St. Petersburg, Florida

World Challenge Rounds 1 & 2 from St. Petersburg, Florida.

It is a new season for World Challenge and a lot has changed, especially for the #57 Horton Autosport team.

The 2009 season played host to some amazing touring car battles and the Horton Autosport #57 Mazda6 touring car was right in the middle of it for the last four races; doing our part to gain valuable manufacturer points for Mazda.  After recording my career best finish of 3rd at Road America and qualifying on the front row twice, the manufacturer’s title slipped away from us at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca as Acura finished 1-2 to seal yet another manufacturers title (and another driver’s championship for Pierre Kleinubing).  Congrats to them on two hard-fought championships.  2009 was the last year of touring car as we’ve known it for over a decade, but what a way to go out – doors banging and guns blazing.

As the sun rose on the 2010 season it was clear that change had indeed come.  The touring cars of years past now find themselves in a halfway point between Touring and GT called GTS.  The new touring cars are prepared to a tighter rules package to allow for a tightening economy which should result in higher car counts and better racing for the fans.  One thing is certain, World Challenge brings the best road racing show in North America to the track and they will continue that legacy in 2010.

As my team owner and brother-in-law, John Horton, and I contemplated our plans for the 2010 season we were continually left scratching our heads over the new face of World Challenge.  We knew our Mazda touring car would be competitive in GTS, a class that promises the most diverse group of cars in my opinion.  However, we knew this was the perfect opportunity to move into bigger and better things.  Mainly GT, where we felt we could offer sponsors more exposure.  Early in the off season John had talked to Rob Morgan, owner of Truspeed Motorcars in Costa Mesa.  Rob was interested in merging our talents into his already fully-capable Porsche team.  We decided it was worth the trip from Santa Barbara to see what Truspeed had to offer.  Not knowing what to expect, we were subsequently blown away by the Truspeed facility and Rob’s passion for racing.  The synergy was there, the talent, the hardware and of course the competitive nature we all brought to the table… but one thought kept bouncing around in my head: ”Porsche, aren’t those backwards cars”?  Well, after a few laps around our local test track, Buttonwillow Raceway, I quickly changed my mind about any misconceptions I had regarding Porsche handling.  The GT3 World Challenge spec cup car I drove was phenominal.  It stops better, turns harder, and accelerates faster than anything I have ever driven.  It was official, I would be driving a Porsche 911 in World Challenge GT!

Fast forward to March 24th and I’m sitting on an American Airlines flight bound for the first race of the season.  Including that January test session and a quick 10 minute shakedown a week before in Rob’s car, I have just under 45 minutes of real track time in a platform I’m expected to race against the best in the business.  In addition, the first round of the season would be held at St. Petersburg, a tight street circuit that I had been to in 2006 to watch a race, but never driven.  So here we go, first race in a Porsche, first race in GT, first time on a street circuit.  We’re used to operating on a steep learning curve, but this is getting a little over zealous.  At least Andy Pilgrim wrote something nice about me in his blog… I’m thinking that should hold me over until it’s time to actually turn a wheel.

Thursday was a down day for us.  By down I mean we didn’t have to go on the track, but we did have a lot of work to do.  Race cars are a different kind of animal, they are never really “ready” to go on the track.  Sure they can be made safe and as well prepared as possible for that moment in time, but there is always something to fix, improve or simply replace.  Thursday also saw the arrival of our good friends at Jato Project, sponsors of ours the year before under their sister company Street Unit.  The Jato guys donned our white Porsche with beautiful vinyl graphics that really made the car stand out.  While that was going on, I joined Rob and Charles Morgan for a track walk.  That was very valuable for me and I left the track that evening with what felt like a decent grasp of the track.  Tomorrow we’d finally see where we stack up against some of the best in the world.

Friday morning we drove to the track in darkness with only the shimmering reflection of our headlights off a wet road to help prepare my eyes for the whirlwind that lay ahead.  Super, a wet practice session.  For those of you that may read this and wonder what the big deal is – imagine trying to navigate a cutlery store in a blackout with a bad case of the sneezes.  We took to the track for our first session as the puddles were slowly drying.  Not ideal considering my green status witih the car and track.  We managed to have a good practice session, but not divoid of problems.  A blown fuse left my dash blank for a few laps (our instrumentation is a digital display that relies on power, unlike the analog gauges they use in NASCAR) and an issue with a stub axle coming loose ended our session early.

Friday afternoon was dry and perfect for what the Horton Autosport team does best, improve.  We made quick work of dialing in our Porsche 911 given the short amount of track time we had to work with.  We made positive changes with the help of our Penske Racing Shocks which have more adjustments on them than Starbucks has coffee beans.  We moved up the timing sheets and were knocking on the top ten.  The session wasn’t without incident though as I made a mistake through a fast right-hand sweeper, losing control of the car and grazing the wall.  These were the kinds of teething pains I expected though.  I expected qualifying would go well for us because my fast laps came late in the session as everyone else was slightly off thier earlier pace.

