2008 Grand-Am KONI Challenge GS Series race

Lime Rock Park, May 23-26, 2008

I had been trying to line up a ride for this race for a while, as last year's race was a blast. Farnbacher-Loles was thinking about this series (I had been prodding Greg!) and found BGB Motorsports in Daytona who might be interested in working with them. BGB is one of the finest teams in this series and was in the points lead with Craig Stanton. I met with BGB team manager John Tecce and Greg in Danbury last month but the two BGB cars were already set with drivers. I was at the Mid Ohio PCA club race with Spencer from F-L when Greg called and told Spencer that a ride may be available for me. I thought about it and called home to get clearance for the memorial day weekend and quickly decided I should jump on it, as Dirk Werner would be my co-driver! Dirk is the 2007 Grand-Am Rolex GT champion in the F-L GT3 cup and one of the finest 911 drivers in the world. He raced the sister car to my 2004 GT3 cup in supercup competition in 2004, finishing 3rd behind teammate Wolf Henzler who won.

I talked to John and made financial arrangements and was excited to get back to Lime Rock as I had not been there yet in 2008 due to a case of shingles making me miss the PCA club race there. It sucks getting old.

The cars looked great, I would race the orange #38 while Craig and 2nd year driver Jon Miller would race the green #83. Jon is on the left.

Most of these awesome pictures are from Margie Gerard, who is BGB’s team photographer. In addition to taking spectacular photos, Margie handles all of the team’s travel planning and assists wherever needed in the paddock. I quickly whipped up some graphics and the car looked great, also put an old PCA CVR sticker on the front:

Roger from Farnbacher-Loles added some F-L logos on the sides which looked great too. F-L was supporting our car by providing Dirk as a co-driver:

We also flew the Analog Man guitar show banner on the top of the trailer:

Here I am talking with Dirk and John before a session.

I'm describing my intense drive with Spencer and Dirk:

John is showing me the controls in the car, it had the same AIM data dash as my old GT3 cup car and we installed my cool suit tank just for the race.

In my first session I would head out with new "sticker tires" to scuff them in for the race. They stuck GREAT and the car felt fine. I got under a minute and 16th fastest overall in the 1st session, even beating Dirk (he had old tires so not really comparable) so I was really happy. Craig in our other car was 2nd fastest with a super fast mid 58 second lap! The brakes were a little better than the car I raced last year but I really don't like the ABS they use in these. It's a BMW racing system but nowhere near as good as my old GT3 cup's ABS which I didn't really like anyway. I prefer a hard pedal with no ABS like my '73 and '08 cup car have.

In the second session, Dirk figured the car out and ran a few mid 58 laps, for fastest session time. I was about the same as before with high 59s. Here's Dirk:

We practiced some pit stops and looked at some data. Dirk was killing me into turn 1 as I was not comfortable with the brakes. But in the back section (the three fast turns - uphill, West Bend, and downhill) where most people lose time, I was only a few tenths slower. I knew I could go faster if I could figure out the braking.

Friday afternoon I went home and met some friends at my shop, checked out some guitar pedals, and went to an Alan Holdsworth concert at the Ridgefield playhouse. Luckily we all got bored so I got home early and got some good sleep. Saturday would be practice and qualifying.

SATURDAY

For practice number three I got in after Dirk, I pushed hard and got a bunch of mid 59s on old tires. I was braking better and the car was feeling great. Dirk got a high 58 which was 6th fastest and the 83 car was right behind us. I would drive the next session which was qualifying, alone, as the qualifying driver starts the race. My job would be to qualify well to stay ahead of some probable mayhem, then keep the car out of trouble in the race so that Dirk could get in and work his magic. Qualifying was just a few minutes after the practice so we headed to the pits for a quick tire change and headed down to pregrid early to get a good shot at a clear track early on.

