2017 Trans Am Championship

[novicius]

http://gtxforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=2295&stc=1

2017 Trans Am Championship Schedule

Date - Venue - Partner
March 5 - Sebring International Raceway - SVRA
April 9 - Homestead-Miami Speedway - None
May 13 - Road Atlanta - Formula Drift
June 3-4 - Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix - Indy Car
June 18 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - SVRA
July 2 - Brainerd International Raceway - None
August 12 - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - NASCAR XFINITY
August 26 - Road America - NASCAR XFINITY
September 10 - Watkins Glen - SVRA
September 24 - Virginia International Raceway - SVRA
October 8 - New Jersey Motorsports Park - None
November 4 - Circuit of the Americas - SVRA
November 11 - Daytona International Speedway - HSR


ABOUT THE TRANS AM SERIES
The Trans Am Series, America’s Road Racing Series, began igniting the passion of motorsports fans across the world in 1966 and has been home to some of the greatest names in road racing. Today, Trans Am continues to honor its legacy, while challenging the status quo in racing, through meaningful racing platforms and a driver-oriented focus. The Trans Am Series is operated by The Trans Am Race Company, LLC (TARC), through a five-year agreement in which TARC oversees the management and marketing of the Trans Am Series. SCCA Pro Racing sanctions Trans Am events and provides operations services to the Series.

Defending Champions include: Amy Ruman (TA), Gar Robinson (TA2), Ernie Francis, Jr., (TA3 American Muscle) and Lee Saunders (TA3 International). For more on the Trans Am Series visit www.gotransam.com (http://www.gotransam.com), “like” Trans Am on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gotransam (http://www.facebook.com/gotransam), or follow Trans Am on Twitter at @gotransam.


EDIT: Also there's apparently a Trans Am West Coast Championship (http://gotransam.com/events/index.cfm?cat_id=452) -- who knew?? :D

[novicius]

Fan clips from Sebring International earlier this month: :up:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOLALScvVb4


Cameron Lawrence Racing in-car (Camaro):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSabhdoKBZo

Squirrelly! :D :up:

I don't really have much else to add -- I'm a terribly ignorant racing fan so I'm not aware of where to watch, what's the race sponsorship status, why they're partnered with so many different orgs, etc.

Feel free to share some tech, peeps. :popcorn:


EDIT: Do I spoiler the results of races? What's the protocol in this forum?


Cliff Ebben gives Ford Mustang rare Trans Am Series TA class win at Sebring (http://autoweek.com/article/sports-cars/cliff-ebben-gives-ford-mustang-rare-trans-am-series-ta-class-win-sebring) - Chevrolet Corvettes round out podium at season opener

Cliff Ebben (of Appleton, WI :rawk:) celebrated his 65th birthday with his sixth career Trans Am Series victory, winning the season-opening event on Sunday at Sebring International Raceway.

Ebben drove a Ford Mustang into victory lane, while Tomy Drissi, who finished second, led a parade of seven Chevrolet Corvettes behind Ebben. Vinnie Allegretta completed the TA class podium, while former NASCAR driver Stanton Barrett finished fourth and defending series champion Amy Ruman was fifth.

Mark Boden won in the TA3 class in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, while Brian Kleeman captured his first career Trans Am Series win with a TA4 class victory in his Ford Mustang. Boden's triumph was his fourth career series win.

Ebben started fourth in a 22-car TA field, took advantage of attrition in front of him and went on to post Ford's first winner in the TA class at Sebring since Boris Said in 2001. :lol: #ouch

“It was a pretty straightforward race for me,” said Ebben. “We just kept moving up as the leaders started to drop out, and I inherited the lead. You are better to be lucky than good, they say."

[dodint]

Yeeeeessssss. :up:

[novicius]

Is Drew sponsoring a team??

http://gotransam.com/var/assets_content/Boden(2).jpg

:lol:

[tigeraid]

No Mosport round wat. :?

[dodint]

As for spoilers, I mean, what's the broadcast delay? I usually watch the whole TA season in the offseason all at once. I'd say it'd be nice to keep the results in spoiler tags until at least the day after the CBSSN broadcast.

I may end up just reading the thread all at once some time in January. ;)

[The359]

Brainerd still exists?

[dodint]

Yes. Wish I could've made it up there. Still might plan one of my business trips around it.

[novicius]

Homestead - Miami Speedway race this weekend (http://gotransam.cdn.racersites.com/assets/2017%20Homestead%20Schedule%20V2%20(3-10-17)2.pdf). Too bad there isn't any place we can watch the damn race. :smh:

[Fogelhund]

No Mosport round wat. :?

