Open Track Challenge - Porsche 911 Diary
04-24-2004, 09:41 PM
#1
Race Car
Thread Starter
Open Track Challenge - Porsche 911 Diary
Here we come.
The Background
Tyson Schmidt and I had campaigned this car in both the 2002 and 2003 Open Track Challenges. We took second place in T3 in 2002, and second again (although we tied for first on points) in 2003, moving up to the T2 class with a wider footprint and some suspension improvements. The car is a 1972 911 with a 3.6 liter motor from a 1993 911. It has brakes from a Turbo, and a widebody configuration with 9.5 inch front wheels, 11 inch rears, and a chopped, welded and tweaked coil-over suspension conceived of and executed by TRE Motorsports in Los Angeles. The entire car (except the drivetrain) was built from the ground up in 12 weeks after I crashed the previous tub at Laguna Seca at the end of 2002.
TRE Motorsports' Tyson Schmidt (also the car's co-driver) turned every bolt in putting the car together. Fresh from the shop, it ran without incident in the 2003 event, and has been going strong ever since. The motor and transmission have more track hours on them than I'd like to count (including the stock 964 rod bolts), but in four years the only maintenance the engine has needed is motor oil.
At the end of last year's event, Tyson and I were told that we'd won one of the three randomly-selected free entries in the 2004 event. This was fortunate, since we were going to be on a shoestring budget for the year (Tyson's motor blew from MFI problems), and it lessened the sting of seeing no one else sign up in our class.
It might be that the other 911, NSX and M3 drivers saw our previous times, and decided they wouldn't be competitive, or it may have been something else. But the bottom line was that a week before the event, we were still the only ones competing in our class. This was disappointing, since the event costs a fair amount to run (even without the entry fee), and it's a lot more fun to have competition than not. We wanted to add a first-place trophy to our pair of second-place ones, but we didn't want to do it by competing against an empty field.
So in the days before the event, we considered two things. One was trying to source a Turbo motor to swap in for the week, bumping us up to Touring 1, and letting us go head to head with Terry Rossi, one of the fastest two or three stock Viper drivers in the country. This had the downside of being potentially very expensive, and it also seemed unlikely that we'd get past Rossi's Viper, which has run 1:29's at Willow Springs on street tires, and regularly dominates its class at the Viper Days competitions.
Our other option was to simply view the no-cost entry as a lot of free time to test and tune the car on some great tracks. We only had to turn three laps at one of the five tracks in order to get our trophy. Vegas was booked solid for some broadcaster's convention, so I suggested we skip the first event, go to Willow Springs (our local track) for three good laps, and then possibly head up to Thunderhill very early the next morning (avoiding the cost of a hotel room), run the last two sessions there, and then get a room so we could run Sears Point (a track we'd never been to) the next day, driving back that night. As I saw it, this would mean three track days for the cost of gas and one night in a hotel. Dirt Cheap Racing. And we'd only have to miss three days of work.
This is what you call racing without a net. Crash the car, and you're going home by Greyhound.
But Tyson thought it would be fun to run Vegas, and skipping it would mean missing the registration session out there, which could conceivably disqualify us. My wife turned up a friend whose house we could stay at in Las Vegas (her ex-boyfriend's mother lives there -- a long story in itself), so we headed out there on Saturday, knowing that running the Sunday event wouldn't even cost a work day for Tyson.
At the last minute, we got a set of new tires, since the old ones dated back to the previous year's OTC. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get them shaved, or even heat cycled. The first time they were going to go out on the track, we'd basically be scuffing the stickers off of them. Not ideal, but again, this was a budget effort.
And along those lines, we decided to save on the cost of a support car by putting Tyson, me, the extra wheels and tires, and all our tools and gear into the one car for the five day event. This would mean going totally without a net. If the car broke at one of the tracks, we'd be in for a long expensive flatbed ride home. If we needed to get it to a local shop for repairs, we'd basically have to rent a U-Haul trailer or borrow one from one of the other teams.
Is that a Gruppe B shirt?
04-24-2004, 09:41 PM
#2
Race Car
Thread Starter
LAS VEGAS CLUB COURSE - DAY ONE
We showed up, and got a quick look at the competition we were going to be up against. With no one in T2, we had to look at the neighboring classes to see if there's anyone we'd be competitive against. T1 consisted of Terry Rossi's Viper (the easy favorite), and a handful of Corvettes. Some of the Vettes were fairly mild, and wouldn't pose a threat. But one of them was supercharged and equipped with wider-than-stock rubber. It had better-than-Viper power in a lighter package, and was driven by Ryan Cashin and Tim O'Neal, two very fast drivers. And they were just one of three big-hp Z06 Vettes in the T1 line-up.
And that wasn't the worst of it. The Koontz Hardware ZR-1 Corvette was masterminded by Koontz owner Russ Wilson, and driven by the car's long-time driver, Reed Kryder, a pro who 'retired' in 1989, but -- according to his website -- "has driven close to a hundred professional races, dozens of amateur events, been on the podium in both, placed highest of all independent drivers in the season-long IMSA GTU points race, been named “Tilton Tough Guy” for his efforts, competed in the One Lap of America seven times, and along the way he added stock car race car driving and instructing to his list of accomplishments." They'd taken a second and a third place previously in T1 of OTC, and were looking to add a first place trophy to their collection.
Bad aero for highway driving.
So, looking up the roster was daunting. But looking down was scary, too. T3 was the most crowded group, this year, and the entries there kind of defied any easy logic. They were supposed to be slower than us, right?
