The final hours went by pretty quickly.  Despite the physical and mental fatigue we were all running strong on adrenaline and Starbucks, and doing whatever needed to be done to get the cars to the finish line.  For car 87 this included entirely removing the nose as duct tape and bailing wire were no longer able to keep it attached.  Dennis, who completed the final and noseless stint, reported some serious handling problems resulting from the change in airflow over the front of the car.  In addition to a significant decrease in top end speed, the car developed a tremendous push, which means it did not want to turn.  Despite the difficulties, Dennis did a great job bringing #87 home for a 2nd place finish.  Car 28, which suffered electrical problems and required a long stop to change the alternator, finished strong in 38th.

Since the race ended, and after a solid 10 hours of sleep, the team has been exchanging emails reviewing the lessons learned, and outlining development to take place in the off season in preparation for next years 25.  We are all proud of our 2007 results, but next year we intend to take the checkered flag. 

I compiled a few stats below:

Combined number of laps: 1160

Combined number of miles: 3,341 (Seattle to Miami)

Average speed including pit stops: Car 87: 73.5mph

                                               Car 28: 60.1mph

Top speed: 145mph

Fastest lap: 1:43.418 set by Umberto Milletti.  Overall fastest lap of the race. 

Average speed of fastest lap: 100.25mph 

Number of shifts per lap: 20

Combined total number of shifts: 12,760 

Feet of duct tape used: 75 est.

Yards of bailing wire:  25 est. 

Average hours slept per driver: 4.5

 

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

 

 

 

My second stint began around 7:30pm.  The car has strong lights so driving at night isn't too difficult once you get used to it.  Of course, that is when the lights are working.  Several times during my 2 hour session, the lights would suddenly cut out entirely.  If I was behind another car, it wouldn't be too much of a problem as I could follow them around the track and back to the pits.  When I was alone...big problem.  Suddenly you cannot see the track in front of you and it feels as if you're driving into a black hole.  This forced me to pit a few times which I believe is when we lost the lead to the Daytona Prototype.  Our team fixed the problem but was only able to get two of the four lights working.  Regardless, it was a huge improvement and the two are really enough to find your way around the track.  

About 2/3rds through my session, I blew a tire while coming down the front straight...about 130mph.  Thankfully it wasn't too difficult to get the car slowed down but I now had to limp the full 3 mile circuit back to the pits.  My stint is over and it's time for a cat nap.

MK 

 

My watch alarm went of at 4am letting me know it was nearing time to get back in the car.  My 4 1/2 hour sleep was actually pretty restful despite the constant buzz of race cars...the ear plugs helped.  As I was putting my helmet on it started to rain.  Dennis, who was driving at the time radioed in that the track was getting extremely slippery and we should switch to rain tires immediately.  Driving a race car is challenging.  Driving a race car at night is even more so.  Driving a race car at night in the rain...enough said. 

The rain "appeared" to be stopping so we chose to stay with the slicks.  Despite that I managed to spin on my first, second and fifth laps....good fun.  Just tap the throttle while turning and around you go.  Thankfully, there's not much to hit at Thunderhill, except for the cows, so I was back on track quickly.  Just as the track was starting to develop a dry line, the rain was back.  It continued like this for the next hour or so and the crew was debating pulling me in for rain tires.  In the end they chose to leave me on the slicks which I believe was the right decision.  It was undoubtedly the most challenging driving I've experienced to date. 

Around 6am the the light was coming up and I could finally see the track in front of me well enough to distinguish between dry track and wet track.  The rain had stopped so a dry line had formed and lap times were coming down.  In the dry at night we were running lap times in the low to mid 1:50's.  In the wet, times were in the 2:20's.  Now I was starting to see mid to high 1:50's.  We're still in second place.

MK 

Starting at the back of the pack made for an exciting first few laps but it wasn't too painful.  By the end of the first 2-hour stint, Car 87 was in first place and Car 28 was third.  Currently 87 is still in first with a slim lead over the Daytona Prototype, but 28 is in the pits for repairs that should take about 20 minutes.  That will put them several laps down but not out.  In 25 hours of racing anything can happen.   

We're now heading into the night.  The sun is down and the lights are on.  140mph with limited visibility...woohoo.  :)

It was an interesting first day to say the least.  Everybody took a few turns behind the wheel during testing and we ran some very competitive times.  As it stands, there appears to be only one car faster than our Norma's and that's a Daytona Prototype, which by all rights should blow our doors off...if we had doors.  Regardless, they appear to be only a couple of 10ths faster per lap, and that's with the hired guns they hired for the race.

Qualifying started as the sun was going down.  Although we ran the 2nd and 3rd fastest laps, both cars were penalized for passing under yellow (allegedly).  This means we will have to start both cars from the back of the pack, which in turn means there are about 70 cars we'll need to get by before the Daytona builds up too much of a lead.  As if this wasn't enough, after qualifying we noticed car #87 was spraying transmission fluid due to what appeared to be a blown seal.  This would mean a 5 hour hour job to change a few dollar part.  After much deliberation, we decided it was not a blown seal but rather the fluid was overheating and spraying out of the overflow valve.  I guess we'll find out the answer to that tomorrow.