Mike in Chi

What an incredible weekend of superlatives!

Hundreds and hundreds of Porsche race cars shining - literally and figuratively - in the Florida sun.

And an incredible collection of cars.

Dozen of 956/962s, spyders, GT1s, 917s (Jerry Seinfelds 1.4 million one included as reported elsewhere), 935s, nine oh four, six, seven, eight and ten -- if they raced it, it was there.

This was my first trip to the speedway. The place is huge, and the bankings give it perspective. Indy is bigger interms of capacity, but this feels more vast.

Reports I heard ran from 500 to over 600 race cars.

Greg Fishman was running his C class 993. He got quicker through the whole weekend. Ended up gridded in the mid teens and finished eigth or ninth. (I couldn't wait around for the final results)

Our team's Southern Hospitality specialist, Mac McGehee was there with his gorgeous D class '95.

Both Greg and Mac are very smooth drivers, and fun to watch work through traffic. And both were passing lots of cars on the banking.

Met up with Jay W on the grid for Mac and Greg's race, unfortunately we couldn't hook up sooner. He spent the weekend trying to find us. Yes, there were that many cars. In fact the C though I (with a few GT cars thrown in) started the largest number of cars ever to start a race at DIS. Needless to say there was lots of traffic on the track, but also dozens of great battles.

Spent a nice half our getting to know Mark Powell, his lovely wife and Mark's 356, the only car on our team that actually has the shape of a turtle. In case you didn't see Mark's post, it was Dick Barbour's first race car, and the two of them had a rearful reunion at RRII.

I also had a chance to say hello to Manny Alban. it was while he was on the grid on Friday. I find this to be an effective HWFM ploy to break a fast guys concentration and make him slower. But it was nice meeting you Manny.

It was killing me not to be driving. Everyone said the banking is unbelievable.
What I heard over an over from drivers is they have new respect for the Nascar guys who run here. Also it is not at all smooth. It undulates and cars skip all over the place.

I'll leave it to Greg, Mac and Mark to describe what it's like driving.

The talk is the next hopefully reunion in three years will be in hopefully Le Mans. If they keep it here, my guess would be another track with a lot of Porsche history like Sebring. Long tracks are said to be better than Lime Rock (the first), because the big cars can go faster, and the long tracks can contend with the number of entrants.

If I can figure out how to download pics off my new digital camera (I'm just entering the 90's), I'll do so.

Best brave man teeshirt: "If autocrossing were easy, they'd call it road racing"

Favorite racing 993: The tigerstriped Exxon Superflo car from Sebring in the late 90s.
In small type on the tail: "No tigers were harmed in acquiring the stripes for this car"

mick

Very nice report Mike. Wow, a dozen 956's and 962's alone would have made that trip worthwhile. Had no idea that many cars were expected. Sounds like you also put some Rennlist names with faces which is always fun. Thanks for the report. Look forward to the pictures. I too am just coming into the 90's with my digital camera as well. I found it is actually much easier than the instructions make it out to be. But as the original HWFM team leader, we would expect you to hold up the tradition and be slow in learning. Mick

Mike in Chi

Thank you Mick, I do my best.

It was dozenS, not a dozen. All three Shell livery cars were there. Three or four with Rothman's livery. From A, Torno, Repsol, Bridgestone, Miller Highlife, Bayside, Copenhagen, and they were being driven hard on the track. The fastest qualifier was within a second of this year's Daytona Prototype pole. But these are 20 year old race cars.
#956-001 was there with a for sale sign.

I had to ask. $550,000.

Now which would you buy. the very first 956 or a Carrera GT. I think the historical racer will hold its value longer, or continue appreciating.

DJF1

Great report Big T! Wish I was there! Now get on with the business of opening the owners manual (kind of like the search function ) and get us pics from the Turttle team!

mick

Mike, I'd have to go with the 956. I have two Nicholas Watts prints in my family room with the Rothmans's 1,2 3 at Lemans and another with the Coca Cola 962 at Sebring. I have been in love with those since they first started racing. In fact the only one I have seen in person was an orange 962 a couple of years ago at the Chicago Region cup race at Elkhart Lake. While the Carrera GT would be a dream for anyone, I am showing my age by being partial to the 962/956. That $ 550,000. Is that for you to purchase one of these in the name of HWFM racing. Mick

Mike in Chi

Yes. The team comes up with the money, and then we share it equally.

We'll keep it at my house, so no one has to worry about storage.

Mark in Baltimore

Mike,

Thanks for the report. I so wish I had made to Rennsport, the photos we had been receiving not helping the situation one tiny bit.

Flying Finn

Ditto that.
My plan was not to watch any of those photos but I just had to, and they actually made my stomach hurt.

Mike in Chi

Finn and Mark

Maybe I will avoid figuring out how to use may camera.

One I call "the Ultimate Turtle Pond" may be just too painful for you.

SkipSauls

Mike, thanks for the great report. The pictures I've seen look awesome, and I wish that I had made the event. People in this area were talking about it a few months ago, but it really didn't dawn on me how cool it would be until I saw the list of cars that were there. I'm going to try to make it to the next one, and if it's at Le Mans, even better as I hope to see that track someday.

As to the "which car" question, it would have to be the 956 over the stretched Boxster. With 1500 of them being made, the C-GTs will never be as special as a piece of real Porsche racing history.

mick

Mike, will the HWFM team 956 have the team Turtle on it. And it might be safer to keep it in Springfield.

Mike in Chi

1) Yes
2) No

Flying Finn

Mike,

"No pain, no gain" so just figure it out and torture us more!

BTW, my vote goes for 956 over CGT any time, although my personal favourite probably is still Gulf livery 917.

WildWillard

Mike -

Thanks for the report - Daytona is a great place to watch and enjoy.

956 all the way.

In agreement with Finn, the 917's will always represent the coolest racer - personally, the #21 car for me.

Doug

Greg Fishman

Mike,
Thanks for your help this past weekend. Official results show I finished 8th overall. Finally got a clear lap or two and the times dropped another couple seconds.
The banking was incredible, hard to explain except that it felt like you were driving around the inside of a bowl. The banking was far from perfectly smooth and your car wanted to move around a fair bit. Any one who thinks that driving a Winston (Nextel) Cup car around the track is like a walk in the park is sorely mistaken. The track looks wide, until you are on it and those walls loom much closer than you think. The infield is deceptively simple but IMO was tougher to master. Very slick and many options in some corners regarding lines, had to really get it slowed down in a couple turns, especially the main horseshoe turn and get it straightened up as soon as possible and get on the gas hard.

I may have some pics later, will try to post them soon if they turned out good.