mark kibort

And guys I race with, run almost the same times over full seasons with no engine issues, so they must be doing something wrong. Heck, its not like these are 450hp PTG motors, just 350hp stock stuff!

mk

Polar Peter

I've only done that twice, please don't try and make everyone here think it's a ongoing thing.

mark kibort

So, i might have missed it. Are you going to race the BMW???

Hope so!

Mk

analogmike

I went today as a spectator (painful!) and the Porsches were fast but had a LOT of problems... starting with Peter's incident while running a strong 3rd early on... I looked for him during the race but could not find him, what happened Peter, it looks like the brakes failed? Is the car OK?

MTosi

Not sure about that incident, but I was standing on the inside of the downhill when Pumpelly ran out of talent. You could see he was done for on entry, in wayyyyyy to deep, had the correction cranked in and went right off the outside sideways into the tires, must have hit at well over 90. The tires took most of the hit, but it still mauled the left front of that 997 pretty well. The Turner M3's were fast, it didn't look like anyone had something for them, Lally did his best but they were much quicker under braking, and mid corner.

mark kibort

Lots ran out of talent at Laguna as well. Some pretty sloppy driving!

analogmike

I was talking to a young guy at the bottom of the hill while they were just about finished pulling the car out. I asked if he went straight into the tire wall. Was that you? I had my F-Loles hat and Analog Man shirt so you should have recognized me.

MTosi

Depends on if this "young guy" left a favorable impression despite not recognizing you...

Yup that was me. I remember you now, but apparently I had been standing out in the sun too long didn't put two and two together. In fact the primary reason I was standing at the downhill was it had some shade that hadn't been taken over by the rednecks (or whatever you call the people who sit/camp in one place all day despite being at a roadcourse)....

analogmike

Yes you did have a favorable impression up to now.

I think the track is getting better for spectating, there are also shady "new spectator areas" at the bottom of the uphill and a big one after the bridge on the outside of the track before the downhill. Shade is good!

Polar Peter

Race
- Starting 5th on the grid we moved to P4 with an inside pass on Jack Roush Jr. in the Roush Mustang between T1 and T2.

- Also on Lap 1 we were able to do a inside pass on Matt Bell in the Turner BMW going into and thru West Bend. He got the car a bit side ways coming up the hill so it gave me a good run.

- On Lap 11 I heard a grinding noise going thru West Bend and radioed the team thinking it was a drive shaft or transmission issue..

- Coming down the hill and onto the front straight I figured the down shift to 4th before T1 would certainly let me know if it was the transmission….. I never got to downshift

- At 142 mph and the appropriate brake marker I found out what the noise was when the brake pedal went directly to the floor..

- I pumped as quickly as I could hoping something would miraculously happen, after several pumps (I think quicker than ABS ever could have done it) the car swerved violently to the right. The car than helicopter-ed a crossed the track in a spin and hit the left side wall shattering the rear of our Porsche. Still traveling at tremendous speed the car continued spinning and smacking the left side wall until it came to a halt ¾ down the escape road, front brakes on fire.

As violent as it was I walked out of the car (ok maybe jumped) and made sure I did something childish so my family knew I was still the same 12 year old father and husband……

I waited for the car to return to our trailer (which did not happen until after the race), I can tell you a 2.5 hour race feels like 8 hours when you’ve crashed out and you’re sitting on the sidelines…

We got the car back and identified the front left caliper assembly had torn off of the upright, hence the noise in West Bend and the damaging aftermath.

This was not what we needed or wanted, bad luck builds character they tell me… Between Homestead, Laguna and Lime Rock I feel we have all the character we need at the moment.

The car is bad but the team is committed to being at Watkins Glen in 1.4 weeks. The team has been strong at every track, we really now just need some brakes... I mean breaks...

Polar Peter

That was Spencers first self-inflicted crash in over 5 years, cut him a break. He has more talent than all of us on this board.

analogmike

wow.... glad you had the escape road to minimize what could have been an even worse accident. I have never heard of the caliper ripping out, no fun at all...

Spencer is awesome, as seen in the earlier GT race keeping up with the best drivers in the world (Dirk Werner, etc).

Good luck at the Glen!!!!

Polar Peter

Your such a Farnbacher plugger....

MTosi

Yes it is and while I think the new spectator areas are good (along with separating the camping areas from the edge of the track), there has been a very slight net negative of trees and thusly shade. Which if you sit in one place isn't much of a problem, but when you wander all day you notice exactly where each of those trees were. Of course it's all relative and hardly a big deal, before my time the infield used to look like a forest.

I'm not ragging on Spence, I think it's pretty well established he's a great driver. We all run out of talent eventually (some a lot sooner than others) and it's just the term I use to describe when any driver makes a self inflicted mistake, whether they are pro or amateur, good or bad.

Jerseybean

get it right, it's farnbacher-loles or http://www.farnbacher-loles.com Call Spencer *** not Spencer Pumpelly.