Shame it isn't with World Challenge again.. but will go to World Challenge anyway.

[novicius]

Results listed below: (http://gotransam.com/news/%20Ernie-Francis-Jr-and-Gar-Robinson-victorious-in-Trans-Am-races-at-Homestead-Miami/66455)

http://gtxforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=2335&stc=1

HOMESTEAD, Fla. [April 9, 2017] – As the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli visited Homestead-Miami for Round 2 of the 2017 Trans Am Championship, Ernie Francis, Jr., and Gar Robinson secured victories in their respective 102.15-mile races. Likewise, Randy Kinsland would secure a win in TA3, while Brian Kleeman grabbed his second consecutive victory in TA4.

The win marked the first in the TA class for Ernie Francis, Jr., in the No. 98 Buoniconti Fund/ Beta Tools Ford Mustang, after stepping up from the TA4 class where he won three consecutive championships. Francis had seemed destined to secure his first win last round at Sebring after leading much of the race before having his hopes dashed by a simple oil filter O-ring. Today, at his home track of Homestead-Miami, Francis was able to put together the complete performance in front of friends and family—shooting out into the lead on the first turn of the race and never looking back.

“This couldn’t be more special,” said Francis. “Winning our first TA race, on our home track, in the brand new car—I can’t even explain it. The car ran perfectly every lap out there; we were able to pull a gap out front over everyone else. When the restarts came, we still had plenty of car underneath us. The Pirelli tires were good the entire race; we had the pace in the car the entire time. When we needed it, we had the speed; and that helped us win the race.”

Over the first half of the race, Francis built nearly an 8-second lead on second position, turning a new track record 1:17.496 lap in doing so. However, Francis would also have to manage traffic, two full-course yellows and a last gasp charge by fellow Miami-area local RJ Lopez, in the No. 06 Republica Brewing/ ACP Chevrolet Corvette.

“It took some extra work to manage the traffic,” said Francis. “There were plenty of lapped cars, and some weren’t giving as much room as I would have liked around the track. You just had to be safe with it; it’s not worth risking the car— you make decisive passes and those are the ones that help you build up a lead out there. But we had the power and consistency from start to finish; these Pirelli tires let you turn in qualifying-like times early on and still help you over the last few laps.”

The win is 24th in Trans Am, across all classes, for Francis, who is still only 19-years old. While Francis held the lead for the entirety of the race, minus the start, the top five behind him was in constant flux with Lopez, Stanton Barrett, in the No. 33 Ojai Energetics Ford Mustang, Amy Ruman, in the No. 23 McNichols Company Chevrolet Corvette, Cliff Ebben, in the No. 36 Stumpf Ford/ McMahon Group Ford Mustang, and Daniel Urrutia, Jr., in the No. 13 Ferrea Racing Components Chevrolet Corvette, all featuring.

RJ Lopez would comfortably finish second, while Urrutia would outlast Cliff Ebben for the final spot on the podium, completing a Miami-area sweep of the podium. Ebben would finish fourth, while Amy Ruman would complete the top five.

Photos of Homestead 2017 (http://gotransam.com/photos/%202017-Homestead/9654).

[novicius]

I'm not crazy about the new Camaro body but I gotta say I like them in solid colors over most racing liveries I've seen so far (YMMV obviously).

http://gtxforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=2339&stc=1

[novicius]

Date - Venue - Partner
May 6 - Road Atlanta - Formula Drift
Road Atlanta bumped to May 13th along with Formula Drift.

The number of entries per class:

TA - 18
TA3 - 12
TA4 - 7
Total: 37

Obviously when this series folds I'll post the news here. :lol:

[racerfink]

Should be at least 37 TA2 cars.

[novicius]

Heh yeah, they finally updated the count on their website :rolleyes: -- TA2 is 22.

[racerfink]

I guess I don't quite understand. 59 cars is a pretty impressive number of cars.

[dodint]

I record a ton of racing through the year and watch it all summer. I'm finishing up Blainpain GT soon and then will get to watch Trans Am, looking forward to it.

I've been working from home a bit more this week because of the weather so I have Youtube running in the background, currently watching the '97 Watkins Glen race. Wish I could've seen these in person.

http://www.zoompics.com/gallery/1997/97ta-1.jpg

Awwww yisssss.

[Rare White Ape]

‘Murica does have some unique and exceedingly well supported racing categories.

[Freude am Fahren]

Trans-Am used to support ALMS at some races, so I watched them at a few races. Seeing them in Downtown Miami was interesting.

ALMS and Grand-Am were always fun weekends, with great supporting series: Trans-Am, World Challenge, Grand-Am Cup (Now Continental Tires Challenge), Star-Mazda, etc.