Matt's March Update: SECOND ENDURANCE WIN AND STEADY PROGRESS FOR PALOMAR RACING’S AMBITIOUS SEASON
San Marcos, CA | April 5th, 2022
After Ernest Shackleton’s 1915 polar expedition vessel was discovered this month in Antarctica, I’ve been pondering lessons from him and his team’s incredible journey. “Through endurance we conquer”, and through endurance we continue our momentum!
The month of March has come and gone with a plethora of positive steps in Palomar Racing’s 2022 E2/ST5 Challenge. Our target this month was NASA SoCal at Auto Club Speedway for another pair of ST5 sprint races combined with the Saturday evening three-hour NASA WERC series Round 2 of 6. We succeeded in securing a second-consecutive E2 class win in the WERC event along with one win and one second place for the ST5 sprints. Even with an early points lead in both championships, there is no big celebration yet. The priority at this point in 2022 has been entirely focused on development of the car, team, and drivers as we hope to secure the ultimate challenges of winning the NASA National Championships in September and NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill triumph along with the two season titles. Still, the results from this month are encouraging for our direction!
This is a short, simple newsletter from me this month as I battle a 19-unit final college semester workload nearing ‘crunch time’. There will be a few fantastic experiences worth covering in more detail for my April Update so stay on the lookout for that!
MY STORY
A quick catch-up; my name is Matt Million, I’m a 21-year-old aspiring professional racing driver and full-time university student from San Marcos, California. I’ve been racing since the age of five spending the next eight years karting across the southwest. In 2014, I transitioned to sports cars in Spec Miata developing and succeeding in the Mazda Motorsports ladder through Teen Mazda Challenge up to winning in Spec MX-5 Challenge in 2018. In 2019, I became a 25 Hours of Thunderhill class winner and in 2020 a long-held aspiration of racing touring cars in Germany was finally achieved. In 2021, the highlight was becoming E2 class champion in NASA Western Endurance Racing Championship where I drove for GOneppo Racing in a BMW Spec E46. For 2022, I am a Palomar Racing driver in their ‘NASA E2/ST5 Challenge’. I’m in my final semester studying Global Business at CSU San Marcos with an aim to use these skills to enter professional motorsport given the right opportunity and support.
I love sharing my racing career experiences with hopes that those who read them can find value in following my journey. Thank you for reading!
BACKGROUND
I’ve taken this section from my most recent update for context on my 2022 racing season with Palomar Racing. The ‘challenge’ is in reference to the team’s ambitious goals and schedule. The E2/ST5 Challenge is a project designed to compete and succeed in the competitive E2 endurance class of NASA WERC as well as the NASA ST5 sprint championship with the same platform; the BMW E36. The team decided on the E36 for its durability, performance potential, and link to the team’s historic racing background. The ruleset is the same for both sprint and endurance allowing us to contest both championships with the same car.
While we race and develop our #25 BMW E36 325i chassis currently, there is a second car (an E36 M3) which will run alongside as the #24 when it debuts in select events. The four targets: the year-long NASA SoCal ST5 sprint championship and 6-round NASA WERC endurance series in E2, the national NASA Championships at Laguna Seca in September, and the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill in December.
Palomar Racing’s three-part philosophy for the project: develop the best car for the class, build the most well-rounded and quickest crew, and run the best drivers for the task.
It’s still quite unbelievable to be included in that last piece alongside my teammate Nik Romano. The year of racing I had pieced together in 2021 and the successes within in directly led to the phone call received last December asking if I’d be interesting to join this high-level club racing project. The call-up means as much today as it did five months ago and I’m committed to deliver for this group. It’s extremely coincidental to be located only a 10-minute drive from the Palomar Racing base in Escondido, California which means I’m spending a lot of time there, only to increase as my college journey concludes!
WELCOME TO AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY
Fontana, CA | March 26-27th, 2022
For as relatively close as Auto Club Speedway is to my home in San Marcos, it has been a while since I’ve raced here. In 2017, I took part in Spec Miata races here and have been back in recent years for driver coaching. With plans swirling around NASCAR’s demolition of the circuit to convert the 2-mile oval into a half-mile short track (which seems to not be happening now), I’m glad I get to return!
With no pre-event testing allowed on the Friday, we decided to test two weeks before to gather a baseline of our package around the fast-and-tight 2.8-mile roval. While trialing our aero options and brake pad compounds was useful to test alongside collecting a baseline, the biggest revelation was in the failures. In the day’s final session, the right-front damper collapsed (luckily I made it back perfectly fine) and thus forced a scramble to locate and install an entire suspension package in 10 days. The previous suspension was on its final legs and was scheduled to be replaced by shiny 2-way Motion Control Suspension dampers after the race weekend. Well, the change came early and we’d be heading into the race with an excellent MCS and Swift Springs package courtesy of friends at BIMMERSPEED and Swift. Thank you to our head mechanic Kevin for sorting this out quickly and confidently!
