38D

Test & Tune Day (k, so it was not technically the start of the race weekend, but close enough!)

Weather was great. Track is very fun. Several high speed corners and some slow ones as well. Kind of like a larger version of the Glen, but with several 2nd gear turns. Actually, maybe it is more like Sebring with elevation changes. Anyway, it is good.

Playing Forza on XBox definitely helped me a ton. I was basically up to speed after one run group. My times steadily improved in each session, but I am still leaving time on the table. Especially in T7 and the Kink. I could definitely take the Kink flat out, I just need to grow a 3rd ********.

DrJupe looked good in his group. He is definitely "wing challenged" running out there with all those monster power cars. There is one silver car that is running in GTP1 (I think it is a 993 GT2 Evo). When it comes on to the front straight, it's like it was shot from a cannon! Just insane acceleration.

cooleyjb

Glad the weather's good, I'll be up tomorrow and Sunday, yeah the kink has a bit of a pucker factor in fast cars (so I hear). Although all the driver coaches have said that if you run wide keep it straight on the dirt, the track will come back to you.

SundayDriver

That is exactly how I was the first day there. I always have an issue at new tracks - I don't know the track so I am driving point-to-point and looking just in front of the car. It is hard to go fast when eyes are down but I have to know the track a bit better before I can manage to look ahead.

Once I got to the point where I was looking through the kink, it was easy flat and I kicked myself for being such a wuss about it. The other trick that I have mentioned before is to concentrate on driving the rear tires, not the front. At least for me, that has the effect of getting my vision up.

38D

Practice day Update:

Weather was great again -- cool but sunny. The practice day followed the sprint format, so I was with B, C and the GT4 cars. I managed a 2:33.5 in the all important 3rd practice.

The fun race was good. There were a couple of offs and one big crash, after the carousel, so there were several local yellows which slowed things down a bit. I have to say, Road America corner workers are the best! Most other venues would have gone full course yellow, but here they just wave the yellow, ask you to slow down, and pull 'em out. It is awesome!

Some other of the top times from today in my group:

Top GT4R:
McKenzie, 2:23.196
Boss, 2:25.534
Sapa, 2:27.052
Kaempf, 2:27.701

Top GTC1:
Green, 2:30.039
Boyer, 2:31.279

Top B:
Brensinger, 2:33.900

Top in C:
Origer, 2:33.429
Patti, 2:33.814
Breakey, 2:34.126

Top D:
Mazzola, 2:33.515
Borys, 2:36.261
Ruiz, 2:40.068

cooleyjb

Since Colin is giving updates, heres a pic of his car from Saturday at Turn 6 in the after lunch practice. First one of his car I found. I was playing with zooming on a slow shutter speed. More to follow.

gbaker

Ah, that explains it. So he wasn't approaching the speed of light, eh?

No reports from Siebkens?

mark kibort

did you see the supercup times for the GT3 cars this year? they were running 2:15!!!!!
Heck, even speed World challenge touring cars are running 2:27 now!!
MK

hacker-pschorr

Colin,
You were looking good out there today! We were watching you fight with that white 951 between 9-11.

Car looks awesome!

38D

Enduro Day update:

Weather was nice.

The big boy group was a hoot to watch. From the very start, Charlie was complaining about his car’s handling. He was only running in the 2:35s, after running a 2:30.2 in qualifying. I, being the supporting friend, keep telling him he was just being a wimp and to stop complaining and go faster (what are friends for ). Well, after about 5 laps, the double yellow came out for coolant on the track. Charlie was convinced that he had a tired going down. Unfortunately, we had not even made it to the 15 min mark when you can come in for your mandatory stop. But luckily the double yellow came out on ~ lap 5. Unfortunately the pits are closed under the yellow, so he had to try to be gentle to prevent from having the tire fail completely. When the track went green, he had to do one more lap, and then came in. With the help of Katie (Food Angel) and another helpful soul, we did the Nascar style tire change, leaping over the wall with the jack. Sure enough, his right front was only at 13 psi (I still think he could have driven on it ). Well once we changed the tire, he went from 2:35s to 2:31s. I guess that tire did matter. Anyway, he cruised to 2nd in GTC1, behind Jerry Green. Jerry had a very impressive run and did a best of 2:28.3...time for him to come east and go against the three headed monster of Scotto/Savenor/Burger!

