SCCA National Runoffs: AWE Tuning #CommuteMonday S4 takes podium in T3, 2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs

AWE Tuning Press Release

The AWE Tuning/German Performance Service #CommuteMonday Audi B8.5 S4 piloted by Marc Feinstein grabbed a podium finish at the SCCA Runoffs after starting the race in 6th place in the Touring 3 class.

The concept of #CommuteMonday is to take ‘off-the-shelf’ street performance products, put them on a street car, and put it in “uncomfortable situations” with the goal of demonstrating the quality and performance of these street products.

“Having taken 2nd in class in the 2014 Climb to the Clouds, 3rd in the SCCA Majors Tour Eastern Conference, and now 3rd in the 2014 SCCA Runoffs, is a testament to the engineering of the products and the cars’ capabilities.” Said AWE Tuning VP of Marketing, Jesse Kramer.

After three days of qualifying, #CommuteMonday was slotted in 6th place, with less than a second difference in lap time separating the #93 Audi S4 from the pole sitter.

“To take a car like #CommuteMonday to the runoffs is a bold undertaking. The level of competition here is staggering, and aggressive. To be a player here is an accomplishment.” Said AWE Tuning Performance Specialist, Andrew Ball.

#CommuteMonday’s race almost ended as soon as it started – the car came out of an opening lap incident with damage to the front left.

“I had a conservative start and everything was good going through Turn Two. Going through Three, everything was flying everywhere and I didn’t have anyplace to go, so I ended up catching the back of Kevin Boehm’s Honda S2000. Luckily it wasn’t too much damage, but I wasn’t really sure because I didn’t have radio communication with my crew… so I was guessing.” said Marc Feinstein, commenting on the events of the first lap.

After the first lap incident Marc Feinstein states he had one goal: “I wanted to get #CommuteMonday to the checkered flag.” Feinstein sat in 2nd at the restart, and was able to fight off all but Tom Wickersham in his Ford Mustang, who went on to claim 2nd place, putting #CommuteMonday in 3rd. 

#CommuteMonday Build List
The #CommuteMonday car build is as follows:

• AWE Tuning Track Edition Exhaust
• AWE Tuning Non-Resonated Downpipe
• AWE Tuning ColdFront Auxiliary Radiator
• AWE Tuning 3.0T S-FLO Intake 
• GIAC Stage 1 Performance Software
• GIAC DSG DL501 S-Tronic Performance Transmission Software
• SPC Control Arms
• Ohlins Dampers
• H&R 60mm race springs
• H&R sway bars
• Pagid RS19 racing brake pads
• Pagid RBF Brake Fluid

More Information
Campaign images and videos can be found on the AWE Tuning website in the #CommuteMonday section.

About German Performance Service
German Performance Service was founded in 2006 by Marc Feinstein, known in part for his tenure as Crew Chief and Race Engineer for Turner Motorsport, where he led the team to multiple championships, including becoming America’s leading BMW race team, winning championships in 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007. Today, German Performance Service is a one-stop-shop for all things European performance, from standardized services to custom performance modifications.

About AWE Tuning
AWE Tuning is the authority in performance engineering for German automobiles. From award winning hand-crafted performance exhausts to track tested big turbo kits to vetted Performance products including G.I.A.C., Bilstein, H&R, Brembo and more, AWE Tuning innovates, designs, retails and distributes choice performance products globally through its preferred network of dealers, online and from its headquarters outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since 1991, AWE Tuning's elite team of researchers, engineers, innovators and drivers have track-tested and introduced premium performance upgrades for some of the finest automobiles in the world.

Photo credit: AWE Tuning

SCCA National Runoffs: Stunning podium for AWE Tuning Audi S4 of Marc Feinstein

By Johan Laubscher

The exciting “Race Sunday, Commute Monday” project (#CommuteMonday) headed to the SCCA National Championship Runoffs held at Laguna Seca this past weekend. The stunning red and black #93 Audi S4 of Marc Feinstein was entered in the T3 class.

This Audi S4 is a collaboration project between AWE Tuning and German Performance Service, aiming to demonstrate a road car with off-the-shelf performance upgrades on track in competition. The near-stock Audi S4 has shown great pace all year.

The car has been seen at the Mount Washington Hillclimb (pictured above) and selected events in the SCCA U.S. Majors Tour Eastern Conference. Ramana Lagemann piloted the car to fourth place overall at the Hillclimb and Marc Feinstein performed well in the U.S. Majors and secured an invitation to the Runoffs.

