PRESS RELEASES
Monday, October 13, 2008
Pablo (20:36): Miller and New Jersey Photos have just been posted
Pablo (20:46): This coming weekend MCM will be helping to run the Eco Racing LMP1 Radical in
the American Le Mans Series. We will be a minor support role, but it is a very
unique experience to expand the resume of the MCM name. The Radical AER LMP1
race car has yet to run in ALMS this year, and this will be its first test
against ALMS competition. The plan is for this car to run full time in 2009.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Pablo (12:45): It has been an incredible season. We learned the car and we played our game.
We earned 3 podium spots and 6 top ten finishes. We seemed to either finish
well, or not finish. This is something that we need to work on;
consistency.
This last race was not how we wanted to finish the
season, but it does make the podiums that much sweeter. I want to thank Diego
Alessi, Ryan Phinny, Tom Long, Karl Reindler, Romeo Kapudija, Tom Nastasi,
Pepe Montano, Jan Seyffarth, Spencer Trenery, Vic Rice and Hal Prewitt for
being fantastic drivers this season. The future looks brighter still for Matt
Connolly Motorsports, with Sponsorships and full season drivers and NASCAR
coming on board with Grand Am. Next year is going to be incredibly exciting
and something to seriously look forward to. The schedule wont change much,
there wont be any GT only races and hopefully they will move that Barber race
to a better time of year. There will be more races on FOX than just the 24
hours, and the coverage and intrigue will be better than ever. Just stay
tuned, because you know that MCM wont change. We will still be that team that
works with what we got, coming from behind, and being the true independents
that people love to see do well. Enjoy the offseason (because to us there is
no off season, we get a month off and then testing starts again).
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Pablo (12:50): The final driver lineup for the Miller 1000k race is Diego Alessi, Karl Reindler and
Romeo Kapudija.
I want to congratulate, on behalf of the team, the Formula One Torro Rosso team and Sebastian
Vettel for beating the factory teams through seemingly unsurmountable odds. We want to follow in their footsteps. I feel our win coming.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
MCM New Jersey Race Review
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Pablo (17:25): The MCM Team is elated to bring home a second 3rd place trophy in a row. Diego
Alessi and Ryan Phinny did a spectacular job maneuvering through a very tough
field on a track that did not allow for mistakes. The #21 Matt Connolly
Motorsports "Blackjack" GTO.R got a little banged up but it held through the
race.
The weekend threw a lot of curve balls at the team. Our testing time on
Thursday was cut short due to a horrendous accident (We are all glad that Scott
Pruett is ok and in good spirits). We were fifth fastest in qualifying but it
was stricken from the records when we were just a bit low in post qualifying
tech. We had to start from the back, in 25th place, for the race. This made our
strategy to come in early for the 45 minute rule and hope for green laps. Ryan
would go from 25th to 1st and hold it for 34 laps. Ryan would bring the car in
to the pits for the driver change in 1st. An incident while Diego exited the
pit box would call for us to have to drive through pit lane as a penalty and
push us to 11th for the start of his stint. Another yellow would bunch up the
field and allow Diego to pass 5 cars in one lap on the restart. As the laps
dwindled down, diego would pass for 4th get passed back and finally two cars
ahead of us would drive off course to allow for our 3rd place finish. This was
one well deserved podium. Stay tuned for the final race of the season later
this month.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Against All Odds: Connolly, Alessi Take Podium Finish at Montreal
Monday, July 28, 2008
Pablo (11:19): I posted photos from both the Mid Ohio and Daytona Races. Check them out in the
photos section.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Pablo (15:26): The MCM blackjack #21 pontiac GTO.R qualified in 5th with Ryan Phinny behind the wheel. After
struggling a bit yesterday, a dose of new tires and small setup changes put the car in the low 1:29
range. Ryan Phinny will start the race and Diego Alessi will finish. Everyone is excited to race at this
beautiful track. If you have never been to Barber I recommend making the trip. The track is
challenging and the landscaping is stunning, plus the fans come out in droves and really make it great
for us too. Let's all look forward to a good race. We really enjoy the support from fellow GTO
enthusiasts, make sure you stop by and say hello when you come to the track. Enjoy the race!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Pablo (16:25): I just added a whole bunch of videos to the Photos section. One from Watkins
Glen, four from Mid Ohio and one from Daytona. The photos from Mid Ohio and
Daytona will be added after this weekend.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Alessi Seeking More Strong Results
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Pablo (21:43): The MCM #21 Blackjack Pontiac GTO.R finished 7th at the Brumos 250 at Daytona.
This race is particularly fun because of the amount of fans that are there to
see the race. Who cares if most of them were there for NASCAR, we know they got
a good show and they will want to see more of the Rolex Series.
Ryan
Phinny qualified 7th on the grid, although he did have a major incident during
qualifying which made the rest of the day quite hectic for the crew. We managed
to repair all of the damage done to the rear left of the car and had a good car
ready for the race. Ryan was able to work his way up to 4th during his stint. He
would come in for a splash and go at the 30 minute mark and we would start
trying to get him in for the driver change at 1 hour into the race. We knew that
the race would end on laps as opposed to the 2 and a half hour time limit, and
we wanted Diego in as soon as he could make it to the end with a full fuel load.
Ryan would be told to come in only to be held out of pit lane by the 57 car on
the inside of him, then we were asked by the Ruby Tuesday #23 DP and Joey Hand
if we could hold him out for one last stop since us pitting would make their pit
entry a little harder, finally we told him to pit this lap. Coming out of the
bus stop, after 3 laps of trying to get this pit stop done with, the left front
tire was punctured and blew the fender right off the car. Ryan luckily hobbled
it back to pit lane, but also caused a yellow on the track for debris. On the
way out we realized that this had actually backfired on us because since we were
not on track for the yellow to come out, we would not be allowed to pass the
pace car and catch up to the pack. We had lost almost a lap and a half. Diego
would get out on track and with a lucky subsequent yellow, we were able to get
back a lap on the leaders. Diego would work his way from 13th to 7th. Diego
actually said on the last caution of the race the 72 car passed us under yellow,
which would have put us 6th. With no conclusive evidence (and our in car camera
of course cutting out for the exact 15 seconds we need) we are stuck with a 7th
place finish. This was never going to be our track, so we are not so upset, but
we do want to come back strong for Barber, and Montreal still to come this month.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
MCM Mid-Ohio Race Review
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Pablo (22:45): Once again the Diego Alessi and Ryan Phinny pair does not fail to impress in
the MCM #21 Blackjack Pontiac GTO.R. 3rd place marks a first podium for Matt
Connolly Motorsports in GT racing. The crew just got home and we are still
elated by the experience. We know that it was a close race at the end, but we
Ryan Phinny led more than half the race. We knew it would be a good race for
MCM, and we always hope for the win, but we are very happy with 3rd.
The
race started on a very hectic and exciting note with a severe weather warning
in effect. The dries were on, but everyone in the paddock knew it would be a
race in the rain. We came in right after the big wreck took out a lot of very
competitive cars and went to rains. Very soon after we would be leading the
race, and Ryan Phinny would get as high as 4th overall (even ahead of most of
the DP field) before he would pass the car over to diego. Diego charged from
the 9th place the pit stop took him down to and with only a few laps to go
finally took 3rd. Farnbacher and Stevenson were way ahead, fighting their own
battle, when we noticed Andy Lally in the TRG porsche making a run very late in
the race on dry tires. He was lapping a full 9 seconds faster than us and had
us on our toes and sweating bullets. The yellow two laps from the end sealed
the deal. We at MCM hope you enjoyed the race and hope to repeat the dominating
performance again at Daytona in the next Rolex Series Race on July 3rd.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Pablo (13:22): Ryan Phinny is back on board for Mid Ohio! This is going to be a great race,
and Diego even confided in me that we will surely be on the podium this race.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Pablo (15:50): Watkins Glen did not quite go as planned. We started the weekend very well and
qualified in 5th, but the race did not go well as early contact put us 7 laps
back and made the race a hopeless case.
On a lighter note, photos are up
for the Laguna Seca and Lime Rock races. Coming up next on our schedule is Mid-
Ohio, a track that is bitter-sweet for Matt Connolly as he has done quite well
there the last two years but things have gone awry each time.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Pablo (25:10): The driver line up for Watkins Glen will be: Diego Alessi, Tom Long and Tom
Nastasi. Two drivers who we know and a new face to the team, but not a new face
to GT racing. Tom Nastasi has driven with Blackforest Motorsports and their GT
and GS mustang program for quite a while now. We do hope Ryan Phinny will be
back with us soon. If anything we can look back and say we helped jump start
his career. He has quite a future ahead of him, although right now he says he
is going to graduate high school first.
The race is on SPEED TV on
Saturday at 11 AM and then at 2 PM. It is a 6 hour race, so anything can
happen. Once again, it should be an exciting weekend.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Q and A with Ryan Phinny
MCM Lime Rock Race Review
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Pablo (13:08): I want to thank Dan Warner and Sebastien Hameline of Impetus Films for
producing the promo video now showing on the site.
Pablo (11:03): I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. I am sorry for the lack of
Updates during the weekend. Let me recap quickly how the weekend went for
us:
The practice sessions were very short in general, we had a total of one
hour and 55 minutes of practice split up into four sessions throughout the
weekend. We really chased our tail a bit on Friday, but we got our act together
on Saturday morning before qualifying and were feeling a lot better about the
set up for the race. We were worried about tire problems (strong irony) so we
tried a bit of a softer set up with lower tire pressures in the 10 minute
morning session before the race. It looked good and we were set to put our
drivers and our car to the test. From there, I'm sure you all saw the race live
on SPEED. If you didn't, Ryan Phinny would go from 6th to 2nd only to be
knocked off course just after turn 1 by the #42 corvette after a clean pass.
Our left rear tire was punctured and Ryan limped it back to the paddock. We
would quickly inspect and replace the tire with a spare and we were back out on
the track and still quite quick. The tire hadn't hurt us too much because of
the 45 minute rule. Basically everyone had to pit once anyway, so we had just
gotten it out of the way. Unfortunately, the left front tire would also go out
from under us later in the race and would force us into the pits unexpectedly.
Again, a quick replacement and we were off. The tires would hold for the rest
of Ryan's stint. Diego would get in with a full tank and set to go to the end
of the race. As we settled in pace behind the #57 stevenson car, Diego would
take the car from 10th to 6th with 20 minutes left. Near the end of the race
Diego started calling in about a tire pressure problem and a lack of stability
under braking. All we could ask him to do was try to hold on until the end.
Pitting would put us two spots back easily. In the end our pace was deminished
and we lost the 6th place position to the #67 porsche and finished 7th. A very
disconcerting race, both because of our tire problems from this race and the
last and also from the point of view of what could have happened if that
corvette hadn't run us off the road. Once again we move on to the next race,
hoping only for a better outcome. Our day is coming, and we at MCM enjoy the
support we are getting immensely. Thanks.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
MCM Going to Lime Rock with Momentum on their side
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Looking Ahead
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Pablo (23:07): Diego Alessi, Ryan Phinny and MCM finish 4th at Laguna Seca! We had to deal with a terrible pit
location and a flat tire that put us a lap and a half down but we battled back and Ryan handed the car
to Diego with an hour left and in 10th place back on the lead lap. Diego had his superman shirt on
and made his way through the field and past lapped cars on every restart. Finishing 4th is incredibly
exciting but at the same time so dissapointing. Next week we want a podium
and Ryan and Diego with an MCM GTO.R is the combination that promises to deliver. Stay tuned for
next weekend but for now enjoy an MCM 4th along with us.
