You know, I usually enjoy sitting down to write about my previous week’s happenings in our Neo Synthetic Oil, Horton Autosport Porsche GT3, but I’m having trouble extracting the joy out of my experience in New Jersey;  It’s not what you’re thinking as I’m sure a few polluted thoughts come to mind.  Thank you, MTV and the cast of Jersey Shore.  Millville, New Jersey was a lovely place as was the race track, but sometimes you show up to a track and just can’t seem to get in front of yourself to execute a plan.

I found myself once again at a track I had never been to before which is normally fine; however, New Jersey Motorsports Park is a daunting track to the newcomer.  It has the unique quality of having an incredibly fine line between on-line and off in the weeds.  You’re either in the perfect spot at any given corner or you are scared for your life and mowing the grass with a high dollar, high speed mower (not that Porsche is in the business of landscaping, but if they ever so desired there is a bright future there… I can attest).

Getting to NJMP can be difficult.  The race track is quite a ways from the big highways in the area that connect the densely populated East Coast cities to the lights and glamour of Atlantic City.  Finding the track may be difficult, but if you are in search of a casino there were enough signs in Millville alone that Ray Charles could have found a way to put $100 on red.  The Horton Autosport crew didn’t have a chance to tour AC; we were too busy figuring out Continental’s newest competition tire, the GT-R.  Grand Am gave Rolex teams use of this improved competition tire, but there was still a learning curve and team principal/engineer John Horton is steep in the learning curve department.  We threw a dozen different setups at our Porsche to find what we thought to be the best for the challenging Jersey track.

It was my job to qualify the car and I hadn’t been going very quickly all week as I was learning the track and more concerned with offering feedback on the handling of the chassis.  That said, when I put on the helmet for Saturday’s qualifying session I was very determined to string a lap together with the goal of a top-five starting position.  My first flyer started with a 3.5 second gap to an Audi R8…a gap that  had completely disappeared by turn 4.  With the lap blown and the magic of the sticker tires gone, I would have to dig pretty deep if I were to accomplish the goal of a top-five starting spot.  I did manage a very good third lap after hanging back on the second to give the Audi room to wander around for a while.  Unfortunately the lap was only good enough for 8^th on the grid and we’d have our work cut out for us come Sunday.

As determined as I was to qualify well, I was even more determined to move up early in the race from our starting position of 8^th.  When the green flag flew, I managed to find some room to the outside of turns 1 and 2, but the gap closed abruptly when a Mazda RX8 needed to use my piece of real estate on the exit of Turn 2.  The collision sent me for another landscaping adventure, after which I somehow gathered together and managed to get the car pointed into Turn 3 to not lose a spot.  The trouble was I had a bent right front wheel and now an alignment problem with which we were going to have to drive around for the rest of the two hours, fourty-four minutes and thirty seconds of the race.  I hung on for a while, but had to relinquish two more positions before it was time to jump out and let Eric take over.

I couldn’t help but be angry at the driver of that Mazda because now our race was being determined by someone else’s miscalculation.  I knew that wasn’t the right attitude to have, but I couldn’t help myself.  The days leading up to the race had been so difficult on the crew that I wanted badly to take home a strong finish.  Now as I saw our goal slipping away, I looked to find blame in someone else’s mistake.  Whatever the outcome, we will own our results.  In this case a 12^th place finish felt like last, but everyone on the team felt good about our improvements throughout the week, and we continue to build a strong foundation for the upcoming races.

We won’t have a chance to do any testing before our next race at Detroit’s Belle Isle.  We will join Indy and our old series, World Challenge, the first weekend in June on the street circuit.  Everyone on the Horton Autosport team is looking forward to Belle Isle because it levels the playing field for us – nobody has been there recently, so it will be a clean slate for all.  At the risk of jinxing it, I won’t say that we usually do well in that type of situation.  But we do.  Do well.

As always, a massive thank you to Neo Synthetic Oils, Carbotech Brakes and Porsche Motorsport North America.  We can’t wait ‘till we hit the ground in Motor City!

 

Growing up in Southern California was “awesome”.  The weather was one of the many things that made it great, and oddly enough, I never really knew how good I had it until I moved to Manhattan to start my career in finance.  I arrived in New York in mid March and I’ll never forget staring out the window of the office watching snowflakes fall, realizing I didn’t own a real jacket.  What does that have to do with racing?  Well I started my racing career on the west coast and always enjoyed sunny days at the race track.  February in the desert was the only time we had to worry about weather and that was because it was just cold.  Only one time can I recall racing in the rain in SoCal and that was my first actual club race at California Speedway.  I tip toed around as I was more worried about getting past my provisional licensing period than I was about finishing order.  Other times, either in Northern California or on the occasional pro visit to Ohio, did I ever have to don the treaded tires and skate around the racetrack.

