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Hey Everyone,
I know it has been an extremely long time since I have last posted anything. For 2011, I plan to have a large focus on my blog,twitter and facebook fan page to connect with all of you fans. Continuing to build my fan base is an important goal for myself this season and if I can kindly ask all of you current fans to help promote me as much as possible that would be wonderful! After all, I do have the best fans. So lets show everyone what they are missing out on!
This past week we made the announcement that I will be driving for Team Pelfrey Racing in the 2011 Star Mazda Championship. This off season has been a struggle with trying to find sponsorship, but I am so thankful that we found enough supporters to put together such a winning program. With the season opener approaching quickly at the end of March, we have a large amount of testing coming up. Although I am with a new team for 2011, my engineer and I have mapped out a plan of execution and by the time we roll on track at St.Pete we plan to be lights out fast.
Over the weekend I went to the shop in Clearwater,Florida to spend some time with the team and make a new seat for the car I will be driving.When I arrived at the shop late Saturday afternoon we got straight to work and began the seat making process. Last year I learned a lot about the seat making process and along with that came me learning exactly what I prefer when it comes to seating position. I found that I prefer to be very low in the car, and as far away from the wheel as possible. When Jeff and I began making the seat, we had both of those preferences in mind. The bag of beads was placed in the car and shortly after I took a seat in it. I wiggled and moved until I felt really comfortable, then Jeff shaped a bit more of the material around me to hold me in place once it hardens.
The following morning we began working right away with the seat again. Now that the material all had hardened, it was time to shape & modify the seat so I could easily operate everything that is necessary in the cockpit; for example the anti-roll bar, shift lever,traction control knob,ignition, ect. All of this generally takes a good amount of time because it is extremely crucial to be 100% comfortable, especially since you will be in the car for hours at time! After a few hours of shaping and trimming I was very satisfied with the final product and I decided that this was exactly how I wanted the seat to fit me. By the time all of this was said and done, it was time to head to the airport for our flight back to California.
Overall, this trip was entirely successful !! The seat turned out great, the cars looked phenomenal, the transporter looks in tip top shape and everyone on the team is eager to get on track just like myself!
Next week I will complete a total of 6 days of testing and I will do a full blog write up to follow!
Speak to you all soon.
CDP |
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Hey Everyone! So this 2010 season I will be competing in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. Testing has gotten underway and I have another test at MSR Houston this month. For this season, I signed with JDC motorsports who are the defending series champions. I am really excited for this season, because it will be my first season in a car capable of extremely high standards and the atmosphere will be bumped up to the next level. After the test this month, I will write my next blog and let everyone know how it went! In the mean time I will continue to try and work on new partnerships/and or investors for my racing career to continue on for future seasons. Please, do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions or interests! -Connor-Â |
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Hey Everyone!
These past three weeks have been an experience of a lifetime. There were so many experiences within the whole experience, and each one of them has been extremely beneficial to my career already. Before the whole Team USA trip, there was that lingering thought in my head of how the europeans may be a little bit better than we are in the states. Although, after the whole experience, my initial thought was definitely proven wrong!
As I woke up early Sunday morning, rain drops were failing and the wind was howling. With my pole position result on Saturday and runner-up result in the heat race, I was prepared more than ever to prove myself. It looked like it was going to be wet all day, but since my heat was quite late compared to the others, it began to dry out before my semi-final. For the semi, I was starting in the fourth spot and I needed to be in the top 2 for sure to secure a good starting position for the final.
On the opening lap, I got a great start and moved into third as we approached turn one. We made our way down the backstretch, then the drama occurred. Â As I made my move to pass for second, he made a block on me and at the same time found himself in the brake zone not prepared to stop. The second place driver drove over the leader, flipped several times and I took over the lead. Putting my head down, I pulled out to a bit of a gap, and just ran a consistent pace to secure the win. This win was a great way to start the day, and gave me a fantastic starting position for the final.