Pablo (16:47): The race is about to start. Wish us luck and enjoy!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Pablo (23:18): Ryan Phinny has qualified and will start the race for MCM in 10th place with a time of 1:28.9 around
Laguna Seca. Ryan was ready but nervous before the qualifying session; a few calming words from
his friend and mentor Joey Hand changed everything. Ryan found the time we needed and the team
is happy to start the race tomorrow with a solid car and two solid drivers. Stay tuned for updates
before and after the race.
Pablo (15:23): The #21 Blackjack car just got done with our first practice. We had one off course excursion and an
alternator belt to replace but we are a top 10 car once again. Once again Diego has to learn the track
and Ryan has to learn the car, but as always Diego is fantastically quick and just like Karl Reindler
and Tom Long before him Ryan is learning very fast as well. We were on old tires so expect us to
jump to the front in the next session and qualifying.
Monday, May 12, 2008
MCM Strives On
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Q and A with Diego Alessi
Monday, May 05, 2008
Pablo (18:46): We have been busy at the shop, and we are all excited about Laguna and Lime
Rock coming up. There is not much news besides the tedious work of preparing a
race car, but I did want to put up something. Many people may not know this,
but Matt has been writing articles for the American Motor Journal since midway
through last year. I have been asking him to give me copies of the articles so
I could put them on the website for some time, and finally here they are for
your reading pleasure:
Is it hot in
here, or is it just me?
Not my first
Rodeo
Running With the Big
Dogs
The guy everyone
loves to hate
U.S.
Sports Car Racing here and abroad
We do
this...Why?
What does it take to be a
winning driver?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Pablo (11:50): The MCM crew wants to apologize to Diego Alessi and Tom Long and of course the
fans for letting you down. Somehow we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory. As far as we can tell, the return oil line going from the gear box oil
cooler to the transmission must have come loose during the recon laps before the
race. The pressure built up in the oil cooler and ruptured it causing the leak
that happened on the grid. We had it fixed in a lap and a half, but rest assured
we could not be more disappointed with ourselves.
Unfortunately, the oil
got on the tires as well and made Tom's stint very difficult to say the least. I
want to give Tom all the credit in the world for being understanding and a great
guy to work with. And wow is he quick. 6th fastest GT car of the weekend in
qualifying says it all.
After starting two laps down, all we could do was
run our own race. We were able to gain a couple of laps back, but there was no
coming back from the original deficit. When Diego got in the car he was able to
keep his wits and keep the pace. We are extremely happy that once again Diego
will be back with us in Laguna and Lime Rock. The crew was very excited about
Tom Long all weekend, and we are still hoping that we can convince him to come
back for another race down the line. We just want a chance to make things
right.
With that said, its a hard two weeks of preparation ahead and on
to Laguna Seca and Lime Rock back to back. See you at the track hopefully.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Pablo (19:36): today was the first day of practice and also the day we qualify for the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR.
One again we had one driver who knew the course and one driver who knew the car, and working
together we took great steps towards winning this race. After only one practice session and one mini
practice session to try a few setup changes we qualified 6th of 26 cars in GT. A time of 1:53.996 put
us just out of reach of the top 5. We are happy to start this grueling race in the top 10 and keep the
racing clean and smart. It will be a long race tomorrow at 1:00 PM ET after a short morning practice.
The race will not be televised until may 3rd but you can follow the action at grand-am.com
Friday, April 25, 2008
Connolly Tabs Long as Second GT Driver at VIR
MCM Adds Driver, Sponsor
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pablo (9:54): Diego Alessi is ready for VIR. Tom Long will be driving along side of Diego
for this race. Tom has been driving in the Koni GS series and also with the
Automatic BMW M6. We are happy to have him on board for this race. He knows
the track at VIR and we are sure that after few laps he will learn to love the
Pontiac GTO.R. We are really looking forward to a great outing.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Pablo (9:49): Mexico was hard fought. We were up to 5th before a stray DP crossed paths with
us. We were able to keep going, but the right fender would not stay on. Fixing
the problem put us a lap down. Diego would take the wheel after a little over
30 minutes. The impact with the wall after hitting the DP would crumple the
heat shield between the driver and the exhaust pipe running behind the rocker
panel. Diego would feel the heat at his feet for the rest of the race.
Somewhere around lap 34 an unfortunate event happened. As Diego tells
it, Nick Ham in the #70 speedsource car tried to pass on the outside on the
120 mph turn called the parabolica. His car could not hold the line and as he
tried to tighten into the corner, pulled in front of Diego while scrubbing off
speed. Diego would lift and then tap the brakes before touching the rear of
the #70 Mazda and sending it into the wall. A lamentable incident, but one not
deserving of what happened next. Grand Am would call on the radio to bring in
our #21 Pontiac GTO.R for a penalty. This may have been expected, but is still
a judgement call. What was not expected was that they would keep us in the
pits for an undetermined amount of time. By the time the car was released, 20
minutes had elapsed, we were 10 laps down and the #70 car had been repaired
and sent back out on the track.
We did finish the race, and we managed
to pass two cars in the process. We had two excellent drivers and a fast car.
To say the least, the crew was depressed, but we know how to take this energy
and push forward to VIR. See you in a week. Unfortunately, the race will not
be televised until May 3rd.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pablo (25:00): Diego Alesssi and Pepe Montaņo have been quite successful thus far in Mexico City. We have had three practice sessions since Thursday. The first session Diego had to learn the track and Pepe had to learn the car. The second session we put down a solid lap of 1:28.063 which put us in first at the time and left us with the fourth fastest lap of the session. This morning we had a final practice before qualifying. We took off another 3 tenths and qualified 9th with a 1:27.754. We have one more practice before the race and we hope to only get faster. Watch the race on the speed channel at 4 PM ET... and wish us luck!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
MCM Shines at Homestead
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pablo (10:22): The day after: The race got a bit crazy after the last post. We were in 1st
and decided to stay out with the fuel we had. We ended up pitting for fuel
only two laps from the next yellow after switching on the reserve pump. We
filled the car with fuel, put on four sticker tires, strapped Jan in the car
and we were off. Pitting under green was not optimal, but two laps later we
were lucky dog and back on the lead lap. Unfortunately we had fuel pick-up
issues with the car and Jan did a good job driving and dealing with the
problem until the end of the race. We finished 11th and we were not happy. We
are determined to win at Mexico.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Pablo (16:37): P1 under yellow!! We are very tight on fuel.
Pablo (16:20): We are an hour into the race. We have stopped once and changed fronts and put fuel in the car. We
dropped to 22nd after being 6th and after a few cautions and 39 laps we are currently in 4th and
doing quite well. We hold the 3rd fastest lap of the race. Stay tuned.
Pablo (15:02): The race is about to start. Diego just did his second recon lap and is now gridding the car. We
qualified 9th. We have a top 10 starting position and an incredible driver lineup. We are looking
forward to a great race.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Completes Lineup, Sponsors
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pablo (18:36): While working on the paint and decal design of the GTO.R I created a pdf file
that can be printed out with outlined side, front and top views of the car. In
case you want to impress MCM with your drawing skills, or you just want to
give your kids something to color in for fun, the file can be downloaded by clicking here.
If you are proud of your design (or your child's design), feel free to send it
in and we will post it in a special section of the website.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Alessi For Rolex GT Car
Pablo (23:11): MCM would like to send a get well message to Jason Workman. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him. Jason has driven with MCM on several occasions. He is a
fantastic person to work with and have around.
Jason was in an accident
not too long ago and is now in the hospital under constant care. Jason's website
can be found at http://www.jasonworkman.com/. There is a message board to
leave messages for him while he recuperates. Jason's mother has been posting
updates on his condition.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Full Season Driver, Sponsors
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pablo (24:58): **Selling Stock GTO Parts**
We recently acquired a lot of stock Pontiac GTO
parts that don't go on the race car. Items that we have that do not go on the
race car include headlights, tail lights, side mirrors, stock grille inserts,
side markers, stock emblems, door handles, door hinges and more. We are selling
a lot of these items on ebay, but if you are interested in any of these items
please contact us.
Ebay Auction Links:
Right Side Mirror
Left Side Mirror
Left Grille Insert
Right Grille Insert
Grille Insert Set
Right Headlight
Left Headlight
Friday, February 08, 2008
Pablo (15:21): Welcome to MCM 2008
Pablo (19:20): I will be putting up a summary of the events of the 24 hours of daytona race soon. In the mean time
the official team press releases can be seen at www.Grand-am.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports - 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona Race Report
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MCM Daytona Preview
MCM New Jersey Race Review
Pablo (17:25): The MCM Team is elated to bring home a second 3rd place trophy in a row. Diego Alessi and Ryan Phinny did a spectacular job maneuvering through a very tough field on a track that did not allow for mistakes. The #21 Matt Connolly Motorsports "Blackjack" GTO.R got a little banged up but it held through the race.
The weekend threw a lot of curve balls at the team. Our testing time on Thursday was cut short due to a horrendous accident (We are all glad that Scott Pruett is ok and in good spirits). We were fifth fastest in qualifying but it was stricken from the records when we were just a bit low in post qualifying tech. We had to start from the back, in 25th place, for the race. This made our strategy to come in early for the 45 minute rule and hope for green laps. Ryan would go from 25th to 1st and hold it for 34 laps. Ryan would bring the car in to the pits for the driver change in 1st. An incident while Diego exited the pit box would call for us to have to drive through pit lane as a penalty and push us to 11th for the start of his stint. Another yellow would bunch up the field and allow Diego to pass 5 cars in one lap on the restart. As the laps dwindled down, diego would pass for 4th get passed back and finally two cars ahead of us would drive off course to allow for our 3rd place finish. This was one well deserved podium. Stay tuned for the final race of the season later this month.
Against All Odds: Connolly, Alessi Take Podium Finish at Montreal
Monday, July 28, 2008
Pablo (11:19): I posted photos from both the Mid Ohio and Daytona Races. Check them out in the
photos section.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Pablo (15:26): The MCM blackjack #21 pontiac GTO.R qualified in 5th with Ryan Phinny behind the wheel. After
struggling a bit yesterday, a dose of new tires and small setup changes put the car in the low 1:29
range. Ryan Phinny will start the race and Diego Alessi will finish. Everyone is excited to race at this
beautiful track. If you have never been to Barber I recommend making the trip. The track is
challenging and the landscaping is stunning, plus the fans come out in droves and really make it great
for us too. Let's all look forward to a good race. We really enjoy the support from fellow GTO
enthusiasts, make sure you stop by and say hello when you come to the track. Enjoy the race!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Pablo (16:25): I just added a whole bunch of videos to the Photos section. One from Watkins
Glen, four from Mid Ohio and one from Daytona. The photos from Mid Ohio and
Daytona will be added after this weekend.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Alessi Seeking More Strong Results
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Pablo (21:43): The MCM #21 Blackjack Pontiac GTO.R finished 7th at the Brumos 250 at Daytona.
