-philia is due in part to the fact that McHaffie, like the famous racers, hails from Canada. Three years ago, Hugh and eldest son Ryan, now 22, got off the couch and into the cockpit via a Skip Barber school. Hooked (sound familiar?), they bought a Spec Miata and went racing. While their first two seasons were educational, Hugh says their big leap came in 2007, when he became a full-time Flatout A&D client. “With Forrest [Stevens] and the rest of the crew doing maintenance and prep, and Nick Leverone setting the car up, we can focus on improving our driving,” Hugh says. He is perhaps our most diligent customer when it comes to analyzing the data he collects during each session; McHaffie hops out of the car and straight to his laptop, looking for the next opportunity to shave a few tenths. Last season, the effort really paid off. Hugh led races, garnered podium finishes, and wound up second in the Showroom Stock Miata class in the prestigious North Atlantic Road Racing Championship series. As befits a man with a big family (Hugh and his wife Karen live in Walpole, Mass., with Ryan, 20-year-old Kyla, 17-year-old Craig, and 6-year-old Keara), McHaffie has big plans. In addition to his trusty ’93 Miata, we are building not only the 2008 MX-5, but a ’99 Spec Miata. Why such a big stable? Craig, who’s been racing karts for years, plans to earn his Club Racing license over the winter and get in on the fun! Hmm. With father Hugh planning to go pro, and two hot-shoe sons waiting in the wings, the McHaffies may make Canada forget about the Villeneuves!   4 wins at NARRC Runoffs for Flatout! Date: 9/30/07 What it’s all about. Jeff Harding and three of the lovely ladies in his life; Andy Bettencourt with one, his mom. We always put an extra coat of wax on the cars for the NARRC Runoffs at Lime Rock Park; while technically just another Regional SCCA race, the NARRC-offs, as they’re called, constitute the de facto championship race for Improved Touring and Spec Miata cars in the northeast. The gorgeous weather at Lime Rock Sept. 28-29 matched our spirits, as Flatout Motorsports won half of the eight races run, while also garnering poles, track records, and a couple of NARRC points championships. Arrive & Drive Hot shoe Jeff Harding entered the weekend needing a win and a bit of help to wrest the overall NARRC championship from BMW driver Rob Driscoll. Jeff did all he could, setting a stunner of a pole time (1:00.6) and winning the race. But Driscoll took care of business, finishing second to take the points battle. We congratulate Rob and Auto Technic Racing on a well-earned championship. Hugh McHaffie had an up-and-down weekend, primarily because the motor in his Miata was getting ready to croak. Hugh overcame the mechanical woes in the SSM race, during which he wrapped up second place in the 2007 NARRC points standings. Excellent work from a driver in only his second season! Pete Punderson, though he drives a Spec Miata for now (and drives it well), has ITS written all over him. He pulled double duty for the weekend, piloting both the SM and a rented ITS RX-7. Pundo proved ITS is where he truly belongs by nabbing P5 in qualifying. Pete had some setbacks in his races, getting caught up in messes caused by others, but nailed down top 10s in both SM and ITS. Once Pundo purchases Steve Ulfelder’s number 05 ITS car, watch out! Team cars We’ll start with Andy Bettencourt, because the driver of the number 09 Miata doubled up at Lime Rock. Andy took an easy pole and uncontested victory in ITA, his usual class (and the one he dominated, winning seven NARRC races on his way to the 2007 points championship). He doubled his track time by entering the car in the D Prepared category – which he also won. Indeed, Bettencourt took an overall victory in the run group, which was made up of nominally faster classes, and set a DP track record in the process. It was Nick Leverone, though, who had the race of the day. Driving one of our rental cars, the number 59 Miata, Nick went at it hammer and tongs with Ken Payson, an outstanding and experienced pilot. The two bolted from the field and passed each other multiple times, with Nick eventually coming out on top. The checkers locked up the 2007 SM NARRC points championship for Leverone. That’s right, folks, our rental rides take track records, poles, major races, and championships! Whew. Deep breath. We’re not finished yet, with a trip to Watkins Glen planned for early October, but the NARRC-offs mark the spiritual conclusion of the race season in these parts. The partners at Flatout Motorsports would like to thank our crew, sponsors, friends, and – especially – the customers who make the whole enterprise go. 2007 has been fantastic, but wait till you see what we’ve got planned for 2008!   Checkers, new record for Harding at the Glen Date: 9/21/07 At the double Regional race held Sept. 15-16 at Watkins Glen, the Flatout Motorsports compound included the usual mix of renters, Arrive & Drive customers, and strong team cars. We want to congratulate Jeff Harding, who did something that's become common for him this season: sweeping ITS, with a Long Course victory Saturday and a Short Course romp on Sunday. In the latter race, Jeff drove the number 04 Mazda RX-7 to a new ITS track record of 1:28.599. Way to go, Jeff! Now it's one weekend off as we furiously prep for the season-finale NARRC Runoffs, set for Sept. 28-29 at Lime Rock. See you there!   Harding, Ulfelder run 1-2 at NHIS! Date: 9/10/07 PHOTO: Wizard Racing Team Steve Ulfelder (05) slips past Dave Maynard's BMW for the lead as Jeff Harding (04) attacks. The double Regional race put on each September at New Hampshire International Speedway ought to be marked by crisp autumn air, right? Not this year: The SCCA New England Region event, held September 8-9, saw brutal heat and humidity Saturday followed by unpredictable showers Sunday. Here’s how the weekend shook out for Team Flatout: Arrive & Drive ITS hot shoe Jeff Harding swept the weekend. Saturday, Harding found himself in a dogfight with Flatout team driver Steve Ulfelder. After multiple lead changes and hard, clean racing, Jeff slipped by as the pair got the 1-lap-to-go board and held on for a hard-won victory. Jeff was pressed by BMW driver Dave Maynard in Sunday’s race, which made use of NASCAR Turns 1 and 2, but never made an error to open the door. The two victories helped Harding clinch the 2007 NERRC ITS championship in only his second full season of racing! We congratulate Jeff, who is now focused on nabbing the NARRC crown as well. Hugh McHaffie slipped into Loudon just for Saturday’s race. Driving his Miata in the SSM class, Hugh was solid all day, with a P5 qualifying run and a seventh in the race. Birthday Boy Pete Punderson has been working his way toward the front of the SM class all season. A productive Friday test found just the right setup for Pundo’s number 99 Miata, and he proceeded to qualify third on Saturday. A spin cost him a podium finish, but Pete posted the race’s second-fastest lap. In Sunday’s damp race, Punderson posted a strong fifth-place finish after dicing with Flatout’s Forrest Stevens. ITS driver Todd Bubar has been quietly improving ever since he became a Flatout Arrive & Drive customer. Todd truly came into his own this weekend, never slipping out of the Top 10 and notching ninth- and seventh-place finishes. Renters Ann and Keith Hammitte are returning Flatout rental customers and experienced pilots with a wealth of BMW Club track time. The couple split the number 91 Miata, with Keith racing in SM and Ann SSM. Both had outstanding weekends. Saturday’s highlight was Keith’s fast race lap of 1:24.1, eighth-quickest in the 33-car field! Sunday, Ann showed off her smooth driving with a P6 qualifier in the wet. Having never raced a Miata, Eric Thompson was looking for seat time in the number 00 Miata. He got plenty of it, never putting a wheel wrong and making some strong passes in Sunday’s race. Team cars As noted above, Steve Ulfelder had a memorable race Saturday, leading much of the way and duking it out with Jeff Harding. On Sunday, after a forgettable qualifier in the wet, Ulfelder quickly moved to fourth position and was bearing down on another podium when a balky transmission cost him a couple of spots. Ace pilot Nick Leverone drove Hugh McHaffie’s number 67 Miata in the SM class, primarily to gather data. In Sunday’s wet qualifier, Nick put the car on the pole. But when the green flag fell, it quickly became apparent that the car, which was tuned for the more restrictive SSM class, didn’t have the ponies for SM. Nick settled, nevertheless, for a strong second. Forrest Stevens hopped in Flatout’s number 59 Miata and drove the wheels off the car. Sunday, he raised some eyebrows with an outstanding P3 qualifier, slipping to an eventual sixth-place race finish after battling Pete Punderson. We’ll be trucking out to Watkins Glen the weekend of Sept. 15-16. After that, it’s time to prep for the biggie: the North Atlantic Road Race Championship at Lime Rock Park!   