Going into Homestead Miami Speedway for the third round of the Rolex Sports Car Series last week, the weather man said we’d have thundershowers to deal with over the weekend.  I had been in this situation before and somehow always lucked out with a dry racing surface when race day rolled around.  This time, however, it appeared as though my luck was about to change.  My co-driver, Eric Foss, was oddly optimistic about the chance of rain and seemed almost as if he were looking forward to it.  He taught at the Panoz School at Sebring though, and I believe they spent more time teaching under umbrellas than they did the clear blue sky.  It had been a while since I had taken any rain laps, and as it so happened, the last time I saw the wet was a World Challenge qualifying session in which I went into the tires at 100 miles an hour.  I am normally a confident competitor, but my confidence was certainly dull in comparison to my co-driver.  I would say Eric is the exception to the rule when it comes to a driver’s feelings about rain.

The week was going rather well and we had anticipated as much.  The Horton Autosport team had a chance to develop and prepare our Neo Synthetic Porsche GT3 for the Homestead race and it showed.  Eric was right at the top of the time sheets in practice, and I found myself quickly learning the partial oval road course and knocking off very quick times.  There was little doubt that we would be in the mix for a top finishing position on Sunday; although first we would have to qualify, and as Saturday approached, so did the rain clouds.

For this particular race, the Horton Autosport team had the pleasure of staying in a vacation rental about 25 minutes north of the track, and as we got underway Saturday morning we had noticed that it had been raining overnight.  Eric took some laps around a drying track and soon pitted as the rain was starting up again in earnest.  While we waited for our Continental rain tires to be mounted, we chatted about the rain line.  People might not realize, but when you race in the wet you drive a different line than in the dry.  As cars take the most efficient line around a dry race track, variables like radius and camber in the road surface play an important role in determining where to place the car.  The track surface gets worn smooth over the dry line in most cases, and if you drive over that part of the track when it is wet it can be very slick…something I didn’t learn in California.

As our qualifying session drew closer, there was talk that Grand Am would cancel the session due to rain; the idea being that you don’t want to put driver and equipment at risk if it isn’t necessary.  As it turned out, our qualifying session would be canceled; however we were given a chance to use the time as a practice, which Eric and I did.  As it turns out, I was pretty quick around the wet Homestead and had a blast running the oval at 150mph plus in the wet.  Our Porsche was again near the top of the time sheets and we returned to our vacation rental to relax and prepare for Sunday’s race.  Part of that preparation was gathering everyone to sit down after dinner and watch Days of Thunder.  Afterward we couldn’t wait to attack that oval!

To say it plainly, Sunday was just miserable.  From the first step out the front door we were wet, and just when you thought you couldn’t get any more soaked, the skies would open up and dump even harder.  I would start the race nearly last as the grid was set based on points, and unfortunately, we did not run the first race at Daytona.  We were still very confident as both Eric and I had the speed to get our Porsche to the front.  When the race began and we went green the rain was so heavy that the anti-fog on the windshield could not stop the condensation, and I spent the first twenty minutes of the race unable to see out of the center and left side of the windshield.  It was so bad that I had to rely on my spotter to guide me around the oval and tell me where the cars around me were running.  After a stop under yellow, the boys fixed the issue by rubbing soap on the inside of the windshield.  This way I had a streaky view, but at least I had some view of where I was heading.  It was surprisingly just as scary when I could finally see because cars were spinning constantly as they searched for grip on the rain soaked track.  We moved from 18^th to 8^th before stopping to put Eric in the car with just over an hour remaining.  Eric got adjusted to the conditions under yellow laps, and thanks to a great strategy by the boys at Horton Autosport, we were good on fuel to the end.   The only hiccup in our plan proved to be the Grand Am officials who felt the conditions were too adverse to continue.  The race was called after only 2 hours and we had to settle for 11^th with a car, driver and strategy that was no doubt worth much better.  Sometimes the racing gods just don’t offer the rewards when they ought to.  I believe in the one true Lord and He must get a good laugh when we curse the racing gods for our bad luck.

Horton Autosport continues to gain momentum in just our second race this year.  We will go to New Jersey Motorsports Park for round 4 of the Rolex Sports Car series with the expectation of doing even better.  Thanks for the continued support of our sponsors Neo Synthetic Oils and Carbotech Brakes, as well as the support from Porsche Motorsport North America, a vital part of our program.  See you in Jersey!  

