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05/21/08 FMS ready for Lime Rock
Piloting the #127 BMW will be returning driver Eddie Gramisci, and FMS newcomer Laurence Oliva.
Oliva, a Dover, NE resident is a 35 year road racing veteran and BMWCCA instructor, and began his professional racing career in the IMSA RS series. He also has experience in the IMSA Firehawk series and numerous SCCA events, and was awarded New England Road Racing Champion and North Atlantic Road Racing Champion in 2000.
Driving the second FMS Lime Rock entry will be Vintage racer Robert Newman and Nick Fanelli
Roberts’s participation in the Lime Rock event will mark his third road race this month, following his drives at both the HSR Mitty at Road Atlanta and a support race for the Rolex DP series at Laguna Seca.
Joining Robert will be Nick Fanelli. Nick has several Koni Challenge starts, scoring 7 top ten finishes, including a 10th place finish at the 2006 VIR 6 hour event. Prior to his Koni Challenge career Nick has raced successfully in the US F2000 series, taking 5th in the ACC class in 2000. Nick is has also instructed for the Panoz Racing School, The Sportscar Driving Experience, The Porsche Sport Driving School and the Master Maserati Program.
FMS and JE Racing would also like to announce the addition of new crew member Josh Hurley. An established driver in the VW TDI Cup, Josh will be handling Data acquisition, analysis and chassis setup duties for the team.
The FMS and JE Racing crew is also hard at work on a new E46 330i chassis, the #129, which is set to debut later in the season.
01/31/08 New Drivers Join FMS
Eddie and Peter took their turns getting familiar with the #127 BMW 330i in the practice sessions on Thursday, with Eddie making a qualifying effort of 35th to start in the racers field of the Street Tuner class. After the start of the race Eddie getting a taste of this first Grand Am Koni Challenge Race, worked his way through the field over the first seventy minutes, we were now in a window for a pit stop and counting the laps to call him in on, we radioed for Eddie to pit next lap while he was on the front straight and as soon as he got into the infield a full course caution had come out. Eddie stayed on track until pit road was open, short shifting and riding on vapors. During the pit stop we fueled, changed tires and Peter jumped into the car. Peter headed down pit road to line up with the rest of the cars following the pace car. The team checked timing and scoring and found itself in 11th position! The crew chief radioed to Peter and told him where he was in the field, and as soon as Peter radioed back the throttle became unresponsive on the restart, Peter limped the car back to pit road at a miserably slow 20mph at idle. The crew checked over the car found a code in the computer for the throttle, reset it and back in business. Unfortunately the car went back out 3 laps down. Peter remained calm, ran consistent laps not falling any further back in the field ending up finishing 37th in the field without a scratch on the race car.
James and Manny also took their turns getting familiar with their car the #128 BMW 330i on Thursday. Being the first professional race for James and being his first time on Daytona International Speedway, and with Manny having many years of racing experience here at Daytona, Manny let James have most of the seat time in the car to get as familiar with everything as much as possible. Fountain Motorsports had drawn the #1 position chip for the start of qualifying for the #128 BMW, the team decided due to the situation and drivers experience to start James in the back of the pack for their qualifying effort. James ended up qualifying 45th position to start the race. James started the race in the #128 BMW and continued to progress as the first leg of the race went along slowly bettering his lap times as he went. He too was due for a pit stop as the caution had come out about 70 minutes into the race. Following in the #127 BMW the crew jumped on the #128 BMW filling it with fuel, right side tires and a fresh Manny behind the wheel! The race was back underway, as Manny started to move up in position out on the track, another fuel stop was in order with about 25 minutes to go in the race, he came down pit road for a splash and go and the team got a penalty, so Manny would have to come back in for a stop in the pit box for 10 seconds and back to the track. Manny brought home the finish in 27th position, also with out a scratch on the car. Between the two drivers advancing 18 positions from their start in the race.
