PCNSW Driver Championship 2018

[Buchanan Automotive]

Yesterday ( Sunday ) , Sydney Motorsport Park , Eastern Creek  Main GP ( Gardner) , Super Sprint No 1 ,  big turn out of Porsche's ( 85 entries I think ) with heaps of GT3's of all different year types and versions  , dry , warm to hot  conditions which meant if you were trying for a PB time ( personal best ) then the time would be before the track temp reached "too hot " , so that means it will have to be in the morning , but with so many cars competing each speed group ( 6 speed groups ) that there would be only two sessions out onto the track for each driver before lunch , so that means in reality the first session out in the morning is really a familiarization few laps so see what the track condition is like , so that leaves the second session before lunch ( mid/ late morning ) , but of course everyone needs a clear run , no mistakes at all for one complete lap & do not get slowed even for a second or two coming up behind another car on the track & then you most defiantly do not need oil spilled / leaked out onto the track by another competitors car , which happens just about every super-sprint , naturally everyone is in the same boat ( so to speak ) so there is multiple factors at play in trying to get the best possible lap time including the most obvious one of everything about the Porsche you are driving is reliable while on the race track & performing at its best , be it engine ,transmission , suspension , tyres age and tyre choice , be it road legal treaded "R" spec tyres or track dedicated "Slick " tyres 

Note } the use of slick tyres puts you in a different "Open Class " categories , because slick tyres always give better track times 

With regards to the last century front engine' d Porsche's at the super sprint yesterday }
The standout was Ken Knight in his stripped out 2,5L NA track only 944 ( with Slick Tyres ) class OC  1.49:827 .

Then there was George Masselos in his  1995   968CS getting the best time in class 5A   1.53:112 

Jot Lynas in his 1991    944S2 coming in 2nd in class 5A   1.55:037 

Edan Thornburrow   in his  1985  944 2.5L getting the best time in class 6A   2.02:625

Fred DCruz  944 2.5L  in his 1983 944 2.5L  coming in 2nd in class 6A     2.04:265

Sean Buchanan in his road registered 1986  3.0L 16V E85  944 Turbo  ( "R" spec road legal tyres ) did very well considering we have made no changes from last year or the year before that for that matter ( mainly because this car has to drive to work every day ) so we can not do much else to it as a road car , it was funny seeing this 32 year old Porsche road car ( with excellent A/C and stereo system ) in speed group 2 in the first two sessions out on the track being surrounded by GT3's , GT3RS to the left of him and to the right of him and behind him sitting on the dummy grid waiting to go out onto the track in that speed group , then in the afternoon session Sean was put into speed group 1  ( even faster group of GT3's ,GT3RS , 991 Turbo etc etc )

Tristian Smith drove well in his 2016  991 GT3 RS 4.0L  to win class 1A ( same class as Sean )

Sean was able to beat his best time from last year with a 1.43:399  & he came in 2nd in class 1A  ( not bad for an old road car that drives to work )

Here is a small list of Porsche cars ( in different classes to each other etc ) that came in behind Sean's 1986 951 , gives you some idea of what he is up against ( quite interesting )

991 GT3 RS 4.0L 2016 ( not Tristian  , this is another 991 GT3 RS )
997 GT3 3.6L
991 GT3 4.0L
GT4 Cayman
996 GT3 3.6L
997 GT3 Cup Car
GT4 981
991 GT3
996 GT3
GT4 981
997GT3
991 GT3
997GT3

Great work by all the volunteers who came along to help out as flag marshals Etc , very much appreciated because without you guys and gals there would be no Super Sprints

Regards
Bruce Buchanan
Buchanan Automotive

 

[tazzieman]

"The horses pull the cart , not push it! " - E . Ferrari

[944s2cab]

 

Sorry if my blown engine caused anyone to miss a run, Turns out head gasket blew, looked at the onboard footage and it seems like my temp shot up 10 seconds before it gave way, Bill (Cheers Phillip) the mechanic has confirmed cylinder 2 &3 have coolant in them, I'm thinking water pump failure caused the overheating, but we'll have to wait and see,  

Love going around the 1st corner at 160KPH, just glad the engine didn't blow then, that would have been interesting

[jakroo]

Sorry to hear that mate,  I hope you'll be able to bring it back from the edge relatively quickly and cheaply. 

