Article by Joe Gaffey:
Saturday:
First the 528e took a big hit to the front end and the radiator blew, she came into the pits with no automatic radiator spare to fix it. We were a little stumped as to how to fix our seemingly bomb proof e28 . Shortly after that the Orange e30 came in with a busted radiator and we were able to replace it with an e36 radiator we brought with us. We also took some parts from the 528e and were able to quickly get the Orange e30 back out. No sooner did it go out, it took another hit to the front end and returned with a blown radiator (that we just replaced). The 528e was still in the pits and we were short on parts to get it running again. As our team debated on how to fix the car, Erik took off to retrieve parts. With two cars in the pits for front end damage, it was pretty clear that we had some aggressive drivers on the course and that we needed to get a little more conservative with our driving. People were brake checking and bumping a little more than we were used to. Shortly after Erik took off, Matt came in with the black e30 (our ringer car) with a busted control arm. All three cars in the pits was a very stressful sight. A quick call to Erik while he was out updated him of the status we had going back at the track. Erik returned quickly with all the parts we needed, including a tranny cooler and radiator for the e28. We got to work after being down for over an hour. The black e30 was quickly put back together and Erik hit the track. The orange e30 followed quickly behind him and we were back in decent shape.
The e28 became a challenge with a tranny cooler and late model bimmer radiator to get working. Our e28 team quickly went over our options and got to work. Within about 45 minutes the e28 fired up and was off. Only to have the orange e30 come back in with yet another radiator failure. She was quickly fixed and back out with her third radiator of the day and we were only about 3-4 hours into the race. Insanity was setting in. The black e30 was holding up and Erik was turning quick laps and making up time. While the e28 returned with constant cooling issues. As the sun began to set it started to feel like our e28 was done after returning to the pits 3-4 times with cooling issues. The car seemed to be setup right, but the cooling system seemed to be vapor locked. So we dug into the issue and started back tracking to find where we may have gone wrong. After bypassing the t-stat and find that the bleeder was clogged, it seemed that our e28 might make it. I jumped and hit the track, the car suddenly began to run great and we were all back in business. All three cars finishing Saturday night and the team's spirits were back up. We were feeling good and the cars were running strong. We even had some help from the Black Iron team as they came to see how our e28 was doing and if they could help. Their team was running in 3rd place and didn't need to take the time to help us. We returned the favor by giving them some much needed parts for their e28. A flex disk, drive shaft and center bearing was what they need to get their car back in action for Sunday. They came by the shop at about 10:30pm and we set them up with some used parts we had around the shop.
Sunday:
So after a nightmare first couple hours we regrouped and decided today we were going to turn laps and keep it safe...run longer heats and try to make up the time we lost. Both the e30s were doing really well and the e28 seemed to get off the ground with her cooling issues and decided she was ready to play again. We were feeling good and were ready to hit the track. Cars out at 9:30 and we were back in the mix. All the cars were doing great, especially our black e30. She was turning the fastest laps of the day and dropping down the ranks fast. Barry setup a booth for donations for our charity, the boy scouts came out to help and things were feeling great again. The teams began working really well together, I spent most of my time using the e28 to block any fast car on the heels of our e30s. Also making sure to allow our sister cars to pass safely while blocking. Even managed to spin a couple cars that were playing a little too rough. As the morning passed and we hit mid day, the track became a battle ground. A lot of cars were getting hit or breaking on course and heading to the pits. We had a ton of yellow flags and even had an RX-7 hit the wall pretty hard after losing a wheel. The Edge Team carried on and managed to get our black e30 into the lower ranks. After a couple wheel changes on both e30s and a lose shock mount on the orange e30, our team was doing well both on course and in the pits. We were fixing the cars and changing drivers rather quickly. About 1 hour before the end of the race John took a hit by a little CRX that blew a tire, the same CRX later took our e28 out of the race by hitting Geri pretty hard in the rear driver quarter, which broke our rear axle shaft and took our bomb proof e28 out of the race. Fans that were watching said that the CRX hit Geri on purpose, since there were no other cars around when the hit took place. It was beginning to look like we were being targeted by the #22 team. Our black e30 managed to finish 16th after spending about 1-2 hours in the pits, which is a huge accomplishment. One important thing to note, our Black e30 was brought into the pits for a mistaken Black Flag. Matt spent 10-15 minutes waiting in the pits only to find out it was a mistake and sent back out. If that didn't happen, we likely would have made a top ten finish. The orange e30 managed to finish 26th. The Black Iron team took first place by only 7 seconds and beat out the Reitmeir guys who were leading about 99% of the race. It was a photo finish. The Reitmeir e34 was hit at the last minute by the dreaded Hearse (remember to stay away from the Hearse at all cost). It was a bummer for the Reitmeir Team, but we were pleased to have Bimmers finishing first and second. Especially since both teams were such a great group of guys and we were very happy we were able to help out the Black Iron team with their drive shaft issues. They were so grateful, they donated $250 of their prize money to our charity.
It was a great time and we plan to do it again. Maybe with only 2 cars this time, but it was a ton of fun and overall the event was run well. Most of the teams were good sportsman and did I mention it was fun.... I'd like to thank everyone involved from Edge and the Edge customers that drove and helped to build the cars. It was a big team effort and we are all grateful for the experience.
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