DivaSpeed finishes in 2nd place in E2 at the season opener for NASA WERC Series held at Infineon Raceway
Picture 1,Picture 2,Picture 3
------------------------- February 10, 2008;
It was an incredible winter day in Sonoma California as the racers were greeted with a rare treat to sunny California blue skies as their was a temporary break in the rainy season. The temperature all weekend hovered around the 60 degree mark which makes for a perfect horsepower weekend!
Glory flew out from her home Country of Puerto Rico to race the opening round of the enduro series with Donna Gilio. Glory has never been to Infineon Raceway before so it not only was her first time in the car, she also had the challenge of learning a new car and a new track! But she stepped up to the plate in fashion and showed off her racing skills. Sunday was the start of the 2 ½ hour enduro race and the rules for NASA enduro qualifying is grid position is selected at random, so we picked our hot pit position hoping that we would get a decent starting position. Well, We ended up starting the race 4th from last in a field of 30 cars entered and 13 E2 cars in our class. Glory started the race for Divaspeed and drove an amazing first leg in the enduro. She drove smart, worked her way through a crowded field of cars and positioned herself in 3rd place in class. Up until this point, we were behind the E2 leader with a 36 second deficit.
At around the halfway point, our crew chief Ron Carroll decided to call Glory in, put Donna in the car and top the car off with gas. All went smooth as the drivers changed positions flawlessly and they didn’t spill a drop of fuel. Donna takes off and charges through the field, chipping away at the lead, knocking off 2 to 3 seconds per lap. At the 60 lap mark, Donna passes for the lead in E2 and now team Divaspeed is in 3rd overall! Cool thought Donna. Now she put it in cruise mode trying to conserve fuel so the car will make it to the finish line.
With 10 minutes left in the race, Donna notices the fuel is too low to possibly make it to the checker flag without having to stop for a quick splash of gas, so she is hanging on and trying to drive fast enough to maintain the lead and not have to stop for fuel, but in every right hand turn the car is burping now and the drama is increasing ! Team Poodle ( Donna’s good friend Barry Thompson) has now passed Donna back for the lead in E2, we wave at each other and on the last lap Donna had to come in for a quick splash. This cost us our position, but we did end up finishing in 2nd place in E2 and 8th overall.
It was a great time and the car ran superbly. Since this was our first enduro, we made a small miscalculation and we learned from it. But in the end, we all had a great time.
The next enduro will be on the weekend of April 26th at Buttonwillow Raceway. It will be a 3 hour enduro and glory is coming out from Puerto Rico again to race with Donna. Stay tuned for a full race report and photos and follow the drama!! READ MORE AT www.thundervalleyracing.co
Mar 14-16 Thunderhill
MLC Motorsports
Gathering of Nations
FE 2nd Place(Both Days)
Mar 29-30 Infineon Raceway
SF Region SCCA ITA/X 1st Place ITA - qualifying track record 1st Place ITX - qualifying track record and race record
DivaSpeed's Donna Gilio Wins ITA at Infineon Raceway
------------------------- March 30, 2008;
Watch the whole 30 mins here!
Donna Gilio breaks 3 more track records and wins 3 races at the opening round of SFR SCCA race held at Infineon Raceway
March 29th & 30th 2008!
It was a great weekend of racing: the weather was sunny and mild and Group 5 had 50 entries! ITA had the largest class count with 29 cars entered. Group 1 is ITE and ITX and this group was full too.
First up was qualifying for Group 1. It was a cool morning and I was lucky enough to find a clean lap and laid down a fast lap of 1:52.5, a new qualifying track record for ITX. Later in the day, Group 5 had it’s qualifying session and I laid down a fast lap for a time of 1:52.3, breaking a new qualifying record. Ron Carroll is my crew chief and he worked his magic on car set up. He is the best. We are still running the old motor in the Integra and it is down on power, but it sure is handling good!
Sunday’s race saw Group 1 up first thing in the morning. Steve Borlik races the 1st gen RX-7 in ITX and that car is ripping fast in the straights, but it is a handful in the turns! He does a great job of driving that car sideways! A few laps into the race, Steve passed me, I don’t remember where in what turn, but we were dicing it out and as we both go into turn 10, I can see that Steve tried to carry WAY TOO MUCH SPEED into the turn AND he turned in just a scosh too early and as this happens, I remember Saying to myself “uh oh, this isn’t going to be pretty!” Sure enough, Steve drops all four wheels in the dirt at the exit of 10, his car gets all sideways then he shoots into the K-wall across the track on the right side of the exit of 10! Oh shit, I get on the radio to Ron Carroll and said, “Steve just went into the wall”. Well Steve’s race was over and I went on to win ITX and broke another race record with a time of 1:53.4. Sorry about your car Steve. We will have fun racing together another day!
Group 5 was up next and this race was probably the most fun race I have had in a long time. I still race the open wheel Formula Enterprise car and I love racing it, but there is something special and magical racing sedans. I think what I like about it is the close racing and all the passing back and forth. Our Integra is handling so well that I was able to race the ITR and ITS guys in the corners, but their horsepower of course pulls me in the straightaways. Michael Courtney was on Pole in his ITR BMW and just drove away from us all! But Doug Makashima in ITS, Steve Borlik in ITS and Josh Sirota in ITR had a blast racing each other the entire race! No one gave up and it was intense racing with lots of drama, making clean passes back and forth. I was sitting back in the drivers seat laughing at the ensuing battle between Doug and Steve. Steve Borlik is a great racer and I really enjoy racing both guys, but Steve would come into turn 4 and try to pass Doug on the inside and every time Steve was on his bumper so hard, pushing Doug’s car around!!! I laughed every time Steve did this! Then Doug’s all 4 wheels off in turn 10! WOW! And he saved it! Then Josh and I going around turn 7 side by side with Josh on the inside and me on the outside for 2 laps in a row, both of us going for it and not giving an inch but being respectful and allowing each other racing room! MAN, it was intense and incredibly fun!
