TotalMotorSport All the latest Motorsport news, race reports and photographs from around the world. Alms, Touring Cars, Formula One & Le Mans 24 Hours

Mid Ohio

ConAgra Foods

10/06/2001

Friday

Grand American No-Rain Racing Association

They tell me the rain hasn’t stopped around the central section of Ohio in over a week. But it stopped last night and today was as bright a day as one could imagine. Just about everyone would agree, unless their name is Tom Volk or Ross Bentley.

TRV Motorsports is one of those teams that you like to see mixing it up with the other cars but you never seem to see them quite often enough. Earlier in the day, I caught up with Ross and we had a nice chat. “This is TRV’s home race. They asked me to come and do this race with them. I did one race for them last year at Homestead and we had a good run there. I love working with Tom Volk and the TRV guys.”

The team came out to play in the Ohio sunshine with their Chevy powered R&S MKIII but, during practice today, a Porsche GT car did something someone referred to as ‘stupid’ and crashed out Tom Volk. Ross Bentley said the team could not handle the repairs needed while at the track so, their weekend is through. A real shame when you consider the budgetary considerations taken into account. And even more so for a team that has to ‘pick its spots’ in this series.

Bentley will also be back with Doran-Lista for at least two more events later in the season.

The Saleen S7R seems to work perfectly well in the Ohio sunshine. Unlike the regatta held at Lime Rock two weeks ago, where the car suffered a mysterious electrical problem, the fix is in. Ron Johnson cleared up the mystery: “One of the pins in the ignition expander backed out of the boot. So the motor was just turning off. The force of incoming water either pushed it out, or it wasn’t checked or seated onto the plug. It was a horrible way to lose but that’s racing.”

Ron Johnson may enjoy an edge right now with the stellar performance of the new Saleen, but it is the challenge of running well on a difficult circuit that really makes him smile. “Mid Ohio is such a technical track and there are so many different sides to this race track. It has long straightaways, really tight off camber 180-degree corners.

“From a set up point it is one of the most challenging courses. Some of the other courses, like Sears Point, it is harder to get momentum from a drivers standpoint. Lime Rock is like a little bullring compared to this place.

“A lot of people say that if you can get it done at Mid Ohio you can get it done anywhere.

Chris Bingham and Ron Johnson seem to be getting it done here in America’s heartland. The Fordahl / Saleen S7R was on top of the GTS time sheets in both practice sessions. But oh those yellow wheels! Yikes!

Johnson sees the competition in their class to be the Schumacher Porsche GT1 and the Muzzy Viper. On The GT1: “I personally like it because it makes us work harder and the harder we work the better we get. It wouldn’t be fun if it was a parade.”

The Intersport team loves TotalMotorSport.com and wears our URL proudly on the roll hoop. Pictured left to right are team staff, Scott Halupke, Julio Williams and Mike White.

In practice, the #37 Lola – Judd car came up second both times to the #16 Dyson Racing, Weaver/Leitzinger monster car. Seems the older that car gets, the better it gets. There are no retirement communities in sight for that machine.

Spencer Pumpelly in the Zip-Pumpelly Racing Porsche GT3 put the other watercraft on notice at Lime Rock by taking an early lead in the heavy rain. He tried to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field but the #50 Porsche of Aasco-Boduck Racing wanted to be in the same place at the same time and the resulting entanglement sent Pumpelly to the pits for a new tire. The rim was later determined to be a lost cause as well.

Here, Don Cyrulik, one of the Zip-Pumpelly team members, is seen prepping the brakes between practice sessions. Pumpelly went out in the second session and bettered his time by .3 seconds but the team is looking for more.

In the GT class, the fastest times were turned in by the #15 Fordahl Motorsports / Crazy Redhead Racing Porsche of Randy Pobst and Kim Hiskey. Pobst and Pumpelly went at it at LRP in the wet and it should be very interesting to see how these two determined teams can do in the dry.

The Norma-BMW is here and the team continues to look to tweak the chassis to offset the loss of torque the motor gives away to the competition. Edouard Sezionale is shown setting up the tear strips on his helmet. He is at Mid Ohio for the first time. “Yesterday we were on the track for an hour and the track is fantastic. It is difficult and will take long to learn but after that, it will be a pleasure to drive. In the states, it is the best track next to Watkins Glen that I have seen. I love the downhill and technical aspects of this track. The blind turns and the changes in elevation make driving here very enjoyable.

“We are having trouble with oversteering right now. Our engineer is with us this weekend. He could not be with us at Lime Rock.

“We made the decision to run the engine at a lower RPM to preserve the engine. We have three engines but each time we run at the maximum we blow the engine and we don’t know why. So we prefer to run for points in the championship.

“The chassis is good. The car is easy to drive. With more torque, it will be even easier to drive. With this motor, the window is very short. Under 8,000 RPM you have nothing so you always have to be above that level.”

This season marks the 40th anniversary of this facility. It all began with a driver’s school and weekend racers and over the years this beautiful facility has become world-class in layout and scope. This is my first visit and I must say the countryside and the entire area are easy on the eyes.

Having been up since 4:00 AM, these eyes could use something easy. Shades tomorrow as the sun is supposed to bring light to bear on this field of former sailors.