[benspeeder]

New Jersey Motorsports - Team DI Pro IT Series - SCCA Road Racing

So here's an update on the ITR Porsche 968 BigSpeed racing project. After buying a rough but well optioned 1992 968 with M030 everything and a G50 LSD we finally find the 968forums website. Research is done. Decisions are made.

RS Barn will build the car. The Porsche has never been built for the recently approved SCCA ITR class. The Improved Touring class is the most widely raced class in SCCA except the Miatas. ITR was formulated 2 seasons ago to accomodate the E36 and up BMWs and other really cool cars including 300 ZX, Supra, Porsche, 305 V8 pony cars and many other platforms. BMW has absolutely dominated this class since its inception. This 1992 ITR Porsche 968 is the first one of its kind built in the US.

I get to RS Barn Thursday night. The plan is to pick up the newly built car which is still being finished as I drive down to get it. Drive to NJ Motorsports Park and race on the pro Thunderbolt road race course. I have driven the sister track at NJMP but never on Thunderbolt. This track is repudiated as tough, be brave, and very technical on the "octopus, monkey nuts" or whatever the drivers call it carousel infield.

I get to RS Barn around 9PM Thursday. Pete is a man true to his word and that sled is ready. The bill is big and fair. No surprises and I roll for the track around 11:30. Get there at 1AM and they will not let me in. My friend who is a wealthy surgeon shows up at the same time in his massive tractor trailer and his driver commences to berating the kid wearing the security hat. The kid has a stiff neck staring up at the truck driver who is 6' 6" 350 lbs. The driver does every mean nasty thing to get us in and the kid says no.

We leave the tractor trailor blocking the 5 lane entry to the track and I head to the hotel with my buds to sleep in comfort instead of my trailer. We get up at 6AM and head to the track and paddock up together. Nicely, two SCCA national pro drivers and champions paddock with us.

Long story short on the track. This car hauls ass. I must run at 3055 lbs in ITR which is abusively heavy but the superior handling setup deals with it nicely. The monster M030 brakes are the largest and best in the ITR class in my humble opinion. I get the car through tech, finish up the car, decal it and tie up all loose ends on Friday. Test day on Friday is rained out and that serves my plans well. I need to finish and the fact that all the other guys are light on time at this new track makes me figure a rain out is good. I would have missed most of it.

I am registered to race in the SCCA national race and PRO IT. I qualify on Saturday twice - 2 thirty minute sessions that are both qualifing. Now I've raced with SCCA regionally for 9 seasons but have never attended a national. While the haulers were bigger and there were more big $$ cars there, the talent was not any different than the regional guys. The only difference was Joel Lipperini who is the SCCA national champ for showroom stock. That guy was friggin Randy Pobst good around the track and mastered aggression with a whip. My P car was faster but watching that psycho from 1 bumper away was very motivating.

Now what is really awesome - who shows up at the track? Pete the owner of RS Barn! That is really awesome and I was wondering if I was paying for engineering time or not. If you have this man build your car and race at NJMP - no promises but this man does give a big thought and interest in how his customers will race.

New car, new track, I've missed all races this year and haven't done a race since 10/08. I finish 2nd in class, lead the first lap and set the ITR track record and finish 2nd in class and 3rd overall of 28 drivers.

The qualifier is on Sunday for Pro IT at 9 AM. I take 4th. These are the very best IT drivers in the North East. Out of the box. One other point to the real racers - tire pyrometer termps were 30 degrees across the tire - that is perfect. Off the trailer.

We take 4th for Pro IT qualifying. Now Pete and I took some crap on the grid from some big pro teams for the carpet still being in the car and it really had a bargain basement decal package on it.

We take 2nd in class, third overall and set the track record for ITR. OK - good weekend. I roas the clutch halfway through the race. It's 45 minutes and I cut it down to 20 min or so. I am being chased by a German Euro Touring car pro driver at the end. You'll see his blue and green tiger striped car get me at the end - I had him by 20 secs before my 130K clutch died so the hard line statement of fact is - 968 is a sick race car and will win against the best. But not if you have s***heads work on your car.

Watch the race here - cut me slack - I have never raced here before!!!!!!! ( but gimme track record :-))

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5259792/13876512

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[94SilverCab]

Damn Ben, should have had you autograph my engine compartment surround....

That's absolutely rockin' and hats off to you...

RS BARN? CASE CLOSED!!!

Jay

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[pmcrespo]

ROCK ON BEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely brilliant! Congrats on the track records and the sick finishes. Simply AWESOME! Best going forward!

I know the feeling. My car podiumed at every outing. Including 2008 UTCC at Buttonwillow as a 1 race fresh green rookie in a new track and the car was not even near as good as it was afte we finish it later in 08. 80% RSB 968 /20% driver....

