Cliff White is 2012 Spec Racer National Champion

Cliff White from Huntsville Al. is the 2012 Spec Racer Ford National Champion after a great 5 car duel at the SCCA National Championships at Road America.  The race was run in Sept of 2012 with the top cars from around the country meeting up for a one race duel to decide the National Championship.

Cliff has had the help and services of Robinson Motor Sports over the past 7 years while racing his SRF.  He and his father attend races together and call RMS for info from the track to describe the track conditions, weather and race strategy.

Cliff had Mark Eaton as his Crew Chief and mentor at the 2012 National Championship.  "Mark is the tops in the field of Spec Racers as a driver and knowing how to set up the cars" Cliff said after the race win.  "Having him as a crew chief and on the radio with me for this race was one of the important parts of the puzzle to make this win happen.  I called RMS and spoke to Mick and Mark for info while I was at the races but having Mark here to do the data and video and then set the car up was huge!" Cliff said.  "I need to thank my Mom and Dad for their help and positive input all year long too".

"Cliff did exactly what I told him to do on the last few laps, stay close and calm, it was going to come down to the last few corners to decide the race" winning crew chief Mark Eaton said in victory circle.  "It all fell into place on the last corner of the last lap.  Way too exciting for me, but what a great win!" Eaton said.

 Robinson Motor Sports looks forward to working with Cliff in the 2013 season as he now has his car maintained in the RMS shop.

RMS Lowers Car Rental Prices

Mick Robinson, owner of Robinson Motor Sports, has decided to lower the rental prices for the SCCA Spec Racer Ford.

"I have been getting a lot of phone calls and emails about renting the Spec Racer racecars that we have for rent" Mick receltly said.  "With the economy as bad as it is, and people still want to race, I have decided to lower the price to help those that want to race in these trying financial times" he continued.

The rental rates for the Spec Racer is based on which tracks the cars are to be raced.  To get an up to date rental fee, the renter should contact Mick either by phone (321 412 8390) or email robinsonms@cfl.rr.com.

The SCCA Spec Racer Ford is a true spec car.  All of the chassis are built from one jig, all of the engines come off of the same engine dyno and are within a very tight power window.  The driver's ability to drive is the main factor in how fast the cars go.

Eaton Wins Sebring USF2000 Pro Race

Robinson Motor Sports driver Mark Eaton became the first driver in a Formula Enterprises Van Diemen to win in the USF2000 series pro race in the national class.

On March 15th, Robinson Motor Sports entered 3 Formula Enterprises cars to compete in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Road To Indy Powered by Mazda race series.  This was the first race where the SCCA Formula Enterprises cars were eligible to compete in the series.  Mark Eaton, Paul Alspach and Eric Filgueiras drove the Robinson Motor Sports prepared cars in the event in front of an estimated crowd of 65,000 spectators.

Eaton qualifed 4th in class which also had 3 of the older Formula Continentals cars included.  Paul Alspach was 6th and Eric Filgueiras was 8th.

On the start, Eaton caught the front running FE driven by Scott Rettich where they had an epic battle back and forth for the lead.  Alspach moved to 4th in class and was running right with Eaton and Rettich with an FC car between them.  Filgueiras was taken out in a second lap caution lap incident, where he was hit from behind and damaged his rear suspension.

The finish had Eaton in the lead by 4 seconds when a full course caution came out.  The caution was long enough to have the race end under yellow.  Alspach had body work come loose and pitted when the caution came out, sending him back to 8th place.

A ton of work and effort went into getting the SCCA cars changed over to the Cooper Tires that the series races on.  Robinson Motor Sports did several days of testing to get the cars comfortable.  Eaton, Alspach and Filgueiras all did track time on the tires to get the FE adjusted to the new brand of tires.

Eaton thanked his sponsors for the race at the new conference after the race. " I need to thank www.deathtolionfish.org and Robinson Motor Sports for their help with this win.  We use Valvoline products in our cars which has helped a lot" Eaton stated.

Also helping with the win were Marque Engineering, Competition Data Systems and their Florida rep. Duane Neyer, Teddy Kempgens with suspension help, David from Cooper Tires and the RMS crew.  A job well done by all!

Other sponsors involved with the RMS cars were:  Bertil Roos Racing School and Pat Enzman with driver Paul Alspach while Eric Filgueiras had Jim Booth.   

FE to Compete in 2012 USF2000 Series

USF2000 announced last week that the SCCA Formula Enterprises Van Diemen cars will now be legal to race in the Professional Series starting in 2012.  The cars will compete in the National Series part of the program.

"I am so excited to see this development" Mick Robinson owner of Robinson Motor Sports said.  "This is a great opportunity for the cars to get out in front of thousands of race fans and show then what these cars can do! There will be a lot of up and coming drivers getting into these cars now that there is a major Pro Series for the cars to race in" he continued.

The Formula Enterprises, commonly called the "FE", was designed by Van Diemen for SCCA Enterprises.  The car uses the Mazda 2.3 litre engine that is fuel injected and runs off a sealed engine management system with the parameters set by SCCA Enterprises.  The car uses a sequential shifting transmission with 5 speeds. The FE is a spec car with all of the engines sealed by SCCA Enterprises. All of the cars use the same brake pads, rotors, wheels, body parts and wings.  Suspension adjustments and wing angles can be made to set the car up for the driver.  In-car brake bias and front sway bar adjustments are available to fine tune the car during sessions if needed.

With the FE being a spec class, the cars are very equal.  The driver's ability is one of the main factors in winning, the other being car prep.  In the SCCA regional and national races where the cars have mostly raced, the field is not separated by more than a second or two.

The FE will be able to compete at a lower cost than the Championship cars in the series.  Due to the spec nature of the FE, the operating costs are lower than that of the Championship cars.  "It's a great way for younger drivers to learn the professional series in with an eye on moving up to the Championship cars in a year or two of racing" Mick states.  "The drivers can rent cars from teams, we have 2 cars available for the 2012 season, so the buy in is much cheaper than purchasing your own car if you are passing through on the way up the Mazda ladder race program.  We will provide the cars, equipment and crews for those that want to drive and leave the mechanics of the cars to us.  We offer great driver coaching, data and video accessories in the cars so the drivers can learn quickly" Mick continued.

Any interested and properly funded driver should contact Mick through the "contact us" link on the Robinson Motor Sports web site.  We will be able to send information on the series and the cost to rent one of our winning FE's for the 2012 season.  We will be able to offer one off weekends with the cars if the full season is not in the driver's plans.