Big fun at NHIS fundraising weekend Date: 8/31/07 When this is your daily driver, as it is for Captain Chris Sinnett, a Spec Miata probably doesn’t look too intimidating. August 24-26, SCCA’s New England Region held its biggest annual fundraiser, the Race Against Leukemia weekend. Man, what a weekend. It had heat. It had downpours. It had an Enduro. It had two crazy races. It was awesome. Arrive & Drive Hugh McHaffie ran in SSM, trying to hold onto his second-place standing in the season’s North Atlantic Road Racing Championship (NARRC) donnybrook. He qualified a strong fourth and wound up sixth in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying race, which was run in mind-warping heat and humidity. In Sunday’s Regional race, Hugh got a great start, thanks in part to Andy Bettencourt’s perfect “Green green green!” radio call. Hughy Bobby was in second by the time the pack reached Turn Three. A couple of tiny slip-ups cost Hugh positions in the ultra-competitive SSM class, and he finished eighth, hanging on to that points position. Pete Punderson was disappointed in his P11 qualifying run. We like it when Pundo drives angry! He got up on the wheel and climbed to sixth in the qualifier, posting a fast lap only .004 slower than the winner. The Sunday race saw Pete moving up fast, but he suffered a mysterious power loss that crippled his chances. Chris Sinnett just washed up on shore after a five-month trip up and down the Eastern seaboard as Captain of a U.S. Coast Guard training vessel. He was itching for some track time - and he got it, double dipping in SM and SSM. Amazingly, Chris ran in the top half of both classes all weekend. Wait until he isn’t rusty! It was truly a pleasure to have Chris back. ITS is a battle royal right now and Jeff Harding, driving in only his second full season, is a threat to take the championship. However, Jeff had a tough weekend at NHIS, which means the points crown will be decided at the NARRC Runoffs finale at Lime Rock. Jeff qualified on pole, but then had a run of bad luck. A lappy with extra-long wheel studs cut his tire down in the qualifier, and due to humid conditions, the number 04 RX-7 was one of several 13Bs that got bagged by the sound police during the Regional. Team cars Crew ace Forrest Stevens joined the party, driving the number 00 Spec Miata. As a former SM track record holder at Pocono, it was no surprise he qualified fifth in a 25-car field. Some early race contact put a dent in the qualifier for “Gump,” but he ran down 10 racers in the Regional on Sunday. With the NARRC ITA championship clinched, Andy Bettencourt was very relaxed -- so relaxed he qualified under the track record and ran away with two convincing wins. New frontrunner Geoff Branscombe gave Andy a run for a few laps until Bettencourt’s Miata hunkered down and put 'em away. Nick Leverone is looking for his third NARRC championship. He leads the Spec Miata points by a nice margin, but still needs some strong finishes. He did just that with a P2 qualifier and another podium finish. 3-hour Enduro The Race Against Leukemia weekend traditionally includes an Enduro as part of the fun. This year, Flatout decided to run three cars for yuks. Hugh McHaffie and Kevin Anderson took turns in Hugh’s number 67 SSM, while Forrest Stevens and Nick Leverone shared driving duties in the Flatout number 00 Miata. Rounding out the assault were Pete Punderson and Andy Bettencourt in Pundo’s number 99 Miata. First stints were handled by Anderson, Stevens, and Bettencourt. At the halfway mark, Bettencourt was 5 seconds off the overall leader, with Stevens and Anderson running hard. The driver swaps happened at about the 1:35 mark, with McHaffie, Leverone, and Punderson taking over. A 30-second fueling error cost the Punderson/Bettencourt team a silver medal, as their fourth-place finish was just 21 seconds behind. McHaffie's car developed a massive vibration that two new tires couldn't cure. Leverone did what he does: he ran ultra-fast and consistent laps, bringing the entire field to him. He and Punderson battled the last three laps for the fourth spot, making for some fun times in the pits. Many thanks to the Flatout family for crewing: Chris Sinnett, Jeff Harding, Brian Bagnall, and Adam Desrosiers ran the pits so we could have fun.   Bettencourt takes ITA win at Lime Rock! Date: 8/13/07 Murderers’ Row. Various crew, drivers, family and fans watch some racing from the Flatout stacker’s observation deck. What a difference 12 hours can make. Ready to do battle in an Aug. 10-11 Regional SCCA race, Flatout arrived at Lime Rock Park, set up its eight-car paddock, and started checking radar. A wet Friday loomed. Ah, the Rock in the rain … seems we’ve sung this tune before. Fortunately, skies cleared for race day. Arrive & Drive Jay Dedrick had more fans at this race than Paul Newman did on July 4th. Surrounded by friends and family, he did not disappoint. Jay ran a strong, clean race and brought his ITS RX-7 home a respectable sixth in a tough field. Pete Punderson ran well in the wet qualifiers and had a feeling he’d be fast in the race. And he was right. Pete hung on to the lead pack for his first top-five finish of the year, and ran a fast lap just a half-second off the best lap of the race! The strong showing vaulted him into the top 10 in points. Driving in multiple run groups can be tough. Friday was cold and raw, but ironman Hugh McHaffie doubled up nevertheless in the SM and SSM classes. His times dropped all weekend as he got his confidence back following a Diving Turn spin earlier in the year. Hugh maintained his hold on second place in SSM seasonal point standings. Jeff Harding finished where he started. His fifth-place qualifying run in the rain was solid, but a last-minute bid to eliminate a push created a car that was scary-loose, in NASCAR lingo. Two slow spins cost Jeff a shot at the podium, but he showed his typical speed by posting the race’s second-fastest lap. Renter Jim Reidy has driven some cool cars. He has set track records. Now he has sampled the force that is Spec Miata. He jumped in the number 00 rental car and cut his teeth in SCCA’s most popular class. Smooth, safe, and gaining speed every session, he had a great weekend. Team cars The ITA race was a barnburner – well, half of it was. Richie Hunter put his Integra on pole, with Flatout ace Andy Bettencourt next door in P2. At the start, Bettencourt beat Hunter into Big Bend and the pair checked out on the field, running nose to tail for 12 laps before Hunter looped it in the Lefthander. Andy used the breathing room to pilot his ITA Miata to its fifth win of the year. Nick Leverone grabbed the Spec Miata pole and diced with eventual winner Ken Payson for all 20 laps. Crafty Ken consistently held an inside line through Big Bend, and Nick had to settle for second place, while holding his lead in the points battle. Hey, any weekend at the Rock that features poles, a victory, and no bent cars is time well spent! Our next event will be the Racing Against Leukemia weekend, Aug. 24-26 at New Hampshire International Speedway.   Flatout treks to Watkins Glen Date: 7/31/07 The home track of Flatout Motorsports is New Hampshire International Speedway, and we dearly love the rutted bullring that is Lime Rock Park – but boy, do we wish we lived closer to Watkins Glen International! Flatout hauled two trailers’ worth of cars out to the Glen the weekend of July 28-29, and brought home some solid results (and no wrecked cars!): Rental Yiannis Tsiounis, who has plenty of laps at the Glen under his belt, hopped in a Spec Miata and acquitted himself well, trimming his lap times throughout the weekend and having some memorable dices during his 11-lap Regional race. Arrive & drive Jeff Harding put in a typical strong weekend in the number 04 RX-7. He opted to double-dip by driving the ITS car in the purportedly faster E Production class – and stomped the field, winning by a full 58 seconds. Harding grabbed the ITS pole in his other race and was leading when he began to lose gears in his transmission. Running in fourth gear only during the race’s latter stages, Jeff held on for second place. Hugh McHaffie, who has relatively little seat time at Watkins Glen, had a stout run in his SSM Miata, with dramatic lap-time improvements during Sunday’s race. Count Todd Bubar as another driver seeking track time at the Glen. As we’ve been steadily improving Todd’s ITS RX-7, he’s been holding up his end of the bargain by getting faster and faster at all venues – and this weekend was no exception. We know Jay Dedrick can drive the wheels off his ITS RX-7; unfortunately, the recently purchased car is going through teething pains in the horsepower department, which limited Jay’s capabilities at the fast track. Once we get Jay’s dyno sheets where they belong, watch out! Team cars Ace crew guy and he-man driver Forrest Stevens didn’t waste his opportunity to hop in the number 59 Miata. Although he ran in the ITA class against cars with 35 more horsepower and better tires, Forrest put on a show, qualifying third and finishing fourth after an epic duel. Nick Leverone qualified third in the Spec Miata class and ran as high as second before becoming a victim of a back-straight freight train that left him fifth. Phew … all that action, and then some, at arguably the finest race track in North America. And nobody seriously bent sheetmetal or blew a motor!   