Look what I saw wandering around PBOC Sebring

#1

They’re everywhere, these guys.

In other news, GRM Project Spec E30 has a happy new owner: apparently it was getting painted this past weekend. Thanks to Damion for pointing the new owner in our direction!

#2

In case anyone is interested, left to right

Misc visitor, Paul Poore (yeah the exhaust guy), Justin Silver, Jon Allen, Whitt Staples

#3

nice pic.
Any reports/results?

#4

First the 6 hr night enduro at sebring is an abosolute blast, representing E30 was the carlton goldthwaite/ David Herringtion team and the Drive Gear J. Allen team. Lots of fun was had with a very close enduro. Carlton and David finished P13 overall out of 55 entries P2 in class R6 and P4 class R7, some issue as to what class we actually should have been assigned. Enduor was a bit back and forth for the first 4 hrs or so, Goldthwaite was about 90 seconds in the lead (e30 only) when Allen ran into some electrical problems. My PF 06 brakes on the left side were completely toast, nothing left… melted in fact… so the last 30 minutes in the dark was a little nuts but we got the car to the finish line.

#5

13th out of 55 is pretty damn good, they run some heavy metal down there…

Al

#6

Good to see Scott down there, guess he was hangin with the Bimmerworld guys. Drivegear once again had a great outing down in Sebring at Winterfest. The weather was a tad cool for Florida, but us Northerner’s basked graciously in the 40 degree warmth. PBOC always puts on a safe, fun event and this year was no different. After a 19 hour pull through the night, Andrew Zimmermann (P1) and Jonny Allen arrived Wednesday morning. By 5pm we were registered and unloading in the paddock getting ready for the 2 hour enduro practice. JonnyAllen test drove the car in the first 15 minutes of practice and then turned over the reins to Whit Staples for some exploratory practice. For never having driven Sebring before, Whit did a great job of getting aquainted with Sebring at night. Imagine driving on a foreign track at night and having GT3 Cup Cars dive bombing you a 150mph! Good stuff! After surviving and hour plus he had worked up to a good enduro pace. Andrew then jumped in to dust off the cob webs and he rounded out the 2 hours
Thursday AM we fired up some Drivegear breakfast burritos and washed them down with some of Paulies Pooresports hardcore camp coffee. Whit again took the wheel for the 30 minute practice. Afterward, P1 discovered a broken ABS wire was causing the ABS to screw up, so he replaced it and solved that issue.
JonnyAllen had the qualifying duties, managed a decent lap and put the 180 on the Pole with Carlton just 2 tenths behind. (that Pooresports motor was pulling very nicely down the back stretch.)
Whit was back in for the start. Can’t remember how many cars, but there were a lot. He did a great job managing traffic and getting the car out to a decent lead. As Carlton said, it was back and fourth for a while. We switched drivers every 1.4 hours or so. The Pit stops were timed and 5 minutes mandatory if you were putting in gas. Everything was good until about the 3 hour mark when the Gremlins arrived. We developed a miss in left hand corners and then the throttle was sticking on P1 in the fastest left hand sweeper on the back section of the track. We brought him in, lubed the linkage, topped her off and put Jonny Allen in the car. With a full tank the car didn’t seem to miss and we were able to go another hour with no problems. Then it acted up again and Jonny was left DOA on the back stretch with nothing but headlights… Finally we got towed back to the paddock and so the search began. All connections checked out fine but the engine wouldn’t even crank. Then all of a sudden the engine cranked but we had no fuel pressure. Checked the relays, they were fine. Then we had power to the pump but still no fuel pressure. Out comes the old pump and in with the new. Gas is everywhere, still no FP!!! At somepoint Paulie jiggled that giant plug on the firewall and the whole dash board lit up. He unplugged it, plugged it back in and the car fired right up!!! Whatever! So away go with about 45 minutes left and pretty far back from Carlton and Herrington. The car was back to full power and handling beautifully. Jonny was running lap times around 1:40-41 and passing Miatas by the handful when the dashlights went completely out. Apparently the tail lights are on that circuit too! Out came the meatball flag. Back in the pits. Paulie threw in a 15 amp fuse and three laps later it blew again. A 20 amp fuse lasted 2 laps. Airing on the side of caution we called it a night with 5 minutes to go.
It was a fun battle and the team work was great. If it weren’t for the Gremlins we would have really had a close race on our hands. Long story short, Ht-10’s and RA1’s (PBOC rules) are the hot set up for the enduros. PF’s and Nitto’s ain’t. Nontheless Carlton and Herrington were victorious in the Spec E30 duel. I think we ended up 23 overall and 3rd out of 6? in class. Whit and P1 drove great and left plenty of car for Jonny Allen in the end. Justin Silver and Paulie did an awesome job in the pits.
For the 1.5 hour enduro on Friday, Justin and Whit shared the 180. Justin cut his teeth on the track in the morning practice. Did a great job and assumed the qualifying duties as well. The qualifying session was mess and a good qualifying time was tough to come by. As a result Justin and Whit started the enduro a few cars behind Carlton and then Herrington. Justin had a great, clean start and was quickly on pace turning very nice 1:42-43’s. Carlton and Herrington were just ahead. Herrington pulled out a nice lead and was able to put traffic between he and Carlton. At halfway Justin came in for the mandatory pit stop and Whit jumped in. Whit ripped off a 1:40.xxx and was on a charge but it wasn’t enough to catch Herrington who had opened enough of a gap to hold him off. Carlton got bit by one of those Gremlins and retired early with an electrical issue. So it was Herrington, Whit and Justin and then Carlton. With the racing finished for the day we enjoyed an ice cold ML smooth and fired up the grill. Gotta love Sebring in the winter!!! Now if we could just get some more of you guys to join us next year…

