A Look Back at the PWC Race Opener at COTA

So the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) season has started with a bang! Heading into the weekend, I was very curious to see the attendance of the PWC season opening race and this vein a standalone event at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) track. And with no other big racing series on the schedule for the same weekend, I felt this race had the opportunity to be a mega-weekend! What's up with this long break between Rolex 24 and 12 hours of Sebring!?!?

While PWC usually accompanies Indycar series on the race schedule, Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (CTSC) can be found most times with TUDOR (United SportsCar Championship) and with the obvious difference in tire manufacturers. Which series do I like better? While I love standing starts, I also enjoy longer races with the added complexity of the driver change and pit stop. With PWC, the race is in the hands of the driver to make up or lose time. With CTSC, the "over-the-wall" gang and car engineer play a big part in the team’s outcome.

There is very little the two series, CTSC and PWC, have in common. PWC has a standing start, only one driver so no driver change, with a 50 minute maximum time limit race; it's basically a sprint from the drop of the green flag! But during a race weekend, fans have an opportunity to see two races with potentially all different podiums results on Saturday and Sunday. With PWC, if you have to pit, the car is pretty much out of the race, and drive through penalties result in quick driving to make up the precious time lost.

If you glanced at the weekend schedule, you would have noticed that except for a short lunch break, there was pretty much cars on the track all day! A few definitions before I get into the racing. Over the weekend racing was basically in one of four groups.

• GTS (Grand Touring Sport)

• GT3 (Grand Touring) Cup Trophy

• GT/GTA/GT Cup where all of the vehicles in GT are rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. GTA driver classification part of GT class for professional drivers that do not make their primarily living from racing.

• TC/TCA/TCB: TC (Touring Car), TCA (Touring Car A), and TCB (Touring Car B-spec)

Heading into the weekend, the weather was brutal on Thursday with wind and cold halting practice and hurting many teams set up in the paddock area. After flight delays due to weather, I arrived Thursday evening to Austin and Friday morning at the track. It was bone chilling cold and dry with little to no wind and few fans in the paddock area. Saturday was chilly but saw a lot more fans. This was my first PWC standalone event and I, along with many others, had a difficult time understanding the race car traffic flow through the paddock. The cars are gridded in the same paddock as the haulers, fan zone, and working traffic lane. Speaking of paddock, I will get my observation out of the way now. If you are familiar with COTA, there is a big paddock area behind the garages where teams park the hauler and pitch a tent garage for working like many tracks. The main paddock is reserved for the premier class, the GT series. If you want to find the "working man class" TC/TCA/TCB, get on your walking shoes or rent a golf cart. You need to walk out the main paddock make the left turn up the hill follow the road past a fueling station and keep walking. Did you get to the opening in the fence? Keep walking, no shuttle goes here and few fans make the walk too. In the main paddock is also huge vendor displays where fans can get free Cadillac Racing t-shirts, Nissan baseball hat, check out Recaro Automotive seats and much more.

If you moved all the vendors up on the hill to the designated "vendor area" and do a little rearranging, there would be room to put all race car classes in the main paddock thus providing fans to check out the TC/TCA/TCB teams who need exposure. Yes I know, the vendors are sponsors and if the track does not give them prime real estate will the companies continue to be sponsors. And since the normal "fan zone" is good long walk away due to the track layout, no one would go there. But I'm here for the racing and cars.....no matter how many times you ask me, I don't want a free t-shirt. Although I've been to COTA several times before, and have attended many PWC races, I did have one surprise. If your plan (which mine was) is to see the cars lined up on grid, snap a few photos, and then make your way to a good viewing spot. This plan will fail without a golf cart.

With the track being so big, and the short race time, you will make it to your seat just in time for the white flag! Many fans I talked to participated in the morning paddock activities than headed to a grandstand where they stayed the remainder of the day to watch the on track action.

While at the PWC race weekend at COTA, I could have interviewed many teams and drivers, but heading into this race event, the choice was clear to me. Yes much will be mentioned about fan favorite Ryan Eversley, and the combined teaming of K-Pax and Flying Lizard, but two teams who made the switch from CTSC to PWC have always been close to my heart. Those teams are Berg Racing and CA Sport, who to me have the “underdog” perception.

While at COTA I had the pleasure to sit down and chat with the team owners. While both Berg Racing and CA Sport have had their ups and downs and being new to PWC, their future couldn't be more uncertain leaving the familiar behind. To me just making the move shows their determination for continuous improvement. BERG Racing is in the TC class of PWC racing with Dinah behind the wheel of #50 Mazda MX-5 and husband John racing #40 Porsche Cayman. In order to make the trip to COTA, John had to hire a front loader to remove the piles of snow at their new shop in Webster, NY. Here is just part of my chat with Dinah Weisberg of BERG Racing.

