06-07-2006, 03:45 PM
The United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) is running as a support race for the G.I. Joes Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland on June 17th. This is the biggest racing event in the Northwest and there should be lots of action to see. USTCC cars are production based sedans, coupes and hatchbacks modified for racing. The competition should include 3-series BMWs, Mitsubishi Evo, Acura RSX, WRX, Minis, Chevy Cobalt, various Hondas and more. Although you don’t hear much about it Peter Smith campaigned a 968 for a few races last year. This is probably one of the last (if not only) places where a 968 is eligible to race “professionally’. I have not raced with these guys before, so I have no idea how competitive the car will be. I think it will do okay. Time will tell.
The biggest hurdle (besides lack of money) has been coming up with an affordable solution for wheels, which are stipulated to be 17x8 maximum running spec 235/40-17 Hankook tires. I’m running stock 17x7.5 Cup IIs at the rear with large spacers. It didn’t make sense to get custom wheels for just a couple of races. I haven’t done a lot of testing with this setup but in the little running I did, it appears to work effectively.
Practice is Friday, qualifying is first thing in the morning on Saturday and the race itself is 3:30 on Saturday, just after the final Champ car qualifying session. The race is 30 minutes and includes a standing start, which will be new for me and pretty exciting. If you are in the area and coming to the races, stop by and say hi.
I will also be running with them at Pacific Raceways in August.
Eric
www.teamEKR.com
The biggest hurdle (besides lack of money) has been coming up with an affordable solution for wheels, which are stipulated to be 17x8 maximum running spec 235/40-17 Hankook tires. I’m running stock 17x7.5 Cup IIs at the rear with large spacers. It didn’t make sense to get custom wheels for just a couple of races. I haven’t done a lot of testing with this setup but in the little running I did, it appears to work effectively.
Practice is Friday, qualifying is first thing in the morning on Saturday and the race itself is 3:30 on Saturday, just after the final Champ car qualifying session. The race is 30 minutes and includes a standing start, which will be new for me and pretty exciting. If you are in the area and coming to the races, stop by and say hi.
I will also be running with them at Pacific Raceways in August.
Eric
www.teamEKR.com
