Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport Confidential

The Cayman GT4 is one of this year's Must Have cars, in our eyes it's just about perfect.

Tell me you can sit through this video without thoughts of calling your Porsche dealer tomorrow.



But Porsche has traditionally been reticent to develop customer race cars based on the mid engine Cayman platform.  You can figure out the reasons for that yourselves,  for sure Porsche runs the most successful customer racing program on the planet, one they to want to add to,  not cannibalize.

Enter GT4 a recently developed FIA category for what are effectively lightly modified street cars.

Perfect fit.

In the US the Cayman GT4 is being marketed for racing through the PCA (Porsche Club of America) but it will also be eligible for Pirelli World Challenge and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.    Worldwide it will be eligible for GT4, VLN and 24 hours of Dubai and  of course,  24 hr of Nürburgring.


This document, a purported email conversations between Frank-Steffen Walliser, Porsche's Motorsport boss, Jens Walther, Motorsport boss in North America and  Uwe Brettel, Director of Motorsport sales is, of course, not confidential but clever marketing distributed to prospective buyers and influencers.  

Axis was an early Cayman adopter with the Martini liveried car of a few years ago and now a new brand new Axis branded one which debuted at Daytona this month.



A Porsche Cayman GT4 single make series will be run in the US by the Porsche Club of America with races at Road Atlanta, NOLA, Watkins Glen, Road America,  VIR and Daytona.

Prospective buyers are being asked to commit to two years of racing with PCA as a condition to purchase a car.  At $15K per season, that is actually not much more than what current dealer markup for street cars is.   Hopefully people will race them, not stash them away!

Back to the "Confidential" .  There are hints of keeping the GT4 manual transmission but Porsche is serious about this car so the Clubsport will have a modified PDK, because ...modern racecar.  It would not be competitive in GT4, VLN and another series with an objectively inferior interface.  Hopefully Porsche will have added sufficient transmission cooling , a weak spot in previous generation PDK Caymans turned into racers.

Proper welded in cage, modified suspension geometry,  rigid transmission mounts, 5 lug wheels rather than center locks. adjustable shocks.   But also the ability to mount two seats, real glass,  air conditioning and a catalytic converter.  All is aimed at making the GT4 Clubsport as flexible as possible so it can be entered in all the targeted series and be competitive with minimal modifications.

The Porsche GT4 Clubsport will be unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show in late November.

Save of the day: Tire failure at 180mph on the Daytona banking

Guaranteed to haunt you next time you're flat out in your RSR on the 31 degree Daytona banking...

So This Happened, You Be The Judge

I've let some time pass since the incident intentionally, cooler heads etc. but revisiting what happened to CG at the Porsche Club of America's first race at Sebring, I'm still shaking my head.

Let's start with the outcome, not much damage on the cars,  bent wheels and rubbed rear fenders.  For CG though, the PCA came down hard: he was deemed 100% at fault, forbidden to race for the rest of the week end (this was the first of a series of races in the context of the annual 48 Hours at Sebring event, week end down the drain) and given a 13/13 probation, meaning if he's involved in another incident in the next 13 months he will be barred from racing for 13 months.

The reason given for the harsh penalty was that an overtaking driver is 100% responsible for making a pass which does not result in contact, this apparently true even if the other car turns in on him!

In this specific case, CG out-brakes the green car and cannot move much further to the left since he has the the white and red car on the inside.  He was door to door with the green car when contact occurred,  rear right to rear left.

Sebring's turn 1 is perhaps the widest turn in all of motorsport, how CG could have been found 100% at fault in this situation is beyond me,  a racing incident at the very least.  I was under the impression that PCA racing,   while designed to look after doctor cars, was still racing, not something requiring point bys ...

What are your thoughts?

Here is the incident from onboard another car, right behind at the start.

Death of a Cayman

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(photo: Blakely)

Remember how, prefacing James Clay's article on track car preparation, I mentioned how at Axis we've all figured out long ago every part of a car is a consumable? CG just consumed another engine on the Axis/Martini Cayman on that washboard torture test that is Sebring last week.

Another lump giving its life for the cause, RIP.

The video is the last 13 or so minutes of this M97's life so if you want to see just hear the sickening sound of Porsche guts dying, fast forward to 13:30.




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At Night, No One Can Hear You Scream...

... "where the $&^#@%! is the corner???!"

Granted this camera is not great in low light but CG said that's pretty much all he saw. He was pretty grateful for the faster class car leading the way at last week end's Porsche Club races at Sebring.

CG vanquished the competition by winning all his class races and taking the Enduro overall win against much faster cars. Congratulations man!

