Woo hoo! We finished 2nd overall (out of 35) and were only beaten by a 996 Cup car. It was the most intense enduro I've been involved with. We spent the last 4 hours of the race swapping positions with a BMW Euro M3 and a 280Z with a Chevy V8 in it. Those cars were faster but we had more consistent drivers and quicker pit stops. There was also a fast Mustang, another really fast M3, a 350ZX and couple of sports racers that were quicker, but they all ran into trouble.
The race didn't go without problems though. The car did not feel right all day. The rear end was really sloppy, especially on full tanks. I suspect one of the poly bronze spring plate bushings was letting go. The biggest problem was that one of my co-drivers put the nose of the car into a tire wall with 10 minutes left in the final practice and one hour before the race! The crew did a great job and taped/tie wrapped the nose back together and guessed at re-aiming the headlights. Luckily it was mostly cosmetic. Then about 3.5 hours in, the car started to smoke. Oh s***, I thought we were gonna be done. We looked the car over at the next pit stop but couldn't find anything. Then it just stopped smoking. Just kept driving. On unloading the car yesterday, I discovered a torn CV boot just above the exhaust and grease sprayed everywhere. We were luckly the CV lasted another 4+ hours.
I got into the car at 5:20 with a little over 2.5 hours left in the race. At this point we were in second but the yellow M3 was on the same lap. Soon after my stop, the M3 did a quick fuel stop and came out of the pits a few seconds ahead of me. If I could catch him it would put them 2 laps down. I wasn't able to pass them but I stayed in close contact for next 50 minutes or so as we sliced thru traffic. I had to work hard to keep up as he could use his superior power to put lap cars between us on the straights. We both pitted again. We did fuel only and they did a fuel & driver change. Because of a full course caution they were able to stay only one lap down. Their last driver was fast and they were coming for us. With 30 minutes left they unlapped themselves and were picking up seconds per lap. I was having to take risks in traffic and keep pushing. It was like a 2 hour sprint race. The race could not end quick enough. I was getting time remaining and gap information over the radio and it kept getting closer and closer. I had to be fast and not make a mistake. Finally, the checkered came out and we finished about 38 seconds ahead. Which is nothing after 8 hours.
There are some pics of the race here:
http://thedigitalperspective.exposuremanag...r_enduro_102106
It was nice to meet Doster during the race, unfortunately there wasn't a lot of time to talk.
