Some Pictures from My Race This Weekend

[Elbow]

So we ran the 2012 American Road Race of Champions this past weekend in the three hour enduro. We ran my Mazda RX-7 in IT7.

The week was a rough one leading up to it, I had brake issues (found a leaking caliper, then a bad master, etc) which kept us from doing the test day Thursday, which was going to be primarily a benefit to my co-driver as he has never driven the car. We missed it, so qualifying Sunday was his first time in the car.

From the start, we had transmission issues. At first it just wouldn't go into gear, it finally would after some banging on it, then out on track he had issues getting to 4th, etc. I sent him back out telling him to double clutch and just get the car warmed up and he said it felt better.

The race came around and the rain started, luckily we were starting on un-shaved RA1s which was a huge benefit. I think we moved up to like 12th overall at one point just from consistent lap times and not having to pit because of the wet.

My co-driver ran an hour and fifteen minutes or so before pitting for me to get in the car and fuel, now the transmission was worst with 4th gear pop out and some other weird sensations. After a few laps with me in the car I had to drive holding the shifter in gear, it was the hardest thing I've ever done in a car. Let me tell you, driving one handed at Road Atlanta, especially through turn 12 at Road Atlanta is not exactly fun. Especially in a race with different classes and some very fast cars out there. That's a lot of things to be doing at once. lol

After a half hour or so it got bad, all gears felt like death, they would slip out, couldn't find gears, etc. Going into T1 I fumbled for a gear, couldn't find one, I started running out of road at quite a bit of speed, saw a pack coming up behind me and decided to just open up my hands and go off. It was a rough off but I managed to keep it straight and not hit anything. lol I finally found a gear and continued but pitted and told my friend to finish the race who had the most experience out of us three.

We finished the race! By the end he was only using 3rd and 5th, but the car made it, the transmission is destroyed but everything else ran great the whole race and we got 1st in class...out of one. But hey, finishing an enduro is half the battle and finishing with a car in bad shape makes it 20x better.

Here are some pics:

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2501.jpg
Some fun Saturday night, making the final touches.

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2511.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2524.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2526.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2540.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2555.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2597.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2599.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2617.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2589.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2599-1.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2606.jpg

Pics from post race impound:

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2644.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2642.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz280/idrift2010/206_2656.jpg

[seanathon]

sucks about your transmission! i was on the bmw team and we had fuel pressure problems but glad to hear you finish!

[Elbow]

sucks about your transmission! i was on the bmw team and we had fuel pressure problems but glad to hear you finish!

Ah that sucks! Did you all finish? We didn't finish last year so we were pretty excited about finishing this year. lol

[dorin48]

Congrats! As soon as I saw trans problems I was like uh oh, they didn't finish the race. Awesome that it took so much punishment.

[D3UC3S]

Congrats man! Glad to hear you finished the race.

1st place is first place, no matter what!

[quickdodge®]

Cool stuff, for real, simon. Congrats.

[Elbow]

Thanks you all!

[Scotsman]

who started the race?

[Elbow]

who started the race?

It went Keith, then me, then my friend Casey.

[Scotsman]

It went Keith, then me, then my friend Casey.after i saw you at the pits we drove around to that spot where everyone three wheels ( not sure what turn that is) , it started to rain and i saw your car get a lil fishtail action , also saw the open cockpit cars spin completely out there once the rain hit

[dragoncelica]

Congrats buddy, that is awesome!

[Echonova]

So awesome. Wish I could have come, but I had a death in the family to deal with.



I will give monies of a modest amount for the wheels so you can fix the tranny.






Not sayin'... But I'm sayin'....

[seanathon]

Ah that sucks! Did you all finish? We didn't finish last year so we were pretty excited about finishing this year. lol
we didnt finish but we did all of our pits and done more then half the race and being the only car in our class we won 1st lol

[Elbow]

after i saw you at the pits we drove around to that spot where everyone three wheels ( not sure what turn that is) , it started to rain and i saw your car get a lil fishtail action , also saw the open cockpit cars spin completely out there once the rain hit

Yeah he did a good job keeping it on track.


Congrats buddy, that is awesome!

Thanks!


So awesome. Wish I could have come, but I had a death in the family to deal with.



I will give monies of a modest amount for the wheels so you can fix the tranny.






Not sayin'... But I'm sayin'....

I heard. I'm sorry. :(

Wheels aren't for sale! lol


we didnt finish but we did all of our pits and done more then half the race and being the only car in our class we won 1st lol

Haha nice!

[scarimports]

Well done make thanks for sharing your event story and sharing the pics.

[Elbow]

Well done make thanks for sharing your event story and sharing the pics.

Thanks, no problem!