Back Porche Racing at Circuit of the Americas

On August 3, 2016 we headed out for the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). It was a 1005 mile trip, but we made it with the Porsche 944 known as Jenny's Fault.. This was the first ChumpCar race held at this track.

After arriving we checked out the garage area and checked in with the officials. We were able to get the pit in front of the garage we were assigned. (garage 23, pit 30). We then unload and set up the pit and garage.

After getting set up, we had to put fuel in the car. One of our drivers, Evan, decided to drive the car to the nearby gas station to fill it up. After some time, we realized he should have returned. Just then Mike,s phone rang. It was Evan. The car would not start! After talking through several things to check, Mike and Tom (the other two drivers of the car) drove to the station to rescue Evan and the car. Once they returned with the car, they quickly started to assess what the problem could be. It took about an hour, but they soon learned the secondary kill switch had failed. They were able to fix this problem before the race. We were all relieved!

The first day of racing started with Tom Greig. It started as a mild day, but it would quickly become hot and humid. (100F). Tom and Jenny's Fault were doing good! Later we would see on the GoPro video a little problem; the shifter came out. The track had a local caution, so Tom quickly got the shifter back in place and continued on with the race. The first picture (above this paragraph) was Tom in the car waiting for the race to begin. The second picture is between turn 18 and 19 just before turn 20 which would put him back on the front straight. The last picture was taken as he drove up the hill toward turn one.

Our next driver was Evan Purser. Evan pushed the car more and learned some of its limits. He ended up spinning three times. Once again the first picture is Evan ready to leave pit road. The next two pictures were taken from the bridge just a short walk from teh garage area. One picture shows Evan coming under the bridge before passing the tower at turn 17. The bottom picture is the esses after the bridge where I was standing. All our drivers agreed that it was a little confusing on the their first lap to know where the course went into the esses.

Our third driver of the day was Mike Strawbridge. The first picture shows him leaving pit road. This was after our first gas fueling pit stop. The neaxt two pictures are MIke racing under the bridge Turn 17 before the tower. Each of our drivers raced twice. It was during Mike's second time in Jenny's Fault that he started to notice a noise in the front suspension. At first he said it sounded like a clunk and the car would jerk a little then settle down. As he kept driving it got worse. Therefore, he brought the car into the garage. The guys imediately started to check out the front suspension. Mike soon found the problem. part of the underside of the ball joint was missing some parts, and this was allowing the front swaybar to move. The guys took the front control arm off as I went around asking peoplewho were also racing Porshe 944s if they might have a spare. No luck in finding a spare, so the guys put their knowledge together and came up with a way to fix the broken one. After a trip to the part store, some washers, a c clip from a Jeep ball joint, and some JB epoxy, they guys fixed Jenny's Fault. The next day would be the real test to see how well she was fixed.

Day two started with Mike in the car first. Being the first driver after fixing the car, Mike took it a little more cautious at first.When he realized the fix would hold, he pushed the car more.

The second day I went up the tower during Evan's first run of the day. The observation platform is 230 feet above ground, and I could see all 20 turns of the track. As you can see by the last picture the cars looked like Hot Wheels on the track. This view was breathtaking, and I wanted to stay, but I had to get back to the pits to help. Later I would return to take more pictures.

The second day went much smoother and Jenny's Fault lasted the full eight hours. It was a long two days, but we were all pleased with the results. Back Porche Racing with Jenny's Fault placed 48th out of 100 racers on the first day, and 34th on the second day. Our next race will be at the Virginia International Raceway (VIR) the first weekend of December.

,