Now to the final. Red lights went on and my shield went down. I knew I needed to have a perfect opening lap to capitalize on my car being quick on cold tires. Once the lights went out, I got away with a clean start and hit turn one perfectly pulling out to about a 3 car length lead. Once we made our way down the backstretch I was able to maintain the lead even with the draft. Lap after lap I continued to pull away until about lap 4 or 5. Entering the last turn of the complex, I got too far inside where the track was still wet.The wet spot caused me to have a huge slide and nearly go off the track. I fell back to 4th, regrouped and began my assault back towards the front. Pace was not a problem for me, it was just going to be a matter of how difficult it was going to be to get back to the lead. After about the 4th lap I made my way back to the front and put my head down once again. While the laps continued to count down, I continued to broaden my lead. At last the final lap board was shown to me by the team,and I knew I just needed to make no mistakes and bring it home. Exiting the last turn, I knew I had done it. I drove to the finish with my fist held high and my mechanic Andrew going crazy on the pit wall. Finally, that moment had come. The moment of victory.
The feeling I had after the race was like none other. As I came down pit lane to the podium, Andrew and the crew were there and I gave them the biggest hugs possible. It was the greatest feeling to have fulfilled my dream weekend, and fulfilled the expectations of the team. Everyone knew It was a TEAM effort.
I would now like to send a huge Thank You to the whole Dempsey Family, and the entire Dempsey Racing Team. Cliff and Michelle were my mom and dad for these past 3 weeks, and I could not have asked for two better parents. Peter helped tremendously at the track with every tip possible to give, and also a very close friend now. Also, my American teammate Brett Smrz. He is a great friend of mine, and I am glad I was able to share this experience with him. Working together when either one of us needed help led to each of ours success, and I am glad to have had such a great teammate.
More special thanks go to Andrew, Franky,Francie,Bob, Dave Hart,Dave Collier, Scott Malvern, Cormac O'Neil, Stephen Daly, Doug Prendeville, Patrick McKenna and Gavin from Ray for a fantastic car.
Most importantly, a huge Thank You to the Team USA scholarship. Without the opportunity that Jeremy Shaw and all of the supporters gave me, I would not be the even better driver that I am today. These experiences I will have for my career, and all of these new friendships I will have for the rest of my life.
-Connor- |
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Hey Everyone!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit RML, the LOLA factory,and also had a brief radio interview with Le Mans radio. The day did not start out that great due to the hot water heater not functioning. Although once we determined it was not going to work anytime soon, we got ready and made our way to RML. In case you don't know what RML is, it is a company that builds inexpensive, competitive race cars as well as run a British Touring car team and do private work on SLR McLarens.Â
Once we arrived, we went in to meet Michael Mallock, who would be giving us the tour of his fathers company. Â Right out of the gate, we began with history. He showed us an older race car that was so simple, yet was so successful! As we moved on, I got to check out there LMP2 Le Mans series car efforts. It was so great to be able to look at these cars closely, and compare them to parts of a Formula One car that we had seen the previous day at the McLaren Technical Center. We made our way through the building and I noticed how everything that was done and built for the car was all done in house! It was such a self sufficient operation,including there own car body painting area and their own engine shop. Once we made our way to the next building, our jaws simply fell too the floor. When we entered, all that came into view was the Seven built and prepped SLR McLarens. Their look was astounding, and I couldn't stop admiring all the little details in the car. After a few pictures, I had the chance to take a seat in one and feel it out. The whole car just sat so low, and it felt truly like a real race car.In the same building was their entire British Touring Car operation. All of there cars were in Japan ( correct me if I am wrong Mr.Shaw ) for their latest round of competition,so we didn't get to check out all of the cars. After the tour of the second building, the complete tour was done and it was a great experience.
Next up on the list was a radio interview just about a mile up the road with John from Le Mans radio. Once we arrived at his flat, he showed us a bit of his memorabilia on the walls of each room. Since he has such an immense history in motorsport, we got to hear a few stories and experiences from all of his time and dedication spent at the track. Eventually Brett and I made our way into the living room and did a taped radio interview. It went on for about 15 minutes and it was great to talk about our experiences thus far in the UK, and any of our thoughts about the racing. Although it felt like a 5 minute interview, Â we wanted to just keep talking about how awesome of a time we are having over here, and all the great people we have met so far. Since our interview was complete, we went and got a quick bite to eat at a Chinese restaurant, and shortly after began our journey down to Lola.
