ALMS, Mosport – Saturday Notes
More Bad Luck For The Ollies
…and the activities continue… The morning session probably didn’t really prove anything, other than the cars still go really fast around here. Audi spent the session sorting out the cars after the damage from yesterday. It was a late night for the crew, as indeed the tub on the #2 required changing. Dave Maraj explained that the actual swapping of the tub in itself is not all that bad of a job, as the tub is pre-assembled with most all of the components already installed. With all of that that already taken care of, the task itself was still about a 5 hour job. But, according to Dave, quite a bit of that time was spent that the various electronic bits were doing what they are expected to be doing. “We do what we can in the paddock, but we never are absolutely sure about everything is working properly until the car gets on track.” Because of the repair, missing the last session yesterday, and as usual concentrating on race set-up, the Audis were only the second and third fastest cars in the session. Fastest in P1 was Jon Field, who likes to go fast as much as possible. And this track is made just for his mind set. But here, for the very first time, Jon reveals his secret for going fast. “To be honest, I can’t see that well – I need glasses. If I could really see what I was doing, I might scare myself.” For the last part of the session, we saw the unusual sight of Richard Berry as the 4th fastest car out there, at least according to the timing sheets. But what that did leave us with was P2, 1-2-3. As yesterday, it was Dumas/Bernhard fastest, dropping down to a 1:05.547, breaking into the 135mph average range. Second was the Andretti Green Acura, followed by the Highcroft Acura. Scott Sharp, who is enjoying his return to Mosport, was seen yesterday wearing a shirt that had both Tequila Patron and Muscle Milk printed on it. Not together please – just the thought gets the stomach churning a bit… Chris Dyson had the #16 Porsche back in the pack, as the team hasn’t jet got the handling dialed-in quite to their liking yet. “We didn’t test here earlier this week, so we are behind a bit, but the red flags haven’t been a help either. We started off with a split aero package between the two cars and we found that we had too much and also an imbalance front to rear on ours. We have been fighting an oversteer condition and that is not what you really want around here with all of the long high speed corners. We’re working at it and hope to be closer to the front as the weekend goes on.” As far as the new direct injection Porsche motor, Chris said that it “feels more drivable that our previous motor, and also has a bit more torque.” In the GT classes it was two of the more snake bit teams this year that were noticeable; one for good reasons and one for bad. First the bad: Oliver Gavin had an off in turn 2, nosing into the tires. This caused a red at just about the half way mark of the session. The tires did the job, minimizing the damage, but the dreadful streak continues for the #4. Sometimes, things just don’t go well. The car was repairable and would have no problem making the afternoon session. Maybe the Ollies ought to be looking for a voodoo doll that Johnny O has stashed somewhere. That’s as logical as anything else… And, as usual, the lines were deep around the Corvette compound almost an hour before the autograph session.  |
Equally snake bit this year has been the Risi team, which has also been suffering dreadful luck this year. But they are heading the session times again, this time with the Henzler/Bergmeister Porsche, the #71 Tafel Ferrari and Farnbacher Loles Porsche right behind them. Rick Mayer confirmed that they were indeed running the 2007 spec rear wing, as they found a crack in the newer wing at Road America. “This is not the track to take any chances with, especially with the rear wing. I don’t want to lose any of these (indicating Jamie Melo sitting right beside him).” Jamie indicated that the track itself was OK at the repair. “They did a good job on it. The repair is pretty flat.” The temperature is lower today, so far, which is helping out at the track. Missing today was the Robertson Doran Ford team. The last that was seen of the team was yesterday, when the team was practicing pit stops during the extended red. No statement has been made, but there is speculation that the team may have withdrawn for the weekend. Confirmed – mechanical. No other reason; just mechanical. The session was red flagged about two minutes short, when the Autocon Creation was seen minus the LF tire. Damage appeared to be minimal. Chris McMurry and wife had an interesting time upon checking in to their hotel. It appeared as if somebody was already in their room, as there were already some clothes and a salad awaiting them. Not a good way to start an evening. Chris was quite amused at our latest attempt at starting the rumor that Autocon reached an agreement to run one of the Peugeot cars next season. In fact he was nearly speechless about it, barely being able to mumble something about “yeah, that would be nice.” Too close to the truth, huh, Chris? Speculation is that the car would have to be changed to accommodate Bryan Willman, quite like the Ford Mk 4 was modified with a “Gurney” bump on the roof. This would be the Willman or possibly the Shrek bump. Sponsorship possibility from a wart remover? Hmmm… Gary Horrocks |
