944-spec Charity Challenge!

[Tim Comeau]

Hey drivers!
Things went well yesterday and 14 different drivers tried their hand at driving the 944-spec challenge car. At the end of the day, the head to head competition saw Jad Duncan at the top of the heap again. This drivers competition has proven pretty popular with those club members who wish to compare their skills against others in the same exact car.
Also, please keep in mind that 10% of the procedes generated during the entire year will be donated to the PCA's designated charity or charities in the name of PCASDR and CRE, Inc. That's the charity part of the challenge.
Denise Dente gets the "cheese grater of the day" award for flat-spotting a tire down to the steel belts! No, the car doesn't have ABS like the GT3. No problem, I brought a couple spare tires and wheels just in case.
Here's how the drivers stacked up:
1. 1.35.81 J. Duncan
2. 1.36.65 M. Kinninger
3. 1.37.32 M. Reinhardt
4. 1.38.04 P. Young Sr.
5. 1.39.07 E. Kinninger
6. 1.39.56 B. East
7. 1.41.08 K. Crosser
8. 1.41.89 S. Molloy
9. 1.42.38 J. Chambers
10. 1.43.04 G. Igartua (Welcome back Gabriel!)
11. 1.43.77 S. Coley
12. 1.43.83 D. Dente
13. 1.44.43 B. Earll
14. 1.48.81 P. Young Jr.
To be fair, several of the drivers would go much faster with a little more seat time in the spec car. Most of the drivers who had to adapt from newer models made their biggest mistakes while braking. These spec cars do not have ABS, so the driver must quickly learn threshold braking. That's the only bad thing about ABS.
It was fun for me to watch the friendly competition and listen to the trash talking and excuses. Some were pretty funny! I'll try to make one of my cars available at every AX for this Charity Challenge if you drivers want.
At your service,

[bryanearll]

I've never driven a 944 or a Spec (or frankly any other Porsche but the 996), that said, it was a wholly different feeling and I'm confident that improvement is tied to more seat time in the car.

Fun!

To me the car felt more like a go-kart, HAH! Gives me a huge bunch of respect to the drivers that can and do drive the piss out of it. It just brakes much more quickly and accelerates much more slowly than my car. I got out of the car thinking I probably needed to brake HALF as much as I did...LOL...another 3 laps please!! Which does BEG the question, for another $20 can I get another 3 laps?

What the car did do was give me a bit more feel for what the 996 could do. (and for what Jon Witte can do...LOL)

What I would like to do is get about 1-2 hours straight in the little car turning over lap after lap. Then I might 'grow up' and need to race KP with the big boys. Burl's car is always for sale for the right price.
Bryan

[Bill Addy]

Funny thing about a momentum car, it makes you a better driver . Better feel for the road and usually for less$$$ invested .

[bryanearll]

On that momentum car note:
Positioned at CW position 5 at the top of the track. I did take note and call out to 'base' (and for whoever was listening) that the 914 drivers ought "offer a clinic" on how to drive the top of the course.
b

[Tim Comeau]

Bill, Right you are!

Bryan, You can buy as many tickets as you want. It's just means more money for charity at the end of the year. I sure as hell ain't gettin' rich doing this. It is fun to watch though........
The DE's and TT's are THE BEST for getting seat time. You can enter your street 996 in the HPDE groups within the NASA event this weekend at Willow Springs. Drive only as fast as you're comfortable with. Also, next month is the TT at Buttonwillow, my fave track!
1. I agree about the braking cut in half. BUT,.......it takes much longer to gain speed than it does to lose it. So we use the brakes only as much as we have to.
2. Every time you turn the steering wheel, however slightly, you pay in speed! Any movement of the steering wheel also changes the contact patch of the tire, right?

I'm going to bring my HOT LAP timer next time so we don't have to rely on the club's timing system. We wasted alot of time with multiple re-runs and there were 2 more drivers still waiting for a turn when we had to end the Challenge for the day! Sorry guys, we'll get you 2 (Alan and George) in next time.

[Kim Crosser]

After the time I spent with Tim in a couple of DE events in his car, you'd think I would have learned that you can't come off the brakes in these cars too fast.

I DNF'ed 2 of my 3 runs by popping off the brakes at the end of a braking zone and then plowing right through the other side of the turn. Otherwise, I would have taken another second or so off my time on the last run (yada, yada, yada).

It is fun and enlightening to run the course in both my Boxster and the 944. I am looking forward to doing it again on June 25th.

[TheStig]

I can completely understand the drivers of the spec cars. I'm not experienced enough to fully take advantage of the 944's potential. Tim you're right, more seat time equals faster times. Looking forward to seeing you again at June 25. Lets see if we can get more 944s instead of just 11 in a pic

[Tim Comeau]

We actually got 12 in a row when Dan Chambers came back from helping to pick up the track.

[Denise Dente]

ABS ROCKS!!!

Jad tried to warn me about the brakes... I did listen but frankly have been spoiled with all the modern equiptment like ABS.

I think I'll stick to learning the GT3 for now. I had a hard enough time dealing with the little tires on the rears.

It's always fun.

Denise

[Tim Comeau]

I'd still like to get you racing in a spec car, Denise.....

[Tim Comeau]

This Challenge is supposed to be an exercise in driving fun and not a source of frustration for any club members. In order to make the 944-spec Charity Challenge better for all involved we're going to tweak the program some.
First, we're going to use a Hot Lap system for timing so that the need for reruns is extremely rare.
Second, the Challenge car will not go to the head of the line, but instead fall in line like any other car during that color run group.
Third, we'll limit the number of participants to 12 so that there are an equal number of practice color groups and drivers. 2 groups of 6 colors, right? This means that 1 slot will exist per practice color group and someone will have to go out in the first color group. Drivers will have to sign up for a color group based upon their own driving and corner working schedule. They should probably do so immediately following the drivers meeting to ensure that they get a slot.

[bryanearll]

Source of stress? Did I miss something? Limiting to twelve sounds fine. Head of the line just sounded efficient for the first lap of three, falling in line on subsequent laps sounds fair. I think my times were slowed by Denice's squared off tires... LOL
b

[Tim Comeau]

It wasfunny when Denise flat spotted the tires. I could see the black streaks being laid down on the track going up the hill!
I knew at least one front tire had given its life in the name of speed......