Unlike schedules of the past where qualifying sessions are on a Saturday, at St. Petersburg the double-header schedule meant qualifying was to be Friday in the late afternon.  That meant we had to prepare our car and make our qualifying changes within a narrow window of time.  John and Andris, our Engineer, worked fast and got the car ready for my first qualifying effort in GT.  It would prove to be extremely important because it would determine our starting position for both Saturday and Sunday races.  Historically I was a decent qualifier and I knew I had to dig deep within myself and scrape together some of that “touring car mentality” to give myself an extra dose of crazy before I took my lap.  Due to the 50 minute sprint race format, the starting position becomes exponentially important because the opportunity to improve on your starting position is limited.

Qualifying in World Challenge is similar to Indy or ALMS qualifying.  We grid based on points and practice times with all cars on the track going for that fast lap as opposed to NASCAR where one car qualifies at a time.  Another unique aspect of World Challenge is the tire we race on.  We race production cars, which started life on an assembly line, therefore we run a production car tire: the Toyo R888.  The tire is very good, but it does have some characteristics that determine our qualifying strategy.  Basically we need to get our fast lap on our first flying lap otherwise we will have a tough time keeping the tire under the car for a shot at quick time later in the session.  I grid behind the yellow Corvette of Brian Kubinski and leave myself a little over a second gap as we start our flying lap.  Unfortunately Brian wasn’t quite up to speed on his first flyer and I had closed my gap to him by turn 4.  Then entering the last turn of the lap I was caught off guard by his braking point and made an unfathomable mistake, plowing into the back of his shiny yellow Corvette and nearly turning both of us around.  I gathered the car and scrambled to get to the start/finish line knowing we might not have another shot at a lap.  P8 was the result, but I was extremely bummed knowing that I had ruined not only my lap, but Brian’s as well.  The session was a bust after another car spread grass all over the final corner of the course and we would not have another chance to better our 8th starting spot.  All in all we weren’t too displeased with the result as our goal going into the weekend was to leave with no scratches on the car and a top ten position in the points.  Well we had a few scratches now, but the reality was we would take a few dings if they came with good results.

Friday was a whirlwind of track time and repairs/changes.  After a good meal of KFC courtesy of my folks and sister, we finally left the track around midnight.  Saturday morning brought the excitement of race day, but I tried to keep my anxiety at bay because we wouldn’t hit the track until the afternoon.  There was a lot going on all day to keep my mind off the battle that would rage later on the streets of St. Petersburg.  Fans stopped by and checked out the amazing Porsche race cars at the Truspeed paddock, especially Charles Morgan’s new 2010 GT3 Cup Car which was wrapped in Privacy Star livery.  I tried to talk to as many folks as I could that stopped by, getting them excited about the series with our unique sprint racing format and heart-pounding standing starts.

Pre Grid for the race was bustling.  Fans were everywhere as series announcer Tom Hnatiw warmed them up in the way I can only describe as similar to that WWF announcer who says “let’s get ready to ruuuummmble”!  Here we go, I thought, time to strap in and get ready for Sports Car Wars.  And it all starts with World Challenge’s signature standing start.  The entire field takes its place on the front straight and begins the race from a dead stop as a set of starting lights goes out.  Exciting doesn’t exactly describe the scene.  For the drivers it’s like preparing to run the gauntlet on American Gladiators, but for the fans it’s absolute motorsports bliss.

Speaking of standing starts, did I mention I had never done those in a Porsche before?  Well as race time approached that became a bullet point in my brain.  I must have asked everyone who currently drives or had driven a Porsche in the series what technique they used to luanch.  That proved to be a little more info than I needed bouncing around in my head as the 5 second board was shown and the start lights turned on… what the heck was I going to do!  By default, and I say default because I didn’t really have the brain power to weigh the pros and cons of each starting technique as the lights went out, I ended up going with Tony Rivera’s technique which was a little more finesse of the clutch and gas.  To my surprise, I got a great launch and picked up two spots on the start.  That was the good news, the bad news was that former touring car driver Kuno Wittmer, now driving for Dodge, had filled up my mirrors with his red Viper.  He also gave me some help through the slow sections just in case I didn’t see the big snake with fangs logo inches off my bumper.

Kuno got by me, but had a little incident with the wall which meant I would inherit my spot back.  Even though Kuno had his issues I wasn’t out of the woods.  I had a very determined Brian Kubinski in that yellow Corvette behind me and I was sure he hadn’t forgotten my little mistake in qualifying.  After a brief caution we were back underway and Brian was fast.  I looked for teamate Rob Morgan to help keep Brian occupied and he did brilliantly, but a faulty fuel pickup meant he would eventually have to give up the fight.  A little issue with traffic allowed Brian past me and the handling of my Porsche seemed to be ailing as the race went on.  Hot track temps and a lightening fuel load weren’t helping.  Not over yet, I thought as I tested the brakes on Brian’s corvette a few times into turn 1.  On one attempt I got inside him and we touched in the middle of turn 1, but the fight went on with Brian staying ahead.  Then finally the brakes on the Corvette said uncle going into turn 1 and I was up into the 4th spot and it would stay that way through the final laps.

