Potential energy

Potential energy can be just as beautiful kinetic energy when it is in the form of Porsche 911. As usual there were a few goodies hiding at Lufteknic when we stopped by on our way to Florida. The red 930 is just out of the chassis shop and ready for more serious work to
begin.



Details are intentionally scarce, but let's just say that when your nickname is 'Turbo Don,' and your street car is a 400hp+ 930 of similar vintage, your race car is going to be something altogether earth shattering. Big, BIG things planned, watch this space.



You might also spy Drew's silver 1987 911 Coupe in the background. This one is a project after my own heart. Naturally aspirated 3.8 power, Motec, clean, simple and will be ready to run circles around the new stuff out there, with a style and rawness that newer cars will never be able to match. Soon to be residing at the rear:



Now I know there has been almost an overload of Porsche material lately, and I promise we'll be back to some VW and Audi action soon enough...it's just too bad Audi wasn't at Sebring. So blame them and the ACO / ALMS, not your humble servant here at Der Wolfsburg Rennsport.

_WRS

Pic Post- Patron GT3 Challenge

The other support race for the 12 Hours of Sebring was the Patron GT3 Challenge, essentially a Porsche GT3 Cup class as there are no other makes allowed, yet. The Patron Challenge runs in support of select ALMS events, and it has proved to be quite popular, with more cars in the Challenge than there was in the actual 12 Hours! The cars are pretty quiet (essentially the same thing as the GTC class that ran the main event), but despite this they're a lot of fun to watch. Lots of sliding, lots of varying skill levels and everything from small-time single-car teams to large, extravagant operations. This sort of uneven skill and monetary level means some varying and sometimes rather creative racing lines are used by a lot of the cars, despite all the similarities in base equipment.



I suppose even the small time at this level isn't what you would call cheap, but considering that you can by a low-hour 2008 GT3 Cup car for less than $150k, it's not exactly expensive either. The older cars won't have the horses, as they use a 3.6 motor, but it's got everything else...sequential transmission, Motec data acquisition, the works. And with a little bit of luck, you might just end up with something to really be proud of...something with some substance. This 3rd place car from Auto Body Ltd had a very small, unmarked trailer, with a small tent and crew of as many family members as anything else, and they went back to Canada with some goodies.





A terrible location for pictures I know, but they were really pushing through here, as the Kelly-Moss car demonstrates.





I could be wrong, but the Maxwell Paper Products car appears to have a left front tire going down in this picture.



On the flip side of the money and crew spectrum, NGT (when announced I thought they said NGP, which rather obviously had me doing a double take) had about 5 cars in the event, a HUGE transporter with absolutely top of the line equipment. They more or less dominated, as their trophy table made clear...and spared no expense in doing so.















Taxmasters (!) had a lot of dough on display as well, with three cars in the race. I really liked the 70s inspired colors and designs being run by these, as well as other cars in the event.



Finally (finally!), we'll have a full pic post from the race itself a little later on this week...including what I consider to be the very best picture I have ever taken. The results may be in but we've still got some cool stuff to see, including some great night-time shots.

Full size pics as usual, over here.

_WRS

Patron GT3 Challenge

Our next installment from Sebring will touch on the supremely successful (from a numbers standpoint) Patron GT3 Challenge. That won't be until tomorrow, so in the meantime here is one of my favorite cars from the event. It wasn't the fastest by a long shot, but the sponsorship and colors really helped it stand out.

_WRS

Sebring 2010 - Day one, part two (SVRA Enduro)

One of the more interesting aspects of attending a full weekend of racing at the track, rather than just going for the main event, is that there is often some sort of vintage racing event going on. Sebring was no different, and there were a few races sanctioned by the SVRA (Sportscar Vintage Racing Association) that we got to check out.



Vintage racing is something that I am only recently becoming interested in. Originally it was because of simple association - 'Let's go to Lime Rock because Alan is running his MG.' - and now because of keen interest. Quite simply, you will see any and all manner of cars and drivers on the track at a vintage race.



Some cars are very old, some not so much, some are blazing fast and some are so slow you have to wonder if your car out in the parking lot would do better, but they are all interesting in their own way. Similarly some drivers are very much in it to win it, as the saying goes, while others are just enjoying their weekend and having a bit of fun.





Perhaps one of the coolest elements is the huge disparity between the cars. GTP, Trans Am, American muscle and German flat six are all going head to head, with some surprising results on occasion.





This Corvette, for example, was an absolute monster on the track. It managed to make the GT2 cars which are currently being run by the General look a bit slow and tame. There was also a 90s Trans Am series Camaro which was equally impressive, but I failed to get any decent pictures of it.





As per usual, there were multiple Porsches on hand. Here we had everything from late 60s up to a 2003 GT3R. Josh and I were particularly excited to see the GT3R, as it is an ex-Hazardous Sports unit, and still sports sponsorship decals from when it was last run professionally, at Sebring back in 2005.



Robert from Lufteknic supported the team that year, and it was really something to see this car in the flesh, running at Sebring, and with the Lufteknic decals still displayed proudly on the front fenders.



Sadly it did not last the whole one-hour event...a fuel pump is said to have gone down, and rather than risk a blown motor (not cheap) it was retired. More pics of this car in the future...



This little car is definitely one to file under 'huh?' Powered by Ford, and about a million miles from the ground effects, fully enclosed prototype Mazda Kudzu GTP Lite car, which was on the track at the same time.





