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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

By Dave Weber, GT3Cup@PorscheNet.com
NOR'EASTER Online - March 2002

Forty-seven days! As I write this column we're only forty-seven days from our first track event of the 2002 season. Am I anxious to be on the track again, obviously the answer is yes. I've filled out registration forms for most of our planned events for the year; they only need to be dropped in the mail. I've purchased all the tires and brake pads we'll need. Our car will have completed its preseason service by the time you receive this issue of the newsletter. Our trailer also will have been in for service, we don't want any problems along the highway. Even the truck will have been in for service; an ounce of prevention strategy is my mantra!

I've even been working on the driver more this year. I've dialed up my exercise regime, and lost twenty pounds in the process. The weight lost being worth approximately 2 horsepower or so, I've been told! Susana still needs to add some graphics to our new car, but that shouldn't be much of a problem to get completed before our early April trip to Virginia International Raceway.

For those of you who've not driven on the VIR full course circuit, this is a must do soon event. The full track is an absolute blast to drive, and the track facilities the best of any tracks we drive. NNJR, Zone 2, and Potomac Region will have events this year at VIR that will use the full course. While the drive to the track is significant (12 hours), the on-track driving experience will make it a worthwhile trip.

I've decided to add data acquisition capability to our car this year. I've purchased a "Stack" system that will record all manner of information about the car and our driving technique. We'll be able to compare lap-to-lap performance for brake points, acceleration, g loading, and engine data. I've felt for some time that I needed more "facts' if I were to further improve my driving skills, hopefully this technology will assist in that effort. For a fan of gadgets like me, this new capability should keep me entertained for a while mastering all the aspects of the software, and then using these new facts to make changes in my driving technique.

One of the great brand names disappeared this month, when "Speedvision" which was purchased by Fox Television, was replaced with "Speed Channel". The new owners promise more motorsports coverage, and reduced airplane and boat programming, which of course is good news. There have been concerns raised that motorsports coverage would tilt significantly toward NASCAR, but the promos running on TV suggest broader coverage. If the programming in fact does cover a wide range of motorsports, which will of course be great. My hang up is the dumb name, and even blander logo that has been concocted. "Speed Channel" sounds pretty ordinary to my way of thinking, something that was dreamed up after about five minutes of thinking.

I'm hoping that their coverage of Le Mans this year encompasses the full twenty-four hours. That's been the case the last couple of years, but I've not been home to enjoy the broadcast. This year our trip to Mid-Ohio occurs a week earlier, so I'll be able to watch the race. Now if I can just avoid falling asleep while I'm comfortably ensconced on my couch! Maybe I'll practice a bit by watching the full twelve hours of the ALMS race at Sebring in mid-March.

If you collect model Porsches for display, I can highly recommend a new model of Mark Donohue's 917/30 CanAm car. I recently purchased the 1/18th scale model, and found it to be incredibly well done. The details for the engine, cockpit and exterior are really neat. You can purchase the model over the web from www.motorsportcollector.com or locally from AutoFanatics in Essex, MA (www.autofanatics.com). If I were a collector of other marques of automobiles, an additional purchase I'd make is a highly detailed Le Mans winning GT40 Ford. That model looks terrific, a real work of art!

I've also added a couple of books to my motorsport library that I can heartily recommend as entertainment during cold winter evenings The first book titled Moss, chronicles the life of Sterling Moss and offers very interesting text and lots of great pictures. The large format book authored by Robert Edwards chronicles the racing history of Britain's greatest driver Sterling Moss.

For fans of LeMans I recommend you purchase LeMans,24 Hours authored by Brian Laban. I found this to be a very another interesting book chronicling the history of this great race. This book is filled with great images, and lots of interesting facts and figures. I particularly found humorous the antic dote about Caroll Shelby. He's suffered for a number of years with heart troubles, which apparently existed even during his race driver days. In 1959 at LeMans he drove with a nitroglycerin capsule under his tongue, in case he suffered a heart attack while driving! He of course neglected to mention this to his team. Author Laban shares with readers all the details about the race, the rules, the drivers, and the teams throughout the years, including the last overall wins by Porsche.

Finally for fans of prototypes (like the Porsche 962 for example) I recommend you purchase "Prototypes", authored by J.A. Marten and Ken Wells. This book is packed with information on all the various prototype racecars that were built and raced after the creation of IMSA by John Bishop in 1969. Chapters are devoted to each prototype that was built, and include a lot of great images.

Porsche Club of America The Northeast Region

Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region