De La O and Phoenix Race Works Continue to Impress!!
Phil De La O continues to prove the ability of Phoenix Race Works, putting on a stunning performance at the Auto Club Speedway double regional single national at Willow Springs Raceway Park in California. Despite no dry weather practice, the team captured three wins, 3 overall group wins, and set an impressive track record of 1:37.1!
Due to a yellow, qualifying was cut short Saturday, granting Phil the opportunity for only one lap, earning him a P3 grid position. Pole for the regional race was held by a FM, as he was the only car to get a free lap! Thanks to no yellow flags, the second qualifying session for the national race proceeded without complication, garnering us another P3 grip position behind a FA and a DSR.
The regional race was held Saturday afternoon. Phil made a remarkable start, using the straight line speed of the Phoenix to pull away and take the lead prior to turning the first corner. Phil kept the lead for the rest of the race as he built a 15 second lead over the DSR in second place; lapping CSR’s, DSR’s, FA’s, and Pro-Mazda’s, and setting a new lap record of 1:37.9!
Phil and Phoenix Race Works were equally impressive in the Sunday morning national race; blasting from the P3 grip position to P1 in three laps, setting a new track record to 1:37.18, and finishing 15 seconds ahead of a record setting DSR.
Phil capped off a great weekend by taking his team from pole to pole in the regional race held Sunday afternoon.
The camera got killed by the rain early Friday, depriving the opportunity to capture the weekend. Any pictures would be greatly appreciated.
The car ran every lap without a problem, and the George Dean motor continues to run perfectly. A special thanks to Stefan, Phil Sr.,Phil Jr., and the Rest of the Phoenix Race Works Team.
Team Phoenix Sees Great Success with De La O
Team Phoenix Principal Dustin Wright teams up with Karting standout
Phil De La O of Phoenix Arizona to do battle with North America’s F1000
elite.
For the past two years, F1000 hopefuls have converged on a picture
postcard perfect autumn fall weekend at N Georgia’s famed Road Atlanta,
for the American Road Race of Champions (ARRC).
For the past 2 years, the winner of this race would be crowned F1000
Champion. Starting in 2009, the title would be decided on points
attained all year long, all over North America at SCCA Nationals
De La O in only his third time in an actual open wheel car is tossed
into the deep end of the shark tank and emerges with a solid P3 in
Qualifying. After an epic, race long battle with multi-time SCCA
National Champions, and the 2010 F1000 Champ as well. At the checkers,
De La O finishes 2nd in this most prestigious of events.
All the more impressive in light of the fact that the front wing had
been damaged severely due to contact from another car, virtually
rendering the car zero front downforce
De La O adapted to these changes, and proving the incredible mechanical grip of the Phoenix, appeared to never skip a beat
“The Phoenix F1k09 is an incredible piece of kit – my job behind the
wheel was that much easier as the car was incredibly predictable, and
the power, wow…” said De La o from the second step of the rostrum. "I’d
also like to thank my dad, Phil Sr for supporting me, and the whole
crew at Phoenix."
Plans for next year include as much seat time as can be had in the
Phoenix F1K9, running SCCA Nationals with an eye towards the SCCA
National Championship Runoffs in September at Road America, located in
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Interested parties may wish to contact Phoenix Race Cars at (623) 238-0593, or check out the race video or news section.
Test day and race weekend rentals are also available.
Over 3000 Miles One Way to Success
Phoenix
Race Works has just completed a round of debut races with their brand
new, completely redesigned F1000, the F1K.09, at tracks that many would
have considered hostile territory. With a totally untested car, Phoenix beat some of the best in the class at their home tracks. Phoenix
set two track records and finished an amazing six out of the first
seven races. The overall reliability of the new design alone would have
been impressive enough for anyone to take note, but the pace of the car
from the very beginning really made people stand up and take note.
In
the first five laps out at Thunder Hill the car was running under the
track record. At Portland International Raceway the car set another
track record, and collected its first win. At Seattle Raceways the Phoenix
proved its pace yet again with a pair of starts from pole with a podium
finish and a win against stiff competition. The last and biggest test
for the Phoenix was the 54th annual June Sprints at Road America. The car and team faced the biggest and best field of F1000’s in the nation.
Phoenix
started the weekend 11 seconds off the pace in the first practice
session. The team went to work straight away; Mark Jaremko (driver),
Dustin Wright (car designer) and Stefan Dwornik (set up engineer) put
their heads together after each session. Mark made changes to his
driving and the engineers made changes to the car. Each session the car
picked up speed, and it was not long before the Phoenix was right back in it. After the first of two qualifying sessions Phoenix
was 3 tenths of a second off pole and in P3. The team pulled out all of
the stops for the second qualifying session and captured pole by nearly
half a second. Mark was passed by two cars at the start of the race,
but was able to get back one position and finish second 11 seconds
behind the leader and 47 seconds ahead of third place! The team is
going to make some improvements to the car and plans to race again at
the American Road Race of Champions in October at Road Atlanta.
The team would like to thank George Dean for his expert support!
One lap record and One win.
Congratulations to John Hill for bringing home the first win for the Phoenix F1K.09 at Portland International Raceway.
It was a bit of a last minute decision to put John into the car, but as it turns out it was a good one, as he brought home our first win. John was able to drive in the low 1:12 lap after lap.
At this point it is almost cliche, but the tires were old. We ran this whole weekend on rubber that was left over from Thunder Hill. By the time John got into the car the tires had 6 sessions on them, yet he was still able to rail off consistent fast laps. With this car we will be able to get the most out of the of the tires. The car is not going to kill tires in just a few laps like some cars can do. I designed the cars suspension around tire data so it has lots of grip, good feel, and excellent tire life.
All in all it was a good second outing for the Phoenix F1K.09. We lowered the track record to 1:11.51 in the national race with Mark driving the car and picked up our first win with John driving the car.
Mark was really pleased with the car's handling, and thinks that we could have gotten down into the 1:10's if he had not had race traffic to contend with.
A big thanks to Mark for his patience while we sorted the bugs out.
Thanks to everybody on the Phoenix Race Works team. Watch out Washington, here we come!
-Dustin Wright
New 2009 F1000 Car Announced
Phoenix Race Works, LLC officially announces their new F1000 (FB) car for 2009. Dubbed the F1K.09, the new offering is a complete re-design of the company’s inaugural offering to the SCCA’s newest, and most exciting, formula racing class (FB) and will also be the platform for all future offerings from the Phoenix, AZ based race car manufacturer.
As was the case with the 2007 car, the F1K.09 car is 100% designed utilizing SolidWorks CAD software and the car and components have been subjected to numerous structural and aerodynamic analysis by designer, and engineer, Dustin Wright. “This car is built upon the success of the F1K.07, but is also built to improve on that design where we felt we could. For example, the new car has a 12% reduction in frontal area, while at the same time enlarging the cockpit area for larger drivers” says Wright.
Phoenix Race Works, LLC was the first race car manufacturer in the U. S. market to commit to building a car specifically for the F1000 market, and this new offering further demonstrates the company’s desire to be the leading supplier of cars and parts to the F1000 market. “We are fully committed to the SCCA Formula 1000 class and we will always strive to produce the best products we can for our customers” said Matt Conrad, General Manager.
Pricing for the new cars has been set at $39,995 as a “roller” and turn-key cars with a George Dean prepped GSX-R1000 engine and AIM dash package start at around $53,000. Many different options and upgrades are available and detailed information on the car specifications are available on the company’s website at www.phoenixracecars.com.
Congratulations to John Hill for bringing home the first win for the Phoenix F1K.09 at Portland International Raceway. ; "Image")