But the hot new entry was the Mitsubishi EVO 8, starts out with 271 hp and 273 lb/ft of torque. They are easily modified up from this point, and have factory race car pieces from stem to stern. A four wheel drive car that really shines on tight courses, some of the ones we were competing against had been tweaked up close to 450 hp, and they had drivers like Rick White (former POC chief driving instructor), John Mueller (a pro), Vesko Kazorav (a pro), Gene Sigal (a pro). And if that weren't enough, the guy who beat us last year, Todd Southwell, was back again in a Honda S2000.
As we drove to Las Vegas, we'd toyed with the idea of shooting for second place overall in the Touring division. But looking at the drivers and cars lined up against us, our 32-year-old normally-aspirated car did not look particularly strong. If the EVO's lived up to their statistics, it was entirely possible that the division podium would be filled with T3 cars.
But it wasn't to be. Right from the first day, EVO's started blowing up like popcorn. The Rick White/Wayne Mello car was the first to expire, although they got it running again well enough to make it through one more track.
And on the T1 front, the supercharged Z06 was suffering suspension issues from their switch to wider tires. They kept having to raise the car up for clearance, which was going to cost them in handling.
And we were having our own teething issues, when it came to tires. Tyson was driving the first three sessions, and the brand-new BFGoodrich g-force T/A KD's were still burning off their sealing agent. This meant Tyson was sliding all over the place.
He was trying to keep up with Terry Rossi, who was driving great lap times, starting out with 2:03's and 2:02's, and slowly whittling those down even further. He'd had a day to learn the track, and was now laying down very respectable times.
Tyson kept working at it, and the good news was the T3 and T1 guys other than Terry were still getting their cars dialed in. But the bad news was that it didn't look like we were going to be able to catch the Viper. By the fourth session, Tyson was ready to send me out for the chance to learn the track a little. But I pushed him into a fourth session, telling him to take it easy (focus on being smooth, not fast), and see what would happen to the lap times.
From the live timing table, it looked to me like Terry was the one who'd gotten the good advice. Even though the track was heating up, his times kept coming down, until he cracked a single 2:00.xx lap. Amazing.
But then Tyson did the same thing. People were starting to gather around the timing display. And they weren't disappointed, because then Terry got a second two flat -- and then Tyson got one, too.
It was neck-and-neck racing, but neither driver had a radio, so they both assumed that a pair of 2:00.xx laps would be enough to win it. They both came in a little bit ahead of the end of the session. Neither had any idea how close it had worked out:
1999 Dodge Viper GTS - Rossi - 02:00.788 02:00.846 02:01.277 = 06:02.911
1972 Porsche 911 - Olsen, Schmidt - 02:00.665 02:00.877 02:01.277 = 06:02.819
The cumulative difference was only .092 seconds -- less than a tenth of a second.
Tyson wins outright on the first day.
We were amazed. It was a pretty tight track, which may have helped us, but for the moment we were the fastest car in the 23-car field of Touring division cars. The EVO's couldn't catch us. The Vettes couldn't swing it. And even the Viper had been close, but not quite quick enough to do it.
Suddenly, our perspective shifted. We knew we couldn't beat the horsepower of the Viper on the bigger tracks. But if we could win at Vegas, Buttonwillow, and Sears Point, or if Rossi had mechanical problems at any of the fast tracks (Willow and Thunderhill), we might just have a chance at Overall in Touring.
The decision to run a single set of tires for the whole week and not to shave or even heat cycle them suddenly seemed like a bad idea. But we were here, we were in first place, and we were going to have to keep fighting.
That night, we had dinner with Terry Rossi (the Viper) and Tim O'Neal (the supercharged Z06). We knew these guys would both likely beat us at Willow. Terry had run 1:29's there not very long ago. Tim had run 1:32's in a non-supercharged Vette. My best on street tires, ever, was a 1:32.71. Both of them were hoping they could improve on their previous best times, although Tim's car had started having trouble with its third gear synchro.
They were both really nice guys. Win or lose, we knew we were going to have a fun week. But the next day -- the first one where I would be the primary driver -- was looking like it would be a third place at best.
Terry Rossi drives a stock, street-tired Viper faster than (maybe) anyone else in the country.
And if he's not the fastest, then the runner-up would be John Dearing. This year, Dearing ran on slicks and took second place overall in the unlimited division.
We showed up, and got a quick look at the competition we were going to be up against. With no one in T2, we had to look at the neighboring classes to see if there's anyone we'd be competitive against. T1 consisted of Terry Rossi's Viper (the easy favorite), and a handful of Corvettes. Some of the Vettes were fairly mild, and wouldn't pose a threat. But one of them was supercharged and equipped with wider-than-stock rubber. It had better-than-Viper power in a lighter package, and was driven by Ryan Cashin and Tim O'Neal, two very fast drivers. And they were just one of three big-hp Z06 Vettes in the T1 line-up.
And that wasn't the worst of it. The Koontz Hardware ZR-1 Corvette was masterminded by Koontz owner Russ Wilson, and driven by the car's long-time driver, Reed Kryder, a pro who 'retired' in 1989, but -- according to his website -- "has driven close to a hundred professional races, dozens of amateur events, been on the podium in both, placed highest of all independent drivers in the season-long IMSA GTU points race, been named “Tilton Tough Guy” for his efforts, competed in the One Lap of America seven times, and along the way he added stock car race car driving and instructing to his list of accomplishments." They'd taken a second and a third place previously in T1 of OTC, and were looking to add a first place trophy to their collection.
Bad aero for highway driving.
So, looking up the roster was daunting. But looking down was scary, too. T3 was the most crowded group, this year, and the entries there kind of defied any easy logic. They were supposed to be slower than us, right?
