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PARTNERS
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News For September 16th, 2007
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Co-op Racing Takes The Car For A Final Spin |
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Lexington, OH – Co-op Racing entered the 2nd annual National Auto Sport Association Championship
race with high expectations. The 6th and 11th place finishes of the Eurosport 944 placed it 8th on the grid for the Championship race.
Unfortunately, an on-track incident, nearly identical to the spin during the 2nd qualifying race, took the Eurosport 944 out of the race with
a broken brake line.
Going into the Championship race, the team knew they didn’t have the optimum setup to be podium competitive. Their goal was to race hard and try to advance as high as |
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possible in the class. The Sunday morning practice session produced the fastest lap time of the weekend for the
Eurosport 944. The lap time of 1:42.9 put the Eurosport 944 right at one second behind class Champion, Joe Hrymack.
During the several hours prior to the Championship race, the team watched Bryan White compete in the American Iron race. White finished 13th of the 21 car class. Andy Berberich took the time to watch some of the other races in order to improve his driving line. Berberich and Andre Nischan took the opportunity to double check the suspension alignment and make some minor suspension setup improvements. After the start of the race, the Eurosport 944 settled into 8th place. With no significant advantage, Berberich was pressuring 7th place and was looking to take the position. After several laps of nose to tail race, there were very few opportunities to pass. On lap five, Berberich was able to attempt at a pass in the exact same corner where he had spun during the 2nd qualifying race. Not looking to make the same mistake twice, Berberich backed off and looked for a better passing opportunity. As the race progressed, Berberich noticed that there were very few passing opportunities to gain position. “Racing is a test in patience” said Berberich of what transpired. “That saying kept running through my head. I was following the number 72 car and was watching for passing opportunities. Even when the 72 would make a mistake, I couldn’t get a run out of the turns to make a pass. Mid Ohio does not have a lot of ‘safe’ passing zones either. On lap 8 I got a really good run out of the key hole onto the longest straight. I wasn’t gaining on the 72 until about 90mph where I had the draft advantage. I figured it was now or never. I didn’t want to repeat what happened the day before when I spun making the same move. As we entered the turn door to door, I was hard on the brakes and slowed the car as much as possible. I then down shifted and turned the wheel to make the turn. When I let out on the clutch, the rear tires locked up again, and the rear end whipped around. Trying to catch the spin, I threw the steering wheel in the direction of the spin. This caused the steering to lock to the left and the car still spun out. After the squealing had stopped, I came to rest on track facing on-coming traffic. I have to give credit to the corner workers who were quick to throw the yellow flag to tell the other drivers to proceed with caution.” The spin not only resulted in lost position, but also resulted in damage to the car. When the front tires locked, the right tire pulled off the brake cooling tube, and the left tire broke the brake line. The Eurosport 944 was forced to end its race in lap 8 of the 18 lap race with a broken brake line. Co-op Racing was obviously disappointed with the last place finish in the Championship race. The team feels they would have had a top five car, if everything worked as it had earlier in the year. They also felt they may not have been in the top ten, if they didn’t make the transaxle modifications. At the end of the weekend, Co-op Racing felt they had a chance, with some luck, to break into the top five. The team worked hard and Berberich drove hard to progress as high as possible in class. In the end, a racing situation ended the weekend slightly early. Overall, the team was pleased with the effort but disappointed with the outcome. The competition was a fiercer than what they had anticipated. Just about half the field of competitors were all within a two second range, while the top five competitors were within one second of each other. The most disappointing part of the weekend is that Co-op Racing will need to wait until next year for the next NASA Nationals. |
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SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR RACING PARTNERSEurosport Racing is a premiere Midwest Porsche street and race specialist. They specialize in Porsche service, track support and transport, engine design and rebuilding, dyno tuning, and suspension setup and alignment. They also offer a full line of OEM, aftermarket, and high performance parts and accessories. More information on Eurosport Racing can be found at www.midwesteurosport.comKauth and Mayeur provides the finest import services in Peoria, IL. They offer a wide range of maintenance and repair services for import cars. Specializing in high performance streetcars. Kauth and Mayeur can be reached at (309) 673-1412 or http://www.kauthmayeur.com. |
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