blue44

Sue and I have been volunteering at the lime rock pca club race the past few years, this year I qualified for the driver ed day on thursday, #531 did great, there were 7 half-hour sessions ! I missed the third due to a thrown ps belt, but still did 6 sessions and 201 track miles, new wheels and tires worked great...



#75 was there on thursday practicing, and I met Pablo, super nice guy, beautifully prepared car. He had to make some adjustments for pca, but had a great practice on friday...



two other 968's were there for the race, both regulars here...





saturday started out cool but warmed up nicely, Sue was able to get a couple of shots from flag station 3. #48 got a lot of kudos from the corner workers...



Pablo led most of the second race and won the workers' choice award...



the later classes were dominated by the 911 cup cars, and there were several transporters full of them...



the racing seems awful serious for "club" racing, and there was way too much carnage for the amount of prize money, but it ended up being a great weekend, and while it's a bummer that there's no racing at lrp on sunday, it's nice to end the race weekend and still have a day to catch up. I'd highly recommend volunteering when the club race comes to your neck of the woods... Donn

pmcrespo

Thanks for posting! Great pleasure to meet you and Sue. Nice pics and Amazing event indeed. Sorry I could not spend a little more time hanging out with you guys.

If I may, I''l take the liberty to post my weekend narrative under the same thread.

In summary (if you dont want to read the dissertation below!), the weekend results:
- New LRP GT5S Qualifying Track Record with a 58.248
- Race 1 Pole
- 2nd in Race 1
- Race 2 Pole
- 1st in Race 2
- New LRP GT5S Race Track Record with a 58.438
- National PCA Club Racing Workers Choice Award
- Earned PCA Club Racing License

We had been kicked out of our intended SP3 Class and placed in the “Super” GT classes. Landing in GT5S having to run a heavy 3,087 pounds minimum race-end weight (with driver). Unfortunately this put us at a significant power disadvantage compared to our competition giving up anywhere between 40 to 80 horsepower to the field. After battling with front grip early on, this being my first visit to LRP, and nursing a 3 week-old Grade-3 ankle sprain with an ankle brace that made heel-and-toe a difficult endeavor at best, we had been unable to break below 1:01 lap times on Friday practices. Not to mention missing 2 ½ practice sessions due to some mechanical issues and two Black Flags compliments of the 88db limit I kept on breaching by 3db. The last black flag sent me on a one-way road to the paddock for the day!! LOL…. So I made some serious suspension setting changes for Saturday Race Day, dropped a pair of new Hoosier R6 on the front to replace my almost corded ones, and called it a night.

On Saturday we went out in race qualifying and stunned the field with a 58.248 in Lap 4 of the session breaking the old record by about ½ a second and cementing the 968 as the new GT5S LRP record holder. This also earned us the Pole for Race 1 as the announcer claimed over the PA system that I had been sandbagging! Funny…

This was my first PCA Race and it made me an official Rookie. As such, we were all told that rookies would be specially scrutinized with ANY defensive moved to be considered blocking, and overly aggressive driving to also yield a DQ, no PCA Club Racing License, and no championship points for the weekend. With that in mind, we set on to start Race 1 from the Pole.
As expected, when the Green Flag dropped in Race 1, the power deficit played out as I lost 2 positions by Turn 3. The tight track, extremely tentative, and overly conservative driving on my part prevented us from regaining the lost positions and I finally took the checkered 2nd in Class 15 seconds behind the overall and class leader (Jim Hamblin) who drove a masterful race. Nonetheless, the #75 968 still set the fastest lap of the race with a 58.929 which earned us the Pole for Race 2.

We regrouped and strategized for Race 2 taking the grid dialed up a few notches. After a strong start, our power deficit only lost us one position by Turn 2. We regained the lead in Lap 2 and put our head down with some qualifying pace laps to open a gap and settled into a rhythm as we worked through traffic. Took the checkered for the overall and class win with a 28 second lead over P2. The 58.438 time we turned in Lap 4 also earned us the new Race Track Record for the class.

Then the big surprise came when I was told of the National PCA Club Racing Workers’ Choice Award I had won. Apparently a much bigger recognition than I thought… hey! I am a PCA Club Racing rookie… what do I know?

