Race results for the weekend were remarkably consistent. In each of the three races, it was RAVEN, RAVEN, RAVEN: Allan Lewis 1st, Mark Marquis 2nd, and Peter Carroll (me) 3rd.
Once again I had reliability problems. It's amazing that a brand new race car can be tired and unreliable after only a single year of racing. Certainly I need to up the preventative maintenance. We relocated the oil cooler and removed some grill mesh to drop the oil temperatures 15 degrees C. I also finally broke my diff mount. I was the only RAVEN car not to break one yet. Then I ripped the arm off the throttle body. I guess I was full throttle after all. And finally I blew the header off of cylinder 6.
I am especially thankful to the guys from Raven Performance and German Motor Werks for all of their efforts to keep me running all weekend. I started all three racers and more importanly finished all three races. Thanks guys.
The fans should be happy. We put on quite a show. The Track Photographer commented that I really drove the wheels off my car but it was apparent that I did not have enough motor to catch the other two. We'll see what I can do about that...
30 min Sprint 1
Some good racing here but I did spend a lot of the race chasing myself.
30 min Sprint 2
This one is more entertaining. I spent much of the race chasing an E46 M3 which should have been much faster than me. It's a good example of how you can wear a driver out by pushing them around the track. Eventually their tires go away and you pass them. The trick is to keep your cool while putting constant pressure on your opponent.
Toward the end I blew the header off the engine and I was sure the exhaust system would fall off. I had to baby the car the last few laps as Ike Neilson was hunting me down. Due to some devine intervention, Ike didn't notice I was crippled and did not push hard to catch me.
60 min Enduro
This one has an exciting start and a surprise ending. Ike Neilson had a spectacular start but loses it in madness. Ike then falls back when he has to pit to change his underwear.
Once again I spend the early part of the race pusing a pro-driver in an E30 around the track. Eventually his car breaks and I am able to get by.
Mark Marquis apparently had a bad pit stop that put him some time behind me. Unfortunately, radio troubles prevented anyone from telling me. Otherwise I might have peddles harder. Ultimately, Mark passed me on the straight like I was sitting still (that will be dealt with shortly). I continues the chase and did my best to finish 3/10 of a second behind him.
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