I was able to view your handiwork when you fixed my starter motor while I was at Buchanan's place a few weeks back..... My knight in shiny,  white armour! 

[Buchanan Automotive]

Hi 944s2cab , if you're car spat out a bit of coolant is no issue at all , there were two other cars competing that dropped engine oil onto the track that day , one car dropped quite a bit of engine oil down most of the main straight and into turn 1 , its no ones fault that oil spills happen , the last thing an owner wants is for their car to dump engine oil anywhere .

Blown head gaskets only cause issues to their owners when at the track

Note }   We stopped using standard cardboard ( that's what I call them ) head gaskets on our or customers Porsche's that go to the track , meaning when applicable / possible , we switch them over to metal head gasket/s , they are more durable for track events

Note 2 } If you had a weeping water pump  or it seized ( either way ) and no 2 & 3 cylinders are now effected , then there is a very strong possibility you also have warped the head , most alloy heads on most water cooled engines always warp in the middle when massively overheated , remember when the coolant drains away the first critical major component to loose its "cooling "coolant is the top of the engine , which in the case of a 944 means the cylinder head , particularly on the track where temp of everything is way higher than on the road 

Regards
Bruce B

[944s2cab]

5 hours ago, Buchanan Automotive said:

Hi 944s2cab , if you're car spat out a bit of coolant is no issue at all , there were two other cars competing that dropped engine oil onto the track that day , one car dropped quite a bit of engine oil down most of the main straight and into turn 1 , its no ones fault that oil spills happen , the last thing an owner wants is for their car to dump engine oil anywhere .

Blown head gaskets only cause issues to their owners when at the track

Note }   We stopped using standard cardboard ( that's what I call them ) head gaskets on our or customers Porsche's that go to the track , meaning when applicable / possible , we switch them over to metal head gasket/s , they are more durable for track events

Note 2 } If you had a weeping water pump  or it seized ( either way ) and no 2 & 3 cylinders are now effected , then there is a very strong possibility you also have warped the head , most alloy heads on most water cooled engines always warp in the middle when massively overheated , remember when the coolant drains away the first critical major component to loose its "cooling "coolant is the top of the engine , which in the case of a 944 means the cylinder head , particularly on the track where temp of everything is way higher than on the road 

Regards
Bruce B

Thanks for the reassuring words Bruce, You had gone home by the time it happened, it was quite blow, with oil coming out as well, it with Bill (Quakers hill) and he's doing the work, is there a particular gasket you reccomend? the plan is (so far) to remove, overhaul head, replace water pump, belts, rollers and front seals, obviously this all depends on what we find when stripping it down, 

I'm hoping to make Wakefield sprint, but I'm thinking of rev limiting to 6000 (although I don't think I went over this much anyway) and set up a better temp monitoring system (the factory gauge is obscured by the steering wheel with my driving position) with maybe a limp home map linked to either coolant temp or maybe a temp sensor on the head

Well done to Sean, he an inspiration to all us front engined guys

[Buchanan Automotive]

Cometic all metal head gasket from Lindsey Racing USA ,  you have a choice of thicknesses , most common for the 3.0L NA is the .040" thick or the .050" thick , but there is a .060" and a 0.75" as well I think , it all depends on the amount of metal that has to be removed from the head surface

With the oil coming out as well , gee that worries me a bit , do you know yet where the oil was coming from ? , keep us updated on what is discovered

Regards
Bruce B
 

[Buchanan Automotive]

Today , Sydney MotorSport Park Skid Pan  ( Eastern Creek ) Motorkhana number 3 for 2018 & boy oh boy its close competition this year ( which is fantastic ) , there is at least 5 other Porsche competitors that have been getting closer & closer year by year to what Sean Buchanan can do in his 1986 Porsche 951 in the Motorkhana events ( I think Sean has won the Motorkhana Championship 5 or 6 times , I will have to look it up

Note , this year all Motorkhana events are conducted on a wet track , previously the track was dry in the morning runs & then wet in the afternoon runs 

In the last 2 Motorkhana events this year Tim Bickford who has been driving Andrew Hibbard's Cayman GTS PDK has beaten Sean by a fraction of a second , but today Tim ( in the same Cayman GTS ) made a mistake & fell back through the field , the competition is so intense this year no one can make a mistake and survive in the top 4 places 

