For most of the designers who race at the Designer Night at the Races™ events , a week of karting is awesome as they only get a chance to race once. For the sponsors and AACS staff it likely means physical therapy as many of us race each and every night. To say I woke up sore on Wednesday is an understatement, likely due to Matt Mantz’s head-on hit the night before. But there is no doubt most of us also woke up smiling as the competition, camaraderie and charity was to continue for another night.
Aside from the flu, workload seemed to be the theme for the week. Many designers who wanted to come were stuck in the office and had to arrive late or cancel last minute. To those of you who contacted us and let us know to give your spot to someone on the wait list – we thank you (and so do the wait list-ers who got to race thanks to your consideration).
In the C-Main Sebastian Gaetan of Tesla qualified on the pole and led flag-to-flag to finish in 1st place. Sebastian was also the most consistent racer of the night as his fastest race lap was only 0.606 faster than his average. Eric Larronde of Dassault qualified all the way back in 6th but was the most improved racer of the night at he knocked 1.370 seconds off his qualifying time and moved up 4 places to finish 2nd. Tim Reismueller of Mobis started 2nd and finished 3rd.
C Main: Eric Larronde, Sebastian Gaetan and Tim Reismueller
The B-Main had a similar flavor to the C-Main as the podium was mixed up right from the beginning. Joel Baek of Nissan set a blistering pace with laps in the low 24’s en route to a win.
Jeff Chiu of Plastic Plate followed him across the line in 2nd while Dustin Trusdall of Toyota Calty moved up from 6th to round out the podium.
B Main: Jeff Chiu, Joel Baek and Dustin Trusdall
The closest race of the entire week was the A-Main in Irvine. Less than 3 seconds covered the first 4 places as for the second time for the evening the pole sitter ended up shuffled back to 4th. Timothy Song of Mobis started 2nd, dropped back briefly and came back to win. On a side note, Tim Farnum of Toyota Calty rocked a vintage Spinelle Cup t-shirt from 2009! We should have given him bonus points!
He was followed by Steve Schwartz of AACS, a scant 1.148 seconds behind who improved from a 5th place grid position. 3rd place went to Matt Mantz of Honda, a further 1.131 seconds behind. Frank Schwartz of AACS set fastest lap of the evening at a 23.997 before spinning on the last lap and finishing 4th.
A Main: Steve Schwartz, Timothy Song and Matt Mantz
As with Torrance, our partners brought products for display. Purple Platypus joined the racers and showcased their latest technologies including a full wheel printed from a 3D machine.
Purple Platypus provides 3D Printing as a service in addition to selling machines and
Lacks Enterprises, Plastic Plate Inc. and Dassault Systemes also made the event possible with their continued support.
As with the rest of the week’s event, many thanks to the sponsors, racers and spectators for making an awesome evening and helping contribute to cancer.
Be sure to check out the results and the rest of the pictures here.
Frank Schwartz