Virginia International Raceway
Alton, VA
12-14 May
Sports Car Club of America
Double SARRC/MARRS Regional Races

Golf v.3.2 had an solid debut at VIR, in what has to be called a successful first run after the ground-up build. Minor teething problems were offset by two really great in-class races - with James Stem (MARRS, Volvo 142) on Saturday, and David Jones (SARRC, Honda CRX) on Sunday.

Still running the stock engine management system, the Conover Engines powerplant was hobbled by an artificially low RPM limit and a duff exhaust oxygen sensor, but the Golf was quicker in the corners than its nearest competition. Lap times were very similar to those of the original Project GTI last season: good news since the new car is at the beginning of its development where its predecessor was nearly maxed out.

The final results tell a story of potential rather than current competitiveness - 7th of 14 ITB cars in the first race, and 12th of 15 in the second - but all things considered, a nearly trouble-free first race is not a bad thing for a new racecar.

Kathy Webb Photo

Carolina Motorsports Park
Kershaw, SC
27-29 May
Sports Car Club of America
SARRC Double Regional, ECR, CCPS Races

This two-hour enduro was chosen as a test day, in preparation for the 12 Hours at the Point, coming up in less than a month. Everything went very well, with further adjustments resulting in a fun, oversteering car on what turned out to be a very slick Carolina Motorsports Park track.

Unfortunately the ECR series rules mandated two stops of a minimum of 5 minutes each - whether we needed fuel or not - which effectively eliminated the mileage advantage typically enjoyed by PhilsTireService.com Team GTI. After a faulty engine control unit was discovered and replaced following the last event, the Conover drivetrain behaved flawlessly but additional tuning is still necessary if we are going to get maximum performance out of the new car. Additional testing is scheduled before the 12 hours at Summit Point.

PS - We received notice that, following an audit of the results, our two pit stops were approximate 5 seconds short of the required minimum. This error resulted in a four-lap penalty in the official results but did not affect our 2nd-place finish.

Image courtesy of Conover Family Photo Album

Summit Point Motorsports Park
Summit Point, WV
24-25 June
Sports Car Club of America
12 Hours at the Point

A busy 12 Hours at the Point left the Conover Engines-PhilsTireService.com Golf battered but solidly in 2nd place in class of the four ITB cars entered.

A full story is now available

Following cancellation of the USERA twin 3-hour enduros in October, the PhilsTireService.com team scheduled a test day at Virginia International Raceway, to assess the results of changes incorporated to its VW Golf since the Summit Point enduro. In addition to the obviously-needed body repairs, spring rates have been changed - as have the exhaust system and engine management electronics, to pull a few more horsepower from the Conover Engines powerplant.

Virginia International Raceway
Alton, VA
3-4 November
Sports Car Club of America
Charge of the Headlight Brigade 13 Hours

A one-hour transmission replacement helped the Conover Engines - PhilsTireService.com Golf struggle back to a 2nd-place finish in the second-longest endurance sports car race on the east coast.

A full story is now available

Post Mortem - Gearbox guru Cameron Conover wasted no time disassembling the failed transmission, and immediately identified the point of failure as a sheared output shaft. The classic "beach marks" of a slowly propagating stress fracture are evident in the full-size image, visible by clicking the thumbnail above. The transmission is being rebuilt in the off season, with new parts and a lower 4.25:1 final drive, to further improve acceleration.

Andrew Pearson Photo

Congratulations to Conover - PhilsTireService.com team driver Greg Amy for his ITA class victory at the American Road Race of Champions!

Amy adds the ARRC trophy to his 2006 NARRC and NERRC class titles for a clean sweep of championships in his "No Excuses" season, full details of which are available at the Kakashi Racing web site.

Project GTI is headquartered in Greensboro, NC
All photos by Kirk Knestis, unless otherwise indicated