The 2023 / 2024 season finale was held at Cal Raceway on March 9th. It was a bitter sweet day since it would be the last UF1 race held at Cal's original location. Cal's last club race was held on March 10th, and they will be closing their door on March 15th.... 

Weather for the day was perfect for racing. Ambient temps reached 72 degrees, and track temps peaked around 115 degrees. Many racers utilized the Exotek racing 28 [double red] compound tire for qualifying, but then transitioned over to the harder 33 [single red] compound for racing. 

The morning grip was pretty loose. Fortunately Calvin was able to put a light top coat of spray over the track surface and the solid axle f1 cars really came to life! This round of UF1 also saw the addition of Cal's Porsche Cup. Having the Porsche Cup guys out and enjoying the format was really great to see. It was a great demo / dry run for next years 'Super Tub GT'. 

F2:

The racing for f2 was tight all day long! The top 3 all finished within 5 points. I was most happy to see new faces come out for the season finale and really hope to see everyone back for next year! 

1st: Steven Strohm

2nd: Peter Carris

3rd: John Burton

F1:

I think this was one of the fastest groupings of F1 that the series has ever had. The top 10 in F1 were all blistering fast!!! 

The day really belonged to Mike Rydwell. His Exotek Racing chassis was hands down the quickest car on track. Mike was able to TQ and win the first 2 main events. However had severe traffic and back-marker issues for the third round and resulted in a second place overall finish.... 

Thad Garner had a consistent and safe race day. He was not trying to take risks, and just focused on scoring valuable points to retain his lead in the overall championship. As always Thad's R1 equipped Exotek Racing chassis was lightning quick down the back straight.... I think he even made Tony cry ;) 

Back from the dead! Michael Monaghan raced the final round at Cal! He literally dusted off his championship winning xray and came out to participate. Michael faced some electrical gremlins early in the day, but was able to get everything sorted out by qualifying. Michael's pace was truly impressive with 2 second place finishes and 1 first place finish. These results were good enough to land him at the top of the podium for round 4! 'insert max verstappen music here' LOL

All in all the race day went really well. There was some traction drama early in the day until we resprayed the track. The layout was very quick and had lots of 180 degree turns. This created a lot of passing and navigating through traffic. 

I cannot thank our series sponsors enough for providing such great prizes for our end of season raffle! 

• Exotek Racing

• R1 Wurks

• TQ RC Racing

• 1Up Racing

• Track Star RC

• CompetitionX

Round 3 was held at Santee's own Lap Factory Raceway! The Lap Factory is a great parking lot track with old school vibes. 

The day was slightly warmer than expected and resulted in varying tire compounds! With a lighter turnout, we were able to lessen the amount of cars per heat. This seemed to really help the racing and allowed drivers the space to really put in a great performance. 

F1 was dominated by Mr. Rydwell. He won 2 rounds and left the field in the dust. Thad Garner put in an impressive second place finish. Thad needed a good round to expand on his points lead, and he did not disappoint. The R1 Wurks powered TRD car is proving a force to be reckoned with! Third place was awarded to Ken. Ken had a solid day with a final of 293 points. 

The final round is going to be very interesting. Anything can happen with the top 3! If one driver has a bad day, it can result in a disastrous series score. Who will win the overall season?? Thad? Tony? Ken? A Cinderella story finish for Mike?? Only time will tell :) 

Thank you to the Lap Factory Race Crew! They put in so much time / effort behind the scenes to provide a fun racing surface. The driver's stand alone is a huge structure that needs to be assembled every day there is a race. I am incredibly grateful that the Lap Factory enjoys holding UF1 rounds and allows us to come out and take over their track for a day!

This was our first outing attempting some of the new UF1 format changes. So far, it seems like the 10 minute qualifying session was well received by racers. I saw many racers utilizing the longer session to make improvements and changes to their car.

Qualifying was sorted by using the racer’s 5 fastest laps [non-consecutive]. There was a bit of a delay in sorting / programming the main events. This was due to a missing drop-down to auto sort the mains. Entries 11-30 had to be hand entered.

