Hey 986Forum Friends!
I thought that I'd stop by and respond to a few Forum posts and let you know what's been going on!
After going back to SCCA racing in the SRF3 in Sept, 2021 (after the covid lockdown was lifted), I focused heavily on improving my racing. I hired a racing coach, went to the kart track twice a month, hired a performance coach, and continued physical training with running (3-5 miles every other day) and lifting weights (every other day).
The racing coach focused on car handling, passing, and race craft. Karting let me put those things to practice before getting on a race track. The performance coach helped me to work on confidence and the key mental aspects of racing that are personal to each driver. The physical training helped my endurance, strength, and general well being.
When I started racing again in fall of 2020, I was finishing towards the back of the SRF3 pack; 20th of 25 cars. By spring 2021, I was mid-pack, and by summer, I was breaking into the Top 10. Then in October 2021, I finished 3rd on the Podium! This was probably the most intense period of learning that I've done in a race car.
By Nov 2021, I was feeling that I had learned most of what there was to learn from SRF3 and started thinking about what's next. My ultimate goal is to race a 911 GT-3 Cup in a Pro series like SRO or IMSA, so I was thinking about what car and series would be a bridge to racing at that level.
After taking inventory of my skill base as compared to what I'd need in SRO/IMSA, I concluded that I needed 4 things to be ready to move up:
1. I needed to drive a faster, more powerful car with full racing slicks and aero. The SPB and SRF were momentum cars with 200hp, limited grip tires, and no aero. What I needed was something around 300hp on racing slicks and a rear wing. The POC/PCA GT-4 racing class looked perfect. Most of the cars were Cayman's and 996/997's built with 280-325hp on slicks with wings.
2. I had to improve my ability to work with a team. In SRF3, I relied on a team for car build, maintenance, and track support. Having a pit crew is completely different than running your own car. You have to learn to communicate what you need to other people and it's not nearly as simple as it sounds! It takes a lot of work as a driver to learn how to communicate effectively to the car lead and pit crew.
You also have to trust the crew and remember when they screw something up, that they're only human and that you win and lose as a team. As a driver progresses through this process, one option is that you can be a dick and just yell and scream at people. Believe me, it happens. Another option is to learn how to work well with others. I chose the latter path and did my best to never make a crew member feel bad for a mistake (to be honest, crew member have a lot of integrity and pride in their work so they would usually beat themselves up more for making a mistake than I ever would).
3. I needed to become expert at learning new tracks. In SPB and SRF3, I've run at a lot of the same tracks around California for years and know them well. If I hope to make the jump to the Pro level, then I will be visiting tracks that I've never been to before and learning them quickly is a necessary skill. This meant that the next series had to go to tracks that more Pro series race on along with the opportunity/challenge of racing at new tracks to fine tune my track learning ability.
4. In a perfect world, the car would be able to grow from POC-PCA GT-4 to a POC/PCA GT-3. A typical GT-3 car would have 350-400 hp and a better power/weight ratio than Gt-4. Racing a car like this would make it an easy transition to a car at the Pro level.
With all of this in mind, I purchased a Porsche 996/997 POC/PCA GT-4 race car in December, 2021 and went back to racing with the POC/PCA (and sold the SRF3).
The new car is a 2003 996 GT-3 tub with a 2010 997 GT-3 body and suspension that has been converted to a full race car. The engine is the original 3.6 996 GT-3 motor that has been built to 4.0 liters. Stock 996 GT-3 6-spd manual transmission. To run in the POC/PCA GT-4 class, the engine is detuned to 290 hp and weight is added to just over 3100 lbs. The car runs on Michelin or Hankook racing slicks and has front aero planes/splitter and a big rear wing. The Michelin's have more grip and are faster, but the Hankooks last longer. The car has electric power steering to eliminate engine hydraulic steering power losses. There are no electronic assistants like ABS, stability control, or traction control, so its a very driver involved car.
The POC/PCA offered the best range of tracks including some familiar tracks and some new ones that are also used by some of the Pro series.
I've done two weekends of POC racing in this car thus far. The car has an enormous amount of grip with that big wing helping to keep the rear end planted. The car has amazingly neutral handling for a rear-engined 911 but you have to remember that if it does start to come around, you'll need a BIG dose of countersteer to keep the car from spinning (ask me how I know).
I am a much more capable and prepared driver than I was in SPB so I was pleased to win 3 of the 4 races thus far. I'll be heading to Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in two weeks, then back to Willow Springs in May, and then to Miller Motorsports Park (Utah Motorsports Campus? or whatever its called now) in Utah in June.
I plan to continue to document my racing journey. Let me know if you have a preference for platform. Some of the candidates are a Pelican Parts forum thread, Facebook page, Instagram page, or even a YouTube channel. I promise, no Tik-Tok!
I still consider the 986Forum to be my home and I am really happy to be back in Porsche racing!
