944-spec AX Challenge on Jan 30th

[martinreinhardt]

Tim,

Thank you for organizing the challenge event again. The car is fun to drive and it was a great opportunity to try one of these famous 944 Spec race cars.

[Tim Comeau]

Thanks, you guys.....
It's really fun for me to show you guys what these little-engined cars can do. They weigh about 2400-2450 and have about 130-135 rear wheel HP.
So it's not that they're blinding fast......they just don't slow down that much for the turns! Dave Marguglio, and ex-944-spec driver and podium finisher, turned an outstanding 1:24.29! THAT'S hauling the mail!!! I watched the whole lap and it was damn near perfect. Only I could have driven the car quicker..........

Bryan,
You bring up some good points. let's address them.
1. The 944 shouldn't be rev'd much over 6,000 rpm. There's no power up there with a stock engine. The torque falls flat on its face at 5800, the HP drops soon thereafter. All you do is stress the bearings out above 6200-6400.
2. The work load was fine for the car and the number of drivers. It's just that many drivers waited until the last minute to drive. Announcements were being made all morning while the car sat idle (idling). We served 13 drivers and could have served 7 or 8 more before timed runs, but people waited too long to jump in the car.
3. Something broke in the tranny. We will pull it tomorrow and then dissect it to find out what failed.
4. When I rent to drivers for the whole event, I do have them sign a contract that says, "If you hurt the car, you fix it." I felt comfortable enough with my regular PCA buddies to know that anyone of you who broke the car would feel that it was the right thing to do to fix the car if you broke it.
It's a PCA thing...........

[kary]

Thanks, you guys.....
It's really fun for me to show you guys what these little-engined cars can do. They weigh about 2400-2450 and have about 130-135 rear wheel HP.
So it's not that they're blinding fast......they just don't slow down that much for the turns! Dave Marguglio, and ex-944-spec driver and podium finisher, turned an outstanding 1:24.29! THAT'S hauling the mail!!! I watched the whole lap and it was damn near perfect. Only I could have driven the car quicker..........

Bryan,
You bring up some good points. let's address them.
1. The 944 shouldn't be rev'd much over 6,000 rpm. There's no power up there with a stock engine. The torque falls flat on its face at 5800, the HP drops soon thereafter. All you do is stress the bearings out above 6200-6400.
2. The work load was fine for the car and the number of drivers. It's just that many drivers waited until the last minute to drive. Announcements were being made all morning while the car sat idle (idling). We served 13 drivers and could have served 7 or 8 more before timed runs, but people waited too long to jump in the car.
3. Something broke in the tranny. We will pull it tomorrow and then dissect it to find out what failed.
4. When I rent to drivers for the whole event, I do have them sign a contract that says, "If you hurt the car, you fix it." I felt comfortable enough with my regular PCA buddies to know that anyone of you who broke the car would feel that it was the right thing to do to fix the car if you broke it.
It's a PCA thing...........

Tim, I may be not understanding what you are saying in #4 but if many other drivers were to have driven before me and possibly abused the car, then I got out there and the motor died or the tranny siezed up, then you are saying I would pay for the repairs because I was in the car when it failed?

[Tim Comeau]

Nope. Not at all.
I can tell the difference between a driver induced failure and a part failure. If it was time for a part to fail, that's it. You're not going to stress the car any more than I do in full race conditions. These cars are reliable as they are. Stock engines. There's really only 2 ways to hurt them: over rev the engine (valve train), or lock up the brakes(tires). In either case, the driver was clearly at fault.
If anyone feels that they can't stay within the limits of their driving ability, they shouldn't assume the risk of damaging anyone else's car...........
For those who feel they can, I offer a really fun form of competition.