Cars that did not start

Nissan again

This event was the third one to take place in Florida, but it would suffer any comparison with Daytona or Sebring. The track was a mere 2,606km circuit and had been moved in the middle of nowhere. In fact, from the beginning of the practice sessions, many accidents were to happen that would modify the timetable. The practice session would take place under a 35° C. It would be dominated by the Electramotive Nissan ZX T GTP driven by Geoff Brabham. The second place was taken by the Jaguar XJR9 driven by John Nielsen-Jan Lammers-Davy Jones. Unfortunately, this car would not start. The Nissan was the only car running under the 1minute mark. An interesting car was the Spice Pontiac Firebird driven by Bob Earl-Jeff Kline which would wind up a very good fourth overall, only beaten by two Jaguars and the Nissan! Seven Porsche 962s were to start the race, but they were no more fighting for victory in the shorter events. It was interesting to notice that, as for the 935s, they were now heavily modified. Each team was trying his own solutions, and each car was quite unique. The BF Goodrich Team had a long tail while Dyson Racing did test a short one, with little success. The BF Goodrich Team tried a long tail on its Porsche 962, but the race would not last more than two laps Copyright Lee Self The best Lights car was the Whitehall Racing Spice Fiero driven by Bill Koll and Skeeter McKitterick, starting on the twenty first spot. The race would first be dominated by the Jaguar driven by Jan Lammers, which took the lead right from the start. Geoff Brabham stayed behind the Jaguar after missing a turn. John Nielsen was witnessing the duel, glued in third position. Behind those cars, the Porsche 962s, now playing second fiddle, were having good times and fought hard for position. After a first under yellow caused by the Sarel van der Merwe Chevrolet Corvette GTP, who hit the wall after a puncture, the Nissan would take the lead. Jan Lammers was now second with John Nielsen third. Jean Louis Ricci, leading the GTL class, was sent into the wall by the #42 Fabcar. This piece of action resulting in yet another safety car neutralisation. In fact, the race would be run under yellow for nearly one-third of the event. Then would happen the incident AJ Foyt and Oscar Larrauri, the latter willing to pass the idol, would find a very tiny hole in a left hander and send AJ into the wall. Furious, AJ Foyt would pit for repairs and wait for Oscar Larrauri to pay him back! But he would retire later and the two pilots would be blamed for that. The race seemed to be over for the lead as the Nissan, driven by Geoff Brabham-John Morton was maintaining its position. The Jaguar driven by Jan Lammers-Davy Jones would keep its second place during the entire race, the gap never over ten seconds. However, the Jaguar never seemed to be in a position to take the lead. Each time the Nissan was pulling ahead, the safety car would have to appear whenever an accident happened. The gap would then be nullified, but then the Nissan again would pull ahead. It seemed that the Japanese car was unbeatable. The Porsche 962 driven by Price Cobb and James Weaver took while the surprising Spice Pontiac Firebird driven by Bob Earl-Jeff Kline was next, fifth was the not less surprising Fabcar Chevrolet driven by Chip Mead and Tim McAdam. In the Lights class, the Tiga GT287 Buick, driven by Tom Hessert and David Loring was declared as the winner, which was quite a feat, the car starting last. Tom Hessert and David Loring won the Lights class Copyright Kirk Hoffman The Alba AR6 Ferrari driven by Martino Finotto and Guido Dacco had been declared first as the winner, but it seemed that confusion helping, the standings had to be reversed later. Finally, the race was over and not quite exciting at all. The many safety car appearances spoiling a race dominated by a single car : the Nissan GTP.