PCNSW Super Sprint

[Buchanan Automotive]

Wakefield Park , Goulburn NSW , yesterday 27th April , round 3 of the PCNSW Supersprint championship , early start for those driving from Sydney to Wakefield Park  , for us, up at 3 am & hit the road by 3.50 am ( Nth Beaches ) to be at wakefield Park by 7.15 am , perfect weather for a track day , it was minus 1 deg cel at 6am but naturally it being a sunny day at Wakefield it quickly warmed up by 9am .  45 cars entered which is not a big number but it does mean the individual competitors can get in more laps during the day in their respective speed groups .

A big thank you to all the volunteers who drove all the way to Wakefield to help out as flag marshals etc , great to see the Porsche 928 guys turn up to help out 

I haven't posted about round 2 at Eastern Creek a few weeks ago as I had no results to post as I had no idea who was in what class , but thats been resolved now 

Sean Buchanan in his 1986 951 ( 944 Turbo ) had a very mixed day and unusually we had another one of our customers & friend , Chris Moriarty drive Sean's car at Wakefield as well ( Chris has a mildly modified 951and  is off the road at the moment ) 

And this is where it gets interesting , Chris's 951 has ABS as standard ( its a 1990 year model 951 ) and quite understandably  Chris just didn't realise the difference the ABS makes to how a car behaves near the limit of traction ( under brakes in the entry to track corners or mid way through the corner at track speed ) , Sean decided to skip the 1st speed group 1 session and let  Chris go out in his speed group 3 session & poor Chris had a terrible time trying not to loose the rear end of Sean's 951 going into corners as Sean's 951 has never had ABS ( but we warned Chris this naturally ) , but Sean's 951 has different final drive ratios & a 4 plate motorsport LSD & Chris's 951 doesn't ( as yet ) , so both cars feel very different , let alone both cars are different capacities ( 2.5L 8 valve engine compared to 3.0L 16v ) , Poor Chris just felt he couldn't come to grips with Sean's 951 ( Sean even turned the boost down to make it a lot more user friendly ) 

Then Sean finally went out in his first track session for the day and Sean appeared to drive well in amongst a group of GT3's etc , but after 4 laps Sean came back in saying there is something wrong with the back end of his 951 & from the symptoms is sounds like a failure of the LSD plates , no big deal , at least we could still drive her back home & on the road it drove perfectly fine because the 4 plate motorsport LSD can only be tested on the track at track cornering speeds with the big R spec tyres on, and on the road its completely out of the question 

But even with Sean's 951 behaving way below its norm , in those short 4 laps and in GT3 traffic Sean still managed 3rd place in his class 

Note }  Each track session for each speed group ( usually 10 cars at a time ) normally does about 6 laps or so 

Here are some interesting stats, particularly the laps covered during the day in multiple sessions  }

Kevin Ryan       , 991 GT3   , Class = 1 A , Laps =36 , best time = 1.05.5010

Owen Wiseman , 991 GT3   , Class = 1A , Laps = 35 , best time = 1.05.6200

Sean Buchanan , 951(1986 ), Class = 1A , Laps =  4 , best time  = 1.06.4550 

Brett Hobson   , 996GT3    , Class =  OA , Laps = 35 , best time = 1.06.5550

Andrew Hassell , 991GT3 , Class  = 1 A , Laps = 22 , best time  = 1.07.1990 

Regards
Bruce Buchanan
Buchanan Automotive 

 

  

[Buchanan Automotive]

Yesterday , round 4 of the Porsche Club NSW Supersprint at Wakefield Park , minus 2 deg cel at 6.50 am , fine dry conditions , but a bit cold and a bit slippery until mid morning when a bit of sun warmed the track up a little , 45 cars entered which is a good number for a Supersprint at Wakefield . Sean Buchanan ( as an experiment ) set up his 4 plate LSD to a 80/80 setting , which at lower speeds and or entering corners wants to push his 1986  3.0L  951 into under-steer , but gives a much better drive out of corners , and like all forms of motor sport just about everything is a compromise and experimentation is essential  , Sean said that on the first session the rear tyres felt too cold so coming out of corners he was power sliding which looked quite spectacular , but is not inducive to a super fast lap time ( but is a lot of fun )  , on his 2nd session out on the track ( later in the morning ), Sean clocked a 1.05.1240 ( even in traffic / other cars in front ), which is all he wanted for today & because he had to get back into Sydney by mid afternoon , we called it a day before lunchtime and I think his 951 ( being 33 years old ) and about 30 years older than most Porsche 's he is competing against was most likely the fastest Porsche competing that is just a road car that drives to work 6 days a week and doesn't even have ABS , the only thing he takes out his car for a Supersprint is the rear carpet and his Golf bag 