Patrick Lindsey finded 14th

Check out Mark Patton’s article in the SB Newspress

“You could say that was our shakedown run,” Lindsey said. “However, with the help of Porsche Motorsports North America and the countless hours of preparation and engineering that it takes to prepare for Rolex Series racing, our team had an outstanding showing.”

The Porsche 250 was only the second race for the team in the Rolex Series. Last year, after running four successful seasons in World Challenge, team owner John Horton and Lindsey pondered a step up to the Rolex Series and ran in the August event at Watkins Glen International. Lindsey and Foss finished 13th in an older Porsche GT3. Impressed with the Rolex Series, the team made plans for 2012, ordered a new Porsche GT3, landed sponsorship from NEO Synthetics and Carbotech Performance Brakes, and recruited Foss to co-drive with Lindsey.

Thursday was a test day at the track with much of the time spent locating the team rig in the packed Barber paddock before they could actually get the car out on track. Friday was not only opening practice but also qualifying – and Foss came through with an impressive fourth-fastest time to put the No. 73 Neo Synthetic Oil Porsche on the second row of the grid for Saturday’s race.

“The setup on the car was good right out of the box,” Foss said. “The team really came here well prepared.”

The qualifying result came as a surprise to Foss who had no idea how his time compared to the competition at the end of the 15-minute session.

“I was a little lucky,” he said. “I had no idea how my laps compared to everyone else. I was getting static feedback in my radio, so I turned it off for qualifying.”

Foss held his position with the drop of the green flag. He took third from the Camaro of Ronnie Bremer on the 10th lap and began closing on leaders Paul Edwards and Emil Assentato. Near disaster struck on lap 17 though, when the throttle stuck as Foss entered Turn 13. He drove through the gravel trap, managed to avoid contact, and was able to return to the pits.

“Eric was brilliant in the beginning of the race,” Lindsey said. “I was cheering wildly when he made the pass for third going into Turn 1.”

Back on track, Foss was able to pass Edwards to get back on the lead lap and was able to pull away on older tires until a full-course caution waved. Lindsey drove the final hour and was running eighth when he suffered a similar issue with a sticking throttle. He was able to avoid damage, but lost a lap on pit road.

“My goal for the weekend was to bring the car home in one piece – which we did,” Foss said. “We’re not able to do the testing that some of the other teams do, but we’re looking forward to getting back out at Homestead.”

Horton was not surprised by the qualifying or race results.

“I expected a lot because of our driver lineup and the preparation and planning that went into the car before it had ever touched a race track,” Horton said. “Racing starts before even hitting the track. It was a rewarding first race of the season for Horton Autosport. We learned a great deal and are extremely excited for our next race at Homestead later this month.”

» Discuss this story in the GRAND-AM Garage!

With the winning momentum from last year, 2012 is poised to be Horton Autosport’s best year yet. Within the ranks of the World Challenge series, the Horton Autosport team is known for thinking outside the box and ultimately being the most competitive car out of the gate at any given venue.

Because of the remarkable success that the team has garnered within the World Challenge Series, the time has come for Horton Autosport to move to a larger and more competitive race series….

Stay tuned for the big announcement!

O Canada!

The seventh round of the World Challenge “Sports Car Wars” championship stormed into Toronto and was greeted by adoring fans.  Toronto hadn’t hosted the World Challenge machines since 2007 and they were excited to see them return.  We saw some familiar faces in Toronto, folks who had come to Mosport Raceway just a short time ago.  They made a point of heading to the streets of Toronto to cheer their favorite cars and drivers again.

With Toronto being the third and final street race venue on the schedule, I was already looking forward to the end of the weekend when we could hopefully load an unscathed race car in the trailer.  The Toronto circuit has high speed straights with big braking zones, perfect for creating close racing with lots of passing.  Unfortunately, like all street circuits, the track is lined with concrete barriers and tire walls that aren’t very forgiving if you want to explore the limits of the car… or your own talent.

Thursday was a bit of a boring day for me since we weren’t on track.  John Horton and Andris Laivins were busy pouring over our #57 Porsche and making sure everything was perfect for our first practice session the next morning.  I decided to be a team player so I promptly left the convention center where our World Challenge rigs were parked and made my way to the Delta Chelsea Hotel for some pool time with fellow drivers Eric Meyer and Robert Stout.  We hit the water slide and then enjoyed a club sandwich downstairs.  Robert’s dad, Ken, and T.V. “personality” Tom Hnatiw were there to provide us with ample entertainment.

