Ok I must say the weekend was a ton of fun, and the enduro was simply a blast. I will try to add some color to Carter’s remarks.
Things started off on the grid in a cluster XXXX, but luckily we got it straight after much yelling at officials. Brain had the E30 pole, followed by Cobeto, myself, than Mathew <bimmerworld driver in Alex’s car> and Vic, I forget the rest of the order.
We got out on the warm up lap and there was a crazy amount of cars on the track. Besides all the enduro cars there was a 944 sprint race mixed in, it seemed like 100 cars screaming down the front straight towards turn 1. It was nuts! So much for my thoughts that everyone would go 9/10ths as this was an 3 hours + race. Not a chance everyone was fighting for position, it was like a sprint race with twice as many cars! Getting through the traffic was challenging and the traffic never stopped. Lap after lap we battled each other and tried to put slower cars between us. After about 8 laps it was still hectic, finally the checker flag flew to end the sprint race and we could get down to some serious racing. By lap 10 Brain still had the lead, with Matt <Alex’s car>, Cobetto, Vic and I racing neck and neck, maybe only 8 car lenghths seperated 2 through 5, with Brain another 10 car lengths in the lead. Than Brain went too hot into Hog Pen and ran out of track coming onto the straight. He kept the car under control and decided to see how fast he could race on the grass. He was looking for a safe place to re-enter the track while doing about 80/90 mph on the grass. I almost didn’t think I would get past. Off we raced with Vic, myslef, Matt and Cobetto racing nose to tail. Finally, by lap 20 or so, we lost Cobetto in some traffic and Vic had the lead with Matt and I right behind. As we turned lap 26 we were still fighting it out as I turned my best lap of the day and personal best of 2:20.5. Lap 34 still no change, a few tenths seperated the three of us. Alex pitted first followed by Vic. I stayed out an extra two laps so I could lead the race at least a lap or two and it played into our fuel strategy.
Our pit stop went well and Carter now took over. After the pits things really settled out, the cars were now evenly spread out and everyone could get down to driving fast. James Clay < in Vic’s car> led, followed by Alex and Carter. After about 8 laps Carter got by Alex but could not close the 25 second gap on James in the lead within E30’s and second in our Enduro class, but James really could not extend the lead either. So I recalculated a few things in terms of gas and weight. Since we had pitted last I was pretty sure we could get enough laps out of the gas tank to come in at the 25 minutes to go mark, and only fill 10 gallons vs 15 and still make weight. We were limited to 5 gallon tanks so the extra 5 gallons would take the other teams at least an extra 75 seconds in the pit. Sure enough when James Clay pitted they added 15 gallons and by the time he got back out Carter was in the lead among the E30 group by 3 1/2 minutes and in second place in our enduro class not far behind the leader. So I was pretty sure that our pit would take no more than 2 or 2 1/2 minutes for final stop and driver change. Sure enough we were out of the pits in just over two minutes, but as carter pointed out, some gas was spilled when the air valve in the bottom of carters 5 gallon fill tank was not closed and a pint of gas spilled out. I was pulled into the penalty box at the end of the pit for 5 minutes. Ouch!!! that is racing. With only 20 minutes left in the race, there was little more to do than enjoy the last few laps and see where we finished.
It was a ton of fun and I want to express many thanks to all the drivers and pit crew who helped make the day so enjoyable. I think we finished 2nd in the E30 cars and 5th overall.
A number of us decided to go to the Outback for dinner and I was fortunate enough to lose in credit card roulette and I had the pleasure of paying for dinner!
Carlton
