THE ORIGIN

As a successful and winning driver in both SCCA Pro Racing and SCCA National Club Racing, Jon Mirachi realized other competitors were increasingly seeking his advice on both race driving and chassis engineering, and discovered he enjoyed sharing his knowledge and experience. As more and more drivers became interested in his expertise, Mirachi recognized an opportunity to provide these services full time. As a result, Mirachi founded Racers Edge Motorsports in May 1990 with the goal of providing race car preparation, chassis setup expertise and driver coaching services to the racing community.

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1990 – 2000

Racers Edge Motorsports was both a dealer/distributor for race cars and a race team running two different tube framed, mid-engined sports prototype cars: the SCCA Spec Racer and the Sports Toyota. Both were powered by 4 cylinder engines; one used either a Renault or a Ford engine and the other used a Toyota engine from the MR2 sports car. Our team successfully ran these prototypes and established our brand with arrive and drive programs competing in both club and professional racing, winning many races and four championships.  These machines were single make type series with rigid technical controls, so to be successful we focused on meticulous preparation, reliability, great chassis setup and of course, driver coaching.

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1997 – 2003

Racers Edge Motorsports campaigned a tube framed chassis formula (open wheel) car with a Mazda Rotary engine: the Formula Mazda. Formula Mazda consisted of mid-level professional racing in another rigidly controlled single make series. Starting in 2001, the team focused exclusively on the Formula Mazda series. Using the same development and preparation principles developed and perfected through years,  Racers Edge Motorsports established the team's growing legacy in both North and South America, winning 12 races and two championships in three seasons. The team also began a collaboration with MoTec that continues in our current race programs. All race prep was done in-house, including damper tuning, gearbox rebuilds, and fabrication; engines were sealed units that came from a single supplier to the series. At the time, Formula Mazda racing was extremely popular among drivers in the Western Hemisphere as step on the IndyCar ladder; our U.S.-based driver Guy Cosmo won the 2002 championship and Venezuelan driver Luis Schiavo won in 2003, both of whom developed our brand on both continents. 

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2004 – 2006

Dealer and distributor and race team for a carbon fiber tub open wheel Formula car with a Mazda Rotary engine – the Pro Formula Mazda. We raced and developed these machines, (our first carbon tub car) that was the US equivalent to Formula 3 in Europe. We won races in 2004 and 2006 and continued to solidify our reputation as a top professional team. As before, these were single make chassis with sealed engines. We handled all work in house including full servicing to the Hewland sequential 6-speed transmission and chassis tuning with push rod/rocker suspension and Ohlins dampers. This series was covered on TV in many countries and we were featured in a few special stories the television production company did, including one where we explained how race teams use data acquisition information to improve both the driver’s and the car’s performance.

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2007

After our successes at lower and mid-level professional racing, we were looking to move to top level Sports Car Racing and greater challenges. Our reputation earned us an opportunity to run a GM factory supported, Pratt & Miller built, tube framed chassis, Pontiac GXP.R in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series. We competed our first season working with GM Racing, Pratt & Miller and Katech engines. The Rolex cars had MoTeC dash/data systems and Bosch Engine Management, so we started collaborating with engineers from Bosch and became experts at their software. We worked closely with Katech and learned to trust their expertise and capabilities. We did all service work in our shop except for any internal work on the engines from Katech. We did everything else including all servicing work on the X-Trac sequential 6-speed transmission. During our first season we perfected our endurance racing strategy and developed great techniques for fast pit stops. We led some races, but did not win in our first season.

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2008 – 2011

We switched makes, choosing to reunite with Mazda for Rolex GT Series competition for 2008. We began to flex our muscles and experiment more and more with the car’s technical development. The Mazda GT was a Riley Technologies tube frame chassis with a carbon fiber body and an EMCO 6-speed sequential transmission. It used the same Bosch engine management and MoTeC dash/data system as in the Pontiac. Initially we ran Ohlins dampers and worked with Ohlins engineers on their 7 post rig (shaker rig) to tune the suspension. In 2010 the series lowered the minimum ride height by 1 full inch and using engineering software our staff did the re-engineering work in our shop to relocate the suspension mounts to preserve the correct suspension geometry. The Riley chassis did not have adjustable control arm mounting points, so our re-engineering involved cutting off existing brackets, designing, re-making and re-welding them as needed. Our suspension re-engineer was hugely successful and in 2010 we had the fastest of the 7 Mazda GT cars in the series. We had 6 pole positions that year, some podium finishes and helped Mazda to win the Manufacturers title. Also during the development of the Mazda GT program we began collaborating with Brembo, working closely with the North American Director of Motorsports, Mike Messina to develop a lightweight “sprint race” brake package for the car, which we used for the races under 3 hours. Mike has remained a friend and valued collaborator for our team to this day.