But the hot new entry was the Mitsubishi EVO 8, starts out with 271 hp and 273 lb/ft of torque. They are easily modified up from this point, and have factory race car pieces from stem to stern. A four wheel drive car that really shines on tight courses, some of the ones we were competing against had been tweaked up close to 450 hp, and they had drivers like Rick White (former POC chief driving instructor), John Mueller (a pro), Vesko Kazorav (a pro), Gene Sigal (a pro). And if that weren't enough, the guy who beat us last year, Todd Southwell, was back again in a Honda S2000.
As we drove to Las Vegas, we'd toyed with the idea of shooting for second place overall in the Touring division. But looking at the drivers and cars lined up against us, our 32-year-old normally-aspirated car did not look particularly strong. If the EVO's lived up to their statistics, it was entirely possible that the division podium would be filled with T3 cars.
But it wasn't to be. Right from the first day, EVO's started blowing up like popcorn. The Rick White/Wayne Mello car was the first to expire, although they got it running again well enough to make it through one more track.
And on the T1 front, the supercharged Z06 was suffering suspension issues from their switch to wider tires. They kept having to raise the car up for clearance, which was going to cost them in handling.
And we were having our own teething issues, when it came to tires. Tyson was driving the first three sessions, and the brand-new BFGoodrich g-force T/A KD's were still burning off their sealing agent. This meant Tyson was sliding all over the place.
He was trying to keep up with Terry Rossi, who was driving great lap times, starting out with 2:03's and 2:02's, and slowly whittling those down even further. He'd had a day to learn the track, and was now laying down very respectable times.
Tyson kept working at it, and the good news was the T3 and T1 guys other than Terry were still getting their cars dialed in. But the bad news was that it didn't look like we were going to be able to catch the Viper. By the fourth session, Tyson was ready to send me out for the chance to learn the track a little. But I pushed him into a fourth session, telling him to take it easy (focus on being smooth, not fast), and see what would happen to the lap times.
From the live timing table, it looked to me like Terry was the one who'd gotten the good advice. Even though the track was heating up, his times kept coming down, until he cracked a single 2:00.xx lap. Amazing.
But then Tyson did the same thing. People were starting to gather around the timing display. And they weren't disappointed, because then Terry got a second two flat -- and then Tyson got one, too.
It was neck-and-neck racing, but neither driver had a radio, so they both assumed that a pair of 2:00.xx laps would be enough to win it. They both came in a little bit ahead of the end of the session. Neither had any idea how close it had worked out:
1999 Dodge Viper GTS - Rossi - 02:00.788 02:00.846 02:01.277 = 06:02.911
1972 Porsche 911 - Olsen, Schmidt - 02:00.665 02:00.877 02:01.277 = 06:02.819
The cumulative difference was only .092 seconds -- less than a tenth of a second.
Tyson wins outright on the first day.
We were amazed. It was a pretty tight track, which may have helped us, but for the moment we were the fastest car in the 23-car field of Touring division cars. The EVO's couldn't catch us. The Vettes couldn't swing it. And even the Viper had been close, but not quite quick enough to do it.
Suddenly, our perspective shifted. We knew we couldn't beat the horsepower of the Viper on the bigger tracks. But if we could win at Vegas, Buttonwillow, and Sears Point, or if Rossi had mechanical problems at any of the fast tracks (Willow and Thunderhill), we might just have a chance at Overall in Touring.
The decision to run a single set of tires for the whole week and not to shave or even heat cycle them suddenly seemed like a bad idea. But we were here, we were in first place, and we were going to have to keep fighting.
That night, we had dinner with Terry Rossi (the Viper) and Tim O'Neal (the supercharged Z06). We knew these guys would both likely beat us at Willow. Terry had run 1:29's there not very long ago. Tim had run 1:32's in a non-supercharged Vette. My best on street tires, ever, was a 1:32.71. Both of them were hoping they could improve on their previous best times, although Tim's car had started having trouble with its third gear synchro.
They were both really nice guys. Win or lose, we knew we were going to have a fun week. But the next day -- the first one where I would be the primary driver -- was looking like it would be a third place at best.
Terry Rossi drives a stock, street-tired Viper faster than (maybe) anyone else in the country.
And if he's not the fastest, then the runner-up would be John Dearing. This year, Dearing ran on slicks and took second place overall in the unlimited division.
04-24-2004, 09:41 PM
#3
Race Car
Thread Starter
WILLOW SPRINGS - DAY TWO
Everyone else got a hotel room in Lancaster. We went home to Los Angeles, and drove the 90 minutes in to the track. Our budget didn't include a hotel room this close to home.
I was a little anxious, right from the beginning. I'm familiar with Willow Springs, but there's a pressure that comes with the first session in an event that makes me more prone to mistakes. Tyson had done a great job of keeping the car on the track the previous day. I have a long history of sailing off the corners at Willow.
But I calmed down as soon as I got out on the old familiar circuit. Willow is a blast to drive. (If I had 350 hp, it would be even more fun.) The only quirk was the tires, which were still pushing like crazy in the slow sections, and oversteering unpredictably in the fast ones. They were still new tires, so our efforts to tweak suspension settings around them was mostly wasted time. They just needed to get worn in a little more.
An action shot -- note the lifting wheel.
Even with a lot of Rally-style moments, I was surprised to see three 1:31.xx laps in a row in my first session. This was a full second faster than my previous best, and I was not doing as well technically as I could.
Why the improvement? The undertray plastic piece Tyson had come up with was giving me 300-400 more RPM's coming into Turn 8 (I was now entering the corner at close to 135). It made the exit from 8 very scary -- with the greater speed, the car would get thrown out to the left of the track, sometimes aided by wind gusts, at 135 mph. But the tires would hold, every time.
