Results from NASA GTS Series - Michigan
 

This last weekend we were in South Haven Michigan for the NASA German Touring Sedan races.

The weather was perfect all weekend, but it slowly climbed into the mid-90's by Sunday. In-car temps got pretty fierce on the longer races.

There were three GTS races this weekend, one on Saturday and two on Sunday.

There was a a nice blend of Porsche's, Audi's, and BMW's in my Division, and they had some big American Iron running on track at the same time too just to spice things up.

There was a pair of really fast race-prepped Dodge Vipers on hand and I never missed a chance to run with those guys as long as I could. They knew the lines at this track and helped me get up to speed quickly.

I had a problem with the tires going "off" after the 5th lap, and it made the 928 a handful in corner entry and mid-corner. Still, I was fast enough to set a new GTSU track record on Saturday and take first place in the Unlimited class.

We softened the rear sway bar settings throughout the weekend, and it got better. When Sunday came around, we had the suspension tuned to a better balance, and I won that race as well, and set another new track record, breaking the one I set on Saturday by .8 secs.

The floorboard under the accelerator got so hot in the longer races that it melted the sole of my shoe and burned my heel a little bit. I was holding my right foot in the air because it hurt to set it down! We'll be insulating that floor board now...

Here are a few pics (attached).

More and larger pics are here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...3156459&type=1

Nice going Carl, congrats on the track records.
Hey, are you not running your front air dam out to the ends of the splitter or is that an optical illusion?
Looking good!

Way to go Carl

Good job Carl! I hope your showed those Vipers what a 928 can do. Are you coming to OCIC? I would love to see that car there!

Congratulations Carl, way to represent.

:thumbup:Winning!!!

Congrats Carl thats quite an accomplishment,
good luck on your racing season

Thanks guys! Appreciate it.

No, I think you have that right. This is the front splitter kit that I am using/testing. http://www.928motorsports.com/parts/...n_splitter.php

So far, the composite laminate has held up even better than I expected.

Cool. Track records. :thumbsup: What is GTSU? I'm assuming that its German Touring Series "Unlimited". Is that correct? I've looked on the Googles and I can't find any mention of this class. What are the rules or specs that make it different than the GTS class? How many horsepowers does your engine make? Once again, congratulation on your record.

Carl,

I note you had an "Irish racer" [the one oging the wrong way] in the second photo! way to go!

Fred

Great job Carl! What motor were you running? I assume it was not your salt flats monster.

It is my Salt-flats motor, de-tuned to 750 HP and run on 110 octane Sunoco.
We want to know what the lifespan is of an Alusil block at these output levels, so I'm running it and we watch it closely.

Every 2 hours an oil sample goes in for analysis to see what might be wearing internally. We have been surprised to see that
contaminants are coming down with use, suggesting that even though we have several events and races on the motor
(not to mention Bonneville 2011) the engine is still wearing in. This is supported by the fact that we are consuming less and less oil at each event.
Every 4 hours I also pull a camshaft cover and inspect the cam lobes and cam followers for wear. (photo attached)

There is no better way to learn what the service intervals on a built-out 928 motor are going to be than to run it and measure it. Experience is a great teacher.

Yes, GTS-U means "German Touring Series" and here is the definition and rule book:
http://www.nasaproracing.com/rules/gts_rules.pdf

My power-to-weight ratio is 5:1 and that's what puts me in Unlimited class.

Nice to see a 928 on the track. How many GTSU cars were in your races ?

Still wondering how many cars were in your race ? I guess I can wait till NASA posts the official results. But I will get an answer. Find it interesting that a spec 944 (stock motor) laps Gingerman long course at 1:49 yet you set a "record" for GTSU at 1:43. One would think 550 HP MORE would make a bigger difference. Frankly I think your post is very misleading, perhaps accurate and truthful but misleading.
The statement "There was a a nice blend of Porsche's, Audi's, and BMW's in my Division, " implies that you were RACING against them when if fact they were in lower classes of GTS and not in your race if in fact there was a race at all. Once again you may have " won" simply because no one else bothered to enter that class ! Or the record happened to be unusually low like Bonneville because of little participation.
When a 2001 GT3 with maybe 400 hp turns 138.941 in the GTS4 class doing a 1:43-1:44 in GTSU should be embaressing !