Pure racing: Overtaking class on Mount Panorama.

Chris Walsham/Facebook

Some of the best racing you never hear anything about.

Fast, new cars are glamorous and exciting but even Saint Ayrton said the best, purest racing he ever did was as an amateur.

So you probably seen Sabine "Queen of the Ring" Schmitz passing a spectacular number of cars in a VLN race  before.   Amazing stuff but the (hopefully) future Top Gear host is a full time professional,  driving the latest model from Porsche, prepared by a very experienced team, on a track she literally grew up driving on.

With that in mind,  I give you Joseph Lethal, killing it at a support race for the 2016 Bathurst 12 hours.    Lenthall built and prepared his first gen RX7 and this was his first time racing on the mountain course!
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Couple of things jump out:  

Very smooth, cool driving.

Love the dog leg box and how the engine seemingly revs to 4 million rpm.

That car is hooked up.

Damn, the track is narrow,  makes passing at the Nurburgring seem simple.

So why did Joseph start 49th anyway ?  

“Last weekend, I travelled to Bathurst to race at Mount Panorama for the first time. After walking the track and being told where not to stick it into the fence, I came back to a prepared car thanks to my crew.

“Practice was great and we finished P14 out of a 61- car field. Qualifying was also good, with another P14 and some time left in the car.

“I got a woeful start in race 1 and dropped back to about 18th. After making my way past a few cars, the alternator belt flicked off and the car stopped coming out of turn 3. Unfortunately, between myself and the marshals, we then badly bent the front of the car while trying to load it on the truck.

“Enter my crew again, who through a drill, hammer, cable ties and race tape straightened the front and got the car ready for Race 2. I started 49th and around the last corner; eventually I finished 15th with a straight and running car.

“I can now say that I have raced my Mazda at Bathurst and it was bloody fantastic.”

Pure racing.

Enjoy it

(tx to Gordon Mellis and Autoaction.com.au)

Fenders are there for a reason.

There's a reason for fenders and fender flares beyond just keeping mud from flying about.

Yes, there is the question of aero but the main reason why in most racing series I'm aware of don't allow  tires sticking out beyond the fender lip is one open wheel racers are well aware of.

The contact in this amateur race at Padborg Parkin Denmark is minimal and the speed,  about 80 km/h,  50 mph, not huge.  Yet look how high the rear of the yellow Volvo is launched.

Think of the physics: the downward pushing front half of the Volvo  tire makes contact with the upward pushing half of the BMW's rubber.  You can have fun calculating the finer points of force, speed and angular velocity (CG? ) based on what probably are 18" tires but the result,  one ballistic Volvo and at least one very messed up e36,  show how you cannot take safety gear  for granted, even at club racing level.

Physics does not discriminate.



(thanks @Mikvest )

Stirred, not shaken...

... because AxisCG, here looking badass on the front page of the Porsche Club racing newsletter, does not get shaken!




end of post

The rebirth of SpeedSport

Out of the ashes of the Farnbacher-Loles implosion, club racers and track day enthusiasts in the North East will be happy to know that the best human talent and services from that organization will be available under the banner of SpeedSport Tuning now based in what used to be the F-L bodyshop on in Danbury, Connecticut.

It's back to the future for Spencer Cox who had run SpeedSport for years before being persuaded to join Farnbacher-Loles with his client list and staff. As a client you can expect the same level of attention, expertise and on track support you have been accustomed to in the past. The all conquering Axis of Oversteer-Palmfund Cayman S as well as the GTS3 Boxster are now under SpeedSport's care.

All the best to Spencer and the guys in this new venture, see you at the track!

Speed Sport Tuning
Triangle St.
Danbury, CT 06810
203-917-9888



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Daytona, Part II

Part II of CG's Daytona week end at the PCA Oktoberfest races. Part I is HERE

Grid for the 2nd Sprint was based on fastest laps from the first race. Started P2 and was outdragged in the Start by a faster I Stock car, then was able to make the pass in the infield.

Focused on staying close to P1, Greg Pickeral in the Silver 3.6 996, while he ran away in the speedway and slowly reeled him under braking for T1 and in the infield, until in lap 4 he goes long braking for the Bus Stop under lockup. The cloud of smoke was so big and dense, that I had a brief "days of thunder" moment. I really wasn't able to see the BusStop or any part of the track nor know if Greg's car was somewhere in the middle, but since the smoke was moving forward I assumed he must be beyond the BusStop entry. Braked a bit earlier and stayed on the left and made it through (Can't figure out how scary it would be in Nascar to go through dense smoke at 200mph full throttle - The BusStop is a brake zone of 150+ down to 80mph only!).

Inherited the lead of the race and focused on moving efficiently through traffic. All my laps were 2:07-2:08s except for one in which I had to squeeze myself between a 944 battle coming out of T4 (see picture sequence). Won the race overall and it felt great having been able to outrun the faster I Stock cars. Probably on of my best wins of the season or very close to my battle with Scott Gerard in the Sprint2 at Mosport. Unfortunately, the video shows the first lap of that race only as the camera stopped recording.

More after the jump

The Sprint results prompted me to take Spencer's suggestion and try I Prepared. Big Mike replaced the ECU (with Mitchell's magic code) and the rear hatch for the one with the BIG Techart Wing. Since Top Speed is so critical at Daytona we ran the wing in the lowest angle and with no Gurney flap.