#7

Wow, how is 1:40s possible in an E30 at Sebring? Was it the full 12 hour circuit?

#8

I wondered about those brakes, XXX had to change theirs ( I assume PF’s?) at the Atlanta race…and I think our RA1’s lasted pretty good…are there any RA1 full treads left?

Al

#9

csrow wrote:

EDIT 2:40’s

#10

I rented a car from drive-gear for the 1.5hr enduro at Sebring and shared the time with my buddy Whit who also rented from them for the 6hr enduro.

I met the trio involved with drive-gear last year and have to say that they’re an excellent team. Last year I built my own Spec e30 from the ground-up and until this recent opportunity, I had never imagined renting one. Arrive and drive is definitely nice and especially convenient.

I have to say that my experience at Sebring with drive-gear was the most incredible track experience yet. I was not part of the 6hr race so, I was pretty anxious that I may not have had the opportunity to race on Friday had there been any serious car issues from the 6hr. Clearly, Paul Poore is an important asset to their operation as his years of experience with building race cars and managing a fleet of e30s is very evident. Plus, I think it’s pretty cool that he was part of the Momo Ferrari team that won the 24hr Rolex in 1998.

As Carlton mentioned, drive-gear did have some issues with the car along the race but it didn’t take long for Paul to diagnose and fix the gremlins. Some of the issues had to do with the fuel pump, ignition coil and lights.

The rentals may not be prettiest cars on the track but the car we were running felt very strong and handled well. Andrew Zimmermann and Jon Allen seemed to go above and beyond to make sure our process was smooth and we got as much seat-time as possible. Many thanks to the drive-gear team!

#11

If I recall correctly, Jon Allen and I did 1:39.6 and 1:39.8 as fast times for the weekend during our qualify run.

Also the Nitto’s sucked 2 seconds slower than R888 we had enough laps between practice and racing to know tires were for sure 2 seconds slower. Finally PF06 were not able to last 6hrs, next year RA1 and H10’s.

Carlton

#12

We ran full depth Nittos at the Road Atlanta 8hr and turned 1.45’s, in the sprint on shaved R888’s no one except maybe Skeen did better than 1.45’s.

Also our PFC06’s lasted about 7 hours and that was the fronts. For endurance racing the front brakes on these cars (from a design perspective) just aren’t up to the task for the longer races.

So mileages may vary…

#13

Our PFC06s lasted the full 8 hours at Road Atlanta. We were actually running 14" full-depth RA-1s–not the best option IMO.

#14

Yep, that’s right…our brakes had plenty of meat after 8 hours…is that because our tires were so much worse than the other teams??? Probably a good thing we arent running an 8 hour at CMP…

Al