MJ Drive Official Thread - Round 1 Pukekohe Raceway

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters

Tommorow is finally here, marking the launch towards the first round of the New Zealand Championship series on November 4th-5th and a step towards my dreams of one day competing in Formula 1.

The following companies and individuals are making this possible, I sincerely appreciate everyone of them for believing in me:

Baldwin Metals Fabrication company - Dallas, Texas

Ferrarichat.com - THANK YOU!

Ricambi America - www.ricambiamerica.com
(If you need parts for your ************ with these guys)

Law Offices of Ron MacFarlane - Dallas, Texas

Marilyn Bechtol

Cullum Construction - Dallas, Texas

Texas Driving Experience - Texas Motor Speedway

Activation Group - Jim Humphrey - Roanoke, Texas

Kimberley and Don Smith

Jeff Sager

Joann and Dennis Garrett

Tim Hinaman

Will Huber

Nicola Cappelletti

Dolly Graul

Holly Canterbury


During the week I will do my best to keep everyone updated through this thread here on ferrarichat.com. Please feel free to post and comment here.

I want all of you to know I greatly appreciate your support and am going to do my very best to represent all of you with all of my ability.

Warmest Personal Regards

Michael Johnson,
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Dear F-chatters,

Your driver survived the 3 day journey from Dallas to Auckland, New Zealand (there is something that really hurts leaving on Friday and arriving on a Sunday!)

The only real drama I occured was when the United Airline plane I flew on from Dallas to Los Angeles lost operation of its flaps and as the pilot reported "we will be coming in a bit hot, but don't worry there is a long runway and we will stop... eventually."

During the 6 hour layover in Los Angeles I had a UNT friend transfered to USC pick me up and take me for dinner. I got to see a bit of the city and I think I may have been in a commercial. Los Angeles seems really cool aside from the traffic....

This morning my flight arrived in Auckland and my mechanic Andrew Higgins picked me up. My first impressions of New Zealand are 1) the cars are on the opposite side of the road and 2) the country is absolutely beautiful. There is a lot of rolling hills and everything is green.

Without any delay from the airport we reported directly to the Toyota racing facility and got to work on the Tatuus (italian) formula car with the brand new 210 hp Toyota which has recently been fitted to it. As i'm 6ft (pretty tall by formula car driver standards) we took some time to get the car set up propoerly for me. We poured a seat out of a two-part foam agent which molds to the drivers body to create a perfect seat and we also worked with the steering wheel, shift level, and head rest (all adjustable) to get the perfect fit.

For lunch I had my first meet pie. If you haven't had one before its a roast beef in gravy in a pastry shell. Not excacty race car driver food, but I wanted to give it a go while I am here.

Tommorow we will drive with the Toyota boys to Taupo for the first test day on Tuesday. I will have 4 sessions on the track at Taupo to familiarize myself with the car and get aquainted with the level it is going to drive competitively here.

Then on Thursday/Friday we will be at Pukekohe raceway to practice and test on the track we will be racing on.

I am very excited to be here in New Zealand to race because the level of interest is 1000% more than in the United States. On my way from the airport I heard announcements on the radio about the upcoming race and when I arrived at my hotel room I turned on the TV to find that 2 of the 12 channels I get had motorsports going on. One of the races was a formula bmw race from asia and the other was some sort of dune buggy/off road race... You all know which one I watched.

Everythings going great in New Zealand. Thank you to everyone who sent me a message.

Best Wishes

Michael,

 

Dear Friends and family,

Today was perhaps the most rewarding day of my life.

At 8am my team of John Crawford (team owner - engineer) and Andrew Higgins (car owner - mechanic) reported to Taupo Raceway for an official Toyota Racing series test day.

For us we designated the day as the initial shake down of the car before we head to Pukekohe for the race meeting this weekend. The Taupo race circuit (race track where the A1GP series will compete in March I believe) is just under 2 mile race circuit comprosised of 17 corners. You can take a look at the track layout at:

http://www.taupocarclub.org.nz/serve.asp?page=track

From my perspective Taupo is a big kart track with an enormous straight, over half a mile in length. Lots of tight twisty stuff with one wide open blast for what seems like 15 seconds up through the gears to sixth. The track isn't very close to the track we will be racing on this weekend but our goal was to work through the 'new car blues.'

My first session on the track was for a 30 minute rookie practice. I'm not really used to participating in rookie practice sessions, but when I looked around and saw that half of my opposition just flew in from their 2nd or 3rd racing series in England, Asia, and other parts of Europe I thought I had better get every second of track time possible.

It was a good thing I did too, because we were able to take care of some things that would have been major issues on a race day. The main thing that became a problem was the ergonmics of the car, if you have seen the cockpit of an open wheel car you will understand what I mean. At 6ft there is not a lot of room for me and anything else. After the session we realized we had to cut out a bit of the head rest to keep from pushing my helmet forwards and also re-attach the seat belts to another mounting point to keep them from pushing my hans device into the back of my helmet.

