Mario Bonfante's Race back to the Podium!: July 2012

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Last Race...

Hey everyone how's it going?

For those of you that hasnt seen it yet....

Sorry for lagging on the update iv just been stressin on finishing what the problem with my car is now.

Most of you already know my last day on the track was on the 16-17 at Infineon Raceway with the last NASA event. Unfortunately do to mechanical failers agian with the car throughout the day Saturday left me unable to drive Sunday.

The car was running kinda funny all day ad then finally in my 3rd session out on Saturday it started acting really weird, popping and stuff so I just pulled directly off before I broke anything else.

We pulled a late one that Saturday night trying to get it going for Sunday but unfortunately it just wasn't in the cards that weekend.

The car won't rev past 4500rpms and starts breaking up when the turbo starts to spool so we originally were thinking it was electrical, but the more we look into it and run tests it's looking more & more mechanical.

So this last week We went back to the drawing board to try and locate what and where the problem is coming from. We've got it narrowed down and were thinking now that I may have bent a valve or two, so works is gonna pull the head off and check it all out this week. Unfortunately I don't think the car will be ready for the next race, but I want to try and squeeze a test day in so we can try & work all the bugs out for the following race in September.

I'm in the process right now of working with my current sponsors as well as contacting new ones, in order to come up with a little bit different game plan for next season, so well see.

For now I'm just gonna work on getting my car running reliable for the rest of the season, try and win some races & break some records(; lol

I'll have more info on how the cars coming and when I'm going out for practice again in a week or two. I'll post an update once I get all the details worked out..

Thank you all again for all the continued support and encouragement!

Have a great day & God Bless!

...Keep Em Spinnin...

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2013 Racing Ambissions:

Objective:

My ambitions for this season are to run the complete West Coast Northern California NASA racing series as well as a few SCCA events if possible. The NorCal NASA series will be my main focus but on the months that they don't run I would like to attend some other racing sanctions to gain the experience as well as exposure. I plan to practice at least once a month on top of the race weekends as well to increase my seat time and confidence behind the wheel. Depending on how the season unfolds I would also like to try and race the NASA Miller Motorsports Nationals.

This following 2013 season I plan to compete in the Northern California German Touring 3 Class in my 2002 BMW M3. This is a highly competitive class that will consist of a variety of high horsepower purpose built race cars such as, Porsche’s, BMW’s, Mercedes, etc. I have committed myself to a strict work out routine in order to build and maintain my strength, stamina and endurance as well as to keep my rehabilitation progressing forward. I aspire to become a top racing competitor in the auto racing industry, and hope to one day to be the first quadriplegic champion to win an able bodied professional sanctioned series.

Car & Class

The car we have chosen to build for this 2013 season is a 2002 BMW E46 M3 SMG. The M3's SMG paddle shifted transmission will give me the optimal platform to construct my custom handcontrol sett up off of. This system will allow me the ability to apply the throttle, brakes, upshift and down shift all while keeping my hands on the wheel. The car will be purpose built to race in NASA's GTS-3 class which is a power to weight ratio regulated class that only allows German or foreign cars such as BMW's, Porsche, Audi, etc... The car has to be at a race weight of a 11:1 power to weight ratio. We are still currently working we are still working out the setup details but I think once it's all done we will have a championship contending car.

Vehicle Specs:

Engine mods:

Aluminum Oilcooler

Transmission Cooler

Differential Cooler

Aluminum radiator

Racing Thermostat

Oilcooler Diverter Valve

Race Pulley Set

Bimmerworld Race Exhaust

Fuel Starvation Kit

ECU Reflash

Suspension:

D2 Pro-Spec fully adjustable coil overs

Complete suspension bushing kit

Solid Engine/Transmission/Differential Mounts

Front upper strut tower brace

Hotchkis front and rear adjustable sway bars

Subframe Reinforcement Kit

Ground Control Adjustable Lower Control Arms

Brakes:

D2 Racing 8 Piston Front, 4 Piston Rear big Brake kit

Steel braided brake lines

Vented and slotted rotors

Not sure the choice of pads I'll be running yet...

High temp racing brake fluid

Exterior:

Bimmerworld Rear Spoiler

Bimmerworld Front Splitter

Bimmerworld Rear Defuser

18"-10" VMR wheels

Carbon fiber vented hood

Sunroof Delete

Interior

Sparco FIA approved racing seat

Schroth 6 point racing harness

Fire Suppression system

Custom gauge cluster Plus other monitoring meters

Custom full NASA/SCCA spec legal roll cage

Custom hand control setup

Fear is never absent of a Hero, Rather so Fear fuels Heroic actions!

The Fear of failure drives their motive to fulfill endless ambitions, because They know theres always a WAY with a strategically applied WILL!
The main difference between a hero & a Coward is that a Hero Uses his fears to fuel his path through life while a Coward allows his to be an excuse that impedes his! A Hero consumes his Fears while a Coward allows his Fears to consume him!
Cuz Having super powers isn't what makes you a "Super Hero" getting through life without them does!

“We have become part of something much more complicated than you or I will ever fully comprehend. We build more than just our cars; We build friendships, we build futures, we build our dreams.

We drive our cars low and hold our heads high because we have an unwritten and unspoken agreement that we will live life to the fullest & never fall victim to the “norm”!

Others laugh at us when we spend hours working on our cars, Yet shake our hands when we are done."

Passion drives performance, & performance invokes success! I fabricate my own reality, while u wait to break down & get stuck in yours!

It's important to remember when chasing Dreams, we must not let our path be detoured when were going through a Nightmare!

So for all of you who say I'm a "dream-er" you all need to "dream-mor"and remember the only dreams that happen over night are those of which while were asleep!

So are you gonna continue to dream with eyes closed until ur life is played out, or are you gonna die with eyes wide open till each dream is lived out!"
Remember that each day is a stepping stone, it is up to u to determine wether ur moving closer or further away from ur ultimate goal!"