The changes were immediately felt in the WarmUp. The car felt SOOOO planted through the high speed kink and better grip through the BusStop while gear changes were happening a bit earlier too thanks to the the extra magic HP. It showed in the time sheets. A 2:05.3 was 1.7secs faster than my best time from Saturday in H Stock trim. Seems that I had newfound pace to challenge the I cars. Lack of participation prompted the organizers to combine the race groups.

They used the Qualifying times from the Sprints for the grid so I was starting P21 behind the 3 I Stock cars with some other GT cars and Cup cars in the mix. Watch the race start in the video and you will see how diverse the performance of that car mix is! Didn't have the best of starts but made some ground on every corner of the infield by passing cars through the tight inside line, until I had the silver 996 in sight going into the Speedway. Reeled in the gap on lap 2, that ended up being my fastest lap of the weekend with a 2:04,9 (I Stock record!), and stayed close through the infield until he went wide on T6 and I had the power to make the pass stick (from the video I think he also missed a shift too). Leading the class and with much faster cars ahead had the space to run some nice clean laps until in lap 5 a 997 Cup Car crashed on the speedway and we had a full course yellow for 2 laps.

It was a single file restart and apparently a few guys behind, including the silver 996, got a much better call on Green! I felt raped on that restart! Almost spun out of T6 trying to be on the 996's tail to make a quick pass. Screwed my head down and followed the 996 as close as I could but he did a great job moving through lapped traffic and I wasn't having the same luck as the day before, so was never that close in the infield to attempt another pass (plus he stopped going wide in T6) until the pitstops. He pitted first, then I did 2 laps later and missed slowing down enough for the start line of pit entry and apparently crossed it at 40mph instead of 30mph. Our pitstop took a bit longer as by making the math that after only 50mins of racing (including 2 slow pacecar laps) had no fuel left; that 5 gallons would not be enough to finish the 90mins race. Big Mike made a quick run for 3 more gallons! I came out of pits further behind the 996, but it seemed as a surmountable gap (100yds aprox), until I was black flagged for my pit speed infraction with a stop and go penalty. Game over, my race for the class lead was over!

Then again, one can always screw up more: I exceeded pitlane speed again on my stop and go! After 2 extra pitstops I had no clue where I was on the race so just decided to do some good laps and focused on efficiently going through lapped traffic. Made some passes and ended the race P2 in class and 13th overall. The video shows the first 4 laps until the full course yellow, and there's another vid of the crowded restart lap.

All in, another great weekend to wrap my first PCA racing season, and now with a proven option to be able to run I Prepared next year as an alternative (That would be my NASA GTS3 setup too). Daytona is a great place for racing and can't complain for the post race day chill at the pool and the beach with the family. My kids obviously loved the fact that it is only 50mi away form Orlando, so and extra day of tribute to the big mouse was in order the day after. Thanks to Spencer, BIg Mike and all the Farnbacher team for a solid race weekend!

Daytona, Part I

Part 1 of CG's Daytona week end at the Porsche Club of America Oktoberfest races.

First time racing at a Nascar Speedway, and in this case, the Daytona 24hr Course uses almost 100% of the banked speedway! Big expectations for a race weekend in a historic venue as the American equivalent to LeMans.

First impression is that the facilities are First Class despite the track being so old. The Stadium seating feels bigger than Indianapolis and although everything is flat, it is easy to get lost in the infield roads and numerous buildings. Driving randomly around to allow my kids turns at the Golf Kart, we even found a Go-Kart Track in which we practiced the theory of smooth hands and straightening turns with my 5 year old. In the Paddock and pits, everything looks new and in perfect shape. The Nascar area is clearly built with the fans in mind and it is the first time I take an elevator with A/C to Timing and Scoring! I wished they put that kind of money in our local tracks!

Car was in perfect shape but had gained some weight due to the addition of a much needed Transmission Cooler. Running at 160mph in 100F weather would have certainly mean melted my gears without it (This being a new Tranny after the old one blew at Mosport). We found we were close to 3200 lbs (100 lbs above min weight of 3106 lbs with driver), so decided to finally run the mini-battery to take 20 lbs off (That battery is only good for 2-3 engine cranks and maybe 45 secs of running accessories; as proved the first time out that the car didn't start on the Quali grid! and Big Mike had to come to the rescue).

Farnbacher had setup the car with the proper staggered alignment to avoid potential tire failures at the Speedway. Car felt good right away on the speedway, but it was an understeering then oversteering mess in the infield. Feedback from other drivers that had run the track other years said that it was unusually slick that first day. We still softened the shocks a bit with a few magical tweaks from Spencer, and voila! the Cayman was again faster than anything else through the tight turns of the infield.

(continues after jump)

The track is very easy to learn and looks exactly the same as in the numerous Youtube videos you can find. However, you need to build the line that works with your car in the infield (Cayman is very different than 911) in the almost 180deg corners and it requires some confidence build up to keep the throttle pinned through the banking as due to gradient and sharp turn radius your visibility at 150mph+ is no more than 200 yds in front.

The theoretical tip is to take a peak through your window, but only works if you are short enough for your A pillar and roof line not to obstruct the view (not my case!). Other than being efficient through the infield, the two critical spots for a record breaking lap are exit from T7 to the Speedway (Very early full throttle but shorter arc possible IMO), and carrying as much speed and early throttle out of the Bus-Stop. From the Telemetry, using the grip in these sections from fresh tires on the first 3 laps before they started to "go-away" in the 100F weather, is what made the most difference for the best possible lap times.

The most challenging part of the track then, IMO, is nailing the braking into T1. At almost 160mph and with the the track surface being so wide and no contrast surface to determine the track's edge (only cones to mark a deep view into the asphalt horizon) it was hard to visualize where to start braking while still turning slightly left. A good late braking effort and proper downshifting into T1 can save almost 5/10ths on a single lap.