Here are time times from top 12 Porsches competing and the laps done during there day 

Class Classification }  1P  = Paddle-shift transmission , OA = Slick Tyres , 1A = manual trans with "R" spec tyres , 2A same as 1A but a different power to weight ratio

Note } late model Porsches with paddle shift , like a 991GT3,  up change gears under acceleration in a micro second as opposed to any Porsche with manual trans & it results in much better lap times and less things to worry about while driving    

991 GT3    RS 4.0L                              class=1P             1.03:0960    Laps 37
991 GT3/2 RS 4.0L                              class =1P            1.04:0890   Laps 43
981 GT4 ( modified )                          class = 2A           1.04:2730   Laps 42
991GT3                                                 class= 1P            1.04.770     Laps 54
991GT3 RS                                           class = 1P            1.04.8770   Laps 33
996 GT3                                                class = 2A           1.04: 9310   Laps 29 
951 3.0L ( 1986 )                                 class = 1A            1.05:1240   Laps  12  ( Sean Buchanan )
991 GT3                                                class = 1A            1.05:1400  Laps   53
981 GT4                                                class = 2A             1.05:2490  Laps 63
991 GT3 Cup                                        class = OA            1.05:7740  Laps  62
997 GT3                                                class = 2A             1.06:4230  Laps  46

A big Thank you to all the volunteers and officials of the Porsche club who turn up and make these events happen , which out you're effort there would be No events |

Regards
Bruce Buchanan
Buchanan Automotive 




 

[Buchanan Automotive]

A Video from the weekend. We got 2 sessions in as our sister car had some issues and we decided to get it back to the workshop. fortunately just 2 pulled head stud threads so an easy fix.

We are not running the power we have in previous years bringing the boost back to 1.2 bar. We will turn it back up in time but we have made so many changes since last year that we are still in the tuning stage with suspension and LSD. Car felt great, conditions were pretty much perfect should have done a few more laps but we were happy with the 1:05.1. 

Regards

Sean

[Airhead]

Guessing you've been there once or twice before. 🙂

[hugh]

Always makes me wonder how much quicker Sean could go if he got in a GT3..........................

[9fan]

25 minutes ago, hugh said:

Always makes me wonder how much quicker Sean could go if he got in a GT3..........................

He is doing top GT3 times in a 944 !!!!    Go Sean.

Can you reveal suspension type ?

[Buchanan Automotive]

20 hours ago, hugh said:

Always makes me wonder how much quicker Sean could go if he got in a GT3..........................

They are 2 different types of cars and when we run with them you can see where both cars have their benefit. At SMP a good driver in a 997/991 GT3 will gain on us through turn 1 and under brakes into turn 2 . The 944 has the edge on the exit of turn 3 through 4 and 5. We are slightly quicker over corporate but loose out on the braking zone into turn 8. We are very close on exit speed and through turn 9. The GT3's get a little more grip on the entry to the main straight but when we run full power we will catch them back down into turn 1.

At wakefield we have more speed but the GT3 seems to be a bit more stable through turn 1, it could be me backing off a little. hill straight we pull away and we have a really good advantage over the top left, Right , right and down the hill. The GT3 will catch up under braking for the fishhook and we stay pretty even until the straight again.

20 hours ago, 9fan said:

He is doing top GT3 times in a 944 !!!!    Go Sean.

Can you reveal suspension type ?

Macpherson strut 😁

Previously Motons, but now MCS suspension and some compromise street/track springs. We sent the Motons away last year for servicing and they will go on our dedicated 944 turbo track car when we find time to build it.

regards

Sean

[edgy]

Nice driving Sean!

Interesting notes on T3/4/5 at SMP... I definitely lose time there! 

