This kind of "camping" at the racetrack is as good as it gets. (Photo: SPEEDtv.com)

SATURDAY

Fresh oil and filter seemed to cure the oil pressure light. A cursory exploration of the underside of the car did not reveal the source of the vibration. The drive-shaft center support was a bit loose, but other than that everything seemed ok. I put my wheels and tires back on the car and headed out to qualify.

Although the vibration was still there, I managed to complete the qualifying session albeit with a mediocre time. I'm still measuring my success by the number of positions I place off the bottom of the time sheets...so anything better than last is progress. I qualified fourteenth, three off the bottom. Hot diggity damn.

I arrived at pre-grid late for the sprint race so had to hurry to get in formation. A bit disheveled, I lined up for the standing start and managed to avoid stalling the motor when the green flag dropped. I made my best to stay out of trouble, picked off a few cars and gradually started catching a few of the slower Miata's, who had started behind us. Unfortunately, one of them cut across my bow in turn twelve, my bumper hit his wheel, and he spun. Fortunately there was no body damage and he didn't get hit by oncoming traffic, so there was no foul. The corner workers didn't flag me down, so I forged on.

Suddenly, just as I entered the front straight the car shook violently, rattling my teeth and my concentration. I knew from past experience that the gator strips at this corner were bad...but I was a good twenty feet away from them! Knowing something was amiss, I quickly checked my mirrors and turned left into the pit entrance.

My race was over.

As it turned out, the loose driveshaft center support had developed into a bigger problem. With the bearing seized, the rubber mount had literally melted, which allowed the drive shaft to wobble and take out the "Guibo" - a rubber damper that connects the driveshaft to the transmission. Had I attempted to go another lap I more than likely would have dropped the driveshaft and ended the day in disaster.

I had a spare Guibo, but there wasn't a parts store within a 100 mile radius with a driveshaft center support in stock. Fortunately for me, there are many fellow Spec E30 competitors in the paddock on any given weekend...and most of them carry spares. JP Coates, Conspirator in Chief of the Beertech Racing Team, just happened to have a carrier and generously handed it over. I guess lending him my rain tires earlier in the season was a good idea after all!

A few hours later I was in business! With the repairs completed, my son Jason and I enjoyed the warm Carolina evening watching the Simpsons on my laptop. As far as I'm concerned, this kind of "camping" at the racetrack is as good as it gets.

SUNDAY
I felt that I'd paid my dues by now and was ready for a good day. After weighing the car and seeking some setup tips from some of the other Spec E30 guys I made a few adjustments in hope of more bite from the right rear in right hand turns. My qualifying run wasn't much better, but the car was working great and I knew it had more speed...even if I couldn't put together a clean lap during the session.

In the driver's meeting Jim Pantas, NASA-SE director, announced that we would be starting behind the Spec Miata's for this race. At pre-grid, I learned that four of the top E30 drivers had decided to voluntarily place themselves at the back of the field to add to their challenge (and no doubt to humiliate the rest of us) as they would have to work their way through the pack. Snarky bastards.

I got a decent start, going wide through turn one which eventually set me up for a good run through the carousel. I passed a couple more cars between turns seven and nine. The Snarky Bastards were coming up fast, I could already see Skeen's unmistakable white # 143 BMW coming up alongside. We were three-wide in turn twelve and I was squeezed in the middle. Skeen careened off my door panel and rocketed through the pack in front of me. Within a lap he was ten car lengths ahead! Several more faster cars worked past me over the next lap, so I settled in on holding my position and turning good times. I could see a couple Spec E30 veterans dicing it out behind me, so I made it my goal to stay ahead of their scrum.

At the beginning of the season, when I first decided to embark on this effort, the thought of simply buying a ready-to-race car was very much an option. On more than one occasion I discussed springing for a particularly well-prepared car if it was for sale. Even though my car is far from perfect, building and working on it myself is part of the fun. It was sadistically gratifying then as I roared past the aforementioned "for sale" car as it limped off to the pits, out of the race.

In the end, I finished tenth...four positions ahead of my qualifying effort and seven up from the bottom. I had conquered several challenges over the course of the event and felt satisfied with the effort. It had been an up and down weekend, but certainly ended on a high note. With five races in the books, my provisional license will ripen to a hard card. The challenges will continue and I've raised the bar higher for myself - next time out I'll start counting down from the top of the time sheets instead.

This weekend, SPEED is celebrating the Love of Racing with a weekend full of grassroots racing. NASA's Spec E30 series may not be part of the broadcast lineup, but the spirit of the home-grown racer, which is on the stage at every NASA event and lives strong in club racing and local tracks throughout the country, will be. Racers who aren't out cutting it up on a track somewhere will want to tune-in and join the celebration of the sport. I imagine that more than a few will be working their "To Do" lists in preparation for the next round...I know I will.



Special thanks to my supporters:
NASA Southeast Region
RacingJunk.com
Palmetto Motorsports Club
BimmerWorld
TraqMate
Wild Horses Racing
AlpineStars
Skip Barber Racing Schools
VelocityVille.com

Want to be a racer or hone your driving skills? Experience road racing for yourself at a NASA event! Log onto www.nasaproracing.com to learn about Racing, High Performance Driving Events, Time Trials, and more...