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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

As for actual details of the Club Race I will let Andy cover those in his article “Around the Paddock" so be sure to check that out. Instead I will touch on some of the other things that went on prior to, and during that weekend.

I went through a mad rush to get everything completed in time for the Club Race. Besides the obvious, getting the new motor running (especially since I put together the top part of the motor, including all the electrical, vacuum lines and cooling hoses) there were a number of final touches that needed to be addressed in order to please the racing scrutineers. For those of you who have never disassembled or assembled a 944 Turbo motor consider yourself lucky. There are enough hoses and vacuum lines to choke a donkey. At one point while I was cleaning the wiring harness, that happens to attach to a bunch of vacuum and coolant hoses, I realized that it looked as if it all might fit under the pieces that were already assembled. Uh Oh! So I grabbed all the pieces and headed for the shop to see. As I suspected, I was right. I had to remove the intake and part of the turbo to get all this stuff connected. Fortunately there was another 86 turbo at the shop to look at should I need to check where something goes. To my own surprise I got everything together and it started. 

Deciding how I was going to break it in was tough because everyone I asked had his or her own opinions as to how it should be done. With boost, without boost, detergent oils, non-detergent oils, on the street, on the dyno, 400-500 miles or 45 minutes. I decided after much research and considering each recommendation to run 30 weight non-detergent oil, with the boost still connected, on the dyno for 45-60 minutes. After that I would run Valvoline 20W-50 non-synthetic oil until 1000-1200 miles. Apparently synthetic oil is TOO slippery to allow the rings to seat properly.

I took the car over to ACS Racing in Hanover to use their chassis dyno. I also felt the dyno would be better than breaking it in during a high speed police chase, which tends to happen when you take a non -registered car with big numbers, tires that look like slicks and no front directional signals on state highways. Not that I don't enjoy a good police chase now and then but those are better when you know the motor will last. I was still unsure. 

The plan was to do 2 half-hour stretches at varying rpm’s with a cool down between them. Afterwards we did a couple of low-level pulls and a couple full-blown pulls. The break-in went well and we discovered that the plugs were gapped incorrectly and I had a cracked injector that was squirting more fuel outside the motor than inside. In the scheme of things these were all easy fixes. Considering there were many non-fixable things that could have happened. Back at the shop we tweaked the air/fuel mixture and I started to gather all my tools and stuff that had spent this long period at the shop, along with the car.

I have to say, being my first motor assembly since my college days when I rebuilt my ’69 GTO convertible with JC Whitney parts; I was surprised that I didn’t have any BIG pieces still sitting on the table. The only pieces left over were nuts, bolts, and hose clamps, things of that nature that I had replaced with new ones. There were still a few small things to get done, the window net had to be welded, the seat back brace had to be installed, the race radio had to be wired in and of course a car new identity had to be created. This was done in the form of a new vinyl job.

In case you were unaware as to how I came up with Spider Racing it started many years ago when I received a nickname based on a song by John Entwistle of the Who. Because my last name was Boris I quickly became Boris the Spider. There were other nicknames of course, but this was the only one that was worth having or could appear in print. I had all but forgotten this nickname until my mechanic and friend happen to stumble upon it and blurted out that I should come up with Spider Racing. Hmmm! Spiders are fast, spiders stick  to any surface, and girls think they are creepy. That’s me all over. 

That was the beginning of Spider Racing and because I’m a designer I created a logo for it. This year it was revised because the old spider wasn't fierce enough and looked more like a flea (not appropriate for racing). So this winter I asked Susana Weber to create a helmet for me based on the new spider. The helmet came out so cool that I had to make the car match. 

The application took 2 full, days and I just barely finished it before I had to put it in the trailer to take it to the Glen. The whole front of the car is covered with a huge yellow spider with a thick black outline. I was nervous, would anyone like it? Would they think it was too much over the top? Fortunately it was pretty well received. I had a number of fellow racers comment during the weekend how visible and unnerving it was to see the spider coming up behind them. I’m quite pleased to say that a lot of racers got to see it come up behind them. Even Andy (Jenks) got a chance to see part of it after he passed me on the front straight. As I chased him up through the Esses, I hid the spider under his rear wing. He eventually pulled me and went ahead but not before the spider chased him away.

There is however, a down side to having a big spider on the front of the car. You tend to get watched closely, so I had to keep my nose clean and behave myself.

Upon arrival of Team Northeast (that’s us) at the track at 11:30 Thursday morning we found out that registration would not open until 4:00 PM. Our plans of getting in early and getting set-up had to be put on hold. For the next few hours we brought pizza back and waited. This wasn’t going over really well with us. The weather was getting worse and worse for the next few days (we travel with a lot of technology and keep constant tabs on the weather) and we didn’t want to set-up camp in the rain. 

