Apr 13
13
Spring 2013 – Bahama Breeze Meet
May 18. 12 PM - 3 PM. Bahama Breeze Restaurant Parking Lot, 3045 N. Rocky Point Drive East, Tampa, Florida 33607. 1-813-289-7922
Free Lunch courtesy of Bahama Breeze.
Prizes, Trophies, 50/50 Cash Drawing.
All Volvo Cars Invited. Bring Chairs.
For info call Dave Montgomery; 1-904-742-8228.
Nov 12
10
City of Palms Volvo Day
Hosted by Volvo of Ft Myers in conjunction with the SW FL Chapter of VCOA, CFL Chapter of VSA and the Florida Volvo Community On-Line Forum, Ft Myers, Florida. Saturday, November 3, 2012
There was plenty of sunshine in the “Sunshine State” of Florida for the City of Palms Volvo Day hosted by Volvo of Ft Myers in conjunction with SW FL VCOA, CFL VSA and the Florida Volvo Community On-Line Forum. Everyone working together made the event a success with a good time had by all.
The event featured live music and plenty of toe tapping going on thanks to the tunes of Black Water, food hot off the grill thanks to grill masters Frank Babarro and Richard Campbell of Volvo of Ft Myers, Pedal Car and Radio Control Time Trials for kids and adults, goody bags, door prizes, trophies, a 50/50 cash raffle in addition to plenty of Volvo chatter to go around.
Forty one Volvos, 74 adults and 6 kids made it out for the event with numerous models represented; the oldest, a recently restored, musical gear transporting, two-tone 1961 Duet of Kerry and Fay West to the newest, a highly modified, hot rod 2008 C30 of Jorge Castro. There were strong contingents of 1800s, 240’s, 740’s, 850’s, S&V 70 series and S60’s series, some highly modified, some stock daily drivers and several R and T5 models. There were quite a few “one of” with a 1963 544, 1967 132, 1973 1800ES, 1973 164E, 1996 960, a 2007 S40 2.4i and a 2007 S80 V8 AWD.
The Kids Pedal Car time trial was won by Marshall Andres, 6, with a time of 00:10:12, second place was Lucas Magnozzi, 3, with a time of 00:12:53 and third place was won by Avery Andres, 7, with a time of 00:15:22. The Kids RC time trial was won by Kevin Bjorkner, 13, with a time of 00:17:63 followed by second place Marshall Andres with a time of 00:37:60. The children proved to be more proficient at the RC time trials than the adults with several adults having times of over one minute on the same RC course.
The Adult RC Time Trial was won by Cody Tilden with a time of 00:17:16. The clubs thank Bill Rose, President, Auto Clinic of Naples, Inc. for his sponsorship of the time trials, printing of all club signage, dash cards, registration forms and trophy ballots. Bill also provided a gas grill and propane tank toward the food station in addition to items for the door prize raffle.
Thanks to the sponsorship of Loren Sheffer, Owner/Operator, Volvo of Ft Myers, nine participants went home with beautiful blue tinted acrylic triple arch trophies. The People’s Choice-Vintage Class trophy was won by Charles Pardee with his stunning red hot 1963 544.
The Golden Rod for Technical Innovation-Vintage Class trophy was won by Tricia Rose with her two-tone 1967 132E.
The People’s Choice-Classic RWD and Golden Rod for Technical Innovation-Classic RWD trophies were swept by Roger Patricio with his outstanding 1980 242GT. Roger edged out a 4 vote lead over the gorgeous 1984 242 modified mellow yellow machine of Ralph Porzio to win the People’s Choice award.
The People’s Choice-Late FWD/AWD and Golden Rod for Technical Innovation-Late FWD/AWD were swept by the highly modified 2001 S60T5 of Dave Bowling who won the People’s Choice trophy by a margin of one vote over Eric Conklin’s go fast 2004 V70 and Jorge Castro’s black beauty 2008 C30.
The Daily Driver trophy was won by Chuck Ufkes with his modified 1971 1800E.
The Longest Distance Traveled trophy went to Bob Porter who traveled 1424 miles from London, Ontario, Canada.
A new category was added this year to thank the good folks at Volvo of Ft Myers for their support. The Dealer’s Choice-Best of Show trophy was won by Volvo of Ft Myers own parts salesman, Jorge Castro, with his 2008 C30 by a margin of one vote over three other cars.
The clubs extend their gratitude to the crew of Volvo of Ft Myers for their support; Loren Sheffer, Frank Babarro, Richard Campbell, Mario Forcucci, Ryan Miller, Robert White and Jorge Castro. Volvo of Ft Myers was the Platinum sponsor that provided the location, food, live music, trophies, goody bags, and $50 gas cards for anyone pre-registered traveling over 150 miles to attend the event. The event would not have been possible without the fine support of Loren and his crew of capable men and women.