Fountain Motorsports would like to thank its sponsors Hawk Performance, Marren Fuel Injection, and Rogue Engineering. We also like to thank our supporters at the Fresh from Florida 200, Del Frisco’s Steak and Lobster of Orlando, Inn on the Beach of Daytona Beach, Geranios Enterprises Inc., Montana Karting Association, Hide-Out Lounge, Reference Audio & Video, Circuit Motorsports, and The Dean of Signs.
Read more about Eddie Gramisci here: http://gofasteddie.com
01/31/08 FMS At Rochester
Motorsport Expo
This show will be a fundraiser for the continued development of the
Monroe County Fair Motor Speedway. The show will consist of 60 + race cars from the area, along with track exhibits, and a vender fair. Multiple area tracks and car clubs will be exhibiting, including Watkins Glen International, Blackrock Speedway, Genesee Speedway, Wyoming County International Speedway, Genesee Valley Cart Club, and Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club.
The Monroe County Fair and Recreation Association is an independent 501 c3 nonprofit organization which began in 1823 as the Monroe Agricultural Society. Since day one their mission has been the same....”to build a community through the advancement, affirmation and support of youth, agriculture and technology”.
Fountain Motorsports is proud to support community activities and organizations to help in the development of the community and its people in our area.
01/08/08 FMS Changes Ownership
Michael and co-driver Paul Stoddart will continue to race, and run at least at 5 races this season in the #126 BMW 330i, including Lime Rock, Mosport, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen and the 6hr.at VIR. As for the crew, all members will remain the same as they were in 2007. All team members have agreed to come back for the 2008 season and continue working with the same efficiency and determination as before.
The race team will be running 2 cars for the entire 2008 Koni Challenge Championship Season, the #127 and #128 ( the former #126 ) BMW 330i’s in the Street Tuner class. The team is planning on attending all 10 races and running for the whole race season under new owner Jeffrey E. Bock. Sponsoring the team to start off the season will be returning sponsors, Hawk Performance Brakes, Marren Fuel Injection, and Rogue Engineering.
Driving for the team for the season will be Eddie Gramisci, who was born in Argentina, lives in Greensboro, North Carolina and became an American Citizen in 2007. Eddie has been racing since age 16 running anything from a 2 cylinder 1960 BMW De Carlo, to Kawasaki 750 super bikes, to running in the Bertil Roos Formula 2000 race series. Eddie owns a New York Pizzeria, and 10 real estate properties in Greensboro. Also with the intensions of driving for the season will be James Rowen, from Great Falls, Montana. James has been running go-karts, autocross, SCCA Solo 1 since 2000, and also instructs at local tracks. James works as a project foreman for Talcott Construction a commercial construction company.
Driving for the team in The Fresh from Florida 200 will be Peter London, from Orlando, Florida. Peter has come up from running 125cc Rotax carts, SCCA solo, national, and endurance events, and competing in the Koni Challenge last season with RSR Motorsports. Peter works with ETA logistics as an operations coordinator for NASCAR, Indy 500, and Formula 1 events, along with working at Del Frisco’s Steak and Lobster in Orlando.
Joining the team also for the Fresh from Florida 200 will be veteran driver Manny Matz. Manny has driven in multiple series dating back to the 1970’s, from NASA, SCCA, World Challenge, Grand American Cup, and Koni Challenge including winning the 1998 Motorola Cup Championship. Manny now works for himself as a business consultant.
10/09/07 Two FMS cars finish in top 10 for championship points!
Drivers: Guy Cosmo 5th, Sam Shultz 8th, David Tuaty 13th, Seth Thomas 19th, VJ Mirzayan 23rd..
10/06/07 Cosmo And Fountain Motorsports End KONI Season Upbeat
With just under 20 minutes remaining in the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series ST (Street Tuner) Six Hour Saturday at Virginia International Raceway, the race leading No. 127 Fountain Motorsports BMW 330i of Guy Cosmo had to pit for a splash of fuel. Cosmo rejoined the race in second. Unfortunately, time ran out with Cosmo crossing the finish line 26.154 seconds behind the winners. Cosmo, who won in the same Fountain BMW earlier this year at Iowa Speedway, helped give his co-driver VJ Mirzayan another Grand-Am career-best finish of second after crossing the line in second place at Laguna Seca this past May.
