1970 911

Hi all,
I am the current owner of the 2001 996 Cup ran by Mike Fitzgerald and White Lightning that finished 4th in the 2001 SpeedVision GT championship. My son and I have enjoyed digging into the pedigree of the car, and are seeking some assistance finding more info/photos from 2001. We figure Rennlist might be a good place to ask as some of you were racing back then.

Also, if anyone knows or is friends with Mike Fitzgerald, please pass this thread onto him. We would love to talk to him about the car. Anyway, here are some photos and videos I have collected off the internet.

Sebring '01


Road Atlanta '01



Laguna Seca '01



In car '01


I also found this video that shows the car, which is a summary for the 2001 Speedvision GT championship.

Please feel free to add what you have to this thread or PM me.

Thank you all,
Dean

RSRRacer

Nice, I own the 2002 car he had that is Gold and Blue. He ran my car in the following season.

1970 911

Awesome! They are very special cars.

Dean

coryf

I raced against that car in 2001 world challenge in our 993. Pretty cool. I might have seen a glimpse of our car in the video you posted.

1970 911

Hi Cory,
That is very cool indeed. Do you know the whereabouts on your 993 from that era?

The cup drives great with the setup you put on it. I can't wait to drive it again at the Glen in May.

Cheers,
​​​​​​​Dean

coryf

Yup, the 993 is back at our place. We found it early last year and bought it back. It was in Vermont. The plan is to freshen it up and run in PCA/HSR races. Glad you are having fun with the 996. Very cool car.

1970 911

I should have originally stated that the vin of the car is WP0ZZZ99Z1S698018 if that helps if for anyone who knows some info about the car.
Another successful year driving the car, what fun. Apart from basic maintenance, we built another set of wheels for the car, some new original headlights were retrofitted, and we built some quarter windows for the doors to help with buffeting (success). Unfortunately at the last event, something in the rear end let go, either the diff or an axel. I have still yet to dig into it, but I will update once I do.
As far as the tracking the ownership of the car goes, that has been a fun challenge. When I bought the car, the history was a complete mystery apart from the two prior owners. I will keep names out of this to respect the privacy of the prior owners.
2001: Speed Vision GT for White Lightning Racing, sold off right after season ends
2002-2004: ??? Cannot figure this one out, but would love to know if the car was professionally raced and see photos of this time period. Please PM with any info
2004-2012: Privately owned, professionally maintained. Ran in SCCA GT2. If someone knows who did photos of SCCA on the east coast during this time please reach out. I would love some more photos. I have a couple I found, but would love more.
2013-2015: Owned by a shop. Ran in HSR
2016-2019: Privately owned, professionally maintained. Ran in PCA and maybe one HSR race.
2019-now: me

I also determined that around 2004/2005 the car was involved in an accident, which resulted in the car receiving an 04 front clip by a very well known reputable shop on the east coast where I happen to know the owner.

Here are some photos

wagongotya

such a cool car

1970 911

I forgot to mention that about 2 years ago I was able to get in touch with PMNA to give them my engine number, which did not yield much information other than a name associated with the engine, which was helpful in my investigation. I also obtained the "birth certificate" for the car from a well known race team in the states with connections to PMNA. This confirmed that the VIN# matches the engine number (original engine case!) and the production number stamped on the transmission tunnel. I also noticed when working on the car that on one of the front inner wheel barrels scribbled hastily in cursive is "white lightning."

Also since updating this post, one of the prior owners reached out as he had stumbled upon the log book for the car from 2004-2014. The log book even had a dated photo from April of 2004, which was the 3rd owners first drive in the car at Summit Point! I have driven summit point (home track) enough to recognize this photo as going into turn 10. Small world as this car bounced all over the country only to land in my own backyard in '04. Anyway, here is the photo. Obviously the livery was altered slightly since '01 in this photo, but still... major breakthrough. The other photos of the car I found from '09 showed the car as all white.

Note the window banner... Perhaps a new clue. Anyone recognize it? Please PM if so. Victory ... something

Carrera51

That's awesome!