Fourth place in my first GT race, my first race in a Porsche and my first race at St. Petersburg.  The guys were pleased and so was I, but there was a lot of work to be done.  Handling issues had to be addressed and we were determined to fix them before Sunday’s race.  We worked late into the night and made our changes after long deliberations with guys that have more time working on Porsche race cars than I have years on this earth.  We were feeling very good about Sunday.

Another early morning.  At some point I’m thinking I will turn into a zombie or at least form a serious dependancy to Starbucks.  A lot of bustle around the track Sunday morning as the Indy cars would be racing later in the day.  My head was elsewhere as we were about to start the second round of Sports Car Wars.  Would I be able to crack the top five again?  I was very hopeful.  Time to strap in and prepare for another hair raising standing start.

Lights out, we’re racing.  I got another great launch and again picked up a couple spots down into turn 1.  I ran into trouble though as I found myself behind Porsche driver James Sofronas who seemed to be held up on the outside of turn 1.  I waited for the traffic to get sorted out and blasted through turn 2 and into turn 3.  Houston we have a problem.  As I turned into the third turn of the track on the first lap the back of my car found the nose of Steve Ott’s Nissan GTR.  Why he thought that move was going to work, I don’t really know, but around I went trying to lock the brakes so I wouldn’t spin into the wall.  As I was spinning thinking to myself “really, did that just happen”, almost on que the Ott’s Nissan rams into my front right fender and climbes over my car using its AWD, monster truck driveline leaving me a great view of the Nissan’s underpinnings and adding insult to injury.  So there I sat, spun and driven on, helpless in the middle of the track as the rest of the GT, GTS and Touring Car field came roaring around turn 3.  My mind played out a few scenerios, none of them would have left my mother conscious had they really played out.  The talent of the World Challenge field saved me as all the drivers managed to miss me, save for one love tap from the DG Scion of Robert Stout.  Good driving guys, John Horton, my mother and most importantly our body shop thanks you!

I was able to continue with a roughed up nose and pieces of my fender gone.  Two trips to pit lane for quick repairs and a lot of tape kept me on the lead lap; what an amazing crew!  Those guys were picking carbon fiber pieces out of their hands for days because of that pit stop.  That is some serious dedication.  And a lot can be said for Porsche durability.  Not many cars, if any, can take the full weight of a Nissan GTR (a tank of a car) driving over the front right and keep trucking.  Our little Porsche was battered and bruised, but we were still in the fight.  After a few laps of yellow we started at the end of the pack, right behind our new friend, Steve Ott.  After passing Ott, the touring car and GTS fields, I found myself gaining on the back of the GT field.  We may salvage this race yet, I thought.  God and the racing gods had different plans though as I had a spin in turn 10, coming to rest against the wall.  Whether I had made a driving error or something in the front right suspension had finally given way due to the damage earlier, we’re not really sure.  I do know I was driving conservitavely due to the extent of the bodywork damage to our car.  I continued out of turn 10 and into the next corner, the chicane, and that’s when things went from bad to worse as the front right finally caved to the damage and collapsed.  I was left to be a passenger with no control over the unfolding scene… bouncing off the wall several times before coming to rest in the middle of the chicane.  Our poor car that had been so fast and had so much potential sat there unable to move.  I was heartbroken and could barely push the radio button to tell the guys who had worked countless hours the bad news.

It was some time before the wrecker and safety crew could load up the car.  Both left and right front corners were collapsed.  Finally, on the flat bed and now behind the track wall, I climbed out of the car to survey the damage.  Bad.  I couldn’t believe it.  So much time, effort, blood, sweat and tears and all for nothing.

Now came the embarassing walk through the infield back to the pits.  Spectators look at you a little weird when you’re walking through the hot dog line in your driving suit.  I’ve had to do it once before at Road Atlanta in 2008, not fun.  The National Guard guys were nice, they gave me a smile and an unspoken nod.  Had I been in a better mood I would have liked to stop and chat with them.  Next time.

So our goals of leaving the weekend without any scratches on the car were sincerely dashed.  However, even though we finished way down the order on Sunday, we left the weekend 10th in points.  Not out of it yet.  John Horton is a wizard at repairing cars; I’ve certainly given him a lot of practice the last few years.  I’m confident we’ll be back and better for Long Beach, our home track.  Again, we are at a street course I’ve never driven before, but now we’re standing on the experience of a race weekend which feels a lot better than going in blind.

See you at Long Beach!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 at 2:50 pm. It is filed under Race Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.