Practice day went well and within a few laps felt comfortable with racing the track (ran old tires but still good enough to make the setup meaningful). Pace was in the 2:08s. The Fun Races made me realize that my qualifying time was above the car's ability to accelerate on par with its lap time peers and I was going to get killed on the start by the I Stock cars and the fast GT5 cars around me. We had taken the spare NASA ECU (20-25hp more aprox) and the new rear hatch with a TechArt Wing that allowed us to run in I Prepared. Decided to Run H Stock as usual for the Sprint Races on Saturday to be able to get enough data (Quali + Race) to make later comparisons meaningful between the 2 setups while running I Prepared for the Enduro.

Got a Black Flag in the Warm Up session as my front splitter was about to come loose and it did! Big Mike from Farnbacher with the help of the rest of the crew engineered a Frankensplitter using the detachable piece of a Cup Car's. After 40mins of intense labor in the 100F heat the result was amazing! We covered the rivets and any spaces with red duct tape to match the car's livery and it even looked good (see if you can tell from the pictures). Sticker tires for Qualifying made it easy to carry more speed in the infield and BusStop, so achieving low 2:07s looked feasible. Despite the the hiccup of running out of battery in the Quali grid, was able to enter the track late, and Daytona is probably the easiest track to find empty track space thanks to the very long speedway section. Did 2 laps and managed a 2:07.098; best lap so far and new track record for H Stock.

Qualified P4 behind 3 I Stock cars and just in front of very fast GT5 cars that out accelerated me but being old 911s they had big drag profiles so top speed was slightly lower than mine. Despite being out dragged on the start (See video and Pictures sequences) was able to make the handling advantage count in the infield and made some passes (sometimes re-passes as I was passed again on the speedway) and traded a few places (faster in the infield, slower in the Speedway than I cars), and ended up P2. However, although I was able to catch up in the infield, I didn't have enough HP to contest for P1 with Greg Pickeral and he ran away with the Group Win in his 3.6 Silver 996. The video shows the first 5 laps of that race.

Road America, America's Northern Loop.

CG made the pilgrimage to Elkhart Lake for a Porsche Club of America club race at Road America. This is his epic writeup, a must read for any aspiring tracktard.

Road America, America's Northern Loop.
Very excited about my first time at Road America. Until now it has always been a myth only experienced through the races on TV. It is really BIG! Any other regular 1.5 - 3.0mi you can easily reach any point within 2mins in a sccoter. RA is the MidWest's version of the NuburgRing. Massive 4.1mi track that follows perfectly the contour of the terrain. The Paddock is the biggest I've ever seen. I was well advised to rent a Golf Kart. It takes almost 10mins at full speed to cover beginning to end of the Paddock only! Never seen so many Prosche race/track cars in my life. Easily 300 and most of them with big team trailers; and there was still plenty of room in the paddock.

The story continues after the jumps along with more pictures and videos...



Additionally, the town of Elkhart Lake is spectacular, both vintage and contemporary. Great historic racing bar at the Siebkins, beautiful landscapes over the lakes, nice resort lodging and some very good restaurants. Definitively worked for us as a great family vacation-race weekend. My kids only cared about the massive indoors water park at the Blue Harbor Resort on Lake Michigan!.

As I do every time I go to a new track, I've watched almost every relevant Vimeo or Youtube in-car video I found to get a good sense of the track and to my surprise on Test and Tune day the track is relatively easy to learn and be fast in a short time (contrary to scary blind corner places like Mosport).

Spencer Cox couldn't go to the race so I wasn't given the quick ride that's the most helpful for me to learn what speeds are possible through every corner. I compared my first session telemetry (with lap times roughly on pace for the class as per last year's mylaps results) with Spencer's Cup Car telemetry, and found that I was doing OK in the slow corners but needed to pump up the "attachments" a bit more in the 2 fast corners/kinks.

As always, Farnbacher-Loles had perfectly executed on the logistics and the car was immaculate with the tires from the last NASA race, and two new sets ready for raceday (likely need only one but had 4 rear tires thanks to the NASA Hoosier contingency program). It was also great to have Kurt, the F-Loles ALMS crew chief, on board as he has his own very structured (I crave analysis and structure!) methods and made me try different stuff in the setup that ended up paying off. Initially I had the car relatively stiff, working great for the typical 80mph+ LRP. Mosport or WGI fast corners, but Road America is mostly 50-70mph apex corners with some exceptions. Additionally, watching the big ALMS boys qualify on SpeedTV showed the obvious approach "use as much of the track and beyond (as long as it paved)" for faster lap times. Big surprise then when I went a full car-width wide at T5 and almost lost my teeth and couldnt hold the steering wheel in hands; We needed to soften up the car. Softer front sway bar, less rebound and some bump adjustments and the car was a monster in the slow corners but required finesse and smoothness to allow it to take a controlled set on the faster stuff (T1, T7Kink, Carrousel, T11Kink and T14).

From there on I was always worried through the whole weekend about something breaking or coming loose from so much curb-riding. Thanks to the F-Loles guys for permanently complying with the every session inspections. Only the glovebox came off a couple of times.