We also thank our Gold Sponsors, Scott Hart of IPD, for his most generous donations to the goody bags and door prizes; Tony D’Agostino of VSA for his donation of a $50 IPD gift certificate and two $50 VP Auto Parts gift certificates in addition to magazines and membership brochures for the goody bags as well as a full page ad in VSA Magazine and on the VSA website; Gretchen Adams of VCOA for door prize and goody bag donations as well as advertising in the Rolling magazine and VCOA website.
We also thank Silver sponsors Jack Johnson of Erie Vo Vo for door prize and goody bag donations, FVC member Ralph Porzio & Patty Rogers for detail kits for the door prizes, ARD Tuning for door prizes and goody bag donations, Roger Patricio of RP-R Sports Restorations for the oil filters, FCP for goody bag donations and Jose Laboy of Bahama Breeze for goody bag donations.
The 50/50 cash raffle raised a total of $302.00, which was divided in half. Jose Laboy won the $151 pot which was somehow karmic since he and his lovely wife Susan broke a camshaft gear on their 1973 164E on the way to Ft Myers on Friday night and had to be towed to the event and pushed into place on the show field Saturday morning. The remaining $151 was donated to FL VCOA webmaster & webmistress Clive & Jeannine Dowdell to support two years worth of website and blogs fees. The winning ticket was picked out of the hat by Avery Andres.
The event would not have been a success without the assistance of the Volvo club members who worked on the day of the event. Thanks go to Clive and Jeannine Dowdell, FL VCOA webmaster & webmistress for advertising and event email notices and for Clive serving as the event photographer while Jeannine assisted in setting up the RC course. We thank John & Debbie Martin, President of CFL VSA, for encouraging participation from CFL VSA members via two event email notices, rounding up door prizes, goody bag items and for stuffing the goody bags. We thank Robert & Ana Maria Cardwell of FVC for internet advertising, serving as the parking lot attendants, rounding up door prizes and goody bag items and producing the post event video for IPD’s Facebook page. We thank Jaime Seda and Mat Grayson for acting as the ballot tabulators…a time consuming job at this event due to the high number of trophies to be awarded. We thank Roger & Stacey Patricio for setting up the door prize table, serving as the door prize awards emcee and for doing a fantastic job of selling the 50/50 cash raffle tickets. Thanks to Marshall Andres for being the door prize ticket picker. I am sure there were many more who assisted in some way or another and I hope they accept my apologies if I have forgotten to mention them.
Submitted by:
Tricia Rose, Event Coordinator, SW FL VCOA
Member, CFL VSA & FVC
More City of Palms Volvo Day Photos are here, Click on the link and use the Slidewhow option for best viewing.
LEXINGTON, OHIO (August 6, 2012) – Randy Pobst and teammate Alex Figge started the second race of the double header race weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course one two. Fifty minutes later, in rain and slick conditions they finished in the same order, one two.
Sunday’s race, running in the rain with treacherously slick conditions fell into the Volvo S60 AWD systems strengths. Pobst said “We benefitted from two things today. First, the two Volvos, qualifying first and second, kept us ahead of the field and the trouble and second, the AWD system was a huge advantage in the wet conditions today.”
Pobst, with two first place finishes, moved up to third place in the drivers championship with 1030 points. He trails Johnny O’Connell (1259) and Andy Pilgrim (1083). Figge stays in fifth with 930 points trailing Lawson Aschenbach (1024).
Volvo remains in third place in the manufacturers’ championship race with 59 points. Cadillac has 75 points and Porsche has 65 points.
The next race of the Pirelli World Challenge is Saturday Aug 25 at 12:00 p.m. PST at the Sonoma Grand Prix. It can be streamed live at www.world-challengetv.com/.
For more information on K-PAX Racing visit: www.kpaxracing.com/
For live streaming of the race go to: www.world-challengetv.com/
For more information on World-Challenge visit: www.world-challenge.com/
LEXINGTON, OHIO (August 4, 2012) – After qualifying first, Randy Pobst drove his K-PAX Volvo S60 to a first place finish while leading every lap of the race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Randy said, “We had a great handling car today thanks to the crew and the setup Will Moody put on the car.”
Pobst started on the pole – his fourth of the season and the 39th of his GT career– and led the entire race followed by teammate Alex Figge and three Cadillac’s.
Saturday’s race is the first of two races on this double race weekend. The two Volvos qualified first and second for Sunday’s race. Pobst is starting on the pole with Figge starting second.
