May 16, 2007 -- Tooele, Utah -- Coming off of a short break between races, the Flying Lizard Motorsports squad is readying for this weekend's Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park. This will be the second year that the American Le Mans Series has raced at the new, 4.5 mile, 24-turn road course just outside of Salt Lake City.
In the team's No. 45 Porsche, Johannes van Overbeek and Joerg Bergmeister will continue the battle for the ALMS GT2 drivers' championship title. The two are currently second behind the Risi No. 62 Ferrari's Salo and Melo. Seth Neiman and Lonnie Pechnik will team up for this race in the team's No. 44 Porsche.
Bergmeister, who tested here earlier in the week with the team, commented, "Miller is a very technical track with lots of different types of turns so it's fun to drive. My favorite part is Turns 1 through 4: they are really quick, which I like. On setup, we have a lot to learn here; it's the first time this year we've been on a smooth permanent road course with the new 997. At a track like this where there's a combination of long straights and varied turns, getting a good balance aerodynamically in setup will be critical. In other words, if you take too much downforce out of the car for speed on the straight, you'll sacrifice your speed in the corners."
van Overbeek is looking forward to being back on a permanent road course. "We've had so many street races this year: one long race at Sebring, and then three street circuits in a row. This weekend will be the first time since Sebring that we've run on a road course track. The Porsche performed well here in our test over the weekend. Hopefully we'lll be quick enough to keep the pressure on the Ferraris. They were fast here last year and we expect it again this year."
Crew chief Tommy Sadler added, "This year's race is in May, rather than in July like last year. That will make a big difference in the experience overall. Cooler temperatures will be easier on the drivers and the car and tires. This is an important race -- after this, we reach the halfway point of the ALMS season. We have to work as hard as we can to make up ground on the championship."
The 2 hour and 45 minute race will begin at 5:05 p.m. Mountain Time, Saturday, May 19, 2007 and will be televised on CBS Sports tape delayed on Sunday May 20 from 1 to 3 pm Eastern Time. In Europe, MotorsTV will broadcast the race on Sunday May 20 from 18:30 - 21:30 in the UK and 19:30-22:30 (CET -Paris). Flying Lizard will broadcast their radio communications live during the race. For more info, see
www.lizardms.com.
News and photo used with permission of Flying Lizard Motorsports.
SCX surprised everyone back in 2007 when they first introduced the Audi R8 Pro Car. Here was a mass producer of slot cars bringing a car to market that was loaded with goodies: setscrew wheels and gearing, adjustable chassis, interchangeable motor pods, and lightweight racing body. What surprised me even more? Getting beat at my club by a race tuned SCX Audi R8. Then, last year SCX introduced the Pro Porsche 997. Is it really any better than the standard SCX Porsche 997? How does the Pro Porsche compare to Porsche 996/997 models from other slot manufacturers? Let�s find out!
Let�s start by looking at what comes in the box. The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Pro (50590) comes attractively packaged in a box that could double as a pit case in a pinch. Inside the box are the Porsche�s chassis, body, motor, extra motor pod for boxer type motors, an extra guide, some extra braid and screws, and an extra mechanical brake shoe. The body is decorated in a racing livery from the Carrera Supercup. Also included is a glossy covered booklet: Driving And Maintenance Guide. Interestingly, the guide is illustrated with photos of the Pro R8. Fortunately the Porsche�s chassis has adjustments identical to that of the Audi so the instructions do apply. The guide book lays out in simple terms how to assemble and adjust the Pro car. While more experienced slot racers might take car setup for granted, someone new to the hobby will find this to be a valuable resource. The booklet goes one step further and presents a few basic racing strategies. Again, this will be useful information to someone new to the hobby. If you�ve bought a Pro Car and haven�t read the manual (tucked under the foam rubber packaging) it really is worth a look.
Putting the car together is a snap. Only two screws hold the body onto the chassis. A closer look at the body screws shows that SCX has sweated the smallest details of this car. The smooth shank of the body screws allows the body to float without interference from the screw�s threads. SCX has also provided more a highly adjustable chassis for the Porsche Pro Car. The adjustments include front axle ride height, motor pod float front and rear, as well as the usual adjustments afforded by setscrew wheels and gears. SCX even includes a hex driver to help get the job done.
While at first glance the standard and Pro Porsches look quite similar, they are in fact two totally different cars. Where the Pro car sports a half pan interior, full front axle, and RX4H motor, the standard car has a full interior, front stub axles, and RX42B motor. I know that a lot of slot racers aren�t a big fan of stub axles since the performance advantage of independently rotating front wheels is normally lost by the play inherent with this type of design. SCX has made the effort to get it right.
then once again after fitting Slot.it S2s. The lap times for the Pro car dropped from 9.375s to 8.204s, and went from 11.657s to 8.871s for the standard car. With a bit of weight added I was able to get the Pro car down to 7.784s, and the standard car down to 8.274. I then fitted S2 tires to my comparison cars and recorded some hot laps with each of them.
