GUARD TRANSMISSION

We were to be racing among legends,and we had the coolest guy on the planetshowing up to jump in the 299 car.THE PROFESSIONALSTEAMING UP WITH PORSCHE FACTORY DRIVER PATRICK LONGBY BRETT GAVIGLIOPHOTOGRAPHY BY MAX SLUITER, BRETT GAVIGLIO, CALIPHOTOGRAPHY AND ALAIN JAMARBrett GaviglioRoss Bentley once said, “Thereare moments like this for everyonewho drives on a track, lifechanging moments that triggeredthe burning desire to goback again and again.” The 2015Porsche Owners Club Tributeto Le Mans weekend at WillowSprings International Racewaywas filled with those momentswhere we met and raced with ourheros, confronted challenges andconquered our demons livingcloser to the edge. Lots of quicklaps, great racing and laughs.On a beautiful clear and coolsouthern California Saturdayin May, Porsche’s only currentAmerican factory racing driverstrode up with his yellow helmetin hand near turn 1. Patrick Long,33 years old and participatingin his 12th 24 hours of Le Mansthis year, found car #299 withBlair Boyce nearby, and casuallycommented, “Hi Blair, when do Igo out on track?” The fresh GT3stickers were being placed on the1972 AASE air-cooled 256 horsepowercar as Long approached.Our pit crew all knew he wascoming. However, the club officialsdidn’t know of Long’s attendanceuntil just a few minutes before.We had to “keep a low profileuntil race day.” Our team entryform for the three hour Tributeto Le Mans had Blair, myself andFather Guido Sarducci listed asour driver lineup. Laurie Taylorand John Gordon were a bit takenaback by the names on the entryform. When Laurie questioned theSarducci entry, I replied that hewas a fellow Italian and drove likethe wind!Running in a multi-hour endurancerace allows a single carand multiple drivers just like thereal Le Mans, and one of thosecan be a pro as long as you rununlimited class. We found out 10days before the race there wouldbe at least two other cars runningGT3 Unlimited, and they too, hadpro drivers. A 1972 Porsche withno turbo was not ever going tobe up in the GT1 or GT2 classesthat traditionally win the tributeoverall. But in GT3 we could havesome fun if there was someoneto race. We were armed with theknowledge that Rick Knoop, twotime competitor at Le Mans, wasrunning in Dwain Dement’s VisionMotorsports 380 horsepowerTurbo “grocery getter” as GT3.And a bit of research revealedKnoop was the American equivalentof Patrick Long in the late 70s,as Porsche pushed and succeededat conquering Le Mans. Knoopwas Porsche’s only Americanfactory driver then, as Long istoday. Our other GT3 competitorhad a hard charging 20 year old atits helm. Tyler Palmer, who hadjust this year taken third in Pirelli’sworld championship, foundhimself invited back for a seatin Tom Mueller’s HRG powered335 horsepower paddle-shiftedand air-jacked 996 cup car knowas the ‘Race Rocket.’ The Rocketname owing to Mueller’s propulsiondesign experience at SpaceX; Mueller was employee #1 atthe company, which just this pastyear became the first private commercialcompany to dock withthe international space station.About two weeks before therace, we had hatched a plan topit old tech vs new tech as soonwe confirmed the GT3 unlimitedcompetition would be there.Wouldn’t it be artful to drop allthe weight out of the ‘72, chip itup to max horsepower and go runwith the modern cup cars? Couldit be, that the old light weightway might be just as good —ifnot better—than new, superpowerful cars under the skillfulhands of some of the worlds best?The only problem with the ideawas, Blair was in Italy and his ‘72was in pieces, and Boyce didn’tknow the state of his car. UponBlair’s return we had eight daysto put the car together, find abigger gas tank (thanks BradleyPierce), dyno the car, pull all theweight possible, corner balanceit and test it. We thought wecould get #299 down to 2250 lbsand up to 270 horsepower to thewheels… Best laid plans…we gotto 2400 lbs and chipped it up to256 horsepower. The fact that wewere going to be outgunned byaround 10% power to weight onlycame to the fore as we sat on thefloor at Vision Motorsports boltingon bumpers and wings before thecar went on the dyno. Once on thedyno, the big bad grocery getterdid pull after pull with that turbosounding like a black hole of avacuum cleaner sucking in all theair in the garage and shooting it atthe wall. At one point I looked upfrom the bumper and said to Blair,“I think we might be in trouble,”but I couldn’t keep from smilingevery large every time they lit thecandle on that turbo. Message sent.Rick Knoop’s colorfully paintedhelmet sat on a cart just next to us.Knoop had placed 6th in the 1978Le Mans in a 935 turbo; clearlyhe can drive a turbo well. What achallenge this would be! We wereto be racing among legends, andwe had the coolest guy on theplanet showing up to jump in the299 car.A lot transpired in the shorttime leading up to the momentPatrick Long arrived at our turn1 camp area at Willow SpringsSaturday morning. Long broughtalong a few friends includingDennis AASE, Magnus Walker,and Helmut to hang out. I pulledin from instructing Dan Princein the green PDS group, andthere were all these famous guyssitting in lawn chairs in front ofthe motorhome facing our racecars. Chatting with this group andgoing over our cars with themwas very special. I had a sense ofsomething special, being one of agreater Porsche family where weare all racers and see that flat sixin all its perfection no matter howits cooled….and it’s cool. A manwho has lived in that feeling forsome time now, racer/collectorand all around great guy MagnusWalker said going over our cars,“I’m down with OPP….otherpeoples Porsches.”We weren’t exactly prepared tobe the center of the track socialscene, and though Blair Boycequalified us 4th with a 1:25.1,there were so many peoplecoming by we lost track of time.We barely got #299 to grid beforeit closed. Patrick Long started,but I’m certain he was caught inthe art of the air cooled old carvs new car moment as well. Longtook his time, smiled and lookedlike The Fonz, so cool and collected18 VELOCITY AUGUST 2015 AUGUST 2015 VELOCITY 19