After the rookie setssion the track was open for two and a half hours of open track time for the teams to do with as they pleased. Through the first part of the session we struggled with the handling of the car. For some reason the car was terrible on the brakes and just wanted to push (or plow forwards even though I was turning the wheel) in a barely controllable manner. While I had my hands full with a hundred other things my mechanic Andrew heard from the pit wall that the motor wasn't entirely shutting off as I was on the brakes. As it turns out on closer inspection my right foot was holding the throttle open to 15%-20% while I was trying to slow the car. As a result the handling was thrown way off.

After making a few modifications to the 'foot box' of the car I was able to carry on again and start making some progress on my lap times and catching up to the quick drivers times.

Tommorow I have the day off from driving, but I will be making the best of my time in New Zealand. In the morning I will be meeting with the director of the United States and New Zealand commerce embassy and in the afternoon I will be meeting with Dick Hubbard the mayor of Auckland as well as the marketing director of Progressive enterprises a grocery chain in New Zealand.

Thursday and Friday will be open practice at Pukekohe raceway (refered to as Puke around here). The circuit is going to be very different than the Taupo track and should provide its own unique challenges.

I was able to take a few photos today, but I haven't been able to get them loaded up quite yet. If you would like to check out my driver profile you can see it on the Toyota racing website at:

http://www.toyotaracing.co.nz/default.aspx?pageid=219&driverid=70

A special thank you to all of those who have supported and given me this opportunity to chase my dream.

Baldwin Metals Fabrication company - Dallas, Texas

Ferrarichat.com - THANK YOU!


Ricambi America - www.ricambiamerica.com
(If you need parts for your ************ with these guys)

Summa Technologies Group

Law Offices of Ron MacFarlane - Dallas, Texas

Marilyn Bechtol

Cullum Construction - Dallas, Texas

Texas Driving Experience - Texas Motor Speedway

Activation Group - Jim Humphrey - Roanoke, Texas

Kimberley and Don Smith

Jeff Sager

Joann and Dennis Garrett

Tim Hinaman

Will Huber

Nicola Cappelletti

Dolly Graul

Holly Canterbury



Best Wishes

Michael,

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Just wanted to send a quick note, my appologies for not getting anything out recently. Official testing started yesterday and there hasn't been much time for anything but driving.

This weekend we are racing at Pukekohe raceway just north of Auckland. The track is a 2.85 km, 6 turn affair. Aside from the 6 corners, this track is all about speed. We are averaging over 120 mph with a top speed of around 155 on the back straight, which then dives into a 40 mile per hour hair pin curve. Perhaps the most daunting part of the track is a 100 mile per hour corner which is completely blind. The turn is to be taken flat, and I am almost there, but to say it is daunting is an understatement. Yesterday a driver took his car off the track into the armco, did about 3 rolls, and totally wrote off the car. I'll send photos later of the bits that were left over.

The Motorsports solution car I am driving has been very good so far, and I have been the limiting factor. Every session I am getting quicker, but its a quite dangerous track and I have elected to get up to speed gradually rather than hoping I guess right and don't 'wall it' as they say. Today (friday) I will have one more session to make some final adjustments before qualifying tommorow.

The racing here is absolutely fantastic. I am learning a lot about what it takes to go quick in the cars and I have high hopes for the weekend

Hope all is going well, and a special happy birthday to Edgar Cardoze.

Cheers

Michael,

 

Dear Friends and family,

The dust has finally clearned on the first round of the New Zealand
Toyota racing championship.

This race weekend has been a fantastic, eye-opening experience for me.
For starters the Pukekohe
raceway is the most difficult, fastest, and dangerous circuit I have
ever
raced on. The Toyota powered Tatuus cars have proven to be an amazingly
quick car, but much more difficult to get the most out of than I
anticipated. Most importantly I believe I now have a firm idea of how I
stack up to other international caliber drivers and what it is going to
take to beat them.

Saturday Morning Qualifying

During the two days of practice I steadily improved my pace every
session. Although I was still a couple of seconds out from the top
drivers my personal goal had simply been to make improvements every
time on the track without taking un-due risks in finding the speed.
Qualifying was the point it really sank in how fast excactly these guys
(and girls) are. Everything went well in the qualifying session and we
were able to take off another .4 tenths, and closing the gap to the
lead pack.