The weekend started off a bit challenging for the No. 127 Fountain Motorsports BMW 330i. The car experienced some handling issues but the crew managed to work with the set-up and make some gains. By qualifying, they had made the progress they were looking for. Had it not been for the shortened session the team surely would have been sitting on the front row. Even then, the No. 127 BMW 300i, just 2 tenths off the pole sitter, qualified in 6th place.
When the flag dropped on race-day, everyone got the action they came to see.
"The start of the race was about as action-packed as it gets." laughed Guy. "Most everyone moved to the right of the track to defend the inside line, and I immediately jumped at the opportunity to go around the outside. I think I made up two or three positions in turn 1 by out-braking and passing on the outside... boy was it close! After working my way up to second, it was clear that Shane Lewis and his Honda were the class of the field as he opened up the gap on the field. Our BMW 330i proved strong in all areas against the rest of the competition, though."
Cosmo put in a double-stint to get the team well into the race and running up front before turning the car over to VJ Mirzayan. Without any hesitation, VJ stepped up and delivered. Though VJ had been a bit off-pace in practice trying to get acclimated to the slick conditions, after a few laps he got into a rhythm and began getting consistently faster. After the pit stop VJ had taken the No. 127 car from 8th to 3rd. He was outstanding. After going a double-stint VJ turned the car over to Cosmo to finish out the race.
Cosmo climb into the car at dusk, under a full course caution. Nighttime came within minutes.
"The restart was one of the craziest moments I ever had on track," exclaimed Guy. "It was dark, cold, slippery and I was surrounded by cars everywhere and all the while none of us could see the turns in front of us. It was seriously dark around VIR, with no lighting anywhere. It was a huge challenge in itself just to navigate your way around the course by yourself, let alone having ten cars that can't see where they're going all trying to get into the same apex. Talk about adrenaline, it was awesome."
Unfortunately, the racing was so wild that while Cosmo worked through that group of cars, Shane Lewis was able to stretch out a big lead in uninterrupted darkness. Cosmo ran 2nd until inheriting the lead when Shane stopped for fuel. Of course, the No. 127 would need to stop for a splash as well.
"I tried to open up as big of a gap as I could," said Guy, "but we handed over the lead to Shane during our splash and go. And that was it. The gap was too large to make up, so we brought home a solid second place. Needless to say, we were happy with the whole day."
"What an incredible race, and a great way to finish off the season," noted Guy. "To be able to run up front all day for six hours and show what this Fountain Motorsports team is capable of is truly a pleasure. I'm really proud of what this team has accomplished this season. Fountain Motorsports is a rookie team this year and has come a long way. To be rewarded with a flawless run and a 2nd place finish is a great way to finish off the season for these guys. It's been so much fun to work with everyone in the Fountain Motorsports family, they deserved the podium celebration to cap off the year."
More on http://www.guycosmo.com
7/07/07 So Close... Late Race Mechanical Failure Robs Guy Cosmo
With but two laps remaining at the Grand American Road Racing Association’s KONI Challenge Series race at Watkins Glen International, a faulty fuel pump sent Guy Cosmo shuffling backwards from 2nd place to 10th during Saturday's three-hour Supercuts 200 at The Glen.
Coming off a late race restart, Cosmo had finessed the #127 Fountain
Motorsports BMW up to second position when suddenly he felt the motor stumble as
it struggled to get fuel.
“On the restart I was in 3rd,” said Cosmo after the race. “I got a great
jump, timing it perfectly to pull out just as I crossed start finish line. I
made the pass for 2nd in turn 1, lost it on the exit and fell to 4th. Heading
into the Bus Stop I passed back for 3rd and was on the right line where I was
going to get 2nd. Then the car stumbled on fuel. It continued to stumble more
and more. I limped it around to finish 10th.”