Mega-weekend, mega-Miata builds top the agenda Date: 7/20/07 PHOTO: Doug Koza Andy Bettencourt finds the rain line in NHIS’ South Chicane. Coming off another successful event at Lime Rock, Team Flatout was looking to make some serious hay in a double Regional race held July 14-15 at New Hampshire International Speedway. The Racing Gods had some ups and some downs in store for us. Arrive & drive We brought 10 cars to the track this weekend. Some new faces relied on us for support, and they showed us what they could do. Marty Okun was planning to rent from us this weekend until he found the deal he was looking for on a used Spec Miata. He ran in Ironman mode, double-dipping in SSM and SM – not to mention a full test day during his first weekend in the car! Marty finished all races unscathed while improving his times as he went. Well done! Jack Hall out-qualified many Spec Miata veterans during his Saturday session and managed to keep them behind him during a great race. Contact with the NASCAR wall in Sunday's qualifier sidelined him for the day, but not before he ran within a second of the top five. Father/son team Hugh and Ryan McHaffie shared the Number 67 Miata, with Hugh handling SSM duties and Ryan SM. Father Hugh is in the top three in points, so he had a job to do. After qualifying tenth of 28 Saturday, he moved up a spot to finish ninth – and set the group’s fast race lap. We don't think he even knows that! Sunday, it was Ryan's turn to shine. Unable to get a clean qualifying lap, he started twenty-sixth. But for the race, the Flatout crew sent him out on the right tires (wets), and Ryan thundered to a tenth-place finish. Jeff Harding's convincing pole on Saturday translated into a convincing win, with the number 04 RX-7 essentially unchallenged. Sunday, both ITS sessions were run in the wet; Jeff battled hard against a bevy of BMWs and managed a fourth-place finish with the second-quickest race lap. He also pulled into a tie for the top spot in points with just a handful of races remaining. Pete Punderson has really put the time in this year. Qualifying eighth of 33 on Saturday, he had high hopes for the weekend. Some flapping bodywork, courtesy of a competitor, cost Pete dearly on Saturday, as he was poised for a top-five finish. Team cars Steve Ulfelder ran NHIS for the first time in 2007. He made full use of a Friday test, qualifying the number 05 RX-7 in P3 on Saturday and P5 on Sunday. Ulfelder managed a fourth-place finish Saturday and a sixth in Sunday’s wet finale. What did Andy Bettencourt come away with after two dominating qualifying runs that had him on the pole both days? Not what the team had hoped for! In Saturday's dry race, Andy opened an easy 11-second lead after only seven laps before his transmission went south. Sunday, armed with a fresh tranny, Andy did what he could in a rain-soaked race with the rear-drive number 09 ITA Miata. Smooth driving kept him ahead of all but one FWD car for a satisfying second-place finish. Nick Leverone's number 59 Spec Miata was down on power Saturday, but he worked his way to a fourth-place finish. Other commitments prevented Nick from racing Sunday. A guest appearance by Pocono track record holder and ace crew guy Forrest Stevens in the number 91 rental Miata was fun for all. He ran clean and fast all weekend, bringing the 1.8-liter car home safe and sound. We’re all licking our chops as we prep for a weekend at Watkins Glen later this month. Meanwhile, our shop has been overrun by second-generation Miatas, as customers are asking us to turn the newer cars into racers. Right now, we’ve got two ’99 SMs and one ’99 ITS Miata in the oven. Can we cook something up for you?   Leverone takes flag-to-flag win at Lime Rock Date: 7/6/07 On July 4, with the American Le Mans Series transporters hunkered down at Lime Rock Park, SCCA New England Region sneaked in a quick one-day Regional race while the pros were enjoying a day off. Sketchy weather brought out the fireworks, but Team Flatout left with three poles and a victory. Here’s a rundown: Renter Returning renter Jon Farbman broke his freakin’ neck. Really. But it’s not as bad as it sounds. Driving the number 00 Spec Miata in a dry qualifying session, Farbman got loose at 100-plus mph in Lime Rock’s Diving Turn, did a few tank-slappers, and backed into the pit lane Armco. The impact was enough to chip a bone in a vertebra. We’re happy to report that after a few hours in a local hospital, tough-guy Jon was back at the track in a neck brace, talking about a planned Miata build. Arrive & drive Man, you should have seen Hugh McHaffie’s start. Driving his Miata in the first group after the rain began, Hugh timed the green perfectly, sneaked inside some spinners, passed a half-dozen cars, and was leading the SSM race when he came out of Big Bend! Alas, he looped it himself on the slick concrete of the Lefthander, and spent the remainder of the race playing catchup. Jeff Harding has become the man to beat in ITS; his pole time of 1:01.3 had everybody covered by over a half-second. But he went from first to last in grid when an equipment snafu forced him to start at the rear of the crowded field. Nevertheless, Jeff piloted the number 04 RX-7 from dead last to a fourth-place finish, a stout run in a rainy 15-lapper. Team cars Andy Bettencourt’s dry-weather pole run was even more impressive than Harding’s; driving the number 09 ITA Miata, Andy had a comfortable second on his nearest competitor. But the front-drive guys whooped it up when the rain began to fall. Andy held them off for awhile, but couldn’t put the power down in the rear-drive Miata and settled for fourth place. Hopping in the number 59 Spec Miata, Nick Leverone completed a Flatout Pole Position Hat Trick. But where Harding and Bettencourt met trouble, Nick made his rain race look easy, gliding away from the pack for a convincing green-to-checkers victory. ‘Twas an exciting way to spend the Fourth of July, that’s for sure. Now we need some quick turnaround to prep a bunch of cars for a double Regional race at New Hampshire International Speedway July 14-15. See you there!   Flatout adds options to help renters go fast, limit liability! Date: 6/20/07 At Flatout Motorsports, we’ve enjoyed working with hundreds of renters. Many are relatively inexperienced racers who want to gain seat time or earn a competition license. However, many renters are truly competitive racers who want to improve their lap times every session and take home checkered flags. (Our rental cars have set two track records and won over a half-dozen races in 2007 alone!) We think we’ve come up with some cool ways to help competitive customers go faster, without raising prices for those more interested in seat time and a great experience: Optional data acquisition in all rental cars. We are currently installing Race Technology DL-1 data loggers in all our rental Miatas. This is the same state-of-the-art data acquisition we use in our team cars, and believe us, it will make you faster! Using the DL-1, you can study your speed and acceleration/deceleration at any point on the race track. Compare your better laps to your slower ones – and, better yet, compare your data to that of other drivers! Between sessions, champion drivers like Nick Leverone and Andy Bettencourt will analyze data with you. Because not everybody is interested in data acquisition, we’ll offer it as a premium service for those who want to watch their lap times drop. Ask us about pricing. Driver coaching and setup tips. Many of our customers are present or future Spec Miata drivers who want to learn how to optimize their own cars. For them, we’ve devised a knowledge-transfer program. Using tire temperatures and pressures, driver feedback, expert observation, and data acquisition, these racers will leave the track knowing the alignment settings, tire pressures, and driving techniques they can use to run as fast as possible. Think of this as a graduate-level rental program; like data acquisition, it’s an optional service. Be sure to talk to us in advance if you’re interested. Limiting your financial risk. For those who balk at renting a race car due to the potential expense of wadding one up, we now offer an insurance program. For a daily fee on top of your rental payment, you can limit your exposure to a $2000 deductible. This insurance program will appeal to drivers who really want to push their Flatout Miata without that voice in their head whispering Careful, it’s a rental! For more info on any and all of these new offerings, contact us!   Harding, Bettencourt notch Lime Rock wins Date: 6/18/07 Each year, SCCA’s New England Region runs a driver’s school and quickie one-day Regional race at fabled Lime Rock Park. It’s always a busy weekend for us, chock-full of renters seeking their competition licenses. The weekend of June 15-16, we had a particularly enjoyable group of renters, followed by typically eventful races. Here’s the rundown: Renters While new to SCCA Club Racing, Tom Capizzi is an accomplished driver who’s enjoyed some heated Skip Barber open-wheel battles with Flatout hotshoe Jeff Harding. So we weren’t surprised when he ripped it up in Friday’s school, despite having never raced anything with fenders before. Tom stuck around Saturday, qualifying at an amazing 1:03 in our number 91 Miata, and would have finished higher than thirteenth in the race if it hadn’t been curtailed at nine laps by wrecks scattered around the track. We won’t tell you Jon Farbman’s age, but here’s a hint: he looks a quarter-century younger than he actually is. Jon was a champion roadracer during the Nixon administration, and he recently decided to give it another go. The skills were clearly there: through a test day, Friday’s school, qualifying, and the race, the former champ never put a wheel wrong in the number 00 Miata. We believe the hook is well and truly set, as Jon vowed to come back for more. We look forward to it! Being alongside such experienced drivers could have been intimidating to Mark Wheaton, who was strapping into a race car for the first time. But such was not the case; Mark listened to his instructors, came up to speed at his own pace, and was quick and racy during the final Friday sessions. Arrive & Drivers The front of New England’s ITS field is stacked this year, with hard, clean battles that always seem to be the best