June 7, 2000

To All Star FM Racers:

Once again, the Star Mazda Series race on the beautiful Irwindale half-mile oval facility had the crowd on their feet and stomping. The second round of the Red Line Oil Oval Championship started with all practice laps being timed, to later determine the order for single-car qualifying. At the end of the 4-1/2 hours of feed on, feed off practice, all 21 entries’ best laps were covered by 1/2 second! Qualifying and race results are included here with Jane Anderson’s story. The race got coverage from Los Angeles area newspapers and National Speed Sport News.

Across the country, there are several series running for Formula Mazda drivers. We try to include series standings and race results when we are able. Send us your results on a timely basis, and we will do our best to include them in the mailings and on the website.

Next month, the Best Western Championship pro races start coming hot and heavy. The Sears Point test day and race weekend schedules are attached for planning purposes. We are also enclosing the entry forms for Willow Springs and Mesa Marin, which count for championship points in the West, as much as the TV races. Of course, the Mesa Marin race will settle the winners of the Red Line Oil Oval Championship. The top three drivers will not only win cash and beautiful, custom-made driving suits, but also get free Red Line Oil products for the rest of the year if they wear the suits for the remaining TV races.

Make sure to contact me if you are interested in having an in-car camera on your car for the Speedvision television races. We already have some reserved but there are more still available at this moment. Your camera sponsor will get at least two mentions on the broadcast, and depending how the race goes, you get TV time plus a copy of the whole in-car video from your car. These are the latest gizmos with helicopter relays and remote controls from the TV truck. In the show from Charlotte, the in-car cameras got about one-quarter of the race broadcast time.

Soon, Star Race Cars will be able to provide two new services for Star Formula Mazda owners: shock absorber testing/rebuilds and horsepower verification/tuning on our new shock dyno and chassis dyno. If you suspect an off-track excursion may have damaged your shocks or an over-temp may have hurt your motor, call us to set up a test. You can get peace of mind without taking everything apart. Of course, these new tools will also be made available to tech.

Speaking of tech, the Comp Board at SCCA has published some new rules proposed for 2001. Eliminating 46mm choices is no problem. Wrapping headers will cost more and lead to more header breakage. The limitation of carb jets to the extreme proposed will make it impossible to optimize some competitors’ motors, resulting in less equality, not more. Limiting the range of adjustments, somewhat, is probably okay. If no one else writes the Comp Board, the published proposals may become the class rules for next year. It is up to you.

Enough roll bar update kits have been ordered and shipped to do about half of the Formula Mazdas in the field. Everyone seems to like the way they look. Some have expressed concern about the additional weight. The five to six pounds added are less than the weight of most crash helmets and less than the weight of one gallon of fuel. Cars with the mod are still breaking track records and winning races, even with the new 1350 pound minimum weight, so performance does not seem to be compromised and safety is greatly enhanced. If your car has not been done, we suggest to make the arrangements ASAP.

Those that have been awarded free room nights at Best Western are advised that we have been told the credits must be used before June of 2001. Let us know when and where you prefer to stay and we will confirm the reservations for you. It would be a shame to let the sponsorship contribution from Best Western go to waste.

We hope everyone is having a blast with the Star Formula Mazda racing program of their choice for 2000. We will be surveying you soon for input on 2001.

See you at the races!

Sincerely,

Gary E. Rodrigues