What were the top reasons BERG Racing made the switch from CTSC to PWC?

For BERG Racing, PWC better suites their business model at this time, and the schedule was more conducive to the teams logistic requirements. BERG Racing is family supported with private funding with no factory backing. One financial benefit of PWC there's no separate pit crew needed which reduces salary and travel expenses. John started BERG Racing because he is a racer himself.

With CTSC, racing in the Street Tuner (ST) class, the team often needed to find funded drivers to offset the high costs of participating, meaning that Dinah and sometimes John were not driving. With PWC the intent is for both to drive. The smaller teams rely on the series and with PWC, the customer-oriented approach is very refreshing and welcomed. Dinah feels the exposure and publicity for the sponsors is greater with PWC. Dinah mentioned, “There is more focus on driver promotion and providing a product for the team.”

Due to the PWC schedule, what track will you miss and what track are you looking forward to race?

Dinah will miss Watkins Glen International (WGI). With Berg Racing headquartered in Webster, NY, WGI is considered their home track, and who doesn’t love WGI, come on! Dinah is looking forward to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

While Dinah deferred to John regarding the PWC and CTSC technical specification differences on the car (such as splitter, wing, etc.), she did mention PWC does not allow for a “sliding seat”. While in PWC there is technically no driver change so the movement of the seat to accommodate driver height is not really needed, making the seat permanent for a driver in the car for the complete season seems understandable. However, there are still some teams who have a different paying driver race to race and the ability to change the driver seat would be mandatory. Of course, the biggest difference is the tire. Dinah thinks the Pirelli tire is slightly grippier, and she is no stranger to racing on Pirelli’s.

I encourage you to learn more about BERG Racing at their website www.berg-racing.com.

Be sure to connect with the team on social media:

Twitter: Dinah Weisberg @RacerDinah | John Weisberg @BERG_Racer

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/BERG-Racing

If you are attending a PWC race, please visit Dinah and John in the paddock or during the grid walk. Be sure to ask to see photos of their dogs!

CA Sport had two cars racing in PWC at COTA with car # 23 Nissan 370Z in the GTS class with driver Vesko Kozarov and car # 13 Nissan Altima in the TC class with driver Jason Cherry. Both drivers are in those cars for the season. Lara will be racing at Sonoma and possible other races on the PWC schedule in the team’s third car # 3 Nissan Altima in the TC class. Vesko has been a long time member of the CA Sport team. While CA Sport is not a factory backed Nissan team, the car manufacturer does provide support to Lara and her team. Here is just part of my chat with Lara Tallman, owner, of CA Sport.

What were the top reasons CA Sport made the switch from CTSC to PWC?

Overall, just wasn’t happy with IMSA and felt her cars couldn’t compete. Even switching to PWC, Lara notices “the Caymans are still so fast and it seems we can’t get rid of them!” Lara feels PWC does listen to her issues and is trying to help. Tires are the biggest change, which is the series sponsors for both, and Lara mentioned the Pirelli tires were faster and also “stickier”.

For me Lara and Vesko are old friends I have seen race for years, but I was new to Jason Cherry. I chose his car for the article photo because of his effort with Autism Society which is very close to his heart. I encourage you to read more about Jason and his commitment to help Autism by visiting his website www.jasoncherryracing.com.

With the 2015 PWC schedule, Lara will miss racing at Watkins Glen International (WGI) while looking forward to Sonoma. The team is based in Salt Lake City so going back to Miller Motorsports Park will be like racing in their backyard.

CA Sport adapted to the technical differences between CTSC and PWC in the areas of wing and splitter being the biggest changes. With the PWC restriction for no slider seat, Lara and Vesko while being about the same overall height there are driver seat differences which can be reduced with padding. Since there is no driver change, there is no pit time wasted with putting in or taking out the driver padding.

I encourage you to learn more about CA Sport at their website www,ca-sport.com.

You can follow the team on Facebook and Twitter: CA Sport @CASport23

Lara’s son, Brad, who worked as part of the race team is an accomplished and talented singer. Please give him a follow on twitter @BradTallman

And listen to his music from this website www.reverbnation.com/bradtallman.

If you are attending a PWC race, please visit Lara, Vesko, and Jason in the paddock or during the grid walk. Be sure to check out the cars closely and ask Lara about the designs on the cars! Interesting stories!

Big thank you to Dinah and Lara for taking the time to chat and for always being so nice to this race fan at the track. Good Luck!

Thank you all for reading and I welcome your comments. I have no affiliation with PWC, CTSC, COTA, etc. just a fan. There are many blogs and websites where you will find statistics, results, and scoring from the race; this is “just the way I see it”.

Got a response? Follow and tweet me @viclovesracing

And look for future “Vickie’s Trackside Reports” coming to a track near you!

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