Panoz GT Race @ 12 Hours of Sebring

[JonMiller]

So I know I'm a little bit late with this, but I figured I'd post it anyway.

Some of you may know that I made my return to racing during the Sebring 12 hour weekend this year. Two weeks prior to the event, I enrolled in the Panoz 2 Day Advanced school at Sebring to get a feel for the cars and get into the race mentality. After nearly a full year away from competitive driving I needed to work back into the environment and brush off the dust. The car that we drove in the 2 day is the exact car that we would be racing and many of the people in the school were going to be participating in the race as well. There were a few World Challenge and 12 hour drivers there as well for extra practice/to learn the track.

The car itself is a strange beast. It's about 2800lbs and 320hp, not a horribly inspiring chasis, but not too bad when you realize that at least everyone else has to drive the same thing. The steering is way overboosted and extremely light, while the brakes are not boosted at all and are extremely stiff. It was a strange sensation that took the better part of the first session to get the feel for. The two day school was setup in a way that was very advantagous to the student racers as it was a personalized curiculum. The 20 or so of us were split into groups of 3 and the groups were assigned to one instructor. We worked with our assigned instructor for the entire two days and were able to get data on the 2nd day. I worked with Chris Hall, who was hugely helpful in getting me to adapt to the nuances of the Panoz car and got me to focus on the things that would prepare me for the race.

Fastforward to the race weekend:

I called up Peter Argetsinger of Skip Barber Racing School fame and fortune and worked with him as a private coach for the 3 days that I was on track. I cannot speak highly enough of the experience with Peter. He talked to me about car setup (you can adjust swaybar and tire pressures), qualifying and race strategy, tire conservation (only one set per race weekend, if you flat spot you buy another tire, but it's a scuff not guaranteed to be round...) and taught me so much in such a short amount of time. I hope to work with him again in the future.

Wednesday Practice:

WHOA... First off, Sebring has never looked like this before. I've been on track here more than anywhere else. Skip Barber races, SCCA races, many HPDEs with private driving clubs, but never before have there been this many RVs, Rigs and PEOPLE! I've been to the 12 hours before as a spectator, but driving infront of a crowd of 100,000+ was something way different. I also had this to consider; most of the fans there watched the support races even more intently than the 12 hour. Closer and more exciting racing. We had a show to put on! Once I got over the initial sight picture changes (took about a lap ) it was time to drive. Right off the bat I was trying to get a read on how the car was handling and if it was any different than the one I had driven in the two day school. This one seemed to be understeering like crazy, especially in 5, 10 and 13. I was determined to drive clean and put a heat cycle into the tires and see how things felt. In the afternoon it was no better. By the end of the last session we decided to make a few changes (like CONNECTING the rear bar ) and the car was starting to feel better. I was stuck in traffic and didn't get any clean laps past the timing beacon, but Pete's stopwatch said I was going faster.

Thursday Qualifying:

Time to qualify was around 9:00AM. The track was slippery in the previous afternoon as it got hot and the different rubber compounds on the track mixed together. I knew I had to set my fast time in the morning (we had two qualifying sessions, though only one race). I was eager to get out and set a clean lap with the setup changes we had made. I put one lap together that felt pretty good and it ended up being my only real flyer of the session without too much traffic. It ended up being much faster than yesterday and I was satisfied, though not thrilled. It turns out everyone else got faster too and I had qualified 10th out of 23 drivers with the 4 guys in front of me being within .4 of a second. The front runners are seasoned Panoz vets and set some blazing laptimes and I could only hope to hang close during the race. Some of them have a reputation for being sloppy and abusive to their tires (which flatspot quite easily). The afternoon session saw some drivers sit out and some go out for setup testing (including me). There were no position changes though.

Friday Race Day!:

Mom, Dad, Girlfriend, roomate and college friends are all here to cheer me on. Hmm.. I'm not sure this was such a good idea. No pressure, eh? I reminded myself to stay focused and then that's when the TV cameras and the throng of photographers showed up in our hospitality tent. Had they come to inerview the young talent and rising star, Jon Miller? Possibly recruiting for a reality TV show? I checked my hair, picked the breakfast out of my teeth and got ready for my closeup... and then snapped back to reality. Grey's Anatomy TV star (and Grand Am Cup team owner/driver, IRL team co-owner) Patrick Dempsey was also racing a Panoz this weekend. They were all here for him. All of a sudden I realized why my mom and girlfriend had been so eager to come watch this weekend...

He had flown in the day before and just barely made it for the 2nd qualifying session. The rules state that you cannot participate in the race unless you take one green flag lap in qualifying. He landed at Orlando, then got on a private jet and landed at the Sebring airport next to the track 18 minutes later. As we were taking the green flag for the 2nd quali session, he was strapping in for his first laps of Sebring ever. He managed about 7 laps of lead/follow with someone who knew the track and qualified DFL. I'm sure he was crushed. Actually, to his credit he reviewed data and track footage all afternoon and seemed to handle the media attention while keeping attention on racing.