The race weekend began two weeks later on Saturday morning. The atmosphere was frantic and the paddock jam-packed as well over a hundred race cars took to the circuit for morning warm-up. My codriver Nik Romano was the ‘guinea pig’ in making certain the suspension was properly assembled. He was ecstatic at the improvements he felt already! We now had much more suspension travel and adjustability to tune mechanical grip, as well as ensuring a more even tire wear pattern. The hot pressures and temperatures affirmed this.
My first session of the day was immediately into ST5 sprint qualifying on a set of lightly used Toyo RR’s. I had to find a groove early in the session with did with laps 3 and 4 at a blistering 1:53:0 which was a half-second better than any lap I’d done in any E2/ST5 car and multiple tenths faster than we’d go the rest of the weekend (due to hotter surface temperatures and tire wear). As a racing driver there’s always nit-picking and I felt there was a few tenths left on the table as I was somewhat hesitant in attacking kerbs (based on my experience of the former, much more unpredictable suspension package). But still, I had to be pleased with my first taste of the setup and track for the day.
On paper, this circuit was going be our biggest struggle. We take regulatory penalties for the aerodynamic bits and other modifiers which means our horsepower is down 15-20 on the competitive BMW E46s in our class. With long straights and short corners, Fontana is the furthest circuit from our development target of flowing Laguna Seca. As good as I felt my laptime was, P2 was the best starting spot we could hope for. A small taste of what ‘Balance of Performance’ is like when I enter professional sports car racing! To watch my onboard of the qualifying lap, click here or search for ‘Matt Million Racing’ on YouTube.
The ST5 sprint race itself was, well, both eventful and uneventful. To save space in this report for more exciting paragraphs, here’s a brief recap. The series officials had confusion regarding the qualifying grid order and most of us started out-of-order. I was able to take the lead early in ST5 and hold onto it for the duration of the 25-minute race. In the process we set a new race lap record for NASA ST5 at a 1:54:2 which is neat!
NASA WERC Round 2
The three-hour NASA WERC event was due to start at 4:00 PM local. Nik would pilot the opening stint rolling off the grid 1st of 6 in E2 and 22nd of 37 entries overall. Our strategy could look one of two ways: attempt to run a one-stop race with moderate-to-heavy fuel saving or push a two-stop race to gain track position and possibly force competitors into the same sequence. We decided on the one-stop strategy for two a few reasons: a high likelihood of one or multiple full-course yellows given the increased number of higher class cars and our confidence in maintaining a lead E2 pace with a bit of fuel saving.
Although, we lacked the firm confidence to know if this was possible without a full-course yellow. We don’t yet have an abundance of prior calculations (given it was only the second endurance race for the car). We were confident enough we could run 1-hour-30-minutes on the opening 17-gallon tank with a touch of conservation, although only being allowed to refill 10-12 gallons on pit stops per the regulation meant the worst case scenario could mean I’d have a second stop.
Nik took the green as we watched from the Palomar Racing tent on pit lane. With our engineering philosophy in opting for more aerodynamics instead of power, Nik had to fend off attacks from multiple cars early and did so brilliantly, slowly gaining the edge as he could maintain more consistent tire temperatures. We knew Auto Club Speedway’s circuit was the least suited to this philosophy but the game in winning a relatively short three-hour (which blends sprint and endurance tactics) was strategy and not raw pace.
I’d be remiss to not mention my mother’s fantastic invention which she prepared to keep the crew happy in the pits! The ‘SnackleBox’ received rave reviews and I’m sure it will return. Being my ‘home’ event, it was nice to have my uncle, aunt, and nephews take in the sights of their first race!
On track, we noticed a hood clamp had come undone and made a small opening. A car spun near T12 and Nik took avoiding action over a kerb which popped the latch. Good to know our safety mechanisms worked and the hood remained down! 30 minutes in, we had our first full-course yellow. This immediately meant a one-stop was becoming our sole option as Nik could now stretch the first stint beyond 1-hour-30-minutes and put me into the right window.
The race continued with Nik now solidly out front in E2 caught in an occasion battle as he wrestled to hit his fuel target. We received another full-course yellow at the end of hour one which solidified our approach and bunched the field together once again.
In the pits for Palomar Racing, we had our primary mechanic Kevin Desirello paired with fantastic crew members David and Dawson Morton ready to deliver the fuel stop as Blair Geil handled radio communication with team leader Andy and Mike Anderson eagerly watching.
I put up my suit and strapped on the silver Stilo helmet at the 1-hour-30-minute mark preparing for Nik. The more time spent with a race team refining processes truly takes the nervous anticipation out of these moments! I’ve cultivated a tremendous respect for the Palomar Racing team and witnessed all the preparation applied to make these pit stops top quality. I knew they’d excel, now it was on our driver change and doing my job in the cockpit!
If one moment in the weekend stood out to say “this team has serious potential”, it was this pit stop. Faster and cleaner than any practice run. Nearly 1-minute with tweaks still to iron out to be comfortably under that mark. I launched away from the box with our AIM SOLO2 in GPS Speed mode and carried 25 MPH as I synched the belts ever tighter. Judging by where we eventually ended up overall, I dare say it was fastest production class (E0, E1, E2, E3) pit stop of race.
