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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

Pit Pass

By Bill Chadwick
NOR'EASTER Online - March 2006
Northeast Region Logo

In my library are several books abounding in stories of epic races and drivers. High on the list for multiple mentions is the 12 Hours of Sebring. For fifty-four years this race has consistently brought the best from around the world to some converted WW II air strips in central Florida’s orange grove country. The year I was born the great Fangio won it for the second strait year.  Sebring’s rough concrete has helped forge many of the great drivers in racing history, winners include Surtees, Phil Hill, Ickx, Andretti, Elford, Gurney and Bell to name a just a few. Porsche has a strong lead in total wins at this classic race with Ferrari second and now Audi is moving rapidly up the list.  It is a testament to the longevity of this race to view the list of different Porsche models that have taken the overall crown. RS60, 907, 917, RSR, 935, 934 and 962 have all taken the crown; the 935 and 962 models alone account for ten wins with six and four win respectively! One treat on this trip was the American LeMans test and tune that was underway when we arrived to drop our trailer at the track. A pair of the new turbo-diesel powered Audi R-10’s were silently running lap times at track record pace. Can’t say that I cared for how they sounded but the drivers were definitely making use of their reported 1000+ Ft. Lbs. of torque!
   
PCA club racing is establishing its own great tradition at Sebring. This was the 13th consecutive running of our race weekend at this classic track. Between the lure of running this historic 3.7 mile layout and the Florida warmth in mid February this event is always hugely attended. Sixty-six cars was the average starting grid for the three sprint race groups. this combined with the unusually cool temperatures made getting tires hot and finding clear track for qualifying runs a challenge. Even with these large grids my impression was that major incidents were down significantly from prior years. Florida’s Sun Coast and Gold Coast regions combine to put on this massive event and they deserve the highest praise. As large as this event is, it rivals any I have been to for organization and hospitality.
   
That PCA Club Racing continues to grow was shown by the number of new provisional race licenses issues at this weekend, I lost count but there must have been fifteen or more, I hear we are approaching three thousand licensed racers. Our importance in the market place and the respect PCA racing is gaining is shown by a new trend that I hope will expand. This being, contingency sponsors offering prize money or credits on merchandise for those who sign up, display decals and meet performance goals. FVD.US had some very nice rewards based on Enduro race results. I was not familiar with this firm before this weekend but perusal of their at track display and web site shows they carry a wide variety of high quality Porsche performance products. 
   
A quick scan of the results show Cliff Sander returning from a long layoff with a GTC2 sprint win, also returning to action after a long layoff was Wayne Mackie. Barry Brensinger brought home the B class sprint crown.  While not making the podium other NE US notables Mike Piera, Pete Tremper and Manny Alban, were seen enjoying some warmer weather and the competition. Chris Musante brought home GT-3S 2nd  in both of his races. Greg Brown in what I believe was his first outing in his GT3C cup improved his lap times steadily all weekend and came home a very strong 10th overall in his Enduro
   
With my article on sponsorship last month in mind, here is my tongue in cheek personal race weekend report.
   
Weeel the Euroootech, New Holland, Saaacooo Sports 935 was a little tough to get hooked up at Sebring. We qualified sixth for the sprint but I lost it on the first lap. Wuz able to keeeep-errr off the wall but by the time I got er back on track we crossing the stripe 37th at the end of the first lap. She came to me a little dur-in the race and we got er back up to 13th. The race was won by Leh Keen with Norm Goldrich and Jay Policastro rounding out the top three
   
Old Billy-Bob Pfister kept ajusten on-er and we wuz able to qualify 4th for the Enduro. We knew we had a good race car for long runs with the Leaf Racewear Porsche and shur-nuff we were up to second by the pit stop. My pit crew George Skaubitis and old Billy-Bob nailed the stop on lap 26 and we come out 8th. We wuz back to 4th on lap 27 as cars cycled through the pits. We took the lead fer-good passing the 1st and 2nd place cars with eight laps to go. OK that’s enough NASCAR speak
   
Our enduro covered one hundred and thirty-seven mile in its one and one-half hours. With the mandatory five minute pit stop that’s and average speed of 91.3 MPH if you remove the pit stop time the on track average speed was 97.2 MPH. The very strong GT1R field was thinned some by the time the Enduro started. Norm Goldrich 2nd in the sprint and Speed Word Challenge veteran Rick Gilhart 4th decided not to run, and unfortunately Gene McGillycuddy and Stewart Tetreault were lost due to contact and the 13/13 rule. This year saw our race group have the usual mix of all-out Pro drivers practicing for the 12 hours as well as many strong PCA and IMSA Cup regulars. A walk around the paddock allowed spectators to see several of the top Porsche racing organizations. Farnbacher-Loles, The Racers Group, Obit and Synergy all were supporting multiple 997 and 996 Cub cars.  Race fans could easily gather autographs from four Rolex 24 winners, and several other race and championship winners from Super-Cup, German Formula 3, Grand Am and American LeMans who were racing at this event. A very nice treat for me was Randy Pobst (proud owner of a new Rolex watch) offering to look at my in car video from qualifying. Naturally I took him up on it!
   
With two people sharing the driving duties it is fairly easy to make the haul to Sebring in three comfortable legs driving the western route. This fourteen hundred and seventy-five mile route (Tappan Zee Bridge, PA, MD, VA, Columbia GA and back onto I-95 South) is good driving and greatly reduces tolls.  We left Swansea at 3 PM Monday and made our first stop at Hagerstown MD near the Pennsylvania border. A good night’s rest and a 6.30 AM wake-up put us in Savannah GA for dinner Tuesday. After a good breakfast we were comfortably at the track for 2 PM Wednesday, where we dropped out trailer. This left us plenty of time to shop stocking up our food coolers, check in, get cleaned up and enjoy a relaxed surf and turf dinner at TJ Gator’s.  Although Sebring is very flat is has everything else a PCA racer or DE participant could ask for. It’s long with high speed sweepers, compromise combinations and hairpins. The track has several rough sections that test the driver and suspension. Though not brutal on brakes due to cooling on the long straits this course will definitely account for some serious pad wear. I would strongly recommend this as a great destination for a winter DE getaway. There are a lot of lake front cottage rentals in the area. I would imagine families could enjoy a nice combination of lake front relaxation, fishing, driving and Orlando/Disney with a little planning. 
 
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