Porsche Club Race: New Jersey Motorsport Park

Another great performance by our CG at the Porsche Club of America races at New Jersey Motorsport Park last month. You got two races, two stories, same result...of course!

"Started from pole (out of 12) in class, but had my worst start ever. Almost everyone was earlier full throttle and went wide in T2 trying to make up for it.
Went back to P4 and had to reel back in the positions 1 by 1.

Took me 15 laps to get back the 400yds I lost on P Debusmann and G Crawford in their 993s. My car is faster for a few laps but then it becomes a handful in the fast corners without the help of rear Wing. Had to lift in the faster corners and it was a tight battle between the top 4 in class.

Was able to play the traffic to my advantage and make the pass for the lead just before a double yellow, and then fend off P. Debusmann for the last few laps before the checker.

Video includes front and rear view cam of the tight racing with the 4 top cars in class."



Race 2 after the jump

"Started the Sprint 2 P3 in class as I didnt get the fast laps in Sprint1 due to my poor start.
Managed to move to P1 in lap 1 before the double yellow and then got Baron Jacobs on the restart. Held him at bay for a few laps but I got slower as I started to have to lift more each lap on the fast corners where the rear wandered without the Wing (to prevent lift).
Tremper passed me for P1 and we had a good dog fight with one more pass each for position until I finally got him helped by traffic.
Ended winning race defending against Glen Crawford for the last few laps. Hard work!!



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Big Racing week end!

Huge racing week end this one. Of course Formula 1 is at Spa but also, MotoGP at Indianapolis, ALMS at Mosport and last but not least the Porsche Club of America is at New Jersey Motorsport Park where our own CG will be flying the Axis flag high! Go CG!

Anyway about Spa, the track everyone loves, this is a lovely clip the BBC made last year.



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Great Week End for Team Axis!

4 wins (5 if you count Time Trials) and 6 podiums for Team Axis this Memorial Day week end.

On Saturday, at New Jersey Motorsport Park with NASA, Pete took first place and set an new track record in Spec E30 with the Freep coming in third. On Sunday places were reversed with the Freep taking a commanding victory with a car severely damaged by shrapnel from a competitors exploding motor. Peter was right behind for and Axis 1-2. IN GTS3 on Saturday Stee avoided on track trouble to come in fourth. I held up the flag at the TimeTrial TTB class.

Start of Sunday's Spec E 30 race from Pete's car. Pete started 5th and climbed up to 2nd place. The trick with Spec E30 is to keeping momentum so brakes, well, they don't see much use.





The big annual Porsche Club were at Watkins Glen and CG, as I predicted, laid waste to the competition winning Saturday in H-Stock configuration and taking the overall win in the Enduro on Sunday with a big wing I-Prepared.

A blistering 2:08 lap in the I-Prepared Cayman



Next big event will be Hyperfest at Summit Point, see you there!

MORE PICTURES AND VIDEOS AFTER THE JUMP




CG in the H-Stock Sprint race, dicing with Baron Jacobs in the Green 911.


Time Trial laps at NJMP Lightning



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Team Axis Blitzes a Lime Rock Track Record

(photo by "PistolPete")

Our own CG laid waste to the previous Porsche Club of America I-Prepared lap record on during last Friday's qualifying with a blistering 58:42. The car is a Cayman S set up for H-Prepared car but, on occasion, CG will slap on a bigger wing, change ECU and move up one class to harass some of the big boys!.

CG's was not the only record breaker this past week end , Axis Pete scored a Spec e30 track record at New Jersey Motorsport Park. We'll get full details of his and Justin's race, tomorrow, for now, enjoy lapping HIstoric Lime Rock in well under a minute!



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Meanwhile, back at Road Atlanta...

CG got another Porsche Club H Stock class record, a 1:36.1. He also went on to win Sunday's Enduro overall, in the rain!

More videos after the jump. (Photo:Connor Hinkle)









Start of the Enduro race from P1. Opened up a good lead until the full course yellow.
Got Black Flagged for that last pass before catching the Pace Car.
Challenging race after the Black Flag 1min penalty, but was able to pass the field afterwards (good thing it rained!)

More of catching up the field after the Black Flag penalty and regaining the race lead

Axis takes on the Sebring Monster!

Axis CG migrated down south for some winter racing action with the Axis-Palmfund Management Cayman S. In Sebring last week, there was plenty of action and adventure : take it away CG....

After a great first year in 2009 (16 Races – PCA and NASA -, 13 Class Wins and 2 DNFs; “Do or Die!” :^) and 4 Class Records) and almost dialing the car to perfection with the help of Spencer Cox, the goals for 2010 are to keep going racing at new (to me) tracks in the US. Plan is to race mostly with PCA and if time allows some NASA GTS3 races (IMO, better bang for your weekend time with PCA given that the rules are tighter so cars are more equal).

