Last week was a busy one at Sebring International Raceway! I joined two longtime clients of mine at the Porsche Club of America’s 48 Hours of Sebring, the annual event that kicks off their season.
Our goal heading into the week was to optimize the cars as well as to improve on driver performance from the 2020 running of this event. We were able to start the week early with a David Murry Track Day event, which allowed us to get in some testing time to shake off the winter rust and to get the cars dialed in for racing at Sebring.
A variety of cars at the Goldcrest tent.
Goldcrest Motorsports, the team that supports my clients’ cars, started with a baseline reference from last year’s data and notes, and we worked to improve and evolve the setup throughout the week to get the cars in even better shape for this year’s event. That’s especially helpful at Sebring, which is a unique track that requires a really different setup than what we’d typically have at other circuits. By comparing each corner, the data also helps show how the drivers are improving from one year to the next.
After a couple of productive test days, both drivers were dialed in and ready to go for the official race weekend. It was exciting not only to see the cars performing at their best, but also to see my clients driving at a higher level than last year!
The results clearly showed this improvement, and they were even tested with a bit of wet-weather driving during the weekend. That added to the challenge, but both drivers did a masterful job of adapting to the conditions.
Overall, it was a terrific week that ended with clean race cars and happy drivers!