I went out for qualifying and got stuck behind a mustang for a few laps, doing 1:01s. I looked back and saw a clear track behind me so I went very slowly after the esses, letting him get a large gap, until I saw cars behind me. Then I got a good head of steam and went down the hill as fast as I could. I did a pretty good lap, and John radiod me that it was a low 59 and good for 6th place out of 34 cars! I knew I could go faster so I did another hot lap, but it was another low 59. I backed off again to get more room and took another hot lap but the times were not getting better as the tires are at their peak for only a few laps then get slower. Finally I came in, to save the tires, as I did not think I would be faster and was happy that my 59.0 6th place was holding up. Jon did even better, getting a 58.8 for 4th place. The pole was a BMW M3 with a 58.6 time. I should have used 3rd gear in the back section to get a little faster, I think I could have gained a few tenths. But 6th was quite good enough and the BGB and F-L people were ecstatic and gave lots of congratulations. 2nd through 7th place were 911s, then a bunch of M3s and powerful Mustang GTs. Just behind me in another 911 was the Ludwig/Schroeder car. Last year, Peter Ludwig had won a race and was 2nd at Lime Rock and this year ran away with the MX-5 MAZDASPEED race which he also entered at Lime Rock. The head Panoz racing school instructor, Joe Foster, who was also running in the GT class, was in one of the Mustangs behind me. I had attended the Panoz school before getting my first GT3 Cup and Joe and the crew got me up to speed at Road Atlanta really well. Joe finished third in the championship last year after leading for several races.

After qualifying we did some more driver change pit stop practice. My job was easier as I just needed to get out fast. But I needed to do everything in the right order : 1)cool suit lines disconnect (could do that on the track) 2)Belts off 3)window net down 4)slide seat back 5)exit the car with help from John whacking my HANS device so it would clear the seat. Dirk needed to hook up all the belts which is the tough part but John could help. We did it WITHOUT removing the steering wheel, Dirk's idea, to save time. We are about the same size so it was not too hard and we got it down to 30 seconds.

SUNDAY

Sunday there is no racing at Lime Rock so the team headed up to team owner John Moore's place in upstate New York for a picnic. I went home and did some work, took my family out for a nice dinner, and got plenty of sleep.

MONDAY

Our race would be early, 9:45, so I headed up route 7 nice and early. I got there in plenty of time and everything was looking ready. The cool suit was wired up so I tested it out and it was fine. Soon enough it was time to get in the car, we were towed to the pregrid to save precious fuel. We did a slow lap on the track then got gridded on the front straight. I was 6th, on the 3rd row outside line. Here we are on the grid:

We did some pace laps, then got the green flag. I got a good start but it did not last long as a car in front of me must have grabbed the wrong gear, so I had to lift way before the braking zone and some cars got by me. It looks like Jon got a much better start, I should have followed him but I wanted to get in to the apex of the first turn as that is the best place to be:

I was not able to get on the inside and was forced to the outside of Big Bend. I tried to hold my position, but that also put me on the outside heading onto noname straight so I lost another position or two. Below is a few laps later with Joe Foster's Mustang right on my bumper, followed by the silly looking BMW Z4 M of Johnson / Milner, and Sellers / Smith's 911.

I ran some fast laps under a minute towards the start of the race though I let people by in braking as I was still not comfortable in turn one and needed to keep the car in decent shape for Dirk. A few guys who passed me went too deep and I repassed them. The car got a bit sideways in braking for the downhill once which was really odd and took away some of my confidence in that turn which is usually easy for me. My laps times suffered a bit but I tried to keep pushing and did not have that problem again. Looking back, it may have been a slight coolant leak in the left rear which almost got us black-flagged later in the race. I have a unique early line in the downhill and in the past I have hit my own fluids there, I think that may be what happened. Later on in the race I followed a Mustang for several laps and he was fast there, with a wide line, not getting to the curb. I tried that and followed his line but got sideways as I hit a new bump after the apex. The car did a huge powerslide but I kept it on the track, unfortunately a few cars were able to get by as I lost a lot of speed. John Moore, the car owner, was not thrilled by that dirt tracking move, he said he was a lot more scared than I was (he was probably right, I have no time for fear when in the car).

Here is Greg Loles watching from the pits:

John Tecce was on the radio telling me I was doing ok, that nobody was running under a minute anymore due to tire wear. I also had a radio guy on the top of our truck who was VERY helpful, telling me when someone was inside of me in the first few turns or when it was ok to hit the apexes or track out. I had a 911 on my bumper and saw some blue passing flags but nobody told me it was the leader trying to lap me so I stayed alongside him in big bend and the lefthander, and lead him onto noname straight. At the top of the hill he rammed my left rear so I got the hint that he wanted to get by. I was angry that I was not called on the radio about him before he was close, so I could speed up to stay on the lead lap as long as possible or let him by so I could avoid being rammed.

