July Velocity Magazine - Issue - 20-07

Great Expectations

Velocity

July 2020 / Issue 20-7

Note from the Editor:

As the COVID epidemic continued to trap our nation, the POC traveled north in July to the iconic Sonoma Speedway. Placing forty-five of our cup cars on the track at one time offered us the temporary escape we so desperately needed. We hope you enjoy reading some of the highlights in this issue of Velocity. And, thanks to all of you who submitted photos. As we were without our usual professional photographers, you came through with some great shots for which you will be handsomly rewarded with points and POC bucks.

Looking forward to seeing you at our 3-day Triple Crown event at Fontana in September.

DM

VELOCITY Staff

Editor /Art Director

Don Matz

Production Manager

Matt Hollander

Contributing Writers

Don Matz

James McLoughlin

Frank Powell

Contributing Photographers

Don Matz

Robert Gabriel

Debra J Hummer

Patrick Brass

Ana Predecu

POC Board of Directors

Ron Palmer President

Scott Craig Treasurer

Nathan Johnson Secretary

Joe Wiederholt VP Motorsports

Dwain Dement Chief Driving Instructor

Matt Hollander Social Media Director

Don Matz PDS Director

by Don Matz and James McLoughlin

The Sonoma BSR lap record is no longer held by a seasoned racer. It’s held by an 18 yearold from Carlsbad, California who ran in just his second race event with the POC.

James McLoughlin completed his second Racers Clinic at Buttonwillow just four months ago in March, 2020. He drives a Boxster in the POC Spec Series and this past weekend James ran a 1:53.476 at the Sonoma Speedway eclipsing the old record set by Gene Segal in 2018. In the following article, James lets us know how he did it. He admits to having run the track on multiple occasions…on a Simulator. Personally, I tried doing the same thing prior to signing up for the event. I was invited to practice on Michael Bolten’s SIM in order to learn the track. Unfortunately for me, as a kid who grew up in the 50’s playing hopscotch and tag in my neighborhood back in Pennsylvania rather than playing video games, I wound up crashing about 20 times. With the help of YouTube, though, I figured I mastered the track…not! James, however, did master the track as was evidenced in his weekend performance.

How Sim Racing Has Improved my Racing

Prior to this weekend, I had never been to Sonoma Raceway. However, I have completed countless laps virtually. Having an advanced simulator with virtual reality, a laser scanned track, and direct force feedback coming from the wheel I had full immersion from my home and sometimes forgot that I was not at the track. I was able to learn the line, different places to pass, how to run consistent laps at Sonoma and even where certain bumps and cracks are on the track. I have even competed against fellow POC racers online at Sonoma in the POC SIM League. Going into this past weekend, I felt as if I had already run countless laps at Sonoma without having even been there.

After finally making it to Sonoma, I was able to put my practice into play. I quickly adjusted to the track and was running consistent strong lap times my first time out. The only thing I was not prepared for was the elevation change and the cost of being in the car vs. a simulator. In a simulator I can crash as much as I want at no cost, but I quickly adjusted and was prepared for the weekend. I qualified on pole on Saturday and set a new track record for Boxster Spec at Sonoma, crossing the finish line at 1:53.476. However, I was not able to finish the race due to contact on the first lap.

After a disappointing Saturday, I came back the next day determined to do well. In qualifying I ran a 1:53.439 (barely beating my previous record) which placed me, once again, on the pole. This time, though I finished, placing 2nd! I was very happy with the results, considering it was only my second race weekend since coming out of the Racers Clinic in March. In the next race that afternoon I started in the second slot due to having the second fastest lap in the previous race. I had great battles with Gene Sigal, Malcom Van Halen and Ana Predescu. I again wound up finishing second, .105 behind Gene Sigal…almost had him in the last corner:-)

Overall, I had a great weekend despite the complications. I was finally able to see how well the simulator prepared me and the importance of putting in time and effort to learning the track before going to it. Having little real-time racing experience, Sonoma was the perfect track to test my skills and help me improve. Hopefully, I can repeat my performance in upcoming POC events.

NO COMPROMISES.

LET ME BE FRANK

by Frank Powell

Finally, my first POC race for the 2020 season is in the books, after the checkered flag at Sonoma on Sunday, July 26th. By this time in 2019, I had already raced with PCA at COTA, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen and we were on our way to Mosport in Canada this weekend. Thank heavens I planned my retirement and dream racing trip last year before COVID-19!

