Road America was the setting for the "Drift Into Winter Classic," the final Central Region race of NLM's 2012 chump car schedule (with two West Region races left on the 2012 schedule).
After a long preceding week of wrenching and an all-nighter on Thursday, all 3 E30s (NLM2, 3, and 4) were ready to head off to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin - sleep deprivation be damned. NLM3 received a used engine in place of the engine that let go at BIR and NLM4 was fresh off its last race and top 10 finish at the Central Region Championship race at Heartland Park of Topeka. This was also NLM2's first race since BIR, with a new craigslist differential installed after it destroyed the previous on on the last lap at BIR.
The Pro had found a bottom end to replace the old NLM3 bottom end around 9pm Wednesday night after we noticed an issue a piston ring in the old one. Getting an engine assembled and installed in a single day (plus working a real job) was a monumental task, but no surprise that he got it done. Magic helped as long as he could before being summoned home to a crying child @3am. Suffice to say, neither of us slept on Thursday night. We then both did a fair amount of driving to tow the cars to Wisconsin on Thursday. Lots of Coke and Red Bull was consumed.
Our arrival at the track was greeted a cold wind and light, cool drizzle. But we made it through tech with no problem and none of the cars received any penalty laps, which is NLM SOP at this point. We then set to the monumental task of setting up our paddock and pit area for the weekend. With three cars, this is fairly involved and all of our drivers for the weekend were awesome pitching in while we completed some last minute tasks on the cars - securing a spec exhaust, bleeding brakes, seat fittings, etc. Big thanks to Dr. D, and Blake for helping with the cars on Friday night too. Eventually the Spotted Cow and pizza arrived and we held a brief drivers meeting. For 5 of the drivers, this would be their first Chump Car race...ever.
After the Admiral and Magic finally arrived at the Osthoff at 10pm or so, the nice lady at the desk informed them that the computer system was down and we could not check in. No biggie, Magic only had been awake for like 36 of the last 38 hours and had to drive a race car about 8 hours later. So they went to the bar, had some scotch, met some interesting characters and eventually made it to bed.
Saturday
Saturday morning was cloudy and crisp, but the drizzle had left. The drivers were ready and after a few last minute tweaks it was time to suit up and get down to business. The lineups for each cars set as follows:
NLM2: Gordy, Bill, Jim, and Blake.
NLM3: Tim, Dr. D, Peter, and Lee
NLM4: Magic, Notorious JCE, Tom, and Brian E.
70+ cars were entered for the race, making it a big field and a potentially busy opening stint.
Magic, Dr. D, and Blake were set to start. Unfortunately, we had an overheating issue in NLM4, but the Pro, Nick and Bryan quickly had it fixed, but we sadly lost a number of laps.
Blake had an interesting start to the race. Some people just cannot get their heads out of Forza and realize that its a 7hr race...or that they are on cold tires on a cold track. Sadly, they took out some innocent bystanders.
Things were going well and all the cars were running well through the first hour. Then things took a bad turn for NLM3. Dr. D experienced a loss of power. The team determined it was a headgasket failure and set about swapping in a new one (big thanks to Chump Faces for the part). Sadly, it was not to be as it turned out to be a machining issue on the head. NLM3 was very quick before this so it was a real shame. Thankfully we had two cars, so after shuffling the lineups everyone would still get plenty of seat time.
NLM4 and NLM2 were running strong and staying out of trouble. NLM4 was having a fuel consumption issue that required two additional pitstops though that hampered its chance for a top 10 finish. After 7 hours and 14+ combined pitstops, NLM2 and NLM4 finished in the top 25. Fastest laps were 3:00.2 for NLM4 and 3:20.5 for NLM2.
After the race, several Spotted Cows were consumed and a few tweaks were made to the cars. The team then retired to the Paddock Club Restaurant for a fantastic meal and a few more refreshments (if you are ever in Elkhart Lake, this is a must dine place). The night was capped by the obligatory stop at the Last Open Bar at Siebkens. Then a few hours sleep before getting ready for Sunday.
Sunday
Sunday also had its share of excitement. JCE would start in NLM4 and Gordy started in NLM2.
NLM4 continued to be dogged by a rich mixture that require pitstops every 50 minutes, which meant at least two extra stops from the ideal strategy. Despite this, NLM4 hung around the Top 15 all day. JCE put in a killer first stint at the start, passing 8+ cars on the first lap and setting his personal best time of the weekend. Brian and Peter put in fast and consistent laps in the second and third stints. Magic continued his traditional of stealing fast lap with a "blazing fast" double stint, as the Admiral called it, in the afternoon. That moved NLM4 to the top 10 before the final pit stop and the Admiral's stint. The Admiral also put down some fantastic laps, and just barely missed out on snatching 8th place (darn E36s), but secured 9th for NLM4. Overall, a great finish (data from Sunday for NLM4 below).
Meanwhile in NLM2, Gordy, Bil, Lee, Tim, Blake, Derek, and Jim did a fantastic job again. All the drivers got quicker and again stayed out of trouble. Blake put down some fast laps, Magic and Dr. D. performed a surprisingly quick seat change after the slider mechanism failed on the primary seat, and Bill overcame a less than ideal seat position. NLM2 just missed out on a second top 25 with a P26 finish. Data below shows how well all of the drivers did in NLM2.
So, after a second 7 hour race and another 13 combined pitstops, NLM2 and NLM4 saw the checkered flag on Sunday. Fastest laps on Sunday were 2:58.5 for NLM4 and 3:15.9 for NLM2.
Special thanks to Nick and Bryan from BMW of Minnetonka for all their efforts over the weekend, including some amazing photos which can be seen here. Also a big thanks to Dr. D-Rock for all his help on the cars beforehand, at the race, and getting NLM4 to the track. Finally, a big shout out to Beertech for all his help getting the cars ready and for almost getting impaled by a hood pin.
Here's a few video clips from the race. The first is JCE making moves at the start on Sunday. The second is two of our first time racers, Blake and Tim, in NLM2 on Sunday.
Historical Note: NLM2 used to belong to Blake, before NLM acquired it in 2010.
The team all made it back in one piece on Monday morning (2am or so) and NLM's smallest and youngest member helped unload the cars later that day.
NLM will be returning to Road America in April and October of 2013.
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