Sebring is one of those famous historic tracks I have never been to. Heard a lot about it, specially how brutal it is with machinery (broken bumpy old airport concrete). Being the first race of the season and in the middle of the winter in warm and sunny Florida, seems that everyone wants to be there. The Race was packed: 3 Racegroups of 50+ cars each, and most classes with 8+ cars, including 5 more Caymans (other than mine) on grid, which I never saw in 2009. One of the things I was looking the most forward to, was the night race. The car was ready for it, as SpeedSport installed two big old school Montecarlo Rally PIAA lights on the hood.....

We had an eventful start. The car felt very funny on right hand corners (pulling left but very oversteery on left rear). Had a flat tire and a jammed spring perch in the first session, so the track time was useless for any setup improvements (or driver tuning!). I just used it to corroborate I knew which way the track went, after having practiced for 2 weeks in XBOX’s Forza game. IMO, the game is extremely accurate and the cars produce performances (Cayman gearing and gearchanges happen almost exactly in the correct place) very similar to those in real life: My Xbox time ended being 0.3secs slower than my real life’s best.

In the 2nd session went much faster, down to 2:27 but after 4 laps braking into the hairpin, a caliper bolt seized with the upright. We were toast, but VERY lucky I lost my brakes when I was down to a speed I could make the turn. The bad news is that we needed a new upright or find a good aluminum welder. Had no luck trying to find the part on grid as it wasn’t the same part as the GT3s or Cups but just a one-off size used in Caymans and 997s with the Ceramic brakes. Spencer went to the local welder that ended up being great outcome, and by mid afternoon we had a repaired upright. Lost the 3rd session that defines qualifying grid spots (Not as critical in a long track like Sebring , where you can just wait in the pitlane for clear track).

Finally was eager to do the fun races and try to start dialing in the setup, but the Sebring Monster kept us at bay as I broke the rear swaybar!!! (Has anyone ever seen that?!!!). Everyone in the team was shocked, it just broke in the center section where there was a reinforcement weld for the point where it is held by one of the rubber bushings. I was lucky that the Night race was postponed until Saturday due to the bad weather (Tornado warning winds and rain). Spencer found a swaybar in Daytona and we sent a taxi driver overnight to pick it up.



Went to chill to the Chateau Elan where I was staying (nothing more convenient than the hotel INSIDE the track; big reasons to love VIR and Sebring). We had a large group dinner and few drinks with the team and other racers.

Hectic start to Saturday as the swaybar was not the correct one; then lucky for us Mike Levitas who coincidentally was the one who designed and built the broken swaybar that Joel (the prior owner of my car) had bought, swore he could weld it; and with 5mins to go in the 1st session we were just in time ready to go. Big Kudos and thanks to Mike L., the bar held in one piece all the way through the Sunday Enduro.

Finally had 2 trouble free sessions in a row with valuable track time to setup the driver and the car. Ended with a Qualifying time of 2:26.4, still 8/10ths off the track record that was repeated again this year by Greg Barrows in his 3.4 996. Therefore I was starting P2 in class, but good thing there was no other car (from a different class) in between P1 and me.



Sprint1 Race: Had an OK start and tried overtaking P1 into T2 but he shut the door effectively. Decided to follow closely and wait patiently and maybe learn a thing or two about his line (since he qualified faster than me). Then the chance came and made the pass coming out faster of T17 (when he was to early on the gas and got squirrely drifting into the wall) and took P1 braking into T1. Held the inside line into T1-T4 and success: Class win! Had some good racing action later with GT cars including the well driven “Old Yellow Hippie” of Juan Lopez-Santini. What a nice little car. Good HP/weight and kills me going into the slower turns and accelerating out due to better gearing and I presume higher rpms. I just had to be patient, follow closely and take the aero advantage and pass him at the end of straights (I also had more to learn about going faster in some sections, which I eventually did thanks to the night race). The race had 2-3 laps under yellow, so didn’t use all the fuel I had planned and only added 4 gallons for the next race (big mistake!)

Sprint 2: Good start and picked up the pace in first few laps while the tires were at their best. Was comfortably ahead P1 in class, controlling the class race, but again with some good racing with the GT cars. Lost 2 places to faster GT cars when I overdid the tires and was half a lap from the checker and the car started to stall in all corners!! 1/2 lap from checker RUN OUT FUEL!!! Duh:! My fault: overstretched my numbers of fuel left from last race by 1/2 gallon... Bummer, and lesson learnt: Always carry at least 2gallons extra. It really doesn’t make a difference!



