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Porsche
Club of America
By Steve
Boris
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Oh Hi! I didn’t hear you turn the page. I actually didn’t expect you all for a couple of days, but since you’re here lets get started. For the last 2 months I have address a couple of fears and problems that newcomers may have prior to a season of driving with the Northeast Region Porsche Club. In this session I want to address some fears older members may have, the fear of entering your first season of Club Racing. Although I am not a seasoned veteran of the sport I hope my little mistakes will help you. There are lots of lessons that will present themselves to you while racing. I hope to provide you insights to help you cope by yourself without involving your car or the guy beside you, because you won’t have time to study for this type of pop quiz hotshot! For three years prior to my first season of Club Racing I knew that I had to at least try it. I spent any extra time and money trying to build the car I thought I needed to race. Don’t get me wrong, it turned out really nice; clean, stable, great looking, impractical, everything a racecar is supposed to be. My car started life as a 1990 944 S2 that had about 200 hp. It went through many changes. I stripped the interior out to bare metal, trimmed the doors and removed the glass, I added a cage, Lexan back glass, new nose and other assorted fiberglass parts and a few expensive go fast pieces. For those of you don’t know, there is not a lot you can do to an S2 without spending gobs of money. Unlike a turbo where there is extra power available for little money, Porsche got everything out of an S2 engine. My car was all in all a great car, reliable, solid and I could drive the @$#%! out of it. Finally, after many events in the Black Run Group of Driver Ed, I thought I was ready, so I started down the Club Racing registration path. This is where I learned that there are 2 types of racecars. The first type is Competitive. The second type is Uncompetitive. Guess which one I built? You got it, Uncompetitive. I spent so much time making the car I wanted that I forgot to check what class it would fit in. Let’s see, I did this, that and oh yeah all the other things too! Uh oh! GT3S! Allow me to translate that for those who don’t know what it means. It translates into, Got The 3 Savings accounts? All of a sudden I’m in big trouble. I’m not saying I couldn't run in GT3S because I can and did. I was just about $100,000 and 150 hp short of being competitive. OK, so that being said, I told myself that despite my lack of infinite cash and power to weight ratio, I would go out and give it my best shot, get a taste and have fun. All through the winter of 2000/2001 I worried, will the car be ready, can I handle getting passed, would I get passed a lot, did I have what it takes to be aggressive and safe at the same time, would I crash, would I embarrass the my club and instructors, how will I handle someone trying to muscle me out of a corner? These were just a few of the questions running through my brain. At one point I even thought of not trying it for fear that I would not do well and let myself down. Needless to say Club Racing is a blast. Fortunately there were a few NER folks planning our trying Club Racing for the first time that year and we all supported each other. I’m sure they all had the same concerns. The first race was the May, CVR Race Into Spring at Lime Rock. We all signed up for the DE event on Thursday before to get in an extra day of practice. Friday arrived with our first day of racing practice. As soon as I rolled out of pit lane all my fear instantly fell away, which is a good thing because it allowed me to stay focused. There is absolutely NO TIME to be afraid or cautious, only to be smart. I took to it like a duck to water. It was sweet. The most startling thing I found was that my Uncompetitive car was actually doing pretty well on the short Limerock track and as the practice sessions went on I found myself getting bolder and bolder. I actually found myself chasing down and a passing cars I shouldn’t be able to pass. I found a spot on the track where I was much faster than several of the other cars did. I would work up to the point where I could set them up and pass them. The only problem was that I gave away my so-called ace in the hole. Later in the race a few of the smarter guys wouldn’t give me the opening needed because I passed them in practice. Having a real flashy car can have its down sides, as competitors remember it. TIP: Do it once maybe twice then save it for when you really need it. Saturday morning brought with it my first
qualifying session. This is where the experienced drivers tell you to find
some open track and try for your fastest lap. Of course I’ve never listened
to anybody before, why start now. Well, I started to chase a guy that was
faster than me during practice. For several laps I would sneak up on him
through the tight stuff only to have him pull ahead on the front straight.
Every time we got to the front straight his 300+ hp just got the better
of my 200 hp yielding him enough of a lead that I couldn't get by without
risk to both of us. After about 7 or so laps, one time, he didn’t pull
away from me as much, so I decided to try an inside move. He was still
ahead of me as I moved over to what would be the inside line going into
Big Bend. How do I describe the next few moments? I can’t! We were quickly
running out of front straight and I still was not beside him. But I had
the shorter inside line to my advantage. All I had to do was to brake later
than he did; hold on and I’d be able to get by. That is if I could slow
down enough and not put us both off the track with pieces all around us.
Well, all I can say is I wish my video camera was working at the time.
This was a pass, that if I never passed anyone else, I would always have
this one to look back on. As a friend once told me, “There is nothing like
passing someone who doesn’t want to get passed”. It turned out much safer
than I thought it would when I started it, and as good as it was I probably
shouldn’t have tried such an aggressive pass on my second day in race format.
That’s probably due to my inability to be content with just making it around.
My car was so underpowered for the class the only way I could pass is late
braking into the corners. It turned out great, but should I have done it?
I stripped what I needed off the old car
and I have moved up to a 944 Turbo and moved down to F class. F class is
one of the most competitive classes in Club Racing and I have my work cut
out for me. As I sit here during the winter of 2001/2002 I am worrying
again; will the car be ready, can I handle getting passed, will I get passed
a lot, do I have what it takes to be aggressive and safe at the same time,
will I crash, will I embarrass the my club and instructors, how will I
handle someone trying to muscle me out of a corner? These were just a few
of the questions running through my brain.
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