24 Hours of Lemons - NJMP Race Summary

One either needs the time to come up with an excuse or a story... There are no lazy options available for a blog owner. Maybe a bit of an excuse, a bit of a painful fact.. I have been on the road almost everyday last month. It is only now I have a bit of free time, which means I have plenty of catching up to do...

3am Thursday departure meant we would arrive for Friday practice at NJ by10am.
I was also quite excited to see the team in our first race for the season. However the first practice session turned out to be a complete disaster. We blew the head gasket!

Usually starting Friday practice with a blown and warped head can mean its time to pack and go. Instead of throwing in the towel, the team came together. We found a place to shave the head, got the parts, put it all together before midnight just before Saturday's green flag.

The heroic fix during those 24 hours is forever captured in this:




We focused on optimizing our pit strategy, which paid off with the average 4 minute pit stops compared to last year's 7 minute stop. Also all the drivers drove exceptionally well and we quickly found ourselves in 2nd place. Chasing a first place car which is far more quicker than us, working in the pits, checking the time was a nail biting experience.

At the end, although we couldn't take first place, we came 8th overall out 102 cars ( in a VW FOX!) and 2nd in class B. We also won a honorary 24 hours of Lemons "Lemons Lifetime Achievement Award"! :)

Here are some action shots from my point of view:



Next up is 24 Hours of Lemons - New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which turned out to be far from perfect...stay tuned.