ST. PETERSBURG GRAND PRIX 2013

ST. PETERSBURG GRAND PRIX 2013 St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013 St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013 This last weekend saw the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, ...
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ST. PETERSBURG GRAND PRIX 2013

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

This last weekend saw the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, a race for the IZOD Indycar series and, as it is a mere four miles away from where we live, we usually happily ignore the live event and watch it on the television. HOWEVER…. This year saw HSR getting a race onto the calendar and, at short notice, some thirty stalwarts decided that they’d like to try their hand at street racing, in between the concrete walls and yours truly and Su went to watch, courtesy of David & Pat Ritter and HSR Thank you all very much. The weekend started well, as George Tuma held his birthday party in a hotel close to the track on the Thursday night and a very good time was had by all, not least George! Very bravely, I thought, he had elected to race his Ferrari Comp. Daytona at the weekend, a heavy car with brakes liable to wilt around a street circuit. His usual Porsche RSR would have been so much easier to drive!

© John Starkey 2013

www.johnstarkeycars.com

(727) 384 1179 USA Page 1

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

On Saturday morning, Su and I drove to downtown St. Petersburg and watched the first thirty minute race from the outside of turn fourteen, the hairpin that connects the front and back straightaways. When we first arrived, the Indycars were finishing up a test session and to stand behind the concrete walls that line the track and see (and feel!) the closeness with which they just miss that wall is an instruction to any budding professional driver of just how close you have to judge distances to have any hope of competing at the top level. For the HSR race, Carlos de Quesada had qualified on the pole with a time of 1:20.397, in his ex-Gentilozzi Rocketsport Trans Am Jaguar from 2003. There were two other Trans Am cars from the 1990s that were seriously quick but Carlos knew his main competition would come from Jim Pace, who was driving David Ritter’s 1967 Can Am McLaren M6B. Sadly, the McLaren’s oil cooler sprung a leak on the grid for qualifying, forcing him to abort the session and meaning that he would have to start the first race from the back of the grid. Other fast boys in qualifying were Jack Lewis, driving an indecently fast 1974 Porsche RSR, Brian Johnson in his 2001 Pilbeam MP84, Chris Nussbaum in his RSR, © John Starkey 2013 Page 2

www.johnstarkeycars.com

(727) 384 1179 USA

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

Mary Wright in her Chevrolet Camaro and David Ritter in his Lola T70, Zach Monette in his 2010 Jaguar XKR, Keith Faver driving a 2009 Porsche Cayman, Bob Monette in a 2000 Jaguar XKR, John Cloud in a 2000 Trans Am Ford Mustang Cobra and Don Soenen in a 1995 Ford Mustang Trans Am. All these got into the 1:20s.

Saturday’s race was exciting, with Carlos winning it and Jim Pace tearing through the field to get up to third by the finish, which would dictate his starting position the next day. Everyone else managed to miss the walls although there was quite a lot of the “Jeez! just missed ….. (fill in ‘wall’, ‘other racer’ etc.” after the race). Suffice to say that the modern (relatively!) Trans Am cars finished well up and all looked set for an exciting second race on Sunday. And so it proved…. As the pace car pulled off and the starter waved the green flag, Jim Pace leapt into the lead and, despite several challenges by Carlos de Quesada, stayed there until the checkered flag waved. Other battles were waged down the field and John Cloud finished third in his 2000 Trans Am Mustang with Donald Soenen finishing fourth in his 1995 Trans Am Mustang. © John Starkey 2013

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(727) 384 1179 USA Page 3

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

Class winners were Chris Nussbaum in his Porsche RSR, Brian Johnson in his 2001 Pilbeam, Dave Rodgers in his Corvette, Doug Sokolowski in his Porsche 911, Andrew Barron in his Lotus 7 (just 1600 cc!), James Rodgerson in his 1965 Mustang, and Robert Borders in his 1997 Toyota. Back in the paddock, everyone agreed that they’d had a great weekend's racing, nobody had hit the walls or each other and, all in all, HSR had done a great job of both getting and running the races.

© John Starkey 2013 Page 4

www.johnstarkeycars.com

(727) 384 1179 USA

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

© John Starkey 2013

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(727) 384 1179 USA Page 5

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

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www.johnstarkeycars.com

(727) 384 1179 USA

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

© John Starkey 2013

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(727) 384 1179 USA Page 7

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

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www.johnstarkeycars.com

(727) 384 1179 USA

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

© John Starkey 2013

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(727) 384 1179 USA Page 9

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

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www.johnstarkeycars.com

(727) 384 1179 USA

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013

Site Contents © John Starkey 2013

© John Starkey 2013

www.johnstarkeycars.com

(727) 384 1179 USA Page 11