race of the day. This time around, Jeff Harding started from the pole, led early, found himself trapped in traffic, and fought his way past several strong BMWs for his fourth win in a row. It was an outstanding drive that had everybody hooting and hollering. Pete Punderson rolled to the track Saturday morning with no recent test laps at Lime Rock, but managed nevertheless to post a qualifying run in the mid-1:04s. Like many Spec Miata drivers, Pundo was just settling in to race when the checkers flew prematurely, as noted above. Ryan McHaffie, son of A&D hotshoe Hugh, met a similar fate in the same race. As to Papa Hugh McHaffie, he was even less lucky. While running third in the Showroom Spec Miata race, Hugh got sideways in Lime Rock’s Diving Turn (which’ll put hair on your chest!) and was T-boned by a competitor who had nowhere to go. The good news: Hugh’s OK, and the stout little Miata suffered only a flesh wound. Clan McHaffie will be back! Team cars We’ve mentioned that the Spec Miata race was halted after a mere nine laps; the ITA group got only five before a heavy crash brought the race to an end. Nevertheless, Flatout’s Andy Bettencourt notched the victory; he had settled into race pace from his pole position, and the number 09 Miata was just warming its tires when the race was halted. Nick Leverone and SM/SSM hotshoe Steve Gorriaran have developed a friendly mini-rivalry this season, as Leverone hops in Flatout’s number 59 Miata whenever he gets the chance. The duo put on a shortened show; Leverone started from the pole, Gorriaran took the lead with a great start, and the two ran nose-to-tail or side-by-side for the entire race, with Gorriaran taking a well-deserved victory by a few tenths. In our next outing, we’ll head back to the Rock for a July 4 shindig. That’s right, as a sort of appetizer to Lime Rock’s traditional American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix, the track will hold a rare midweek race on Wednesday, July 4. Flatout will be there in force, and we hope to bring fireworks. See you there!   Harding sweeps ITS as Flatout takes 7 wins at NHIS! Date: 5/29/07 Photo: Stephen Luszcz Bettencourt (09), Leverone (59), and Harding (04) are thinking about making a quilt from their hard-won checkered flags. First things first: big congratulations to ITA drivers and friends Victor Gangi, on the birth of Alexander, his first son, and Brett Bogart, who also welcomed his first son, Daschel. On to business. One weekend a year, SCCA New England Region runs a terrific three-race format at New Hampshire International Speedway. A traditional qualifier on Saturday morning sets up Race One that afternoon. Competitors’ fast laps in that race set the grid for Race Two, a qualifier, on Sunday morning, and finishing position in that race in turn sets the grid for Race Three in the afternoon. The headline for this event, dubbed the Triple Play, is that Flatout customer and hotshoe Jeff Harding not only broke through for his first ITS victory in the number 04 RX-7, but liked the feeling so much he won all three weekend races, taking a pole for good measure. The rundown: Rentals Newly signed-off driver Mark Piekarski completed his second and third sanctioned SM races, running the same car he rented from us at a recent SCCA driving school. Mark was in and out of our compound all weekend long, watching his son, Brenton, compete in SPO! Arrive & Drive Pete Punderson is on the cusp of some real speed. With a successful history in roundy-round and off-road truck racing, his expectations are high. Momentum racing in 105-hp Miatas is a total departure for Pundo, but his development as a roadracer has been very quick; he’s now within a half-second of the podium at both NHIS and Lime Rock. Before joining Flatout as an Arrive & Drive customer, Hugh McHaffie was happy to run in the top 10. After five events this season, he finds himself second in SSM points! Hugh scored a well-deserved second place in the Saturday race and his first-ever pole position for Sunday's qualifying race. A bent shift fork put his ride out of commission, so we set him up in one of our rentals to complete the weekend. The car change pushed Hugh all the way to the back of the grid, but he drove the wheels off the Miata, moving up 12 spots to finish eighth. As noted, Jeff Harding mowed down the field to take all three ITS wins. Jeff’s breakthrough surprised nobody; he’s had the speed and skills for some time now, and was simply waiting for a few breaks to come his way. Now that they have, watch out! He is a mere six points out of first place in the NARRC championship. Team cars Andy Bettencourt had a 10-point lead ITA heading into the weekend. That ballooned to 35 by Sunday evening. A clean sweep of the event tallied two poles and three wins in the uncharacteristically hot May weather. Nick Leverone continued to run the number 59 rental Miata in SM. Nick qualified a surprisingly low seventh for the Saturday race, but bounced back to finish second. He followed up that drive with a win on Sunday, placing him firmly atop the NARRC SM points standings. We’ve always known Forrest Stevens was a great crew chief, but after he set a Pocono track record in one of our rental Miatas, we knew we had to put this guy behind the wheel more often! Even running an SM-prepared car in the faster ITA class, Forrest nabbed a pair of top-five finishes. How was our Memorial Day Weekend haul? Not too shabby: 5 poles 7 wins 9 podiums We believe we’ve earned a few weeks off! See you at Lime Rock on June 14, where we’ll have a fleet of renters for a school and race.   Train kept a-rollin': poles, victories, lap records at Lime Rock Date: 5/21/07 Gorriaran (91) and Leverone (59) dig onto No Name Straight. (Yes, the 59’s hood stayed closed!) The weekend of May 18-19 saw the year’s first SCCA Regional racing at beautiful Lime Rock Park. Competitors enjoyed two races, a Lime Rock rarity, and for the most part the weekend was dry (against all odds, as most of the northeast was soaked!). Flatout Motorsports made an incredible haul, leaving with: 7 pole positions 5 wins 8 podiums 1 track record Not bad, eh? Here’s how it shook out: Arrive & drive Hugh McHaffie ran an abbreviated schedule due to business commitments, but managed to sneak into the SSM race. He continues to run in the top 3 in points! Pete Punderson is old school. Computers? Bah. Email? Checks it once a week (when someone is around to help him). But what did he allow to sneak into his life? Data acquisition. He loves it, and used it to drop his lap times nearly 2 seconds over the weekend, running a strong 1:04.0 in Saturday’s final race. Jay Dedrick brought out his newly purchased ITS RX-7 for some dedicated support. He has talent, and it showed right away. With the car back at FOM HQ for upgrades and fine-tuning, watch out for Jay! Jeff Harding is fast. Qualifying under the current track record in the afternoon race with a 1:00.758, he was almost a second faster than the P2 spot. After a missed shift set him back a few spots, he immediately climbed back up front. Despite a couple of spins, he finished a remarkable second. The earlier race had Jeff out of the top 5 for the first time all season because the team gambled on a dry setup. Jeff didn't have a chance - and it wasn't his fault. Rentals This weekend was light on rentals ... until a call came in from SM hotshoe Steve Gorriaran, whose own Miata wasn’t race-ready. "Got a fast car for me?" he asked. "How about the one that set the track record last weekend at Pocono?" we answered. Running in both the SM and SSM classes, Gorriaran went home with four poles and four wins. It was a pleasure getting to know Steve a little more, and we hope he had a great time. Do we need to say it again? These are the same Miatas you can rent from us every weekend. Call us! Team cars Andy Bettencourt's 1:01.453 in last year’s finale has set some high Lime Rock expectations for the team. Andy qualified on pole for both races, but the front-drive ITA drivers performed a successful rain dance Saturday morning, and the Flatout Miata finished third behind Tim Klvana and Joe Diminno. The second ITA race was dry, and Bettencourt checked out, cruising to a second season victory. Nick Leverone, coming off double wins at Pocono in Flatout’s number 59 rental Miata, took the wheel again, and provided customer Gorriaran with stiff competition. In both races, the duo checked out on the field, posting crazy-fast times while drafting each other on the main straight. While Steve took the checkers, Nick did come away with a new SM track record of 1:02.4. No rest for the weary: This coming Memorial Day weekend, Team Flatout will be at New Hampshire International Speedway for a triple race. See you there!   