Once we arrived in the front lobby of Lola, the first car we saw was Sebastien Bourdais's championship winning ChampCar. We knew right away that this was going to be once of the visits at the top of our list. We met a man named Sam Smith, and he was going to be giving us the complete tour of Lola. I had no idea of what to expect of the visit, and I had a feeling that this was going to fulfill all of our expectations. We entered the first area and they showed the complete process of how they go about making a carbon-fiber piece from start to finish. It was very interesting, and I didn't realize all the tiny little precautions that are necessary in making all of these pieces. As we continued, he showed us in order of all the steps that the parts will go through before they are sent off to the purchaser. Each piece goes through a number of tests for its strength, and also it goes through a laser process that checks for fractures. After we were finished with the assembly area, we made our way to where they due all the of the designs and R&D. In their upstairs office, they had their entire design team. Sam had one of his main CFD engineers give us a little presentation so we could understood the basics of Computer Fluid Dynamics, and how they use the software to designs complete cars. It was amazing how much they can do on the computer, before they even take the car or any other piece to the wind tunnel. Shortly after the presentation, we moved onto the wind tunnel. The wind tunnel was an experience in itself, and since we had the presentation before it gave us a much better understanding of how it all works. As our visit came to an end, he showed a few more machine on our way out, that were very cool; one of the machine being able to replicate laps on the suspension through hydraulics. We arrived back to the lobby and were completely thrilled with the entire experience. Now to we had a little over an hour driver back home to bring our day to a conclusion.
Thank you to Jeremy Shaw and the Team USA scholarship for all of these great opportunities and experiences. Also, many thanks to all of the supporters, Sam Smith at Lola, Michael Mallock at RML and John from Le Mans radio.
-Connor- |
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Hey Everyone!
Yesterday I headed to Bruntingthorpe for the Grand Prix Shootout. We were up bright and early, after a comfy nights sleep at Josef Newgarden's flat. After getting ready for the day, we made our way down the the parking garage to get in the car, and begin our journey to the track. It didn't seem to cold, so we looked to be quite lucky to have another nice day in lovely England. Once we began driving, all of the talk began. Since Josef had already done the shootout, he knew how and what it all entailed. I picked his brain a little so I would have a better idea of what to expect once we arrived at the track. As we arrived, it didn't seem like a race track. There were air force jets everywhere, and not to mention the variety of Ferrari's, Lambo's, and Bentleys!!
Once we found where everyone was, we saw the machine's we would be driving. They were Abarth 500's. A small, turbo charged car that looked to be a blast to drive! This would be my first time driving a street car and pushing it to it's maximum potential. We walked into the tent and checked in at the front desk. Everyone seemed really nice and I introduced myself to a few of the drivers and met everyone involved with the shootout. After having some good breakfast there, David Fleming and Rob Wilson arrived. We spoke about my results at the festival, and how the day was going to be worked out. Brett and I got to go in the first group, and the track was just a little damp from light rain. The cars handled quite well, and with the track being wet made it even more fun!
I took to the track and immediately got used to the right hand drive setup. When I sat it the car initially I thought it would give me trouble, but I adapted to it right away. My instructor and I started the session out a little slow, but after a few laps we got right to it. The track was really fast and open, with the first turn being flat out in fourth gear! With the track being wet, the car would move around a lot, but that just added to the fun. After about an hour and a half of driving, we made our way back to the compound and I was very happy with my performance as was the instructor. When we returned we ate some lunch and had a camera interview to see how well we spoke in front of the camera. Once we ate lunch, we had one last session with Rob Wilson for him to evaluate us as drivers. I didn't focus on pushing really hard, but I did make sure I maximized my time with Rob by not making any mistakes and running fast, clean laps.
As the day came to a close, it was a great experience and I learned a few new driving techniques. When we were done, we headed back home to Josef's and relaxed for a few minutes. Then we headed to dinner to try out one of Josef's and Philip's (josef's roomate) favorite restaurants. It was a really good chicken restaurant, and I hadn't had anything like it. The food taste really good, and all of the sauces were really different. We walked back to the flat, and packed up our bags for the night.
Now to tomorrow. A tour of Isport and Lola race cars!
-Connor-Â |
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