This race is particularly fun because of the amount of fans that are there to
see the race. Who cares if most of them were there for NASCAR, we know they got
a good show and they will want to see more of the Rolex Series.
Ryan
Phinny qualified 7th on the grid, although he did have a major incident during
qualifying which made the rest of the day quite hectic for the crew. We managed
to repair all of the damage done to the rear left of the car and had a good car
ready for the race. Ryan was able to work his way up to 4th during his stint. He
would come in for a splash and go at the 30 minute mark and we would start
trying to get him in for the driver change at 1 hour into the race. We knew that
the race would end on laps as opposed to the 2 and a half hour time limit, and
we wanted Diego in as soon as he could make it to the end with a full fuel load.
Ryan would be told to come in only to be held out of pit lane by the 57 car on
the inside of him, then we were asked by the Ruby Tuesday #23 DP and Joey Hand
if we could hold him out for one last stop since us pitting would make their pit
entry a little harder, finally we told him to pit this lap. Coming out of the
bus stop, after 3 laps of trying to get this pit stop done with, the left front
tire was punctured and blew the fender right off the car. Ryan luckily hobbled
it back to pit lane, but also caused a yellow on the track for debris. On the
way out we realized that this had actually backfired on us because since we were
not on track for the yellow to come out, we would not be allowed to pass the
pace car and catch up to the pack. We had lost almost a lap and a half. Diego
would get out on track and with a lucky subsequent yellow, we were able to get
back a lap on the leaders. Diego would work his way from 13th to 7th. Diego
actually said on the last caution of the race the 72 car passed us under yellow,
which would have put us 6th. With no conclusive evidence (and our in car camera
of course cutting out for the exact 15 seconds we need) we are stuck with a 7th
place finish. This was never going to be our track, so we are not so upset, but
we do want to come back strong for Barber, and Montreal still to come this month.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
MCM Mid-Ohio Race Review
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Pablo (22:45): Once again the Diego Alessi and Ryan Phinny pair does not fail to impress in
the MCM #21 Blackjack Pontiac GTO.R. 3rd place marks a first podium for Matt
Connolly Motorsports in GT racing. The crew just got home and we are still
elated by the experience. We know that it was a close race at the end, but we
Ryan Phinny led more than half the race. We knew it would be a good race for
MCM, and we always hope for the win, but we are very happy with 3rd.
The
race started on a very hectic and exciting note with a severe weather warning
in effect. The dries were on, but everyone in the paddock knew it would be a
race in the rain. We came in right after the big wreck took out a lot of very
competitive cars and went to rains. Very soon after we would be leading the
race, and Ryan Phinny would get as high as 4th overall (even ahead of most of
the DP field) before he would pass the car over to diego. Diego charged from
the 9th place the pit stop took him down to and with only a few laps to go
finally took 3rd. Farnbacher and Stevenson were way ahead, fighting their own
battle, when we noticed Andy Lally in the TRG porsche making a run very late in
the race on dry tires. He was lapping a full 9 seconds faster than us and had
us on our toes and sweating bullets. The yellow two laps from the end sealed
the deal. We at MCM hope you enjoyed the race and hope to repeat the dominating
performance again at Daytona in the next Rolex Series Race on July 3rd.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Pablo (13:22): Ryan Phinny is back on board for Mid Ohio! This is going to be a great race,
and Diego even confided in me that we will surely be on the podium this race.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Pablo (15:50): Watkins Glen did not quite go as planned. We started the weekend very well and
qualified in 5th, but the race did not go well as early contact put us 7 laps
back and made the race a hopeless case.
On a lighter note, photos are up
for the Laguna Seca and Lime Rock races. Coming up next on our schedule is Mid-
Ohio, a track that is bitter-sweet for Matt Connolly as he has done quite well
there the last two years but things have gone awry each time.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Pablo (25:10): The driver line up for Watkins Glen will be: Diego Alessi, Tom Long and Tom
Nastasi. Two drivers who we know and a new face to the team, but not a new face
to GT racing. Tom Nastasi has driven with Blackforest Motorsports and their GT
and GS mustang program for quite a while now. We do hope Ryan Phinny will be
back with us soon. If anything we can look back and say we helped jump start
his career. He has quite a future ahead of him, although right now he says he
is going to graduate high school first.
The race is on SPEED TV on
Saturday at 11 AM and then at 2 PM. It is a 6 hour race, so anything can
happen. Once again, it should be an exciting weekend.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Q and A with Ryan Phinny
MCM Lime Rock Race Review
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Pablo (13:08): I want to thank Dan Warner and Sebastien Hameline of Impetus Films for
producing the promo video now showing on the site.
Pablo (11:03): I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. I am sorry for the lack of
Updates during the weekend. Let me recap quickly how the weekend went for
us:
The practice sessions were very short in general, we had a total of one
hour and 55 minutes of practice split up into four sessions throughout the
weekend. We really chased our tail a bit on Friday, but we got our act together
on Saturday morning before qualifying and were feeling a lot better about the
set up for the race. We were worried about tire problems (strong irony) so we
tried a bit of a softer set up with lower tire pressures in the 10 minute
morning session before the race. It looked good and we were set to put our
drivers and our car to the test. From there, I'm sure you all saw the race live
on SPEED. If you didn't, Ryan Phinny would go from 6th to 2nd only to be
knocked off course just after turn 1 by the #42 corvette after a clean pass.
Our left rear tire was punctured and Ryan limped it back to the paddock. We
would quickly inspect and replace the tire with a spare and we were back out on
the track and still quite quick. The tire hadn't hurt us too much because of
the 45 minute rule. Basically everyone had to pit once anyway, so we had just
gotten it out of the way. Unfortunately, the left front tire would also go out
from under us later in the race and would force us into the pits unexpectedly.
Again, a quick replacement and we were off. The tires would hold for the rest
of Ryan's stint. Diego would get in with a full tank and set to go to the end
of the race. As we settled in pace behind the #57 stevenson car, Diego would
take the car from 10th to 6th with 20 minutes left. Near the end of the race
Diego started calling in about a tire pressure problem and a lack of stability
under braking. All we could ask him to do was try to hold on until the end.
Pitting would put us two spots back easily. In the end our pace was deminished
and we lost the 6th place position to the #67 porsche and finished 7th. A very
disconcerting race, both because of our tire problems from this race and the
last and also from the point of view of what could have happened if that
corvette hadn't run us off the road. Once again we move on to the next race,
hoping only for a better outcome. Our day is coming, and we at MCM enjoy the
support we are getting immensely. Thanks.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
MCM Going to Lime Rock with Momentum on their side
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Looking Ahead
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Pablo (23:07): Diego Alessi, Ryan Phinny and MCM finish 4th at Laguna Seca! We had to deal with a terrible pit
location and a flat tire that put us a lap and a half down but we battled back and Ryan handed the car
to Diego with an hour left and in 10th place back on the lead lap. Diego had his superman shirt on
and made his way through the field and past lapped cars on every restart. Finishing 4th is incredibly
exciting but at the same time so dissapointing. Next week we want a podium
and Ryan and Diego with an MCM GTO.R is the combination that promises to deliver. Stay tuned for
next weekend but for now enjoy an MCM 4th along with us.
Pablo (16:47): The race is about to start. Wish us luck and enjoy!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Pablo (23:18): Ryan Phinny has qualified and will start the race for MCM in 10th place with a time of 1:28.9 around
Laguna Seca. Ryan was ready but nervous before the qualifying session; a few calming words from
his friend and mentor Joey Hand changed everything. Ryan found the time we needed and the team
is happy to start the race tomorrow with a solid car and two solid drivers. Stay tuned for updates
before and after the race.
Pablo (15:23): The #21 Blackjack car just got done with our first practice. We had one off course excursion and an
alternator belt to replace but we are a top 10 car once again. Once again Diego has to learn the track
and Ryan has to learn the car, but as always Diego is fantastically quick and just like Karl Reindler
and Tom Long before him Ryan is learning very fast as well. We were on old tires so expect us to
jump to the front in the next session and qualifying.
Monday, May 12, 2008
MCM Strives On
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Q and A with Diego Alessi
Monday, May 05, 2008
Pablo (18:46): We have been busy at the shop, and we are all excited about Laguna and Lime
Rock coming up. There is not much news besides the tedious work of preparing a
race car, but I did want to put up something. Many people may not know this,
but Matt has been writing articles for the American Motor Journal since midway
through last year. I have been asking him to give me copies of the articles so
I could put them on the website for some time, and finally here they are for
your reading pleasure:
Is it hot in
here, or is it just me?
Not my first
Rodeo
Running With the Big
Dogs
The guy everyone
loves to hate
U.S.
Sports Car Racing here and abroad
We do
this...Why?
What does it take to be a
winning driver?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Pablo (11:50): The MCM crew wants to apologize to Diego Alessi and Tom Long and of course the
fans for letting you down. Somehow we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory. As far as we can tell, the return oil line going from the gear box oil
cooler to the transmission must have come loose during the recon laps before the
race. The pressure built up in the oil cooler and ruptured it causing the leak
that happened on the grid. We had it fixed in a lap and a half, but rest assured
we could not be more disappointed with ourselves.
Unfortunately, the oil
got on the tires as well and made Tom's stint very difficult to say the least. I
want to give Tom all the credit in the world for being understanding and a great
guy to work with. And wow is he quick. 6th fastest GT car of the weekend in
qualifying says it all.
After starting two laps down, all we could do was
run our own race. We were able to gain a couple of laps back, but there was no
coming back from the original deficit. When Diego got in the car he was able to
keep his wits and keep the pace. We are extremely happy that once again Diego
will be back with us in Laguna and Lime Rock. The crew was very excited about
Tom Long all weekend, and we are still hoping that we can convince him to come
back for another race down the line. We just want a chance to make things
right.
With that said, its a hard two weeks of preparation ahead and on
to Laguna Seca and Lime Rock back to back. See you at the track hopefully.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Pablo (19:36): today was the first day of practice and also the day we qualify for the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR.
One again we had one driver who knew the course and one driver who knew the car, and working
together we took great steps towards winning this race. After only one practice session and one mini
practice session to try a few setup changes we qualified 6th of 26 cars in GT. A time of 1:53.996 put
us just out of reach of the top 5. We are happy to start this grueling race in the top 10 and keep the
racing clean and smart. It will be a long race tomorrow at 1:00 PM ET after a short morning practice.
The race will not be televised until may 3rd but you can follow the action at grand-am.com
Friday, April 25, 2008
Connolly Tabs Long as Second GT Driver at VIR
MCM Adds Driver, Sponsor
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pablo (9:54): Diego Alessi is ready for VIR. Tom Long will be driving along side of Diego
for this race. Tom has been driving in the Koni GS series and also with the
Automatic BMW M6. We are happy to have him on board for this race. He knows
the track at VIR and we are sure that after few laps he will learn to love the
Pontiac GTO.R. We are really looking forward to a great outing.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Pablo (9:49): Mexico was hard fought. We were up to 5th before a stray DP crossed paths with
us. We were able to keep going, but the right fender would not stay on. Fixing
the problem put us a lap down. Diego would take the wheel after a little over
30 minutes. The impact with the wall after hitting the DP would crumple the
heat shield between the driver and the exhaust pipe running behind the rocker
panel. Diego would feel the heat at his feet for the rest of the race.