Flatout takes Pocono by storm: checkers, lap records! Date: 5/14/07 Hope everybody had a happy Mother’s Day weekend – we sure did! Team Flatout rolled into Pocono Raceway in style, towing our new Renegade five-car enclosed hauler for the first time. Here’s a quick rundown on how we fared in the two Regional SCCA races: Arrive and Drive: Hugh McHaffie only participated in the Saturday races, double-dipping in SSM and SM. In his first appearance at the track, he ended up on the podium in SSM trim. Nice drive, Hugh! Jeff Harding, looking to make an impact in ITS, managed to qualify off-pole on Saturday. Fighting a damp track and a push, he finished a strong fourth in the Saturday race. We modified Jeff’s setup for Sunday, and he promptly grabbed pole position. In the race, Jeff finished second behind Kip Vansteenburg’s Miata. Team cars: Flatout partner Nick Leverone and crew chief Forrest Stevens decided to help themselves to a couple of our rental Miatas. Leverone drove to a pair of SM NARRC victories in number 59. Stevens, in number 91, was sidelined by electrical gremlins Saturday, but made up for it Sunday – finishing third and setting a new SM track record in the process! Yes, folks, these winning, lap-record-setting Miatas are the same cars you can rent from us! Andy Bettencourt found himself on the ITA pole Saturday, thanks in part to a huge tow from the ITS Mazda of good friend Brian Bagnall. During the race, Andy battled with Greg Amy for the lead until contact between the two (one a them racin’ deals) sent both cars off-track. Andy clawed his way back to second at the finish. Sunday, Bettencourt’s 09 took the ITA checkers convincingly. No rest for the weary: catch us at Lime Rock Park this weekend (May 17-18) for another double Regional slugfest. Rumor has it former Lime Rock ITA track record holder and pro driver Anthony Serra is loaded for bear and determined to take on current record-holder Bettencourt!   Big opening weekend at NHIS Date: 4/24/07 PHOTOS: Doug Koza Renter Jack Hall slices through Turn 3 in number 91, while Andy Bettencourt charges toward the front in ITA. Whew, that was some weekend! A tenacious winter broke just in time, yielding to fantastic weather for SCCA New England Region’s first fandango of the year: a test day, two-day school, and Regional race held April 19-22 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Shakedown blues kept the Flatout crew hopping all weekend, with all teething pains settled by race day. Here’s a quick rundown on our renters, Arrive & Drive clients, and team drivers: Renters: Jeff Longo ran the test day and school in the number 59 Miata. He was one of the quickest drivers at the school and earned his Competition License. Jeff is eager to rent again for an upcoming race. We welcome him aboard! Mark Piekarski aced the school and ran the race in the number 00 Spec Miata. Smooth, consistent, and quick, Mark had a great race, dicing hard and making a pass for position. Jack Hall also ran the school and race in number 91. Jack consistently got a great run off NHIS’ critical Turn 12; in the race, he passed five cars for position. Arrive & Drivers: Pete Punderson spent much of the weekend getting acquainted with his new Spec Miata. Like his fellow SM A&D guys, Pundo loved the new data acquisition system, and the opportunity it gives them all to learn from each other. He ran a solid race and plans to compete in two classes from now on to gain seat time. Hugh McHaffie was one of the weekend’s big success stories. He ran in both the SM and SSM classes; in the latter, he finished a strong sixth, his best result ever. Chris Sinnett was one of the guys who kept the crew busy! His new Spec Miata (one not built by Flatout) sprang a major oil leak during testing; we hustled to replace the upper cam seals and lower crank seal, and Chris was good to go. He was quick and solid throughout the weekend. Jeff Harding, our sole ITS A&Der, ironed some bugs out of his brand-spankin’-new RX-7 and qualified in P2 with a fast 1:15.1. In the race, Jeff got tapped, spun, fell to twentieth ... and clawed his way back to fourth with the third fastest race lap, a tremendous drive. Team cars: Nick Leverone hopped in a Spec Miata with zero testing and qualified in P2, just 0.3 seconds off pole. In the race, Nick lost spots due to a spinner blocking his way, but made it back to third at the checkers. Andy Bettencourt one-upped Leverone by missing practice and qualifying with mechanical issues. We owe a big debt of gratitude to Lester Seals from Apex Automotive Engineering, who lent us his expert hands to get Andy back on track. Having missed qualifying, he started in twenty-first (DFL!), passed 10 cars on the first lap, and went on to finish an unbelievable second, 4 seconds behind winner Greg Amy.   Success of A&D program prompts a new hauler Date: 3/25/07 The new Renegade toter-home, soon to be joined by a five-car hauler, will be used to haul Flatout A&D cars to tracks all over the country. The growing popularity of the Flatout Arrive & Drive program has dictated that we purchase some fancy new rolling stock. Nick Leverone and Steve Ulfelder recently flew to San Jose to pick up the Renegade toter-home you see here, then broke in the rig with a three-day, 3,100-mile jaunt back to Massachusetts. Within weeks, the toter will be joined by a Renegade five-car enclosed hauler (being custom-built for us right now) that’ll transport our A&D customers’ rides in style. The fully equipped toter will provide sleeping quarters for crew, and ought to be a perfect HQ for data downloads and debriefing between on-track sessions. Flatout A&D customers can relax in the A/C, analyze their data, check out their in-car video on the big-screen TV, and decide what adjustments to make for the next session. Contact us to learn more about Flatout A&D.   Harding’s new RX-7 nears completion Date: 3/21/07 Tasty hot rod! Battleship gray will reveal any cracks or leaks. Note the stout passenger-side door bars. When Jeff Harding spun in oil at Lime Rock last October and stuffed his track-record-holding Mazda RX-7 into the Armco, we knew instantly that a rebody was in order. Number 04 was a great chassis and the first ground-up build ever for Flatout, but hits both large and small had accumulated over the years. ’Twas time for a new shell. As you see here, project leader Nick Leverone is close to finishing up the new 04. We started with a clean, straight parts car and stripped it bare. Then we sent it to cage-builder and body man extraordinaire Tom Kelly at Precision Motorsports for minor repairs, a major cage, and a rotisserie paint job. Looks like a show car, but we doubt that’ll prevent Harding from mixing it up on the track when he needs to! With the 04 back in our shop, it’s simply been a matter of swapping parts from the old shell to the new – although Leverone has taken the opportunity to implement a few improvements that will soon trickle down to all our ITS Mazda customers. With April roaring at us, Harding will soon be testing, tuning, and shaking down the new 04. We predict both car and driver are ready for a breakthrough season!   Rentals, arrive-and-drives booking fast Date: 1/18/07 Eeeny meeny meiny mo – rent a ride, hop in and go! With the holidays over and racers turning their attention to the 2007, we find ourselves inundated with rental requests and arrive-and-drive commitments. If you’re mulling either option, now’s the time to contact us! The three Flatout Motorsports Spec Miatas have been popular for several seasons now. We’ve gone through and tuned up all three, so renters at early schools, high-performance driving events, and races can look forward to a turnkey experience. The option that’s really taking off in 2007 is our arrive-and-drive program. Once many drivers run the numbers, they opt to skip the hassles and expense of maintaining, repairing, and transporting a car. Instead, they drive to the track in their sports car, gear bag in the trunk, and strap into an expertly prepped racer! Moreover, they enjoy data analysis, setup advice, and full at-track support from Flatout’s pro and championship-winning drivers. Sound tempting? We thought so! Give us a call to discuss everything from parts needs to a full arrive-and-drive program.   Merry Christmas from Flatout Motorsports! Date: 12/19/06 Old School: The end of the year seems like a good time to peek at the 04 and 05 in their original livery. We've finally recovered from the Annual Flatout Motorsports Christmas Party, Amateur Strip Show, Yankee Swap & All-Purpose Hootenanny. Great news: no arrests this year! We were planning to share news on Spec Miata buildups, new products, our fast-growing Arrive-and-Drive program, and pro racing plans. And we will. But for now, we simply want to thank the customers, crew, and friends who make it all happen. We are blessed, and we are grateful. Check in after the New Year for exciting updates on our 2007 plans. And thanks again! Andy Bettencourt, Nick Leverone, Forrest Stevens, Steve Ulfelder   Bettencourt sets track record on way to NARRC Runoffs victory! Date: 10/23/06 PHOTOS: Doug Koza Bettencourt and Crew Chief Forrest Stevens take a well-deserved victory lap. Flatout Motorsports hot shoe Andy Bettencourt came into the Oct. 20-21 NARRC Runoffs knowing the season’s ITA points championship was out of reach, clinched by Greg Amy. So Bettencourt set his sights on winning the race itself. He did that – and then some, triple-dipping with a pole, victory and track record. Wrapping up nearly two years of development on Flatout’s ITA Miata program, Bettencourt took the pole over many ably-driven front-wheel-drive cars despite heavy rain during Friday qualifying. Saturday morning, in ideal dry conditions, the Miata pilot diced briefly with the Integra of Rick Benazic before checking out. Bettencourt ripped to a 22-second margin of victory, but not before setting a new ITA track record of 1:01.453. The Miata was stunningly fast, consistently turning laps nearly 2 seconds quicker than those of Bettencourt’s closest competitors. Crew Chief Forrest Stevens, Bettencourt, and the entire Flatout Motorsports team were gratified by the results. Bettencourt’s vision, that the Miata’s handling could overcome the power advantage held by other ITA cars, was fully justified, and Team Flatout is fielding inquiries from racers who want to follow the same path. Flatout’s Nick Leverone took a break from Grand Am Cup duties to drive in Spec Miata. A tough start prevented Leverone from finishing higher than fifth after an epic battle with Flatout customer Brian Reilly. The weekend’s only sour note came during the ITS race, when Flatout driver Jeff Harding hit oil in the braking zone for Lime Rock’s Big Bend. Harding was a passenger as his Mazda RX-7 shot across the track and hit the inside Armco barrier hard. Harding was unhurt – which is tough to believe given the state of the 04 Mazda, which may be totaled. With the 2006 racing season over, we turn our focus to 2007: a fresh ITS Mazda for Harding, a bevy of SMs for customers, and perhaps a new generation of IT Miatas! Contact us if you need a car, maintenance, a rental for next season’s driving schools, or a complete arrive-and-drive setup.   