Yes, this is a Pinto. F-Troop is one of the legendary Sebring camps. We'll have a closer look at some of those in a few days...



This little Datsun 510 was super cool. In my lottery-winner dreams I would defintiely consider adding one of these to the garage.



Flames on overrun...going into the hairpin, BMW CSL Turbo.



I believe this is called a Nimrod. Really. I can't say for sure why it's called that, but it was loud, V8 powered, and had some serious speed. It's from the 60s and looks it, like the sort of car that will take your life if you're not careful.



Did I mention that you can get quite close to the track at Sebring? This is very much an old school track with regards to safety!



Often times the vintage events end up being as much fun as the main attraction. Everyone in the vintage world, it seems, is there to have some fun and get together over a mutual love of the automobile, and that infectious enthusiasm is hard to ignore.



So ends our look at the vintage race at Sebring, and tomorrow we'll look at day two (Friday) for qualifying and some Patron Challenge (Porsche) action. For the full sized versions of these, and MANY more, check out Sebring SVRA Set on Flickr.

_WRS

Sebring 2010 - Day one, part one

As it turns out, traveling thousands of miles, walking tens of miles, shooting thousands of images, hardly sleeping, all while soaking in as much of the experience as possible and then trying to bring them all together in a cohesive manner for a fairly short blog post is somewhat of a daunting task. That clumsy run-on sentence pretty much sums up our Sebring experience. Long, packed with info, and the feeling that while you know you can clean it up and trim some fat, you fear leaving out something crucial or particularly memorable. So where to start? The beginning is usually a good place to do so.



As regular followers know we left the city that never sleeps at around 10:00am on Wednesday, with the plan to drive down straight through, with about a 3-hour layover somewhere along the way.



First stop was the Maryland house (or was it the Chesapeake house?) and things were going quite well. Traffic was minimal and we were making really good time. A drive past the old home town of Baltimore made me thirsty for a nice cold Natty Boh, but we had no time to stop...the miles need to be chased down!



Second stop was Lufteknic down in Richmond, to talk a little shop with Robert and stretch the legs a tad. As usual, there was some eye candy on display. More on this 930 in the near future...



Lunch / dinner at Kitchen 64 made for a rather extended stop, but it was worth it. The sandwiches there are pretty tops at all times. if you're running through and need a quality meal, there are worse choices to be sure.





1997 stopped by in the form of this classic east-coast styled Honda Civic. Stock steelies up front, 17s out back, cut springs and not much else. Was this style popular everywhere, or just in the Mid-Atlantic? Cars like this were all too common back in the day.



Somewhere in South Carolina...



We eventually crashed out for some much needed rest just outside of Georgia. Two things should be noted. One, Mk5 GTis have the LEAST comfortable seats for sleeping in the world. My Mk1 GTI was more comfortable than this thing. The bolsters which make the car so nice in the turns make it nearly intolerable as a bed. The other thing is that if you do sleep in a fairly deserted rest area, maybe don't park by the creepy picnic tables. I woke frequently from my thin slumber to visions of Zombies shambling towards the car. I was quick to volunteer to drive as long as it meant we were far from this place.



A few hours later and we encountered the great Daytona Beach interchange of I95. This marked the furthest south I had ever driven up until now. Immediately past here we jumped on I4 and went through Orlando, and encountered our first traffic, (boo) and a bunch of prostitutes in between Orlando and the Florida turnpike. I mean really, who picks up a hooker at 9:30am?



We drove the deceptively long way down to our hotel accommodations in lovely Okeechobee, Florida. We cleaned up, drank our 10,000th redbulls and headed to the track to pick up our credentials and get a look at the ALMS cars during practice, and the SVRA enduro.



The crowds were pretty thin, and we didn't see any security keeping people from above the pits, so we headed upstairs for a better view. We were naturally confronted by a man demanding a level of credentials that we did not possess, but after some smooth talking by Josh we were issued permission to take a look around, snap some pics and enjoy it while we could, as we 'Most certainly were not going to be allowed up there on race day.' (Sadly he wasn't lying.) The view was pretty awesome.



It was pits...



and track!



Pits...



and track!



It was a full practice with all classes. A pretty large number of cars were taking part, including several of the new LMPC Oreca cars. Powered by 6.2 liter push rod V8 motors, they could add a real sense of power to the events, but they're neutered with mufflers that take all the edge off.



GT2 was where my main focus of interest was, and there was plenty to see. Both BMWs, Flying Lizard 911s and Corvettes were out in force, plus the Falken Tire RSR.







The Autocon Lola prototype looked good in bright orange paint, but this would prove to be one of the only times we would see it out on the track. They did not have a good weekend.



There were a bunch of GTC cars (Porsche Cup cars) out as well, and like the LMPC cars they suffered from a lack of auditory volume...



The big boys were clearly in charge however...the two Peugot 908s glided around the track with a presence that none of the other cars could muster.



Perhaps my favorite livery is the striking Tequila Patron sponsored Ferrari 430s from Extreme Speed Motorsports. Great looking cars.



Our final view of the day, from our exclusive view point saw the whole field streaming down pit lane, no doubt ready to make final preparations for qualifying, set to begin the following afternoon.





Job well done...



But before we get to qualifying we have a whole lot more to cover. The SVRA enduro followed up the ALMS practice, and we needed to walk the track to check the best viewpoints for the big race. Part two coming soon!

For full size pics just click one of them or head over to the Wolfsburg Rennsport Flickr page.

_WRS