For the second round, we will revert back to the traditional ‘three fastest consecutive laps’.

Track:
Per usual, Cal’s track prep was outstanding! The track opened around 7:30am and was already sprayed, dried, and ready for practice. Track temps were relatively cool throughout the entire day. The highest track temp I saw recorded was 31C [89F]. Luckily for UF1, Cal utilized the existing layout, which meant that the racing line was already well formed! The pace of racing was ridiculously fast.

Thank you to Notch, Calvin, Tim, and the entire Cal team for the help!

F1:
10th: 264 points
Tom Slick originally entered into the F2 class, but due to his impressive speed and pace, Tom was more than capable competing in F1. Tom finished 10th overall and was vastly faster than his F2 counterparts. We look forward to seeing how Tom progresses in F1!

9th: 275 points
Mark Goldwater places 9th overall. Mark likely wanted to place higher in overall points, but Mark was competitive in each and every round. He had consistent race results, and kept his car under control all day long. 9th overall is super impressive considering the pace of racing throughout the entire field! Uf1 is a long series. Anything can happen!

8th: 277 points
Aaron places 8th overall. Aaron had a lot on his plate with his first round of UF1, and struggled to get on pace with the top guys. He was on a harder front tire, which really hindered his corner speed. The chassis Aaron raced is also completely self-designed. The chassis utilizes parts made from SendCutSend and his 3D printer. It will be interesting to see how chassis development progresses throughout the rest of the reason.

7th: 281 points
Raj Montiero placed 7th overall. Raj had fairly consistent race results [93,93,95]. Without several crashes, Raj would have placed several places higher. His pace was fast enough to place in the top 5. Raj’s Exotek chassis definitely wins the lightest overall weight award at 1001 grams!

6th: 284 points
Mike Rydwell placed 6th overall for the day. Similar to Raj, Mike’s pace was very quick. Mike, owner/operator of Exotek Racing, had his Exotek chassis dialed in all day, and his tire program was superbly well organized. The Exotek Audi finished with consistent results: 94, 97, 93. We look forward to seeing Mike’s racing program and results for the next several rounds!

5th: 290 points
Hector Martinez placed 5th overall for round 1. Hector again came out of nowhere and shocked the field with impressive pace! His car always seems to be competitive and is always in the mix of things. Hector’s incredible 99 in round one rocketed him to a 5th overall finish. We all look forward to watching Hector’s pace in the coming rounds.

4th: 294 points
Thad Garner placed 4th overall for round 1. He had a rough round 1, but scraped back and got some valuable overall round points. Thad’s R1 Wurks powered Exotek chassis had impressive acceleration and corner speed! Fast Lap Point was also awarded to Thad with an incredible 10.334 second lap in round 1. Thad being one point down from the series lead, puts him in serious contention for a series championship!

3rd: 295 points
Mr. Tony Phalen shocked the field with a 3rd place overall! Tony had the third fastest overall round and was awarded 3rd place for round 1. Being the 2012 Uf1 Champion, his Martini Racing Exotek chassis was dialed in all day. Considering that it had been 11 years since Tony last raced in UF1, we are incredibly impressed. Tony is loving the traction created by Exotek’s modern racing tires and chassis design. Lookout for Tony being a serious series contender!

2nd: 295 points
Edgar Fiallos had the second fastest overall round and was awarded 2nd place for round 1! Edgar won last year’s 2022/2023 season finale round at Cal. Results show that he and his Tamiya chassis are a serious threat at Cal!

1st: 295 points
Ken Gerberding had the fastest overall round and was awarded 1st place for round 1! Ken has been racing a lot the last several months, and it absolutely showed! Ken’s Exotek chassis was on rails all day, and looks to be a serious contender for running away with the UF1 championship. We will have to keep an eye out for any secrets or rumors revolving around the Martini Racing crew…. they are a fast pair!