In the next session, the tires were feeling even better. In the second timed lap I saw a 1:30.xx show up on the hotlap, and I was psyched. I knew it wouldn't be enough to catch Terry, but it was now a three-second improvement on what the same car (except for the underbelly piece) did at the same event a year before. After that, there was too much traffic to set a fast time, and in the afternoon the escalating winds slowed everyone's times down.
We scored a garage at Willow -- heat equals fatigue.
Checking the competition, the supercharged Z06 was having major problems with third gear, and was only able to get down to a :32. Terry Rossi was finding that the track was a little slower today than the last time he'd run here. He managed three low 1:30's, which was enough to take first for the day. But it made me wonder how my car would have done on the day when he was running 1:29's.
Mueller got the Derek **** EVO down into the 1:32's, and Kryder did the same in the ZR-1 Corvette, but it wasn't enough to catch us. The EVO's were still suffering mechanical problems, and the S2000's in T3 were not rising up to the challenge of the rest of the pack.
By the end of the day, our second-place finish meant that we were tied for the overall lead in Touring. Not bad, considering our scaled-down effort for the year. And the car, now in its fourth year of racing, was running like a top. There were no mechanical issues at all, so far. We added a quart of oil after Willow, and were good to go.
A high 1:30 at Willow -- a personal best on street tires.
And on the long (almost 500 mile) drive up to Thunderhill, the car -- with its full interior and AC -- was very comfortable. We'd added a sound-deadening blanket to cover the rear seat area, and the weight of the gear and extra tires and wheels up top made the ride very smooth.
THUNDERHILL - DAY THREE
I'm not strong at Thunderhill. I don't know why, since I really enjoy driving the track. But I had experience on it, and Tyson didn't, so I was the designated driver for day three. I'd previously driven a single 2:06 there, and Rossi had done a 2:04.
When you see the Elephant, get out of the way.
My first sessions were not great. We were playing with tire pressures, and the tires windows of grip seemed to be decreasing. But I kept working at it, and by the third session, I had:
02:05.788 02:06.310 02:06.373 = 06:18.471
Rossi was a good distance ahead of me. He'd also managed to shave a second off his best:
02:03.318 02:03.764 02:04.202 = 06:11.284
I knew I wasn't going to catch him in the fourth session, so Tyson went out to learn the track. I was impressed by what Tyson did. In a single session, he got down to a 2:09, which for your fourth lap at Thunderhill is pretty amazing.
But what we weren't looking at, at this point, was the T3 class. Car owner Robert Fuller had brought in pro driver Gene Sigal after the first event, and also was trying different tire sizes and brands to maximize his car's performance. It worked, and Sigal was able to run:
2:05.704 02:05.930 02:06.296 = 06:17.930
He narrowly pushed us out of second, and into third for the day. If I'd gone out for the fourth session, I probably could have held onto our position, but now it was too late to strategize. We had a third for the day, and were now in second overall.
I suppose that we should be grateful that the 944S2 didn't catch us, as well. The Lofgren brothers are very familiar with the northern California tracks, and were able to push their 3-liter four banger to:
02:05.711 02:06.640 02:06.667 = 06:19.018
Not enough to catch us, but plenty close nonetheless.
In other news at Thunderhill, the supercharged Vette had an impact that broke their radiator. They ended up having to get a courier to bring a new radiator from Sacramento, which they installed in the Wal-Mart parking lot near Thunderhill. The one thing you can always count on is some phenomenal repair efforts (more than one car installed an entirely new engine overnight in this event).
Carnage -- fortunately, no injuries.
The really bad news for the day was the Derek **** EVO, which got tangled up during a low-speed lap with a passenger, and ended up going head over tail four times, destroying the car. Amazingly, considering that the car had three-point belts and no roll bar, no one was hurt -- although the passenger had his helmet fly off in the fourth endo, and lost his vision for a short period of time.
Racing equals risk.
In fact, I think this was the only major crash in the whole event. Since both of these guys were okay, it meant no injuries for the week.
Everyone else got a hotel room in Lancaster. We went home to Los Angeles, and drove the 90 minutes in to the track. Our budget didn't include a hotel room this close to home.
I was a little anxious, right from the beginning. I'm familiar with Willow Springs, but there's a pressure that comes with the first session in an event that makes me more prone to mistakes. Tyson had done a great job of keeping the car on the track the previous day. I have a long history of sailing off the corners at Willow.
But I calmed down as soon as I got out on the old familiar circuit. Willow is a blast to drive. (If I had 350 hp, it would be even more fun.) The only quirk was the tires, which were still pushing like crazy in the slow sections, and oversteering unpredictably in the fast ones. They were still new tires, so our efforts to tweak suspension settings around them was mostly wasted time. They just needed to get worn in a little more.
An action shot -- note the lifting wheel.
Even with a lot of Rally-style moments, I was surprised to see three 1:31.xx laps in a row in my first session. This was a full second faster than my previous best, and I was not doing as well technically as I could.
Why the improvement? The undertray plastic piece Tyson had come up with was giving me 300-400 more RPM's coming into Turn 8 (I was now entering the corner at close to 135). It made the exit from 8 very scary -- with the greater speed, the car would get thrown out to the left of the track, sometimes aided by wind gusts, at 135 mph. But the tires would hold, every time.
In the next session, the tires were feeling even better. In the second timed lap I saw a 1:30.xx show up on the hotlap, and I was psyched. I knew it wouldn't be enough to catch Terry, but it was now a three-second improvement on what the same car (except for the underbelly piece) did at the same event a year before. After that, there was too much traffic to set a fast time, and in the afternoon the escalating winds slowed everyone's times down.