I started 2020 with good intentions as I hauled my 911 Carrera to Kevin Roush at GAS Motorsports for some maintenance in January. With 100 hours on my 3.2L, including those that won the GT4 championship in 2017, it was time for an overhaul. This also gave me a chance for some upgrades to be more competitive in the GT4 category at PCA, which is based on engine displacement instead of horsepower. This meant I’d miss the first POC race at Willow Springs and the March POC race at Buttonwillow conflicted with travel I had scheduled for work. That work trip was canceled, as my first significant consequence of COVID-19, but my car couldn’t be finished in time to race anyways.

The big challenge is that as our air-cooled Porsches get older, the parts get rare and the machinists for these Mezger motors get even rarer. Combine this with COVID-19 impacting the supply chain, and my car didn’t get on the dyno until late March. Then it became clear I needed new headers to take advantage of the engine upgrades. On May 12, I finally picked up the car from Kevin in time for a nut and bolt check, and then it was off to the first test at Willow Springs Friday before the next POC race.

I was so excited to strap on my helmet and HANS, buckle in and start the motor for my first laps. The engine felt strong on the outlap and it had a strong new engine note. The data was looking good so it was time to see what kind of lap times were possible. But at the start of my first hot lap, engine oil pressure alarms went off after the start-finish line so I shut it down and coasted off the track at the exit of turn 2

to be towed in. I figured an oil line or sensor had failed, given it was a new engine installation, but everything was dry and the MoTeC data showed good oil pressure. We checked the serviceable oil filter, tweaked the MoTeC alarms and Kevin took it back out. On his second lap, the same thing happened in the same place but this time the engine also lost power and we found some metal in the oil. No racing for me that weekend!

Back in the shop, Kevin found some bad parts (a result of COVID-19 on the supply chain?) and had to rebuild the motor. The delays were even longer this time and it became a real scramble to get ready for the POC race at Sonoma in late July. It became clear there was no time for a test at a Southern California track so we targeted the Thursday, July 23 test day at Sonoma. However, parts were further delayed and the shakedown laps would have to be at Saturday practice in Sonoma.

Friday morning, I left San Diego with my truck packed with spares, an empty trailer, my wife Vicky and our dog Phoebe. We met Kevin at his shop before he hit the road with Steve Parker and their race cars in tow. I helped Ramon finish some last-minute prep on my car in the shop before loading it on the trailer and starting the rest of our 540 mile drive shortly after noon. Less traffic is one silver lining for the pandemic and it was an easy drive. As we passed the entrance to Sonoma Raceway on the way to our hotel in Sonoma, the sun was just starting to set. I noticed the trailer running lights weren’t turning on so I pulled into the driveway of a winery to check them. Suddenly the lights came on but I noticed one of the trailer tires was almost flat! I took the mysterious running light problem as a good sign for the weekend. It saved me from ruining the tire—or worst yet not noticing it until I was ready to drive to the track in the morning. I had time to change the tire before it was totally dark and fell asleep easily when we got to the hotel, with dreams of fast cars.

Registration at the track was fast and smooth on Saturday morning as the staff checked everyone’s’ temperature before issuing wrist bands. I pitted with Kevin, Parker and Bob Mueller and checked the fluids and tire pressure for our first practice at 9AM. My tires were almost a year old and the handling wasn’t what I wanted but the motor impressed me. I had minor issues with the throttle and dash but got a full session in to check temperatures and oil pressure. I adjusted tire pressure and added fuel for the second practice but only got one lap before a red flag for a Boxster

vs. turn 10 incident. Kevin adjusted my engine map for the 103dB muffler and I put on new tires for qualifying. My goal was to get under 1:50 but I missed that and lined up 16th for the red race, behind many of the GT4s I used to race. My new dyno sheet for Appendix D put me firmly in GT3 but my long layoff—without practicing another speed sport or trying i-Racing—took its toll.

For race 1, I started next to Geoffrey Booth in another GT3 and managed to get ahead but he showed me his nose in turns 7 and 11 on almost every lap. I stayed focused on trying to catch and hopefully pass Raz Sporea in his GT4—we used to have some great races against each other in GT4. Booth had the last laugh though as he timed a pass on both me and Raz following a yellow flag for turn 4. (I’m still not clear on the rules about this and look forward to discussing it with everyone if we ever get back to real-time driver meetings). I thought I’d have time to mount another challenge but the checkered waved as the race was shortened to only 10 laps. It was great swapping notes with Raz after the race but then I had to hurry and prep my car for morning practice before going to dinner with the GAS crew. The only snag in this end to a nearly perfect day was that Bob Mueller was hosting us with some of his Octavio margaritas...I gave up hard liquor for 2020!

