APKhaos

Had a great experience this past weekend at the PCA Potomac DE at Summit Point. It had been a busy weekend with students, torrential rain on Saturday afternoon, and the excitement of having a $500K CarreraGT running in the Blue run group. I drove the chase car for his first session, and will post the video in a day or so.

Decided to run in Black run group for the last run on Sunday, because I like to take it easy on the the last run of the weekend. I was gridded a few cars behind one of two Turbo Cup cars that ran with us this event. I figured I might not see him again after the start.

A few laps in, I caught sight of the Cup. He was tooling around at a good pace, but I was closing. When we got close enough for both of us to be aware of eachother [maybe 10 or 15 car lengths], we picked up the pace a little. It turned into one of the best runs all weekend. I was able to make up ground in the technical half of the track, but he would pull clear on the straights. The Turbo Cup clearly had more juice than my 89 with 150# of ballast. I eventualy made the pass, but it was not over. The pattern continued. I could pull a slight lead through the back of the circuit, and get onto the front straight maybe 15 lengths ahead. He would pull me down the straight, and nearly earned a pass before Turn 1 a couple of times. It was close, and I will admit that I was wringing everything I could from my car! Eventually we were separated by traffic, and it was time to cool it down a bit. Given it was my home track, its not surprising that I was a bit quicker in the technical sections. All things considered, its clear that the Turbo Cup is a true rocket ship. I was amazed at how much more it had it the straight sections, and how well it hung on in the twisty bits. Amazing!

Talked to the driver [Travis Teitjen?] after the session - he seemed to have enjoyed it as much as I did! His parents drove another Turbo CUp - nice 951 family, eh?

Kicking myself that I decided not to load the video camera for this last session. It would have been a great tape!

Asarus

Great !

If you have some pictures of the Turbo Cup cars and the email contact/chassis number for my registry, it would be perfect

Mercedesben

I was at Summit on Friday and had a great time at the Fatt. I passed a fellow instructor who has a 996tt, so my day was complete until my student lifted in the chute and put us into the tire wall, his 996 is going to need some serious body work. Friday the 13th go figure! At least my 951 is safe!

APKhaos

Asarus: I'm trying to get in contact with this group. There are several Turbo Cup cars involved. Will let you know when I hear from them/

Merc: The 996 was comprehensively balled up - saw it when I set up in the SP main paddock on Friday evening. By this time, most of the FATT guys had left, so nobody knew the story. It looked like he had nailed every panel. Good to hear that you were both uninjured.

Welcome to the 'Spin In the Chute' club. You qualify even though you were only a passenger. Mine was last race last season. Blew a head gasket just before the apex of 4, which creted an instant on-board skid pad generator. Managed to hold it off the outside wall, and spun gently into the inside wall opposite the flag station for T5. Exciting! Minor damage to the rear quarter panel. Lucky!

Mercedesben

The 996 still had the driver's side door in tact I am still recovering from the impact I am sore but my Dr gave me some good painkillers! I spoke to the owner and his ins co gave him a repair quote of 13k, I think that is quite light, it needs more like 20k to be right.

Asarus

Great !

TheRealLefty

Guys,

What great narrative about Summit! I did my first PCA DE there last year in my 944 NA and can't wait to bring my "new" 951 S down from Cumberland and give it whirl with more ponies. While you guys were having fun, we were up at the Cumberland Airport for the first autocross of the year. Chesapeake PCA guys did very well, with Derek Schwarz (993TT) and Dennis Howard (996TT) finishing 2nd and 4th overall on Sunday.

Not suprizingly I struggled in the Boostmobile. But it's not hopeless. The 951 S was good in the slaloms and the linked turns, but needs some mix of driver improvement and tweaking to get around the two skid pad turns at either end of the course and...of course...there is that problem of launching. I didn't launch for snot, alternating between bogging and spinning the clutch. My friends are kidding me that "I sold the wrong car", but my day will come when we get around to track days

Was a cool event though. Results are at http://www.nationalroadrally.com/icebreak.html

Mercedesben

Lefty, I hope you can come out to play this Sunday, PCA potomac has an autox at the Bowie Baysox stadium. I will be there with my 951. Autox in a 951 is all about anticapation, you need to get the boost on as early as possible, there is a steep learning curve, but once you master it you will be impressed! I hope Dennis and Derek are there, as they are fast competition. Derek used to be quite fast with his old 968.
Ben

TheRealLefty

All good, Ben. I'll try and make it. Derek just purchased a new track car to replace the 968. He's autocrossing the 993TT but bought a very stout DE car at the Hershey Swap Meet. You'll probably recognize the car, burgundy 944 S2 with a gray gutted interior, full race with a 968 VarioCam 3.0. It's a stout runner already and he's finishing off the weight reduction program with some more lexan. Should be fun.

Know what you mean about anticipation. My NA was a point and shoot car...nice crisp throttle response with an effective rear gear of about 4.10. Between the gear, the boost and the stiff front underpinnings things are very different in the 951

Mercedesben

I went from a 944na to my first turbo and I spent an entire season learning how to drive the turbo. At Summit point the car is easier to drive, but watch out for the boost in the carousel.
I would love to autox in cumberland, but it takes me longer to get to cumberland than summit point!