We scored a garage at Willow -- heat equals fatigue.
Checking the competition, the supercharged Z06 was having major problems with third gear, and was only able to get down to a :32. Terry Rossi was finding that the track was a little slower today than the last time he'd run here. He managed three low 1:30's, which was enough to take first for the day. But it made me wonder how my car would have done on the day when he was running 1:29's.
Mueller got the Derek **** EVO down into the 1:32's, and Kryder did the same in the ZR-1 Corvette, but it wasn't enough to catch us. The EVO's were still suffering mechanical problems, and the S2000's in T3 were not rising up to the challenge of the rest of the pack.
By the end of the day, our second-place finish meant that we were tied for the overall lead in Touring. Not bad, considering our scaled-down effort for the year. And the car, now in its fourth year of racing, was running like a top. There were no mechanical issues at all, so far. We added a quart of oil after Willow, and were good to go.
A high 1:30 at Willow -- a personal best on street tires.
And on the long (almost 500 mile) drive up to Thunderhill, the car -- with its full interior and AC -- was very comfortable. We'd added a sound-deadening blanket to cover the rear seat area, and the weight of the gear and extra tires and wheels up top made the ride very smooth.
THUNDERHILL - DAY THREE
I'm not strong at Thunderhill. I don't know why, since I really enjoy driving the track. But I had experience on it, and Tyson didn't, so I was the designated driver for day three. I'd previously driven a single 2:06 there, and Rossi had done a 2:04.
When you see the Elephant, get out of the way.
My first sessions were not great. We were playing with tire pressures, and the tires windows of grip seemed to be decreasing. But I kept working at it, and by the third session, I had:
02:05.788 02:06.310 02:06.373 = 06:18.471
Rossi was a good distance ahead of me. He'd also managed to shave a second off his best:
02:03.318 02:03.764 02:04.202 = 06:11.284
I knew I wasn't going to catch him in the fourth session, so Tyson went out to learn the track. I was impressed by what Tyson did. In a single session, he got down to a 2:09, which for your fourth lap at Thunderhill is pretty amazing.
But what we weren't looking at, at this point, was the T3 class. Car owner Robert Fuller had brought in pro driver Gene Sigal after the first event, and also was trying different tire sizes and brands to maximize his car's performance. It worked, and Sigal was able to run:
2:05.704 02:05.930 02:06.296 = 06:17.930
He narrowly pushed us out of second, and into third for the day. If I'd gone out for the fourth session, I probably could have held onto our position, but now it was too late to strategize. We had a third for the day, and were now in second overall.
I suppose that we should be grateful that the 944S2 didn't catch us, as well. The Lofgren brothers are very familiar with the northern California tracks, and were able to push their 3-liter four banger to:
02:05.711 02:06.640 02:06.667 = 06:19.018
Not enough to catch us, but plenty close nonetheless.
In other news at Thunderhill, the supercharged Vette had an impact that broke their radiator. They ended up having to get a courier to bring a new radiator from Sacramento, which they installed in the Wal-Mart parking lot near Thunderhill. The one thing you can always count on is some phenomenal repair efforts (more than one car installed an entirely new engine overnight in this event).
Carnage -- fortunately, no injuries.
The really bad news for the day was the Derek **** EVO, which got tangled up during a low-speed lap with a passenger, and ended up going head over tail four times, destroying the car. Amazingly, considering that the car had three-point belts and no roll bar, no one was hurt -- although the passenger had his helmet fly off in the fourth endo, and lost his vision for a short period of time.
Racing equals risk.
In fact, I think this was the only major crash in the whole event. Since both of these guys were okay, it meant no injuries for the week.
04-24-2004, 09:42 PM
#4
Race Car
Thread Starter
SEARS POINT - DAY FOUR
Every year, we seem to start out strong, and then lose position as the week continues. This year, we'd slid from a first to a second to a third in the first three events, which was disappointing. And even though we were beating the EVO's and the Vettes, they were getting closer and closer as the lap time differences got narrower and narrower.
For the fourth track, Tyson was going to drive. Neither of us had ever been to Sears Point, but he'd driven it on a computer simulator, and he's much faster at learning new tracks than I am.
In fact, I've got to admit that he's generally a faster driver than me. The gap isn't huge, but his technical skills are better refined, and he keeps improving at a rate that's faster than me.
One day, I'm not going to be able to catch up to him at all.
The big news at Sears was that it was pouring down rain, which meant the difficult and dangerous track could be downright deadly for the people who hadn't driven it before. During the wet morning sessions, the 4WD Porsche Turbo in T1 suddenly moved to the head of the pack. And in the other classes, the AWD Audis were about ten seconds ahead of anyone in any class.
Tyson scared himself good, hydroplaning over big puddles while careening toward concrete walls. But he was getting the hang of the track. Terry in the Viper was learning fast, too. And the supercharged Vette was occasionally finding its third gear. But maybe the surprise of the day for T1 was the ZR-1 Corvette, which was running very fast and consistent laps, pulling to the head of the pack as conditions dried out.
Tyson and Elephant Racing's Chuck Moreland wait for the sun to come out and dry off the track.
And did I forget to mention the EVO's? The ones that were still running really found their footing at Sears Point. Sigal in the 430-hp EVO was faster than the ZR-1 Corvette. And he was only slightly ahead of a surprise appearance of a T3 S2000 which was also faster than the ZR-1.
The bottom line was that when the fourth session rolled around, it was anyone's game. Finally, there was no standing water on the track, and everyone could go to their dry setups.