The Runoffs is a very special invitational SCCA event which ends off the season each year. It is a week-long event for each of the various SCCA categories. The event was held at Laguna Seca this year, following a number of years at Road America.

Audi teams have performed well at the Runoffs in recent seasons. Joel Weinberger and his Continental Racing Audi A4 (ex-Stasis SCCA World Challenge touring car) claimed the first and so far only Runoffs class victory for an Audi race car when he won the STU class in 2011, backed up with runner-up finishes in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Limitless Racing and Dr. Jason Lee also performed well during the 2013 event, where they finished twelfth within the GT2 class with their Audi R8 GRAND-AM.

For 2014 there was only one Audi on the Runoffs entry list, the #93 AWE Tuning Audi S4 of Marc Feinstein.

As was the case during 2014, the Audi S4 showed great pace in the hands of Feinstein and performed well during the weekend.

He qualified sixth on the T3 class grid and progressed well during the race. He moved up to second position following a first lap crash involving the competitors in front of him. The Audi S4 sustained minor detail damage on the front left in avoidance during the incident which brought out a full course yellow.

Following the restart Feinstein was able to defend second position and defended well up until the cork screw, when he was passed by Tom Wickersham’s Mustang. He was able to maintain third position until Wickersham, who had taken the T3 class lead, suffered a problem and dropped back to third position, behind Feinstein in the Audi S4.

Wickersham gradually closed in on Feinstein and repeated his pass from earlier in the race, making the pass going into the cork screw once again, relegating the Audi S4 to third position on the penultimate lap.

Marc Feinstein maintained his third position to the finish, crossing the line less than eight seconds behind the race winner. The Mustang and Audi S4 pairing finished behind the race winning Nissan 370Z of David Daughtery. It was a well-deserved podium result for the “Race Sunday, Commute Monday” Audi S4 project.

The T3 class Runoffs race can be watched HERE. (Starting at 3:11:00) 

The weekend’s Runoff results can be seen HERE.

For more information please visit the Facebook pages of:

AWE Tuning
German Performance Service 

Photo credit: AWE Tuning

SCCA National Runoffs: Limitless Racing Audi R8 GRAND-AM performed well at Road America

By Johan Laubscher

The 2013 SCCA National Championship Runoffs took place at Road America this week. It was the fiftieth anniversary of this prestigious event and two Audis were entered in two different classes. The second Audi entered race was held on Friday morning and Limitless Racing showed good form with their Audi R8 GRAND-AM.

Originally three Audis had been entered for the Runoffs, including two Audi R8 GRAND-AM entries. The first Audi R8 GRAND-AM was that of Limitless Racing and Dr Jason Lee, who had qualified for the Runoffs GT2 class (SCCA GT2 class, not related to ACO GTE/GT2) by competing in the 2013 SCCA U.S. Majors this year. The second R8 GRAND-AM was originally entered by Fall-Line Motorsports for Mark Boden, however the team switched to a Porsche 911 GT3 for the weekend, thus dropping the Audi R8 GRAND-AM count to only one car. The next and final Audi car was entered in the STU class, the Continental Racing Audi A4 of Joel Weinberger. His B7 A4 is one of the ex-Stasis SCCA World Challenge touring cars. 

The event normally takes place with an all-week format, as practice and testing begins on Monday, followed by the racing taking place from Friday to Sunday. Each of the various SCCA categories has one race with a duration of thirteen laps or forty minutes, whichever comes first.

Qualifying was held over two days, with two sessions for each of the classes. It was a steep learning curve for Limitless Racing, as their driver, Dr Jason Lee, had never competed at Road America before. Despite this, Dr Lee was able to put in respectable lap times and continued to improve with each session. He ultimately qualified eighteenth within GT2 during the first dry session, behind the wheel of his #08 Audi R8 GRAND-AM. It was wet during the second session, so the overall fastest times remained stagnant, but he was able to post the second fastest time of that session among the competitors that took part, despite the weather conditions. 

It so happened that both of the Audi entered races took place on Friday, with the STU race being the very first race to kick off proceedings at the Runoffs, followed by the GT2/GT3 race two hours later. 

The STU race was held earlier in very wet conditions. At 8:45 am local time it was a case of quattro weather and Joel Weinberger achieved a podium result in his Audi A4.

A few hours later, at 10:45 am local time, the SCCA GT2/GT3 race got underway. This race took place on a drying track. Dr Lee was able to progress very well and got up to eleventh overall on the first lap, but he would suffer on his wet tires later during the race. He was involved in a number of battles, trying to defend his position. Ultimately he lost places and dropped to twenty-fifth overall after the full-course yellow, finishing twelfth in class.