Pobst is in fourth place in the drivers’ championship with 865 points. He trails Johnny O’Connell (1181), Andy Pilgrim (1000) and Lawson Aschenbach (949). Figge remains in fifth with 808 points.
Volvo remains in third place in the manufacturers’ championship race with 49 points, Cadillac has 72 points and Porsche has 60 points.
The second race of the Pirelli World Challenge double header weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is Sunday Aug 5 at 9:55 a.m. EST. It can be streamed live at http://www.world-challengetv.com/.
For more information on K-PAX Racing visit: http://www.kpaxracing.com/
For more information on World-Challenge visit: http://www.world-challenge.com/
Jul 12
14
City Of Palms Volvo Day
Trophies • Door Prizes • Goody Bags • 50/50 Cash Raffle
Volvo RC Car Time Trials • Volvo Pedal Car Time Trials (kids)
Discount New Part Sales • Used Parts Vendors Welcome
City Safety Demos • Volvo Techs on hand to answer questions
$50 GAS CARDS with *Pre-Registration! *Limited to first 50 registrants arriving in a Volvo and traveling 150 miles or more! To pre-register click here (www.driverealhappy.com).
FREE LUNCH with *reservation! *RSVP Tricia Rose at acnvolvo@embarqmail.com
DISCOUNTED RATE – MARRIOTT COURTYARD 4455 Metro Pkwy, Fort Myers FL 33916. Call 1-800-321-2211 or 239-275-8600 and mention “Volvo Meet” or “V V M” to receive discounted rate of $55 per night + taxes. Block of 10 rooms on hold for Sat., November 3. (Cut off date: Wed., October 3.) Reserve Now – First Come First Served! To reserve on-line, click here.
Posted in Florida Volvo Club of America Volvo Meet News by .
If you want to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, just have a Florida VCOA meet in Mt. Dora at Trimble Park. 
The weather was perfect, Volvos were many and very nice, food was great, old and new friends were everywhere. We had over 50 Volvos from all points of Florida.
The oldest Volvo driven to the event was John Patrick in his beautiful 1962 1800.
People’s choice for rear wheel drive was Joe Veglucci in his 1963 PV544. The votes were between three cars, Jerry Sira, in his 1967 122 and Charlie Pardee in his 1963 high modified 544 and Joe.
The FWD/AWD people’s choice award went to Roberto Luciano in his 1998 Green S70.
The longest distance award went to Matt Grayson after Tricia Rose, for the second time, passed on this award. The difference was about 5 miles.
Sponsors help make an event when they donate items to be given away and this year we had some very nice prizes. FCP Groton gave 3 $50 gift certificates and Rock Auto gave a $25 gift certificate. Erie Volvo, Roger Patrico and Bill and Tricia Rose, from Auto Clinic of Naples, helped again.
Chris Short and Kathy Smith handled the registration and everything went as planned. Gay Montgomery sold 50/50 drawing tickets where Bob Haire collected $70.
If you didn’t see the poster that Chris Smith came up for Cinco de Mayo, check out www.flvcoa.org that Jeannine and Clive Dowdell generates with a lot of pictures of the event.
The VCOA chapter for South Florida along with Roger Patrico is planning on another Volvo meet in Ft. Myers on November 3rd so plan ahead and attend. More to come at a later time.
One other item is when we founded the Florida VCOA chapter we needed ten signatures to form the club and here we are 24 years later, four of the originals were at the event, Charlie Pardee, Chris Short, Louis Bouchelle and myself, Dave Montgomery and all are very involved with the club. Chris and Charlie were having Volvo meets in central Florida prior to 1988.
Posted in Florida Volvo Club of America Volvo Meet News by .
MONTEREY, CALIF. (May 11, 2012) – “The drought is over!” said K-PAX Racing Team Owner Jim Haughey after his pair of Volvo S60s driven by Randy Pobst and Alex Figge finished 1-2 in the GT Class of today’s Pirelli World Challenge race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
It marked the first win by the K-PAX Volvo S60 since last summer at Mid-Ohio and it was the team’s first 1-2 finish since the next-to-last race of the 2010 season at Virginia International Raceway. Since the K-PAX Volvo S60 began competing in the GT Class of the series in 2009, it has gone to victory lane 10 times, more than any other manufacturer besides Porsche (13 wins).
Pobst started from the pole – the 37th of his GT career – and led all 28 laps. Figge qualified fourth but started third because a competitor failed post-qualifying inspection. Figge battled Cadillac’s Andy Pilgrim through the first two turns but emerged in second place behind his teammate. They stayed that way the entire race.