I do miss the club super sprints...and I am not sure when I will be running again, but the blue monster is laid up and waiting for me... maybe I will come out and say hello at the next SMP event! I note a lot of the mob have switched out to RS and 991.2's  

 

 

[Buchanan Automotive]

Thanks Edgy, Yeah there has been a big jump this year to the new gear, they are significantly faster too. Previous models were always a little bit better then the last but the .2 GT3's seem to have found a bit more then usual. Good to see quite a few GT4's out there too, these seem to be very capable. It would be cool to see your GT3 back out on track.

[Buchanan Automotive]

Yesterday , Eastern Creek Motorsport Park ( North Circuit ) , cold and windy conditions but fine with no rain in the day except in the early morning before the event , 48 cars entered in the PCNSW Supersprint no 5 for 2019 and being School Holidays ( NSW ) not everyone could make it to the SuperSprint ( usually 65 + cars ) , but this meant that the Speed group sessions would and did roll around quite quickly as the less number cars meant more track time for the individual competitors . 

The North circuit is a cut off section of the original GP circuit (which on the day) gives two different car clubs the ability to hire a race track at Eastern Creek on the same day & each individual track hire is much less expensive than hiring the entire GP circuit for the day , the North circuit takes in the fastest sections of the GP circuit , including the main straight , the other track is the South Circuit ( quite small and very tight ) 

The North circuit has a very tricky section where the track is ( temporarily) joined up , corners 4 & 5 , its very easy to loose the back end of any car coming out of 5, and then slide sideways and then backward towards the wall ( any wall ) and this happened to lots of drivers yesterday , particularly in the early morning when the track temp was very low & the tyres ( grip ) was much less , luckily by the time we left the circuit ( just after lunchtime ) no one had hit the wall 

On the first session of the day( lap three I think ) , speed group 1 ( fastest cars ) a 991.2 GT3RS had a rear tyre blow out going through the last corner that leads onto the main straight and this GT3 was directly in front of Sean in his 951 & Sean mentioned that is was quite a sight at the tyre partly disintegrated , we think this GT3 drove over a ripply strip & if you are unlucky this can be the result , luckily the driver was ably to keep control of the now very unstable GT3 and bring her to a standstill , with little other damage( we think ) than a new tyre needed & possibly a new centre lock Porsche wheel 

It was great to see both Mark Bloxham 3.0L 8v 1986 944Turbo ( Mexico Blue )  & Sean Buchanan 3.0L 16v 1986 944 Turbo ( Black ) mixing it up on the track with the other GT3's .

Interestingly , in the top 25 places, Sean Buchanan's 1986 951 & Mark Bloxham's 1986 951 were the ONLY last century Porsches to make it into the the top 25

And then if we remove the 996GT3 in class OA = racing slicks , then Sean's 951 came 4th outright for the day on "R" spec tyres & is probably the only Porsche in the top 20 + that drives to work every day as well , because its just a 33 year old road car with a gear stick / clutch pedal & no ABS and no traction control 

Here are some of the times in regards to the Porsche's competing }

991 GT3 RS        4.0L      Class= 1P    Laps 48     1.08:1110

991 GT3 RS        4.0L      Class= 1P    Laps 29     1.08:3360

996GT3 RS         3.6 L     Class= OA    Laps 29     1.08:6000  

981 GT4              3.8 L     Class= 2A    Laps 35     1.09:1510

951 ( 944 Turbo ) 3.0L      Class=  1A   Laps 16     1.09:4720   Sean Buchanan

997 GT3               3,9L     Class=  2A   Laps 36     1.09:5760

991 GT3              4.0L      Class=  1P  Laps 49      1.09:6840

991 GT3              4.0L      Class=  1P  Laps 46      1.09:9880

997 GT3 Cup      3.6L      Class=  OA Laps 49      1.10:1140

951 ( 944 Turbo ) 3.0L      Class=  1A  Laps 34      1.10:1500   Mark Bloxham

997  Turbo           3.8L      Class=  2A  Laps 23      1.10:6110

Cayman S           3.8L      Class=  2A   Laps 29      1.10:8480     

Many Thanks to all the volunteers who turned up of the day , without you you there would be no Super Sprints or anything else for that matter 

Regards

Bruce Buchanan

Buchanan Automotive

 

[Buchanan Automotive]

Session 2 and 3 from the weekend. No data in the 2nd session as the GPS went a bit weird. Had a good run with Mark in his 944 turbo. 

Regards

Sean

[edgy]

Smooth driving as always Sean!!