rikhek

I thought you guys would find a recap of my first race weekend in the 911 Turbo I'm driving on my friends two car Porsche Team. Event was a Porsche Club of America weekend on the full course at Miller. Track is 4.5 miles with 24 turns. Hard to put into words how hard it is to learn a track that long with that many turns. Scary going fast when you don't know where you're going. Easy to get lost and not realize where you're at or what's coming at you next.

Many have read the story here and are aware that I'm a Corvette guy first but the opportunity to be the driver for the car was too great to pass up:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...-race-car.html

Miller Motorsports Park Race Weekend Recap 9/20 – 22/13

Hit the brakes hard at the end of the front straight going 165 mph during a race and the right rear tire exploded. Catastrophic failure/delamination. Was able to keep it straight and not spin/roll. Wild ride….



It blew on the first of two races on Sunday. Ran Friday and Saturday fine. Pieced it together to get to the grid on time for the last race. Problem was when the tire blew it ripped the hose off one of the turbo intercoolers located right behind the right rear tire. The “fix” to reattach the hose didn’t hold up. The hose popped off at the green flag start for the last race and had no power. I was gridded fourth and had 36 cars behind me coming at full power. Not a good combination. Managed to get out of their way and coasted around for a lap to get credit for the race and pulled into the pits calling it a day.



Before

johninar

Hey Rick, congrats on the new ride. Stay safe. Have fun. Stay safe

heavychevy

OMG that car is sexy! But I'm biased.... Where are the fenders from and what size wheels and tires are you running.

Hoosier slicks FAIL on the rear of 911's, particularly Turbo's. Happens very often. I have two personal friends, both with turbos. One failed at 180 on the banks at Daytona, the other went through probably 15k worth of tires in a year with them failing after a day to a couple of sessions. Hoosier replaced one, then another would fail again. Over and over again.

I had several fail on me as well.

Bimmerworld brought a customers GT2 to the GRM UTCC and one of their's failed after a few sessions. I was right behind him when it failed.


The GT2 that placed 2nd in the One Lap a few of years ago has had failures too.


There are several more that I just know of but don't know personally like I do these examples.

Run the DOT Hoosier, or Pirelli DH. The Pirelli's last 4-EV-ER!!! Even if the grip falls way off.

Captain Buddha

Rick - sounds like you are having fun! Sorry to hear about the incident though! So...ready to sell your GTA car yet?

rikhek

John,

How goes it? Long time no see. You doing Hallett this weekend? Hope all is well with you and yours.

JonJ

I was wondering what happened to that car. I was at the Miller PCA event running the DE class. Seemed like a pretty competitive field in the top 10. Glad you're OK. The car is/was beautiful!

rikhek

After reading the above post I was quite concerned. I started doing research and seems like there is a history of issues with the Hoosiers on the rear of 911's. I then contacted Hoosier and spoke to two different tire engineers. They both stated our pressures were too low. We were running 21#F/20#R cold. They stated we needed 26#F/25#R and 33 to 34# hot. The pressures we were running are the recommended pressures for a 2,650# cup car. My car is 3,050#. They stated at our pressures we were rolling the tire and it overheated.

I'm disappointed my crew didn't research this issue when setting the car up.

Car will be repaired in time to do some testing this coming week in preparation for our race at Hallett next weekend.

Should be fun as this is my home track and I know every inch havng over 9,000 miles driving it. I won't get lost....

fcarga

Some interesting information on the tire pressures. Seems that the tire companies tell us what pressures/conditions are suitable and then their info/expertise is ignored! Good luck this coming weekend!

Lasco001

Buy yourself a good tire for your hobby
Hoosier tires are the waste, but certainly not for your Porsche Turbo.
To include the Porsche Michelin S8 or S9
As an alternative, in particular, Hankook and Yokohama also work quite well

Cölestin

johninar

Yep Rick, you should do well at Hallett. Good luck
I'll be at the Eureka Springs show next weekend. First time my Vette has been on the street since March.

Say hi to Connie for me.