|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Activities
Nor'easter News
Car Care
Membership
Other Cool Stuff
Sponsors & Advertisers
|
Porsche
Club of America
The
Driver's Window
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Well our season has started. Andy and I just got back fro the Mid-Ohio Club Race in Mansfield, Ohio. We knew going into this that the competition was going to be fierce. That was an understatement. We decided to spread the 12 hour ride into 2 days just to make sure that Andy's back could take the ride. So we got to the track around 1:30 and set up camp right next to the EPE group. Greg Brown has a nice semi rig that transports the Brensinger's car, Bob Cohen's car and Greg's car. Jerry Pellegrino just came along for support. Before I get into the weekend I need to tell a funny story. While at dinner with those guys we started talking about embarrassing track moments and here's mine. Right after I bought the 944 turbo from Don Istook I took it up to Mosport for a 3-day Driver Ed event. My dog at the time was Bosco and since he was a shy little guy I decided to bring him to the track. So I got a steel cable and a full harness for him just to make sure he would not get nervous and bolt. Well things were pretty good for a while until Saturday afternoon when I was out running in the black run group. I was headed down the front straight when some guy leaned over the pit wall and was waving frantically at me. All I could think of was they lost all the flags until I saw Bosco running on the outside of Turn 1. According to Rick Bye he watch as Bosco cleared the 4 foot high fence on the fly (Bosco could jump) and ran across Turn 1 as Russell Castagna and another driver split him at speeds. So they Red Flagged the session and by this time Bosco had made his way down to Turn 2. I drove down to Turn 2 while all the rest of the cars were parked beside the track. Since Bosco was shy he wouldn't come to anyone other than me. I loaded him into the car at Turn 2 and had to drive the rest of the track, passing the other cars still wondering what was going on, with Bosco's head sticking out of the passenger window like some Sunday drive in the country. Needless to say I got a lot of grief that weekend plus the lingering joke that Bosco knew the track better than me. Anyway, back to the Mid-Ohio race. Saturday was a mess, it rained all morning and afternoon with a slight break for our fun race. So we skipped the first practice but did the next 2 in the rain never getting very comfortable on a difficult track. The problem I was having was I never felt comfortable and spent my track time driving one corner at a time. At Mid-Ohio that is a problem. I could never get into the sub-conscious mode. That might be partially because I was on Michelins and not Hoosiers. The fun race was good but the front runners were really fast. Mid-Ohio is definitely a track that local knowledge helps on. By race time Andy and I had only 3 dry sessions each. This year Mid-Ohio added a 60-minute enduro. Unfortunately ours was Saturday after the fun race. So we all staged in the false grid as it started to pour. I clearly did not want to race in a down-pour so as soon as they led us out to the track I turned down pit lane. After narrowly escaping spinning cars and pour visibility several others and Andy came in. Sunday, although a bit on the chilly side, was great. Our first practice was good but I was still 6 seconds slower than the leaders. Andy was less than a second quicker than I. In qualifying we picked it up some and ended up grided 18th out of 45 and Andy was 13th. The race was fun but I was still not on my game. I was over-breaking and not taking any chances. Somehow I just like the way Hoosiers slide as opposed to the Michelins. Hopefully work picks up so I can get a couple sets. Andy and I both had good battles on our hands. Unfortunately a clip on one of Andy's valve springs came loose causing him to lose power and drop out 18 minutes into the 30-minute race. I had to fight off a fast G car for the last 12 laps and never had a chance to run with Andy who was only a little way ahead of me fighting with an equally fast H car before he dropped out. So going into this we were going to be happy with a top 10 finish. I finished 13th overall out of 45 cars and 8th in class out of 17 cars. Not great but we'll be faster next year. Still to come this year is the Glen, Mosport, Road America and Summit Point. The car is running great so the year still has potential. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright
1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
PCA/NER
Year 2000 Web Site Design by www.sitesofboston.com |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