You are going to ROCK SCCA!

Best of lucks...

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[Mark]

sweet!!!! nice driving and nice car. Looks like you had a fair amount of open track and clean air to run in. I'm guessing the second day was a little faster after getting rubber on the track after all that rain. Sorry I did not have a chance to check out the car Thursday when I was dropping mine off as I was running late. No surprise for me that Pete showed up, his heart is at the track and that gets him going.

Damn if I did not know the result beforehand I would have thought you ere going to get past him.

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[PorscheDude]

Simply awesome!!!!!

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[Anchorman]

Great story, great result - inspiring to me that I have so much room to improve. I just have to spend a few more pennies at RS Barn.

Ah, maybe I'll leapfrog behind the wheel of our Miata.

Keep up the good work - and keep telling us about it!

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[RS Barn]

Ben,
You asked me what changes we may need to do at track?? I told you car would roll off trailer ready to go..
We had to make a huge chassis change of 1 psi tire pressure. Oh Well!!!
I really had a fun time hangin with Ben and watching him trash the car I just built. Please turn on the fan switch on cool down...
I have to give lots of kudos to Max and Paul Schwarz who set up chassis (Koni Challenge crew chief)
Everybody-lets race 968's are awesome
Pete

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[flwbyu]

Ben,

All I can say is Wow! Nicely done. It's great to see the 968's out on the track showing their colors. Considering the age of the car it still drives and looks awesome. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to hearing more.

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[Cloud9...68]

Incredible story! It's so nice to see how much potential these cars, which really weren't terribly competitive with their contemporaries when they were new, have on the track when prepared properly. And at 3055 lbs, no less!

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[caffine]

Ben congrats! Thanks for sharing such a great story with us. All the best to you.

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[benspeeder]

Thanks everybody! Really appreciate the encouragement. I just ordered the racing clutch and components from RS Barn and will teach myself how to do a clutch job by reading up on the site.

Next race for certain will be the Pro IT at Watkins Glen July 27th. Gary - I'll be extra careful in the laces - no wreck repeats. Hopefully I can get to NJMP by mid-July.

Crespo - I will be inspecting those control arms and ball joints...

Race on gentlemen!

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[Eric_K]

Nice job!

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[wmuldowney]

I wanna play!

Now I have to get out and look for a donor car to build up, oh yeah and get a bunch more dollars.

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[Johannvb]

Congrats Ben, the car sounds awesome and looks like it corners really flat.

Drop my a PM if you need any advice with the clutch [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

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[rxter]

I'm not a racer but I love watching F1 on the tube. That start was the best I haveseen. Sitting in your car with you as you waited to mash the gas was nerve racking. How fun that you jumped the M at the start of the race. Thanks for sharing, and be careful out there.

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[garylimey]

<!--quoteo(post=73637:date=Jun 10 2009, 07:50 AM:name=benspeeder)-->QUOTE (benspeeder @ Jun 10 2009, 07:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Thanks everybody! Really appreciate the encouragement. I just ordered the racing clutch and components from RS Barn and will teach myself how to do a clutch job by reading up on the site.

Next race for certain will be the Pro IT at Watkins Glen July 27th. Gary - I'll be extra careful in the laces - no wreck repeats. Hopefully I can get to NJMP by mid-July.

Crespo - I will be inspecting those control arms and ball joints...

Race on gentlemen!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Nice one Ben!! At that weight you will do well at the Glen, I ran my 2:11 there at a little under 3100lbs and 219whp.
Are you sure about July 27th though as that is the 1st day of the Kojote event at WGI that I'm at.

What was your actuall time for Thunderbolt? I could'nt see it. I'm curious to see how it compared to mine at 3235lbs when I saw Pete at that track recently.
I will be racing the S2 next weekend at Lightning in the 944SuperCup. I'm going to miss the 968 but at least now I can run a little lighter.

What size tyres you running up front? I tried 255/35/18's at the Glen, they were nice and there were no rubbing issues. This size tyre gives you 1.2 inches more of tread over the 245/35/18.

Do youself a favour and don't listen to the local Hoosier rep who told me to run 44psi hot OH: They got real slippery.
BTW, keep out of the blue bushes, it hurts [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img]

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[xrad]

SWEET DEAL , Jersey Boy!!
Congrats!

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[benspeeder]

Hi Johann - I decided to have RS Barn do the clutch - did some reading on the site and I just know that my level of patience wouldn't work on this job. Plus I get piece of mind that I won't destroy a bunch of expensive new parts.