In spite of the hard competition from the Vettes, the EVO's, the 944S2 and the S2000, Tyson went out and just kept whittling his times down. He ran a 1:55 and everyone in the timing booth was surprised. This was as fast as Terry Rossi's fastest lap. Then he got down into the 1:54's, where the EVO's were. Then he ran a couple of 1:53's, and the timing booth was getting quiet.
Then he ran a 1:52.65, and it was clear that no one was going to touch him.
Well, almost no one. Terry Rossi had gotten a new pair of tires for his Viper after the third session. He was racing to get them put on in time for the fourth. Sears is a fast track, and Terry is a very strong competitor. If Tyson couldn't back up the 1:52 with two more of the same, it was entirely possible that Terry could run enough low 1:53's to take the day.
Halfway through the session, there was still no sign of Rossi. He was a strong enough driver, technically, so that that really wasn't a handicap for him. When he rolled into the hot pit, I watched from the timing booth, terrified of what he was going to be able to do.
But then he ran a single lap and came back in -- something was wrong with the car. After another lap, he reappeared -- he'd fixed whatever it was, and headed out.
But at the same time one of the slower Vettes blew an oil line, and put a bunch of oil on the track. The supercharged Vette spun in the oil, and there was almost a collision. The track was black flagged with a couple of laps to go. Terry had to come in with no new times registering on the board.
Whether or not Terry would have been able to catch us and run a 1:52 is one thing. But not getting any times in meant he ended up finishing sixth for the day, behind us in T2, the ZR-1 in T1, and the EVO 8, S2000 and the 944S2 in T3.
430-hp EVO. They blew their motor at Sears point, and had a new one installed by the next day.
The EVO is also capable of lateral 1.5 gees.
We didn't know it when we left the track, but he'd placed so far down for the day that we were virtually assured of being able to take back the overall lead if we finished in the top three at Buttonwillow.
BUTTONWILLOW - DAY FIVE
This was a day that I had to bow out of, for work, and Tyson had to drive alone. Once again, we saved the cost of a hotel room by staying in L.A. Tyson just had to drive the two hours up by leaving at six in the morning.
I wasn't there to see it, but Tyson phoned in updates throughout the day. It became clear, early on, that he wasn't going to be able to beat the Viper at this track, but he beat everybody else. He was nine cumulative seconds ahead of the pro driver (Kazorav) in the EVO. He was six seconds ahead of the ZR-1. He was only two cumulative seconds behind Rossi in the Viper (Tyson ran consistent low 2:01's to Terry's consistent high 2:00's).
He was also behind a practical joke where I got a message on my cell that he had run the car into a wall, but was unhurt, and that the car was going to be towed back to Los Angeles. I fell for it hook, line and sinker, and almost went to tell my wife the bad news before I called in to learn that I'd been tricked.
Cashin/O'Neal Vette -- 400-something at the wheels.
Tyson's times on the last day were enough to get us a second in Touring for the day, and the overall in the Touring Division. We also got the first place in T2, of course. But again, we were all alone in T2.
It's a big deal for us.
It's nice to look at, isn't it? I'm having the decal made for the car, and we're going to leave it in the livery it ran in for the R Gruppe gathering in Monterey next weekend.
Jack Olsen style self-portrait.
Every year, we seem to start out strong, and then lose position as the week continues. This year, we'd slid from a first to a second to a third in the first three events, which was disappointing. And even though we were beating the EVO's and the Vettes, they were getting closer and closer as the lap time differences got narrower and narrower.
For the fourth track, Tyson was going to drive. Neither of us had ever been to Sears Point, but he'd driven it on a computer simulator, and he's much faster at learning new tracks than I am.
In fact, I've got to admit that he's generally a faster driver than me. The gap isn't huge, but his technical skills are better refined, and he keeps improving at a rate that's faster than me.
One day, I'm not going to be able to catch up to him at all.
The big news at Sears was that it was pouring down rain, which meant the difficult and dangerous track could be downright deadly for the people who hadn't driven it before. During the wet morning sessions, the 4WD Porsche Turbo in T1 suddenly moved to the head of the pack. And in the other classes, the AWD Audis were about ten seconds ahead of anyone in any class.
Tyson scared himself good, hydroplaning over big puddles while careening toward concrete walls. But he was getting the hang of the track. Terry in the Viper was learning fast, too. And the supercharged Vette was occasionally finding its third gear. But maybe the surprise of the day for T1 was the ZR-1 Corvette, which was running very fast and consistent laps, pulling to the head of the pack as conditions dried out.
Tyson and Elephant Racing's Chuck Moreland wait for the sun to come out and dry off the track.
And did I forget to mention the EVO's? The ones that were still running really found their footing at Sears Point. Sigal in the 430-hp EVO was faster than the ZR-1 Corvette. And he was only slightly ahead of a surprise appearance of a T3 S2000 which was also faster than the ZR-1.
The bottom line was that when the fourth session rolled around, it was anyone's game. Finally, there was no standing water on the track, and everyone could go to their dry setups.
In spite of the hard competition from the Vettes, the EVO's, the 944S2 and the S2000, Tyson went out and just kept whittling his times down. He ran a 1:55 and everyone in the timing booth was surprised. This was as fast as Terry Rossi's fastest lap. Then he got down into the 1:54's, where the EVO's were. Then he ran a couple of 1:53's, and the timing booth was getting quiet.
Then he ran a 1:52.65, and it was clear that no one was going to touch him.
Well, almost no one. Terry Rossi had gotten a new pair of tires for his Viper after the third session. He was racing to get them put on in time for the fourth. Sears is a fast track, and Terry is a very strong competitor. If Tyson couldn't back up the 1:52 with two more of the same, it was entirely possible that Terry could run enough low 1:53's to take the day.
