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Mid Ohio

ConAgra Foods

10/06/2001

More Sunday

Pre Race

Evan Wittels is the crew chief on the Team Tambourine - Mazda Miata MX-5 car. He filled in some of the details about the team this morning. “This is a GT class car. We use a six-speed sequential gearbox and a 13b fuel injected engine and a speedway engineering rear end.

“Ron Tambourine, out of Chicago, owns the team. Mandeville Auto Tech built the car several years ago. It was run by a team from Puerto Rico that decided to sell it to Ron.

“We are running a limited schedule in Grand Am as this is a new venture for Ron. He is used to running in IT and the old Radial Challenge event and SCCA Touring Class and things like that so this is a step up for him. This is a whole new adventure for Ron.

“We are still sorting out the car because a lot of the drivetrain components were changed
from when it ran as a sprint car in Puerto Rico. The engine and all the systems are tried and true from Mandeville. We have a racing engine that is not turbocharged. It is a throwback to the older traditional type rotary that was raced all through the ‘80’s when Mazda was in its heyday with IMSA.

“Ron’s co-driver is Jack Hall from North Carolina. Jack is an SCCA GT2 driver and has been in a Mazda for several years. The crew consists of Terry Jinks who prepares the car at Comptech in Athens, Georgia, and came with it to help us out. The rest of the crew is made up of friends who have volunteered to help.

“We are near the end of the field but we are in the field and we are happy. This will be the first race we will run. We went to Daytona but had a lot of problems and didn’t get very far. If everything goes well here we will go to Elkhart Lake (Road America). We will see how far we can go.”

Kevin Doran likes Mid-Ohio. “It is kind of our home track. It is only 2.5 hours away from our base. We have never tested here so it is not our home track in the traditional sense.”

Doran prefers the longer races to the sprint format tried at Lime Rock Park two weeks ago. “Anything beats a sprint format. I’m not a fan of that. If you want to have a sprint race run sprint cars. If you want to have an endurance sports car race I guess 3hours would have to be the minimum.”

Adam Merzon is another driver new to Mid-Ohio. He is in the Case It Racing Porsche GT3RS #61 along with David Murry. Murry qualified the car third in GT. Merzon: “The car is sorted pretty well. David is helping me to learn the track. I actually like this track because it is so technical.”

The main event starts in a few hours. Right now the Grand Am Cup cars are in the middle of their own 3-hour endurance race. The cars are essentially the same in appearance as streetcars on the outside but they are true racing machines on the inside. They are an exciting group to watch and they can thrill spectators just as well as the bigger cars. And if you happen to drive a Firebird, Corvette, Lexus, Audi, Hyundai, Cavalier, Mazda, Toyota, Porsche, Honda, Mercedes, BMW or Mustang, this series will offer you at least one car and team to root for.

Despite the noise the Cup cars are making, the #15 Pobst/Hiskey Porsche is catching some zz’s in the garage, resting up for what could be a very good day.

Skies continue to grow grayer but it appears more a cloud cover than an impending storm. Let’s hope all the thunder comes from the cars on the ground!