Sunday I left the hotel for our 8:20 practice and the car was ready but I had a problem with the clutch cable and completed no hot laps. This meant I had more than enough fuel on board for qualifying and disappointed myself by still not getting out of the 1:50s. I lined up for the race by Booth again, just in front of Ron Palmer, and had a good start. But then I threw it away with a lazy spin in turn 7. I had my best launch of the weekend out of the carrousel and misjudged my braking coming into turn 11 faster than usual! I caught back up to Booth by the end but it was too little, too late and I finished behind him again. I had to pack quickly and miss the fun race to head off for an isolation family vacation. But I’m anxious to find Mr. Booth at the next race and get to make another POC racing friend.

Overall, I thought it was a successful and rewarding weekend to start racing with POC again. It was a lot of travel for a shakedown. But I was at a track I really like, which just happened to be near the start of a vacation at Clear Lake, and I got to meet some new racing rivalries. My main lesson from our 2019 PCA tour of America applied here too--the car needs to be sorted when you load it in the trailer if you want to race for a win. Although I don’t know if wins are possible for me in POC GT3, given my car, my budget and racing approach, and drivers like Kevin Roush. There seems to be two tiers in POC GT3, like the top 6 in F1 and then the midfield. But that’s fine; it means there is always someone to race against, and the winners show what’s possible, to keep me motivated. As Ken Miles (or Christina Bales) says, “Out there, is the perfect lap,” and I’ll keep looking.

SIMRACING

May 18 Daytona

June 1 Sebring

June 15 Mid-Ohio

June 29 Watkins Glen

July 13 Lime Rock

July 27 Road America

Aug 10 Virginia Intl.

Aug 24 Road Atlanta

Sept 7 Sonoma

Sept 21 Laguna Seca

Second Season PODIUM Finishers

POC SIM Racing

By Michael Oest

In reality I have raced many types of cars in many events yet I have found SIM racing to be one of the best tools to help in developing my skills. Every type of car or different event teaches me a new discipline. When I was growing up, I had a go-kart. My dad would take us to a huge church parking lot and let my brother and I drive until the Kart ran out of gas. This is where I learned car control, slip angles and how to optimize grip. As I got older I bought an M3 which I planned on racing. My first event was an HDPE on the Autoclub Speedway Roval. I learned to control weight transfer and developed my heel/toe technique. It also learned how to deal with traffic ‘at speed’ on the track. Then I began Autocrossing where I learned how to memorize 30 turns, develop a plan-of-attack, master the track in 3 laps, and squeeze every single tenth of a second out of those laps because every lap was a qualifying lap. Next I began to mix in some track days and it became very apparent that racing on a track is not a sprint like in Autocross, it’s a marathon. All the disciplines come together no matter what track or what car you’re racing. The POC SIM League has really let me put together all the disciplines and get a ton of seat time. It has been a great place to hone my skills without having to worry about BIG bills or messing up one of my cars. The series includes a great group of racers, of all levels, that give all of us a great opportunity for seat time at a high level of competition. Also all of the tracks have

unique characteristics which call for different strategies. SIM racing gives you lots of laps and seat time to try different lines and plans-of-attack. The worst thing that happens is that periodically you have to hit the reset button. There is a high level of competition with POC SIM racing...nothing is given to you. I have had to earn every podium finish. There is not one guy that isn’t trying to take that position away. Neverthe-less, every driver does his best to race clean and professional. Winning doesn’t come easy but it’s very rewarding.

It all came together for me a t the POC SIM race at Lime Rock. The top 10 cars qualified within 1 second of each other in the GT4 class while I qualified 4th on my set-up lap. I didn’t have time during the week to optimize the car for qualifying but I knew that if I qualified well I’d have a good chance to carry a fast pace during the race. There was a big wreck in turn 1 after the start. This really mixed up the field. My new racing buddy Paul Newton took over 1st and I dropped back to 2nd. I then settled into maintaining with Paul and tried to put some distance on the rest of the field. Eventually, I started turning solid laps, but I was conserving the tires. As long as Paul was in my reach, things were good. Then I picked up the pace and began moving in on Paul a tenth-of-a-second with each lap. “Keep the pressure on him and he will make a mistake”, I thought. Things were getting tense. Paul is a really solid and fast driver. Eventually I pressured him, though, into making that mistake and I made the pass. Then our points leader, Jacob Abrams, also passed Paul and was now honed in on me. I looked at the time and controlled all of the remaining laps. The Win finally came and I was dancing. The skills and race craft I learned while SIM Racing all came together.

The ability that I had to practice over-and-over really helped to optimize my driving. SIM racing is a blast and there’s no better place to learn and no better racers to race with than in the POC SIM Racing League.

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