Lessons learned:
1) Apparently you can kill a car by putting in a full tank of gas
2) Trying to drive, pit crew and keep a car running for 24 hours is really hard
3) Awnings need to be put away when there is a storm. Ask me how I know.
4) Driving through Iowa when you have been up for 36 hours is still really boring
Friday: Got there early and got through tech. Hit up WalMart for supplies and then had some burgers and beer. Feelin confident for a good result. Went to bed at 10ish in the RV with the awning out on the RV. Woke up at 12am with the RV rocking and it raining like mad. Look outside and its like a tornado. Awning has come loose from RV. Run out to try and retract it. It gets ripped right off the side of the RV and almost hits me. FML. Leave it on the ground and call the CFO to tell her I love her and that the RV is fucked up. Try to go back to sleep. Not a good night's sleep before a 24 hour race - the RV was still rocking (from the wind, remove your mind from the gutter).
Saturday Pre-Race: It was very hot on Saturday morning and I knew we were gonna be in for a tough one. Got the rest of the awning removed from the RV and drove out to WalMart again to buy a window AC because the roof unit on the RV was way to weak for the heat. Totally jimmy rigged the install of the AC. Almost time for racing.
First 2 hours: Car ran well and we were running in about 6th-8th. MC was doing some really good lap times and taking really good care of the car. kept it out of trouble even though there was plenty of nonsense going on. Somehow the Fiero that one team had managed not to start on fire. The Alfa Romeo was also managing to not implode. Ironically, both of the Hondas were out in the first hour with engine failure. Tough luck for team Party Cat and team Slugworks, both had engine probs at BIR too if I recall. I was getting ready for my first stint and was optimistic that the car was ready for my Magic Touch (meaning that I break things a lot just by coming in contact with them - head gaskets, RV awnings, trailer lights, E30 BMWs, air conditioners, my skin (bled at least twice all over), etc.)
First Pit Stop/1st run: Car came in and looked good. Was about 110 degree heat index, 95 ambient. I got in. It was really hot. Ran 5-6 laps before car stalled again same as at BIR. WTF? How are an Alfa and a Fiero running and not us (eventually both had major failures and DNF'd)? Waiting for the tow truck was painful. Thankfully, I am very good at getting flat towed at this point. It was REALLY Hot - did I mention that?
Next 5 Hours: Tried to figure out WTF was happening. We swapped the MAF and ECU for spares that had been tested recently. I went out again and made it through three corners before I had to get another tow. Did I mention the heat index was 110 and that I was in all my gear and DYING when the car was not moving. I was not very happy and the team was bummed. We got some Subway and tried to diagnose. Still diagnosing and started to change fuel pump but could not find necessary parts and thought we might be done. Keep in mind it was now 4pm on a Saturday in the middle of Iowa. Found one of the other BMWCCA guys who used to have one of these and he said the car might have a fuel venting issue and that we were screwing it up when we filled the tank up full. Basically the old fuel system was getting overfilled and creating vapor lock and killing fuel delivery. So, we drained about 2 gallons of fuel (and by drained I mean spilled part on ourselves and the car and the ground and drained the rest) and the car started right up. Since I have such good luck they sent me out for a test drive in the middle of Iowa. Car ran great! So I suited up a little after 6 and was going to run till the break at 7pm for dinner and night time driver's briefing. There was a red flag for a car going off in 3 which worked out great for getting back on track.
Back in Action around 6pm: Car was good and I learned enough about the track in my first 6 laps to immediately start putting down some good times. Thrilled to be out there and hoping car would not break again. By the end of the session I was running pretty much even with the leaders in about the 1:02 lap range. Sadly, we were 250 laps down because of the fuel issue. I was lapping better than the earlier driver by 2-3 seconds - he would improve later on but I was quite happy since he is pretty damn good. Had some really good battles and a couple of very tense moments (almost got put off at about 100mph coming off the banking and went 4-wide into a brake zone and passed 3 cars (inside line FTMFW!). Took the 7pm checker and finally got to come down the pit lane under my own power! We were about 20th place at this point.
7pm Break: Ate dinner and danced a jig of excitement that I finally had driven a session without breaking! Driver's meeting was pretty straight forward. Try not to crash. It's gonna be dark.
