Alex Job Racing - Laguna Seca practice

Laguna Seca Raceway
practice, Sept. 20, 2002
clean start

Alex Job Racing set the fastest GT times during the first practice for 
Sunday's American Le Mans Series race at Laguna Seca Raceway.  Lucas Luhr set 
the pace in the No. 23 McKenna Xybernaut Porsche, with a time of one minute 
28.633 seconds on the 2.238-mile road course.  Timo Bernhard was second in 
class in the No. 22 Porsche (1:29.335).  Sascha Maassen will drive the No. 23 
car with Luhr and Jörg Bergmeister will team with Bernhard.

"Today was one to see if the car is alright after all the damage we had at 
Mosport," Maassen said, referring to the last race.  "We had some minor 
problems - after the crash, the radio didn't work anymore and it didn't work 
now again, but we fixed it.  Apart from that, the car is as good as it was 
before the crash."

Bergmeister was impressed with the track after his first laps.  "It's the 
first time for me here," he said.  "It's good fun to drive.  There are some 
really some nice corners in it and the Corkscrew is something special.  We 
had some little setup problems, had a lot of oversteer. I hope we can improve 
that for tomorrow, and I hope I can improve the times, also!"

tech talk

Many of the features on the Porsche 911 street car were developed through the 
911 GT3 RS race car.  They include  monoblock brakes, matte black wipers 
designed to reduce glare in night racing during the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 
the placement of the key on the left side of the steering wheel.  The key 
placement was developed for the traditional Le Mans start, where drivers 
raced from the sidelines to their cars.  The left-side key enabled them to 
turn the key with the left hand while using the right for the gearshift."

McKenna moves

The McKenna Porsche staff have had a busy month.  A ground-breaking ceremony 
was held Sept. 10 for a new 45,000-square-foot dealership, which will house 
14 service bays and a state-of-the art parts facility.  Sept. 14 and 15, the 
company displayed its McKenna Porsche GT3 RS - identical to the Alex Job 
Racing McKenna Porsches - at the German AutoFest in Ventura, Calif.  The 
annual festival provides a gathering point for California Porsche owners, 
with this year's attendance estimated at 100,000.