Conference oass::racers

How about some results?

Dave

1). Gentilozzi/Pruett/Leitzinger/Millen, Nissan 300ZX, 707 laps, 104.80 MPH
2). Dupuy/Wollek/Leconte/Pareja, Porsche 911 Turbo, 683 laps
3). Ebeling/Wlazik/Richter/Doebler, Porsche 911 RSR, 671 laps
4). Sandridge/Grohs/Maylaender/Katthoefer, Porsche 91 RSR, 670 laps
5). Hoerr/Riggins/Smith/Brassfield/Cobb, Oldsmobile Cutlass, 665 laps
6). Konrad/Hermann/Sala/Euser, Porsche 911 RSR, 664 laps
7). Hienricy/Pilgrim/Said/Hayner, Chevrolet Corvette, 658 laps
8). Dieren, Pagotto, Angelastri/Giribaldi, Porsche 911 RSR, 656 laps
9). Schader/Dale/Melgrati/Cobb, Oldsmobile Spice AK93, 651 laps
10). Downing/Taylor/Fuller/Morgan, Mazda Kudzu DG3, 650 laps
 
Of the 8 WSC entries, only 3 finished.  Places 9 and 10 and worse...

    The WSCs did have a pathetic performance, but let's be charitable.  It
    was their first race as IMSA's premier class.  They've been basically
    cobbled together over the winter, with very little time for development
    and testing.  The GTS cars, on the other hand, are at the top of their
    development curve.  The 300ZXs are using a destroked version of the old
    Nissan GTP motor (albeit with air restrictors) and a lot of GTP-ZX
    suspension technology.  

    I don't remember how the GTPs did against the Group 5 cars in the early
    80s, but I'll bet a fully sorted Kremer 935 was faster than an early
    March-Chevy or March-Porsche at some circuits.

    I think by this time next year, the parameters of making the open-top,
    flat-bottom WSCs perform will be more thoroughly understood, and
    they'll be more reliable and more competitive.  Plus, there will be a
    new generation of WSCs like the Ferrari 333SP and perhaps (one can
    hope) a Porsche.  They will probably never be as fast or as dominant as
    the GTPs were, however, and in combined races under special
    circumstances, the GTS cars may sneak in a few overall wins.

    We can also speculate on the probability that IMSA might restrict or
    even terminate the GTS class to avoid embarrassing the WSCs.  Certainly
    one could project a GTS car, for example a monocoque silhouette MR2
    using the TRD 2.1 turbo motor from the Eagle Mk. III, that might be
    faster than the WSCs on almost all of IMSA's circuits.
    

    >I don't remember how the GTPs did against the Group 5 cars in the
    early 80s, but I'll bet a fully sorted Kremer 935 was faster than
    an early March-Chevy or March-Porsche at some circuits.
    
    As I remember, Interscope and JPL used to trade off between their
    various 935's and Lola T-600's, depending on the track. They had all
    sorts of tricks to enhance ground effects, though. Don't think the
    current GTS rules allow for all that trickery. That MR2 GTS sounds
    really devious, though. Call Dan G; it gets my vote!  
    
    Hope the WSC cars get sorted and competitive soon....
    
    Pete 

    IMSA Sold! Cone out; will provide more info (from Autoweek) soon.
    