“I’m over the moon,” Pobst said. “It was all about balance for my car. When it’s balanced, it needs very little steering input. Today, it never felt like I was working hard to make the car go where I wanted it to go. The K-PAX team had it dialed in all week.”
“After struggling with various issues in previous races, this was a great result,” Figge said. “It was nice to be spending time making the car go faster rather than trying to fix the car. The crew worked really hard and had things under control. Then, it was just a matter of me putting in consistent laps.”
With his win, Pobst moved up to third place in the drivers’ championship with 502 points. He trails Johnny O’Connell (573) and Andy Pilgrim (559). Figge moved up to sixth with 389 points.
Volvo remains in third place in the manufacturers’ championship race with 25 points, but has closed the gap with Cadillac (37 points) and Porsche (33 points).
The next two races of the Pirelli World Challenge are June 3-4 at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix.
For more information on K-PAX Racing visit: www.kpaxracing.com
For live streaming of the race go to: http://www.world-challengetv.com
For more information on World-Challenge visit: www.world-challenge.com
K-PAX Racing Media
mediainfo@kpaxracing.com
Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California. (March 11, 2012) – The USTCC (United States Touring Car Championship) had its inaugural round of the 2012 championship at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California this weekend.
K-PAX Racing was represented by Robert Thorne driving the #80 K-PAX Racing C30 GT-R for the very first time. Friday was spent primarily getting accustomed to the new car as well as working on set-up in order to optimize the car to the standardized series tire.
“We came here this weekend with the car setup according to how we had run it in the World Challenge series last year, but we quickly learned that the tires used in the USTCC required a very different setup in order to create a well-balanced car”, commented Team Manager, Bob Raub.
Qualifying results on Saturday showed that the team and driver Robert Thorne quickly had come to terms with the new cars setup, clinching pole position in the 20-minute session.
The 2-hour endurance race on Sunday provided a great deal of challenging conditions throughout the race, including several full-course yellows, rain showers, plenty of traffic and, due to the length of the race, pit stops for fuel.
The standing-start format of the race allowed the, second position, all-wheel drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution get the jump on the C30, however, on lap 10 Robert Thorne was able to reclaim the top spot and after that never looked back.
At the checkered flag the #80 C30 crossed the line 1 minute and 43 seconds ahead of the second place Mazda 3. A big part of the large margin of victory had to do with the fact that the Volvo only had to stop for fuel once whereas most of the top competitors had to come in for fuel twice, proving that the C30 GT-R is not only fast but fuel-efficient as well.
After the race Robert Thorne had the following to say: “The C30 ran great today. We were able to really dial it in on Friday and Saturday allowing us to manage tire wear and the overall balance of the car all through the race. This being my first race with this car and this series my main goal was to simply keep it on the track. This win wouldn’t have been possible without the help from my sponsors at the Autoparts Warehouse, the crew at K-PAX Racing and Volvo for providing me with such a great racecar”.
Robert Thorne and the #80 K-PAX Racing C30 GT-R will be back racing in the USTCC at Thunderhill Raceway in May.
For more information on K-PAX Racing, visit www.kpaxracing.com
For more information on Autoparts Warehouse, visit www.EAPW.com
For more information on USTCC, visit www.ustcc.com
Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida
14 members and their Volvos and numerous guests of the SW FL Chapter of VCOA, the Florida Volvo Community on line forum and the Central Florida Chapter of VSA attended the event hosted by the Central Florida Region of S.C.C.A. during its SARRC/Regional/Vintage Cabin Fever Cure race weekend featuring the Historical Nordic Camaro US Race 2012 group tour of the USA. The weather was cold and windy but that did not deter attendees from having a great time.
The event featured a weekend of racing, parade laps on the track Saturday at lunchtime, door prizes and trophies in several Volvo car categories sponsored by Bill Rose of the Auto Clinic of Naples, Inc. The trophies, designed and produced by Tucker Alford of Venwood Awards in Engelwood, FL., featured a track map of Sebring International Raceway in addition to VCOA and CFR SCCA logos.
Rich Nelson won the People’s Choice-Vintage trophy with his 1970 P1800E, Ralph Porzio won the People’s Choice-RWD trophy with his 1984 242, Jaime Seda won both People’s Choice-FWD and Golden Rod (for technical innovation) trophies with his two tone 1995 850 Turbo wagon and Robert Cardwell won the Daily Driver trophy with his 1998 S70T5.
