Racing: Porsche Track Day

This part of the magazine is primarily dedicated to the modification of ones vehicle to either make it look the way we want, sound the way we want or to go as fast as we can make it. Now, in terms of performance modifications, we’ve talked all about the value of good tires, suspension, alignment, ride height, brakes, balance, weight, aerodynamics and all sorts of things you can do to your car to make it go faster. However, there is one thing I’ve yet to touch on, one of the most important parts of the performance equation, that of driver skill.

Now you can have a ridiculously fast car out at a track day and quite easily find yourself being made a complete fool of by much slower vehicles that have no business passing a car with three times their power. I myself use to rally race a measly 110 horsepower, 2WD 1985 Toyota Corolla, and it wouldn’t be uncommon for me to go out and beat a 300 horsepower Subaru WRX STi or Audi TT. On gravel or icy conditions, these cars had a massive advantage over me, however, their drivers did not have the experience to get the most out of their vehicles, and thus, their $80,000 race machines were being passed by my rusted out old $5,000 Corolla.

So, what’s the best way to rectify this situation? Well, you can do what I did, start at the bottom with the slowest car, and over several years teach yourself to whip that car to within an inch of its life, or better yet, you can take a driving school, and learn in a weekend what it took me a year to figure out on my own.

I attended one of Morrisports Advanced Driving clinics out at Mission Raceway to freshen up on my racecraft, with Porsche lending me a rather special vehicle for my track driving tuition. The all-new Carrera GTS, a higher performance version of the Carrera S, which allows drivers who want a higher performance 911, but still want the pure driving experience of a 2WD car. Finally, I would have a proper weapon to compete; finally I was the one in the 400 horsepower car. However, now I need to learn the proper skills so that when I hit the track, I could get the most out of the car.

Morrisports Instructors put us through an extremely informative hour long classroom session, teaching us the basics of car performance, handling, braking, driving line and seating position. From the classroom, we headed out onto the track where we handed our keys over to our designated instructor. For the first five or six laps, the instructors drove our cars around the track, allowing us to do two things. First, realize just how fast the car is capable of going, and how much lateral and braking force it can withstand before it starts to loose grip. Second, it allowed me to study what my instructor was doing to make the car go faster. Everything from the way he sits, where he is looking on the track and the inputs that he is putting into the controls.

After five or six laps, we pull into the pits, and trade seats. Now I’m behind the wheel, and trying to remember everything I’ve just learned in the last few hours. My first laps are ragged and slow. Mixing what I’ve taught myself about racing on loose surfaces is only hurting me on a sticky tarmac track. I’m braking too hard and erratically, I’m getting on the throttle too soon, and I’m just too damn excited. We pit as our groups session is now over, and have an hour or so to go over my performance.

In the car, when the instructor is teaching at speed, I found I was concentrating too hard on the road to take any of his instruction in. Resting in the paddock we go over what needed to be done. Brake earlier and smoother, carrying it into the corner. Wait a little longer to roll onto the throttle, drifting may be the fast way through a forest stage, but on the track it looses you valuable seconds. And finally, relax, stop gripping the wheel with all my might, and put that energy into my left foot to keep me stabilized in the seat. I spent the rest of my off time, going through these fine details in my head, visualizing what I needed to do.

Come next on track session, It was all me behind the wheel and I began letting go of my rallying habits and utilizing my new found skills. Each lap became faster and faster, my line better, and the grin on my instructors face bigger and bigger as the art of racing was finally becoming clear. While we did not have any timing devices on hand, the extra g-forces that I was able to put the car under, and the increasing top speed I was able to achieve on the straight proved my speed was increasing exponentially. I was finally driving a top level car, yet I was starting to real in cars at an even higher level, cars like 911 GT3’s and the manic 911 Turbo S that I had on my great drives series to Mount St. Helens. However, I learned one important fact, that even after several years of racing, I still have a lot to learn.

At the end of the day, I was almost quite angry really. Why didn’t I do this sooner? The value of proper driving skills is easily the most important performance investment you can make with a car. It allows you to ensure that no mater how powerful your car is, that you will be able to get the most out of it. Not only that, but it also gives yo the confidence to pull the car out of an emergency situation if ever needed. If you ever plan to take your car to the track, which is the only place you should be driving it in anger, be sure to improve your cars performance, by investing in a driver-training program.

Feature: Introduction To Motorsports - Autocross

Every Sunday morning, when we turn on the television to watch Porsches, Aston Martins and Ferraris enduring the 24 Hours of Le Mans, or Funny Cars streak down the quarter mile, or a rugged Ford, Subaru or Mitsubishi tearing up a rally stage, there is always an urge hidden deep down inside us wanting to be that fearless soul behind the wheel. The problem is, motorsport is a complex and financially exhausting sport. Cars need to be built to exacting standards that are continuously grilled over by suspicious tech inspectors looking for any deviation from the rulebook. A massive bureaucracy of rules, guidelines and safety regulations must be strictly adhered to. If that isn’t enough, the cost of competing for a full year can be as expensive as most people’s yearly income.