Somewhere around lap 34 an unfortunate event happened. As Diego tells
it, Nick Ham in the #70 speedsource car tried to pass on the outside on the
120 mph turn called the parabolica. His car could not hold the line and as he
tried to tighten into the corner, pulled in front of Diego while scrubbing off
speed. Diego would lift and then tap the brakes before touching the rear of
the #70 Mazda and sending it into the wall. A lamentable incident, but one not
deserving of what happened next. Grand Am would call on the radio to bring in
our #21 Pontiac GTO.R for a penalty. This may have been expected, but is still
a judgement call. What was not expected was that they would keep us in the
pits for an undetermined amount of time. By the time the car was released, 20
minutes had elapsed, we were 10 laps down and the #70 car had been repaired
and sent back out on the track.
We did finish the race, and we managed
to pass two cars in the process. We had two excellent drivers and a fast car.
To say the least, the crew was depressed, but we know how to take this energy
and push forward to VIR. See you in a week. Unfortunately, the race will not
be televised until May 3rd.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pablo (25:00): Diego Alesssi and Pepe Montaņo have been quite successful thus far in Mexico City. We have had three practice sessions since Thursday. The first session Diego had to learn the track and Pepe had to learn the car. The second session we put down a solid lap of 1:28.063 which put us in first at the time and left us with the fourth fastest lap of the session. This morning we had a final practice before qualifying. We took off another 3 tenths and qualified 9th with a 1:27.754. We have one more practice before the race and we hope to only get faster. Watch the race on the speed channel at 4 PM ET... and wish us luck!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
MCM Shines at Homestead
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pablo (10:22): The day after: The race got a bit crazy after the last post. We were in 1st
and decided to stay out with the fuel we had. We ended up pitting for fuel
only two laps from the next yellow after switching on the reserve pump. We
filled the car with fuel, put on four sticker tires, strapped Jan in the car
and we were off. Pitting under green was not optimal, but two laps later we
were lucky dog and back on the lead lap. Unfortunately we had fuel pick-up
issues with the car and Jan did a good job driving and dealing with the
problem until the end of the race. We finished 11th and we were not happy. We
are determined to win at Mexico.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Pablo (16:37): P1 under yellow!! We are very tight on fuel.
Pablo (16:20): We are an hour into the race. We have stopped once and changed fronts and put fuel in the car. We
dropped to 22nd after being 6th and after a few cautions and 39 laps we are currently in 4th and
doing quite well. We hold the 3rd fastest lap of the race. Stay tuned.
Pablo (15:02): The race is about to start. Diego just did his second recon lap and is now gridding the car. We
qualified 9th. We have a top 10 starting position and an incredible driver lineup. We are looking
forward to a great race.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Completes Lineup, Sponsors
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pablo (18:36): While working on the paint and decal design of the GTO.R I created a pdf file
that can be printed out with outlined side, front and top views of the car. In
case you want to impress MCM with your drawing skills, or you just want to
give your kids something to color in for fun, the file can be downloaded by clicking here.
If you are proud of your design (or your child's design), feel free to send it
in and we will post it in a special section of the website.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Alessi For Rolex GT Car
Pablo (23:11): MCM would like to send a get well message to Jason Workman. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him. Jason has driven with MCM on several occasions. He is a
fantastic person to work with and have around.
Jason was in an accident
not too long ago and is now in the hospital under constant care. Jason's website
can be found at http://www.jasonworkman.com/. There is a message board to
leave messages for him while he recuperates. Jason's mother has been posting
updates on his condition.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Full Season Driver, Sponsors
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pablo (24:58): **Selling Stock GTO Parts**
We recently acquired a lot of stock Pontiac GTO
parts that don't go on the race car. Items that we have that do not go on the
race car include headlights, tail lights, side mirrors, stock grille inserts,
side markers, stock emblems, door handles, door hinges and more. We are selling
a lot of these items on ebay, but if you are interested in any of these items
please contact us.
Ebay Auction Links:
Right Side Mirror
Left Side Mirror
Left Grille Insert
Right Grille Insert
Grille Insert Set
Right Headlight
Left Headlight
Friday, February 08, 2008
Pablo (15:21): Welcome to MCM 2008
Pablo (19:20): I will be putting up a summary of the events of the 24 hours of daytona race soon. In the mean time
the official team press releases can be seen at www.Grand-am.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports - 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona Race Report
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MCM Daytona Preview
Alessi Seeking More Strong Results
Pablo (21:43): The MCM #21 Blackjack Pontiac GTO.R finished 7th at the Brumos 250 at Daytona. This race is particularly fun because of the amount of fans that are there to see the race. Who cares if most of them were there for NASCAR, we know they got a good show and they will want to see more of the Rolex Series.
Ryan Phinny qualified 7th on the grid, although he did have a major incident during qualifying which made the rest of the day quite hectic for the crew. We managed to repair all of the damage done to the rear left of the car and had a good car ready for the race. Ryan was able to work his way up to 4th during his stint. He would come in for a splash and go at the 30 minute mark and we would start trying to get him in for the driver change at 1 hour into the race. We knew that the race would end on laps as opposed to the 2 and a half hour time limit, and we wanted Diego in as soon as he could make it to the end with a full fuel load. Ryan would be told to come in only to be held out of pit lane by the 57 car on the inside of him, then we were asked by the Ruby Tuesday #23 DP and Joey Hand if we could hold him out for one last stop since us pitting would make their pit entry a little harder, finally we told him to pit this lap. Coming out of the bus stop, after 3 laps of trying to get this pit stop done with, the left front tire was punctured and blew the fender right off the car. Ryan luckily hobbled it back to pit lane, but also caused a yellow on the track for debris. On the way out we realized that this had actually backfired on us because since we were not on track for the yellow to come out, we would not be allowed to pass the pace car and catch up to the pack. We had lost almost a lap and a half. Diego would get out on track and with a lucky subsequent yellow, we were able to get back a lap on the leaders. Diego would work his way from 13th to 7th. Diego actually said on the last caution of the race the 72 car passed us under yellow, which would have put us 6th. With no conclusive evidence (and our in car camera of course cutting out for the exact 15 seconds we need) we are stuck with a 7th place finish. This was never going to be our track, so we are not so upset, but we do want to come back strong for Barber, and Montreal still to come this month.
MCM Mid-Ohio Race Review
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Pablo (22:45): Once again the Diego Alessi and Ryan Phinny pair does not fail to impress in
the MCM #21 Blackjack Pontiac GTO.R. 3rd place marks a first podium for Matt
Connolly Motorsports in GT racing. The crew just got home and we are still
elated by the experience. We know that it was a close race at the end, but we
Ryan Phinny led more than half the race. We knew it would be a good race for
MCM, and we always hope for the win, but we are very happy with 3rd.
The
race started on a very hectic and exciting note with a severe weather warning
in effect. The dries were on, but everyone in the paddock knew it would be a
race in the rain. We came in right after the big wreck took out a lot of very
competitive cars and went to rains. Very soon after we would be leading the
race, and Ryan Phinny would get as high as 4th overall (even ahead of most of
the DP field) before he would pass the car over to diego. Diego charged from
the 9th place the pit stop took him down to and with only a few laps to go
finally took 3rd. Farnbacher and Stevenson were way ahead, fighting their own
battle, when we noticed Andy Lally in the TRG porsche making a run very late in
the race on dry tires. He was lapping a full 9 seconds faster than us and had
us on our toes and sweating bullets. The yellow two laps from the end sealed
the deal. We at MCM hope you enjoyed the race and hope to repeat the dominating
performance again at Daytona in the next Rolex Series Race on July 3rd.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Pablo (13:22): Ryan Phinny is back on board for Mid Ohio! This is going to be a great race,
and Diego even confided in me that we will surely be on the podium this race.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Pablo (15:50): Watkins Glen did not quite go as planned. We started the weekend very well and
qualified in 5th, but the race did not go well as early contact put us 7 laps
back and made the race a hopeless case.
On a lighter note, photos are up
for the Laguna Seca and Lime Rock races. Coming up next on our schedule is Mid-
Ohio, a track that is bitter-sweet for Matt Connolly as he has done quite well
there the last two years but things have gone awry each time.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Pablo (25:10): The driver line up for Watkins Glen will be: Diego Alessi, Tom Long and Tom
Nastasi. Two drivers who we know and a new face to the team, but not a new face
to GT racing. Tom Nastasi has driven with Blackforest Motorsports and their GT
and GS mustang program for quite a while now. We do hope Ryan Phinny will be
back with us soon. If anything we can look back and say we helped jump start
his career. He has quite a future ahead of him, although right now he says he
is going to graduate high school first.
The race is on SPEED TV on
Saturday at 11 AM and then at 2 PM. It is a 6 hour race, so anything can
happen. Once again, it should be an exciting weekend.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Q and A with Ryan Phinny
MCM Lime Rock Race Review
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Pablo (13:08): I want to thank Dan Warner and Sebastien Hameline of Impetus Films for
producing the promo video now showing on the site.
Pablo (11:03): I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. I am sorry for the lack of
Updates during the weekend. Let me recap quickly how the weekend went for
us:
The practice sessions were very short in general, we had a total of one
hour and 55 minutes of practice split up into four sessions throughout the
weekend. We really chased our tail a bit on Friday, but we got our act together
on Saturday morning before qualifying and were feeling a lot better about the
set up for the race. We were worried about tire problems (strong irony) so we
tried a bit of a softer set up with lower tire pressures in the 10 minute
morning session before the race. It looked good and we were set to put our
drivers and our car to the test. From there, I'm sure you all saw the race live
on SPEED. If you didn't, Ryan Phinny would go from 6th to 2nd only to be
knocked off course just after turn 1 by the #42 corvette after a clean pass.
Our left rear tire was punctured and Ryan limped it back to the paddock. We
would quickly inspect and replace the tire with a spare and we were back out on
the track and still quite quick. The tire hadn't hurt us too much because of
the 45 minute rule. Basically everyone had to pit once anyway, so we had just
gotten it out of the way. Unfortunately, the left front tire would also go out
from under us later in the race and would force us into the pits unexpectedly.
Again, a quick replacement and we were off. The tires would hold for the rest
of Ryan's stint. Diego would get in with a full tank and set to go to the end
of the race. As we settled in pace behind the #57 stevenson car, Diego would
take the car from 10th to 6th with 20 minutes left. Near the end of the race
Diego started calling in about a tire pressure problem and a lack of stability
under braking. All we could ask him to do was try to hold on until the end.
Pitting would put us two spots back easily. In the end our pace was deminished
and we lost the 6th place position to the #67 porsche and finished 7th. A very
disconcerting race, both because of our tire problems from this race and the
last and also from the point of view of what could have happened if that
corvette hadn't run us off the road. Once again we move on to the next race,
hoping only for a better outcome. Our day is coming, and we at MCM enjoy the
support we are getting immensely. Thanks.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
MCM Going to Lime Rock with Momentum on their side
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Looking Ahead
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Pablo (23:07): Diego Alessi, Ryan Phinny and MCM finish 4th at Laguna Seca! We had to deal with a terrible pit
location and a flat tire that put us a lap and a half down but we battled back and Ryan handed the car
to Diego with an hour left and in 10th place back on the lead lap. Diego had his superman shirt on
and made his way through the field and past lapped cars on every restart. Finishing 4th is incredibly
exciting but at the same time so dissapointing. Next week we want a podium
and Ryan and Diego with an MCM GTO.R is the combination that promises to deliver. Stay tuned for
next weekend but for now enjoy an MCM 4th along with us.