Unfortunately, my class (H Stock) was unusually low on attendance, but the run group had some faster GT3-4R cars (fully mod, BIG wing P-Cars in slicks), I-J Stock cars (GT3s, 993 Turbo, modded Cayman) and GTC1-2 Cup Cars (964 and 993). Practice Day went smoothly and set up a decent time in Practice 3 that defines the Very important Qualifying session grid (10th out of 50). Had a lot "fun" in the Fun Race at the end of the day. I love starts and re-starts.. I sneaked by in the starts with "cold" tires and even lead the race by Lap 2, until the big boys tires came to temp and ended up 4th after 5 laps

Early change to sticker tires on race day. Clean laps, good weather and was able to set a fast lap of 2:31.6 in the Warm Up, which is the new H Stock class record. Came very happy into pits after 3 laps and ready for Qualifying. Qualifying was crowded and warmer, got in early a 2:32.0, and decided to save tires and car instead of fighting traffic trying to get some tenths off. Road America Tip: You will NEVER get your PB time if you encounter ANY traffic at Road America (any minor lift on the big straights or lack of 2mph out of a corner will kill your time).

We bled the tires a few pounds to compensate for the higher temp later in the day for the race, but that will prove to be not enough due to not having run long enough in Qualifying. I Qualfied 14th on grid first in my class in the middle of the faster GTR cars.



It was really a complicated Sprint race due to the mix up of cars with very different strengths. The Big Wing modded cars had great corner exit (race gearing, more HP) and where faster in the fast corners (downforce), but I killed them braking into the slower corners (Cayman is fast in - fast out) where downforce is low, and my top speed wasn't that bad thanks to better aero and less drag from the lack of Wing but I had a hard time holding the pace, specially in the back straight where they were faster through the T11 kink.

I had a good start and sneaked in as many positions I could in T1, T3 and T5 under braking and was running 9th ahead of where I should be. We screwed with the Tire pressures and didn't drop them enough for the warmer longer race session, so ended up fighting big oversteer after 8-9laps and lost 3 places in the last 3 laps (didn't want to be a jerk either and block them aggressively not being in the same class). I basically allowed them to run side by side into the corner if they held there under braking. On several occasions i was able to hold the outside line (curb and rumble strips included! Check the pcitures of T8 where I prevailed despite the massive outside line!) and hold the position but once the overheated tires are beyond their optimal pressure (4-5psi by the end of the race). I oversteered/drifted wildly ALL the way out into the rumble strips to hold on for position. At the end I had to give a 964 Cup the inside line on Canada Corner, but oversteered all my way beyond the rumble strips! (check part 2 of the Video). Gave the position one lap before the last. Finished 12th, 1st in Class and 1st Stock class car.

The Enduro Race day started great. It looked very promising for an overall win until I learnt the bumped I class into our Enduro and a new faster competitor that won his Sprint race in a 944Cup switched classes to run his fast I Class 996 in the Enduro. Wait and see what kind of times he pulls in Quali. Warm Up session objective was to make sure the tires were still up to their max pace. 3 laps, mission accomplished. Qualifying was rougher than expected. Despite having P1 on the grid and planning on having a 2nd and 3rd clean laps and be done; a good portion of the 944 grid decided to come out late and jump in just in front as I was crossing the finish line. Arrrggghhhh!!! Agony! 2-3 laps of frustration, whenever I thought I had 500-800yds of clean space ahead, it prooved not sufficient around this 4.1mi monster track. Calmed down and went into the pits to calibrate tire pressures and time the best exit possible. It worked. Got 2 clean laps and down almost to my PB with a 2:31.655 (check the video), good for P2. The I class 996, very well driven, qualified P1 with a 2:29.9 and he obviously chose the inside line for the start.

The 996 accelerated faster than I expected on race start and was easily 3 car lengths ahead by T1. He even made a mistake in T3 and ran wide of the apex but got on the gas soon and no chance to get close. Closed some distance on him braking into T5 and Canada corner and was on his bumper when we encountered a back marker. Never had a chance to even annoy him, but the good thing is that running those clean laps meant P3 was nowhere to be seen in my mirror after a few laps. In lap 7-8 encountered back marker 944 traffic and a oil smell appeared. I blamed the older cars and kept pushing. Temp was fine, top speeds felt the same so nothing to worry about until lap 10 when I got the meatball flag. Came into pits, Kurt checked the car; lots of oil between engine and gearbox and hopefully it is just the typical Porsche RMS failure.



After 5:30 hours of track time, the weekend was still a huge success despite my first DNF of the race season. Had lunch and proceeded to watch the Cup Car / Crazy-Fast car Enduro. Leader Quali times where in the 2:15-17 range. It is great to see 50+ 996 and 997 Cup Cars at the same time. Can't imagine why in the future I would want to race in any other series when there's so much competition in the Cup classes in PCA where usually you get 2-3 Pros thrown into the mix every race weekend. Had the chance to meet the night before the gentleman who was now leading the race in a 997 Cup only to learn that in lap 29 had a terrible accident with a backmarker, forcing the race to be stopped and both drivers airlifted to the hospital. The cars were in very bad shape but safety systems did their job and both drivers will recover in a few months from their several broken ribs. punctured lung and massive bruises. this ending really puts thing into perspective and reminds me of being very picky on the safety of my equipment, the race venue, the race organization and the other drivers.

Team Axis takes on Porsche Club Racing

CG jumped right in at Lime Rock last week end and did quite well with his H class Cayman S. Backed by the best, Farnbacher-Loles Club Sport he managed class wins in both of the week end's races. But let's hear it from the man himself...

