December 2004 - Grand AM GT test - Homestead FL

Homestead Grand Am test

11-30-2004 to 12-2-2004

After a good shakedown test at Sears Point last week, it was quietly announced that Colin would partner Ace Carrio (far left), and Brad Coleman (3rd from left), in The Racers Group Porsche GT3 Cup car owned by Kevin Buckler (far right). 

On Tuesday the team started off with Speed Secrets driver coach, Ross Bentley running the car and getting an idea for what the boys were going to be up against in the 400 HP racing prepared Porsche 996.

Colin got in about 25 laps during the day.  He was getting used to the H pattern shift and the heal/toe needed to downshift into the turns.

John Olsen (on the far right) was coaching the drivers on line and how to get the most from the car.  John has coached Colin and Ace this year in formula cars and it was nice to have 2 Speed Secrets coaches at the test. 

Here Ross and John give Colin some advice after a run in the car.  Ross has won the 24 hours of Daytona before so all the drivers know they have a proven winner teaching them.

After the first day the "Team 16" drivers had done the most laps of any of the 25 cars at the test.

Hoosier was testing the new Grand Am GT tire this weekend, except they forgot to bring any rear tires for the Porsche and front tires for the BMW's

This limited us to running on very old tires.  Ace came in once with the cords showing on the RR tire that had over 300 miles on it!

It was great to see the drivers working together and leering the skills they need to know for Daytona.

Here Ross and Jeff talk to them after the 2nd day of running.

The Racers Group has a good baseline on the car set up from past experience and we were just making small changes to sort out the new Hoosier tire.

Mike Fox the chief mechanic did a great job preparing the car and keeping it running.  The car did more laps in 3 days then any other car in the test.

Here Colin gets out from a 1 hour run in the car and Brad is getting in.  The car can go about 1 hour on fuel and we had the drivers do a full stint to get a feel for what it was like.

Very hot, very hot!  The car is not so physical but there is no ventilation and everything gets so hot the driver cooks.

With new tires showing up for the 3rd day we were able to get some fast laps in and do long runs.  Each driver got a new set of tires and made the most of them.

Ace's run was cut short when the header broke (a common problem that Mike Fox knows how to fix).

Brad had to stop 10 laps early for a black flag of the track.

Colin got the full 1 hour and really had fun.  His laps were consistent and he was very good in traffic.

Travis was the data guy for the team as the regular person was unable to make it.

He adapted right away to the cars as they use the same system as the Mazda cars he handled this year.

Here he and Colin look over some data to help Colin drive quicker.

It was nice having Andy Lally and Ross drive the car so the other drivers could compare the data and see where to improve.

Next test in in 4 days at Texas World speedway.  It is a private test where we can do some training that we could not do in a open test.

It was great to Have Cole Braun spot for the team.  Cole spotted many professional Indy races and he will be the drivers eyes in the stands for the whole 24 hours.

This was the press release form the Grand Am web site after the test.