Pablo (16:47): The race is about to start. Wish us luck and enjoy!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Pablo (23:18): Ryan Phinny has qualified and will start the race for MCM in 10th place with a time of 1:28.9 around
Laguna Seca. Ryan was ready but nervous before the qualifying session; a few calming words from
his friend and mentor Joey Hand changed everything. Ryan found the time we needed and the team
is happy to start the race tomorrow with a solid car and two solid drivers. Stay tuned for updates
before and after the race.
Pablo (15:23): The #21 Blackjack car just got done with our first practice. We had one off course excursion and an
alternator belt to replace but we are a top 10 car once again. Once again Diego has to learn the track
and Ryan has to learn the car, but as always Diego is fantastically quick and just like Karl Reindler
and Tom Long before him Ryan is learning very fast as well. We were on old tires so expect us to
jump to the front in the next session and qualifying.
Monday, May 12, 2008
MCM Strives On
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Q and A with Diego Alessi
Monday, May 05, 2008
Pablo (18:46): We have been busy at the shop, and we are all excited about Laguna and Lime
Rock coming up. There is not much news besides the tedious work of preparing a
race car, but I did want to put up something. Many people may not know this,
but Matt has been writing articles for the American Motor Journal since midway
through last year. I have been asking him to give me copies of the articles so
I could put them on the website for some time, and finally here they are for
your reading pleasure:
Is it hot in
here, or is it just me?
Not my first
Rodeo
Running With the Big
Dogs
The guy everyone
loves to hate
U.S.
Sports Car Racing here and abroad
We do
this...Why?
What does it take to be a
winning driver?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Pablo (11:50): The MCM crew wants to apologize to Diego Alessi and Tom Long and of course the
fans for letting you down. Somehow we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory. As far as we can tell, the return oil line going from the gear box oil
cooler to the transmission must have come loose during the recon laps before the
race. The pressure built up in the oil cooler and ruptured it causing the leak
that happened on the grid. We had it fixed in a lap and a half, but rest assured
we could not be more disappointed with ourselves.
Unfortunately, the oil
got on the tires as well and made Tom's stint very difficult to say the least. I
want to give Tom all the credit in the world for being understanding and a great
guy to work with. And wow is he quick. 6th fastest GT car of the weekend in
qualifying says it all.
After starting two laps down, all we could do was
run our own race. We were able to gain a couple of laps back, but there was no
coming back from the original deficit. When Diego got in the car he was able to
keep his wits and keep the pace. We are extremely happy that once again Diego
will be back with us in Laguna and Lime Rock. The crew was very excited about
Tom Long all weekend, and we are still hoping that we can convince him to come
back for another race down the line. We just want a chance to make things
right.
With that said, its a hard two weeks of preparation ahead and on
to Laguna Seca and Lime Rock back to back. See you at the track hopefully.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Pablo (19:36): today was the first day of practice and also the day we qualify for the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR.
One again we had one driver who knew the course and one driver who knew the car, and working
together we took great steps towards winning this race. After only one practice session and one mini
practice session to try a few setup changes we qualified 6th of 26 cars in GT. A time of 1:53.996 put
us just out of reach of the top 5. We are happy to start this grueling race in the top 10 and keep the
racing clean and smart. It will be a long race tomorrow at 1:00 PM ET after a short morning practice.
The race will not be televised until may 3rd but you can follow the action at grand-am.com
Friday, April 25, 2008
Connolly Tabs Long as Second GT Driver at VIR
MCM Adds Driver, Sponsor
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pablo (9:54): Diego Alessi is ready for VIR. Tom Long will be driving along side of Diego
for this race. Tom has been driving in the Koni GS series and also with the
Automatic BMW M6. We are happy to have him on board for this race. He knows
the track at VIR and we are sure that after few laps he will learn to love the
Pontiac GTO.R. We are really looking forward to a great outing.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Pablo (9:49): Mexico was hard fought. We were up to 5th before a stray DP crossed paths with
us. We were able to keep going, but the right fender would not stay on. Fixing
the problem put us a lap down. Diego would take the wheel after a little over
30 minutes. The impact with the wall after hitting the DP would crumple the
heat shield between the driver and the exhaust pipe running behind the rocker
panel. Diego would feel the heat at his feet for the rest of the race.
Somewhere around lap 34 an unfortunate event happened. As Diego tells
it, Nick Ham in the #70 speedsource car tried to pass on the outside on the
120 mph turn called the parabolica. His car could not hold the line and as he
tried to tighten into the corner, pulled in front of Diego while scrubbing off
speed. Diego would lift and then tap the brakes before touching the rear of
the #70 Mazda and sending it into the wall. A lamentable incident, but one not
deserving of what happened next. Grand Am would call on the radio to bring in
our #21 Pontiac GTO.R for a penalty. This may have been expected, but is still
a judgement call. What was not expected was that they would keep us in the
pits for an undetermined amount of time. By the time the car was released, 20
minutes had elapsed, we were 10 laps down and the #70 car had been repaired
and sent back out on the track.
We did finish the race, and we managed
to pass two cars in the process. We had two excellent drivers and a fast car.
To say the least, the crew was depressed, but we know how to take this energy
and push forward to VIR. See you in a week. Unfortunately, the race will not
be televised until May 3rd.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pablo (25:00): Diego Alesssi and Pepe Montaņo have been quite successful thus far in Mexico City. We have had three practice sessions since Thursday. The first session Diego had to learn the track and Pepe had to learn the car. The second session we put down a solid lap of 1:28.063 which put us in first at the time and left us with the fourth fastest lap of the session. This morning we had a final practice before qualifying. We took off another 3 tenths and qualified 9th with a 1:27.754. We have one more practice before the race and we hope to only get faster. Watch the race on the speed channel at 4 PM ET... and wish us luck!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
MCM Shines at Homestead
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pablo (10:22): The day after: The race got a bit crazy after the last post. We were in 1st
and decided to stay out with the fuel we had. We ended up pitting for fuel
only two laps from the next yellow after switching on the reserve pump. We
filled the car with fuel, put on four sticker tires, strapped Jan in the car
and we were off. Pitting under green was not optimal, but two laps later we
were lucky dog and back on the lead lap. Unfortunately we had fuel pick-up
issues with the car and Jan did a good job driving and dealing with the
problem until the end of the race. We finished 11th and we were not happy. We
are determined to win at Mexico.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Pablo (16:37): P1 under yellow!! We are very tight on fuel.
Pablo (16:20): We are an hour into the race. We have stopped once and changed fronts and put fuel in the car. We
dropped to 22nd after being 6th and after a few cautions and 39 laps we are currently in 4th and
doing quite well. We hold the 3rd fastest lap of the race. Stay tuned.
Pablo (15:02): The race is about to start. Diego just did his second recon lap and is now gridding the car. We
qualified 9th. We have a top 10 starting position and an incredible driver lineup. We are looking
forward to a great race.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Completes Lineup, Sponsors
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pablo (18:36): While working on the paint and decal design of the GTO.R I created a pdf file
that can be printed out with outlined side, front and top views of the car. In
case you want to impress MCM with your drawing skills, or you just want to
give your kids something to color in for fun, the file can be downloaded by clicking here.
If you are proud of your design (or your child's design), feel free to send it
in and we will post it in a special section of the website.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Alessi For Rolex GT Car
Pablo (23:11): MCM would like to send a get well message to Jason Workman. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him. Jason has driven with MCM on several occasions. He is a
fantastic person to work with and have around.
Jason was in an accident
not too long ago and is now in the hospital under constant care. Jason's website
can be found at http://www.jasonworkman.com/. There is a message board to
leave messages for him while he recuperates. Jason's mother has been posting
updates on his condition.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Full Season Driver, Sponsors
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pablo (24:58): **Selling Stock GTO Parts**
We recently acquired a lot of stock Pontiac GTO
parts that don't go on the race car. Items that we have that do not go on the
race car include headlights, tail lights, side mirrors, stock grille inserts,
side markers, stock emblems, door handles, door hinges and more. We are selling
a lot of these items on ebay, but if you are interested in any of these items
please contact us.
Ebay Auction Links:
Right Side Mirror
Left Side Mirror
Left Grille Insert
Right Grille Insert
Grille Insert Set
Right Headlight
Left Headlight
Friday, February 08, 2008
Pablo (15:21): Welcome to MCM 2008
Pablo (19:20): I will be putting up a summary of the events of the 24 hours of daytona race soon. In the mean time
the official team press releases can be seen at www.Grand-am.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports - 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona Race Report
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MCM Daytona Preview
Q and A with Ryan Phinny
MCM Lime Rock Race Review
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Pablo (13:08): I want to thank Dan Warner and Sebastien Hameline of Impetus Films for
producing the promo video now showing on the site.
Pablo (11:03): I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. I am sorry for the lack of
Updates during the weekend. Let me recap quickly how the weekend went for
us:
The practice sessions were very short in general, we had a total of one
hour and 55 minutes of practice split up into four sessions throughout the
weekend. We really chased our tail a bit on Friday, but we got our act together
on Saturday morning before qualifying and were feeling a lot better about the
set up for the race. We were worried about tire problems (strong irony) so we
tried a bit of a softer set up with lower tire pressures in the 10 minute
morning session before the race. It looked good and we were set to put our
drivers and our car to the test. From there, I'm sure you all saw the race live
on SPEED. If you didn't, Ryan Phinny would go from 6th to 2nd only to be
knocked off course just after turn 1 by the #42 corvette after a clean pass.
Our left rear tire was punctured and Ryan limped it back to the paddock. We
would quickly inspect and replace the tire with a spare and we were back out on
the track and still quite quick. The tire hadn't hurt us too much because of
the 45 minute rule. Basically everyone had to pit once anyway, so we had just
gotten it out of the way. Unfortunately, the left front tire would also go out
from under us later in the race and would force us into the pits unexpectedly.
Again, a quick replacement and we were off. The tires would hold for the rest
of Ryan's stint. Diego would get in with a full tank and set to go to the end
of the race. As we settled in pace behind the #57 stevenson car, Diego would
take the car from 10th to 6th with 20 minutes left. Near the end of the race
Diego started calling in about a tire pressure problem and a lack of stability
under braking. All we could ask him to do was try to hold on until the end.
