Karl Troy and his brother Martin purchased a 1991 Porsche 944S2 sometime in 2001. The car was wrecked and badly damaged. It was cheap and that’s what they were looking for since the car would only serve one purpose and that was to win local autocross events held by the Porsche Club. Other than that the car would sit and rest until the next event. The car was refined step by step as the years went by and not only won most PCA events, it also doubled as a potent Road Race Car. With thousands of laps at Karl’s home track Roebling Road in Savannah, GA . this car has proven capable of running away from Ferraris, Porsches and other more powerful cars due to it’s excellent handling. At the end of 2005 the car was to be sold since all local PCA events had seized and the car just sat around. The car did not sell as expected and Karl decided to enter the car in a Porsche 944 Racing Series called the 944Cup.
The series is divided into two groups. Cup, for the regular 2.5l and 2.7l 944s and Supercup, for the 944S, 944S2,944 Turbos and 968s. Karl had hopes of doing fairly well in his first season but the results would exceed anything he could have expected. In 2006 he and his Porsche won 14 out of 17 races and by the end of the year Karl became 2006 SE Regional Champion and by winning all three races at the Inaugural Nasa Championships, became the first 944 Supercup National Champion in History. In 2007 Karl is competing in the Southeastern and Midatlantic Championships looking for more competition which is vital in fine tuning his skills on track. He is currently leading the MA championship but is second in the SE due to engine failure at the beginning of may and missing races/points.
On May 5th,2007 the Porsche’s engine which had been so reliable for all these years, let go in qualifying dumping oil everywhere and catching the back of the car on fire. Karl was offered a spare car to drive on Sunday brought down by fellow Cup driver Joe Boschulte (also known as the 944 Cup Chef). He had just bought the car and wanted it on hand for parts to keep his main car going. Karl had already switched brake components from one car to the other on Saturday, putting the destroyed rotors from Joe’s car onto the rental car. To everyone’s surprise(incl. Karl’s) Karl put the car on the pole. Keep in mind that Karl was driving a cup car in supercup and with 70hp less than his S2, Karl stayed in the lead for the entire race taking first overall in a car he sat in for the first time that weekend. Click here for video of the event.
In July 2006 Karl, Kim and Michael Troy planned to go to VIR for 2 cup races. The car was prepared by then 15 year old Michael Troy who works at ERR during the summer. The car was feeling great and had been test driven. Several days later while putting it in the trailer the clutch mechanism made a strange noise but it was too late to do anything about it.
Arriving at VIR well after midnight it was time to get some rest. Saturday morning during the first practice session the clutch pedal ended up on the floor and Karl had to pull it back up with his foot. That continued to happen every time he shifted and made the car undriveable. Yet his fastest lap was good for 4th overall out of 29 cars.
It was determined later that the only way to continue the weekend was to drive without the clutch and shift by matching revs. Karl qualified in second place and took the lead on lap 1 where he remained until the checkered flag. He repeated this performance on Sunday where he started from pole position. Two victories without a clutch gave Karl the nickname “Clutchless Bastard” from his 944 Cup friends.
European Road and Racing sold the Stars and Stripes Lamborghini and replaced it with a 2001 Ultima GTR. The Ultima GTR is the car that officially broke the McLaren F1s world record in the 0-100-0 mph run. It is capable of making this run in 9.8 seconds. The car was entered in the 2006 One Lap of America and proved very potent.
A mysterious braking problem would reveal itself at random times usually on the last lap of each run depending on how hard the brakes were being used. It was responsible for a few off track excursions at speeds up to 170mph missing turn one when the car just didn’t want to stop. Those, somewhat frightful experiences definitely put a small dent in Karl’s confidence in when it would happen again and if he would live through it. In spite of some technical difficulties the car performed beautifully otherwise and came home in 6th place overall a personal best for Karl.
Karl’s co driver was younger brother Martin Troy who is now working at European Road and Racing as the BMW guru of the shop. His expertise ranges from Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes and BMW . Karl and Martin had a great time as a team and as brothers spending valuable time together which they had not done in years due to taking care of their own families.
One Lap of America 2003 (www.onelapofamerica.com) was a success. The ’96 Lamborghini Diablo driven by Karl Troy finished 9th overall out of a field of 85 cars.
An unfortunate and accidental brake bias adjustment giving the car a majority of rear brakes sent the Lambo into the wall during hard braking over 100 mph while going downhill into a turn. The rear tires locked instantly causing the car to spin out of control. That meant a DNF after the first event and a spot at the end of the entire field. The Lamborghini and seven other cars ended up in 77 th position making it impossible to finish this race at the top. The car was bent, a radiator leaking, the left rear quarterpanel, lights, etc. destroyed. The alignment was severely out of specs and caused the steering wheel to be off by almost ninety degrees. The car was almost undriveable.
The second event was better. With the brake bias adjustment under control the car finished 7 th in the second run even though it felt like a pig on ice with the rear trying to steer in its own direction. A crude alignment with a tape measure made the car only predictably scary to drive and we chose to leave well enough alone.
We managed a few top spots in various events such as Memphis Motorsport Park where the Lambo finished 3 rd in the second run only 1.5 secs. behind the overall winner over 3 laps. At Carolina Motorsports Park the Lambo repeated it’s success by placing third in both events, this time beating the overall winner of One Lap ’03. Several other 4 th and 5 th place spots helped get the Diablo back to 9th overall even after loosing valuable points at the beginning. That is one spot ahead of the result of 2002.
We would like to thank all of our sponsors who helped make all this possible. A special thanks goes to my friend and co-driver Mike Appleby. Without your financial support none of this would have been possible. I hope we can do something like this again one day. One Lap of America 2004 is almost here and I am not sure if I will enter a car. Check back soon to find out. Click on this link for the Car and Driver article featuring the European Road and Racing Diablo on page 4.