So we have Tim doing well in Andrews GTS , but today Andrew Hibbard in his Cayman GTS did really well & then we have James Phillis in his 993 RS rep doing really well & Paul Rodgers in his Boxter S & Rodney Looms in his Cayman all doing really well , the results are that close you could throw a blanket over them 

Its that close , Sean thinks he came in 2nd with Andrew possibly first ( we think at this stage) , Sean Buchanan has been very consistent so that means ( at the moment ) Sean is leading Class 1 in the Drivers Championship , and is possibly leading the Motorkhana Championship ( we think by a fraction of a point ) & Sean is leading the outright Drivers Championship , but its all a bit meaningless because we have one more Motorkhana round to go at the end of September & three more Supersprints  , so anything can happen 

But its rather fun having a two last century Porsche cars doing well in Motorkhana this year , Sean's front engine'd 1986 951 ( 944 Turbo ) & James Phillis in his rear engine'd  993 RS rep , because you can not find another Porsche more suitable to Motorkhana than a Cayman or a Boxter particularly if it has PDK , because you do not have to worry about changing gears because the car does all the figuring out for you 

In straight out suitability , I can not think of a more unsuitable road registered Porsche for Motorkhana than a 1986 951 ( 944 Turbo ) , the gearing is all wrong , the car is too stable & no ABS & most defiantly no this century traction control & made even worse by having a 4 plate motorsport 60/80 LSD , great on the racetrack but bloody ordinary for Motorkhana , I really do not know how Sean does it 

Same goes for James in his 993 RS rep , No PDK & no traction control that this century cars have , I have the greatest respect for anyone who can drive these very last century  mechanical out dated last century cars so well , thats great car control driving 

If I was driving Sean's 951 or James's 993 RS rep , I think i would near dead last in Motorkhana 

Regards
Bruce Buchanan
Buchanan Automotive 

 

[Buchanan Automotive]

Today , EasternCreek ( Sydney Motorsport Park skidpad ) PCNSW Motorkhana no 4 and last one for the year & the decider on who wins the Motorkhana Championship for 2018 . 

But before we get into todays results , Sean Buchanan co -drove another 951 in todays Motorkhana , thats because Sean's 3.0L 16v 951 is out of action at the moment & we are waiting on parts from Germany ( it happens with old cars & metal fatigue ( I will give more technical details on another post ) & yes you can & and a lot of competitors do drive different Porsche models in the Supersprint & Motorkhana events because some Porsche models are way too hard to drive in Motorkhana events , like competition versions of the GT3 & GT2 are just near impossible to drive in Motorkhana events so the owners can drive their "other" Porsche in Motorkhana events , but Sean only has one Porsche and its out of action , so in this case you just nominate another Porsche mid stream so long as it has a lower power to weight ratio , meaning less performance , you can go down , but not up mid stream 

A big thank you to Andrew Hibbard ( Porsche Cayman GTS ) who rang Sean a few weeks ago offering his Cayman for Sean to drive today , Andrew & Sean were co winners of last years Motorkhana , meaning they had the same points score at the end of last year & Andrew couldn't make it to todays event ( long week end ) , but Sean had already lined up driving Chris Moriarty's 2.5L 951 ( 944 Turbo ) in todays event . 

Back to the Motorkhana , and as I mentioned it was the deciding event , on the first run, Sean driving Chris Moriarty's 951 hit a cone ( witches hat ) which instantly means you get a big penalty of many seconds added onto you time which instantly threw Sean back to 28th position ( yikes ) , meanwhile Paul Rodgers in his 986( Boxster ) kept his cool and placed himself in a good position & Chris Moriarty in his 951 keeps driving safely and smoothly and was holding a good position , Sean through the day moved up and up until he was running second place behind Paul in his 986 leading up to the final run of the day , & then Sean decided " alea iata est " and went for it flat out , remember its all about a fraction of a second that matters , but Sean spun out & the final results for the day 

Paul Rodgers in his 986 came in 1st place 

Chris Moriarty in his 1991 951 came in 2nd place  

Sean Buchanan in Chris's 951 came in 3rd place 

Not confirmed , but by our calculations , Sean Buchanan ( accumulation of points ) may have won the Motorkhana Championship for 2018 

Wow what a year 

Regards 
Bruce Buchanan 
Buchanan Automotive