stuttgart46

Thank you. Friday and Saturday

Frank 993 C4S

Only a couple of days to go. Weather looks great!

NaroEscape

It’s BEAUTIFUL down here.
FYI we’re set up right near the entrance to registration building.

LuigiVampa

So how did it go?

Frank 993 C4S

- Great competitive racing with very few incidents and great weather (except for Sunday)
- Turn 15 ate Porsches. Most of the single car crashes must have been in Turn 15
- Attendance was down a little bit due to the COTA race in 3 weeks
- SPBs had split starts and had some great racing. Same for the SP3s
- It seemed like most of the incidents were single car and most happened in the first 5 corners of the first lap
- It was raining during part of the Enduros. The Black Enduro started under double yellow behind the pace car for a couple of laps
- 5 position points max per race and nobody complained
- the Annual Championship Dinner was great. Lots of free tires given away. Porsche Motorsport is also sponsoring a free entry to the Porsche Sprint Challenge to one club racer annually. It comes with a car allocation (not free)

Veloce Raptor

There were a relatively high number of offs in 15 during PBOC and David Murry as well. I am not entirely certain why, but it did feel a little bumpier there than in the past.

stuttgart46

I had an absolute blast. It was great to meet some new faces and catch up with some old friends.

We were struggling all weekend with a few issues due to be it being a new car and then the diff completely failed coming out of 7 during the race. We will hopefully be at VIR assuming we get parts quick. If not, we will be at Road Atlanta.

Thank you to all the volunteers and those that helped make this great event possible.

LuigiVampa

Thank you for the update and glad to hear that it was a relatively clean weekend.

I think the 5 point max bonus points is a good thing as it gives the smaller races, like LRP, a chance to survive.

I've been racing Sebring for ten years and have noticed various bumps ebb and flow over the years. It's certainly not frost heave like you would get in the colder regions, but there is something that makes the track move.

ProCoach

The crown at the entry has become more pronounced in the last decade, or so.

Is that what happened in Red Sprint 2?

Veloce Raptor

What I noticed, is a change more in the middle, and close to the end, which seems to be where everybody is going off and sliding into the outside wall hard. It did feel as if there were more undulations on the far outside of Bishops Bend close to the edge of the track on drivers right

Mike Roblin

At PBOC Winterfest I noticed the second half of 15 felt less grippy than usual. On my best (to that point) lap I ended up having the back end come around on me there and just spun 360 towards the WEC pit entrance. Kept it out of the wall and was just a spin and continue thankfully.

NaroEscape

From a "spectator" standpoint (i.e. just hearing what was going on), it seemed like there wasn't a single session that was not FCY or Black Flagged. You'd hear a few laps, then silence. Talking to the scruts though they didn't seem very busy, so I guess most were single car incidents. Just seemed like a lot of 'downtime'.
Weather through Saturday evening was perfect.
Happy to meet/reconnect with a lot of you!

MRW

Great event as always, well run (on-time) and Sebring is a blast. Final time for me after 17 years, first stop on farewell tour. Thanks to all the volunteers who worked the grid, traffic, and stood out there Sunday in the worst weather (Black Enduro) that I've ever driven in. I hope that more people will attend in future years, because this is a special place. It is rough and bumpy, but that's part of the aura, and the car-breaking reputation of the place is, in my view, overstated. Will miss this annual trip.

Frank 993 C4S

No - 991 Cup blew a motor in Turn 13 and oiled the track in Red Sprint 2. EVERY single video I saw related to a Turn 15 incident (except for one) showed a spin on initial brake application with the car not fully settled under lateral load. That one exception was related to a distracted driver fiddling with his traction control ****.

You should have actually spectated because that is simply not correct. Most single car incidences were self-cleaning and Sebring is excellent at hot pulls under local yellows as the racers slowed down for yellow flags.

wthensler

I ran with Chin, then DM which followed. I also noticed quite a few incidents there. My theory (because I was experiencing it) was too much entrance speed and not properly re -balancing the car before entering 15.

I experimented quite a bit there and (yes there’s a slight bump) a forward biased car was more prone to going wide (and eventually off) where the track meets the car. I did it a number of times myself (note, I stayed off and waited for the left curb to end before reentering the track).

I started braking a bit more aggressively out of Bishop’s and quickly getting back to throttle before entering 15, primarily to balance the car. The result was I could carry more speed through 15.

Another observation - I glanced at the steering wheel while in 15 and was astonished how much wheel input I was carrying into and partially through 15. I had to become comfortable with a large degree of push!

But, that input had to be released quickly as the grip level increased. The margin of error in that one spot in 15 was pretty tight. So I can see how (why) I saw a few cars break loose there.

So….my theory is the grip level changed dramatically through 15 - first very little, then much more.

Seven is another interesting corner - they replaced pavement at the braking zone on the left side coming in, but it’s still bumpy! Did they do that on purpose?

I’m only two years into tracking, but noticing more closely each time the feel of the car and track, The 458 Ch is a remarkably sensitive car and provides a lot of feedback.