Paul Brown Wins First in Class and Fourth Overall at Road America
- Aug 31, 2010
That's K&N sponsored Paul Brown commenting about piloting his LS7 powered Morgan Aero 8 GTR to a first in class and fourth overall at the Road America road race run at Elkhart lake, Wisconsin, all the while battling against the big dogs. "I started fifth in a really strong and diverse field, with everything on track from a Le Mans winning Audi R8, to Trans Am series tube chassis cars, and Daytona Prototypes."
"I took the Morgan quickly to the front and proceeded to battle a Trans Am car, and JC France in his Daytona Prototype, lap-after-lap. We all ran very close and clean the whole race. I bobbled late in the race and let JC France get by in his DP car, so I ended up finishing fourth overall and first in class by almost 20 seconds," adds Brown, indicating that if not for his slight driving gaffe, he would have been standing third on the overall podium. Brown has had an intimate relationship with performance and racing for well over 25 years, he satiates those desires through racing and as General Manager for Tiger Racing. Brown has competed against some of the best drivers in road racing, finishing in the top-ten in over half of the events he's entered. It was a fortuitous steering problem during the Road America race, however, that not only kept him intensely focused throughout the experience, but it was the very reason he was in the Morgan in the first place. "Yeah, a problem with the steering rack is how I got put into the car. We had an issue with the power steering rack and it turned out that it was bleeding pressure past one of the seals. This caused the steering to be a little vague. Left was fine, right was a guess for most of the race. I just had to take my time and feel out the steering before I committed to the turns. It was a little unnerving a couple of times, but I quickly adapted to the situation and concentrated on the race." "K&N has been a fantastic company to work with both on the product side with the superior quality of their filters, but also on the technical side with the depth and knowledge of its staff," articulates Brown. "I have had many conversations with K&N's technical department on almost all aspects of our race engines, which has helped us work through many issues over the years." Regarding his schedule for the rest of the season Brown says, "Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the Ultimate Track Car Challenge this year. It came down to bad timing... too many events back-to-back, and we just couldn't work out the logistics. This did open up an opportunity for me to race a vintage 1971 Alfa Romeo T33 at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion. That little Alfa is a killer car. Ultra lightweight with a 3.0L V8 that revs to 9500 rpm, it's like driving a big, shifter cart." "As with all "vintage" cars, it seems that you're always chasing glitches," continues Brown. "This time it was the Lucas mechanical fuel injection. Even with the problems, we managed to put on a hell of a show running from 15th to third, and posting fastest lap by almost two seconds in the '66-70 FIA group. Then we also ran with more modern cars in the '71-76 FIA group, where I piloted the T33 from 25th to seventh. I had a lot of fun sliding the car around in front of the crowd while moving towards the front. They seemed to enjoy it too." For the last part of the season Brown says he is honored to drive the K&N G35 in the Redline Time Attack Series, plus he will try to fit in the NASA National at Miller Motorsport Park. We are also finalizing the details on a return to the SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge Series for next year with a possible end of the year debut at Miller in October," says a thoroughly booked-up Brown. "I'll keep you posted." Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
