Porsche Road Racing
Tommy’s way ......
Some will say “with Age comes the Cage”, that
sooner or later the two wheel’d daredevils all turn to four wheels. While
I would not say that’s entirely the case here, maybe there is some truth to
it..
August of 2007 I attended my
first track event in a car. It was
hosted by the Mid Ohio Porsche Club and conveniently enough it was ran at the
Mid Ohio sports car course. The
event was promoted solely for street legal cars and was intended as a driving
instruction event. I decided to
take a Porsche Boxster to the event, since it was sitting in the garage and
begging to be flogged on without the fear of blue lights in the mirrors. Both days of the event were ran under
near downpour conditions with rather low outside air temperatures. These factors made for a rather
slippery course, with car over-steer only a flick away in any given turn. The event also yielded a few mishaps
resulting in a few precious rides having to be towed home for repair. Luckily enough I was not one of
those.. That said, I had a lot of
fun in my car and driving it loose was definitely a blast and it was most
certainly something different then I had done in the past on two wheels.
A month after the event, I
decided that I would build a car for the sole purpose of thrashing it on road
courses. Build it cheap, reliable,
and safe so that I could push the limits without fear of loosing my life or my
wallet. Immediately the search for
a car began. In November of that
same year I came across a Porsche 944 on Craigslist that was within my price
range. After some pondering and
negotiations, it was loaded on the trailer and coming home with me to be
dismantled and transformed into something that would become a work in
progress.
Almost two year later, in
July of 2009, the car emerged from my shop to be ran in its first event. Destination: Mid Ohio sportscar
course. I had signed up for a HPDE
(High Performance Driving Education) event with NASA (National Auto Sport
Association). It was two be a 2
day even with an in car instructor and classroom curriculum too. Both the car and I did well overall but
by running inexpensive tires and basic brakepads, I left a little frustrated
that I could not drive faster. In
early August, I returned to Mid Ohio to again drive with NASA in their HPDE
program; this time I was better prepared with more appropriate tires and brake
pads. Throughout the weekend, I
felt as if my speed was increasing, my lines shaping up, but above all I was
having fun. I concluded the
weekend wanting more track time. Later
that month I attended a second track event, this one with the Mid Ohio Porsche
Club. It was during this even that
I decided for 2010 my goal was to get my competition license.
Fast forward to current date. Some updates have been made to the car and I’m now a licensed with NASA for roadracing.
Auto Racing The beginning :
2009
Would you like to see your business’s logo on
the side of my Porsche 944; are you interested in sponsoring the car?
Email us if you'd like to know more about sponsoring these racing efforts. A little extra money goes a long way in terms of better tires, extra fuel, new parts, and even snacks for the race weekend. There is huge potential for advertisement exposure at the race courses we go to. If interested, click the link and email us!
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