Around 3:45 we got a report that registration would still be at 4:00 but the track would not let us in till 5:00. About this time, while we were waiting in the registration line, an innocent young woman stepped up to the registration window in an attempt to register before all of us. Well, the fuel pressure increased and I blew a head gasket. I wasn’t happy waiting, having to wait again and deal with a line cutter. So I had to be my normal wise ass self. Good thing the guys were there to pull her off of me before I really got hurt. Wow she was tough! We made up later and I’m painting her house sometime in August. Who says you shouldn’t stand your ground. It all works out in the end.

After we registered and the guys patched me up we headed down to the main gates to wait until they let us in. As we were waiting Pete Tremper stopped by and asked me and the guys to hand out the programs to the folks in line because they had just arrived and he was headed up to registration with the rest. So I grabbed a stack and started to hand them out to the people in line behind us. After handing out a couple the guys yelled for me to look at the cover photo. I'll be dammed, the photo was of 7 cars headed up the Esses from last years race, and right in front, leading all the other cars, including Alan Friedman in his 924 GTS, was yours truly in my ’90 S2 that I wrote about earlier this year. What a fitting tribute to a great car that never gave me any problems. It was also pretty cool when thousands flocked around me to sign their program.

Once they let us in we started looking for the perfect spot to set-up the Team Northeast Klubhaus. We decided on a grassy area close to the pyramid. Last year we were in the gravel and that didn't really appeal to us. The grass was a pretty good choice but after all the rain we had it would have been nice to have a weed whacker with us. So we set-up the car tents, 2 18' x 20' tents hooked together for 4 full bays of parking. We put my trailer on one end and set-up our sleeping tent behind it. Not to say we require a lot of room but an official from the state of NY came by and gave us a zip code. 

I have to say the weather sure didn't look as if it was going to make all my last minute efforts to get the car done worth it. But we were all pleasantly surprised when the sun came out for all of the sprint races on Saturday and for the majority of the enduros on Sunday. Granted we all had to practice and qualify in the rain but our races were all dry. 

On a sadder note, one of the volunteer workers passed away from a heart attack right before the dinner Saturday night. I heard from someone who knew him that he was always one of the first people to call and volunteer to work. I didn’t know this person but he was there to make my weekend better. For that reason I will be forever grateful to him. Thank you Drew.
 

The Vent Window
One last thing. I am adding a new section to my article called The Vent Window. There are always one or two things that bother me during the month that I need to vent about. Last month was the sudden and unnecessary death of Bob Akin during practice for a vintage race at Road Atlanta. I don’t know all the details so I will keep my mouth shut but it was still very sad.

This month I would like to address how abiding by Club Racing rules can alter the finish of a race. A couple of years ago I became friends with a couple of guys from a New York Region. We drove similar cars and had some fun running in DE Events. We were in different classes in Club Racing and that was part of the reason I chose to get into F stock, so I could drive with these guys. As it turns out they were faster than I was this weekend, but I’m still getting a handle on the new car (I know excuses, excuses).

My reason for venting is this. During the weekend we all (Team Northeast) tried to anticipate what our cars would weigh at the end of the enduro. There are minimum weights that have to be met. Andy, in particular, worked very hard to get just the right amount of weigh in the car because his car with no gas left is under weight. We added a 25-lbs. weight that I use to hold down the EasyUp tent, to the passenger floor of his car with a large bolt. As additional precautions we all added 5-10 gallons of fuel during our pit stops.

Upon completion of the Enduro my 2 buddies from New York were 1st and 2nd, there was another 911 in 3rd and Andy was 4th. All 4 were required to get weighed. The 911 driver already knew he was underweight. The scales confirmed he was 17 lbs. light. The 2 guys from New York were also 10-15 lbs. light. Andy on the other hand was 26 lbs. over (how much do you think the 25 lbs. weight and bolt contributed?). So Andy won. The other 2 Team Northeast cars in F took 2nd and 4th in class. We dominated!

When I got home I emailed my buddy in New York to find out how such a smart guy could make such a bonehead mistake. His answer was, “I know I won, You know I won”. Sorry, he didn’t win. He may have crossed the finish line first but Andy out thought him. Andy followed the rules and won by the rules. Congratulations Andy!

Maybe next month I will know more about the F Class car that made light contact with the wall and proceeded to drive down to the village of Watkins Glen and try to make it look like it never happened. So far all I know is that the scrutineers were not happy with his efforts. Punishment is sure to follow.

So for now, remember my driver's window is always open and the vent window is closed.