...we need some updates on how our Porsche boys did at the Runoffs! I think they had a victory in HProduction... and a I think several P-cars did very well in the GT2 race. Hopefully someone has some good in-car to share... It looked like a great weekend..lots of track records fell....

 

PCA's own Mike Piera had the fastest gt3 cup in SCCA Gt2, placed 6th I believe. Dave Finch and his tube frame 944 2.9 finished 2nd to Davis in a Toyota tubeframer. Hopefully Mike will post some thoughts, i'm sure he's busy as hell right now.

Well done Mike! 6th in the nation, not too shabby.

 

I was at the track Saturday, and was able to get a close-up view of David Finch's 944, courtesy of his great crew. What a car! Other than the block and perhaps a bit of bodywork, there's not much left of th original car. Awesome work, and a great drive to take 2nd.
I believe that a 914 took 2nd in E (?) Prod also, after four of the leaders took themselves out on a restart. Interestingly, there were a bunch of 914s running in E and F Production.
Alan

 

HI,

Yes I am busy as hell and my head is still spinning from the drive back. I did start and end up in 6th place in GT2. Was going a second faster every session and went faster in the race than qualifying, but still not real happy with my lap times. Start of the race was pretty crazy, I think I got up to 3rd or 4th sneaking around the outside of Turn 7 till cars were getting loose and almost pushing me off. Looking forward to the speedvision coverage so I can see what really happened (do have a good in car video too).

Had a hell of a battle with a 350Z who is 500 pounds lighter, so he pulled away out of the slow turns like a rocket and I could not catch him till the end of the long straight, under braking. Got beside him 3 or 4 times, we made contact most of those times (no 13/13) but I could not get by... maybe if I were a little more aggressive. He held me up, I was running faster than him and Tom Patton's Tiger as the Tiger was having problems with the front end sticking. I don't think I could have run with the fast cars though, they just know the track so much better. Hard to believe the winner Duane Davis' Toyota has a 2.1 Liter 4 cylinder!!!

The runoffs were TOO LONG, I was going stir crazy so went to the rock and roll hall of fame on Friday. It really helped to get my mind off racing for a day. Too much time for too little track time, I dont know if I can do it again. But I'm glad I got to run the last runoffs at Mid Ohio and ran in the toughest class with the GT2 kings who have 22 national championships among the first 4 placing cars. Those guys were very friendly except Duane who I never got around to meeting.

Back to the real world and 80 hour work weeks for a while... maybe try to run the green car at the LRP Busch support race this weekend if I can.

 

914/6 took 2nd in E prod.
914/4 won F prod.
NARPs rule

 

Hey Mike, Nice Drive , look forward to seeing you on Speed.

 

Mike:

Look my father up ... he is running a white with colored stripes '74 2.8L RSR, Jim Scott. Probably hanging with Joe Riola in a quick 240Z. Joe has a converted NJ Transit bus towing his trailer ... yes, it has PS2 and all the racing games. I'd join in but am running the PCA Potomac CR at SP this weekend. Looking forward to seeeing your race coverage and footage.

Jason

 

Mike is the car quick enough for those tube frame jobs? You were only 1.5 - 2 seconds slower than the leaders (pretty great).....does the GT3 Cup have that much time lefty in it? ...you were the quickest one by far, and I know they had a little trouble in SCCA figuring out where to place that car...

great job... on 6th...

 

It will be a boring race with Jim in that RSR rocket, Joe will be fighting for 2nd with the normal Historic Racing Group cars. Looks like qualifying is Fri so I will miss it, one less guy fighting for 2nd place I guess!

Have fun at Summit!

 

Thanks!

The GT3 cup does have a chance, it was just just too tough for me to compete with those guys who have won every GT2 race in the last 20 years and have so much more experience at Mid Ohio. I needed more time to get up to their speed. The leaders would run 2 perfect qualifying laps, on soft qualifying tires, then come in for data and adjustments. I stayed out all session, getting faster every lap while learning, and trying to get a clean lap in traffic with 50 GT1 and GT2 cars (not easy!). The GT3 cup is quite out of place in GT2, being 500 pounds heavier than the leaders with only a few HP more to help. But it fits in pretty well by lap times, with course dependencies - for example at Atlanta (or the Glen?) I would be able to pass any of them except maybe the Panoz on the long straight. But any track with slow corners and shorter straights will allow the lighter cars to pull away easily. It was pretty amazing that I could outbrake a 2300 pound 400HP 350Z from 145mph lap after lap, but that was my main advantage at Mid Ohio entering the keyhole, T7, and carousel.

 

Mike:

What kind of times were you running?

Thanks, Mike

 

I ran my Z06 in T1 (#55) I started 18th and made it up to 13th or so on a very happy start, had a camber plate bolt come loose - DNF.
What an awesome track. I'm also glad I made it out to Mid Ohio for this last year. Next year there won't be so many guys with home course advantage.
Mike, did you take the track school on Friday the 16th? There was a Cup Car guy there but I was too busy to meet anyone.

 

Hi,

> What kind of times were you running?

My best qualifying lap was a low 1:31, which included passing a GT1 corvette in T7. I just could not get a clear lap. Best race lap was a 1:30.8 or so, while being held up by a 350Z. My previous best was 1:30.2 in the IMSA GT3 cup qualifying. My car was PERFECT in the race, we had the tire pressures to within a half pound on each corner, sticker Michelin cup tires (brought 6 sets of tires!), awesome brakes, the shocks and sway bars were set well and the car was as fast on the last lap as the 1st lap. I should have been able to get 1:29s in the race but the race leader broke the track record with a 1:28.8. I did get the highest trap speed, about 146-147. Last year another GT3 cup had the highest trap speed, of 144. We just lose too much time moving all that mass out of the slow corners.

>> Mike, did you take the track school on Friday the 16th? There was a Cup Car guy there but I was too busy to meet anyone. <<

Yes, I ran the Mid Ohio school to get some practice. It helped to learn the track, I got some good feedback from the instructors. But my Data system was not working so I did not realize how slowly I was going until I manually analyzed the mass of data (no lap markers) the following week... you really need timing for feedback or you can get lulled into being too smooth and it ultimately slowed me down for the first few runoffs sessions.