Orbit Racing - Mosport preview

fast forward

Orbit Racing is gearing for high speed at Mosport International Raceway, site 
of the next American Le Mans Series race.  The Florida team will field the 
No. 43 YES Network Porsche 911 GT3 RS for Peter Baron of Deerfield Beach, Fla., 
and Marc Lieb of Niefern, Germany.  The race is set for Aug. 17 on the 
2.459-mile road course in Bowmanville, Ont.

Baron and New York racer Leo Hindery drove the No. 43 Porsche to second in 
the GT class at Mosport last year.  Baron says technical ability and engineering 
are the keys to success on the fast track.

"Mosport is a track that separates technical ability from bravery," he said.  
"It's like my home track, Road America [Elkhart Lake, Wis.], with a lot of 
high-speed turns.  Marc's favorite track is Spa [-Francorchamps, in Belgium], 
which also has a lot of high-speed turns, so Mosport should gel well for us.  
Setup-wise, one of the strong points of our car this year has been middle-speed 
and high-speed turns, so we should have a real good car right when we show up, 
and hopefully by the end of the weekend, we'll have a great car for the race."

flat-out

Lieb will see the Mosport track for the first time this week, but it should 
suit his driving style.

"I always prefer tracks which are fast - you can gain more in faster corners 
compared to another driver," he explained.  "First time, everybody tells you 
the corner is flat, so you go into the corner and the first time you brake, you 
say, 'No way this corner is flat, no way'.  Then maybe you lift [off the 
accelerator] on the second lap and the third lap you just lift a little bit, then 
the fourth or fifth time, you lift at the last moment.  You have to force 
yourself, it's a big challenge.  But when you get it, it's great.  You're going, 
'WOO!  That was cool!'"

set for speed

Tim Munday, technical director for Orbit Racing, says the key to maximizing 
performance on a high-speed track is setting the car for driver confidence.

"It's a very fast right-left change of direction, so getting the car to be 
comfortable for the driver is important.  The speed naturally comes from there," 
he said.  "You have to get the car to the point where he knows the car will 
do what he wants it to do when he wants it to do it; rather than the car 
leading him, he can dictate what the car's doing.  You can have a car that's quick, 
but it's such hard work for the driver that they never want to push it to the 
edge because the limit is very small.  You need something that gives the 
driver confidence."

###

Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945