However, there is another way. There are several forms of motorsport that are extremely easy to get into, require very little investment and offer not only a great experience, but an excellent stepping stone into more competitive forms of racing. Rallying has TSD events, would-be drag racers have Friday Nighters, and those who love track racing have Autocross.

Now, Autocross is a particularly effective sport to build up the technical skills of racing. An event usually consists of traffic cones laid out in a tight course over an open stretch of tarmac. The tightness of the course and low speeds require the driver to get the most out of the mechanical grip of the car and to drive with an absolutely perfect driving line to eek out the fractions of a second that can determine first from fifth. It is excellent grass roots training to sharpen track-day skills, and as a result, you’ll find everything from bone-stock cars to high-dollar purpose-built open-wheelers taking part in this fun sport.

Just this last August, the Vancouver Chinese Motorsports Club (VCMC) held the largest Autocross event in all of B.C., the Kumho Super Challenge, which attracted competitors from B.C., Alberta, Washington and Oregon. So, to satisfy my urge to drive a car in anger once again, I handed in an entry form for the event.

With just about any car available to me to tackle this event with, as I would be utilizing my access to press vehicles, my choice may have seemed foolish to some. However, to an Autocrosser, it was a wise choice, indeed. In the tight confines of a cone-riddled lot, there is one car that has for nearly twenty years been the staple for Autocrossers – the Mazda MX-5. The MX-5 represents the perfect storm for the needs of such an event. It’s lightweight, and has a good power-to-weight ratio with a spunky 2.0L engine that loves to rev. However, its RWD layout and a short wheelbase are its real attributes, allowing it to change direction lightning-fast, letting drivers thread the needle, so to speak.

With entry fee paid, and home-made magnetic numbers fixed to the doors of my little MX-5, I showed up at Pitt Meadows airport, where racing would be held at the B.C. Driving Centre. Due to the sheer number of competitors, the airport shut down runway 8-Left for use as a paddock.
After a quick inspection to ensure there were no loose items, that my helmet was up to date and that my car truly was stock, competition began. This was not my first Autocross attendance as I have competed in such an event several years ago, but back then, the course was a sea of orange cones forming a complicated course. Getting lost was a very real threat that affected run times, if you managed not to miss a gate. The workers at the Kumho Super Challenge had put together a smooth, fast flowing course that was both fun and allowed me to reach third gear in the MX-5’s close-ratio gearbox.

As I had four runs on the first day, I chose to sacrifice the first to ensure I remembered the morning’s course walk, while coming to grips with the car’s characteristics on the edge of adhesion. That was a good thing as I had forgotten to turn off the traction control. Thinking that running on standard tires, I may need to bump up the air pressures to keep the sidewall of the tires solid, my tactic backfired on the second run. With the red mist blinding me and over-inflated tires only scratching the surface, the MX-5 skated sideways between every gate. It was a miracle that I did not hit a cone (2-second penalty), and my time was six seconds slower than my first run.

With the tires aired down a little and calming myself down for the third run, everything was going well. That was until I got a little sideways out of one gate and had to rotate the car back around the next gate, resulting in the car spinning. Old habits die hard, as I desperately tried to save the run. Once I knew the slide couldn’t be saved, I slapped 1st, popped the clutch and in a glorious mixture of tire smoke and a bouncing rev limiter I was back on track. However, in Autocross, if you spin, your run is a writeoff, thus such acts are not always greeted with the same cheers as rally fans. After a small talking to, I managed to eek out a civilized final run devoid of drifting and tire smoke to pull myself up to 7th in class.



The next day brought a rain-soaked track, with lots of standing water, much more suited to my style of driving. I was looking forward to making up time now that I had my tire pressures sorted out, the only modification you can do in stock class. After missing a gate on my first run, I linked up a beautifully clean second run. By the third, my confidence was flowing and I was ready to make a push for the top spot. However, as I carved through the first corner, a series of hums and vibrations could be heard from the rear as my momentum was taken from me. I had again forgotten to turn off the traction control. In the heat of competition, I could not risk taking my hand off the wheel for the eight seconds needed to turn the system off, and had to endure the handicap throughout my run. My time only slightly bettered my second run, capturing 5th place in my class. Despite the regrets of “what ifs,” the placing was quite good as most of my competition had Ultra High Performance tires to work with.

