Anyone got any news?

Jay

I just got back last night. I'm writing about our Subaru-powered car because even though it's not a BMW, all the drivers are BMW racers.

After a loooong test day Friday in which our Subaru-powered Saker chewed us up and spat us out, we managed to get the car qualified. We qualified 54th....when we were expecting, oh a top 5 or so.

We found a chassis setup issue over night, and got the car to the grid Sat AM. After the start, we went from 54th to a top ten within 1 hour, with Ralph Warren driving. We fluctuated over the next 10 hours between 8th overall and 4th overall, with stops and driver changes.

I didn't even get to turn a wheel in the car until the race. My first lap was a 2:18, second lap was a 2:12, and third lap was a 2:06. I think my fastest was a 2:01. The car developed a bit of oversteer on high-speed turn in points, so I didn't want to push it much harder. Ralph managed a 1:58 in hi first stint, so we knew the car was fast.

At the 10 hour mark, the motor expired. We worked for hours to get the car back out, but it wasn't meant to be. The crew's efforts were absolutely incredible and greatly appreciated by all the drivers. The more they worked on it, including the Saker people, the more we wanted to drive it for THEM.

We had a great crew, and even with all the setbacks, everyone worked together, nobody got pissed, and the car continued to improve. It's a great car, very very fun to drive, and has the potential for great speed. The Saker people were very gracious and are willing to do anything to keep the development going. It's an incredible car and an incredible value at it's turnkey price for a purpose-built racing car.

The other BMWs experienced a mixed bag. The Arizona Mafia team did great, beating our last year's top-finishing BMW record by taking their E36 325i to fifth overall and first in class. They're a class act, we love racing with them, and they're to be congratulated!

Our sister car, an E30 325i, was doing well in E1 until Sunday morning around 7AM, when a rocker arm broke, taking it out of the race.

The AZ mafia team was also running an E30 318is that I believe was doing well at the end also, but I'm not sure where they finished.

At 10 hours long for us, it was too short, but after all the issues Friday, I think the team felt a good amount of pride at how long the car ran, and how fast the car was, with a good eye towards next year NASA Endurance Series, which includes this race again for '05!

Scott Lang

Edit: Found a couple of shots from the race on the Car and Driver website:
http://www.caranddriver.com/assets/image/1205200401394679.jpg http://www.caranddriver.com/assets/image/1205200412573209.jpg

I did the race in a spec Miata with Matt Jaskol, Billy Johnson, and Tom Sutherland all drivers that raced this year in Formula BMW. Matt was the oldest at 20, then Billy and I at 18, and T.S. at 15. We drove the red miata that said "Git-R-Done" on the rear windshield. :)

We qualified something like 38th at a 1:16.xxx but we were doing 1:10's in practice. Matt started and for the first pitstop the Promotive guys were going to fuel the car, and they tried to but our gas tank was a different size than theirs so their funnel wouldn't work. We had to find a top with a hose on it that fit. It took about 5 minutes to fuel the car but we figured things out after that and in the end got the fuel stop down to a minute I think.

Matt brought the car in after his second stint in 36th, no thanks to the long fuel stops, and I got in. When I handed over the car to Tom Sutherland, we were 21st overall and 8th in class. At the 13 hour mark, we were down to 16th overall and 7th in class when Matt got caught up in a 5 car wreck in T1. That was the end of the race for us.

We were all really happy with what we had done. It was the first race for that car, for the drivers in that car, and the team. We were lapping just as fast as the leading Miatas for most of the race and often faster. I did the race to have fun and to prepare myself for Daytona, and I have to say it was an absolute blast. I've never had so much fun racing before. The car radio ran out of batteries we were chatting so much with each other, quoting movies, bragging about some moves we just put on guys, just awesome. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Tom

I would do it again in a heartbeat.

How about trying it in a Saker for '05? :D It was good to see you at the track, even if only for a few seconds - that race is such an undertaking, it just leaves little time for relaxing.

As Scott mentioned, we had a real adventure, even down to the guys trying an engine swap out in the wind with temps in the 30s in the middle of the night. And when the car was on the track, it was impressive to see what Scott and his co-drivers could do with it. I'm still amazed at what was accomplished considering:

- The car arrived in Ca. one week before the race
- The car had virtually no testing and had not been sorted
- Most of the driver team had never even driven the car until race day
- They were the laps in competition by a Saker in the Western Hemishpere
- Several components of the team had never met face to face or worked together before that weekend
- The car had an open diff. with that kind of hp to weight ratio
- The car only had an 18 gallon tank and we had to short shift the drivers to get them all seat time before nightfall, so we stopped a lot in the first 6 hours.

I think only 4 teams (as of Sat. night) had turned faster laps and by the 9th hour, there were only 2 cars out there running faster. In fact, when Neal Looney was in the car, sometimes we were turning the best laps.

A local team won it overall in a '97 Porsche RSR. Crazy Redhead Racing, with Randy Pobst helping out behind the wheel :D
-Ted

The AZ mafia team was also running an E30 318is that I believe was doing well at the end also, but I'm not sure where they finished.

I can tell you, they finished just in front of the car *I* was co-driving :)

The Arizona Wild Dogs team placed first in E3 in their E30 318is. They apparently had a *flawless* race, stopping only for fuel and driver changes. Congratualtions to them!

I was in the 2nd place Crevier BMW/Driving Concepts MINI Cooper, sharing with Judy Ray, Darren Young, David Mecey, and Jonathan Lawson. The 3rd place car (a Honda CRX) was on the same lap as us, about a minute back, at the finish. Only their flat tire with ~10-15 minutes to go gave us the 2nd place finish. That last hour was nerve-wracking.

Our run wasn't nearly as flawless as the Arizona team's, but a good effort by the whole team nonetheless. Not once, but twice, I kicked loose the fuel pump relay, which was inconveniently placed near the dead pedal. Ugh. Needed to be towed in both times. And we were just a little too close on one fuel run, as Jonathan ran out of fuel 2 corners before his pit stop. And we had to replace a front wheel bearing at 2AM - well done by our mechanics Drew, Kevin and Alfred, who changed it in 27 minutes.

Personally, I had a BLAST! I had my longest stint ever in a race car at 2hr45min (previous long was 1hr15min!), and also did my first night racing (which was made a *bit* easier by my knowledge of the track).

This was my 4th consecutive participation in the 12/25 Hours of Thunderhill, and by far my most enjoyable.

Cheers,
Jim Bassett

Thanks TomM. It was alot of fun and I'm glad that you were able to make it. We'll definately have to do that race again in '05. Gotta do some stuff now, see you in a few days for the Daytona Test. -and good Luck w/the test as well!