Race 1 - Saturday Afternoon - 12 laps

Aside from the 17 cars ahead of me, the first obstacle I was faced with
during the first race was the standing start procedure. In the United
States we are used to a rolling start (cars rolling two-by-two until the
green flag is displayed) in New Zealand races start with a grand prix
style standing start. After the pre-race proceedures the cars are sent
onto the track for a reconassiance or formation lap. During this time we
took a slow lap around the track and took our grid positions and shut
off
our engines. After 3-5 minutes (so the crowd can see the cars) the
mechanics come back to the track and hook up the power packs to the cars
and we re-fired the engines to take out warm up lap. During the warm up
lap the drivers violently drive the cars around the track- weaving back
and forth, working the accelerator and brake pedal to try to build
valuable heat into the tyres before the race. Once we came around for
the
start the cars come to a stop and grid up two by two and waited for the
count down proceedure to start the race. Just like formula 1 a set of
red
lights come on one at a time until five are lit, then 1-3 seconds later
all off the lights extinguish at once signing the begining of the race.
It was amazing to see the following events transfold, real time, with
engines screaming - smashing off rev-limiters, while exhaust fumes
erupts
from the mufflers, and pieces of tyres are thrown by my head. After the
start everything was quite a blur, plans are throw out the window at
this
stage of the race, and you simply do the best you can with what happens
around you. I was able to get cleanly through the first few corners and
get on with the race. The race proved to be a huge learning ground for
me
as I was able to quickly pick up what some of the other drivers were
doing
around me. Although I only advanced my position by one (thanks to a car
who spun off the track) I was able to gain another .4 tenths of a second
on my fastest lap which improved my starting position by one for the
next
days race.


After the Saturday race as I came upon something that seemed like a
small
thing. When you are driving a race car of this nature you just focus on
driving the car, things like steering, shifting, and working the pedals
come subconsciencly. During the race while I was racing with the
Australia driver I had started to notice that I had been limiting the
range of steering I could put into the car because the wheel was bumping
my leg when I turned through the hairpin corners.


Race 2 - Sunday Morning - 12 laps


'Daunting' is the word used to describe the Pukekohe circuit, I have
heard the word no fewer than 30 times in the past three days. What the
field had made up for in good manners during Saturday's race quickly
was thrown to the wind for the Sunday morning race. Although
On the second lap the 14th place a driver lost control of his car as he
crested the hill at some 120 miles
per hour skidding out of control across the track and into the inside
armco barrier.
Unfortunantely due to the hill you are unable to see crashed objects
until you, yourself crest the hill. Therefore just a few milliseconds
later my car came racing over the hill just in time to see a race car
bouncing off the inside wall and come correening back
across the track. Luckily for me his car managed to slow before crossing
my path and I just barely avoided what would have certainly been a
catastrophe in front of the main grand stands.

Immediately there after the saftey car was dispatched to the circuit and
we slowed for the first re-start. This re-start proved dramatic as the
field bunched up in a single file order. We slowly drove around the
track for two laps cooling our tyres from race temperature (taking away
grip) as the mess on the front straight was cleaned up. Finally the
safety car dived out of the way and the green lights were displayed
signalling the re-start of the race. The field danced through the next
few corners before coming onto the 3/4 mile back straight. With the
cars bunched up so closely on cold tyres chaos was to ensue as drivers
tried to out brake one another into the tight hairpin at the end of the
straight. I'm not excactly sure how many cars I passed through the
corner, but I will definantely say it is easier passing crashed/spun
on/stalled cars than it is ones who are racing! I think I was able to
go by 5 cars before the safety car was dispatched again, only half a
lap later. After another two laps or so of track cleaning time we were
again released with only two laps remaining. In the second to final lap
atleast one driver lost control of his car on the cold tyres causing a
local yellow (not needing the safety car) and another who had been
behind me went off again on the final lap. The race turned out to be
nervous event with little rythm. I was able to make the best of a dodgy
situation and I believe I came out with a 12th result!


Race 3 - Sunday Afternoon - 20 laps

I will send out a race analysis and pictures as soon as I return to the
United States. I am running short of time on the hotel's internet
computer and I don't have any more kiwi two dollar coins to buy more
time!


Again thank you to every person who made this opportunity possible for
me. This
week has presented some of the greatest moments of my life and I believe
I have learned what it will take to compete at the 'next level' of
motorsports in my career.

Warmest wishes and I look forward to seeing all of you again soon in the
United States

Thank you to the following people for making this possible:

Baldwin Metals Fabrication company - Dallas, Texas

Ferrarichat.com - THANK YOU!


Ricambi America - www.ricambiamerica.com
(If you need parts for your ************ with these guys)

Summa Technologies Group

Law Offices of Ron MacFarlane - Dallas, Texas

Marilyn Bechtol

Cullum Construction - Dallas, Texas

Texas Driving Experience - Texas Motor Speedway

Activation Group - Jim Humphrey - Roanoke, Texas

Kimberley and Don Smith

Jeff Sager

Joann and Dennis Garrett

Tim Hinaman

Will Huber

Nicola Cappelletti

Dolly Graul

Holly Canterbury

Michael,

 

Here are a few images of the race weekend.

More coming soon.
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Here are a few more photos from New Z'ed.

Cheers

Michael,
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