A lot of anticipation for my first Race Weekend, specially since I haven't driven the car yet! Car is a 2006 Stock Cayman S built for H Stock Porsche Club Racing. Basically it's a regular Cayman S, with stock engine, aftermarket exhaust (w/o catalytic converter), a full Kalani Gohara cage, safety systems, triple adjustable Motons, stiffer springs, GT3 Cup control arms and a Guard LSD. Car has to weigh 3105#s with driver. Mine weighs 3200#s.

It was just 7 weeks ago that I had no plans to start racing this year other than a probable rental deal with Stee at some point. Having the right car available at the right price with the right mechanical/team support was a big factor in jumping the gun.
Since I had no seat time in the car, I signed up for the DE day on Thursday before the race. Woke up early, packed for 3 days, plus the obvious-rookie shiny brand new racesuit (thought about greasing it a bit, but remembered that nevertheless my car will wear a big X in the rear exposing the rookie status).

continues after the jump


Practice Day

Got to LRP at 7:15am. Typical early spring day: Wet and Cold (30F). I was even worried on my way there since I just took off my winter tires from the GT2 and was driving on the Michelin Sport Cup R-Comps when it started to snow lightly about 10mi from the track!

The car looked GREAT!! Farnbacher did a great job with a quickish color change in 2 weeks and the candy red contrast of wheels, mirrors and wings looks good but still misses proper race car livery that will come soon.

It was supposed to clear out in the afternoon but it never happened. There was a dryish window of 30mins in which I went out and pussyfooted for 10 laps (with light sprinkling rain). There was no point in putting Wet weather tires for practice as it was clear that the race was going to be dry, so why risk an shunt or a mis-aligning off to the mud. I didn't even bother looking at lap times as I knew they would suck and would just destroy my confidence too early.

Spent the day making sure everything felt comfortable in the cockpit (hate the harnesses as they are a big hassle with the HANS, while change to Schroth at the first chance), making sure the electronics worked: AIM dash, Radio and camera and checking all the important little details (mirrors, plan for tire swaps, etc.)

Attended the rookie talk: Valuable common sense advice being dispensed. I must imagine some fear factor can be triggered for someone who has never than this at all before. Went for a nice dinner and wine at the Interlaken with my team mates driving the other Cayman S in H Stock. Good talk, some bench racing and not so late to bed.


Day 1 - Practice sessions, rookie school and race starts / fun race



Finally fantastic weather at LRP. First two sessions started really driving the car and got down to high 1:00.x. A second off the prior owners record, but I'm having brake bias problems after 5 hot laps, where it goes into ABS and the car brakes mostly from the rear. Need to ease off for a lap for cooling to get them back to comfort level where it doesnt feel like pulling the handbrake when I try to trailbrake! A big confidence destroyer of the entry line into Big Bend.

Changed pads for the 3rd session to see if completely different compound could work better. Wrong choice, ABS problem was a nightmare, these other pads were too grabby and triggered ABS right away screwing up every braking zone. Therefore made no progress and we put the other pads back in. I rather manage the brake temperature at some point but be able to pull hot laps at the beginning.

Now going into the practice starts and will be done for the day. Qualifying is tomorrow but I'm already comfortably in P1 in my class (7 cars) by 6/10ths. Had a good follow-on with the 2nd guy (964 US Cup Car or RSA?) where I let him go in front and put pressure for 3 laps until he spun coming out of big bend.... Good reminder that this is half skill, half mental, and not to let rearview mirror intimidation screw up my consistency.

Had a lot fun in the practice starts and Fun Races. Everything came back after so many years and the racecraft intuition is still there. I love it.

Another fine dinner at the Boathouse in Lakeville with the team mates, and great wine find at reasonable price. Earlier to bed than the night before. but spent a few hours toying with the endless data from the AIM Dash. Wished I had someone else's fast laps to compare and now where to make time. However, LRP is very simple and I know I'm leaving too much apex speed on the table on the uphill and downhill. 4-6mph faster apex speed is certainly possible as I feel that in those 2 corners my safety margin is much bigger than anywhere else (Come out too easy with no real need for all track out space). Nailing those two at the limit can certainly shave more than 1 sec.

Race Day!

Better weather than on Friday and its supposed to reach almost 90F!. In the morning practice got down to almost breaking the 1min in the morning but just couldn't get my mind to brake less on the uphill and downhill. Theoretically, I feel this car can probably take the downhill apex at 100mph at 10/10. I'm at 90mph but will settle for doing it at 95!



Qualifying was traffic mayhem and basically a mini sprint race as everyone raced from pits to T1 and it took us 3-4 laps to sort us out and have a go at decent lap times on the racing line.Unfortunately when times were dropping down I had a black flag with my # (meaning that I need to go to the pits) just after I noticed the Car is making loud noises in the corners. Apparently some fluid was leaking out of the rear and making a big white cloud when in burned.

Diagnostic was that the power steering main hydraulic hose burnt its retaining ring (plastic part) due to the fluid excessive temperature and the hose popped out! We only had 45mins before the race start, Spencer and the Farnbacher crew did a magical fix using a 32mm socket with Zip ties to hold in a 1000psi hydraulic hose line in place!!

Lined up in grid with only 1min to go! Qualified and started P8 in the race, P1 for my class, with only Cup Cars (964) and a I class 996 Carrera in front. In the first two laps put a lot of pressure on the guys in front while they were fighting for position and that hurt their ability to run fast laps. Took advantage of their own fight and sneaked in 3 wide into Big Bend, down to 2 wide in esses and No Name straight and held the inside line through the Uphill. Was running fifth on the tailights of the 996 and couldn't pass him as he had a lot more engine coming out of corners but gave me no room to sneak into the corners side by side.