Hard-fought podiums for Bettencourt, Harding at NHIS Date: 9/12/06 PHOTOS: Doug Koza Jeff Harding works his way through the field on his way to a well-earned second. Flatout Motorsports faced down plenty of adversity the weekend of Sept. 9 and 10, as ITS hot shoe Jeff Harding and ITA driver Andy Bettencourt landed on the podium despite some less-than-stellar on-track behavior by other drivers. Harding, driving the number 04 Mazda RX-7, was spun by a competitor while leading Saturday’s ITS race. He came back strong Sunday, finishing second to Kip VanSteenburg. Bettencourt lost a position in the first ITA race when his Miata was hit by a car he was lapping. Nevertheless, the Flatout Miata wound up third. And on Sunday afternoon, Bettencourt blazed a lap of 1:15.7 (a mere tenth of a second off Greg Amy’s track record) while finishing second by half a car length to Richie Hunter. We also had a ball with two return rental customers, Pete Punderson and Chris Sinnett. Both racers dropped their lap times all weekend and drove the wheels off the Flatout Miatas. Friday evening, Team Flatout escorted Punderson out for a little birthday bash that damn near brought about the callup of the New Hampshire National Guard – but that’s another story. Bettencourt leads Hunter through NHIS’ South Chicane in the first race of the weekend.   Bettencourt dominates ITA at Lime Rock Date: 8/20/06 PHOTO: Doug Koza Andy Bettencourt had the ITA field covered, turning a 1:02.1. Flatout Motorsports put an exclamation point on the development of its ITA Mazda Miata at the SCCA regional race held Aug. 18-19 at Lime Rock Park. Andy Bettencourt added the punctuation – which is only fair, as it was Bettencourt who insisted for over a year (in the face of much skepticism) that the underpowered Miata had potential against the Acuras and Nissans that have been dominating the class in recent years. In a mixed run group that included E Prepared cars, Bettencourt started on the ITA pole (third overall) and lost the class lead briefly to Enrik Benazic’s potent Integra, but soon repassed. Then, as our NASCAR pals say, he done checked out, cruising to a 14-second victory – a huge margin in New England Region SCCA’s brawling version of ITA. Bettencourt’s fastest lap in the Miata was 1:02.195, which would have put him second on grid in the ITS class. The time was officially listed as a new ITA track record. Flatout soon rediscovered a phenomenon about lap records: as soon as somebody says you’ve broken one, people come out of the woodwork to claim they are the rightful owners. To be fair, one of the folks who claimed to be the fastest ITA shoe at the Rock – Anthony Serra, a friend of Flatout and Nick Leverone’s Grand Am Cup teammate – turned out to be correct, having run a 1:01.6. So call Bettencourt’s 1:02.1 the second-fastest ITA race lap ever at Lime Rock. Not too shabby! Enjoying a rare weekend off from Grand Am duty, Leverone hopped in a Flatout rental Miata and finished fourth. Along the way, Leverone managed to turn the race’s second-fastest lap, a 1:03.5. We’re not kidding when we say our Miatas can run up front – contact us to rent one! The ITS race closed out the weekend and was jumbled by surprise early rain showers. Jeff Harding, running up front, pulled over when his transmission gave up the ghost. Friend of Flatout Brian Bagnall gave the crowd something to cheer about when he pulled a cagey last-lap pass on Flatout’s Steve Ulfelder to snag sixth spot.   Flatout, SCDA donate to help fight leukemia Date: 7/27/06 For the second straight year, we at Flatout Motorsports have volunteered to gather raffle and silent-auction prizes for Racing Against Leukemia (RAL), New England Region SCCA’s annual fundraiser. This year’s RAL Weekend will take place Aug. 25-27 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Autocrossers and roadracers alike will raise funds to fight the disease. For 2006, it’s our goal to shatter previous years’ tallies, and that means coming up with cooler-than-ever prizes. In addition to useful items and some surprising memorabilia, the A List prize thus far comes courtesy of our friends at the Sports Car Driving Association: SCDA has donated an entry in one of the club’s 2007 high-performance driving events at NHIS! In the face of such generosity, Flatout had to step up, so we’re donating the use of one of our rental Mazda Miatas at said SCDA event – crew, tires and all. The total value of the rental and the event is well over $1000, and 100% of the winning bid will help fight leukemia. To learn more about how you can raise funds for RAL, visit NER's homepage.   Poles and checkers at NHIS! Bettencourt scores flag-to-flag ITA win Date: 7/10/06 PHOTO: Doug Koza Bettencourt’s Miata ran smooth, clean, and all alone up front. Flatout Motorsports’ ITA Miata development program took a big step forward July 9 at New Hampshire International Speedway when Andy Bettencourt put the number 09 on the pole in an SCCA regional race, then cruised to victory – despite using the cylinder head from a stock Miata! Bettencourt’s IT head had warped Saturday, during the first qualifying session of a two-race weekend. Indefatigable crewman Forrest Stevens fueled up on Red Bull and made a frantic 7-hour round trip to Flatout HQ, where he pulled a stock head from a 1.8-liter Miata engine. The 09 was buttoned up at 1:30 Sunday morning. A few hours later, Bettencourt would make his breakthrough run for the pole (he had the rest of ITA covered by over a second), then notch the Flatout Miata’s first victory. The other Flatout pole was taken by Jeff Harding, who has risen straight to the top of the competitive ITS class in his rookie season. On Sunday, with track conditions slick, Harding’s number 04 Mazda RX-7 was the only ITS car to qualify in the 1:15 bracket. He led much of the race before an oil-induced quick spin relegated him to third. We were happy to see old friend Russ Jones take the ITS victory, his first since building up a Porsche 944S. Now it’s back to the shop to prep for Watkins Glen; more rentals and arrive-and-drives; and a July 29 Grand Am Cup race at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. See you at the track!   As Bettencourt scorches Lime Rock, Leverone preps for Mid-Ohio Grand Am Cup battle Date: 6/19/06 PHOTOS: Doug Koza) Bettencourt’s ITA Miata carries mucho momentum out of Lime Rock’s Diving Turn. The Flatout compound provided welcome cover when surprise rain marred qualifying. Continuing the development of Flatout Motorsports’ ITA Mazda Miata, Andy Bettencourt ran red-hot laps in the 1:02.7 range to cap a strong weekend of rentals and racing at Lime Rock Park. The 1.8-liter Miata handled like a slot car as Bettencourt finished third to the Acura Integra of Rick Benazic and the Nissan NS2000 of Greg Amy. Friday’s SCCA driving school saw Flatout crewing for four renters: Rob Roberts (who is also an irreplaceable Flatout crew member), Charlie Rozier, Chris Sinnet, and Sarena Traver. All drivers had a ball and ran quickly; the day’s only black mark came when Rozier, a repeat Flatout customer who was one of the quickest cars on track all day, collected a spinner through no fault of his own in the Uphill Turn. Traver stuck around for the regional race on Saturday, and immediately trimmed her times by another 2 seconds – no surprise from a veteran of Skip Barber's Formula Dodge series. Another repeat customer, hot shoe Pete Punderson, rented the number 59 Spec Miata and made a fantastic charge through the field in his first-ever SCCA race. He went back to Ohio While Bettencourt was tearing it up at Lime Rock, Flatout’s Nick Leverone prepared for the Grand Am Cup race to be held June 25 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Having had to learn several new tracks this year in his Davis Motorsports Acura RSX-S, Leverone is excited to be revisiting Mid-Ohio, where he has previously raced in SCCA World Challenge competition. The race will be broadcast on SPEED July 9 at 11:00 am eastern time – tune in!   Sold-out June school serves as reminder: book summer rentals now! Date: 6/5/06 PHOTO: Doug Koza Whether hustling through Turn 10 at NHIS or running wide open through Lime Rock’s Diving Turn, Flatout’s Spec Miatas stay poised. As racers pursue their competition licenses, Flatout Motorsports has rented out every Spec Miata we own (and then some!) for the June 15-16 Lime Rock driving school being run by SCCA's New England Region. It’ll be an all-hands-on-deck weekend as we keep the rentals clean and sharp for both the school and the June 17 race – and try to squeeze in a little racing ourselves. The high demand underscores the need to book Miata rentals well in advance. The 2006 driving school season may be winding down in the northeast, but the schedule for regional races and high-performance driving events, such as those put on by the Sports Car Driving Association, is heating up. If you’re pondering a move to Spec Miata, or thinking about stepping up your track days from street wheels to a real race car, contact us to learn about open seats!   