“What a disappointment,” exclaimed Cosmo. “We had a strong car and a very
good chance of winning. Shane Lewis and Billy Johnson were racing hard on those
last two laps and we were right in the mix with them to fight for the win.”
“It was a tough ending to a very promising weekend,” added Guy. Fountain
Motorsports’ BMW was very fast in every practice session and VJ Mirzayan worked
hard to get up to speed. This was his first visit to Watkins Glen. Our race went
great and to plan. We had a good car and the pit stops were fantastic - (46
Seconds for 2 tires, fuel and driver change). Having the win get away from us is
obviously very disappointing, but these things happen - it's racing!”
The team has since made an attempt to assess the fuel line problem.
“It was definitely not a failure of the team’s strategy,” said Guy
emphatically. “We had plenty of fuel to run to the end,,, or so we thought. Our
fuel remaining calculation on the dash displayed 4 gallons of fuel left. So,
either the fuel tank didn't fill all the way during the stop, or something was
faulty with our fuel pumps.”
Guy and the team remain optimistic looking forward to the balance of the
season.
“With the string of strong results we've had,” observed Guy, “we can't
complain too much. Unfortunately, we've lost a little ground in the points
chase now and it's going to require a flawless run to the end of the season.”
“I'm looking for complete domination,” said Guy laughingly. “Seriously, I'm
just looking to continue with solid results like we've had for the past several
races. I know the Fountain Motorsports’ team is up to it, and our BMW 330 is a
car that's strong in many areas and well balanced in others. That's what has
been keeping us close to the front at every race. Now it's time to turn up the
wick.”
The team will enjoy a one week break before heading to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama where the KONI Challenge Series returns to the split format of 400K races.
7/01/07 FMS Continues Run of Top 10's
Prepares for The Glen!
Fountain Motorsports, of Ontario, NY continued its great run of top 10s this past week. Competing in the Grand American KONI Challenge Series ST class, the teams two BMW’s finished 4th and 8th in the EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday, June 24. On the strength of their last 5 races the teams two cars currently stand 4th and 7th in the championship.
Drivers Guy Cosmo and VJ Mirzayan and the crew struggled with the set-up of the #127 Fountain Motorsports BMW 330 and Mirzayan was only able to qualify 23rd in the field of 33. Mirzayan started the 2 ½ hour race and worked his way through the field and was in 16th place before a caution lap pit stop for the mandatory driver change. The crew executed a flawless stop and made up 2 positions on the field. Cosmo had his rush to the front halted by an incident involving another car. He had to avoid contact with a spun car and came to a complete stop on the last turn of the course before re-joining the race dropping him 4 places. Sound pit strategy and very consistent laps enabled Cosmo to work his way through the field, gaining the last 4 spots in the final 10 laps of the race. The 4th place finish was the fifth consecutive top-6 placing for Cosmo in the #127 Fountain BMW putting the team 4th in the Championship points race, closing in on the leaders, with only 17 points separating them from 1st.
Meanwhile, Sam Schultz and Seth Thomas in the #126 Trackmasters/Fountain BMW also showed steady improvement through the field. Schultz qualified 21st but quickly got a feel for the cars setup and was running consistently quick laps. He had moved up to 14th position when he was called to the pits for the caution lap driver change. Thomas took over in the 24th lap and began picking his way through the traffic. The team’s consistency again came in to play as Thomas worked the #126 through traffic and managing to avoid the contact many teams struggled with. After grabbing the last 4 positions over the final 10 laps of the race, the duo of Schultz and Thomas finished 8th for their 4th top-10 out of the last 5 races.
The team moves on to Watkins Glen International for a July 7th race. The 2 class field of over 60 cars will compete in a 3 hour race is support of the Indy Racing League visit to the world class central NY road race track. The Fountain Motorsports team will field 3 cars in this, the 8th installment of the 12 race series. Returning are the Guy Cosmo/VJ Mirzayan duo (2nd and 4th in their 2 races together) and Matt Plumb will be teaming with Sam Schultz (Horseheads, NY). Driving the third entry will be team owner Michael Fonte of Webster, NY and Paul Stoddart of Greece, NY.