By lap 7-8 my front brakes usually start to fade and I get too much rear bias which kills my consistency into Big Bend. Just couldn't hold their pace and the Cup Cars were all over me and drag raced me up the Uphill and while I lifted to let one by into West Bend the other one sneaked in train with him, and just made no sense to shut the door on the second one. I was wishing for them to cause trouble for the 996 while they worked their pass around him, but both passes on him were clear with little time lost on No-name straight, so had no chance to squeeze by behind them.

Now in P7 I ended up in a tough battle for position with a 964 RS (The class record holder in G). My lap times were up due to having to brake earlier and straight-only, but manage to hold him fairly through the end of the race.

Check the Lap Chart:

In the Enduro, for some strange reason they didn't have a grid slot for me so started dead last! (I was the slowest class of the Enduro with all The Cup Cars and 600hp+ MobyDick Porsche monsters.... 54sec cars!) however, this was a lot more fun! By the end of first 2 laps I was up to 18th (passed 5-6 cars I think).

Was able to move all the way up to 15th by passing a couple of cars more including the 996 (same one of the Sprint). Basically thanks to lapping traffic (by lap 12) was able to catch up and kept the pressure on the 996 (I ran his bumper for 5 laps) and despite him being faster, eventually he made a mistake (probably his brakes or tires went away) and I went by on the inside of the downhill. Pits were opened and then my car started slipping the clutch in 4th and 5th gear. Had to do a lap and a half crawling at 40-50mph (got passed by 4 cars). Came to the pits, used the time as my mandatory 5min stop to let the clutch cool down.

It worked, but every 5-6 hotlaps it started slipping again, so I either had to baby it using 3rd gear only or with HUGE pauses in between gears with no throttle. Finally made it home 13th with no more battles for the remainder of the race (other than checking mirrors for the crazy fast cars). Spencer thinks it was the steering fluid from the failure we had in qualifying that might have glazed the surface of the clutch (??!).

Definitively a great weekend, full of everything including mechanical incidents that are part of the whole experience. Can't wait for the next one!

Muddy Waters

The Stee and I ventured to Summit Point last weekend, planning to be the clowns we are and hoping for a good time. All we needed were reliable cars, good weather, and that awesome NASA Mid-Atlantic atmosphere. Well, 1.5 out of 3 ain't bad, right?

Stee's M3 has been giving him the fits with a mystery cooling problem, but with brilliant throttle management in 104 F ambient temps, he kept the S54 from turning itself into calamari. That doesn't count as "reliable," but he had fun nonetheless.

Speaking of the temperatures, we didn't get great weather but summer in West Virginia... well, you really shouldn't ask for much. It honestly got up to 104 F on Saturday, then a line of thunderstorms came through juuuuuuust in time for my SpecE30 race at 4:05pm. The lightning, hail, and downpours were enough to end our day... but I was the last one to clear the grid because I was so ready to race. Besides, in weather like that, I discovered you'll never feel safer than when you're wearing a 6-point harness, HANS + helmet with double side nets, and have an 8-point cage surrounding you. For a moment I was thinking "bring on the F5 tornado!"
But then there was the paddock party to attend followed by a track walk of Summit with the classroom instructor. NASA does it right.

Fast-forward to Sunday morning. The genius squad behind NASA Mid-Atlantic found a spot at 8am before the regular day began, and gave us a make-up race at that time. It was a new experience to race first-thing in the morning, on a "green" track thoroughly scrubbed overnight by Mother Nature. We had to contend with variable grip due to mud on the track, etc. As you'll see in the video, mud on the windshield was somewhat of a concern for me at the start of Lap 2.

I got whooped in this race, which put me against the best SpecE30 racers in the country. It was a great exercise for me and helped identify a number of weak areas in my racing envelope. The car has good power but has weaknesses in [areas I won't disclose publicly]. My driving... well, let's just keep working on that racecraft, shall we?


.

Building an SCCA ITR Z3 Coupe.

We never post enough pictures of our own cars here, buncha lazy bastards we are. Shame too because BadBadM practically built his spec e30car from scratch in his garage after work, ThumperRay changed my whole diff in 15 minutes with one hand tied behind his back and Stee is building a spec Boxster...well, eventually he is.

So when Josh Sirota, an internet friend from GoDogGo Racing sent me some info on his current project, I though it would be cool to share:

JoshS writes:


I'm finally back in a Coupe! I was a very early M Coupe owner. Ordered the car in May of 1998 based on the photos I'd seen in magazines, and picked it up in September. I autocrossed it a few times and found it to be a great car in the wet but a fairly lousy car in the dry. But I didn't buy it to autocross it, it was just supposed to be a fun street car and it was!

That car went all over the country with me and my motorhome in 1999. These photos are from the top of Pikes Peak, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and somewhere in Minnesota.






Still, in 2000, I found myself at the SCCA Solo Nationals in Topeka, for the 11th consecutive year, driving, you guessed it, a borrowed 2000 M Coupe. It was in Super Stock then and both myself and my co-driver (multi-time national champion) Jeff Reitmeir stunk up the joint. The suspension on that car is not that great on sticky pavement.

I sold my car in 2002 for a new E46 M3. I wanted the latest and greatest stuff with more creature comforts and more horsepower. But what I discovered was that although I enjoyed my gazillion-way power seats, navigation system, 6-speed transmission and all of that good stuff, the M3 just never stirred me the way the Coupe did. I found myself participating more in the online Coupe forums than the M3 forums, even though I didn't have a car. I knew someday I'd be back in a Coupe, but it wouldn't be a street car. I'd been there, done that.

