Thanks for reading the latest news from Team QuantSPEED. Hope to see you at the races!

NEXT RACES
Come Watch the Races at High Plains July 3 and 4
    Fans, mark your calendars! QuantSPEED will be racing the Double National "Freedom Sprints" at High Plains Raceway, July 3 and 4. Formula Enterprises runs in Group 3 this weekend - plan on 10:15 am Qualifying and 2:25 pm Race Start both days. Meineke of Aurora will be providing Helicopter Rides! Stay Saturday night for the track side pig roast. Look for Mazda of Lakewood teammate Karl McColl racing Spec Miata in Group 2. Download a 2 for 1 gate coupon and get more information on spectating at www.coloradoscca.org. As always, updates throughout the weekend via www.twitter.com/quantspeed.

RACE REPORTS
National Win at Pikes Peak
    A National Win at PPIR was the highlight of my spring driving, a great departure from the first day of the season when I crashed in testing (picture below right). We confirmed that day that I indeed have the most amazing team ever - Carl, Inness, Willis and Mike worked tirelessly overnight to put the car back together for a second test day. Why the urgency? Pro driver and Speed Secrets author Ross Bentley was in town for coaching! As you might imagine, getting coached by an Indy Car driver is pretty amazing - and in the case of Ross Bentley it's even more amazing given his special talent for listening and communicating with drivers (picture below left). I was well prepared for the first race weekend of season May 8-9 at High Plains Raceway and brought home two 2nd place trophies.
    Labor Day weekend marked my first driving experience at Pikes Peak International Raceway, a track recently brought back to life after several dormant seasons, and my first opportunity to drive on an oval. Although the layout only navigates two turns (1 and 2) before diving into the twisty infield, the banked surface was exciting! Finding a line - particularly for passing - proved to be an adventure in every session. Go high? Go low? Apex or not? I was pleased to set the pace for the weekend, taking pole both Saturday and Sunday in the Formula Enterprises class. An unfortunate start to Saturday's race resulted in a second place finish, but on Sunday I kept the competion in the rear view mirrors and collected my first National win of the season.
-Christine

Ross Bentley of Speed Secrets coaches Christine at High Plains Raceway, May 2010

The FE nose crushed after close investigation of a corner bunker.

SPOTLIGHTS
In print, on screen and in person
•••Colorado View••• Pick up a copy of the June/July issue of Colorado View Magazine to catch an interview with Christine, part of a feature piece on local female race car drivers. On newsstands soon in Tattered Cover, Barnes and Noble, and others. You'll also find a handy map of "Wheels in Heels Approved" auto repair shops inserted in the magazine.
•••Mazda of Lakewood••• Many of you have already caught me on your evening TV screens! If you missed the latest Mazda of Lakewood commercials, you can still follow the link to catch some on Youtube. This is one ad you won't fast forward through!
•••Meineke of Aurora••• Car and driver will be on location at the 6th & Chambers Meineke store June 25 noon to 6:00 and June 26 10:00 to 5:00. Meineke of Aurora will be supporting the SCCA with sponsored helicopter rides at HPR July 3 and 4!

HIDDEN SECRETS
Tables and graphs and charts, oh my!
    When the race car is in motion an array of sensors are constantly collecting data and storing it for review after the session - wheel speed, GPS tracking, steering input, percent throttle, etc. Looking at the data is easy enough with special software that will spit out charts and graphs of whatever you like. The trick is finding time - precious tenths of a second a lap - hidden in the numbers. With a little expert guidance our new engineers Inness and Mike are teaching us to find some hidden secrets. There are clues that make the car faster, but mostly clues that can make the driver faster! For example, the chart to the right shows a segment of percent throttle application for two laps (green and white) with the cummulative time difference between the laps (red). Look closely and notice how much smoother the green curve is when compared to the white. A significant amount of time is saved simply by easing on and off the throttle more evenly to help the car maintain balance - and grip. We'd love to share more secrets, but then we'd have to... you know the rest.

ULTIMATE TEST DRIVE
Rocky Mountain Automotive Press Driving Event
    June 10 was a great day in Denver to be writing about cars. Representatives from about twenty car manufacturers descended on the city bringing almost forty new vehicles for the Rocky Mountain Press Association Driving Event. It would have been great fun to tool around town in a new Camaro or Ford Raptor, but instead we had the intense pleasure of ripping around High Plains Raceway and the Colorado Off Road Extreme C.O.R.E. rally course! Read my complete report Part 1 Road Course and Part 2 Rally Course.

First encounters with dirt mounds - too cool.

With a Camaro, one of 13 cars I flogged - err, drove - at High Plains