LAMB: Racing For Results

GRAND-AM

LAMB: Racing For Results

With sponsorship having almost run out to stay in the Rolex GT Racer's Edge Mazda RX-8, Todd Lamb and co-driver Jordan Taylor are racing for results.

Todd Lamb | http://www.toddlamb.com | Posted June 08, 2010

Lamb and Taylor have been one of the best stories so far in the 2010 Rolex GT season, but their ability to complete the season is now in doubt. (LAT)

We just completed double-header back-to-back race weekends, and it was a hectic couple of weeks for both Racers Edge and i-MOTO crews to make both races with little time in between.

In the Racers Edge Idemitsu Mazda RX-8 in the Rolex GT series, my co-driver Jordan Taylor got the #30 another pole in qualifying at Lime Rock, but unfortunately we went a lap down in the middle of the race due to a pit strategy gamble that didn’t work out at all. We spent the rest of the race trying to make up the lap, but in the end contact with another car put us out of the race. We had the speed but not the right strategy, which has been our Achilles heel much of the season.

At Watkins Glen we were in for a 6-hour GT battle, so we added Jade Buford to the driver lineup in the GT #30 Mazda. Jordan qualified the car in 2nd, and was running 4th for most of his opening stint. We shuffled the driver order a bit due to the on-and-off rain showers, putting me in for the second stint to safely get the car through the intermittent rain while still running Pirelli slicks. I started my stint in second and fell back to 4th while getting used to the lack of grip, but with a swaybar change from the cockpit I started to quickly make up ground and took the lead for a while towards the end of my stint as the track began to dry.

We lost a lap doing a brake pad change, and spent the next 3 hours trying to make up the position to get the wave by. I started my final stint (the 5th hour of the race) on the very end of the lead lap, just in front of the GT leaders. I put my head down and drove every lap like it was for the win, and managed to pull away from the leaders and set us up to get back in contention on the lead lap. We got the lucky break and the yellow came out, so we made up the lap, but as you probably saw on SPEED during the broadcast we had a lugnut get jammed in the wheel hub and went down a lap again. Very frustrating to finish 6th in yet another race we should have been in contention to win.

As we found at VIR, the i-MOTO MAZDASPEED3 is strong in ST and was in the top 5 towards the end of the race, but we were lacking the straight line speed of the front runners and fuel mileage needed for a one-stop race. We’d already done a lot of work getting the handling and braking sorted out; with the help of SpeedSource we had the setup where the car rolled through the corners well, and after experimenting with Cobalt Friction brake pads we had a combination that gave us great braking ability, thanks to Cobalt’s Andie Lin. Fortunately, GRAND-AM was able to recognize that we have all the elements in place except the horsepower and fuel mileage, so we were allowed some ECU modifications that should have allowed us to contend for the win at Lime Rock.

Unfortunately for Glenn Bocchino and I, the ST #31 Mazda didn’t even take the green flag at Lime Rock due to a driveline issue, so we had to wait for Watkins Glen to see what the ECU modifications would do for us. We found out that the changes were helpful in some gears, but in 5th and 6th gear the top end just isn’t there due to the way the car is tuned with the restrictor. Glenn did a great job to qualify 7th even with the lack of top end speed, and we felt like we had a great car for the race even though we were still suffering on fuel mileage and had to make it a two-stop race. Despite this, we fought hard for every position and with the handling we were able to get towards the front. However, while I was running fifth with just a few laps to go, we had another driveline failure that ended the race.

Lamb has also raced in the i-Moto MAZDASPEED3 in 2010. (Todd Lamb)

It has been a real pleasure to run with i-MOTO this season. This is my first season working with most of the guys on the team, but it’s a close group of dedicated people that pull together as a real team to make it all run smoothly. Sure, it has been frustrating at times getting these MAZDASPEED3’s sorted out, but that’s the reality of bringing a new car to the series. Fortunately, we started out with a great package put together by Mazda and SpeedSource, and all of the Mazda teams have been sharing information and working well together to make improvements to the cars and shorten the development time. There’s still plenty more to be done but the i-MOTO guys have the experience and knowledge to continually make improvements as the season progresses.

While the teams have been busy working on cars the last 4 weeks, I’ve been busy at the gym and on the bike almost every day, getting physically prepared for the busy summer schedule. We have a group of racers in Atlanta that go mountain biking on occasion, as it’s a great way to get in shape both physically and mentally. Then again, AMG’s Brad Rampelberg broke his collar bone mountain biking the day before the MX-5 Cup race at Mazda Raceway. However even with that handicap he managed to start 8th and make his way to the front of the field to lead a handful of laps – I’d call that determination!

I’ve also been working on sponsorship for the rest of the season in Rolex GT. We are still a little short on budget to finish the year, and with the strong runs Jordan Taylor and I have been having with Racers Edge in Rolex this season, it would be a shame not to finish it off in style. Hopefully another strong run at Mid Ohio in GT will further our cause – we’re not likely to make the next race in July at Daytona without some financial help.

Todd Lamb, right, and Mazda's Tim Buck, left, stay in shape by mountain biking on a regular basis. (Todd Lamb)

In addition, I’ve been doing a lot of coaching for Spec Miata, MX-5 Cup, and other racing series. Tom Long (another Mazda driver) and I partnered with WebLaps.com to conduct a very successful online coaching seminar about Lime Rock a few weeks ago. We are going to host more free online seminars on Watkins Glen and Mid Ohio in the upcoming weeks. Subscribe to the newsletter at WebLaps.com if you would like to be notified of upcoming seminars.

~Todd

Todd Lamb has been involved with racing since the age of 10. Growing up in Michigan, he got his start racing karts on dirt, asphalt, and street racing circuits throughout the Midwest. Lamb took some time away from karting to get a Mechanical Engineering degree, but his passion for racing brought him back to the sport soon afterward. He took a Skip Barber Racing School at Road America and entered his first Professional SportsCar race in 1998.

In 2002, Todd left his automotive engineering job in Detroit and took a break from racing to start a magazine publishing company. Producing both car and motorcycle magazines, he wasn’t too far removed from the racing world and kept his driving skills sharp with track days, tire tests, and vehicle evaluations on track.

Recently, Lamb returned to sports car racing, winning 3 straight championships with Mazda – two in Spec Miata and one in the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series. In addition, Todd ran in the Grand Am Continental Tire Challenge in both the Street Touring (ST) and Grand Sport (GS) classes the past few seasons, with an eye towards stepping up to the Rolex GT series.

This year follow along as Lamb achieves his dream, competing in his rookie season as a driver for Mazda in the Racer’s Edge Motorsports RX-8 in the Grand Am Rolex series. Keep track of Todd at toddlamb.com, twitter.com/toddspeed, facebook.com/toddspeed, and mazdausa.com

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The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Todd Lamb

ToddLamb.com

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