Race Report Thunderhill June 2-3 2007
written by Kevin Borchers
Team Valley Motorwerks Racing unveiled the #1 car with fresh paint at Thunderhill on June 2nd. A big thanks goes out to Dory and her crew at Miracle Auto Body and Paint in Napa California for the beautiful paint job and body repair. Thanks to Scott Neville as well for the use of his car hauler trailer.
http://www.norcalspece30.com/videos/6_3_2007_spece30.wmv
[COLOR="Red"]Saturday Group A Race:[/COLOR]
On Saturday Donny Edwards was back in the hot seat, being careful as to not scratch the fresh paint and upset team principle Walter Ford. This was the first time that Donny had run Thunderhill in the Valley Motorwerks Spec-E30 since joining the team. We had high hopes that Donny would settle in early and make a run at the previous (2005) track record of 2:13:030 held by Auston Harris. Sure enough, within the first couple laps of the warm up session Donny was right on track, and laying down times in the 2:12’s. Midway through the warm up session the #1 machine started to encounter some trouble. Donny brought the car into the pits where the problem was quickly diagnosed. Amazingly the lower radiator hose was flexing so much under race conditions, that it was coming in contact with the alternator cooling fins, and eventually rubbed a hole right through causing the car to lose all of its coolant. A quick run into town for a replacement hose and some zip ties, and we were able to get the car back out in time for the qualifying session. A great team effort from Valley Motorwerks once again. Donny took the car out and posted an amazingly fast lap of 2:10:509, shattering the previous track record by two and a half seconds. Amazing driving by a veteran racer, who was fighting a bad understeer! From pole, Donny once again went into the race and took the win with a fast lap of 2:12:329.
[COLOR="red"]Sunday Group A Race:[/COLOR]
Valley Motorwerks shop manager Kevin Borchers was taking care of driving duty for the #1 machine on Sunday. Kevin had a long day ahead of him since he was going to be running the sprint race and planned on co-driving for the three hour enduro later in the afternoon. Kevin is also responsible for prepping the car and doing the mechanical work on it, so he never has a second to spare on a race weekend. Kevin took the car out into the warm-up session and put down a time of 2:15:727. He then entered the qualifying session and was able to post a fast lap of 2:14:585. Normally, the Spec E30 field had been starting the races behind the Spec Miata’s, using a flying start, but for this race the officials decided to start the Spec E30 in the front with the PT cars doing a standing start! Being so busy throughout the day we made the fatal mistake of missing the drivers meeting before the race. Kevin had to figure this out on the fly during the warm-up lap for the race! Kevin’s co-driver Donny ran out to the pit wall just before the start to let Kevin know that he should take off on the second drop of the green flag.
The second green dropped and Kevin launched hard and beat the lead PT car off of the starting line! After a few fun battles with a couple of RX-7’s Kevin brought the Valley Motorwerks Spec E30 through the checkered flag unscathed for the second win of the weekend. Click http://www.norcalspece30.com/videos/6_3_2007_spece30.wmv for a video clip of Kevin’s sprint race highlights.
[COLOR="red"]Sunday Enduro:[/COLOR]
Team Valley Motorwerks Racing entered their first enduro on Sunday. The original plan was to have Donny and Kevin share driving duties for the enduro and get some valuable experience practicing a driver change. As it turned out, Donny had to return to home at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. This meant that rookie Kevin Borchers was going to have to run the entire duration of the enduro by himself. Kevin was up for the challenge and knew that it would gain him valuable experience. The #1 Valley Motorwerks Spec E30 was gridded 22nd in the field. The car ran beautifully through the entire race and only stopped at the 1:45 mark for a quick refuel. Pit duties were carried out by Valley Motorwerks Team owner Walter Ford on gas, and technician Serge Ryssev on the fire extinguisher. This was an all new experience for the team, but the refuel went without incident. Way to go guys! After the refuel Kevin took the car back out and ran the remainder of the race without incident. Kevin took the car to a very respectable sixth place finish in E2. This was a very good result for their first enduro. This was also Kevin’s last race as a rookie. He now is a legitimate NASA competitor. All in all it was a very successful weekend; the team at Valley Motorwerks had a great time as always.
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