    Pete

From: clarinews@clarinet.com (AP)
Subject: Nissan 300ZX Wins Sebring Race
 
	SEBRING, Fla. (AP) -- Steve Millen, Johnny O'Connell and John
Morton combined Saturday to drive a Nissan 300ZX to victory in the
Contac 12 Hours of Sebring sports car endurance race.
	The production-based Nissan added this Exxon Supreme GT Series
victory to a season-opening win last month in the 24-hour race at
Daytona, with Millen the only member of the Clayton Cunningham
Racing team to be part of both celebrations.
	Daytona was a runaway. This one was tougher, with a Chevrolet
Spice co-driven by Britons Derek Bell, Andy Wallace and James
Weaver staying on the same lap with the eventual winner until a
brake problem arose four hours from the end.
	Even after that, the Nissan crew could not relax, as the Spice,
the top-finishing World Sports Car-division entry, gave chase. But
the Nissan never missed a beat.
	``You almost never run a race at Daytona, Sebring or LeMans
without a problem,'' said Morton, who made his first professional
start at Sebring in 1964. ``Usually, something fairly significant
happens and you have to fix it and go on and hope for the best.
But, other than the gearbox being a little stiff, the car was
perfect.''
	Millen brought the Nissan to the finish line five laps ahead of
Wallace in the Spice. The winner completed 327 laps -- 1,209.9 miles
-- at an average speed of just over 100 mph.
	It was the first overall Sebring victory for Millen, O'Connell
and Morton, who shared the cockpit of a Nissan last year in
finishing fourth and winning the GTS division behind a trio of GT
Prototypes.
	The ultra-expensive Prototypes were the glamor cars of the
International Motor Sports Association until they were dropped at
the end of last season in favor of the less expensive,
open-cockpit, built-for-racing World Sports Cars.
	The experiment appeared to be an embarrassing failure at
Daytona, where the new cars were never in contention and the
highest finisher in the new division was ninth, even finishing
behind a couple of the slow GTU entries.
	But, on Sebring International Raceway's 3.7-mile, 17-turn
circuit, the new cars showed considerable improvement and gave IMSA
and the WSC teams cause for excitement and hope.
	``These cars are going to get faster and better as the year goes
on,'' said Wallace, who actually started the race in a car owned
and co-driven by TV's Craig T. Nelson of the sitcom ``Coach.'' That
car went out within the first 15 minutes after losing oil pressure,
so Wallace joined his countrymen in their runner-up effort.
	``You can already see how much development work went into them,
and that's only to continue,'' added the man who now has two
firsts, a second and a third at Sebring in five tries.
	Third and fourth place Saturday went to WSCs, with Jim Downing,
South African Wayne Taylor and Tim McAdam finishing five laps
behind second in a Mazda Kudzu DG3 and Canadian Ross Bentley and
Andy Evans another four laps back in a Chevrolet Spice.
	A GTU Porsche 922 RSR was fifth with Joe Varde, Mark Sandridge
and Nick Ham co-driving.
	Millen, who got no series points at Daytona after jumping from a
disabled Nissan -- the car in which he started -- into the winning
car, this time took no chances.
hat won at Daytona and finished fourth last March at
Sebring -- No. 76 -- challenged early, but eventually succumbed to an
overheating problem, ending the race for Daytona winners Paul
Gentilozzi and Butch Leitzinger.
	But the No. 75 Nissan was running smoothly, in or near the lead
with O'Connell and Morton setting the stage for New Zealander
Millen, who finally climbed into the cockpit for the first time
with about six hours remaining.
	Other top contenders fell by the wayside, with the pole-winning
Oldsmobile Spice WSC going out with a blown engine during the
fourth hour and a pair of GTS Oldsmobile Cutlasses falling by the
wayside with a variety of mechanical problems.
	At halfway, the Chevy Spice was swapping the lead with the
Nissan each time the cars would pit.
	The two remained on the same lap until the Spice pitted to
replace a rear brake caliper early in the ninth hour. Millen passed
the Spice on pit road as he made a scheduled stop, then got about
another half a lap ahead before Wallace got the Spice back onto the
track.
	Bell and Wallace had to split the last five hours after Weaver
became dehydrated from the heat pouring from a radiator right in
front of the drivers' feet.
	``It was terribly hot, just belching heat,'' Bell said. ``James
became quite ill and I don't feel so well myself.''
	But it was a difficult brake pad that really ended their chance
at victory.
	``It was too good to be true, really,'' Bell said. ``Th car was
so good. We were just purring along. Then we had to change brake
pads and it took three stops to jerk one of them out of there.
Finally, they had to yank a caliper to get to it, and that cost us
a lap. That was a killer.''
	The race, run in warm, dry weather on a weekend that often in
the past has seen heavy rain, was without a serious accident or a
full-course caution flag.

 
1) Millen/O'Connell/Morton, Nissan 300ZX (GTS)
2) Bell/Wallace/Weaver, Chevy ATS Spice (WSC)
3) Downing/Taylor/McAdam, Mazda Kudzu (WSC)
4) Bently/Evans/Creek, Chevy Spice (WSC)
5) Varde/Dandridge/Ham, Porsche 911 RSR (GTU)
6) Hamlet/Pace/Waddell, Nissan 240SX (GTU)
7) Mendez/Konrad/DeLesseps/Wirdheim, Porsche 911 Turbo (GTS)
8) Purner/Rohr/O'Steen/Schumacher, Porsche 911 RSR (GTU)
9) Calderei/Keller/Mastropietro, Porsche 911 RSR (GTU)
10) Lagasse/Schrader/Leitzinger, Chevy Consulier (WSC)
 
Notes:
That's NASCAR's Ken Schrader in tenth.

    You gotta love Kenny Schrader.  He'll drive anything, anytime.  (I
    think he did the indoor midget race in the Hoosier Dome over the
    winter, in fact.)  Would love to see him in a rear-engine single
    seater, doin' the dirt-track thang arond the Brickyard.

    Re: .3
    
    The SARD Toyota team has released photos of its MR2 silhouette racer
    using the TRD 2.1 turbo 4, intended for the FIA GT-1 class.  Check out
    the current issue of Racecar Engineering, p.11.
    
    This issue also has an article on the Rod Millen turbo 4wd Celica that
    won this year's Pikes Peak.  I wonder if, with a smaller wing, flat
    bottom, and proper gearing, that car might be a giant killer in LM GT-1
    or LM GT-P. Remember, the engine is fully sorted and has won a 24-hour
    event. (The article notes that, on Elf zip fuel and with 4+ bar boost,
    the TRD engine makes nearly 1000 hp.)