Daytona
International Speedway, Grand-Am Finale
November
8-10, 2002
The final race of the Grand-Am season brought out an
unusually high level of competition. In addition to all of the
usual competitors, it seems many teams used this race as a warm-up for
next year's 24. Forty-three cars took the green flag, 15 of which
were GT cars. There were 8 Porsche GT3Rs in attendance, and given
the success of the car at Daytona, all were sure to be strong
competitors. Marcus Motorsports brought out its pair of M3s with a
slightly modified driver line-up. Since the last race at VIR, the
4-door #69 car received an upgraded rear suspension and a wider front
track. At the hands of Autometrics' Cory Friedman and David Murry,
we were very optimistic and believed a podium finish was attainable
despite the stiff competition. Bryan Dobyns continued to drive the
#9 2-door BMW along with Chris Mitchum. The Autometrics Motorsports
RSR also took to the track intending to put on a strong showing despite the
fact that it was outclassed by all of the competition.
As has been
typical this season, the GT qualifying field was lead by the Mosler and
Ferrari. Behind them were two Porsches and David Murry in the
M3. The top 5 cars were all within one second. Marcus' other
BMW pulled a time good enough for the top 10 in class, and the
Autometrics RSR rounded out the qualifiers with a very respectable time
not far off the qualifying time from the 2001 Rolex 24; it sat 15th in
class and 41st overall.
Our high expectations for the David and Cory's
#69 failed along with the car's engine after only 3 race laps. The
cause of the failure has yet to be determined, but was too severe to
attempt to repair in a 3-hour event. The disappointment continued
when the 2-door car met a similar fate and also retired due to an engine
failure after 37 laps. At this point, the air-cooled #14 Porsche
was still running strong, and continued to do so for over half the race
when a severe vibration developed on the banking and forced an
unscheduled stop. A second unscheduled stop and rear tire change
finally remedied the problem, which was determined to be the tire
slipping on the wheel causing a dramatic imbalance on the heavily loaded
right rear tire. The race concluded without any further
complications, and Jim Hamblin and Bransen Patch were able to position
the car in the top 10 in the GT category and 25th overall. A
respectable accomplishment for all parties involved considering the
unusually fierce competition at this event.
Water-cooled Porsches held
all of the top 5 positions and 7 of the top 10, but Autometrics
Motorsports showed that while not entirely competitive, the now-retired
air-cooled 993 can still display speed and reliability capable of
putting up a good finish. While we are disappointed with the
misfortune of the M3s, the RSR's last chance to run in the highest level
of sportscar competition was certainly successful. |
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Photos
by Juha
The
Race Site |
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