Pitting would put us two spots back easily. In the end our pace was deminished
and we lost the 6th place position to the #67 porsche and finished 7th. A very
disconcerting race, both because of our tire problems from this race and the
last and also from the point of view of what could have happened if that
corvette hadn't run us off the road. Once again we move on to the next race,
hoping only for a better outcome. Our day is coming, and we at MCM enjoy the
support we are getting immensely. Thanks.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
MCM Going to Lime Rock with Momentum on their side
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Looking Ahead
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Pablo (23:07): Diego Alessi, Ryan Phinny and MCM finish 4th at Laguna Seca! We had to deal with a terrible pit
location and a flat tire that put us a lap and a half down but we battled back and Ryan handed the car
to Diego with an hour left and in 10th place back on the lead lap. Diego had his superman shirt on
and made his way through the field and past lapped cars on every restart. Finishing 4th is incredibly
exciting but at the same time so dissapointing. Next week we want a podium
and Ryan and Diego with an MCM GTO.R is the combination that promises to deliver. Stay tuned for
next weekend but for now enjoy an MCM 4th along with us.
Pablo (16:47): The race is about to start. Wish us luck and enjoy!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Pablo (23:18): Ryan Phinny has qualified and will start the race for MCM in 10th place with a time of 1:28.9 around
Laguna Seca. Ryan was ready but nervous before the qualifying session; a few calming words from
his friend and mentor Joey Hand changed everything. Ryan found the time we needed and the team
is happy to start the race tomorrow with a solid car and two solid drivers. Stay tuned for updates
before and after the race.
Pablo (15:23): The #21 Blackjack car just got done with our first practice. We had one off course excursion and an
alternator belt to replace but we are a top 10 car once again. Once again Diego has to learn the track
and Ryan has to learn the car, but as always Diego is fantastically quick and just like Karl Reindler
and Tom Long before him Ryan is learning very fast as well. We were on old tires so expect us to
jump to the front in the next session and qualifying.
Monday, May 12, 2008
MCM Strives On
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Q and A with Diego Alessi
Monday, May 05, 2008
Pablo (18:46): We have been busy at the shop, and we are all excited about Laguna and Lime
Rock coming up. There is not much news besides the tedious work of preparing a
race car, but I did want to put up something. Many people may not know this,
but Matt has been writing articles for the American Motor Journal since midway
through last year. I have been asking him to give me copies of the articles so
I could put them on the website for some time, and finally here they are for
your reading pleasure:
Is it hot in
here, or is it just me?
Not my first
Rodeo
Running With the Big
Dogs
The guy everyone
loves to hate
U.S.
Sports Car Racing here and abroad
We do
this...Why?
What does it take to be a
winning driver?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Pablo (11:50): The MCM crew wants to apologize to Diego Alessi and Tom Long and of course the
fans for letting you down. Somehow we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory. As far as we can tell, the return oil line going from the gear box oil
cooler to the transmission must have come loose during the recon laps before the
race. The pressure built up in the oil cooler and ruptured it causing the leak
that happened on the grid. We had it fixed in a lap and a half, but rest assured
we could not be more disappointed with ourselves.
Unfortunately, the oil
got on the tires as well and made Tom's stint very difficult to say the least. I
want to give Tom all the credit in the world for being understanding and a great
guy to work with. And wow is he quick. 6th fastest GT car of the weekend in
qualifying says it all.
After starting two laps down, all we could do was
run our own race. We were able to gain a couple of laps back, but there was no
coming back from the original deficit. When Diego got in the car he was able to
keep his wits and keep the pace. We are extremely happy that once again Diego
will be back with us in Laguna and Lime Rock. The crew was very excited about
Tom Long all weekend, and we are still hoping that we can convince him to come
back for another race down the line. We just want a chance to make things
right.
With that said, its a hard two weeks of preparation ahead and on
to Laguna Seca and Lime Rock back to back. See you at the track hopefully.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Pablo (19:36): today was the first day of practice and also the day we qualify for the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR.
One again we had one driver who knew the course and one driver who knew the car, and working
together we took great steps towards winning this race. After only one practice session and one mini
practice session to try a few setup changes we qualified 6th of 26 cars in GT. A time of 1:53.996 put
us just out of reach of the top 5. We are happy to start this grueling race in the top 10 and keep the
racing clean and smart. It will be a long race tomorrow at 1:00 PM ET after a short morning practice.
The race will not be televised until may 3rd but you can follow the action at grand-am.com
Friday, April 25, 2008
Connolly Tabs Long as Second GT Driver at VIR
MCM Adds Driver, Sponsor
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pablo (9:54): Diego Alessi is ready for VIR. Tom Long will be driving along side of Diego
for this race. Tom has been driving in the Koni GS series and also with the
Automatic BMW M6. We are happy to have him on board for this race. He knows
the track at VIR and we are sure that after few laps he will learn to love the
Pontiac GTO.R. We are really looking forward to a great outing.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Pablo (9:49): Mexico was hard fought. We were up to 5th before a stray DP crossed paths with
us. We were able to keep going, but the right fender would not stay on. Fixing
the problem put us a lap down. Diego would take the wheel after a little over
30 minutes. The impact with the wall after hitting the DP would crumple the
heat shield between the driver and the exhaust pipe running behind the rocker
panel. Diego would feel the heat at his feet for the rest of the race.
Somewhere around lap 34 an unfortunate event happened. As Diego tells
it, Nick Ham in the #70 speedsource car tried to pass on the outside on the
120 mph turn called the parabolica. His car could not hold the line and as he
tried to tighten into the corner, pulled in front of Diego while scrubbing off
speed. Diego would lift and then tap the brakes before touching the rear of
the #70 Mazda and sending it into the wall. A lamentable incident, but one not
deserving of what happened next. Grand Am would call on the radio to bring in
our #21 Pontiac GTO.R for a penalty. This may have been expected, but is still
a judgement call. What was not expected was that they would keep us in the
pits for an undetermined amount of time. By the time the car was released, 20
minutes had elapsed, we were 10 laps down and the #70 car had been repaired
and sent back out on the track.
We did finish the race, and we managed
to pass two cars in the process. We had two excellent drivers and a fast car.
To say the least, the crew was depressed, but we know how to take this energy
and push forward to VIR. See you in a week. Unfortunately, the race will not
be televised until May 3rd.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pablo (25:00): Diego Alesssi and Pepe Montaņo have been quite successful thus far in Mexico City. We have had three practice sessions since Thursday. The first session Diego had to learn the track and Pepe had to learn the car. The second session we put down a solid lap of 1:28.063 which put us in first at the time and left us with the fourth fastest lap of the session. This morning we had a final practice before qualifying. We took off another 3 tenths and qualified 9th with a 1:27.754. We have one more practice before the race and we hope to only get faster. Watch the race on the speed channel at 4 PM ET... and wish us luck!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
MCM Shines at Homestead
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pablo (10:22): The day after: The race got a bit crazy after the last post. We were in 1st
and decided to stay out with the fuel we had. We ended up pitting for fuel
only two laps from the next yellow after switching on the reserve pump. We
filled the car with fuel, put on four sticker tires, strapped Jan in the car
and we were off. Pitting under green was not optimal, but two laps later we
were lucky dog and back on the lead lap. Unfortunately we had fuel pick-up
issues with the car and Jan did a good job driving and dealing with the
problem until the end of the race. We finished 11th and we were not happy. We
are determined to win at Mexico.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Pablo (16:37): P1 under yellow!! We are very tight on fuel.
Pablo (16:20): We are an hour into the race. We have stopped once and changed fronts and put fuel in the car. We
dropped to 22nd after being 6th and after a few cautions and 39 laps we are currently in 4th and
doing quite well. We hold the 3rd fastest lap of the race. Stay tuned.
Pablo (15:02): The race is about to start. Diego just did his second recon lap and is now gridding the car. We
qualified 9th. We have a top 10 starting position and an incredible driver lineup. We are looking
forward to a great race.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Completes Lineup, Sponsors
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pablo (18:36): While working on the paint and decal design of the GTO.R I created a pdf file
that can be printed out with outlined side, front and top views of the car. In
case you want to impress MCM with your drawing skills, or you just want to
give your kids something to color in for fun, the file can be downloaded by clicking here.
If you are proud of your design (or your child's design), feel free to send it
in and we will post it in a special section of the website.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Alessi For Rolex GT Car
Pablo (23:11): MCM would like to send a get well message to Jason Workman. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him. Jason has driven with MCM on several occasions. He is a
fantastic person to work with and have around.
Jason was in an accident
not too long ago and is now in the hospital under constant care. Jason's website
can be found at http://www.jasonworkman.com/. There is a message board to
leave messages for him while he recuperates. Jason's mother has been posting
updates on his condition.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Full Season Driver, Sponsors
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pablo (24:58): **Selling Stock GTO Parts**
We recently acquired a lot of stock Pontiac GTO
parts that don't go on the race car. Items that we have that do not go on the
race car include headlights, tail lights, side mirrors, stock grille inserts,
side markers, stock emblems, door handles, door hinges and more. We are selling
a lot of these items on ebay, but if you are interested in any of these items
please contact us.
Ebay Auction Links:
Right Side Mirror
Left Side Mirror
Left Grille Insert
Right Grille Insert
Grille Insert Set
Right Headlight
Left Headlight
Friday, February 08, 2008
Pablo (15:21): Welcome to MCM 2008
Pablo (19:20): I will be putting up a summary of the events of the 24 hours of daytona race soon. In the mean time
the official team press releases can be seen at www.Grand-am.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports - 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona Race Report
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MCM Daytona Preview
MCM Going to Lime Rock with Momentum on their side
Matt Connolly Looking Ahead
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Pablo (23:07): Diego Alessi, Ryan Phinny and MCM finish 4th at Laguna Seca! We had to deal with a terrible pit
location and a flat tire that put us a lap and a half down but we battled back and Ryan handed the car
to Diego with an hour left and in 10th place back on the lead lap. Diego had his superman shirt on
and made his way through the field and past lapped cars on every restart. Finishing 4th is incredibly
exciting but at the same time so dissapointing. Next week we want a podium
and Ryan and Diego with an MCM GTO.R is the combination that promises to deliver. Stay tuned for
next weekend but for now enjoy an MCM 4th along with us.
Pablo (16:47): The race is about to start. Wish us luck and enjoy!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Pablo (23:18): Ryan Phinny has qualified and will start the race for MCM in 10th place with a time of 1:28.9 around
Laguna Seca. Ryan was ready but nervous before the qualifying session; a few calming words from
his friend and mentor Joey Hand changed everything. Ryan found the time we needed and the team
is happy to start the race tomorrow with a solid car and two solid drivers. Stay tuned for updates
before and after the race.
Pablo (15:23): The #21 Blackjack car just got done with our first practice. We had one off course excursion and an
alternator belt to replace but we are a top 10 car once again. Once again Diego has to learn the track
and Ryan has to learn the car, but as always Diego is fantastically quick and just like Karl Reindler
and Tom Long before him Ryan is learning very fast as well. We were on old tires so expect us to
jump to the front in the next session and qualifying.
Monday, May 12, 2008
MCM Strives On
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Q and A with Diego Alessi
Monday, May 05, 2008
Pablo (18:46): We have been busy at the shop, and we are all excited about Laguna and Lime
Rock coming up. There is not much news besides the tedious work of preparing a
race car, but I did want to put up something. Many people may not know this,
but Matt has been writing articles for the American Motor Journal since midway
through last year. I have been asking him to give me copies of the articles so
I could put them on the website for some time, and finally here they are for
your reading pleasure:
Is it hot in
here, or is it just me?
Not my first
Rodeo
Running With the Big
Dogs
The guy everyone
loves to hate
U.S.
