Blog Entries

Hammitte, McHaffie, Mills shine at NJMP

steve@ulfelder.com — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Craig McHaffie wheels to a second-place finish.

Summer Thunder, an SCCA Regional run at New Jersey Motorsports Park's Thunderbolt track, was a terrific outing for a sizeable Flatout contingent. Big thanks go out to crew members Theresa Condict, Evan Consolazio, Mike Knapp, and Nick Leverone (who wrenched instead of racing - usually he does [...]

Farbman wins Pro-IT SM, overall crowns; Valet second!

steve@ulfelder.com — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Jon Farbman, 2010 Pro-IT Series overall points champion.

The weekend of August 14-15 saw the culmination of the Pro-IT Series' 2010 season with a pair of races at New Jersey Motorsports Park. We're proud to say that Jon Farbman, a Flatout Motorsports Arrive & Drive client, wrapped up not only the Spec Miata points championship but the overall crown in this [...]

Coming attractions

steve@ulfelder.com — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:00:00 +0100

The Flatout Motorsports S2000 hammers through Watkins Glen's Bus Stop in its debut.

Blogging's been light lately because we had a rare two-week stretch without racing - but trust us, it's the calm before the storm! This week, we'll visit Pocono Raceway for a test day before dropping south to New Jersey Motorsports Park for Rounds 6 and 7 of [...]

Poles, checkers, records at the Glen!

steve@ulfelder.com — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:00:00 +0100

One of our must-attend races each year is the July Sprints at Watkins Glen. This year, a Pro-IT race was piggybacked on, making it an even bigger weekend.

We posted below about company president Nick Leverone's immediate success (in the form of a new track record) with Steve Ulfelder's new ITR Honda S2000. We'll simply add here that Leverone won his Regional sprint race and was comfortably out front in Pro-IT when the heavens opened. Nick pulled in rather than skate throug [...]

NHMS: McHaffie scores SM hat trick!

steve@ulfelder.com — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:00:00 +0100

We're late with these results, and we will bring you a full Watkins Glen writeup tomorrow, but we wanted to highlight the weekend Craig McHaffie enjoyed July 10-11 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Ann Lamport Hammitte, Keith Hammitte, Doug Fisher (in a new-to-him Miata), and Jody Fisher all turned in excellent weekends, but Craig rang the bell with three victories (two points-paying races plus a qualifier) in the competitive Spec Miata class. The perfect weekend gives the y [...]

Project S2000: Leverone sets WGI track record right off the trailer!

steve@ulfelder.com — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 05:00:00 +0100

We'll bring you full results after the weekend's racing is done, but here's a news flash: In the debut of Steve Ulfelder's ITR Honda S2000, Flatout President Nick Leverone set a new track record at Watkins Glen International.

The record (2:13.408) came during a Saturday qualifying race for Regional action. Leverone is also piloting number 05 in the weekend's Pro-IT race, for w [...]

Hot weekend at the Glen!

steve@ulfelder.com — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Steamy temperatures and a huge Spec Miata field made for a fun weekend at the Glen Nationals, run July 10-11.

First things first: returning renter Eric Thompson suffered a hellacious wreck in the Esses when two cars tangled in front and left him nowhere to go. Happily, Eric's fine and the car's fixable!

Clients Jon Farbman, Whit Gregg, Bob Varca, Amy Mills, and Russell Gee all put together outstanding SM races.

Driving his RX-7 in the S [...]

Flatout-prepped Miata takes 12-hour enduro at NJMP

steve@ulfelder.com — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Joyful chaos at midnight after the last-lap victory!

How about a 12-hour enduro featuring a last-lap pass for the win? Is that close enough racing for you?

Congrats to Bob DiMarco, Matt DiMarco, and all the other drivers and crew who took their number 32 SSM car to victory in the epic Devil in the Dark, a half-day enduro at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

[...]

Hall dominates ITS at Lime Rock!

steve@ulfelder.com — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Game face! Amy Mills in grid before one of her top ten finishes.

June 18-19 saw an SCCA driving school and Regional race at beautiful (and steamy!) Lime Rock Park. Naturally, we were there in force.

Two returning renters (Russell Gee and Sam Wilkinson) and a welcome new face (Bill Hurley) ran Friday's school in Flatout Miatas, g [...]

Meeting tomorrow's racers at F1 Boston and F1 Outdoors

steve@ulfelder.com — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 05:00:00 +0100

June 19, while one Flatout crew raced at Lime Rock Park (more on that soon!), some of us enjoyed a day at F1 Outdoors, which, along with sister track F1 Boston, is the premier karting operation in Massachusetts.