In the 2nd enduro, I Managed to put my car on the overall group pole. When we went out for the formation lap, and some car dumped oil from T1 to T5. They black flagged up and brought us in. Sat in the pits for about 25 mins. Then they made an announcement that "the clock is running". Unfortunately not a one of us had any clue how long the clock had been running, and how much time was left. So finally went out. Held the lead for 2-3 laps. Started to overheat the tires, and the white 951 Turbo Cup in overall 2nd place passed me in T1. He made a great move drafting me all the way up the straight, and then pulling out going into T1. We then battle for a loooooong time. The gap stayed under 10 seconds, and it just depended when we caught traffic. I think we only got 4 or 5 open laps before we caught the back of the pack. We were running 2:34-2:37s in traffic. The Turbo cup pitted first and I got some open-ish track. Then I pitted, and when I came out I was back in the overall lead. Stretched my lead to about 1.5 minutes. Well, sure enough, something had to happen (just like when my hood popped open at the Glen…). With about 7 mins to go, my brake booster light came on and start beeping at me. For those not familiar with the C2 Turbo brake system, it is a pressure assist system. So if there is an issue and you lose pressure, you basically have no brakes. Since I knew this was the problem, I slowed way down and tried to milk it for a lap, thinking the checking was anytime (remember, I didn’t know the time since the stewards never told us when the time started…). But with the pedal rock hard, I just had to pit a 2nd time to try to fix it. Charlie checked to see if the plug had come off the pump (has happened to me before), but alas that was not it. Charlie burned himself on the pump, as it seemed to have overheated. But for some reason, the pedal seemed to come back a bit. So I tried to go back out, but in the first turn, it was rock hard again. I limped way around the track again, and the check came out that lap. I was one lap short

So looking at the pump, it is completely dead. Not sure what happened, but it appears that the relay shorted and caused to pump to run continuously. This in turn cause the pump to fail. So I am done for the weekend, as this a pretty rare spare part to find (only used by C2 Turbos, 993TTs, 964 RSs, and 964 C4s). Still, I had a blast. Road America is a great track, and as I said before, the corner workers are just the best. I will definitely be coming back. Hopefully next time I can finish that last lap.

Btw, the results were "under review", so I am not sure of the final standings in either group. Many people seemed to be getting called to the tower.



But most PCA cars are much slower than touring cars. My car weighs 3000lbs! A WC touring car is more like 2500, and gets to run a big honking wing.

DrJupeman

Yeah, I was all proud of myself for a 2:30.2 in qualifying only to come in and see Jerry Green with a 2:29.5! Sigh.

Colin basically covered the details for me re: the race itself. I ran the first 40 minutes on a flat tire: not fun. Good thing I know that the car lifts its front wheels in tight turns so in all the right handers I just went for it and hung on. But thanks to Colin and Katie (and random unknown guy), they were able to change the right front. Now what Colin didn't mention, is that I had been running Dunlops but only had Yokohamas in reserve. Figuring mismatched inflated tires were better than a flat Dunlop, I directed the pit crew noted above (radios rock!) to bring me the Yoko. So I ran the 2nd half of the enduro with mismatched fronts. As Colin noted I dropped back down into the 2:31s with mismatched tires and hung on to second in class.

Colin's bad luck in his group was just a travesty. I had the camera all ready to go to take a picture of him taking the checker...

cooleyjb

some real purty fresh pavement in many of the corners.

cooleyjb

3 more pics.

The lone 356 and DrJupeman's car

38D

Oh I forgot my classic qualifying screw up. I went into the qualifying on the pole, as I had the fastest time in the 3rd practice. I had never started that high on a grid before, so I was definitely feeling some pressure. So I go out on the warm up lap, and everyone got antsy and one guy passed me (um, you are behind me for a reason there buddy!). So I let him go, and then bust out a decent 2:34.0 on my first lap. I catch the guy in front easily, and pass him. But on that 2nd lap, I blow the braking zone into Canada corner, and decide to just drive straight off. I am stuck in the gravel and need a tow out. So, I completely cracked under the pressure. Luckily for me, my one lap was still good for P1.

JimB

You forgot to mention passing me on the last lap of the enduro. Damn cup car. Oh well, you may have gotten by anyway.

Great weekend so far.
Jim

38D

It was also great to meet so many 'Listers like JimB & Mike in Chi. Jim ran a super impressive 2:29 something in qualifying. Very stout.