Yo Gary! The car has a stock motor with 130K miles on it - Pete only did the rod bearings, timing belt and other maintenance so this might be making 210 rwhp? It has the RS barn header, exhaust and chip. Racing on 245 - 40 -17 all around. They didn't have 275s for the rear or anything but 245s so I can really pickup some grip coming off the corner with just a bigger tire. Must run 17x8.5 rims max for my class. I am ordering a set of light weight rims with some other guys as a group buy and will go from stock rims that are around 22-23 pounds to 14 pound rims. Likely I'll go with 16's to save more weight.

I did my presets cold at 31 right side 30 left side and came in hot at 40 - 41 lbs hot - that was spot on for how I like it. 44 is greasy and slippery. Tires are Hoosier R6.

My best time was a 1:34.6 which was good for the ITR track record but I feel there is an easy 2 seconds to pickup just by driving a better line. Especially through the Octopus, Devil's hole or whatever it's called. My out corner there is needing work and that's the most important corner on the track. Turn 2 is the next most important and I scream through there. The weather was OK - not cool enough for super fast times. Most everybody said the track was slow and people who had raced there were 2 seconds off their times. The fellow who had the ITS track record at 1:33.3 ran a 1:35.6 and was very unhappy he was 2 seconds off. (ITS is a slower class than ITR but only by a hair)

I did a 1:16.1 at Lightning in a 170 whp Mazda RX7 2680 lbs - this 968 kills that old car.

The next PRO IT race at the Glen is actually 7/25-26 - but I might get to NJMP before then.

If the car was race ready I would want to come run with you guys in 944SuperCup! (or is the 968 not classed?)


A set of light wheels and some extra time in the car and I just might get fast :-)

Cheers

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[garylimey]

<!--quoteo(post=73703:date=Jun 11 2009, 10:00 AM:name=benspeeder)-->QUOTE (benspeeder @ Jun 11 2009, 10:00 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Hi Johann - I decided to have RS Barn do the clutch - did some reading on the site and I just know that my level of patience wouldn't work on this job. Plus I get piece of mind that I won't destroy a bunch of expensive new parts.

Yo Gary! The car has a stock motor with 130K miles on it - Pete only did the rod bearings, timing belt and other maintenance so this might be making 210 rwhp? It has the RS barn header, exhaust and chip. Racing on 245 - 40 -17 all around. They didn't have 275s for the rear or anything but 245s so I can really pickup some grip coming off the corner with just a bigger tire. Must run 17x8.5 rims max for my class. I am ordering a set of light weight rims with some other guys as a group buy and will go from stock rims that are around 22-23 pounds to 14 pound rims. Likely I'll go with 16's to save more weight.

I did my presets cold at 31 right side 30 left side and came in hot at 40 - 41 lbs hot - that was spot on for how I like it. 44 is greasy and slippery. Tires are Hoosier R6.

My best time was a 1:34.6 which was good for the ITR track record but I feel there is an easy 2 seconds to pickup just by driving a better line. Especially through the Octopus, Devil's hole or whatever it's called. My out corner there is needing work and that's the most important corner on the track. Turn 2 is the next most important and I scream through there. The weather was OK - not cool enough for super fast times. Most everybody said the track was slow and people who had raced there were 2 seconds off their times. The fellow who had the ITS track record at 1:33.3 ran a 1:35.6 and was very unhappy he was 2 seconds off. (ITS is a slower class than ITR but only by a hair)

I did a 1:16.1 at Lightning in a 170 whp Mazda RX7 2680 lbs - this 968 kills that old car.

The next PRO IT race at the Glen is actually 7/25-26 - but I might get to NJMP before then.

If the car was race ready I would want to come run with you guys in 944SuperCup! (or is the 968 not classed?)


A set of light wheels and some extra time in the car and I just might get fast :-)

Cheers<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Depending upon how much power you have. My car dynoed on the NASA dyno at 222whp which meant I had to add weight and run at a minimum of 3200lbs. However the ITR 968 has to run at 3250lbs and up to I think 226whp.

I ran a high 1:33 at Thunderbolt in a test and tune day with JRZ but the track was empty and I was pushing too hard.
To get that time I was flat out from T2 through the kink which on the 3rd attempt nearly cost me the car [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif[/img] . Pete I think saw it [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img] . needless to say with all the dirt that was accumilating on that turn I did not try that again [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img] .

My best at lightning from the 1 day I had there last year was a 1:17.2. I found the light bulb to be a tough turn to get right.

The rules at at this link. It's a great bunch of guy's and well worth adding weight for [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img] .

http://www.44cup.com/supinfo.shtml

I think you would like 944Cup guy's, there is a lot of compition as well as other 968's [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]
You also win Hoosier tyres if you come in 1st or 2nd as well as Hawk gift certificates.
There is also a $1,500 1st prize in the Precsion Motorsports SuperCup Challenge, that's the combined results of your 10 best races. NEC and MAC are the 2 regions that can compete in this.

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[Fox944]

awesome. congrats ben.

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