Slipstream - June 2004

Photo by Wayne Brown
Photo provided by Jay Walker
Photo by Jay Walker
One of Emily Baker & Megan Brown’s favorites
Jay Walker tries on Phil Daigreponte’s 908 Spyder
Pit road doubled as Concours parking
felt like you’d tumble off on the slow pace laps. Fourth impression
– FAST – the chicane works great – fast, safe, and has a good rhythm
to it. Allowed for great exit speeds that built all the way to turn one
- saw 158 mph in my aerodynamics-of-a-brick 914. Fifth
impression – FUN – David Baker and I qualified 3rd and 4th in a
field of 110, the largest to ever take the green flag at Daytona.
‘No passing’ with the drop of the green flag until you passed the
start/finish line made for an interesting start strategy, though
David’s and my puny 2.8’s weren’t likely to ‘out-drag’ the highpowered
3.3/3.4 turbos, 3.8 RSA’s, 3.6 RS’s, and Carrera Cups that
made up the remainder of the top 30 spots on grid. Combine
all of the above with a GT2 blowing his right rear at 145 mph, right
in front of you on the high bank of Nascar 4, spinning wildly
out of control as you’re trying to pick your way through large tire
carcass pieces raining down into your open cockpit car –
EXCITING. Turn One, sorta like TWS, has multiple lines through
it . . . and I don’t think I ever got it right. When you see David, ask
him about chasing down, catching, and passing J.C. France in ‘THE’
Brumos #59 914. Evidently J.C.’s crew was more than just a little
irate that he had ruined a brand new set of slicks while trying to
stay ahead of David. Hmmm, trying to think of a word that
encompasses all of this . . . yeah, overwhelming.
I think I can safely say that the Mavericks in attendance,
Lanean Hughes, Lee Wilkins, Doug Molny, Ed and Ned Cullin, Jim
Buckley, Alan Smith, Tom Petrushka, David Baker and I, all had
an extraordinary experience. Not to say we didn’t have the
typical racing woes. Mike Hardage (Lone Star) had a rare GT3
transmission failure. Jim (with Tom’s help) rushed to replace a
clutch disc before his Sunday afternoon race – only to develop
shifter problems. Alan had carburetor jetting issues that shortened
his weekend. David developed a transient traction loss problem in
Turn 4 at the race start – but had a great time working his way back
up through the field. I broke an aluminum suspension piece but
was able to use the track’s TIG welder to fix it by race time – only to
throw a fan belt in the first quarter lap – to end my race.
“It’s not the cars, it’s the people.”A weekend like this makes one
briefly question that motto – some pretty spectacular cars there. But
more impressive are the people that don’t keep these cars locked up
in a garage or museum, that bring them out, display, and drive
them, and that allow us to share in the excitement and pride of
Porsche’s racing history. Overwhelming.
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