bnewport

Anyone seen this, I couldn't find any threads on it.

www.usenduro.com

A spec 997 racing series. Looks a lot more restrictive than PCA and lower bucks.

analogmike

And they also have a class for 996 GT3 cups.

ltc

IIRC, there is an advertisement in this month's Pano regarding this.

Dbltime

Looks like they are based in Danville, VA. VIR?

smlporsche

Synergy Racing is building cars for this series. I ran @ VIR a couple of months ago and one of the owners was testing his car out (the car in the ad). It was very fast and he seemed pleased with the results.

As I understand it it is meant to be a step between PCA racing and Grand AM

Alan C.

Looks like they have some good tracks lined up. A stock 997 in that series might be more fun than the GT3 I have been considering for PCA B. And if it is really stock it might control the costs a bit.

MJR911

Ken Grammer is the man behind the series, he put together a similar deal last year for spec miatas... an all enduro series that ran on a bunch of pro weekends. Any series takes a few years to gather steam, but from all accounts Ken puts on an AWESOME show and if I had a 997 i'd be pumped about this deal.

JimB

Did you see all the missing "spec" part numbers in the rules. These cars will be neither stock nor inexpensive. Depending on what the spec suspension looks like, I would guess at least $30k-$40k on top of the car price. I think Synergies 997 Grand Am package is just under $50k.

It sounds like a lot of fun though. I'd love to see PCA adopt a 996 psuedo spec class based loosely on GAC rules but with stock ECUs. It would be a blast and fairly cheap to get into.
Jim

MJR911

Designed to be another place for the GAC 997s to play is how I see it.

usenduro

Sorry I haven't posted a reply sooner. Stacey and I have been covered since attending PRI.

Yes, we are developing the spring series for two Porsche groups for 2007. Group A will be "cup" 997s (more on them in a minute). Group B will be 996-based GT3 Cup cars. The perfect weekend schedule would be a pair of 30-50 minute sprint races on a mixture of low-key and high profile weekends. We are confirmed as a support series for the Watkins Glen Grand-Am weekend, and I have three additional "high profile" weekends that I hope to have finalized soon. One, which is also on a Grand-Am weekend, is basically done but we are waiting on final weekend scheduling to see if we can get our preferred double race format.

Now, back to the Group A cars specs. The goal is to keep the costs on the cars as low as possible. We will have a spec suspension package that I will be announcing this week. Beyond that, the cars will be as close to "cup" as possible. The exceptions will be that we are planning on allowing 18" wheels (Cup uses 17" wheels), and we are allowing both the "S" model and the x51 power kits with additional weight since many people want to buy all the go-fast goodies. The rules are still in draft form, but I did update them recently with some clarifications. The goal is to get you into one for as low an entry point as possible. Synergy Racing has been instrumental in helping us development the core rules for the class. They have a great deal of Porsche knowledge and as a peer in the VIR racing community, are conveniently located to our offices. Anyone interested in a race (and competitive) ready 997 should call them. But also understand that any race shop may build a car for the series. Further, with the spec suspension components installed, any of the existing "cup" 997s are eligible for the series.

For GT3 Cup cars in Group B, the goal is simply to give owners of former IMSA Cup and Grand-Am GT cars a place to race, as someone posted, as a stepping stone to either IMSA Cup or Grand-Am GT at a fraction of the cost.

The way the schedule is shaping up right now, we will start with a low-key weekend at CMP on March 24-25. I am working on an April event, and then we go to Mosport for Victoria Day Weekend in May. In June we will be part of the Grand-Am weekend at Watkins Glen and perhaps a second Grand-Am event weekend that I hope to announce soon. I have a couple of additional weekends that I am working on as well, and we will finish the schedule at VIR either on the Grand-Am weekend or on Synergy's Fall Fling weekend.

We are excited about the way the first season's schedule is shaping up. And we are working on getting better information on our web site. Meanwhile, please don't hesitate to call me at 434-797-1866 if you have any questions for me.

Synergy is taking orders for series cars now, and I happen to know they have a couple of championship winning GT3 Cup cars for sale if anyone is interested in our Group B class.

Happy New Year and I promise to post additional information as our series schedule gets completed.

Ed Newman

Ken, how about some options for 996's (not cup cars). Guys like Jim B and myself would love to come out and play. The problem is going to be comnig up with rules that don't ban a lot of the existing cars. I have found it basically impossible to have one car that I can run with PCA, NASA and EMRA without breaking someone's rules. Any thoughts?

usenduro

This probably makes sense. Someone else called and asked the same question earlier this week. So we can add the 996 (non-Cup) cars to Group A if there is genuine interest in running with us.

Doing this would mean that we would have "stock" 911s (both 996 or 997 models) in Group A, and 1999 through 2005 GT3 Cup cars in Group B.

There would be a suspension change since Group A has a spec shock supplier for the series. Would you still be interested if you had to change shocks? If so, I will look at the rules and make the necessary adjustments so the 996s can race with Group A.