Fountain Motorsports, of Ontario, NY specializes in service and upgrades on BMW’s, race car preparation, and general repairs. It also has a retail showroom to supply racing gear to the local race community.
6/24/07 Two more top 10 finishes for FMS
4th and 8th at Mid-Ohio!
6/17/07 FMS #127 finishes in the top 10 at Mosport
5/30/07 FMS Finishes 5th and 6th at
Lime Rock
Check out the in car video of David putting car #127 through the paces during first practice at Lime Rock.
5/24/07 FMS Takes it's Momentum To Lime Rock
"VJ is a new teammate for me this weekend," Cosmo said. "He's never been with the team and never been in our car before. He really did an outstanding job to get himself up to speed. He handed me the car in a great spot. He had a little boo-boo at the beginning, we got a stop-and-go penalty, and he went from dead last and got it all the way up to 10th and handed it off to me. I was able to get to work from there. The big thing with these cars is they're momentum cars. They don't have a lot of horsepower, but they handle really well and it's really close racing. You just have to chip away at it lap after lap. I was able to inch my way up to the front. Man, I needed two more laps and I would have had him."
"I just got a little bit greedy in the beginning," Mirzayan said. "I pulled out of line (on the start), so we got a stop-and-go penalty. I just kind of kept cool and worked my way back to 10th. This is closest racing I've ever done. This is like a dream day for me. I can't thank Cosmo enough for being such an incredible teammate and instructor." "I've got to thank Mike Fonte and the Fountain Motorsports team for the amazing progress we’ve made since the beginning of the season. Now we’re focused on the points chase for the championship" said Cosmo.
The duo of Sam Schultz and David Tuaty drove the Fountain Motorsports/Trackmasters #126 BMW to an eight place finish in the 2.5 hour race. Schulz worked his way up from the 19th starting position during his 1 hour stint before handing off to Tuaty in 13th place. Tuaty battled with a failed power steering rack for much of his 1 and 1/2 hour stint to finish in 8th place. Schultz had previously finished 7th at Iowa with co-driver Seth Thomas for two top-tens in his last two races for the #126 Fountain car. "The team work very hard this weekend and has built some momentum coming into Lime Rock. We'll have to work that much harder to continue with our success" offered Schultz.
The crew has its' work cut out for them as they have to transport the cars coast-to-coast for this weekends race at Lime Rock, CT. "The teams' commitment is really tested on these back-to-back race weeks, especially with 2500 miles between events" explained team owner Michael Fonte of Webster,NY . "The preparation by chief mechanic Jeffrey Bock and all the guys is intense. And with the cars on a truck for most of the following week there is little time to fix any problems that can come up during the race."
The #127 and #126 cars are 6th and 8th, respectively, in Team Championship points after 4 rounds of the 12 race series. Round five on the KONI Challenge series will be contested Saturday, May 26th at Lime Rock Park.
5/19/07 FMS takes podium in CA!
2nd & 8th
Cosmo, who won the previous Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series ST race last month at Iowa Speedway with then co-driver David Tuaty, challenged for his second consecutive win after taking over the No. 127 BMW from new co-driver VJ Mirzayan, who is from nearby Fresno, Calif.
"VJ is a new teammate for me this weekend," Cosmo said. "He's never been with the team and never been in our car before. He really did an outstanding job to get himself up to speed. He handed me the car in a great spot. He had a little boo-boo at the beginning, we got a stop-and-go penalty, and he went from dead last and got it all the way up to 10th and handed it off to me. I was able to get to work from there. The big thing with these cars is they're momentum cars. They don't have a lot of horsepower, but they handle really well and it's really close racing. You just have to chip away at it lap after lap. I was able to inch my way up to the front. Man, I needed two more laps and I would have had him."
