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Grand Am
IN THE COCKPIT: Craig Stanton, Monterey
Porsche ace, fitness nut and general wild man Craig Stanton files his first column for SPEED.com after the GRAND-Am Rolex Series race in Monterey.
Craig Stanton  |  Posted July 14, 2011  
Magnus Racing was one pace for a strong result at Monterey, but luck didn't fall in their favor in the closing stages of the race. (Marshall Pruett)
Hi SPEED.com--I’m Craig Stanton, and I drive the no. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche in the Rolex Sports Car Series. Occasionally, I also drive the no.77 Magnus Racing Porsche in the ALMS. We’ve just wrapped up our GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where we finished seventh in the GT class in our Magnus Racing Porsche.

I really enjoy racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – I still have the urge to just say ‘Laguna Seca’ but I guess I should get with the times and learn to say it right each time. It’s a really fun course where you can get into a great rhythm.

I’ve raced there more times than I can count over the years, and I’m there several times a year to do private coaching or to instruct at events like the Ferrari Challenge or Pirelli Driver’s Cup. Plus it isn’t too far from home for me – only about a five hour drive in my Ford Lightning.

Whether it’s a novice driver in a street Porsche 911 or it’s John Potter and myself in the Magnus Racing Porsche, there are a few things you must do in order to get maximum speed out of a Porsche at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. It all starts with really late apexing, unwinding the wheel early and getting on the power as soon as possible. You have to carry maximum speed out of turn two, to get maximum speed out of turn three, and four, and so on – all the way up to the corkscrew. Every turn is important there.

There are also specific reference markers in every corner – trees, telephone poles, etc. – that are really key because there are several blind corners and rises like you have when you go over turn one or up the hill to the corkscrew. This can be really intimidating, especially for someone new to driving on a track. So when I coach a student there, the things I focus on are momentum and using those references to be as consistent and fast as possible.

One of the big advantages for me about going to Monterey is I can go up a few days early with my mountain bike and ride on some of the most awesome trails in California. The trails near Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca are the trails used for the world famous Sea Otter Classic. I competed with some friends in the Sea Otter 24 Hour Adventure Race a few years ago (we finished second) so I know the trails are perfect for getting some long rides in – I was riding between two and three hours a day last week. I really enjoy taking my bike on the road and doing workouts in different cities and around different tracks because it’s a nice way to break up working out in the same place all the time.
Stanton, right, and Magnus Racing owner/driver Potter, left, are known for having the most fun of all in any sports car paddock. (Magnus Racing)

The weekend started out well for us – John and I were pretty quick in practice and John did great to qualify in tenth place. We had a great strategy and John turned the car over in perfect shape, we were making great fuel mileage, and we knew we would be passing a ton of cars in the last hour.

Unfortunately we had a lot of yellow flags in the last hour which completely negated our fuel advantage, and I spun on a restart trying to be too aggressive. I was lucky to not get stuck in the gravel but there was immediately another yellow so it didn’t cost us too much – I was able to pick up another couple of positions on the next restart and we finished seventh.

It was frustrating because that was two weeks in a row that we lost out on the fuel mileage game. In Road America, we didn’t get the yellow we needed, and in Laguna Seca, we didn’t need yellows and we had a lot. But that’s the way it goes with endurance racing sometimes.

In two weeks, we will be at the New Jersey Motorsports Park. At last year’s race there, which was incredibly hot and humid, both my cool suit and helmet blower broke during the race and I got pretty overheated. But if it means we are in a position to win, I will have no problem putting up with a little bit of time in our GT Sauna!

Craig Stanton is known as the Fittest Man in Motorsports, and if he takes off his shirt, he’s guaranteed to get more attention than Patrick Dempsey. Stanton, the 2004 Rolex Series GT Champion and 2005 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS Champion, joined the upstart Magnus Racing team in 2010 to partner team owner John Potter in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the Rolex Sports Car Series. Since then, Magnus Racing has scored podiums in both GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series. Stanton is known as a master of driving Porsches as well as a madman for his dedication to fitness that sees him work out three times a day and eat absolutely nothing that tastes good.

You can learn more about Craig at craigstanton.com, or on Facebook at facebook.com/CraigOnTheMove. You can also keep up with Magnus Racing’s shenanigans at magnusracing.com.
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