Night (8pm-2:30am): It's all a bit of a blur. There were 5 pitstops and I was super tired. Did a 4-wheel change around midnight when we heard a thunderstorm was coming. Put on the Falken Azenis that had a bit more tread than the Dunlop Star Specs. DN had gone a bit overboard and the Star Specs needed a rest too. Lots of the oval lights were on which was very cool. I thought I would be getting back in the car around 4am in the middle of a storm in the dark. I started smoking Winstons with TM at some point. Drank 3 5-Hour Energy drinks in about 3 hours. I ate a banana. I went to Walmart and bought windshield wipers. The lady in fornt of me had about 60 items in the 10 item lane and would not stop talking, she was probably on meth given her irratic behavior. Think we were running near 16th at this point. I think Bri had a small off in the night but the car was fine. TM put in a very good consistent stint having been up for about 20 hours. Lots of cars had broke by now and more were limping along.
2:30am: The storm came. It was nasty. They red-flagged the race and planned a drivers meeting at 6am.
2:30-6am: Somehow slept for about an hour in the RV. Went to drivers meeting. There were people sleeping on the floor in the garage that might have been dead. Someone had a projector and was projecting Top Gear on a wall. Everyone looked awful.
7am: race about to restart. We put the Dunlop Star Specs back on. Track was still very wet and MC did a great job passing just about everyone in those conditions. The Lexus LS400 went off bigtime in turn 3 and got stuck in the gravel trap. We were running 14th but catching the cars in front of us at a good clip. About 7:30 one of them broke. By the end of MC's stint we were running 13th about 12 laps behind 12th and 90 laps behind 11th.
9am: Put in our rookie driver who did a very good job. She got much faster over the course of the weekend. The 11th place car broke during this stint so we were catching them at a good clip and thought we might have a chance at them (they were up like 100 laps or so). 10th was like 300 laps ahead, so that was not gonna happen. The 12th place car - Lexus SC400 with a Simpsons theme (Team Bear Patrol) - also had some issues and we were within a dozen or so laps of them. BTW, how do you buy a $500 Lexus SC400??
10:15am: I got to run the last stint and was hoping to see the checker. I knew that we were within 50 laps of 11th and hoped we could pass 12th (the Lexus) since they were in the pits again with a recurring issue but when they were out they were very fast and still running. Fueled the car and swapped right side tires. TM said that he "thought" we should have enough fuel... Ran a couple of fast laps straight away before TM yelled at me on the radio to slow down and save the car. He was right. I only needed to run about 1:06s to catch the 11th place car but I was more worried about the then 12th place Lexus since they were back on track and would also probably catch the 11th place car. I ran consistent 1:05-06 for about 45 minutes and was pulling a small gap on the Lexus and within 20 laps of 11th (a Saab). Was actually getting pretty bored as the pace was very easy and I was just trying to be smooth and take care of the car. I was coasting off the banking into 3 and shifting to 5th way early on the front stretch before 1 and 2. I was also trying to give the leaders plenty of room as the top 3 (E30, E36, Saab 900 Turbo) were in a furious battle and ALL ON THE SAME LAP! Additionally, my HANS tethers were twisted making it hard to turn my head to the right. Annoying for right hand turns. TM finally gave me the go ahead to start pushing with about 40 min left. I knew the car was good becasue I had been taking it very easy for quite a while. We were almost up to 11th, but the car behind (Lexus) was still close and stalking. Put in a bunch of hot laps and got by a bunch of cars. Was having a good little duel with a 280zx. He was faster on the banking but I killed him on the brakes and in the infield. I got by on the brakes into 3 and managed to get enough of a gap to keep him behind. TM told me that we were in 11th. I had no idea how close the next car was at this point so I kept pushing. About 3 laps later I got the oil light coming onto the banking, but it immediately went off. I backed way off right about then and it stayed off for a few laps. Had to let the 280zx by which was disappointing. Got on the radio to tell the team about the oil light and they told me I had to stay out and not to "F*ck it up"...ummm ok, you realize I have the Magic Touch right? Light stayed off everywhere except turn 9 so I just took 9 really gentle. About 5 minutes later I came around turn 9 and saw a beautiful sight - THE Checkered Flag! Pulled into the pits and was thrilled that we finished. We finished 11th! Just 10 laps ahead of the Lexus and 11 laps ahead of 12th place in the Saab. Completed almost 800 laps. If we had figured out the fuel issue earlier we could have been maybe in the top 5 and definitely in the top 8, but hey that's racing. Will be interesting to see how my lap times were at 6pm vs. at 11am on no sleep when I was really pushing.
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