Halfway through the session, there was still no sign of Rossi. He was a strong enough driver, technically, so that that really wasn't a handicap for him. When he rolled into the hot pit, I watched from the timing booth, terrified of what he was going to be able to do.
But then he ran a single lap and came back in -- something was wrong with the car. After another lap, he reappeared -- he'd fixed whatever it was, and headed out.
But at the same time one of the slower Vettes blew an oil line, and put a bunch of oil on the track. The supercharged Vette spun in the oil, and there was almost a collision. The track was black flagged with a couple of laps to go. Terry had to come in with no new times registering on the board.
Whether or not Terry would have been able to catch us and run a 1:52 is one thing. But not getting any times in meant he ended up finishing sixth for the day, behind us in T2, the ZR-1 in T1, and the EVO 8, S2000 and the 944S2 in T3.
430-hp EVO. They blew their motor at Sears point, and had a new one installed by the next day.
The EVO is also capable of lateral 1.5 gees.
We didn't know it when we left the track, but he'd placed so far down for the day that we were virtually assured of being able to take back the overall lead if we finished in the top three at Buttonwillow.
BUTTONWILLOW - DAY FIVE
This was a day that I had to bow out of, for work, and Tyson had to drive alone. Once again, we saved the cost of a hotel room by staying in L.A. Tyson just had to drive the two hours up by leaving at six in the morning.
I wasn't there to see it, but Tyson phoned in updates throughout the day. It became clear, early on, that he wasn't going to be able to beat the Viper at this track, but he beat everybody else. He was nine cumulative seconds ahead of the pro driver (Kazorav) in the EVO. He was six seconds ahead of the ZR-1. He was only two cumulative seconds behind Rossi in the Viper (Tyson ran consistent low 2:01's to Terry's consistent high 2:00's).
He was also behind a practical joke where I got a message on my cell that he had run the car into a wall, but was unhurt, and that the car was going to be towed back to Los Angeles. I fell for it hook, line and sinker, and almost went to tell my wife the bad news before I called in to learn that I'd been tricked.
Cashin/O'Neal Vette -- 400-something at the wheels.
Tyson's times on the last day were enough to get us a second in Touring for the day, and the overall in the Touring Division. We also got the first place in T2, of course. But again, we were all alone in T2.
It's a big deal for us.
It's nice to look at, isn't it? I'm having the decal made for the car, and we're going to leave it in the livery it ran in for the R Gruppe gathering in Monterey next weekend.
Jack Olsen style self-portrait.
04-24-2004, 09:42 PM
#5
Race Car
Thread Starter
WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THE WEEK?
1. You need the support of your friends and family. I couldn't have even gone to the event without the support of my wife, Lara.
2. You need a driver like Tyson. I'm able to hold my own at tracks I know well, but Tyson is able to learn a track just by looking at it, and he's able to find tricks to get through it quicker that would take me weeks to uncover. It certainly doesn't hurt matters that he built the car, and can fix it if it breaks. But more importantly...
3. Suspension, suspension, suspension. My car has a stock motor from a 1993 911. It's never been modified or even cracked open. Aside from a slightly more aggressive chip and an exhaust free from a catalytic converter, it's only running what a street flat six was capable of in 1993. In our division, we were up against cars with more than double our power. We did as well as we did because Tyson, in particular, understands the nuances of tweaking suspension components to increase cornering speeds, and -- surprise! -- lap times. Erik Messley brings some of the same game to the Viper camp, but I don't think he's utilized enough. Longtime dominant OTC racer Paul Mumford understood this, though, and he and Messley were able to upset the Speedvision GT world in just two races because they understood (among many other things) that it's not the just the straights you need to go fast in -- it's the turns.
Tyson and Dave at TRE came up with very subtle but effective tricks for my suspension that make it much faster than a 240-rwhp 911 ought to be.
4. If you want to go fast in a Porsche, go to TRE. That's TREmotorsports.com . Everything I've learned about building a car came from Tyson, Dave, and some of the guys I've met on internet BBS's. And all of the work on the car has been done by TRE. If the car goes fast, it's because Dave's shop knows how to make them fast. All during the week, we had competitors walk up to us and ask us what's involved in building a race car on a 911 tub. There's no compliment more sincere than when the other competitors realize they've spent more, and gotten less, by going with another make of car.
5. Conversely: Learn from the guys who are faster than you. John Dearing and Terry Rossi are two Viper racers who might be the fastest drivers of stock, street-tired gen-one Vipers in the country. We were up against Dearing last year (he beat us), and Rossi this year (he could have easily beaten us, if a few things had worked out differently). I'm not afraid to admit that I'll watch whoever's faster then me, and see what I can learn from them. I've got no ego whatsoever in this department. It also helps matters that John and Terry are two of the coolest guys I've ever met. I've also absorbed a lot just hanging out in the general vicinity of Ron Wasserman, Ken Haney, Joe Brigante, and Luc Noel (my apologies if my spelling is wrong on those names). If somebody's fast, I don't care what they drive, I want to learn their tricks.
6. Porsches don't break. My TRE-prepped car has now run three of these yearly endurance events in a row, along with four years of 15-20 track days a year and 5 days a week of spirited street driving. I've added oil. I've got Eisenlohr Racing Products suspension parts, JRZ shocks, Elephant Racing monoballs and cross-brace, and Wevo transmission parts on it. They've all held up great. I've got Rennspeed Motorsports body panels and paint and bodywork by Kevin at Automotive Innovations and Restoration. All of it has been largely untouched (except by track debris and stone chips) since the car got built at the beginning of last year. This 911 has been as reliable as a Camry the whole time. (I'll knock on wood, though, in the hopes I'm not jinxing myself, there.) It's comfortable on the street, and pretty fierce on the track.