1:00PM Drivers to Grid

I stand next to my car and get some final words of encouragement from Peter. I'm ready to rock and as I strap in the adrenaline starts flowing. My heartbeat quickens and the butterflies show up. It's been almost a whole year since I've been on track and considering the way the last weekend ended, my focus is on driving a clean, controlled, focused race. Results (if any) are to be icing on the cake, my goal is to finish a clean race. I keep reminding myself of that. I am gridded on row 5, on the outside next to the championship points leader. I sit in my car and close my eyes, calm myself down and go through my race strategy one more time. I open my eyes and I watch as the driver on Pole position comes over to wish me good luck and then jogs back to his car. He attempts to jump into his car with both feet at once but instead he bashes one of his shins on the rollcage. I chuckle to myself, fire up the engine, slide the car into first and get ready for the formation lap. The butterflies are back, but these are the good ones.

1:30PM GREEN GREEN GREEN!!!

The start of the race was remarkably slow and controlled, no passing before start/finish, so everyone played nice on the start. I got a good jump and just as we crossed start finish I pulled to the left and inbetween the two cars infront of me. Five wide into turn one! Those on the outside give it up, and now I'm on the inside, side by side at the apex of one. Side by side into two and three, everyone seems to have made it through! No carnage in front and a quick morror check reveals that there are plenty of cars still right on my ass! I pick up a position through turn 5 and all of a sudden the top few guys are right infront of me. I take a defensive line into turn 7, the leaders go 3 wide! I hold my position and pull up closer to the leaders. theres a cloud of dust in my mirror as cars drive 4 off at the exit of the hairpin. They didn't seem to lose much time on me though and then I miss 4th gear! Got the car into gear and immediately got on a defensive line. I keep my position through turn 10 and I'm gaining on antoher car as we hit the back straight for the first time. Next lap, into 7 I pop out on the guy just infront of me with no intention of passing. It works! He locks up, fights to turn in and decides to take the escape road. A lap later on the back straight I setup a real pass atempt and go 2 wide through Turn 17. It sticks and I'm the lead car in the pack that's just behind the pack of leaders.

Already the leaders are pulling away though, so I keep my head up and drive hard. They don't seem to be gaining much, if at all, once I was running unobstructed. However, neither was I pulling away from the 3 cars behind me. Eventually I make up some ground on the car just infront of me. I know the driver and I'm killing her in a few key areas of the track, though I know shes quick. I figure maybe she was overheating her tires trying to stick with the lead pack. After a few laps behind her, she drops wheels and spins at the exit of 5! I narrowly avoid, as does the rest of the pack behind me. Soon enough, full course yellow. Somebody put into the turn 17 tires, it doesn't look too bad. We get 2 caution laps and then I proceed to get creamed on the restart by the guy just behind me. Oops. I pass him into 1 on the next go around, but he stays right with me. The laps are ticking down and I'm trying desperately to keep him behind me. We go through 1 again and much to my elation, the pole sitter, Mr. Banged Shins is off in the dirt at the exit of 1, moving slowly. We blow past him and at this point I'm not sure what position I'm in, but I'm convinced it's not a bad one.

A few laps before the end, Bryan Dolan (the guy just behind me) was just too close. He popped for the pass on the back straight, but I forced him far to the inside. If he was going by me, he was going to earn it. We went into 17 side by side, doors inches apart, him on the inside. I tried taking a wider line mid corner, but he had put the power down earlier and made it past. I tired sticking with him, but at this point my tires were going off, I was sliding and starting to lockup. I reminded myself of my goals and focus and drove hard to the finish. Little did I know I was fighting for a podium postion, Bryan ended up P3! He passed one of the leaders on the last lap who had spun in 17 and I finished a extremely satsfying 5th. I didn't get to taste the champagne, but my return to racing felt like a win. My family and friends all had a great time watching from turn 17 and I think we put on a great show for all of the fans. I drove the cooldown lap nice and slow and waved to every single corner worker and fan watching. Having them all wave back was such a cool experience.

The weekend was capped by watching my friend Gerardo club the Star Mazda field like baby seals. I think I was happier for him than for myself! Later that night, I got to meet one of my racing idols for the second time, but this time I got to chat about racing with him. Randy Pobst is one of the coolest guys and most talented racers I've ever met, it was so humbling to stand there and have HIM congratualte ME on a good race! I was on the grid this weekend for the St. Pete world challenge race (just taking pics) right before the race started and he was of course on Pole. I got to wish him luck minutes before the race and he waved and thanked me. Sorry if I sound star struck, but hey, a guys gotta have his heroes. If you've read this far, thanks and enjoy the pics below (Hows that for a race write-up, Pat? ):






















Bryan passing me for P4...

