Putting Drive Into Education

Subtitle:ODU Engineering Race Team Helps Graduates, Students Learn

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 3, 2015) – VIRginia International Raceway was more than the home track for driver John Salmon and the ODU Engineering Race Team at Rounds 11 and 12 of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda on Aug. 28-29.

The challenging circuit near Danville, Virginia, also was one of the most important college classrooms for some of the team’s crew.

Salmon, from nearby Lynchburg, Virginia, is third in the Lites 2 standings in his first full season in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Official Development Series. The crew for the ODU Engineering Race Team – which fields Salmon’s car and also prepares cars for Lites 1 Masters drivers Alastair McEwen and Stuart Rettie – features graduates of the motorsports program in the Engineering departments of both Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and Patrick Henry Community College in Martinsville, Virginia.

Students in the motorsports engineering program at ODU and Patrick Henry CC take the knowledge learned in the classroom and apply it through the Virginia Institute for Performance Engineering and Research (VIPER), operated by the ODU Research Foundation. VIPER is a national center for ground vehicle performance testing, engineering and research services specializing in racing, advanced technology and performance vehicles.

VIPER has an Engine and Drivetrain Lab at VIR, dedicated to teaching and research supported by commercial activity. ODU and Patrick Henry CC motorsports engineering students test and validate projects with VIPER through testing during track days at VIR.

Those projects performed on an old Formula Mazda open-wheel test car include a fully active aerodynamic system and conversion to E85 fuel, among many others.

“It’s really cool for the students,” Salmon said. “They show up slack-jawed at the track and think it’s the coolest thing ever.”

It also prepares them well for a career in professional motorsports. For example, Corey Lind graduated from the motorsports engineering program at Patrick Henry Community College and now works as the crew chief for the team. Lind has been with the organization full time since its inception and has been instrumental in developing the team.

Two other ODU motorsports engineering graduates also work for the ODU Engineering Team on the full Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda circuit. And senior year ODU motorsports engineering student Ryan Parkinson returned for the third year working an internship as a mechanic at all of the team’s races this summer.

Former Formula Mazda and Pro Mazda driver and current engineer Victor Seaber is the common thread between the ODU Engineering Race Team, VIPER and the motorsports engineering program at ODU. He is the team principal for the race team, a principal at VIPER and instructs senior-level motorsports engineering courses at ODU.

Seaber got involved in racing through the Formula SAE program in college and then began competing in SCCA races after receiving his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. He drove successfully in Formula Mazda and Pro Mazda races before turning to engineering and team management, running and performing race engineering with Velocity Motorsports in Pro Mazda with drivers including current European sports car driver Mark Patterson and current TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype driver John Pew.

Seaber then left racing and earned a masters’ degree in business, taking an engineering job in the corporate world. But the call of motorsports returned. Seaber joined VIPER in 2008 and began teaching motorsports engineering at ODU in 2009.

“I think the facility’s existence here (at VIR) has allowed it to expand because we give the students the opportunity to get hands-on motorsports experience at a real racetrack with a real race car,,and obviously we’re in the IMSA series with the race team, so it’s very real world,” Seaber said. “I think that’s a key differentiator between our motorsports engineering program and other motorsports program that are out there.”

Seaber has been a key part of Salmon’s racing career for nearly three years.

Salmon, a physician specializing in anatomic and clinical pathology, first got involved in racing when visiting Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta as a fan in 2008. He was racing a vintage Formula Ford car and met Seaber through his Ford GT40 replica road car, which Seaber and Lind helped finish build.

As his driving skills progressed, Salmon wanted to drive in a more modern race car in a professionally sanctioned series. He and Seaber pinpointed Prototype Lites and agreed it would be an ideal destination.

Salmon and Seaber worked together for most of 2013 to prepare for the tougher competition of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, testing on track, and evaluating data and video. Salmon made his series debut in 2013 at Petit Le Mans, where he first saw a race as a fan five years earlier. He finished fourth and third in Lites 2 in the two rounds at Road Atlanta.

In 2014, Salmon raced in the last two event weekends of the season, at home at VIR and again at Petit Le Mans. He scored three podium finishes in four starts and decided to run the full season in 2015.

“This is a very challenging series,” Salmon said. “I was very reluctant to even attempt to race at this level, and I felt we had to do a lot of groundwork before we got there, and I’m glad we did. I think it has worked out very well. Everyone has been very understanding. All along, it’s been a bucket list thing for me.

“I’ve done a lot more bike racing and triathlons. If you want to get good at anything, you go to the highest level you want to compete in, and that’s what’s going to push you. Where other people may see themselves at the bottom of the time sheet and want to give up, that’s just incentive for me to want to go faster. I’ve learned so much from this series. Now it’s fun. I’m still down at the bottom, but the times are close. That’s been the whole point.”

Salmon has made continual, strong progress this season, with nine podium finishes in 12 starts in Lites 2, including two at his home event last month at VIR. His increased experience and skill as a driver has made a difference. But so has the engineering of his Mazda-powered Élan DP02 chassis by Seaber, Lind and other crew members with direct bloodlines to VIPER and the motorsports engineering programs at ODU and Patrick Henry CC.

“The guys are just really great,” Salmon said. “I’ve really enjoyed working with them. For me, the team is slowly being built up, but I think we’ve not lacked for technical knowledge and ability to have the car prepped over anyone on the grid.

“We might not have quite as nice of facilities at this point, and we don’t have the big 18-wheeler for a hauler or the mats on the floor or anything like that, but I don’t feel like we’ve lost anything in terms of data collection, car setup. Everything you want; I’ve had that on the track.

“I actually asked Victor to give me some of his lecture notes. Some of the stuff has been really helpful for me. Understanding the engineering behind it has helped me make breakthroughs in my pace because it’s not always intuitive. Tire grip. That’s what I’m talking about, that blend of art and science. Knowing it is one thing; putting it into practice is another.”