With the weekend wound up, I couldn’t help but admit that the bang-for-buck enjoyment of Autocrossing is second to none. Nowhere else can you challenge both you and your car’s performance driving abilities for such a small investment. The valuable skills you develop along with the perma-smile that will never leave your face makes Autocross a must for any driving enthusiast.

History: A Special Breed

Last year something special rolled across the auction block at Mecum's inaugural Monterey Auction in August. A 1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. Accompanied by the it's designer, Peter Brock and the man who piloted the car to an FIA World Sportscar Championship, Bob Bondurant, this special piece of motoring history fetched $7.25 million USD, a new record for an American car sold at public auction. That is a massive amount of money for just on car, so one must ascertain what makes such a car so special to garner such attention.

Much like the birth of Fords GT40, the Daytona Coupe was a product built out of spite for Enzo Ferrari, and their domination of closed top GT racing. The 250 GTO won the World Manufacturer's Championship in 1962, 1963, and 1964. In order to compete with the GTO, Shelby would not only have to build a tin top, but also homologate it, requiring at least 100 examples be built. To get around the homologation issue the Coupe would be built on the original Cobra roadster chassis, which already had its papers and as such was temporarily designate the Shelby Cobra Coupe. Shelby brought in a young designer named Peter Brock to pen the lines of the Coupe, while Bob Negstad was enlisted to design the car's suspension.

It's said that Brock designed the cars silhouette by taking pictures of fellow engineer Ken Miles sitting in a roadster to get dimensions. Brock took these photo's and designed a roof line that would that would support Miles height and foot reach, and when the first copy went to the wind tunnel, the aerodynamics were considered perfect by the team. The problem was getting the car built. The creation of the body had taken so much time due to the exotic shape of the car, there was not enough skilled labour around to build the additional cars needed. Ironically, Italy is full of highly skilled coach builders that could start pumping cars out for the upcoming 1964 racing season. So with that, the original American built Coupe was sent to to Daytona to compete in its first ever race, while five other chassis' were shipped, even more ironically, to Modena, Italy where Carrozzeria Grand Sport would go on to build the rest of the six Coupes. Ironic since the remaining Daytona's were built a mere 17 km from the Ferrari headquarters, the heart of all Italia.

Meanwhile, back in Daytona, the Shelby Cobra Coupe had just won the GT class in its first ever race prompting Carroll Shelby to name the car the Daytona, and ever since the car has affectionately been know as such. The Daytona would go on to win the 1964 24h of Le Mans and 12h of Sebring, narrowly missing the overall championship won by the hated Ferrari GTO due to a cancelled race. This prompting Shelby to famously declare, “Next year, Ferrari’s ass is mine!”

1965 would see Team Shelby commit an all-out attack on the championship, now armed with four examples of the Daytona. The season was shaping up to be a great war of rivals, however the Ferrari factory decided to limited involvement in the GT category, choosing to concentrate on the more prestigious prototype category. Without the full backing from the Ferrari factory the Daytona would go on to win nearly every race to take a commanding championship win over the GTO. It is this conquering of the most feared force in sportscar racing which gives the Daytona its prestige, even if time has forgotten a few poignant details.

However, the story of the Daytona does not end here. 1965 was also a year that Goodyear was hoping to break several landspeed records with their tires. They had Bonneville scheduled in September but did not have a car, while Firestone was waiting in the wings to also take some records for themselves. A call to Shelby procured the original American built Coupe for use in the task, but with the car fitted with tires ready on the salt flats, a driver was still needed. Craig Breedlove just happened to be hanging around the area after making some speed record attempts in a jet powered car, and was enlisted to drive the Daytona last minute. After mechanics showed Breedlove how to shift the car and some minor tweaking, he went out and set 23 new records for both the tires and the Daytona.

After 1965, the Daytona was obsolete as a top level racing car, and the Shelby team's attention was shifted to improving the GT40 with a MkII variant. So with that, the Daytonas were sold off to collectors, while the lone American built car went to music producer Phil Spector. Spector was known in LA well for always racing his Daytona Coupe through the streets, collecting several speeding tickets along the way. He had so many that his lawyer demanded that he sell the car or risk loosing his license. So, he sold it to his body guard, who would later give it to his daughter Donna O'Hara as part of a divorce settlement. Well, Donna would go on to become a recluse and with the Daytona, disappeared from the public in the mid-70's. For thirty years collectors and historians feared the car lost forever when Donna's body was found, apparently deceased as a result of suicide. The lost Daytona was then discovered in a rental storage unit in California and after a long legal battle, sold to a collector in Pennsylvania.

The Daytona's life was lived hard and fast, it was hand-built, with an illustrious history full of fierce rivalry, irony, great victories and defeats, while creating great stories of survival. It is these attributes that make such a car so special while such small numbers make it the dream car of even the richest of collectors. An icon so attractive, that it forced one man to part with $7.25 million USD.