[MJAmok]

Jon

nice job... both the race and the writeup!

bottom line, how did you like the panoz cars and experience?

[JonMiller]

The cars were what they were... like I said, not fantastic, but they keep them pretty damn closely matched and the mechanics are good about making the setup changes that you want, when you want them. It was a bit tough having to learn how the car reacted to certain changes on such a big weekend (DAMN YOU RT-2000!) and it seemed like the front runners had their cars dialed in quite well early on. Once you realized that you're driving a car 1000+lbs heavier than an RT, you figure out how to really abuse the brake pedal and get the thing slowed down.

The Panoz experience overall was more than I expected. The series coordinater, Lisa Kay Golde was extremely friendly and helpful from the first day that I met her at the school. Charles Espenlaub (World Challenge and GAC driver) is one of their main instructors and he was full of helpful information about the cars. It seems to me that the series isn't so much of a "school" series the way Skip Barber is. We did get data printouts during the race weekend and had access to the computer at the end of each day to reveiw it in more depth if we so desired. However, I was by far the youngest participant. Also, had Peter not been there with me I would have been lost and confused. They only had a few instructors giving feedback throughout the race weekend and it was spotty at best.

I would recommend it to someone who has a few races under his/her belt and isn't afraid to play with the setup (really only two things, tire pressure and sway bars... but I found out what a HUGE difference those two can make). Also, they only run at Road Atlanta and Sebring, their two homebase tracks. From what I heard, the 12 hour weekend was more competitive than a normal race weekend with them. Normally you get 2 races and your race group is 10-12 cars instead of 23.

Any other, possibly more specific , questions?

[dalyduo]

Jon,
Given what you and your family have been through since the Daytona race you have some "crushing word count" first-race-back story telling credit in the bank. All we can say is Bravo! What a wonderful detailed write-up and outstanding on-track performance. Welcome back to racing! Your mom and dad must have been thrilled with some moderated trepidation. (Uh ohh, here we go again! :-)

Not too shabby having Peter Argetsinger as your coach. (That alone would be worth the price of admission.)

Now the hard question... What next? Will you be getting back in a Skippy car any time soon or is there more Panoz racing in your future?

Where will your next racing report be from?

Pat

[MJAmok]

Originally Posted by JonMiller

Any other, possibly more specific , questions?

That was just what I was looking for! A few of us are thinking about 'invading' a Panoz weekend. Wanted to get your sense of the experience. Thanks again.

[kwlorentzen]

John,
Enjoyed reading the writeup and follow ups.

Since you mentioned being able to adjust some car settings, I'ld thought I'ld mention, and agree with you that small changes really do make a big difference.

Those of us who ran the RT at Watkins Glen durring the Rolex Series Invitational weekend last July, will remember we were allowed to make limited chassis adjustments, including ride height. Lowering the rear of the car an eighth of an inch alleviated a loose condition I had been dealing with. Needless to say, but the car was very responsive to changes.

If you're planning on jumping in the RT this year, maby you want to run the national. As Gerardo could tell you, I'm sure, car adjustments are allowed there. Hey, MJ are adjustments allowed in the 'Senior Statesmen' class?

[usbikepro]

Hey Jon, Congrats on your run at Sebring. I run with Charles Espenlaub in Speed World Challenge and boy is that guy fast. I wish I had known that he was a Panoz instructor, it would have been good to have done the Panoz school with him and learn the fast way around in a tin top. I don't know if you did the promoter practice earlier in the week but if you did you know the true definition of insanity. SWC Touring, GT and you guys made for some fun times eh?
Also congrats on making it back into racing after all your time off. If you're looking to do other sedan based racing please give me a shout as I've got good contacts in that area now that I'm driving for 3R Racing. Take care and good luck.

[MJAmok]

Originally Posted by kwlorentzen

Hey, MJ are adjustments allowed in the 'Senior Statesmen' class?

We can change sway bars, but that's it. (actually, Dick Lippert who is 60 now sometimes has to change his Depends also, but the mechanics won't help.)

[gmg321]

Great write-up Jon! Welcome back! Nice to know that Arai has engineered "pickin'" clearance into their latest design...

[JonMiller]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Jon,
Now the hard question... What next? Will you be getting back in a Skippy car any time soon or is there more Panoz racing in your future?

Where will your next racing report be from?

Pat

Well, the idea is to continue sports car racing for the time being. When I started out racing my goal was always to be racing sports cars at the highest level possible. Not sure if I'll be back in a Panoz anytime soon, while it was a good experience, it's not the type of racing that I'm looking for (they only run Atlanta and Sebring).

I'm waiting and watching for what's going on with skippy in the coming months and an eventual return isn't unthinkable.

There are some options in front of me and the next steps are being heavily researched and talked about, but when there's something exciting to tell, you guys will hear about it.