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Tel: (800) 288-WEST
THE WEST TEAM
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JAKE RANDELS - Senior Lead Engineer, Car Builder, Fabricator
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| Having been with West for over 5 years now, Jake is at the center of all West Racing activities. He has experience in virtually every facet of road racing, from his college days at Lanier Tech's Motorsport's program, to building race cars for Panoz and also being part of the Silverstone Racing team running Daytona Protoypes in Grand Am. Jake has been involved with World Challenge Mazda, Grand Am Cup BMW, Daytona Prototypes and Panoz LMP1s. He's the central knowledge base for vehicle setup and race strategy at West. And recently he has grown closer to the motorcycle hearts of the sports-racers, with his purchase of a Ducati 749s. |
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DAN JANG - Lead Engineer, Car builder, Fabricator, Photographer
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| Dan Jang brings valuable experiences from many open-wheel classes such as Formula BMW, Formula Mazda, Champ Car, Atlantics, F3000(HSR), Formula Renault(2.0 and V6) as well as touring car experience from Speed World Challenge and SCCA/NASA with dozens of race wins and championships. His skills in fabrication, welding and composites are a great addition to the team's already deep knowledge in those areas of expertise. His passion for racing, thirst for knowledge and fear of mediocrity keeps him at the top of his game and at the forefront of racing technology. Also a Lanier Tech Motorsports graduate, Dan is formally trained in all aspects of racing. When not racing at the track with West, Dan can be found riding his Honda CBR1000 at various tracks and mountain twisties or behind the lens of his cameras as a photographer for West. |
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JESSE BRITTSAN - Race Engineer and Component Designer
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| Jesse started his racing career as a mechanic in the Formula Atlantic series in 2000. Later, following an offer to transition over to the engine side, he began working for Loyning’s engine service, where he specialized in motorcycle power plants. His composites skills lead him to be involved in the design and building process of the Loyning Viking CSR conversion cars in 2003. He has been a lead mechanic both in the shop and on the West IMSA Lites team, also working part time as a crew chief in the Mazda Atlantic series. Jesse now spends most of his time behind the scenes, helping to develop the new West WX-10, working on CAD modeling/engineering projects for West, and running SCCA and IMSA Lites customers on the west coast. Any spare moments are spent planning a wedding with fiancé Shanna, for August 2009. They share a beautiful “daughter” Kermetta, their 10 year old iguana. |
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KEVIN TAKALO - Chassis and Suspension Fabricator, Engineer
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| Kevin has been a welder and fabricator since the age of 8. Taught by his father, who was a heavy equipment field mechanic, Kevin learned early on to not only fix his own equipment (he was always hard on his bikes) but to "do it right the first time"! He had a very long stint at BMX racing and turned pro for several years. Afterwards, he moved on to racing motorcycles and jet skis. All of his skills as a fabricator, welder, machinest, and engineer are self taught. Kevin has been with West since early 2006 and has been involved with the company extensively from the beginning - from tunnel floor development, to special lightweight fabrication, as well as the construction of all new West chassis' built to date. In his spare time he can be found building his sand car or restoring his Lotus Elise in his home shop. |
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ERIC VASSIAN - Owner, Driver
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Owner of West and driver, Eric did not get into his first race car until 2001 when he signed up for a Panoz Racing school, although he had extensive knowledge of sports cars from a history of involvement - owning his own restoration shop for Italian cars back in the early 90s. After completing his racing school, the bug had officially "bit" which led him to the purchase of a Spec Racer Ford within weeks. From SRF, he quickly moved up to Formula Mazda, which then led to sportsracers. Forming a new company - Radical South - he grew the Radical population in the Southeast from practically none to well over 25. In 2007 Eric purchased West Race Cars from the previous owner and spent over 18 months developing the new WX10 model. For 2010 Eric plans to focus his personal racing on SCCA, while managing the team/customers at the IMSA Lites events - not to say that he might not decide to still compete in an IMSA race or two?
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