Boxsters on top at Grand Am testing

Thorshammer · 01-18-2011, 12:27 PM

Hello Everyone,

This year looks like a good year for the Boxster in Grand Am. With the addition of the 987 chassis and some development we were P1,2 and 4 at the Daytona test last weekend.

The Deman Porsche/ Trade Manage team has been working very hard and the addition of Marty Kintzi as a crew chief has helped the team. Marty was the winning crew chief for the Speed Source Mazda team last year, which won the Grand Am Championship. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the team as does the crew.

I am but a humble car chief for the Trade Manage car, and I was very pleased with the team and the drivers. As a young team, it is always hard to define the teams personality, but everyone worked very hard to get things done.

The new surface at Daytona was quick, and almost all of the teams lowered their lap times. Some of the teams have voiced their displeasure at the success of the Boxster team, but a keen eye also picks up on the sand bagging that was occuring by some teams.

The Boxsters were fast, and we hope to finish at the front.

Erik Madsen

BYprodriver · BYprodriver's Garage

Pretty Awesome! pictures = totally awesome

Doug&Julie · 03:38 AM

WAY cool. Googling for photos now...

Edit: Are these yours?

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/boxster-and-boxster-s-986-forum/547900-boxsters-in-daytona.html

JMatta · 01-19-2011, 05:20 AM

Those photos are all of 986s...I thought he mentioned they run the 987 platform? Grand Am will find some way to slow the cars down, since they aren't from Detroit.

Doug&Julie · 01-19-2011, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMatta

Those photos are all of 986s...I thought he mentioned they run the 987 platform?.

Oh duh...

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMatta

Grand Am will find some way to slow the cars down, since they aren't from Detroit.

True. Sadly.

Thorshammer · 01-20-2011, 06:19 PM

Ahh, yes

These are the cars. We only had one 987, the other three were all 986 platform cars. The 987 was the fastest of the bunch, sorry, I was not more specific.

Erik

Flieger · Flieger's Garage

I can't see the photos on Rennlist. Can you post them here?

Doug&Julie · 01-21-2011, 04:02 AM

In no particular order...

Thorshammer · 01-21-2011, 05:59 AM

These are the cars. But this is from the 2010 season. Deman motorsports now owns the Maxwell car, but the royal Purple car is owned by Prey (pronounced pray) racing.

But at the recent Daytona test we had 3 986's and a 987. Deman is currently building a second 987 car which we will have after Daytona.

It is snowing strongly here in New England and I hope I can get a flight out next week.....

Erik

Cajundaddy · Cajundaddy's Garage

Cool! One of our local SoCal PCA guys (Ernie Becker) is driving with Prey/Royal Purple this year. It sounds like their team is coming together.

http://pages.prodigy.net/beckers/ernjr/ernbio.htm

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Man, that looks like fun. The time of the Boxster for the DIY weekend racer as arrived!

-Wayne

Matt Monson · 01-24-2011, 10:42 AM

Really glad to see these cars doing so well. We're proud to represented by having our parts in these vehicles' gearboxes.

dpixxi · dpixxi's Garage

Here is a current shot of 1 of the 3 TradeManage cars. They are the fastest in the field. I had the pleasure of designing the liveries for the team. TradeManage and DeMan are motivated to win.

s_wilwerding · s_wilwerding's Garage

For the 987s, why don't they use Caymans? Seems like a better option than a Boxster with a hardtop.

dpixxi · dpixxi's Garage

Yea...but there's nothing like the wind in your hair at a buck-fifty on the banking!

cowfly911 · cowfly911's Garage

The graphics look great!

Quote:

Here is a current shot of 1 of the 3 TradeManage cars. They are the fastest in the field. I had the pleasure of designing the liveries for the team. TradeManage and DeMan are motivated to win.

Thorshammer · 01-25-2011, 11:34 AM

The Trade Manage/ Deman Motorsport cars are competing in the ST class. I believe the Cayman is homologated in GS. You can follow the live timing on the Grand Am Site.

I believe the link below will provide live timing.

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge

The schedule for the track sessions can be found here:

Event Information

Wish us luck.

Erik Madsen

dpixxi · dpixxi's Garage

GODSPEED TradeManage & DeMan!!!

Thorshammer · 01-26-2011, 05:05 PM

Thanks everyone.

The schedule is as follows:

Thursday Practice at 11:45-12:30

Practice 2:45-3:30

Qualifying 5:00-5:15pm

Friday:

Practice 10:00-10:45 am

Race at 1:30 pm

The other two cars in the Deman/Trade Image stable are below:

Thorshammer · 01-29-2011, 07:08 PM

Hello Everyone,

While the shop toiled away, the crew was busy practicing, and the cars were cleaned and prepped.

Practice went well, and Qualifying gave us P2 Outside pole, P16 and P19.

With Crew Chiefs, Strategy, Car Chiefs, Crew and Drivers ready to go, we started outside the APR Volkswagen. The start was not a good one for our leading car #71 and it turned worse after cutting down a tire in the chute and not being able to go into the pits for one full lap, Ouch.

The Trade Manage car #09 was on point while natural selection took care of several competitors. With the pack thinning, Steve Goldman was starting to move forward and ran as high as 8th.

There were multiple yellow flags and full course caution periods which helped all of the Cars to use a one stop strategy. The pit stop went poorly for the 09 car, with a 20 sec penalty being given for the safety guy closing to fuel door, and they lost a lap to the class leading ST car. Live and learn. With Sam Schultz in the car, the lap times came down and the Boxster posted the fastest race lap of 2:06.8. As a relative number, the class winning car ran the best lap of 207.4.

While the #72 Boxster got very lucky with yellows, Jon and Jose drove very well, and consistently and they finished 9 overall.

The 09 charged hard the second half of the race, but was balked by the 74 C360 Honda driven by Lutz. After multiple requests to the stewards, Grand Am did not allow the 09 to pass, and this prevented the 09 car from getting its lap back. The cars all started coming together near the end, and each one of them was within 30 seconds of each other two laps before the end.

The most unfortunate occurance was the #71 Deman car being unceremoniously punted off the track in turn six by the same a hole (Lutz) that held up the 09 car earlier in the race, only to be further insulted by the front of another racecar at over 50 MPH. The Boxster was badly damaged but Rick Deman was okay.

The 72 car finished 9th and the 09 finished 10th in ST.

Conclusion:

The car is fast, the crew is starting to gel, and the VW's got lucky. At Daytona, I will take luck over skill any day of the week.

Erik Madsen
Madsen Engineering
Thor's Hammer Racing