Our Project 996tt is still under the knife getting it’s power plant upgrades and new clutch installed. We thought we had everything we needed, but a $10.00 fuel fitting has put us a few days behind, the new fitting should be here tomorrow so that we can finish the installation and fire the car up in the next 1-2 days. A big thanks to Tony @ EPL for helping us with the fuel system and working on a prototype tune for the big injectors we’ll be running.
In the meantime we received a truck shipment from MA Shaw today that included our new wing and carbon fiber hood. The factory 996TT rear wing has a hydraulic system that raises and lowers the wing to provide down force at higher speeds. While the system works great, it does so at a cost of weight. We’ve been looking for ways to save weight in every portion of our building, so we opted for a new wing. We called MA Shaw in California to build us one of their track wings and lightweight hoods. Their wing is very similar to what you would see on a factory cup car, however it’s slightly smaller in size, and incorporates ducting for the air intake. We opted for GT3RS carbon fiber end plates to give the wing a bit more of a street look as well. We estimate a weight savings of 25-30lbs with the hood, and another 25-30 in the rear as well while improving down force. We also go the last of the parts needed for our GT2 front upgrade, I hope to tackle that tomorrow. Once the latest round of upgrades are complete we will re-weight the car and see where we’re at, more horsepower and less weight is never a bad thing.
This weekend I headed to Daytona International Speedway for the annual Rolex 24 hours race. This race features some of the world’s greatest racers, battling it out for 24 hours at Daytona’s famed race course. The race features 2 classes, Daytona Prototypes which are purpose build race cars for the series running under the DP designation, and the GT class which features cars build from factory chassis. The race starts off the Grand-Am series each year and pushes both the cars and their drivers to the limits.
This year marked a change in start time, normally the race starts and ends at 1PM, however this year the race began at 3:30PM. I left the house around 11:30AM and made quick time to the track, unfortunately I was not quick enough as the tunnels to get to the infields closed about 10 minutes before my arrival. The infields of the track become a giant campground and car show, so it’s always nice to park your vehicle in the mix of things. Not only does it prevent you from lugging your personal belongs around for the entire time (in this case a well packed camera bag and cooler full of adult beverages and ice), it also provides a bit of shelter from the elements. I stayed for about the first 10 hours before heading home to enjoy the finish on SpeedTV.
After a grouping 24 hours, the 58 car of Brumos Porsche took the overall win by a few mere seconds over the Chip Ganassi fielded car. The GT Field was won by our good friends over at TRG Racing who also claimed the second place finish as well. It was one of the closest Rolex finishes in history and real nail biter from start to finish (.167 seconds was the different between first and second). I hope they continue the 3:30 start time next year, although if they decide to I will be sure to get there early enough to setup camp on the infield, and stay from start to finish.
This weekend marked the first time I’ve really got to experiment with our 5D camera as well, I’m trying to get a bit more artistic with the shots rather than just using the point and click shooting. I’m getting a bit better with it but still managed to come up with a few good shots, pay particular attention to the J Lowe racing red Porsche Cup car, I just happened to be in the garage area as it drove be on fire and got some quick snaps of the car being extinguished.
