Quote:
Originally Posted by TRE Cup
I raced against the "in team" corvette when Jack Gersh owned it, at WSIR in a Vara race.
We had run Jeff Sadinsky's silver 911 2.7 in the previous night's 4th of July enduro where Jack and Marconi were sharing the other red vette. We had actually won the enduro, without the knowledge till Sunday morning.
Seems the the duo in the red vette had some er.... irregularities in their pit procedure and were disqualified after officials found out.
We had a really fun race with them and for the last half hour I was running with the front sway bar drop link sometimes making connection to the lower control arm, but mostly not doing anything at all. That made for some fun unpredictable handling.
The next morning when we were told of winning the enduro, I was really ticked off since the vette guys had garnered all the attention from the spectators and other entrants.
With both sway bar U tabs welded back in place, Jeff flipped me the keys and told me to " go get im" in the sprint race on Sunday. Jack was not a proficient driver compared to his team mate, and it turned into a 30 minute see saw battle where I would be under his tail through all the corners, but he would blast away on the straights. I figured out that his exit speed from 9 was terrible so evolved my strategy to try the pass on the last lap exiting that turn.
I gave him some decent space between 8 and 9 and wound the 911's speed up to drift out of 9 carrying as much speed as possible. Using the track exit pocket for a little extra drift room, i rocketed up alongside the "in team's" right rear quarter panel. I had to choke up a little as he faded right and lost my momentum as the vette's big block torqued away from me while we crossed the finish line.
Da** that was a good fun race. All the cornerworkers were giving us a round of applause as we did our cool down lap. Vindication enough for me from the night before  |
I have to go back to film, to get pictures up on all of the cars you mentioned. I have to scan that old stuff. I am trying to remember what your car number is. I definitely know where my shots are of Marconi's car. That car has went thru a number of hands. Marconi is a rich guy, and he had super stout engines bullt, but the car itself, really had no special mods. The Vintage Organization would not allow the flared cars at all, during that time, Unless they were in the race with the Can Am and IMSA cars.
A well driven 911 can surprise many, on what is thought of as a fast track. Especially guys like yourself that have wielded fast rides going clear back to the Mulholland days. I have many pictures of the In Team Big Block car. Before the claim of it being that car, I liked the build by the enthusiast who owned it down San Diego way, and had the shark teeth in the grill. As they did the restoration, I was sad. Don't get me wrong, that is one beautiful car, and was auctioned off recently. I wish they would have consulted with me on the In Team car, because they got things wrong on the cockpit, the engine in it is a modern claimed Traco recreation, etc.. Funny that the guy that owned my car, bought this In Team car in his chain of rides.
Give me your Porsche number to help me look for it! Awesome going to the vintage races, I tried it in 1987 (on page 339 here, is a black & white shot of me at Willow Springs) and 1991 with VARA. My car wasn't well received, since it was flared.
Turn 9, most apex it too soon. It makes you think, you should turn in early and that causes a lot of lost velocity. I use my own horizon marks, off of the buildings, so I purposely would take out the apex cone on the first lap, to mess up everyone else. Funny how messed up people can take that turn, if you eliminate their reference point. Coming across start/finish and at what RPM, would be how I gauged my success out of Turn 9, lap after lap.