Welcome to the official site of DivaSpeed.Com and also the official web site of Donna Gilio. DivaSpeed is a newly developed racing team for 2008 composed of all women drivers that are passionate about racing cars and are dedicated racers.
It has been Donna's dream to build a race team comprised of only women. “I am so excited to have the opportunity to race with such a diverse group of women. Every member on the team comes from such a unique background, ranging from single moms trying blend a hectic family schedule with racing to successful single women running companies.”
DivaSpeed's goal for 2008 is to compete in the NASA Pro Racing WERC Series and The 25 Hours of Thunderhill, the longest and most severe auto endurance race in the World! This will be the first “all women team” to compete in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Stay tuned and follow the exciting action of DivaSpeed and Donna's 2008 racing season!
Updates: DivaSpeed's Donna Gilio Makes and Breaks Historical Record and WINS!
An unbelievable weekend of racing shattering 2 more records and more class wins for Donna Gilio! All I can say is WOW! This was the 2nd race in the Formula Car Magazine series and round 2 for SFR SCCA ITA. I decided to race both the Formula car and the Acura Integra last weekend at Laguna Seca as I love this track. It was a cool morning and the day stayed like that all weekend long. My sponsor Chuck Johnson from MLC Motorsports was there and Ron Carroll was also there to wrench on the Integra. The first qualifying session of the day between the two classes FE and ITA, was the FE class. There was 37 cars in the field and 9 FE's. Brandon Alexson, the 06 National Champ posted a blistering lap time of 1:28.8 breaking my old track record of 1:29.7. I turned a 1:28.9. On the last lap, I finally got a clean lap and just laid down a screamer! I could see that it was going to be a good one, cross T11, go down the front straight and wouldn't you know it, I ripped off a super fast lap time of 1:28.4, shattering my old track record by 1.3 seconds! Oh man, I was so excited! Not only was I on pole, but I was 4th overall! Next came ITA. The car is handling great, but we are still on the old motor and it was woefully apparent just how much it was down on horsepower. But, by the second lap, I posted another qualifying track record breaking my old record by 1 second. I posted a 1:43.7. A good time, but to tell you the truth, when the new motor goes in, I am sure I will be in the 1:42 range for ITA. It was good enough to put me on pole and 2nd overall. On race day, ITA was 1st up and I got a good start. Doug Makashima in ITS shot out in front right away then Josh Sirota in ITR got around me too. On the 4th lap, I reported to Ron that the motor is really down on power and something is happening. Well, yes indeed, something indeed was happening.. the motor finally seized up! My first DNF in a very long time! Next up was FE. I like racing this class because the speed of the car is amazing and the downforce is incredible, but, racing in this class is at times, very frustrating. Ok guys, listen up, you don't win races in the first turn! I have never seen someone win a race in the first turn! This class is notorious for melee going into the first turn and sure enough, there was a pile up with 6 cars damaged pretty heavily. I will keep my thoughts to myself as to how it started, but Brandon Alexson who qualified behind me, got a jump on me at the start. He locked up his brakes and lost control of his car and ended up entangled with another driver. He bent up his car pretty good. There were a few other cars out of the race and sure enough, the first half of our race was under full coarse yellow. You know, that's not racing and I don't like paying for races where all you do is circulate under full coarse yellow. Anyway, I missed the melee but tried to go under Donald Madson in the FB car in turn 3 and he hit my front wing which bent it up pretty good. I lost downforce on the left side and it was very interesting trying to race with a bent front wing! I did not want to come in and change it so I stayed out and raced. I drove pretty conservatively but I was able to pull away from Sean Kelly and Frank Cusak and take it to the checker flag for the win and I finished 4th overall in group 2. Chuck Johnson gave me a blow by blow report on Frank and Sean's race. I guess they had a very cool battle for second and third! In all, it was an amazing weekend. It didn't really hit me regarding the magnitude of what I accomplished this last weekend. I went from one extreme to another in cars, a front wheel drive sedan to a RWD open wheel formula car with downforce, back to back and break qualifying track records in each respective class. Winning the FE and unfortunately a DNF in ITA! Oh well, it was still great! I would like to add that I was also named driver of the weekend! Thanks to all the officials in SCCA for bestowing this honor on me. I am very pleased to say that this makes it 3 times being voted driver of the weekend and once being voted driver of the year in my racing career. Thank you guys. It means alot to me. I would also like to extend a very warm thank you to all my sponsors believing in me and supporting my racing this season. AIM Tires, MLC Motorsports, Reno Fernley Raceway, Ron Carroll, Rupert's Auto Body, Alpine Signs, Red Line Oil, DivaSpeed. You're the best! WOW, what a weekend!!-Donna Gilio DivaSpeed at WERC series at Buttonwillow Raceway Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3
Divaspeed had their 2nd race of the WERC series at Buttonwillow Raceway on April 26th. The very beautiful Glory came out from Puerto Rico to race with me and we had a very challenging weekend. Glory has never been to this track before so she had the challenging task of learning a new track all over again. Ron Carroll our regular Crew chief had a World Challenge race so he could not make it to our enduro. Ron Cortez from Aim Tires and also one of our sponsors hauled the car down for us and we used his trailer. Greg Toucan did the mechanical work on our car. We decided as a team that I would qualify the car since I am more familiar with the track. I had a super run going and was 2 seconds up on my fastest time at the 3/4 mark. Well, I caught Steve Borlik at the back section of the track and unfortunately, I lost all that time I was up on a screamer. I ended up posting a qualifying time of 2:03.5. If I would have had that great clean lap, it would have been a low 2:01 for sure and overall pole position! We ended up qualifying 1st in class by several positions and 3rd overall! Glory started the race and did another great job keeping the car in one piece. She lost a couple of positions to Jeremy Croiset and Benny the Frenchman. But they had to come in for fuel sooner than we did, so she made up a position and handed the car over to me in 2nd place in E2. We did our driver change at the halfway mark and it went smoothly. In Glory's turn behind the wheel, she reported on the radio that their was a pretty bad vibration in the car but did not know what it was. Well, when I got in the car and felt the vibration I was afraid what it was. The CV joint on the right front wheel was going out on us. It was all we could do to keep the car running and just try to hang on and finish the race. 4 laps into my stint, the right front drive shaft proceeded to finish breaking going into T2. And it was one wild spin! Right as it broke, the boot spewed all the grease in the drive shaft, then suddenly, wham, I was totally sideways slipping on the grease trying to save the spin! We ended this enduro finishing, but back in class, unfortunately due to mechanical breakdown. Had we not had mechanical issues, we surely would have won this enduro, for sure! Stay tuned for more exciting Divaspeed racing! -Donna Gilio
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