Back at the track my Horton Autosport Porsche was nearly buttoned up and ready for action.  After a quick driver/crew chief meeting followed by a much needed track walk with my teammates Rob and Charles Morgan, we put the cars to bed for the night.  It was about that time I remembered that it was John’s birthday and that I had not mentioned anything to the rest of the team!  Warm birthday wishes were sent John’s way by all and we were off to the hotel.  We had an awesome steak birthday dinner that evening and I got some much needed rest.

Friday morning we loaded up in the van to head to the track and immediately noticed that it was wet!  “Great”, I thought, now I would have to drive on a tight street circuit that I laid eyes on for the first time yesterday and it’s going to be extra slippery.  Well, I cruised around the track in the first practice and to our surprise we were second quickest, right behind defending race winner Randy Pobst.  We had not been particularly optimistic about the race weekend and were hoping just to keep the car in one piece and maybe squeeze out a top five finish.  Needless to say we were quick to reset our sights a bit higher and were hopeful for a podium.

Fans were already pouring into the Direct Energy convention building which housed our World Challenge paddock.  The Canadian fans were very intrigued with our cars and had lots of questions for us.  It was a real treat to be able to see the reaction on their faces when they got full access to our cars and their questions answered by the guys turning the wrenches or in my case the steering wheel.

The afternoon practice session saw our Horton Autosport/Sloan Securities Porsche fifth quickest.  The track conditions had changed considerably and we had to adapt if we were to improve.  At the top of the time sheets Randy Pobst and Andy Pilgrim were enjoying the Volvo all-wheel-drive, but a group of Truspeed and GMG Porsche’s were close behind.  In GTS, Peter Cunningham was busy putting on a clinic with teammate Nick Esayian.  The Touring Car battle started to heat up as Nick Wittmer mixed things up with series point leaders Robert Stout, Eric Meyer and Dan Gardner.  Nick brought a big gun to the fight with a Honda Civic Si that was prepared by Realtime and Honda Performance Development.  Not only was Nick in good equipment, but the Québécois is a veteran of the Toronto circuit.

We were confident that the next day’s qualifying session would be a good one for our Porsche.  I even mentioned as much to fellow GT driver Jason Daskalos.  He got a big kick out of my confidence and we shared a laugh on our way out of the convention center that evening.

Saturday morning was gorgeous in Toronto and the fans were excited to see the World Challenge cars tear up the track in our short, but thrilling qualifying session.  The GTS and Touring Cars were on track first and they put on a great show.  I sat in the #57 Porsche on pit road and watched some of the best talent in North America drive their hardware deep into turn one, trying to get every hundredth of a second out of their cars.  The GT cars were up next and point leader Randy Pobst lead the field out to start the session.  Teammate Rob Morgan lined up behind me and we started our first timed lap.  I got a good clean lap right out of the gate, but the tire pressures weren’t quite up so I started a second hot lap.  Traffic balked me, but the car was getting better with every corner.  I setup for a big run onto the front straight for lap three, I knew this next one could be front-row material.  Well I got a little greedy with the throttle and bounced my right rear quarter panel off the concrete wall as I entered the front straight.  That quickly put an end to our qualifying effort and I cruised back around the 1.75 mile track and into the pits.  Fortunately the damage wasn’t too bad and my first timed lap was good enough to put our Porsche 3^rd fastest, inside the second row.  The Volvo’s of Pobst and Pilgrim took the first two spots and that all-important manufacturers point.  Then a host of Porsche’s filled the 3^rd through sixth spots with my teammate, Rob Morgan just a few tenths back and in 6th position.

John Horton and Andris worked fast back in the paddock.  They had a control arm to replace (as a precaution) and an alignment to put back on our #57 Porsche.  We were just a few short hours from presenting our car on pre grid and the pressure was on.  John and Andris came through as always and the car was ready to go with a new control arm, new wheel and some new, eclectic colors on the right rear fender courtesy of yours truly.

Pre grid was a blast with all the fans taking pictures of the cars and drivers.  It was fun to see everyone so excited to just have their picture next to a race car.  Did I mention Canadian fans are awesome?

We finally strapped into our race cars and rolled onto the front straight.  Driving onto the circuit and to our starting spots can be quite an experience.  Pretty girls holding manufacturer flags line the front straight along with camera men, announcers, crew members and grandstands packed with fans.  All of the pomp and circumstance creates such an amazing setting that one can nearly forget what chaos is about to be unleashed.

And unleashed it was!  As the lights went out 26 World Challenge machines angrily came to life and blazed into turn 1 from a dead stop in a matter of seconds, leaving spectators’ hearts pounding until 75 seconds later when the field roared by once again.