ITA Miata development presses forward Date: 5/30/06 In an action-packed Memorial Day Weekend of racing, Andy Bettencourt continued to advance Flatout’s ITA Miata, notching fourth- and fifth-place finishes during a warm trio of SCCA regional races at Hew Hampshire International Speedway. In prerace testing, Bettencourt notched times that promised to place him squarely in the top five. Sure enough, the 09 Miata finished fourth Saturday after a hard-fought duel with BB Racing’s Brett Bogart. Sunday’s fifth was even more impressive, as a qualifying-race glitch forced Bettencourt to start at the rear of the large field. Flatout Friend and sometime renter Greg Amy dominated ITA all weekend in his Nissan NX2000, setting a new lap record while running endless strings of butter-smooth laps. Longtime New England competitor Robert Willis rented the number 00 Flatout Spec Miata after a brush with the wall put his EP Integra on the trailer for the weekend. Despite having to reacquaint himself with rear wheel drive, and a lovely pirouette at speed in the NASCAR oval, Willis drove well and had a ball. Meanwhile, at the other end of New England, Flatout Ace Nick Leverone was driving a Davis Motorsports Acura RSX-S in Grand-Am Cup Street Tuner competition. Leverone was able to run top-15 lap times, but mechanical problems once again relegated the car he shared with Lorenzo Serra to the rear of the field. You can find a full report and results here. Next on the docket: The Flatout Racing Rentals jamboree, complete with four rental customers, heads for a Lime Rock SCCA driving school and race June 16-17, while the Grand-Am Cup team preps for a June 25 race at Mid-Ohio.   Flatout’s ITA Miata nabs podiums right off the trailer Date: 5/22/06 PHOTOS: Kevin Stromski, BB Racing Bettencourt at speed; rental Miatas at rest. A double regional race held Mother’s Day Weekend at Pocono Raceway marked the strong debut of Andy Bettencourt’s ITA Mazda Miata. At Flatout Motorsports, we believe the first-generation 1.8-liter Miata has winning potential in ITA, and we’re leading the way in development. The Pocono races proved we’re on the right track; on the power-intensive track, the well-driven SR20DE Nissans of Greg Amy and Joe Dimino ran one-two on both Saturday and Sunday. Bettencourt grabbed third both days, with the 09 Miata handling like a slot car but falling back on Pocono’s long straights. Dyno development continues for the ITA Miata, and with New Hampshire International Speedway and Lime Rock Park next on the schedule, Bettencourt just might have something for those Nissans (and Acuras)! Jeff Harding, a Flatout arrive-and-drive customer who purchased Nick Leverone’s ITS RX-7, continued his podium parade with a pair of third-place finishes. In one of those races, Harding nipped Friend of Flatout Ben Phillips, who had made a brilliant run from the back of the grid, by half a fender at the checkers. Harding’s consistency has him atop the ITS NARRC points standings this year – after his first three ITS races ever! Tireless crewman Forrest Stevens drove Flatout’s 00 rental Miata for the weekend. He was in the top 5 on Sunday until a competitor punted him off an infield turn. Channeling his anger, Stevens ripped past six cars in the last three laps while running more-than-competitive times. The upcoming Memorial Day Weekend is a huge one for Flatout – and indeed for all New England motorsports fans. Bettencourt and Steve Ulfelder will head north to NHIS for a triple regional event, while pro driver Nick Leverone, part of the Davis Motorsports Grand Am Cup team, will race an Acura RSX at Lime Rock. If you’re at either venue, drop by!   Time to book a Miata for May or June Date: 5/4/06 PHOTOS: Rob Roberts Flatout renters get set to mix it up during the school's final exam. Meanwhile, a big stable of Miatas means a big trailer. A few weeks ago, three drivers rented Spec Miatas from Flatout Motorsports for the first event of the 2006 season, a driving school and race put on by SCCA’s New England Region. They enjoyed hours of track time, expert instruction, and genuine fender-to-fender competition. And when the demanding two-day school was done, all three were signed off as licensed Sports Car Club of America race drivers. Why not you? Now’s the time to reserve a seat for upcoming schools, races, and high-performance driving events such as those presented by the Sports Car Driving Association. We’ll provide a strong-running, great-looking Miata and all the crew support you need; you just bring your gear bag and focus on driving. Contact us to learn more. Here are a few upcoming events for which seats are available: May 27-29: SCCA "Memorial Day Triple” race and high-performance driving event, New Hampshire International Speedway. June 15-17: Driving school and race, Lime Rock Park.   Smooth shakedown for new-look Flatout rentals Date: 4/3/06 Fresh new duds for Flatout’s rental Miatas! Blue and orange guarantees there’ll be no confusing our three cars with anything else on the track. As any racer knows, no matter how well you prepare for the coming season, there’s always a thrash. In our case, that meant readying two (of our three) rental Spec Miatas for a March 28 Sports Car Driving Association event at Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park. One of the Miatas was a rebody of our trusty 00 car. The shell of that 1.6-liter warrior had seen better days, so we transferred the guts to a straight-as-an-arrow donor body with a primo roll cage and paint job by Flatout partner Tom Kelly. The other car, number 91, is our first 1.8-liter rental, featuring a crate motor nicely broken in with one season of SM racing. A week’s worth of 4:30 AM bedtimes got both cars assembled and road-tested just in time for the haul to Lime Rock, where gorgeous weather and eager renters made it all worthwhile. SCCA and Grand Am Cup driver Ryan Pilla had quite a workout in mind for the Miatas, having invited his own customers to experience high-performance track driving. The tireless little Mazdas were on track for an astonishing 16 sessions, and experienced minimal teething pains. The Flatout crew barely had time to top off gas and check tire pressures, but neither Miata complained. The SCDA event itself – sold out and efficiently run as usual – confirmed our belief that this group puts on the best high-performance driving experiences in the northeast. See SCDA’s News page for a writeup and info on upcoming events. Now, with a few hours’ sleep under our belts, we turn our attention to the upcoming SCCA Club Racing season, as well as a couple of Grand Am Cup cars. Stay tuned!   Flatout partners with Northeast Racing Enterprises for Toyos Date: 3/17/06 Buying 32 sets of Spec Miata tires is a task not to be taken lightly. As you might imagine, we shopped around before making such an investment. The final decision was actually pretty easy, though: when we considered knowledge, experience, and at-the-track support, it was clear that Northeast Racing Enterprises was the way to go. Most racers know Northeast Racing, and proprietor Bob Smart, as "The Hoosier Guy." Bob decided to sell Spec Miata Toyos so he could service the hordes of SM drivers who otherwise would have lacked trackside support. He knows his products inside and out, and he knows what it’s like when you need a tire balanced and your run group is going out in 10 minutes. We're proud to partner up with him. Call Bob at 518-622-0329, or shoot him an email -- and tell him Flatout sent you.   How many ponies can Flatout find for you? Date: 3/3/06 (PHOTO: Doug Koza) 26 extra ding-dongs?! That’s good news for Mark Gregory, shown here in 2005, and bad news for the rest of ITS. Some people think their car is down on power, and some people just know it. Mark Gregory brought us his ITS RX-7 because we’d tuned the cars that were in front of him on the track, and a few that were catching him as well. Gregory, a skilled racer who’s always around the podium, was understandably frustrated that competitors were beating him on the straights. Well, northeastern ITS drivers should consider this fair warning: A couple of trips to the dyno, some diagnostics, a few carefully selected parts, and a whole lot of Flatout TLC netted Gregory 26 additional wheel horsepower without opening up the motor! Are you making all the power you can be? Contact us to learn about our test-and-tune services.   As February draws to a close, ’06 plans heat up! Date: 2/25/06 It’s fair to say February marks the end of the annual Hot Stove Racing Association circuit, and March ushers in the man-I-better-get-my-car-pulled-together season – sound familiar? At Flatout, we’ve been busy all winter, but recent weeks have seen orders and prep-work accelerate as racers realize the first regional of the season is less than two months off. In the shop, our Grand Am Cup Acura TSXs are caged and being assembled (look for an update soon!), a fleet of customer cars are being massaged, and we’re somehow finding time to go through our personal IT and SM rides as well. Whether you need parts, expertise, or a Spec Miata rental, don’t wait – contact us soon, before man-I-better-get-my-car-pulled-together blurs into all-nighter season!   