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If anyone is curious about running this event- the GT4 really is the perfect "rookie class car"
Porsche Colorado Springs has been awesome to work with but these 245am wake up calls are brutal. 30,000 people were at fan fest last night which was awesome...really wish we would have pre-events like this for IMSA.
Gee CJ, the one day you can sleep in and you didn't!
Porsche Colorado Springs is one of the greatest hosts I have even encountered. Cannot say enough good things about them.
There was a couple cars damaged during practices, if not for their help, neither would have made the starting grid on Sunday. Seriously, they went above and beyond!
Looks like a MEGA event and thanks for all the pics! PP just seems to be a whole different level of *****-out-driving... kudos to everyone who managed good times in spite of the challenge!!!
Now that i am home from the event I have time to decompress and post some pictures!
The elevation made things difficult in tems of breathing. My car also dumped fluid once I arrived at the top!
Early morning 2:30am commutes to the mountian were a challenge to say the least. Every day was a long day as there were 3 practice days and a qualifier. Trakcar was nice enough to be my chauffeur for driving the mountian after practice to allow me to make pace notes. I think Trakcar now has enough time on the mountian to run the event next year!
We were lucky enough to have dry weather for practice all week however by the time C.J and myself crossed the start line on Sunday we were in rain, fog and snow! Not many cars went to the top after us as they made the call to shut down the event due to the weather.
The course is not for the faint of heart.
Quite a few cars went off the road even before the race started, including the saftey car!
TCSracing glad you have revived this thread eager to read and see your adventures ,
I was thinking of accomplishing that by asking about the thread color on the this ^ build to regain traction/attention here .
eager
Haha, it was a pleasure to drive the guys around in the rental Caddy.
Just like myself it was quite out of breath and the CEL didn’t take long to come on!
Then it got hammered by hail as the guys were slipping and sliding to the top!
TCSpeed, hell of a drive man
pic of the pace notes added.
This is not for the faint of heart, Porsche invited only those with questionable judgement LOL.
The event is very intimidating.
The drive up and down in a rental car will make your cheeks pucker...
Driving Targa events and rallies, you have a co-driver.
This race you get 3-4 practice runs and thats it. No co-driver.
Practice is very early morning. So typically your second run has the sunrise in your eyes and you drive blind for part of the sections.
In practice I had a deer on course, almost hit a marmot and had to swerve to avoid some kind of animal during the race.
Every time the weather changes you need to adjust your line. So consistency is hard to maintain. Especially with 156 turns. It is so hard to remember the turns. Some look the same but with different exits which can be a disaster. Some people found out the hard way....
During the week I said to myself that If I got to the top I would take my T-shirt and go home with a one time bucket list fulfilled and never come back.
After completing the event, I cant help but want to go back and better my run... It is like trying to figure out a puzzle. And the buzz you get when you finish at the top is a sweet natural high. I can see me wanting my fix next year.
Porsche Motorsport spoiled us. They would cater to us everyday. Car shows at the Colorado Springs dealership, fan fest downtown with motorcycles jumping in the air and had us to a local private car collection for a dinner.
The cars at the dinner had me doing backflips... (No cameras allowed unfortunately...)
The event also had motorcycles. They are a special breed of humans.
It’s an insane bucket list race.
The second oldest race in the US after Indy..
It’s a bit like going the first time to the Ring (156 corners and 16 miles and all looks the same) and Isle of Man TT mixed up in one mountain.
Except it isn’t a circle, so you almost can’t practice it at all, when you do get a partial run (Its split up in 3 sections) it’s at 3am-7am, has huge temp and weather changes, you can’t think straight due to the thin air and you can crash off in credible high ravines like that Evo we have all seen crashing.
4 Porsche’s were damaged, a couple spun...
None of these guys were ***** footing around, but instead pushed like hell!
Ive only been home a day and I’m trying to wrap my head around it all.
Im not so sure if I could ever do it myself.
Perhaps I had the best case scenario, take it all in, hang out with some very cool and brave people but I didn’t have to race up the mountain!
06-23-2018, 10:05 AM
