Last Saturday I Raced Against Porsche Factory Driver Patrick Long
For real, on a track, in real race cars, no joke, no asterisks.
Here is the story...
Late Saturday afternoon following the Sprint race, the POC held their annual Tribute to Le Mans 3-hr enduro. I was on a relay team with two other Boxster's where we each drove our own cars for about 1 hour and then come in and the next person goes out.
There are time handicaps to equalize the difference in cars and between teams so in theory, a Spec Boxster team could beat a team of Cup cars.
Porsche factory race driver Patrick Long was in Los Angeles and one of the teams invited him to the event to drive in a 911 Cup car. He drove during the first stint so we were in the race together for about an hour.
Of course, his car was much faster than my Boxster (about 10 sec's per lap faster) so I never really raced him side by side, but he did pass me twice during the hour. And I am very proud to say that I didn't do anything stupid while he was passing me. You have to relish the small victories friends!
All in all, it was very cool to even be in the same race as someone like Patrick Long.
In regards to endurance racing - its hard. An hour was quite a long time to need to focus and maintain my performance level. My goal was consistency in lap times and I had set a goal a few seconds slower than my typical qualifying time. My thinking was that this would be achievable and allow me to settle into a rhythm.
The start was chaotic, but after the first few laps things calmed down and I was basically time trialling while watching the rear view mirror for much faster traffic coming up! It is amazing how much ground a Cup car can gain in just a few seconds against a 2.5L Boxster. And they often blew by about a foot away just to make sure that I was awake!
After an hour, I was physically beat with particular aching in my neck muscles from over-straining them against the g-forces for an hour. Now I know firsthand why NASCAR and Indy drivers use a big head rest on the outside of their seats. Ok, its for safety too but the neck rest must come in handy.
Overall, a great experience despite our team finishing about 2/3's of the way down the entrants list.