Night Race!: One of the recent initially scariest things I've done. In practice/qualifying I sincerely doubted my ability to competitively race. I have never driven by short range markers and always guided myself instinctively by finding the best flowing line looking far, far ahead (with some data telemetry fine tuning). You can’t see far at ALL in Sebring at night, and all those right-left-right left (or inverse) sections were very hard and scary to carry the same speed as in daylight. Qualified P2 behind Greg Pickeral’s I Stock 3.6 996. During the race, the race demons possessed me and all of a sudden (thanks to being able to follow Greg’s nice clean efficient lines) everything clicked and my level of concentration went to where it had never been. I ended up going just 6/10ths off my best daylight time. Awesome! Finished the race P2 overall, P1 in class, and probably the best learning experience of the last 12 months of PCA racing.

Proceeded to chill out at the Elan with fellow Racers. Then come Sunday, with the car in one piece and a good consistent setup, was able to put to work all that was learnt in the Dark (and some overnight data mining!) and it clicked: 2:24.4 New H Stock class record at Sebring! Very happy with that lap.



For the Enduro, I was set on going for the overall win (carved-in stone mental note about NOT speeding in the pitlane!), but there was a major screwup from timing and scoring and I (and other fellow H class racers) had no grid spot for the Enduro!!! Most likely I was P1 (or close to) overall. "I was seventh" came back to mind while arguing with the Grid marshals. We were forced to start from the back.

Started around P65 (plus slightly mad) = extremely interesting race action laps. A man on a mission! I think the video tells it all. I was up to P3 by lap 16, had a few laps at 2:25.0, but then in lap 18 I just got remembered that the AxisCayman just doesn't like Enduros.: Shifter cable popped out (we had troubles all weekend with 2nd gear, and with heavy slower traffic I had to downshift a lot more) and I was left cruising in neutral around T8. DNF. Well, at least some good video and race action. I had some hopes, as per my crew, I was catching up the lead (2-3.5secs/lap faster).

All in, it was an awesome start for the racing year. Another great historic track worth coming back. Thanks to Spencer and Speedsport team for all the major rush wrenching to fix everything I keep breaking! And having the car in tin-top shape when it matters. Next Stop: Road Atlanta!

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.

Daytona!

Axis Cayman rocked Porsche Club of America's Oktoberfest at Daytona this past week end....write up coming soon!





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Axis CG Dominates Mosport Sprints.

This past week end our own CG took overall wins in both of Porsche Club of America's Sprint races at Mosport with his H Stock Cayman S and coming within a few hundredths of a second of the track record for the class.

The first video summarizes Sprint race 2 and his nice battle with Scott Gerard in a 1999 Porsche 996 racer. The two cars both have 3.4 liter engines with the Cayman weighing in at 3197lbs and the 996, 3068 lbs (weights with drivers). Unfortunately both cars suffered transmission trouble and could not take part in the later Enduro race. CG's 3-2 "money shift at about 2:30 into video may or may not have had anything to do with it...

After the jump, CG's qualifying lap video, the data overlay is a bit out of sync but you get the idea. Mosport looks like a fun track, bumpy, with lots of elevation changes and the added bonus of a looming concrete wall around most of it!

(thank you Scott for the use of the 996 onboard!)

Three off.

Andy Mcinnis, Englishtown NJ, July 4th 2009. By Perry Aidelbaum (autox4u.com)





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VIR class record falls to Axis Cayman S!

CG set the new Porsche Club of America H-Stock lap record for VIR at 2:09.6 this past week end. In fact, he furthered the cause of Axis World Domination by winning all three of the races he entered. Resistance is futile!






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Axis love

As I was browsing though the Niagara Region Porsche Club of America site, my eye fell on the picture of a 944 in the garage at Watkins Glen.

I could not help but notice an Axis sticker on the windshield! Cheers fellow tracktard, that sticker is sure to cut a good 6/10th... given the right wind conditions!

And here is the rest of it.

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!

Off to Summit Point

Busy week end for Team Axis: CG is at Lime Rock with PCA debuting his freshly painted Cayman S race car while Stee, the Freep, Justin, Pete and I are off to Summit Point for a NASA track week end. Stee will be running in GTS3 while the other guys will be slugging it out in Spec e30. I will have to be content running in the ever prestigious Track Day World Championship for now but I'll try to take lots of pictures between instructing sessions.

If you are there, come find us and say hello!

Here is a old classic some of you more newer readers may not have seen and a more recent clip from Stee, who had an exciting moment when his newly installed brake bias controller decided to pop off in turn one!

And here is the rest of it.