Amazing weekend and event. This PCA Club Racing event felt much like a Pro Racing event across all fronts. From the moment I entered the facility the logistics, personnel, discipline, professionalism, and quality where second to none. Only thing missing where the TV Cameras and Paddock Girls (greatly missed ) Huge kudos to all the PCA CR staff, workers, and volunteers. Sincere thanks to many, but especially fellow 968 racers Richard Glickel and Jason Judd for helping me with everything from racing line advice to finding food late at night. And finally thank you SPEEDWERK - NY for letting me hang out in a little corner next to your compound while always making sure I was ok and neded nothing..

Cheers,

pmcrespo

odurandina

good stuff. thanks guys for posting these (now saved on the hard drive).

Giacomo

Great race Pablo!

Charles A. Toupin

Hey that is great! Congrats Pablo.

I can see, with all the aerodynamic appendices on your car, that you're in GT5S...

c.

pmcrespo

Hi Giacomo! How goes it? Thanks. Good to see your note.

Thanks Charles... Indeed... I never got much love from the SP3 boyz when I suggested SPE as a class for #75... LOL... I just need to find more power in order to survive in GT5S competitively. I think LRP suited high downforce and was leverageable when running in front. But in the longer power tracks, I will have my work cut out for me unless I find 30-40 ponies to help....

renvagn

Pablo, the car looks good and that diffuser is nuts. You know with some side skirts and a fan drawing air out from the back..............................

pmcrespo

Thanks! Along with the splitter and flat bottom middle section, the car's aero is ridiculously effective for being a custom "non-professional wind tunnel tested" build. there are MANY haters and doubters... but lap times without the power to support them dont lie... I don't think I am THAT good of a driver to make such a difference even though I would love to think so!

LOL.... funny you say that... last night I was watching the video intro to Rahal's interview of Jim Hall (Chaparral) and one of his projects was just that... a couple of chainsaw engines strapped to some fans sucking air to create downforce... I was like... "wait a minute"?... LOL...

blue44

great results and thanks for posting better pictures !

Donn

93 FireHawk 968

Pablo,

Congrat's on the outsanding race weekend. What a way to earn your rookie license; break class records, win races and win awards.

I never imagined the unique aero work on your car would have that profound of an impact but apparently it does. Curious if you have lap comparisons of before and after aero at other tracks you've run at.

pmcrespo

Thanks Joe! You left one out: I also got my butt royally kicked and not so graciously handed to me in Race 1 !!!! LOL...

I wish I had comparable data from a Traqmate type device. Unfortunately that is an upgrade in the list soon to be put in place. I have to admit some of the improvement has to be attributable to improving as a driver (and much of that I still have to go!!!). Nonetheless, the aero effect is big. I'll get around to make a lap comparison on before and after times. But at every instance there was a marked improvement in Lap times.

In my opinion, the aero made such a marked difference, that in order for me to actually realize the gains as a driver, I really had to work hard at re-training my brain to brake later, carry more entry speed, throttle harder earlier, etc., etc. This was the hardest part. But once I went down that road, in a controlled and systematic manner little by little of course, I started finding the new limits of the car, and lap times (with records) started dropping. I set 4 lap records in NASA last year, one of which was a reset of Thunderbolt after I installed the wing and diffuser.

pmcrespo

I should also state that the results at Lime Rock Park are extreme in my opinion. As some (Steve Katz and a few others) had commented, LRP is a downforce track if one has clean laps to run. So my car's aero centric build so far, was perfect to excel at LRP even with less ponies than ideal.

I think that at longer "power tracks" such as Watkins Glen, VIR, and even NJMP Thunderbolt, the absolute net gain will be less marked. Nonetheless, it will still be there.

gums

Excuse me? Are you forgetting who your original fan is? That I spotted you before you even knew the term "aerodynamics".
Seriously, I'm flattered that you went to all this effort just to beat me, Pablo!
Love you, man.

pmcrespo

Jeez Dr.!!! Easy there!! Just kidding around on a very valid point by you and others that with aero the car indeed is not legal in SP3... Nothing wrong with that! Remember it was me that voluntarily reached out to the rule bosses!

I never forget Doc... In fact, everytime I have a chance, I thank and give you/Steve/et.al. credits for the help, advice, and frienship throughout the lasp few years. You guys are a bunch of Super nice guys and I am fortunate to have been welcomed to share paddock and race track real estate with all of you... This is the best part of it all...