7. The Open Track Challenge is a blast to participate in. Every year we enjoy it more. As others have pointed out, it's only partly about the racing. It's mostly about the people. You see dedication, fortitude, courage, generosity and competitiveness at this event in big, but equal, doses. In some ways we're competing against each other, but in more important ways it's one big crew working to make sure everyone makes it through the week intact. There are always broken motors and bent cars by the last day, but the resilience of the participants never comes into doubt. If you don't fix it by the next morning, you certainly have a working car and a new strategy when the next year's event rolls around.
I'm really looking forward to next year's event.
And finally:
8. Paul Mumford changed the world, and all he wanted to do was win races. I don't mean to sound flip, and I only met the guy twice, but the spirit of Paul Mumford was felt everywhere at this year's event. His parents were at the final awards presentation, and John Dearing immediately gave them the "Paul Mumford Top Gun Award" when he won it. I think he's become the kind of ideal that every racer and time trialer in the Southern California scene aspires to be like, now. For a guy who was just over 30 when he died, he made a hell of an impact.
Ready for next year.
1. You need the support of your friends and family. I couldn't have even gone to the event without the support of my wife, Lara.
2. You need a driver like Tyson. I'm able to hold my own at tracks I know well, but Tyson is able to learn a track just by looking at it, and he's able to find tricks to get through it quicker that would take me weeks to uncover. It certainly doesn't hurt matters that he built the car, and can fix it if it breaks. But more importantly...
3. Suspension, suspension, suspension. My car has a stock motor from a 1993 911. It's never been modified or even cracked open. Aside from a slightly more aggressive chip and an exhaust free from a catalytic converter, it's only running what a street flat six was capable of in 1993. In our division, we were up against cars with more than double our power. We did as well as we did because Tyson, in particular, understands the nuances of tweaking suspension components to increase cornering speeds, and -- surprise! -- lap times. Erik Messley brings some of the same game to the Viper camp, but I don't think he's utilized enough. Longtime dominant OTC racer Paul Mumford understood this, though, and he and Messley were able to upset the Speedvision GT world in just two races because they understood (among many other things) that it's not the just the straights you need to go fast in -- it's the turns.
Tyson and Dave at TRE came up with very subtle but effective tricks for my suspension that make it much faster than a 240-rwhp 911 ought to be.
4. If you want to go fast in a Porsche, go to TRE. That's TREmotorsports.com . Everything I've learned about building a car came from Tyson, Dave, and some of the guys I've met on internet BBS's. And all of the work on the car has been done by TRE. If the car goes fast, it's because Dave's shop knows how to make them fast. All during the week, we had competitors walk up to us and ask us what's involved in building a race car on a 911 tub. There's no compliment more sincere than when the other competitors realize they've spent more, and gotten less, by going with another make of car.
5. Conversely: Learn from the guys who are faster than you. John Dearing and Terry Rossi are two Viper racers who might be the fastest drivers of stock, street-tired gen-one Vipers in the country. We were up against Dearing last year (he beat us), and Rossi this year (he could have easily beaten us, if a few things had worked out differently). I'm not afraid to admit that I'll watch whoever's faster then me, and see what I can learn from them. I've got no ego whatsoever in this department. It also helps matters that John and Terry are two of the coolest guys I've ever met. I've also absorbed a lot just hanging out in the general vicinity of Ron Wasserman, Ken Haney, Joe Brigante, and Luc Noel (my apologies if my spelling is wrong on those names). If somebody's fast, I don't care what they drive, I want to learn their tricks.
6. Porsches don't break. My TRE-prepped car has now run three of these yearly endurance events in a row, along with four years of 15-20 track days a year and 5 days a week of spirited street driving. I've added oil. I've got Eisenlohr Racing Products suspension parts, JRZ shocks, Elephant Racing monoballs and cross-brace, and Wevo transmission parts on it. They've all held up great. I've got Rennspeed Motorsports body panels and paint and bodywork by Kevin at Automotive Innovations and Restoration. All of it has been largely untouched (except by track debris and stone chips) since the car got built at the beginning of last year. This 911 has been as reliable as a Camry the whole time. (I'll knock on wood, though, in the hopes I'm not jinxing myself, there.) It's comfortable on the street, and pretty fierce on the track.
7. The Open Track Challenge is a blast to participate in. Every year we enjoy it more. As others have pointed out, it's only partly about the racing. It's mostly about the people. You see dedication, fortitude, courage, generosity and competitiveness at this event in big, but equal, doses. In some ways we're competing against each other, but in more important ways it's one big crew working to make sure everyone makes it through the week intact. There are always broken motors and bent cars by the last day, but the resilience of the participants never comes into doubt. If you don't fix it by the next morning, you certainly have a working car and a new strategy when the next year's event rolls around.
I'm really looking forward to next year's event.
And finally:
8. Paul Mumford changed the world, and all he wanted to do was win races. I don't mean to sound flip, and I only met the guy twice, but the spirit of Paul Mumford was felt everywhere at this year's event. His parents were at the final awards presentation, and John Dearing immediately gave them the "Paul Mumford Top Gun Award" when he won it. I think he's become the kind of ideal that every racer and time trialer in the Southern California scene aspires to be like, now. For a guy who was just over 30 when he died, he made a hell of an impact.
Ready for next year.
Last edited by JackOlsen; 04-24-2004 at 10:30 PM.
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04-25-2004, 01:52 AM
#10
Addict
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
CONGRATULATIONS! Thanks for the great write-up. You obviously gained as much enjoyment from the journey as you did with winning the touring division. Kudo's to you for sharing it with us.
