Posted (01/13/2003) -
by Wayne Nonnamaker
Another season is quickly approaching and we were lucky enough to have our cars ready to go to Daytona Test days so we could prepare for the upcoming season. Our team, Phoenix ProMotions, has made a major change in the past off season. For three years we have campaigned the Chevrolet Corvette in the Grand Sports I class, now we have chosen to move into the Grand Sports II class with a Porsche 911 Type 996.
The movement had many different reasons behind it, but the main was that it began to set the stage for where we would like to move our team in the future. We moved forward with our plans last season by purchasing a 911 from SpeedSource Inc. The purchase from SpeedSource has proven to be a very beneficial one as these guys from Florida really know the Porsche marque inside and out.
For the HRPWorld.com Racing side of our team, the King Motorsports Integras used test days mostly as a chance to learn the new track configuration. The track was slightly different in the bus stop area. With no straight-a-way in the middle of the bus stop, it seems that it will be much safer, and will not be a problem of different class cars coming together as it has been in the past.
Will adapted quickly to the new set up, and we used the nearly seven hours of track time to try some different set ups. Will finally settled on one he liked and we used that the rest of the weekend. While there were no other STII cars down there to compare our times with, the times were faster than the fall, and we are hopeful that these times will allow Will to defend his back to back Championships in Sports Touring II.
As for me, I was using the track time to get used to my new ride this season, the aforementioned Porsche. Joe and I will be sharing the car for next season, and it will be an exciting learning curve. I have never driven anything with rear wheel drive, so it was a new experience for me. Amazingly, the Porsche and the Integras aren't that much different to drive. Both require smoothness, both are very forgiving, and both seem to need at least some trail braking. The biggest difference I noticed was mostly in the apex out area of the turn where gingerness on the gas was required in the Porsche.
Joe and I got down to some pretty good times when compared to the rest of the class. The two of us turned a best lap of 8.2 while Sylvain Tremblay, who won the 2001 GSII Championship for SpeedSource with our very Porsche, turned in a 7.5. The car the SpeedSource gave us was top notch, and it looks like this could be a good season.
Now with just a few short weeks before the Daytona race the Porsche is getting painted by Kempthorn, the Acuras are getting re-prepped and restickered, and the whole crew is tying up any loose ends and getting ready for a challenging eleven race season ahead of us.