The Bahn Stormer Volume XVIII, Issue 2 -- March 2013
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The Bahn Stormer Volume XVIII, Issue 2 -- March 2013 Somewhere it is warm! Photo by Christian Maloof The Official Publication of the Rally Sport Region - Porsche Club of America The Bahn Stormer Contents For Information on, or submissions to, The Bahn Stormer contact Mike O’Rear at The Official Page .......................................................3 [email protected] or 734-214-9993 Traction Control.......................................... ..............4 (Please put Bahn Stormer in the subject line) Time With Tim -- January .........................................5 Deadline: Normally by the end of the third Calendar of Events........................................... .........6 week-end of the month. Membership Page ....................................................7 History of Porsche Fuel Systems -- Part 3 .................8 For Commercial Ads Contact Jim Christopher at Time With Tim -- February .....................................11 [email protected] Daytona 24 Hour Race ............................................12 Ramblings From a Life With Cars ............................15 Advertising Rates (Per Year) In the Zone .............................................................16 Full Page: $650 Quarter Page: $225 The First Car............................................................17 Half Page: $375 Business Card: $100 Kaboom! - Catastropic Engine Failures ...................19 Club Meeting Minutes ............................................23 What Top Gear Gets Wrong ....................................25 Material for the The Bahn Stormer may be reprinted Classifieds ...............................................................26 (except for ads) provided proper credit is given to the author and the source. Copy is the responsibility of the advertiser. PORSCHE®, The Porsche Crest®, CARRERA®, and TARGA® are trademarks of Porsche AG Advertisers ARESCO, Inc ........................................................................ 17 This Newsletter Is AutoMark Collision Center ................................................. 25 Clear Auto Bra .................................................................... 24 Brought to You by Fred Lavery Porsche ........................................................... 18 Gilson Motor Sports ........................................................... 22 Our Advertisers. Munk’s Motors ................................................................... 24 Pedro’s Garage.................................................................... 13 Porsche of Ann Arbor ......................................................... 14 Porsche of Farmington Hills ................................................ 28 Porsche of the Motor City .................................................. 20 Show Your Rennstatt of ArborMotion .................................................. 11 Westgate Insurance ............................................................ 27 Appreciation and Use Their Products and Check out the latest news on our website Services. rsp.pca.org Check out other PCA events at the Zone 4 website -- zone4.pca.org 2 The Official Page 2013 Rally Sport Region Officers President Tech Chairperson Events Committee Rick Mammel * Jim Dunham Chairpersons: Norah & David Cooper: 248-442-9008 734-451-1288 [email protected] Novi 48375 Plymouth 48170 Liz Christopher: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Sue Sarin: Immediate Past President Track Registrar [email protected] Jim Christopher * Tom Krueger Arnie Spieker: 810-217-1280 313-570-2223 [email protected] Ortonville 48462 Sterling Heights 48313 [email protected] [email protected] Other Board Members David Cooper * Vice President Track Chairperson 734-207-1599 Tim Pott* Christian Maloof * Canton 48187 734-548-5378 734 646-2746 [email protected] Ann Arbor 48104 Dexter 48130 [email protected] [email protected] Tom Bloom* 734-260-0260 Goody Store Chairperson Safety Chairperson Chelsea Rick Mammel * John Melvin [email protected] 248-442-9008 734-665-8912 Novi 48375 Ann Arbor 48103 John Kytasty * [email protected] [email protected] 248-709-1587 Livonia 48152 Advertising Chairperson Insurance Chairperson [email protected] Jim Christopher * Jim Dowty * 810-217-1280 734-717-1060 Ron Pruette* Ortonville 48462 Pinckney 48169 248-821-8670 [email protected] [email protected] Oxford, MI 48371 [email protected] Membership Chairperson Archivist / Historian Glenn Trapp Glenn Trapp Al Wright* 810-227-7854 810-227-7854 313-610-2777 Brighton 48114 Brighton 48114 Ann Arbor 48105 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Treasurer Bahn Stormer Editor Zone 4 Rep Burghard Linn Mike O’Rear Ron Carr 810-227-1223 