It was a good weekend for the Audi teams at the 2013 SCCA National Championship Runoffs. Hopefully the number of Audis will increase at this prestigious event in the years to come.

Photo credit: 

Limitless Racing / Chris Rallo

John Mills

SCCA National Runoffs: quattro weather and STU podium for Joel Weinberger Audi A4

By Johan Laubscher

The 2013 SCCA National Championship Runoffs took place at Road America this week. It was the fiftieth anniversary of this prestigious event and two Audis were entered in two different classes. The first Audi entered race was held early on Friday morning and Joel Weinberger performed very well in his Audi A4. 

The event normally takes place with an all-week format, as practice and testing begins on Monday, followed by the racing taking place from Friday to Sunday. Each of the various SCCA categories has one race with a duration of thirteen laps or forty minutes, whichever comes first.

Two Audis had been entered in two different classes at the Runoffs this year. The first entry was that of Limitless Racing, with their Audi R8 GRAND-AM entered in the SCCA GT2 class. The second Audi car was entered in the STU class, the Continental Racing Audi A4 of Joel Weinberger. His B7 A4 is one of the ex-Stasis SCCA World Challenge touring cars. Weinberger is a strong and regular Runoffs competitor. He has previously won the STU class at the 2011 Runoffs and he again performed well last year by finishing runner-up.

Qualifying was held over two days, with two sessions for each of the classes. Qualifying for STU saw Weinberger suffering a brakes issue which dropped him back, this after he had been running at the front during practice. The team managed to fix the issues for qualifying on day two, but with unfavourable weather conditions the times were not bettered from day one and he would line up ninth for the STU race.

It so happened that both of the Audi entered races took place on Friday morning, with the STU race being the very first race to kick off proceedings at the Runoffs. At 8:45 am local time the STU grid got underway in very wet conditions. Weinberger, armed with quattro, was able to progress well through the field. He steadily moved up to third, his eventual finishing position.

After a tremendous lead battle the STU race was won by Elivan Goulart in his #72 Lotus ahead of the #98 Mazda of Marc Hoover.

This finish marked Joel Weinberger's fourth consecutive STU podium finish with his Audi: 2010 - 2nd, 2011 - 1st, 2012 - 2nd and 2013 - third.

Update: The final STU results were released on Saturday, revealing that Marc Hoover's Mazda was disqualified after the post-race technical inspection, thus promoting Weinberger to second place overall in STU.

Joel Weinberger mentioned the disqualification on his Continental Racing Facebook page:

"Update Official results released for STU Class. Marc Hoover's Miata was DQ'd in post-race tech, so I officially came in P2. Sad for Marc in a way - he's the epitome of the SCCA racer."

Photo credit: 

Continental Racing

SpeedCast TV screenshot

SCCA National Runoffs: Three Audis on the entry list - two Audi R8 GRAND-AM

By Johan Laubscher

The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is one of the most prestigious North American motorsport events, and the annual highlight for the SCCA Regional and National racing series’. Three Audis will be competing in the classes this year.

The 2013 SCCA National Runoffs entry list was released during this week. The first Audi includes the Audi A4 B7 of Joel Weinberger, entered by the Continental Racing team. Weinberger is entered in the STU class, a class which he won at the Runoffs in 2011. His Audi A4 is an ex-Stasis SCCA World Challenge Touring Car.

Two Audi R8 GRAND-AM cars conclude the Audis on the 2013 entry list. The first R8 GRAND-AM is from Limitless Racing. Dr Jason Lee has been competing in the 2013 SCCA U.S. Majors and he has qualified to compete in the SCCA GT2 class (unrelated to ACO GT2/GTE).

The final Audi is the Audi R8 GRAND-AM from Fall-Line Motorsports. Mark Boden will be piloting the blue Fall-Line Audi in the Touring 1 class.

The full entry list can be seen HERE. 

Road America will be hosting the 50th SCCA National Championship Runoffs from 19 to 22 September.

Entered Audi race cars:

Continental Racing - Joel Weinberger - #9 Audi A4 B7

Limitless Racing - Dr Jason Lee - #08 Audi R8 GRAND-AM

Fall-Line Motorsports - Mark Boden - #46 Audi R8 GRAND-AM

Photo credit: 
Limitless Racing on Facebook

Continental Racing on Facebook

Fall Line Motorsports on twitter