Attendees on both days went home with a bevy of door prizes thanks to Max Rossi of FCP parts in Connecticut, Ryan Rutherford of Coast Volvo parts department in Sarasota, FL., Jack of Erie Vo Vo, Inc. used parts in Whitesboro, NY., Marty Cook of Raxles, Inc., axle rebuilder in Gainesville, FL., Robert ‘Lucky’ Arnold of ARD tuning in Oregon, Sue Blasko of The Tire Rack in South Bend, IN., Tim Suddard of Classic Motorsports magazine in Ormond Bch, FL., Tricia Rose of Auto Clinic of Naples, Inc. Volvo repair and service in Naples, FL., and Darran Gunn, corner worker, of CFR SCCA for providing the ‘Prancing Moose’ decals.
Special thanks go to Dennis Joyce of SW FL VCOA and Chief Steward of the CFR SCCA weekend for inviting us to the event and arranging for the on track parade laps in addition to providing Volvo, USA and Swedish flags as well as blue and yellow finger banners to cordon off the Volvo car corral.
A very special thanks and a Happy 60th Birthday go to CFR SCCA’s Pace Car driver, Jack Ragaglia, who was kind enough to pace the on track parade laps during lunchtime on Saturday – a surprise that was enjoyed by all the attendees. Very special thanks to CFR SCCA’s Tucker Alford for photographing the on track parade laps. We also thank Bob Hess and Charlie Leonard of CFR SCCA for securing the Volvo car corral area on Thursday night, and Deanna Harry and her ladies at CFR SCCA event Registration for handling the additional registration work load.
We also thank the Volvo clubs volunteers who worked the event for their assistance in making the event a success (except for the weather which no one could control). They were Robert and Ana Maria Cardwell of FVC for internet advertising, acquisition of door prizes, trophy ballot tabulation and trophy winner announcing, Jaime Seda of FVC for announcing the door prize winners, Susie Joyce of CFR SCCA and SW FL VCOA for being our Volvo club Registrar, Clive and Jeannine Dowdell of FL VCOA for internet services, website posting and the official trophy winner photographer, and Tricia Rose of SW FL VCOA and CFR SCCA for being the Event Coordinator, arranging for trophy production and sponsorship, acquisition of door prizes and marking off the Volvo car corral.
A highlight of the weekend was meeting and watching the Historical Nordic Camaro US Race 2012 featuring Camaro Cup race car drivers from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The group had 17 cars and drivers imported for the event in addition to a full complement of technicians and crew members who kept the cars running all weekend. Many Swedes, Finns, Danes and Norwegians were also on hand as spectators.
Jan Magnussen in the number 23 Camaro was the man to beat all weekend winning both the Saturday and Sunday races. His fastest lap time on the weekend was a 2:10.708. Second fastest lap time on the weekend was set by Dennis Lind in the #16 Camaro with a 2:11.708 during the Saturday race. Jari Nurminen in the #30 Camaro finished in 2nd place during the Saturday race with a 2:14.389 followed in 3rd place by Fredrik Ros in the #47 Camaro with a 2:14.055. Frederik Ros placed 2nd again in the Sunday race with a 2:13.159 with Martin Hansen in the #67 Camaro placing 3rd with a 2:12.279.
Bill Rose of ACN Volvosports was also on hand racing his 1973 Volvo 1800ES in F Production with CFR SCCA. He would place 4th in FP and 10th overall in the group of 49 cars in the Sunday morning race with a fastest time of 2:40.504 behind the 1st place Mazda Miata of Paul Kullman, 2nd place VW Cabriolet of A J Hulse and the 3rd place VW Scirocco of Jeff Stein. Bill placed 3rd in class and 10th overall in the group of 38 cars during the Sunday afternoon race in the Volvo with a fast lap time of 2:38.803 behind 1st place Mazda Miata of Paul Kullman and 2nd place VW Scirocco of Jeff Stein.
The next Volvo club event in Florida, Cinco de Mayo, will be held on Saturday, May 5th at Trimble Park, Mt Dora, FL. from Noon until 3pm and is being hosted by Dave Montgomery, President of FL VCOA and his crew. The event will also serve as the official Spring meets for CFL VSA and FVC. For more details visit our website at www.flvcoa.org or our blog at www.flvcoablog.org. We look forward to seeing all Florida and Georgia Volvo enthusiasts for a day of fun, trophies, and prizes.
Submitted by:
Tricia Rose, Event Coordinator, SW FL VCOA
FVC, CFL VSA, and CFR SCCA member
Feb 12
18
2012 Sebring Meet Photos
Volvos on the Sebring Long Course
The 2012 Sebring Meet photos have now been posted. Click here and here. The Meet Report is coming soon. Also see previous meet photos here. Remember to use the Slideshow option for best viewing. Thanks for looking.
