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.

Matthew Mair Wins 2011 June Sprints

Matthew Mair, of Miami Florida, rented an SCCA Formula Enterprises from Robinson Motor Sports and won the June Sprints!

Qualifying had Matthew 1.8 seconds off the pole time of Scott Rettich.  Mark Eaton, Robinson Motor Sports crew chief discovered that some recently rebuilt shocks had bad seals on them and the pressure was leaking out of them.  "We will be in pretty bad shape if we don't get some more shocks" Eaton said.  The RMS inventory had one, but we needed 3.

Our main compeitior came to our rescue, Scott Rettich and his crew, Alliance Autosport, allowed us to borrow 2 shocks from their spare car.  An unbelievable gesture in this untra competitive class.  Mark removed the shocks and installed them on the RMS car for the last qualifying session. 

The shocks make a huge difference as Mair was now one second of off Scott's time. 

It rained 2 hours before the race, so all of the 14 teams at the event had to switch over to their rain set up.  As the cars started to roll off of the gird, the sky was gray, but there was a small dry line developing on the track.  No one had any time to switch over to the dry tires, so the entire FE field went out on rains.

Rettich took the lead on the first lap, with Walsh, Gallagher and Mair in tow.  Matthew passed Gallagher on the second lap, and got by Walsh on the next lap.  Next time by, with spray flowing off the cars, Rettich lead by 2 car lengths over Mair.  Just after the caroselle, Mair made the pass for the lead, with Walsh right on his gear box.  Rettich and Walsh entered the ultra fast kink side by side!  Some contact was made and Rettich spun off the outside and rubbed the wall, ending his race.

Walsh and Mair continued on with a 2 car break a way.  With a slight rain sprinkle falling it was not enough to get the track fully wet.  Walsh made a pass on the back side of the track.  Mair stayed right behind him until the next lap where he repaid the favor.  "I can outrun him pretty easily Mark, let me know when it's time to go" Matthew radioed in.  "There is 3 to go, let it fly Matthew!"  And off he went!!

Matthew won the race by 6 seconds!

"I love these RMS cars!  I have driven 2 of the RMS Formula Enterprises and have won several national races with both of them.  I was just a car length away from winning the Runoffs last year in their yellow car, but this car is just as good.  I can't wait to get back here for the Runoffs again to win it this time!" Mair excitedly stated in impound.

"There are a lot of people that help me with my racing, Valvoline, Fram Filters, Autotronics of Miami, Hoosier, Mazda and the RMS crew.  My family has helped me way more than I can begin to mention. Mark Eaton does a great job with these cars and his past 2 FE National Championships have helped him learn the cars in great detail.  Mick Robinson runs a great team with excellent equipment and it's just a pleasure to race with RMS."

Robinson Motor Sports (RMS) uses Valvoline products in the transmissions, engines and grease for the wheel bearings.  We have had excellent results since we stated using the Valvoline, multiple wins with multiple cars in both the Spec Racer Ford and the Formula Enterprises classes.  Fram Oil filters provides the security that we feel very comfortable with.  Autotronics out of Miami Florida supplies excellent audio equipment for vehicles.  The Hoosier tires are a great match for the set up of the FE's with excellent wear and tons of grip.  The rain tires at this event were excellent.  Our very dependable Mazda engine has run perfectly in the car.  This is only the second engine in the car is 7 years of racing.  Still strong after all this time and still winning races!