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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

The Driver's Window

By Steve Boris, Boris@Porschenet.com
NOR'EASTER Online - May 2006
Northeast Region Logo

There are many of us that still insist on building our track and racecars. Not many of us can afford the cars we would like to race even though they may be cheaper than the sum total of our spending on our present cars..
   
For me the ultimate racecar would be the 993 based Cup Cars. As many of the PCA racers will admit the 996 Cup Car classes tend to be filled with pro racers either practicing or using the race as a test and tune for an upcoming major race. This in itself is not bad because what better way to measure your own level of driving competence than to have Wolf Henzler as a rabbit. Unfortunately the problem comes with the equipment. Tires specifically! There is only one thing worse than trying to keep up with or beat a pro. That is trying to keep up with or beat a pro with fresh tires for every session.
   
Tires can be a great advantage OR disadvantage. Now I can not speak on the freshness gains of slicks but a fresh set of Hoosier for most drivers is probably 1.5 to 2.5 seconds, maybe more. 
   
So the main reason we go racing is to try and win. If that is not possible because you didn’t bring 6 sets of tires it can get frustrating. In fact many people have gone back to run 993 Cup Cars, street GT3s and so on. Which brings me back to my love for the 993 Cup Cars. This in my opinion is the next great racing class other than the stock classes. Proof of this is already evident with the price of 993 Cup Cars reaching those of some 996 Cup Cars.
   
As for the 964 Cup Cars, no doubt these are great cars and from what I understand an awesomely fun car to drive but there are not many of them in the Club races. Right now there are at most on a race weekend maybe 4. The other problem is that Porsche made two types. The European race version and the US semi street version each run in different PCA classes. To my knowledge they are very similar cars with the exception of a slight horsepower advantage going to the euro. I don’t think the difference is as much as that between a 2000 996 Cup Car and a 2005 996 Cup Cars which run in the same class.
  
It is not uncommon for our buddy Bob Cohen (and his very lovely wife Martha) to only be racing his shadow at a race weekend and depending on the position of the sun he could come in second.
   
Anyway, until I can afford my 993 Cup I will take pleasure in knowing that my current $100,000 racecar (1986 944 Turbo) is finally perfect. If you count the 2 years I spent working on my S2 before the guardrail in the Toe of the Boot reached out and whacked me, I have been working on them for 6 years. 
   
Taking modification and set-up advice from anyone that can breathe race fuel and smile as made me confused and frustrated at times.
  
How do I know the car is there? We just got back from our first Road Atlanta Club Race. As I stated before we shrewdly waited for them to add an enduro. On the way down Andy and I assessed our competition and ran a couple of possible out come scenarios.

1. The largest registration ever for a single class, 36 drivers in F-class.
2. Of the drivers we knew we picked 10-12 that could beat us on any given day.
3. Most of them have been doing the Road Atlanta Sprint race for years.
4. I did 2 DE events here on 2000 & 2001.
5. Andy has never been here outside of his dreams.

   
Our projection? If we finished in the top 1/2 of the 36 cars we could go home carrying our head high.
   
What actually happened?
   
Sprint Race qualifying: I had the 4th fastest F-class time and Andy had 5th fastest. 
   
New projection! We out qualified ourselves and would spend 30 minutes with our heads pointed up and to the right the whole time.
   
What actually happened?
   
As we reached the splitter hoping to get the outside lane we realize the pole car took the outside lane leaving both Andy and I on the inside. Normally the inside is OK but after our practice starts we decided the outside line would be faster. So as we take the green flag with Andy looking at me in my rearview I start to drift left to just outside of center. This worked out perfectly. Andy and got awesome starts. As usual Andy can be very fast and with the non-turbo car got a better launch out of the Esses and passed me in the brake zone of Turn 6, the fast right-hander before the 115 degree Turn 7 that leads onto one of the longest straights we drive. I figured I had to settle for 5th if that.
   
After 2 laps headed down the back straight Andy missed 5th for a split second and that was all the momentum loss I needed to get by. Unfortunately 3 laps later Andy suffered from a broken rocker and headed in leaving me in 3rd for the rest of the race. The guys that we expected to beat us never caught us. It was great!
   
After the race I was pulling in and found Andy sitting on his cot with the biggest, greasiest screwdriver I have ever seen poised against his tensed little neck. Long story short, him and Jerry Pellegrino took of the valve covers found the broken pieces, replaced them with a new part courtesy of Chris Musante (thanks again Chris) and buttoned the car back together for Andy to win the F-class enduro on Sunday afternoon. How did I do? I spent the first half of the race fighting with Keith Clark a hugely fast 944 turbo driver and the second half with Chris Inglot an equally fast S2 driver. After changing positions with Chris a few times I come into Turn 6 with Chris behind me and an I-class 944 in front of me. That was it. The 944 raced me through 6 & 7 preventing me from getting the much needed launch onto the back straight to stay ahead of Chris. Once on the back straight Jerry radioed that the check was out. As I headed into the brake zone at the end of the back straight I make a strategic move to the center of the track leaving Chris plenty of room on either side. That didn’t help Chris had the run he needed and took the tight inside line and we went side by side through Turn 11 and under the bridge with Chris just slightly ahead. As we head down the hill I had to back out and give it to him otherwise it would have made Turn 12 unnecessarily tough.
  
Because of the mandatory pit stops it is always hard to figure out where you finished. As we head home waiting for the others to call us with the results since they were leaving later than us. We figured Andy had 3rd or 4th and I had 6th or 7th. The pass Chris made on me on the last lap was for 3rd. So I finished 4th. Still a very rewarding race considering all we were hoping for was 17th and 18th.
   
The season has begun! 
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