Sebring Volunteer Review

by Mark Johnson

Beginning on Thursday, February 4th, the 28th Annual 48 Hours of Porsche was held at Sebring International Raceway. It is an incredible event. This is a premier Porsche Club Racing event held every winter during the first weekend in February. The 48 attracts cars and drivers from all over the country to south central Florida for spirited automobile racing and legendary Porsche camaraderie. An estimated 300-plus vehicles representing more than 25 states were in attendance for this year’s four-day event. Days are scheduled to allow practice all day Thursday, and Friday morning. Race qualifying is held Friday afternoon. Sprint races, 30-45 minutes in duration, are held on Saturday, two each per major group with two endurance races held on Sunday. Interspersed among the sprint groups are Advanced Solo (DE) driving events. There is also an Autocross held on Saturday morning on a separate location at the track. Sunday racing is for the endurance (enduro) events where the race lasts 90 minutes.

The racing is spirited, safety is paramount, and everything is Porsche. Owning a Porsche, being a PCA member, or arriving with a member is required for admittance. The event is not open to the public. The 2021 version of 48 Hours was held under beautiful, clear, cool and sunny weather for both Thursday and Friday. Saturday was partly cloudy with a hint of rain. Sunday featured a strong cold front that blew through between 9:00-9:45 am. Due to heavy rain and lightning race marshals suspended track events for a

Grid volunteer Christy Spangler Volunteer coordinator Sherry Fabel

bit. After a delay of an hour, racing was resumed. Besides racing on a historic and storied track, a big draw is the exceptional Florida weather. Many teams from much further north come to Sebring to escape the winter. Imagine that . . . . Due to the Sunday rain the endurance races were shortened to 60 minutes, allowing Sunday’s racing to be completed almost as scheduled. The almost on-time finish allowed teams to pack up for the short or long ride home. Besides observing the races from the main grandstand, and from along the speciation areas, one of the great things to do is walk the paddock area. Here the teams have their racecars parked. Vehicles are prepped, serviced, gassed, and repaired. It is not uncommon to see cars in the paddock on jacks/stands with a tech underneath repairing brakes, engines or transmissions. In fact, in a walk through the paddock area a person can observe a spare engine or transmission being installed in a vehicle. It is amazing to see the level of effort put into placing a race-competitive Porsche on the grid. Many individual owners will contract with race-oriented garages for weekend services. Companies such as KMW Motorsports, Isringhausen, AutoQuest, and others will establish their major trailer and tent “shops.” These support service groups can provide race day efforts to as many as 15 to 20-plus customers, although many race shops will limit their efforts to 4 or 5 cars and their respective drivers.

The racers and crews are a big part of the event. However, a larger and often unsung group are the folks in the 48 Hour Committees and the volunteers. There are 30 PCA members from Gold Coast and Suncoast Porsche chapters who “organize” the event, with the workload split evenly between the two southern Florida groups. In addition, PCA National sends another 13 members to take up roles on the racing committee, as stewards and scrutineers, or as timing and scoring members. And then, to top it all off, there are another 100 or more PCA club volunteers preforming various tasks to support the committees. It is a heck of a team effort to organize, inform, and coordinate all these folks for the benefit of the club racing. PT Barnum would be impressed with the show.

As both a volunteer and a spectator it is worthy of attendance, especially if you are a person who enjoys motorsports. If you are still uncertain if you should attend, check out an article in the April 2020 issue of Die Porsche Kassette, “A Rookie’s Trip to the 48 Hours at Sebring.” See you all next February?

Corner action at turn #5