"I just got a little bit greedy in the beginning," Mirzayan said. "I pulled out of line, so we got a stop-and-go penalty. I just kind of kept cool and worked my way back to 10th. This is closest racing I've ever done. This is like a dream day for me. T he first time I got in a car ever was four years ago. I'm not talking about racing, just got in a car on the track. So, for me, to be here in four years on the podium, it is absolutely a dream come true. I can't thank Cosmo enough for being such an incredible teammate and instructor. He really helped me get up to pace really fast, and all my sponsors. This is the most unbelievable day of my life next to my kids being born. I want to thank the KONI Challenge for putting on such a great show."
4/21/07 FMS Victory in Iowa!! 1st and 4th
NEWTON, Iowa (April 21, 2007) --
Cosmo claimed the lead from Trevor Hopwood in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW 330i in Turn 4 with 19 laps remaining and held off a charging Kuno Wittmer in the No. 31 Acura/Cobalt Friction/Alpine Stars Acura TSX to win by 0.306 seconds. It was Cosmo's third career KONI Challenge Series class victory, but was his first since an ST I class win at Virginia International Raceway in 2003.
"We had a nice big lead after the second-to-last yellow," Cosmo said. "We'd really stretched it out a little bit and gave me a nice comfort zone to just keep a good pace and not make any mistakes and keep going. Then that last yellow came out and I was thinking, 'Man, I thought we had this one and I could conserve some energy for the next race,' but that didn't work out. Really, in that stage, all you're doing is just driving the track and driving the car, and not worrying about anybody else that's on the track with me. I just had to do what I do and do it every lap and not screw up. Fortunately, things worked out. It was a good plan, David gave me a great car and a great position and we got it all done."
Tuaty started from eighth on the grid and drove the opening stint in the race before turning the car over to Cosmo on Lap 47 of the 162-lap race. It was Tuaty's second career KONI Challenge Series ST victory and his first win since the 2005 season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.
"We knew this was a long race and we had to keep the car, so Guy and I decided while we were testing this weekend to keep the car consistent," Tuaty said. "We knew the lap times we could do, and we could do it all race long. That's what we did. Towards the end, it actually surprised both Guy and I when he was turning some really fast laps that were in the top three for the weekend. We weren't concentrating on that, we were just concentrating on being fast enough to not go off the pace. Guy and I worked really hard on the setup of the car. We were missing a few horsepower on the other cars, but this is a short track and handling is key and being there at the end. Some guys did some boneheaded moves at the beginning that took them out at the beginning that took them out for no reason. We tried to avoid all that. At the end, Guy was having a lot of pressure from the Mazda and Kuno, and they were worrying me. But Guy kept it there. He's a fantastic co-driver. I couldn't ask for more."
Canadian brothers Nick and Kuno Wittmer wound up second in the No. 31 machine. Nick started the race from the pole position and led throughout his 104-lap driving stint before pitting under green flag conditions to turn the car over to Kuno. That strategy forced the No. 31 machine off the lead lap for a time, but Kuno clawed his way back and came within a whisker of scoring the victory.
"We did qualify first, so we knew we had a fast car, but at the beginning of the race, we had a plan to just keep it consistent and keep it up front and battle it out at the end like we did," Nick Wittmer said. "We didn't think we were going to go down that far, and at the end we got a little pit strategy that wasn't that good. We came in under the green flag and the other guys came in on the yellow, so that didn't help us that much. We still had a great car. The Acura was amazing, and the Cobalt Brakes were amazing too. I could brake really good with those. I think I led the whole hour and 45 minutes before I came in, and the car was amazing for the whole first half I did."
"Guy is a proven driver, and I'm really, really glad to race against guys like Guy at the end," added Kuno Wittmer. "I knew I could stick my nose under him and he wouldn't chop me off. He's a great guy. I wouldn't take him out. I'm not that kind of guy either. Again, all thanks to our Cobalt Brakes. That's why we led the most laps today. It's due to them. The Acura TSX was a really good car today. I mean, we were running qualifying times at the end, and it just proves that this series is really, really competitive. It was a great job for the guys and really thanks to Acura and Cobalt." ...........
MORE: Grand-AM The Race Site
FMS Car #126 finished 4th Awesome finish! Seth, and Sam!!
