Leh Keen Hustles a Firebreathing 935 Against Vipers, ‘Vettes, and More

The tall talent from Georgia is at it once again, and this time he’s behind the wheel of a Kremer 935 K3, which spits out a staggering 800 horses in archetypically-turbocharged fashion. Leh Keen is a master of manhandling the rear-engined racing car and is no stranger to opposite lock or minimizing understeer, and when up against better balanced machinery at Road America, he shows just how to grab a car by the scruff of the neck and make it submit to his will.

As much of Road America is reasonably straight, Keen exploits the turbocharged motor by prodding the throttle early and aggressively to build boost, and square off his lines to give the rear tires an easier time; they’re already struggling enough trying to apply the thrust to the asphalt. His lines are also tailored to address the obvious understeer issue, which handicaps him slightly in the slower corners—where nimbler cars like a 997 Cup have the measure of him.

For the faster corners and kinks, of which there are many at Road America, he mitigates the push with an assertive approach. By turning in early, using the curbs to usefully upset the Porsche, and applying the throttle without much restraint, he yaws the car in the right direction so that, by the time the turbos have spooled, the 935 is mostly straight and he can engage the tractor beam.

However, Keen can’t always countersteer his way out of a sphincter-tightening situation. Through the daunting Turn 11, which demands an early and subtle direction change, he’s forced to contend with a worrying amount of steering lock past the apex. With the walls that near and the speeds so high, you’d think the hair around his temples would have gone grey then and there, but considering how his forceful approach doesn’t change for the rest of the race, he probably won’t be ordering Just For Men anytime soon.