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2012

We put together a program to build a Dodge Viper tube frame car for the Rolex series and get the car approved. In only 90 days we built a car, worked with the GRAND-AM Rolex Series technical staff and got the approvals to run the car. Through the Dodge Motorsports folks, we were introduced to Arrow Racing Engines who was the factory’s chosen builder of the Viper V-10 racing engines. Another professional operation, Arrow proved to be a great partner and was instrumental in helping us get the big V-10 cleared for competition in the series. We presented the car for the ROAR Official Series Test at Daytona in January and the car performed reliably and finished only .5 seconds off the fastest GT time at the test.  Then, after a disappointing outing at the first race (the Rolex 24 of Daytona) and despite the so much promise and lots of hard work, the support for the program went away and the project dissolved. On the Viper we used Moton dampers, Brembo brakes and a MoTeC dash and data system, continuing our collaboration with World-Class suppliers and technical partners.

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2013

A program was put together by a group of drivers from Mexico to have Racers Edge field a car for them in the Rolex 24 Hour race. We took our Riley chassis Mazda GT which had not run for a year and prepared the car for the 24 Hour battle. With a small budget to work with, we concentrated on meticulous preparation for the required reliability necessary for the 24-hour race. The bright red machine ran virtually trouble free for the 24 hours and finished 16th.

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2010 – 2015

Simultaneous to our Rolex programs, Racers Edge was competing in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series with factory supported Ford Mustangs. Another rigidly controlled series where technical development was limited by the rules, we worked with engineers from Ford Racing and engine builder Roush-Yates to develop and field competitive cars. Once again, we had another professional engine builder who was a fantastic partner to work with and we enjoyed a successful collaboration. Our team cars were equipped with MoTeC and Brembo components, as we once again drew on the expertise of our technical partners to field competitive and reliable race cars.

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2016 - 2018

Looking to the future, GT4 cars had the right balance of performance versus cost to potentially become the fastest growing class of racing in the coming years.  We felt it would be a good fit for our team and began the process of researching the market.  After reviewing the specs on each of the eligible GT4 cars, we chose the SIN R1 GT4. It had stylish, exotic, good looks, a race bred chassis and great performance potential. Our experience was put to use as we helped with the final development of the impressive SIN R1, turning it into a reliable, race winning GT4 machine. After 3 seasons of intense competition in the Pirelli World Challenge series, our GT4 customer racing program had collected 10 wins and 21 podium finishes!

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2019 - 2023

After multiple successful seasons in GT4, we set about looking for our next challenge, so for 2019 we entered the GT3 Pro/Am class of the Blancpain SRO GT World Challenge America Series. With the series having been revitalized for the 2019 season, now featuring international rules and an exciting new race format, it looked to be an exciting new challenge! We needed a new race car for the new class, so looked at different GT3 machinery, ultimately choosing the Acura NSX GT3 Evo and forging a new relationship with Honda Performance and Development (HPD) and Acura Motorsports. Our partnership was successful immediately, winning a race our first weekend of the season and when our first season was over, we collected 2 pole positions, 3 race wins, 9 podium finishes and the championship! Our 30th racing season and we’re still winning championships!

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From 2020 thru 2023 we continued to win races and championships with the Acura NSX GT3 Evo and HPD. These seasons added another 20 wins in GT3 with championships in 2020 and 2022, while finishing second in the championship hunt in 2021 and 2023. Five seasons with the NSX have brought us 3 championships and 22 race wins, which is far more than any other Acura/Honda NSX team in the world. A record we're proud of!

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In 2020 the HPD Driver Academy was created, and our team, with our long history in driver development, was selected by HPD to operate the Academy. After successfully completing the course, students from multiple seasons have gone on to race in GT3 with us and have won numerous races and the championship, proving the Academy program really delivers results! We're also proud of our involvement in the HPD Academy and the success of our students.

 

Looking forward to 2024, we're excited to continue our successful relationship with HPD and Acura. We'll return with the NSX, vying for another championship in SRO GT3 competition, campaign and assist in the development of the new competition version of the Acura Integra, while working with another crop of drivers in the HPD Academy. Three championships in five seasons with the Acura NSX GT3 Evo - will 2024 bring four out of six? We know how to win, the NSX is a great race car, HPD a great partner. We'll be on it all season!

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OTHER ENDEAVORS

We’ve also worked behind the scenes as sub-contractors for other high-level professional teams who could benefit from our skilled personnel, well-proven systems and methods. From the ground-up rebuilding of IMSA Tudor Championship Series Porsche GT Americas, to extensive preparation and servicing of Pirelli World Challenge GT3 Lamborghini Gallardos, to safety and performance modifications of private clients’ track day cars, we can and have done it all. After 32 years we can truly say that we are experts at all aspects of race car preparation, development, service and repair. We are extremely proud of our highly skilled staff and of our ability to collaborate with world-class suppliers and interact with sanctioning bodies.