Porsche Owners Club at Laguna Seca

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Chet

Wow, what a weekend! The Porsche Owners Club (POC) made its annual pilgrimage to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this past weekend for three great track days, some good food and drink, and a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Of course, the highlights of the weekend were primarily on the track with great racing in all three race classes on both days. In fact, this was some of the best amateur racing I have seen: competitive and clean. The Porsche Owners Club had four run groups throughout the weekend at Laguna Seca – three Race groups and a Time Trial group – and also shared the track with Speed Ventures, who had one run group.

If you ever have a chance to drive at Laguna Seca, the same place that ALMS and Grand-Am race today and IndyCar raced in the past, you MUST take advantage of it. There’s no track in SoCal that’s even really close to Laguna Seca. One of the unexpected highlights of the weekend was a track walk led by Kelly Collins. Walking the track gives a completely different feel and appreciation for the driving/racing lines, corner camber, and elevation changes than you get from driving the track. At Turns 5, 6, and 10 you really get a sense of how the camber can help you carry serious speed thru these corners. Of course, walking the corkscrew is something else as well.

In this case, add in the professionalism & organization of the Porsche Owners Club, excellent cooperation with Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca track management, and also a worthy fundraiser, and it was truly an unforgettable weekend!

Dario Franchitti & Scott Dixon at Auto Club Speedway

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Chet

Auto Club Speedway (ACS) in Fontana will be hosting the IZOD IndyCar finale under the lights in September when the series returns to SoCal, and today, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon came to ACS to treat a small group of fans to a lunchtime visit that included interviews, Q&A, a photo session, and a sampling of their signature cuisine.

Gillian Zucker, President of Auto Club Speedway was the event host, and she did a nice job of interviewing and engaging the drivers with audience submitted questions. Both of these guys quickly make connections to a crowd and are approachable good sports.

Scott Dixon is currently 4th in the standings and 28 points behind IndyCar series leader Will Power with three races to go. He has a chance of winning the Championship if he has a couple of good races at Sonoma and Baltimore heading into the finale – especially if Power (1st), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2nd), and Helio Castroneves (3rd) founder. Dario Franchitti is currently 8th with no realistic chance of defending his Champion status. Aside from a fabulous month of May that saw him win his third Indy 500, Dario has had a tough year in which just about anything that could go wrong, did. Aside from trying to take wins, his main role for the rest of the season will be supporting Dixon, his Target Ganassi teammate.

During the interview we learned that Dario’s family fled Mussolini’s Italy for the ‘place with the worst weather.’ His maternal grandmother is, in fact, Scottish. Scott Dixon’s wife Emma was a former top middle distance runner for Great Britain. Dario favors street courses, while Scott favors road courses.

Dario and Scott are both lukewarm on the push-to-pass. In the recent race, the 5 second push-to-pass delay made it confusing and difficult to use it properly at the start. How do you time the boost that will happen 5 seconds in the future when you don’t know exactly when the green flag will drop? Everybody got it wrong. Supposedly the delay is going away.

Both of them felt the finale will be an interesting race with changing conditions as the sun goes down – compromising vision – and the track cools off. 500 miles around the Auto Club Speedway will be exciting and tough.

After the interview and a picture session, fans were invited to sample Scott Tots and Franchitti Ziti – really.

Both of these guys are passionate racers, and the fans love them. They’re great ambassadors for the sport, and I wish them well for the rest of the season.

Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Chet

This week begins the annual pilgrimage of motorsports fans to the Monterey Peninsula for the Monterey Motorsports Reunion. The week’s festivities have grown and grown over the years, and now there are multiple fabulous events on each day – from marque specific shows to auctions – really intensifying beginning with the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance on Wednesday the 16th and building throughout the rest of the week and weekend. What started as historic car races at Laguna Seca now includes marque specific events, car club gatherings, multiple auctions at various venues and times, and food, drink, & aircraft events. Although you easily could, you don’t need to spend a mint to have a great time. Just walking around Monterey and Carmel at the right times will treat you to some very cool sights and sounds.

Here are a few shots from the 2011 Monterey Motorsports Reunion week:

Monterey Motorsports Reunion Races At Laguna Seca

See the full gallery here.

So What About IndyCar Push-To-Pass?

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Chet

Well after watching a few races under the revived IZOD IndyCar series push-to-pass system, I can’t say that I am a big fan – at least yet. At Edmonton, most of the radio chatter in the last few laps of a competitive race was about when to use push-to-pass, how much to use, how much other guys might have left. Helio Castroneves was able to hold off Takuma Sato, perhaps with the help of conserving his push-to-pass time throughout the race. Too much like a video game for me. This weekend at Mid-Ohio, there was a revision in that there would be a 5 second delay between push and effect. I never heard an explanation for the change, but I would guess that it was to prevent push-to-defend: the overtaking driver would know where he wanted the push-to-pass boost and would push 5 seconds early, and the overtaken driver would not be able to respond. At Mid-Ohio, it was not easy to determine the effect of push-to-pass on the race. Winner Scott Dixon had great pace throughout and the Target Ganassi team executed flawlessly on pit stops. I do have to give IndyCar kudos for how they reflect the use of push-to-pass on live timing and scoring – which is perhaps the best timing display in professional racing.

Personally I would rather see overtaking more dependent upon driver skill and looking after tires that performed more on the edge. And I think the cars should have much more horsepower all of the time with less dependence upon aero. Again this would put a premium on driver skill and car control. Think of what a race is like in the rain. In fact, on Twitter, there were folks rooting for rain at Mid-Ohio. Opinions?

Speed Scene

Motorsports & automotive news, action, and events.

Monthly Archives: August 2012

Porsche Owners Club at Laguna Seca

Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Monterey Motorsports Reunion Races At Laguna Seca

So What About IndyCar Push-To-Pass?