Could someone that knows Paul tell us about his experience at Sears Point?

Could someone who knows Sears Point tell us if it is an Evo-friendly track? Does Shiv's Evo have any advantage on this track compared to Pikes Peak where the 996 and Viper were really tough to hang with...

 

We beat every one in the Touring cat but the T-2 Porsche...beat lots of Vetts Vipers ETC. But the track was very green after the morning rains...(and we were WAY down on power getting ready to blow the motor two laps later.)

 

Sears Point is a high horsepower circuit and the Vipers and Porsches should dominate, as well as the Z06 vette's. I think we will be lucky to be in the top 6 on Monday as the track is not ideal for the Evo, although Paul has plenty of experience and is obviously driving the wheels off our shop Evo. We will need to invest in a front splitter for our huge upcomming magazine shootouts. We will definately need more downforce for one event in particular.

 

What about the rear under body splitter that was being toyed with months ago? Is this in use?

 

I plan on leaving Redwood City area at about 12 and hope to get to Sears Point at 1. What time are you leaving?

Brett are you going?

 

hi guys... its me shiv. neither my evo nor Paul has run sears pt before. but we could do well if things keep going as it has been. With no intended disrespect of any kind, the level of competition in One Lap is substantially stiffer than what we witness at OTC. With so much factory support from PVO and Porsche, its hard not to be awed by the level of driving talent witnessed at the upper end of the field. The viper driver, brian smith, is a Michelin test driver for the Viper program as well as a driver for grand am cup. He also won One Lap three years in a row driving various factory vipers. This year, his Viper is the fastest, most developed Viper ever. The GT3 driver, David Murray, is the current points leader in ALMS GT. Porsche got him to drive a *****in GT3 and its certainly paying off. Paul considers him to be one of the best road racers around. All are spectacular drivers by any standards. Its quite an honor just to be hanging out with them at the front of the pack. Its also great to talk shop with the factory tech wizards and ECU calibrators that came with them for support. Its really been a great ride and Im very fortunate to be spending a week with these folks in such an exciting and challenging environment!

 

I'm in Napa for the weekend, and decided to "call in sick" for the Monday track event.

I'll be there at 1:00...

-CJ

 

In the second session I think Paul had over 4 seconds on the 4th place 911 Turbo 996 with 600 HP.
How do you like that!!! How many cilinders in that car again Shiv?

 

Is this the fastest EVO with a trailer hitch? Keep up the good work!

 

they are doing very well..... Paul must be a pretty good driver and have been to those courses..... anyone who has not been to the courses in advance is going to be mid pack at best.......even with the worlds fastest car...

nice job guys!

 

How much practice is allowed prior to timed laps? If you get at least 10 laps, you should be able to get pretty close to a best lap time.. Autocrossers kick but in this area, getting quick lap times right off the bat..

 

I think Shiv said they don't get any "practice" laps....just go in cold and run

 

You do get a "warm up" lap, from pit out around to the start finish line. But this means that the first time you see turn 1 at speed at most tracks is your second lap. At a place like Sears Point, that is hairy.

Paul is an amazing driver, watching him hustle Don Kary's Renntech SL600 around Road Atlanta in 2000 was an amazing feat. Rumor had it that that was his first time ever at that track, and taking a 4500 lb. missle around that track was something else. The really good drivers find a way to be fast even at tracks they have never seen. At any given One Lap there are a dozen or so amazing drivers.

 

They're a couple of hours from runtime this afternoon. As you can imagine after a 20 hour drive from Colorado to Sears point, they're completely exhausted. The good part for Shiv is that he's pretty close to home. Maybe they can sneak in some good sleep time tonight.

I'll update as soon as I hear more. Its kind of the calm before the storm right now, getting ready for the race a bit later on. I can't wait to see what type of media coverage comes from all this. Keep up the awesome driving, Paul!

 

I was just at the track and both boys look pretty tired, but full of enthusiasm for the days event. I wanted to thank both Stasis Engineering (Paul and Ryan) for allowing us to pit the car at their shop today and change pads and fluids. Very nice guys and if you have an Audi you should check out their web site at www.stasisengineering.com. I also wanted to thank Jason out at Brits who over the past 2 months has been invaluable in getting parts for our car as well as helping at every opportunity to wrench and troubleshoot. Thanks Jason! Hopefully Paul can get after it at Sears today, even though it is his first time at this demanding track.