News of our nearest competitor #80 Team SRC BMW E46 receiving a pit lane penalty was relayed to me as I settled into the race. An unusual rate of attrition in the E2 class saw our nearest three competitors face mechanical setbacks or penalties. We effectively had a one-lap lead and I decided to channel my inner-Scott Dixon and continue saving fuel. In hindsight, we likely could’ve made the finish pushing a 95% pace by now but I maintained focus on simply securing the result to our crew rather than selfish heroics. I kept up a competitive pace range of within two or three tenths while attuning to the suspension dynamics making a mental logbook of where the adjustments should occur.
Running an endurance race on this circuit is quite different than other championship locations like Buttonwillow or Laguna Seca. The long straights give opportunity for the top class ES/ESR entries to stretch their legs and often remain invisible as the time spend negotiating track position is done quickly here, apart from the occasional last-second late braking maneuver. Even the E0 and E1 classes separate from us more often getting to use their additional horsepower to full effective whereas a circuit like Laguna Seca or Buttonwillow isn’t as noticeable with the pace difference with many more medium-to-high speed corners reliant on mechanical and aero grip. So apart from the realization my new helmet visor wasn’t nearly as dark as I needed it to be in the fading daylight, it was calm stint clicking off laps.
A half-hour or so had passed in my stint with all going well. By this point I was confident our fuel would go the distance and eager I was to see what the #25 was capable of. “Am I cleared to start pushing?” “Yes, give it what you’ve got!” I caught a significant amount of traffic during this radio relay and prepared to set the quickest laps of the stint when I got to the start/finish line. However as racing is naturally unpredictable, a final full-course yellow was deployed as I crossed the line. I did not see any incidents or reason for the safety car and remained hopeful it would be a fast recovery. The time dwindled and after about four slow laps of pacing, the checkered flag waved with race officials ending the three-hour about 20 minutes before the scheduled end time.
Somewhat anticlimactic as it was for everyone, the reason we later learned was for the circuit’s ambulance to leave the facility transporting a seriously injured spectator in the paddock and thus no racing can take place without safety on stand-by. Absolutely the correct call and a noble decision!
We thus won E2 having stretched our gap to 2nd in class to well over two laps. Notable was that we finished only one lap behind the winning E1 class entry and ahead of the remaining 8 cars in E1, as well as only one E0 entry finishing ahead of us too! P13 overall from 22nd. A strong statement of intent by the Palomar Racing team no doubt and I’m unequivocally grateful to be their driver alongside Nik. It’s becoming tradition for Andy to collect up our ‘NASA Winner’ stickers, write the circuit name and month, and line them down the roll cage bars which is a fun moment to witness.
Whether it’s captured in a small sticker or not, the steady progress this team keeps making is encouraging and a joy to be included in. Playing my role to utmost of my abilities to contribute toward Andy’s 2022 racing vision coming to fruition is the best gift I can give back for an owner, a teammate, and a motivated crew who took me into their racing family. Thank you guys so much! There’s much, much more in store for us…
To quickly recap our Sunday ST5 sprint race, Nik did an excellent job! We worked together on setup tweaks in alignment and suspension and found great results. A tricky midcorner understeer issue plagued us on Saturday especially as the tires fell away in the heat which was remedied quite a lot by the changes, Nik reported. He faced an all out 25-minute battle with our main ST5 rival Ryan Bittner going back-and-forth lap after lap, seriously awesome to watch.
Reflections
To be drafted into Palomar Racing’s E2/ST5 Challenge this season continues to grow in personal significance to me. I look back to just last April not knowing where my next race, season, or day in a cockpit would come from. I did my best to seek chances and extract value from the uncertainty culminating in the performances which led to unexpected phone call from Palomar Racing. The effort put in never goes to waste.
Another positive month for this program speaks to the potential and caliber we can become. An atmosphere of constantly locating our weak points and maximizing our strengths has made me very happy as a competitive racing driver! It’s an honor to compete for a team with a similar mindset of competition. Our next event is April 15-16th at Buttonwillow Raceway for NASA SoCal ST5 before heading back to Auto Club Speedway for NASA WERC Round 3 in June.
Lastly, this year’s challenge wouldn’t be possible without our partners. Thank you to Palomar Solar and Roofing as our primary sponsor along with partners Toyo Tires, Motion Control Suspension, Swift Springs, DG Spec, BimmerWorld, Apex Race Parts, Frozen Rotors, FastSideways, Massive Brakes as well as NASA SoCal and the NASA WERC series organizers.
In Closing
Thank you for reading and supporting my motorsport journey. Whether it be through these updates, social channels, or in-person, the small interactions truly make a difference. Using my motorsport path as a means to create value for others is very important for me. If you enjoy these reports or are interested in supporting steps toward professional racing, please get in touch! Stay up-to-date on mattmillionracing.com and my social media. Until next time…
Matt Million
San Marcos, CA - 04/05/2022