Race done

Very clean day for us.

The final stint wrapped up with Claus putting in a 2:03.9 putting the rest of us to shame. This was the 2nd fasted time for ANY car on the track all weekend long, so hats off to Claus for that. As we have known for a long time, it isn't the car, it the is nut behind the wheel. The car came home in 10th which is very good considering 5 driver changes and 1 trip through the penalty box.

For the D we rotated 7 happy drivers with only one quick black flag and ended an impressive 21st.

Last two stints

We are down to the last two stints, the cars are running well and the only trouble was a black flag when the Z's drivers door opened on Tow when as a result of Sunday's battle damage.

The Z is running in 12th place and the D is on 25th.

Second drivers done

The second stints also went smooth and we are in 17th and 29th position. Not much attrition as most of the cars are still running.

After we got Tony in the car we had a mechanical problem. After one of the hits yesterday the drivers door no longer works right. We put Tony on the track and his door opened up. Black flag to fix.

We cleared that up and sent him out.

We now have the D in 24th an the Z in 29th.

First driver changes complete

The cars have been running fine. At the end of the first stints, the Z was running 12th and the D is running in 32nd. At the end of the pit stops we fell to 25th and 43rd and are now climbing back up the standings.

There are 78 cars registered, but only about 70 on the track turning laps. The traffic looks much more manageable but the track is colder and slippery so speed seem a little slower than yesterday.

Even More Sears Pointless

The cars are back together and most of the damage has at least been painted over. We'll have an 8 hour race with a much fewer cars on the track.

Driver order is set and we are waiting for the drivers meeting and race start.

Race day 2 done

We finished the day better than mid-day would have indicated. While the cars picked up a couple more bumps and bruises they ran the rest of the day without any black flags.

We capped the day with a chase between Lungnut in the D and Sparky in the Z. When the dust settled, the Z was in 33rd place on lap 290 and the D in 36th place on lap 289.

We are now trying to fix all the collected damage from the day so we can run another race tomorrow: "even more sears pointless". The pits are clearing out and we'll see what Kim of race day we end up with.

Day 2 - things are less well

The day is definitely taking its toll.

After Rod's spin in the D, Queen had a shunt and ended up with some nose damage and a penalty.

Meanwhile in the Z, Lungnut was hit all along the drivers side at 90 mph on the front straight and needed a bit of fender repair and the drivers door is stuck shut. We'll deal with that tonight. For now we are going NASCAR style in and out the window.

We sent Muddy out in the Z next and when he came in we realized he was running with a broken rim up front that we missed in the hustle to get the car out on the track.

Torch and Tow are now out and the Z is running in 38th and the D in 42nd place.

Day 2 update

Well, our perfect run in the D had to end I guess.  Blueberry ran out his stint and finished up in 27th place when we brought him in for a driver change.  He was complaining that the tires were slick but there was plenty of tread so we left the tires on.

Torch went out and a couple of laps in, spun in the carousel, also complaining of slick tires.  They black flagged him, but had no record in the penalty box, so we got a stop and go and back out on the track he went.

Tow had a very smooth run in the Z and improved our position from 48th to 33rd.  Oil check, lugnuts tightened and gas in the car and Lugnut went out for his shift.

As I type this, both cars on the on lap 185 with the Z behind about a minute.

Here is the driver order for today and some gratuitous car shots.

Day 1 wrap-up and Day 2 start

The D finished the day after a perfect run.  We managed to have every driver go out and drive clean and we ended up in 29th place out of 180 cars.

At the end of the day the Z started the last shift 1 lap ahead and also running strong.  Unfortunately, while passing on the way through turn 10, there was a parked car on the track and our Queen driver hit the brakes and slid off the track having a nice agricultural event.

For the penalty they called the whole team in to give us a stern talking to.  Then they stashed "drugs" in the car and we had to find them all before we could head back on the track.

Overall we lost 6 laps and the Z ended up in 46th place.

Dinner last night was lamb chops!!!

And for Breakfast we have sausage muffins.

We have a broken sway bar on the Z that we are fixing this morning, but other than that the cars are ready.  We should be on the track shortly with Blueberry in the D and Tow in the Z.

Late afternoon status

We have been having pretty good day. The D has been running flawless and we have only stopped for gas and driver changes.

The z has managed two trips to the penalty box. Muddy spun in the carousel at the end of his shift. They gave him a stop an go penalty and we did a driver change.

At the end of Sparky's session, a car spun in the carousel and he ended up giving it a love tap before the dust settled and found himself in the penalty box. The judges said it wasn't our teams fault and that they just wanted to check for damage.

Tow did infinitely better and ran a clean session front to start.

At 3:30, the z is in 38th place and the D is in 42nd one lap behind and we are just passing the 100 lap mark.

Green flag

Race on!

After all the tow ins finished, the brought out the green and they have been running clean with slightly less than 180 cars.

Fabulous weather vs last years downpour.

Also of note, when the green flag dropped, the vanagon started passing cars at a very quick pace. Very cool.

Race day 1

Both cars started right up this morning (not always a given) and after a great breakfast we set the driver order, did the driver meeting and got on the track.

We are circling under yellow while they sort out the transponders and the cars that break early. We are hoping to go green in a couple of minutes.

I'll try to pick up some photos, but we have a Westphalia Volkswagen bus and a Prius with what looks like a Harley twin sticking out the front.

Here's to a good day.

Practice Day track is closed

We had a very nice practice day.  Both cars were on the track non-stop except for drivers changes.  We have a couple of odd noises that we are looking into and a radiator on the Z that makes a non-stop "card in the spokes" noise.  Other than that, the repair bill today is very light.

The uniform proclamation is we have too much brakes on the Z as everyone managed to lock them up on several occasions.  At least this is an easier problem to solve than not enough brakes.

At the end of sears point, there is a hairpin turn that they have made VERY sharp I guess to try and slow us down.  Many drivers ended up picking up a collection of cones.

The biggest "Off" of the day goes to Muddy.  He came in with mud on the car and said he had a little off.  Turns out is was a little off on the right, followed by a big spin off the left and a nice set of tracks through the grass.  We'll be called Muddy a while longer.

I think so far we have had to do more work on the truck than the cars.

On to repairs and tri-tip.

Practice day

Other than a late night last night, things have been going very smooth today. We set up camp and rolled both cars over to tech. Both cars have zero penalty laps, but ended up in class A (cars that look like contenders). We sure have then fooled as we are not likely to have a top 10, but we are happy they thinks the cars are likely to go the distance and we have no penalty points.

We have a great lunch, and have been out running practice laps ever since 1. Turn eleven is impossibly sharp so they keep stopping the session to pick up the cone that cars keep driving over.

Both cars are well set up and we have another two hours of practice to go.