Book your Spec Miata rental soon! Date: 2/14/06 (PHOTO: Doug Koza) Why not you? Typical close-quarters action in a Flatout Miata. It's a good thing we built a third Spec Miata for renters this year – drivers are getting serious about 2006, and seats are flying off the shelves. In fact, rental opportunities are growing scarce for New England’s first mega-weekend: a test day, driver’s school, and regional race April 20-23 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Here’s where we stand: April 20 test day: fully booked April 21-22 school: 1 seat available April 23 race: 1 seat available We’re also fielding inquiries, and booking seats, for test days, schools, races, and high-performance driving events at Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, and Pocono. To learn more and find out why we’ve built a reputation as the top Spec Miata rental outfit in the northeast, contact us!   Flatout, SCDA extend partnership Date: 2/3/06 BELLINGHAM, MA and DEEP RIVER, CT – Flatout Motorsports and the Sports Car Driving Association have extended their partnership. Flatout customers interested in getting more out of both their cars and themselves can now take advantage of the amazing amount of track time provided by SCDA. We’ve always urged fellow racers to check out SCDA because their events are the safest and best run of any high-performance driving events we’ve seen. In 2006, we’re taking it to the next level. Customers will be able to use Flatout’s scales, other equipment, and expertise to tune their race cars at SCDA events. Those seeking to improve their driving can get ride-alongs and tips from Flatout champions Nick Leverone and Andy Bettencourt in Flatout’s trio of top-flight Spec Miatas. Check SCDA’s schedule for opportunities. Please note that most Lime Rock days have noise restrictions that may necessitate additional muffling. The 2006 season is coming up fast! Contact Andy Bettencourt to learn more.   New plan: Leverone to drive Grand Am Cup series! Date: 1/23/06 Technician Adam Desrosiers gives himself a hernia hefting an RSX shell. Flatout Motorsports driver Nick Leverone has signed on to drive in the 2006 Grand Am Cup series! Leverone will team with another Improved Touring hot shoe, Anthony Serra, in an Acura RSX. A pair of RSXs are being prepared right now at Flatout’s Bellingham, Mass., facility. Leverone and Serra will share one car. Stay tuned for an announcement on sponsorship and the drivers of the second team car – you won’t be disappointed! The Grand Am Cup commitment will render Leverone unable to drive in SCCA’s MX-5 Cup series, as planned. However, we will still build MX-5s to race in the series; if you’re interested, contact us.   Update: ITA Miata takes shape Date: 1/13/06 Montego Blue with matching rims and spoiler – nice! Our plans to prep a 1.8-liter Miata for a competitive run in ITA took a step forward this week when Andy Bettencourt’s car came back from Blendtek, our bodywork aces and sponsors, with 2005’s wrinkles smoothed out and a gorgeous paintjob. That’s for show, now here’s the go: Race Engineering, a Flatout Motorsports partner, is working its magic on the engine right now, and we will be ready to drop it in and begin dyno-testing the programmable ECU within weeks. Stay tuned!   The nation’s fastest ITS Mazda is SOLD! Date: 1/10/06 PHOTO: Doug Koza UPDATE: The 04 has been bought by an up-and-coming New England driver who will run the car on an arrive-and-drive basis. Flatout will do the maintenance and tuning, and the lucky hotshoe will roll into the track, strap in, and drive! If you're interested in a similar arrangement, contact us. As Flatout Motorsports prepares for a 2006 move to SCCA Pro Racing (stay tuned!), Nick Leverone’s bullet-quick Mazda RX-7 is on the block. If you’re looking to run up front in ITS, your car is here. This car has all the right parts, as well as many hundreds of hours of painstaking development time that helped make it a holder of five lap records and the fastest Mazda at the ARRC two years running. For a full description, see our catalog. But wait – there’s more! We’ve also put our F-350 tow rig and our 2-car open trailer on the block. Once again, you can find the specs in our catalog. Flatout Motorsports is stepping up, and that means opportunity for everyone!   Flatout Agenda 2006: Expansion, continuing support Date: 1/3/06 The new year presents Flatout Motorsports several exciting new challenges. Our resolution: tackle these fresh opportunities while offering SCCA regional racers the same service and support they’ve grown accustomed to. Here are some of the things we’re looking forward to in ’06: ITA. Andy Bettencourt’s 1.8-liter Spec Miata is undergoing a no-holds-barred transformation into an ITA machine that can run with the Acuras and Nissans. Used-car sales. We’re quickly ramping up our roster of top-quality used cars, SUVs, and trucks. Keep an eye on our catalog to see what’s for sale. For special requests, contact Steve Ulfelder – we can find what you’re looking for! Additional rentals. Due to popular demand, we’re building a third Spec Miata rental – this one a 1.8 – for use in schools, regional and national races, and high-performance driving events like those put on by our partners at the Sports Car Driving Association. To learn more or reserve a ride (especially for early-season schools), contact Andy Bettencourt. Continued parts, service, support. Sure, our agenda is crowded – but we vow to continue to offer the best parts, prep, and builds for production-based racers. Whether you want a ground-up build, the right parts, or testing and tuning to get the most out of them, contact Nick Leverone. And happy new year!   Flatout to develop ITA Miata Date: 12/9/05 PHOTO: Doug Koza The 06 will be treated to all the right IT goodies. ITA is one of the most competitive classes in SCCA Club Racing, and in the northeast, a collection of well-driven and fully developed Integras and Nissans make it especially brutal. Nevertheless, in 2006, Flatout Motorsports will launch a full-bore effort to develop a 1.8-liter Miata that can run up front. The starting point will be Flatout driver Andy Bettencourt’s 1995 car, which finished fifth in Spec Miata points in the North Atlantic Road Racing Championship series in 2005. Number 06 will donate its SM parts to a new Flatout rental Miata, and will get the best IT parts (and, more importantly, the development needed to maximize those parts’ effectiveness), including: A 1.8-liter engine built to IT specs by Race Engineering, a Flatout Motorsports partner A Bob Boig header A 4.88 Torsen rear end A suspension featuring spherical and polyurethane bushings optimized for IT use Custom Koni shocks SSR rims weighing only 8.8 pounds each Targets for the project in 2006: 140 hp at the wheels and podium potential in an extremely competitive class and region. We’re excited about moving into a new class; we believe that once developed, the Miata will be a fast, reliable, inexpensive choice for ITA, just as its RX-7 cousin is in ITS. We aim to be the first to offer the parts, know-how, and setup tips to make this happen! If you’re building an ITA Miata, or just thinking about it, contact us and watch here for news and updates.   Flatout partners with Race Engineering Date: 11/3/05 BELLINGHAM, MA, and SALISBURY, NC – Flatout Motorsports announced today that the company will serve as northeast distributor for racing engines built by Race Engineering, which built the motor that powered Tom Long to victory in Mazdaspeed’s Atlantic and North American Pro Miata Cup championships. Under the partnership arrangement, Flatout will make extensive use of Race Engineering’s Miata engines and expertise for both customer cars and Flatout rentals. Race Engineering, a full-service shop, will refer northeastern customers to Flatout for race preparation. For more information, contact Flatout Motorsports or Race Engineering.   Leverone clinches NARRC crown; Bettencourt, Ulfelder take Hard Charger honors (sort of) Date: 10/24/05 LAKEVILLE, Conn. – Flatout Motorsports’ Nick Leverone capped a dominant season here Oct. 22, sewing up the 2005 ITS title in the prestigious North Atlantic Road Racing Championship. Coming into the climactic NARRC Runoffs weekend, only Flatout customer and friend Tim Estes had a mathematical shot at Leverone. After taking the ITS pole in dry conditions Friday with a 1:00.9, Leverone opted for a conservative approach to Saturday’s race, which, after a night of sub-40-degree rain, was run on a perilously slick track (here’s how slick: the race’s fastest lap was a 1:13!). Leverone's choice of intermediate tires was the right call (as many on slicks learned the hard way), and a solid fourth-place finish locked up the season championship despite Estes’ race win. In the same race, Flatout’s Steve Ulfelder made a charge from 17th on the grid to a sixth-place finish. The run would have secured him the $100 Hard Charger Award, which went to the racer who advanced the most positions, except that the contingency was posted by … Flatout Motorsports, rendering Ulfelder ineligible. Andy Bettencourt would suffer the same fate in the even wetter Spec Miata race – his run from 13th on grid to a fifth-place finish was Hard Charger-worthy. We will post a full list of Hard Charger Award winners when results become official, but we have to mention the drive of the weekend, which was submitted by ITS competitor Dave Maynard. His grid position was 11th, but due to a problem starting his BMW, Maynard took the green dead last – and finished second, posting the fastest lap of the race. It was truly an impressive feat of rain driving. Technically, Maynard finished second to Ulfelder for Hard Charger honors, but the judges called upstairs to the booth, took a loo