Porsche Club Race July 31 - Aug 1
Check out some pictures of Dave Fry and Autowerks' weekend at Mosport in the Race Gallery
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Dave Fry Reports his take on the weekend:
Well, after a season full of lots of GOOD luck, the BAD luck gremlins found us this weekend, causing us problems every day except Sunday.
Synopsis:
Weds - new axles for the car were held up in customs, and it was raining anyway, so I drove the Panamera a few laps on the track and packed it in.
Thurs - Courtney put the old axles back in the car so we could run for the day. Green track because of the rain on Weds taking all the rubber off. Nobody doing really fast times, but we are right there at the top. All going good until 4pm. Turn 5 (Moss Corner). 5th gear in, downshift, downshift, downshift into 2nd. The 3rd downshift might have been too soon and something breaks. Big sound like a bunch of nuts and bolts in a blender. Car coasts to a stop. No forward drive in any gear. The session keeps going, so I have to get out of the car and walk back to the pits. Nice 20 min walk through the bush!
We get the car back and hope that it's the axles, b/c we now have the spares. After about 90 mins of disassembly, Courtney finds that the differential housing in the gearbox has completely sheared off. Problem now is that there are only two people in North America that know how to fix these gearboxes - one in Cincinnati, the other in California. So Courtney decides that he and Brian are going on a roadtrip to Cinci! They pack up the gearbox and head out that night, arriving in Cinci at 730am Friday.
Friday - Courtney and Brian meet the gearbox guy at his shop outside Cinci at 730 and are back on the road at 9am. They arrive back at Mosport at 8pm. 3 1/2 hrs work on the car putting the gerabox back in, as well as the new axles. At 1130, they notice a leak in the front center radiator.
Saturday - We find another, used radiator with one of the other teams, and quickly get it in the car for the warmup before qualifying. On the outlap, warning lights flashing everywhere. Come into Turn 8, the hardest breaking area on the track, and the car is almost sideways under breaking at 200k! Something aint right! Drive by the front straight and Courtney tells me there's something leaking out the back of the car. So I immediately pull over and off the track to avoid covering the track with whatever is coming out of the car. We get the car towed in and realize that all the coolant/water is gone from the car. Thankfully, it's just a hoseclamp that is a quickfix.
So, on to qualifying, and we've had no laps since Thurs! We get to the grid late and all the cars are already out, so I just get out and go as fast as I can. We manage a 1.2430 (my best time ever!), good enough for 2nd in class and 5th overall.
We are late to the grid and lose our grid spot, and they put us last on the grid for the race! First lap is a warmup lap, behind the pacecar, get the tires warmed up. Through turn 5, on to the back straight with some speed, and the hood flies up and smashes the windshield! I pull off the track and see if I can get the hood down to drive back to the pits.
So, I get it back to the trailer. Smashed windshield and a bent hood. We're done for the day.
Sorry to everyone that came to watch. At least we had a good lunch!
But, we aint done for the weekend yet!
Courtney sources a new windshield from Downtown Porsche and we have an extra hood back at the shop. We have an installer come in from Bowmanville, and its back to race ready at 8pm Sat night.
Sunday - need to get out in the warmup and get a few laps in before the 90 min race. Manage a low 1.25, for fastest in the warmup.
The grid for the Enduro is set from the fastest lap of the 2nd sprint race from Sat. Because I didn't race, I start the race from last (25th?). But it's a long race and anything can happen?
Good start, passing 3 cars into the first turn. We get a yellow flag a couple of laps in, which backs up the field and I'm in 10th by now. We go green and I get stuck behind 2 slower GTC4 cars (my class). After 5 laps of not being able to get by them, I come into the pits, early, at 30 mins. Picture perfect pitstop and we're in and out at 5 mins, 1 second! Great job team! I come back out into open track and put down 30 mins of fast laps, including some 1.24 laps! Gradually make up time and spaces and am in 3rd place overall, 2nd in class with 20 mins to go! 20 seconds behind the leaders. Randy Oswald, who is leading overall, and also in my class, has to make an unscheduled pitstop and change a corded tire. This drops him to 3rd, and moves me to 2nd overall and first in class! I'm about 12 seconds ahead with 15 mins to go and just keeping asking Courtney on the radio how much time between us. He closes the gap to 10 seconds as MY front tires are also starting to go, but that's all he can do.
So, we end up 2nd overall, and first in class! Our 2nd win of the year!
What an amazing team effort and a great end to the weekend that had up till then, been filled with such bad luck.
Thank-you for those that came out to watch and support me on the weekend. From what I hear, it was quite a race to watch!