Please watch the video, crack open a cold one and enjoy the race ! You can either watch the shortened version or go directly to Josh’s website and watch the race in it’s entirety.
Glory and I will be racing together April 26th at Buttonwillow Raceway. Should be a blast as I am looking forward to racing with her again. Check out the May 08 issue of Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, page 148. There you will find an article write up on Divaspeed. -Donna Gilio
DivaSpeed at WERC series at Buttonwillow Raceway
------------------------- April 26, 2008;
Well, it has been a while since I have updated the website and a lot has happened my friends!
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
May 4-5 Laguna Seca FE
ITA
FCM series
FE 1st place - qualifying track record
ITA (DNF) - qualifying track record
Named "Driver of the Weekend"
DivaSpeed's Donna Gilio Makes and Breaks Historical Record and WINS!
------------------------- May 4, 2008;
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
May 24-25 Miller Motorsports, Utah
FCM Series
Great Salt Lake 5th place - Saturday, Spin 2nd place - Sunday
Divaspeed WINS Buttonwillow 6 hour enduro, leads points standing for Championship!
------------------------- June 7, 2008;
Divaspeed on top of the podium at round 3 of the WERC series at Buttonwillow!
Please welcome and meet our new team member, Karen Salvaggio. Karen races a factory five with NASA and you can usually find her on top of podium in her class. Karen also owns the website thundervalleyracing.com. This website is a showcase for all women racers in all aspects of racing.
Our sponsor for round 3 of the WERC series came from Cynthia Campagnale at race2learn. Cynthia is a remarkable person who has such a warm heart. The Race2learn program is designed to bring children and racing together in a learning environment teaching children math and science through motorsport racing. It is a fabulous concept and Cynthia is doing remarkable work with children. To learn more, please visit her website at www.race2learn.com...
Ron Carroll prepared Divaspeed’s Acura Integra and gave us a perfect winning car to race in the E-2 class.
The day started with Karen getting up to speed in practice and finding her shift points around the track. Karen has driven Divaspeed’s car only once for a test day at Reno Fernley Raceway so it was important for Karen to take the practice session. She did a terrific job. By lap 3 Karen was already up to enduro speed and had the car all figured out.
Qualifying was the next session. Divaspeed team owner Donna Gilio qualified the car and put it on the pole by lap 2 with a fast time of 2:03 flat. Donna Came in and reported that the car was working great. The team was ready and had prepared a good car for the 6 hour enduro. The weather was fantastic in Sunny Southern California with the temperature around the 80 degree mark.
Team Divaspeed decided to have Karen start the race and drive the first half, then Donna would take the last leg of the race. Each girl was slated to race 3 hours each and only have one driver change.
There was 40 cars on the grid and Divaspeed was at 11th place overall. They got the car to grid 1 minute too late as NASA cut-off grid positions, so Karen lost her qualifying position and started from the back of the pack! No big deal, Karen piloted the Integra through traffic and within a few laps, Karen moved Divaspeed up to P-3. Karen drove smart as she kept a consistant pace all the while conserving the Hankook tires and Colbalt Friction brakes. Karen’s radio was not working and the team lost all radio contact with her. She came in for the first fuel stop at around the 1hour 20 minute mark and reported that she felt a small vibration coming from the front. Ron did a quick look over on the car, but could not find anything noticeably wrong with the car. Karen went back out and moved Divaspeed into the lead, but after about an hour more of driving, She came in and still reported feeling a vibration. At this point, the team decided to put Donna in the car and have Karen get her helmut radio fixed so she could get back in the car near the end of the race.
Donna drove off the grid and at this point, Team Divaspeed was down 2 laps and was in P-4. Donna’s radio was working and we had radio contact, so Donna put her head down and starting working her way through traffic, driving at a consistant pace of 2:07’s. The car still had a vibration problem, but it wasn’t severe enough to threaten the team’s chance of the car breaking down. Donna reported that it might be a flatspotted tire, but was not sure. Donna felt that the car would make it all the way through the grueling 6 hour enduro. By the 4 hour mark, Donna worked her way from a 2 lap deficit and recaptured the lead for E-2. It was smooth sailing for the rest of the race. Divaspeed performed quick fuel stops and 1 tire change and kept Donna in the car. Donna got on the radio and wanted to put Karen back in the car and let Karen take it to the checkered, but Karen, being a smart team player, decided that it was more important to not take a chance on anything happening and just keep Donna in the car. By the end of the grueling 6 hour race, Donna brought the race2learn sponsored Divaspeed Acura Integra across the finish line in 1st place in E2 and 13th overall. Divaspeed won by 3 full laps on the 2nd place car!
Divaspeed would like to thank Cynthia from race2learn for all her support. If it were not for Cynthia stepping up to the plate for us, we would not have been able to make the race. Thank you Karen for driving with us. You’re a wonderful team member and player. Thank you Ron Carroll for preparing Divaspeed with the best E-2 car in it’s class out there.Donna Gilio