Sports Car Racing here and abroad
We do
this...Why?
What does it take to be a
winning driver?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Pablo (11:50): The MCM crew wants to apologize to Diego Alessi and Tom Long and of course the
fans for letting you down. Somehow we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory. As far as we can tell, the return oil line going from the gear box oil
cooler to the transmission must have come loose during the recon laps before the
race. The pressure built up in the oil cooler and ruptured it causing the leak
that happened on the grid. We had it fixed in a lap and a half, but rest assured
we could not be more disappointed with ourselves.
Unfortunately, the oil
got on the tires as well and made Tom's stint very difficult to say the least. I
want to give Tom all the credit in the world for being understanding and a great
guy to work with. And wow is he quick. 6th fastest GT car of the weekend in
qualifying says it all.
After starting two laps down, all we could do was
run our own race. We were able to gain a couple of laps back, but there was no
coming back from the original deficit. When Diego got in the car he was able to
keep his wits and keep the pace. We are extremely happy that once again Diego
will be back with us in Laguna and Lime Rock. The crew was very excited about
Tom Long all weekend, and we are still hoping that we can convince him to come
back for another race down the line. We just want a chance to make things
right.
With that said, its a hard two weeks of preparation ahead and on
to Laguna Seca and Lime Rock back to back. See you at the track hopefully.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Pablo (19:36): today was the first day of practice and also the day we qualify for the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR.
One again we had one driver who knew the course and one driver who knew the car, and working
together we took great steps towards winning this race. After only one practice session and one mini
practice session to try a few setup changes we qualified 6th of 26 cars in GT. A time of 1:53.996 put
us just out of reach of the top 5. We are happy to start this grueling race in the top 10 and keep the
racing clean and smart. It will be a long race tomorrow at 1:00 PM ET after a short morning practice.
The race will not be televised until may 3rd but you can follow the action at grand-am.com
Friday, April 25, 2008
Connolly Tabs Long as Second GT Driver at VIR
MCM Adds Driver, Sponsor
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pablo (9:54): Diego Alessi is ready for VIR. Tom Long will be driving along side of Diego
for this race. Tom has been driving in the Koni GS series and also with the
Automatic BMW M6. We are happy to have him on board for this race. He knows
the track at VIR and we are sure that after few laps he will learn to love the
Pontiac GTO.R. We are really looking forward to a great outing.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Pablo (9:49): Mexico was hard fought. We were up to 5th before a stray DP crossed paths with
us. We were able to keep going, but the right fender would not stay on. Fixing
the problem put us a lap down. Diego would take the wheel after a little over
30 minutes. The impact with the wall after hitting the DP would crumple the
heat shield between the driver and the exhaust pipe running behind the rocker
panel. Diego would feel the heat at his feet for the rest of the race.
Somewhere around lap 34 an unfortunate event happened. As Diego tells
it, Nick Ham in the #70 speedsource car tried to pass on the outside on the
120 mph turn called the parabolica. His car could not hold the line and as he
tried to tighten into the corner, pulled in front of Diego while scrubbing off
speed. Diego would lift and then tap the brakes before touching the rear of
the #70 Mazda and sending it into the wall. A lamentable incident, but one not
deserving of what happened next. Grand Am would call on the radio to bring in
our #21 Pontiac GTO.R for a penalty. This may have been expected, but is still
a judgement call. What was not expected was that they would keep us in the
pits for an undetermined amount of time. By the time the car was released, 20
minutes had elapsed, we were 10 laps down and the #70 car had been repaired
and sent back out on the track.
We did finish the race, and we managed
to pass two cars in the process. We had two excellent drivers and a fast car.
To say the least, the crew was depressed, but we know how to take this energy
and push forward to VIR. See you in a week. Unfortunately, the race will not
be televised until May 3rd.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pablo (25:00): Diego Alesssi and Pepe Montaņo have been quite successful thus far in Mexico City. We have had three practice sessions since Thursday. The first session Diego had to learn the track and Pepe had to learn the car. The second session we put down a solid lap of 1:28.063 which put us in first at the time and left us with the fourth fastest lap of the session. This morning we had a final practice before qualifying. We took off another 3 tenths and qualified 9th with a 1:27.754. We have one more practice before the race and we hope to only get faster. Watch the race on the speed channel at 4 PM ET... and wish us luck!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
MCM Shines at Homestead
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pablo (10:22): The day after: The race got a bit crazy after the last post. We were in 1st
and decided to stay out with the fuel we had. We ended up pitting for fuel
only two laps from the next yellow after switching on the reserve pump. We
filled the car with fuel, put on four sticker tires, strapped Jan in the car
and we were off. Pitting under green was not optimal, but two laps later we
were lucky dog and back on the lead lap. Unfortunately we had fuel pick-up
issues with the car and Jan did a good job driving and dealing with the
problem until the end of the race. We finished 11th and we were not happy. We
are determined to win at Mexico.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Pablo (16:37): P1 under yellow!! We are very tight on fuel.
Pablo (16:20): We are an hour into the race. We have stopped once and changed fronts and put fuel in the car. We
dropped to 22nd after being 6th and after a few cautions and 39 laps we are currently in 4th and
doing quite well. We hold the 3rd fastest lap of the race. Stay tuned.
Pablo (15:02): The race is about to start. Diego just did his second recon lap and is now gridding the car. We
qualified 9th. We have a top 10 starting position and an incredible driver lineup. We are looking
forward to a great race.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Completes Lineup, Sponsors
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pablo (18:36): While working on the paint and decal design of the GTO.R I created a pdf file
that can be printed out with outlined side, front and top views of the car. In
case you want to impress MCM with your drawing skills, or you just want to
give your kids something to color in for fun, the file can be downloaded by clicking here.
If you are proud of your design (or your child's design), feel free to send it
in and we will post it in a special section of the website.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Alessi For Rolex GT Car
Pablo (23:11): MCM would like to send a get well message to Jason Workman. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him. Jason has driven with MCM on several occasions. He is a
fantastic person to work with and have around.
Jason was in an accident
not too long ago and is now in the hospital under constant care. Jason's website
can be found at http://www.jasonworkman.com/. There is a message board to
leave messages for him while he recuperates. Jason's mother has been posting
updates on his condition.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Full Season Driver, Sponsors
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pablo (24:58): **Selling Stock GTO Parts**
We recently acquired a lot of stock Pontiac GTO
parts that don't go on the race car. Items that we have that do not go on the
race car include headlights, tail lights, side mirrors, stock grille inserts,
side markers, stock emblems, door handles, door hinges and more. We are selling
a lot of these items on ebay, but if you are interested in any of these items
please contact us.
Ebay Auction Links:
Right Side Mirror
Left Side Mirror
Left Grille Insert
Right Grille Insert
Grille Insert Set
Right Headlight
Left Headlight
Friday, February 08, 2008
Pablo (15:21): Welcome to MCM 2008
Pablo (19:20): I will be putting up a summary of the events of the 24 hours of daytona race soon. In the mean time
the official team press releases can be seen at www.Grand-am.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports - 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona Race Report
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MCM Daytona Preview
MCM Strives On
Q and A with Diego Alessi
Monday, May 05, 2008
Pablo (18:46): We have been busy at the shop, and we are all excited about Laguna and Lime
Rock coming up. There is not much news besides the tedious work of preparing a
race car, but I did want to put up something. Many people may not know this,
but Matt has been writing articles for the American Motor Journal since midway
through last year. I have been asking him to give me copies of the articles so
I could put them on the website for some time, and finally here they are for
your reading pleasure:
Is it hot in
here, or is it just me?
Not my first
Rodeo
Running With the Big
Dogs
The guy everyone
loves to hate
U.S.
Sports Car Racing here and abroad
We do
this...Why?
What does it take to be a
winning driver?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Pablo (11:50): The MCM crew wants to apologize to Diego Alessi and Tom Long and of course the
fans for letting you down. Somehow we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory. As far as we can tell, the return oil line going from the gear box oil
cooler to the transmission must have come loose during the recon laps before the
race. The pressure built up in the oil cooler and ruptured it causing the leak
that happened on the grid. We had it fixed in a lap and a half, but rest assured
we could not be more disappointed with ourselves.
Unfortunately, the oil
got on the tires as well and made Tom's stint very difficult to say the least. I
want to give Tom all the credit in the world for being understanding and a great
guy to work with. And wow is he quick. 6th fastest GT car of the weekend in
qualifying says it all.
After starting two laps down, all we could do was
run our own race. We were able to gain a couple of laps back, but there was no
coming back from the original deficit. When Diego got in the car he was able to
keep his wits and keep the pace. We are extremely happy that once again Diego
will be back with us in Laguna and Lime Rock. The crew was very excited about
Tom Long all weekend, and we are still hoping that we can convince him to come
back for another race down the line. We just want a chance to make things
right.
With that said, its a hard two weeks of preparation ahead and on
to Laguna Seca and Lime Rock back to back. See you at the track hopefully.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Pablo (19:36): today was the first day of practice and also the day we qualify for the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR.
One again we had one driver who knew the course and one driver who knew the car, and working
together we took great steps towards winning this race. After only one practice session and one mini
practice session to try a few setup changes we qualified 6th of 26 cars in GT. A time of 1:53.996 put
us just out of reach of the top 5. We are happy to start this grueling race in the top 10 and keep the
racing clean and smart. It will be a long race tomorrow at 1:00 PM ET after a short morning practice.
The race will not be televised until may 3rd but you can follow the action at grand-am.com
Friday, April 25, 2008
Connolly Tabs Long as Second GT Driver at VIR
MCM Adds Driver, Sponsor
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pablo (9:54): Diego Alessi is ready for VIR. Tom Long will be driving along side of Diego
for this race. Tom has been driving in the Koni GS series and also with the
Automatic BMW M6. We are happy to have him on board for this race. He knows
the track at VIR and we are sure that after few laps he will learn to love the
Pontiac GTO.R. We are really looking forward to a great outing.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Pablo (9:49): Mexico was hard fought. We were up to 5th before a stray DP crossed paths with
us. We were able to keep going, but the right fender would not stay on. Fixing
the problem put us a lap down. Diego would take the wheel after a little over
30 minutes. The impact with the wall after hitting the DP would crumple the
heat shield between the driver and the exhaust pipe running behind the rocker
panel. Diego would feel the heat at his feet for the rest of the race.
Somewhere around lap 34 an unfortunate event happened. As Diego tells
it, Nick Ham in the #70 speedsource car tried to pass on the outside on the
120 mph turn called the parabolica. His car could not hold the line and as he
tried to tighten into the corner, pulled in front of Diego while scrubbing off
speed. Diego would lift and then tap the brakes before touching the rear of
the #70 Mazda and sending it into the wall. A lamentable incident, but one not
deserving of what happened next. Grand Am would call on the radio to bring in
our #21 Pontiac GTO.R for a penalty. This may have been expected, but is still
a judgement call. What was not expected was that they would keep us in the
pits for an undetermined amount of time. By the time the car was released, 20
minutes had elapsed, we were 10 laps down and the #70 car had been repaired
and sent back out on the track.
We did finish the race, and we managed
to pass two cars in the process. We had two excellent drivers and a fast car.