I got a pretty good start, but spun the tires just enough that the figurative door was cracked open for James Sofronas to slice in front of me as we tore down the front straight.  James has been racing for a long time and when a door opens he’s usually through it before the guy who made the mistake even realizes what events have transpired for that bit of opportunity to appear.  I tried to cross the blend line and use pit lane in a futile effort to get back around him into turn 1, but it was too late.  We all got in line for the exit of turn 1 as it tends to get really narrow there, then we were rocketing down the back straight and into the hardest braking zone on the track.  I got loose on the exit of turn 3 thanks to some Canadian NASCAR gear oil and Dino Crescentini was there to pounce on the opportunity, making a move to the inside entering turn 4.  He completed the pass somewhere on the outside of turn 5, leaving me somewhat impressed at his driving.  We ran in line for the first few laps until a caution slowed things down for a while.  The guns were silenced for only a short time before the Sports Car Wars were given the green light to resume.

Thankfully my teammate, Rob Morgan, was keeping hometown favorite Kuno Wittmer busy just behind me and I was able to gather myself and go after Dino for the fourth spot.  I was able to get a run on him down the back straight and make it stick.  I did the same move on Andy Pilgrim one lap later and then charged off towards the battle for the lead where fellow Porsche-mate James was on the attack.  As it turns out my run up to the lead battle was all my tires could handle and I found myself struggling to keep pace.  Andy’s Volvo was running considerably better by comparison and towards the waning moments of the race he made short work of my now ill-handling car.  To Andy’s credit, it was a very nicely executed pass – he went inside me entering turn 4 and the resulting battle saw us side by side through the next two corners.  Andy is a real gentleman racer and I felt comfortable sharing space with him even on the narrow street course.

The end result was a fourth place finish for our #57 Horton Autosport/Sloan Securities Porsche.  A result we were pleased with considering there was merely a few scrapes on the car and nothing too serious.  After the race I received a special treat, an MTM Special Ops watch for my pass on Dino.  It is a gorgeous timepiece and I can’t wait to show it off.  As I walked back to the World Challenge paddock I made my way through the crowd and a few fans stopped me along the way for photos.  I was very happy to oblige them, especially one small boy who was a Porsche fan so we substituted “cheese” with “Porsche” before the shutter snapped.  What a great time, I feel truly blessed to be able to participate in World Challenge.

In a few short weeks we will find ourselves contesting rounds 7 and 8 at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.  It is a track I’m familiar with and the Truspeed/Horton Autosport team is very excited about our chances there.  The last five races on the schedule should be very good tracks for our Porsche.  We’re keeping a close eye on the driver and manufacturer championships.  Historically they have both come down to the last race of the season and I doubt this year will be any different.  This really is Sports Car Wars!

Horton Autosport and myself would like to acknowledge the amazing support of our partners at New Synthetic Oil and Hawk Performance.  We are also proud to represent Truspeed Motorsports who provide us with invaluable trackside support.  We are also thankful for the additional support we receive from Porsche Motorsport North America and our partners at Wright Motorsports in Ohio.

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Santa Barbara race car driver Patrick Lindsey earned his fifth- and sixth-straight top-five finishes in the World Challenge GT Championship over the weekend in Lexington, Ohio.

Lindsey, driving a Horton/Sloan Securities Porsche 911 GT3, finished in third place in Saturday’s Round 8 of the series and fourth in Round 9 on Sunday in the Optima Batteries Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Presented by GameStreamer at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

In Sunday’s race, Lindsey nabbed the fourth spot after Kuno Wittmer got caught in traffic, tangled with a Touring Car and left the race with suspension damage to his Dodge Viper. Wittmer is second behind points leader Randy Pobst for the series championship.

On Saturday, Lindsey was in a fierce battle with the K-PAX Racing Volvo S60s of Pobst and Andy Pilgrim for third place.

“It took a few laps to get around the Volvos, they were quick at the start, but I caught that barn-door draft behind them to out-brake them into Madness,” Lindsey said. “Later in the race, traffic played a big part in the strategy for everyone. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hurts. I was able to use it to close the gap on James (Sofronas, runner-up) and (race winner) Mike (Skeen)f, and then lose a little bit. They had a really good battle, and I think a few more laps and I would have been able to get in touch with them. The handling and tire management of that car is pretty fantastic.”

Lindsey started fourth in the race.

After the weekend, the Santa Barbara driver is fifth in the series standings.

Porsche cut into Volvo’s Manufacturers’ Championship lead, which now stands at six points (51 to 45). Dodge is third, with 37.