I started Club Racing with the SCCA in 2004. That first season I rented a 4-cylinder Z3 from TC Kline for Showroom Stock B. By 2004 the car was considered well past its prime for the class but I had an absolute blast driving it and did pretty well against the then-dominant '99 Miatas. For reference, I ran in the 1:51 range at Laguna Seca, which is really a great lap time for a car with only 139 horsepower.

I then raced at the National level in Showroom Stock (Mazda3) and Touring (Subaru STi) for the next two years. Had fun but was a little disheartened by how much time and money it really takes to run at the pointy end of the grid at the National level. Here I was, a guy with a car, competing against factory-funded teams with full-time race-prep staff! I did pretty well, especially in the Mazda, but I wanted a fairer fight.

Then, last fall, the SCCA created a new class called ITR (Improved Touring R). IT has been around a long time, it's often considered an entry-level class because many of the cars, especially in the slower IT classes, are very inexpensive to buy. In addition, the cars have to be at least 5 years old, which keeps the manufacturers from being directly interested. But for years the fastest class in IT wasn't all that fast-- the fastest cars were the E36 325i and even they needed a restrictor plate to avoid trouncing the rest of the class.

ITR is just a faster version of ITS. Most of the cars came with somewhere between 180 and 225 horsepower in stock trim. The prep allows for minor engine mods (slight bump in compression, slight overbore, balance/blueprint), but stripped interior, any exhaust system, and bolt-on suspension mods. ITR allows all cars up to 17x8.5 wheels.

One of the cars listed for the class is the Z3 Coupe. This is the Z3 version of the M Coupe I used to have. It came with the 2.8L or the 3.0L engines. But the 2.8L is classed with a minimum weight of 2800 w/driver, and the 3.0L has to weigh 3200 w/driver. Seems like a no-brainer -- 2.8s are easier to find, cheaper, and get to weigh 400 lbs less. There's no way that the additional horsepower in the 3.0 could make up for the 400 lb. penalty, so I went searching for a good 2.8L car.

It took less than a month for me to find my Coupe. It's a '99 Z3 2.8, and it had 99K miles on it. But it was very well maintained by an enthusiast. And to top it off, it was down in Santa Monica, only a 6 hour drive away.

Within a couple of weeks, I found myself disassembling the interior, to prep it for the roll cage. The cage went in with some other related fabrication. While it was at the shop, I acquired a large pile of parts. Once I got it back, I spent a lot of hours in the garage installing parts, and then finally took it to an SCCA pre-season tech day to have the scrutineers look it over and issue a logbook. Although they noted 3 minor issues (the most complex of which is that I still don't have car numbers, class letters, or the other required decals on the car), they issued me a logbook. I'm official!

Speaking of graphics: here's a photoshop of the current graphics plan. If anyone out there is up for it though, feel free to suggest other things. I'd like to do things that aren't too complicated, because I don't have the ability to design really complex patterns. But if you do, I'd appreciate the help!

My intention is to race the car with the original engine, software, andexhaust system, for this season. It won't be competitive, but it's a new class, so the turnout will be light initially. To be competitive, it'll take a freshly built, limit-of-the-rules engine, with a good header, no cats, custom software or replacement ECU, etc. I'll research that and get that done later in the race season.

Without further ado, here are some current photos and a list of the mods
to the car. For many more photos, see my photo gallery.

Interior/exterior mods:

TC Design custom roll cage
TC Design interior panels
Sparco Circuit seat
Evosport seat mount
Momo Mod80 steering wheel
Extreme Performance quick-release
Schroth harnesses
TeamTech window net
Longacre convex interior race mirror
BMW convex left outer mirror
OMP fire system
Kill switch
Deka AGM battery
A/C removed
TC Design towing eyes
TC Design/Jaffster delrin shift knob

Engine mods:

Conforti intake
Zionsville radiator
Dinan cat-back exhaust.

Drivetrain:

Kosei K-1 17x8.5 wheels
Hoosier R6 245/40-17 tires
BMW 3.73 LSD
TCK wheel studs

Suspension:

TC Kline/Koni coilover suspension
H&R front swaybar
Offset control arm bushings
Dinan rear camber/toe adjusters
Korman delrin trailing arm bushings
BMW Motorsports Gruppe N subframe bushings
Strong Strut strut brace

Brakes:

Turner Motorsports brake ducts
TC Design brake duct foglight mounts
Hawk Blue brake pads
Stop-Tech stainless lines

V.I.R teaser

While waiting for Stee and BadBadM to do their write ups on their eventful past week end I thought I would just throw up a little clip made out of a few shots BBM sent me last night....



r/click here to download

Discuss this post on the AXIS FORUMS

DE Smooth vs Race Smooth

Invariably, when we submit a video to one of the many internet discussion forums, someone will declare that our driving (or whoever is in the film) sucks because the steering wheel moves around too much.
"The driver looks like he played too much Playstation" is a predictable barb and while in the ideal world smooth IS the ideal, the reality of tires, surfaces and trajectory are such that at the limit a driver is ALWAYS making corrections.
Club racer and frequent Bimmerforum poster Bryan Watts put it very well and very clearly:

"Someone driving at/near the limit won't be making a single steering input to apex and never move their hands except to unwind the wheel for the exit...that's what I like to call "DE smooth". That generally means they aren't pushing hard enough. If you're at the limit, you'll be making changes constantly as each few inches of pavement has different grip characteristics due to camber, roughness, wear, material, etc, etc and the amount of grip available from the car changes as it rolls into and out of the turn while the geometry changes and weight transfers. The really good drivers are the ones who can make these small changes so precisely and so instantly that the tire is always happy and the car looks "smooth" from the outside because of how much work they are doing on the inside."