734-214-9993 (740) 967-6027 Brighton 48116 Ann Arbor 48103 Northern Ohio Region [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Secretary Der Cranky Webmeister Mary Ann Kantrow Emmanuel Garcia 734-347-8544 248-635-7655 Ann Arbor 48105 South Lyon 48178 * Denotes Board Member [email protected] [email protected] 3 Traction Control By Rick Mammel, RSR President Ah, Rules. We all have made design, especially given the velocities the new 911 could them, followed them, and attain. From the release of the original production 911 the broken them. So many of the fixes were on, some patches, some permanent changes daily rules have little or no for the production line. One of the “patches” to improve consequences if broken, don’t the handling was to add 24lbs. of cast iron to the outer be rude, don’t pick your nose, corners of the front bumper to offset issues created by all always wash your hands, you that overhung rear weight. Improvement continued with know the drill. As soon as dual batteries doing the same duties as the cast iron and you get behind the steering finally the grand improvement, a lengthening of the rear wheel, following the rules takes trailing arms by 57mm to increase the wheelbase. There on a serious context and not following them is directly were continual suspension improvements through the 993, proportionate to loss of cash flow. An area of stringent all driven by the Engineering Department. Ralph Nader rule creation and enforcement that is not as transparent never stood a chance !!! At the end of the aircooled 911 to the average enthusiast are the ones governing our production run Porsche pretty much eliminated the poor favorite motorsports. Of late I have been reminiscing of rear engine handling traits that the initial models cemented the “good old days” of sports cars racing and how current in people’s minds. I think the media might have overplayed rule books are the size of telephone books compared to the “evil” handling stigma. Many times I remember the 10 page ones from the late 70’s. Those 10 pages worth reading the author’s quote, “it takes a real man to tame of regulations were thought extensive compared to the a 911 at speed.” That only enhanced the cars image, but CanAm Rules set forth just a few years earlier. Some of the in reality they seldom were that bad until you were at the most successful race teams, manufacture based or private, upper limits. That limit though was so much higher than were ones that were best at interpreting the sanctioning any other of 911’s contemporaries, whichever of the 5 bodies draconian controls. To simplify lets substitute “best decades you choose. at interpreting” with the word “cheat”. Not my choice, I’ve When the 911 got to the track in the hands of heard the word cheat every time there was an argument professional teams and skilled drivers, the handling ills over interpretation of the rule books golden words. were less of a hindrance and more of an asset. In the Porsche has notched up a lot of wins as a manufacturer. hands of a capable driver the cars propensity to oversteer Many of those wins came from creative engineering was capitalized to aide in getting the car to rotate in the to fit their racecars into the narrow band width of the corner. Add the yet to be mentioned advantages of the regulations levied on both sides of the Atlantic. Let’s break rear engine layout, balanced braking and rearward weight their racecars into two groups, production based and transfer providing monster rear grip, and the 911 became sports prototypes. The scratch built prototypes with their a menace on the track. To put it simply, handling, no “clean sheet of paper” design can easily be brought into a matter how marginal, is only used through 50% of the cohesive and ultimate competition car, production based corner, the rest is traction out and heavy braking in. Both competition cars -- not so much. When the base vehicle these 911 features cannot be bested, and the privateers is the iconic 911, you have your work cut out for you. The and Porsche factory continued to improve the handling 911 celebrates 50 years of life this year and after all that portion to the point there was no detriment to having time as a world class sports car, I still think it is a poor the engine in the rear. Add that extremely efficient and design. BUT that poor design, a design based on a legacy reliable powertrain and the world beater was created. of the previous models, has been completely dominated Part of making the 911 the iconic world beater was the by phenomenal engineering. There is an old racer’s saying, aforementioned rule makers annual book of do’s and “You can never make a race horse out of a pig, but you can don’t’s. This only expounded the genius of Porsche make a really fast pig!!!”