We also had Dirk's GT class co-driver, Dominik Farnbacher, in our pits to watch and help out with our pit stop. Dominik was the driver of my old 2004 GT3 cup in the supercup series. Dirk is on the left getting ready:

I was back somewhere in a low teen position after about an hour, I think the 911 and a BMW had lapped me, and Jon had been getting close to catching up to me after running really well but going off the escape road in turn one. Finally a full course yellow flag came out- it would be the perfect time for a driver change and full pit stop with fuel and tires. John radiod me and after I caught up to the pace car he called me in just as I was nearly past the pit entrance. So we would be about the first car to pit when the pits opened which made it easier for me (less traffic). I had my cool suit disconnected and got to the pit stall without losing much time or exceeding the 45mph speed limit (felt fast as PCA is 25). Everything came off ok and I hopped out, then ran to the side so John could help Dirk into the car while it was being serviced. This is SO DIFFERENT from PCA enduro pit stops which are 5 minutes minimum (no rush) and do not allow refueling with a driver in the car. I created another web page with the pit stop picture sequence to keep this page reasonable, click on the picture below to jump to that page:

Click on the left for more pitstop pix

Dirk got in and came out of the pits just behind the BMW which had lapped me. After a few more pace laps he was shown in 2nd place overall! John said that our pit stop was very fast but it did not seem right to me as I knew we had been lapped. Dirk got a great start and soon passed the BMW for the lead. He pulled away and ran some fast laps but another caution period soon followed and Dirk got behind the pace car. The announcer was saying we were a lap down, in which case Dirk would have gone around to the back of the pack but the pace car kept him behind as Grand-Am was saying we were in the lead. Finally they got another restart and Dirk continued to pull away. After a while, we dropped down to 15th place on the monitor screen. Now Grand-Am said that our car triggered the lap counter twice when in the pits, as we were close to the timing line. So that basically put Dirk down almost a lap behind where we should have been, as the leader was just behind him. If the officials caught the error before the restart, then Dirk would be back in the pack where he belonged and have a good shot at moving up quickly. But there was to be no fixing their error, not even another full course caution which would have allowed him to get back up where we belonged. Instead, he would have to go around the entire track to catch the pack and pass every car to get up to the front. Jon/Craig's car was WAY ahead of us even though I was ahead of them on the track and our pit stop was at least as good... they came in to the pits later and got put where they belonged behind the pace car unlike us. The team tried to talk to the officials but it seemed there was nothing they would do.

Slowly Dirk caught up to the back of the pack and started lapping the back markers, and got up to the mid pack position we should have started out in, but it was too late. He then picked off the fast cars one at a time, including an amazing early pass in the downhill that was televised. Dirk did some lap times in the 58s, the only car in the race to break 59, and made it up to 6th position, just two spots behind Craig, when the checker came out.

Normally 6th place would be awesome for me in a pro race, but knowing that we were robbed of the win made me sick and I still can't believe it. Nobody really knew what happened for days. For a while, I was thinking that if I were a little faster, I would not have been lapped. But that would have made no difference as Dirk would have come out in "1st place" instead of "2nd place" for the restart with the same consequences and the same exact second restart.

Dirk had even worse luck in his Rolex GT race - the Pontiacs dominated and the 911s rear tires were not holding up at all. A problem sent his car into the tire barriers and ripped off his wing, which mandated a pit stop to replace it. Neither F-L GT cars had a decent finish so it was a lousy weekend for us.

I am very lucky and appreciative to have had this wonderful opportinity and I hope I can do it again in the future. If I can find some sponsors it should happen- a few races can be done on my own but a full season will require a very large pile of money, that's a lot of guitar pedals... I think I have proven that I can win a race with a great co-driver, and qualify as well as other non-professionals (and many pros!). Just need help with finding sponsors, and a little more time in the car would wouldn't hurt!

Here is the BGB Motorsports race report and there are all the pictures above plus many more (suitable for framing or dart boards) on the BGB smugmug photo page.

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