(Editor's Note: "DE" stands for "Driver's Education" a short hand for club organized track days with instruction.)










To illustrate the above I dug up two video of the same pro driver in different situations.

This driver is a great example since his style is so exaggerated: Wolfgang Kaufmann has been racing for 20 years everything from Polos to Porsches. The video of his astounding laps of the Nürburgring in a Donkervoort racer are legendary.



In the first video below he is driving, presumably some acquaintances, around the Nürburgring in a ... VOLVO!

The video is very shaky but you can get the idea. Watch his hands, perfectly "DE Smooth", one input and then held steady.
If you think he's just going slow you're right, Kaufmann did have the 'Ring record in a Gamballa GTR at 7 minutes and 32 seconds, still a sub 9 minute lap in a Volvo with at least 3 people on board is not too shabby!
There is plenty of good commentary about the track and "Bonus points" for racing the Ring Mini at the end of the lap!



Contrast that with the video below where Kaufmann is at Spa, driving an FIA GT Porsche 996 GT3 RSR. The hands speak for themselves.
CG will probably chime in on this but I'm guessing that the RSR is so stiff in the front that it needs to be thrown and caught to make it turn.
Notice also that if you look at the track the car is smooth, this is because at the very limits of adhesion the effect of steering angle is much less pronounced.

I would love to see some comments on this subject either here or in the Axis Forum.





Update:

I found a different onboard from the same FIA GT race as above, this time from a GT2 Ferrari 430.
Not much flailing going on there!.

Below the Ferrari clip, we find out more about why exactly Kaufmann is in a Volvo... and as you see from his driving in that clip, no drama.

At this point I'm leaning towards the conclusion that that the setup on the 996 RSR above blew chunks...or maybe the tires were completely gone.

The guys over on Rennlist are adding lots of useful comments take a look.

Big news from our friends at Traqmate

Track Systems has made two major announcements in the recent days: their new video integration product in collaboration with ChaseCam promises to make what is now the somewhat cumbersome process of joining data and video, seamless. This is a very exciting development.

Traqmate has also been chosen by SCCA Pro Racing to be a performance auditing system in the SPEED World Challenge series.

Here are the official press releases:

Announcing TraqCam Video Integration

Track Systems is very pleased to announce a new way to "Replay Your Day", the TraqCam system.

Traqmate has teamed up with ChaseCam, the leading manufacturer of digital video recorders for motorsports. The TraqCam system consists of a Traqmate GPS Data Acquisition System, ChaseCam Digital Video Recorder, and the TrackVision Video Integration software.

Traqmate designs all products to be easy to use and this one is no exception. The Traqmate will turn on the video recording automatically so the data and video will be synchronized. TrackVision will allow you to combine the data and video into a DVD-quality video with simulated gauges over the video. Of course you will be able to analyze the Traqmate data as always and use the raw video for other purposes.

We will offer free software upgrades to existing Traqmate and ChaseCam owners and the TraqCam components will be available separately. Expected to debut in March, the TraqCam system will only be sold through the Track Systems Store at www.traqmate.com.

SCCA Pro Racing Chooses Traqmate

We are pleased to announce that SCCA Pro Racing has chosen Traqmate for use as a performance auditing system in the SPEED World Challenge GT and Touring Car series.

SPEED World Challenge is one of the most competitive and exciting road racing series in the world and Track Systems is looking forward to supporting SCCA Pro Racing and the teams.

The portable nature of Traqmate and the fact that it can gather highly accurate information without in-car sensors made it an ideal choice for performance auditing.

Teams will be randomly assigned Traqmate units during testing or a race and the data will be reviewed by SCCA Pro Racing to ensure the cars are all fairly matched. This will keep the racing as tight and exciting as fans have come to expect.

Axis Upcoming Event: VIR Triple Lindy!

Next weekend, The Stee and Badbadm will make the now-annual pilgrimage to Virginia International Raceway, for NASA Mid-Atlantic's Triple Lindy event.

The Stee will enjoy NASA's superb Competition School on Friday in
Labomba, and will instruct HPDE on Saturday/Sunday in 10/10thz. This should provide some valuable test mileage for the new suspension tune installed on 10/10thz over the holidays.

Badbadm will instruct HPDE on Saturday/Sunday, then co-drive the 3-Hour Enduro with Ken Neuhoff, in Ken's Inka Orange SpecE30 #74 on Sunday afternoon. If you're there, be sure to find us and say hi, but be forewarned: you might end up holding a gas jug or fire extinguisher!

Better Late Than Never, Pictures from Watkins Glen.

We need to apologize for laziness and for sure there is a lot to talk about from the week end at the Glen: BadBadM wins his class in his first ever BMW CCA race so allow me to slip into Ron Dennis mode here:

The Axis of Oversteer BMW325is was first in KPrepared in the feature race on Saturday September 30th. The result was made possible thanks to our technology partners TRAQMATE and OFF CAMBER MOTORSPORT and well as the brilliant driving of rookie Matt Russell.

As you saw below, CG was hooked up with the 997s while Stee and myself were somewhat occupied with different issues, mainly a damn cloud which seemed to open up every time we were ready to set out on the track!

anyway, we'll sort out some videos and BadBAdM's post and we'll get back on track here.

in the meantime enjoy a few pictures.