To say the least, the crew was depressed, but we know how to take this energy
and push forward to VIR. See you in a week. Unfortunately, the race will not
be televised until May 3rd.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pablo (25:00): Diego Alesssi and Pepe Montaņo have been quite successful thus far in Mexico City. We have had three practice sessions since Thursday. The first session Diego had to learn the track and Pepe had to learn the car. The second session we put down a solid lap of 1:28.063 which put us in first at the time and left us with the fourth fastest lap of the session. This morning we had a final practice before qualifying. We took off another 3 tenths and qualified 9th with a 1:27.754. We have one more practice before the race and we hope to only get faster. Watch the race on the speed channel at 4 PM ET... and wish us luck!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
MCM Shines at Homestead
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pablo (10:22): The day after: The race got a bit crazy after the last post. We were in 1st
and decided to stay out with the fuel we had. We ended up pitting for fuel
only two laps from the next yellow after switching on the reserve pump. We
filled the car with fuel, put on four sticker tires, strapped Jan in the car
and we were off. Pitting under green was not optimal, but two laps later we
were lucky dog and back on the lead lap. Unfortunately we had fuel pick-up
issues with the car and Jan did a good job driving and dealing with the
problem until the end of the race. We finished 11th and we were not happy. We
are determined to win at Mexico.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Pablo (16:37): P1 under yellow!! We are very tight on fuel.
Pablo (16:20): We are an hour into the race. We have stopped once and changed fronts and put fuel in the car. We
dropped to 22nd after being 6th and after a few cautions and 39 laps we are currently in 4th and
doing quite well. We hold the 3rd fastest lap of the race. Stay tuned.
Pablo (15:02): The race is about to start. Diego just did his second recon lap and is now gridding the car. We
qualified 9th. We have a top 10 starting position and an incredible driver lineup. We are looking
forward to a great race.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Completes Lineup, Sponsors
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pablo (18:36): While working on the paint and decal design of the GTO.R I created a pdf file
that can be printed out with outlined side, front and top views of the car. In
case you want to impress MCM with your drawing skills, or you just want to
give your kids something to color in for fun, the file can be downloaded by clicking here.
If you are proud of your design (or your child's design), feel free to send it
in and we will post it in a special section of the website.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Alessi For Rolex GT Car
Pablo (23:11): MCM would like to send a get well message to Jason Workman. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him. Jason has driven with MCM on several occasions. He is a
fantastic person to work with and have around.
Jason was in an accident
not too long ago and is now in the hospital under constant care. Jason's website
can be found at http://www.jasonworkman.com/. There is a message board to
leave messages for him while he recuperates. Jason's mother has been posting
updates on his condition.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Full Season Driver, Sponsors
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pablo (24:58): **Selling Stock GTO Parts**
We recently acquired a lot of stock Pontiac GTO
parts that don't go on the race car. Items that we have that do not go on the
race car include headlights, tail lights, side mirrors, stock grille inserts,
side markers, stock emblems, door handles, door hinges and more. We are selling
a lot of these items on ebay, but if you are interested in any of these items
please contact us.
Ebay Auction Links:
Right Side Mirror
Left Side Mirror
Left Grille Insert
Right Grille Insert
Grille Insert Set
Right Headlight
Left Headlight
Friday, February 08, 2008
Pablo (15:21): Welcome to MCM 2008
Pablo (19:20): I will be putting up a summary of the events of the 24 hours of daytona race soon. In the mean time
the official team press releases can be seen at www.Grand-am.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports - 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona Race Report
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MCM Daytona Preview
Connolly Tabs Long as Second GT Driver at VIR
MCM Adds Driver, Sponsor
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pablo (9:54): Diego Alessi is ready for VIR. Tom Long will be driving along side of Diego
for this race. Tom has been driving in the Koni GS series and also with the
Automatic BMW M6. We are happy to have him on board for this race. He knows
the track at VIR and we are sure that after few laps he will learn to love the
Pontiac GTO.R. We are really looking forward to a great outing.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Pablo (9:49): Mexico was hard fought. We were up to 5th before a stray DP crossed paths with
us. We were able to keep going, but the right fender would not stay on. Fixing
the problem put us a lap down. Diego would take the wheel after a little over
30 minutes. The impact with the wall after hitting the DP would crumple the
heat shield between the driver and the exhaust pipe running behind the rocker
panel. Diego would feel the heat at his feet for the rest of the race.
Somewhere around lap 34 an unfortunate event happened. As Diego tells
it, Nick Ham in the #70 speedsource car tried to pass on the outside on the
120 mph turn called the parabolica. His car could not hold the line and as he
tried to tighten into the corner, pulled in front of Diego while scrubbing off
speed. Diego would lift and then tap the brakes before touching the rear of
the #70 Mazda and sending it into the wall. A lamentable incident, but one not
deserving of what happened next. Grand Am would call on the radio to bring in
our #21 Pontiac GTO.R for a penalty. This may have been expected, but is still
a judgement call. What was not expected was that they would keep us in the
pits for an undetermined amount of time. By the time the car was released, 20
minutes had elapsed, we were 10 laps down and the #70 car had been repaired
and sent back out on the track.
We did finish the race, and we managed
to pass two cars in the process. We had two excellent drivers and a fast car.
To say the least, the crew was depressed, but we know how to take this energy
and push forward to VIR. See you in a week. Unfortunately, the race will not
be televised until May 3rd.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pablo (25:00): Diego Alesssi and Pepe Montaņo have been quite successful thus far in Mexico City. We have had three practice sessions since Thursday. The first session Diego had to learn the track and Pepe had to learn the car. The second session we put down a solid lap of 1:28.063 which put us in first at the time and left us with the fourth fastest lap of the session. This morning we had a final practice before qualifying. We took off another 3 tenths and qualified 9th with a 1:27.754. We have one more practice before the race and we hope to only get faster. Watch the race on the speed channel at 4 PM ET... and wish us luck!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
MCM Shines at Homestead
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pablo (10:22): The day after: The race got a bit crazy after the last post. We were in 1st
and decided to stay out with the fuel we had. We ended up pitting for fuel
only two laps from the next yellow after switching on the reserve pump. We
filled the car with fuel, put on four sticker tires, strapped Jan in the car
and we were off. Pitting under green was not optimal, but two laps later we
were lucky dog and back on the lead lap. Unfortunately we had fuel pick-up
issues with the car and Jan did a good job driving and dealing with the
problem until the end of the race. We finished 11th and we were not happy. We
are determined to win at Mexico.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Pablo (16:37): P1 under yellow!! We are very tight on fuel.
Pablo (16:20): We are an hour into the race. We have stopped once and changed fronts and put fuel in the car. We
dropped to 22nd after being 6th and after a few cautions and 39 laps we are currently in 4th and
doing quite well. We hold the 3rd fastest lap of the race. Stay tuned.
Pablo (15:02): The race is about to start. Diego just did his second recon lap and is now gridding the car. We
qualified 9th. We have a top 10 starting position and an incredible driver lineup. We are looking
forward to a great race.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Completes Lineup, Sponsors
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pablo (18:36): While working on the paint and decal design of the GTO.R I created a pdf file
that can be printed out with outlined side, front and top views of the car. In
case you want to impress MCM with your drawing skills, or you just want to
give your kids something to color in for fun, the file can be downloaded by clicking here.
If you are proud of your design (or your child's design), feel free to send it
in and we will post it in a special section of the website.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Alessi For Rolex GT Car
Pablo (23:11): MCM would like to send a get well message to Jason Workman. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him. Jason has driven with MCM on several occasions. He is a
fantastic person to work with and have around.
Jason was in an accident
not too long ago and is now in the hospital under constant care. Jason's website
can be found at http://www.jasonworkman.com/. There is a message board to
leave messages for him while he recuperates. Jason's mother has been posting
updates on his condition.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Full Season Driver, Sponsors
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pablo (24:58): **Selling Stock GTO Parts**
We recently acquired a lot of stock Pontiac GTO
parts that don't go on the race car. Items that we have that do not go on the
race car include headlights, tail lights, side mirrors, stock grille inserts,
side markers, stock emblems, door handles, door hinges and more. We are selling
a lot of these items on ebay, but if you are interested in any of these items
please contact us.
Ebay Auction Links:
Right Side Mirror
Left Side Mirror
Left Grille Insert
Right Grille Insert
Grille Insert Set
Right Headlight
Left Headlight
Friday, February 08, 2008
Pablo (15:21): Welcome to MCM 2008
Pablo (19:20): I will be putting up a summary of the events of the 24 hours of daytona race soon. In the mean time
the official team press releases can be seen at www.Grand-am.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports - 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona Race Report
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MCM Daytona Preview
MCM Shines at Homestead
Pablo (10:22): The day after: The race got a bit crazy after the last post. We were in 1st and decided to stay out with the fuel we had. We ended up pitting for fuel only two laps from the next yellow after switching on the reserve pump. We filled the car with fuel, put on four sticker tires, strapped Jan in the car and we were off. Pitting under green was not optimal, but two laps later we were lucky dog and back on the lead lap. Unfortunately we had fuel pick-up issues with the car and Jan did a good job driving and dealing with the problem until the end of the race. We finished 11th and we were not happy. We are determined to win at Mexico.
Pablo (16:37): P1 under yellow!! We are very tight on fuel.
Matt Connolly Motorsports Completes Lineup, Sponsors
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pablo (18:36): While working on the paint and decal design of the GTO.R I created a pdf file
that can be printed out with outlined side, front and top views of the car. In
case you want to impress MCM with your drawing skills, or you just want to
give your kids something to color in for fun, the file can be downloaded by clicking here.
If you are proud of your design (or your child's design), feel free to send it
in and we will post it in a special section of the website.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Alessi For Rolex GT Car
Pablo (23:11): MCM would like to send a get well message to Jason Workman. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him. Jason has driven with MCM on several occasions. He is a
fantastic person to work with and have around.
Jason was in an accident
not too long ago and is now in the hospital under constant care. Jason's website
can be found at http://www.jasonworkman.com/. There is a message board to
leave messages for him while he recuperates. Jason's mother has been posting
updates on his condition.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Full Season Driver, Sponsors
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pablo (24:58): **Selling Stock GTO Parts**
We recently acquired a lot of stock Pontiac GTO
parts that don't go on the race car. Items that we have that do not go on the
race car include headlights, tail lights, side mirrors, stock grille inserts,
side markers, stock emblems, door handles, door hinges and more. We are selling
a lot of these items on ebay, but if you are interested in any of these items
please contact us.
Ebay Auction Links:
Right Side Mirror
Left Side Mirror
Left Grille Insert
Right Grille Insert
Grille Insert Set
Right Headlight
Left Headlight
Friday, February 08, 2008
Pablo (15:21): Welcome to MCM 2008
Pablo (19:20): I will be putting up a summary of the events of the 24 hours of daytona race soon. In the mean time
the official team press releases can be seen at www.Grand-am.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Matt Connolly Motorsports - 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona Race Report
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MCM Daytona Preview
Matt Connolly Motorsports Signs Alessi For Rolex GT Car
Jason was in an accident not too long ago and is now in the hospital under constant care. Jason's website can be found at http://www.jasonworkman.com/. There is a message board to leave messages for him while he recuperates. Jason's mother has been posting updates on his condition.