F1 Outdoors, located in East Bridgewater, was hosting an informal car show while karters tested. So in addition to checking out some cool stre [...]

Leverone, Valet top Pro-IT podium; Grand-Am results from the Glen; good times at Monticello

steve@ulfelder.com — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Young guns: Craig McHaffie (white MazdaSpeed3) and Alex Kirby (orange Honda) start the Grand-Am Continental Tire 150 at Watkins Glen International. The cars would finish together as well, with Craig (teamed with father Hugh McHaffie) taking twentieth and Alex twenty-first.

We're proud of both drivers: they were already accomplished karting hotshoe [...]

Look for Flatout at Grand-Am races! UPDATE: results

steve@ulfelder.com — Wed, 26 May 2010 05:00:00 +0100

In coming weeks, several members of Team Flatout will be running in Grand-Am's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at some of our favorite tracks!

Memorial Day Weekend, Craig McHaffie and Nick Leverone will share a Freedom Autosport Mazdaspeed3 at Lime Rock Park.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Craig and Nick's day ended early after Leverone tangled with another car in Lime Rock's Lefthander. However, it's a pleasure to report that Flatout client and hotshoe Ale [...]

Bettencourt, Harding win at Lime Rock crash-fest

steve@ulfelder.com — Sun, 16 May 2010 05:00:00 +0100

The weekend of May 14-15 saw a big weekend at beautiful Lime Rock Park. Anchored by an SCCA National race, the program also featured a restricted Regional and Race 2 of the 2010 Pro-IT series. We were there in force, with over a dozen clients!

As you might expect with such a high car count, the real heroes were the crew members who kept the racers on track, often in spite of significant crash damage (more on that below!). So a tip of the Flatout cap to Randy Bu [...]

Race results: VIR, NHMS

steve@ulfelder.com — Mon, 03 May 2010 05:00:00 +0100

The meat of the season is upon us, so we beg your forgiveness if we get behind on our race results! The weekend of April 17-18, Team Flatout traveled to beautiful Virginia International Raceway for a double National event. Team drivers Nick Leverone and Hugh McHaffie, as well as clients Russell Gee, Whitfield Gregg, and Amy Mills diced it up for two solid days. In a field of nearly 50 (!) Miatas, everybody showed impressive speed, though some were seeing the track for the first time. The stan [...]

For sale: Young Flatout-built Miata

steve@ulfelder.com — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0100

One of our clients who finds himself deeply involved with Pro racing is selling his extremely fresh, extremely fast 1.6-liter Spec Miata. The price is $16,000, and we assure you it would be impossible to duplicate this car for so little money! On to the specs:

1992 Spec Miata

* Built from a shell by Flatout Motorsports in [...]

Harding, Leverone, Hammitte score wins as 2010 season launches!

steve@ulfelder.com — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Driving his brand-new Spec Miata, Jeff Harding snagged three podiums, including a win.

April 10-11, New Englanders burst from the winter doldrums with a packed weekend of racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Saturday kicked off with Round One of the 2010 Pro-IT Series. Flatout Motorsports president and team driver Nick Leverone, who d [...]

Project S2000: Out of the paint booth!

steve@ulfelder.com — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Steve Ulfelder's ITR S2000 has emerged from the paint booth. Tom Kelly at Precision Motorsports, who handles all of Flatout's bodywork, did his usual masterful job. The car's exterior will be white and red (Japan's traditional racing colors) with black accents.

On to the pictures!

The ES/STS autocross project got some lovin' last night. Baseline runs indicated we have a really nice factory motor in the rare GTUs chassis. After Nick spotted and corrected the disconnected fifth and sixth port actuators, the motor pulled a solid number on our in-house Dyna Pack.

Now Forrest Stevens and Andy Bettencourt will install a new sway bar, adjustable Ko [...]

Fun in the sun at Sebring!

steve@ulfelder.com — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Leverone (blue and orange) leads Farbman (green and black) to the start of Sunday's race. Both drivers notched top-ten qualifying runs in a field of nearly 50 locals!

While snow, slush and cold marched through the northeast, we headed south for a weekend of Miata-thrashing at Sebring International Raceway. This February escap [...]

Sebring bound!

steve@ulfelder.com — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Several of our clients like to chase away the winter blues by running a February race at Sebring International Raceway, and the customer's always right, so we're on our way to the legendary track right now.

We'll trundle up in the Renegade in time for the test day Thursday, Feb. 19, and that'll be followed by a two-day SCCA Regional race, where we'll connect with old friends and make some new ones.

If you're lucky enough to be in the area, drop by and say [...]