Adam's One Lap of America Adventure

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Tue May 08, 2007 3:15 pm

It’s time for the morning session report from Pueblo Motorsports Park.

Peter had a good session this morning putting in a very respectable time of 5:40.1xx placing him 2nd in class and 23rd overall. This has them now tied for the lead in class and 15th in the overall standings.

Damage Report.

The BMW M6 of Troy Fralick and Tom Long managed to break a lower control arm in the morning session. This would normally have them out of the afternoon if it wasn’t for the Cannonball Camaraderie. Luxury class competitors Jonathan Czarny and Jonathan Miller are letting Troy and Tom borrow the lower control arm off of their BMW M5 so that the M6 can run their heat. Then they will put the, hopefully still straight, control arm back on the M5 for his heat. The problem with this plan is that they run only 2 heats apart. That is about 10 - 15 minutes to get the control arm swapped! If the M5 can’t make their heat they will suffer a 10 second penalty for running late. Good luck with that guys!!

Luke Russell and Doug Wilks apparently worked through the night on their ill Subaru FrankenSTi. They got the car back together and are ready to see if it will hold up on track. They did miss the morning session and will suffer a DNF because of that.

The Honda of America Racing Team Civic Si entry did not make the event today giving them a total of four DNFs (2 at Miller and 2 at Pueblo.) I think that they must have decided to bag the event and head home. I’m sure that they will be back to give the Economy Class competitors fits again next year.

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Tue May 08, 2007 3:34 pm

I found this on another forum about Luke Russell's FrankenSTi.

Quote:

Here is a little update for Doug & Luke of TopSpeed Ultimate Racing Team...

The injector harness lost a ground during a full boost pull, and most of us know what that means... MELTDOWN! Super Thanks to COBB Tuning of Salt Lake City supplying a replacement engine and the killer thrashing of Doug, they set out from Miller at 3am this morning for Pueblo.

It will be the true One Lap fashion of first finishing the race in order to finish first! We shall soon see if they can make the event in time to compete and stay in the HUNT! Weather looks favorable for AWD cars... I pray everyone has a better week from today on!

You have to love any amateur event that causes otherwise normal people to get a “replacement” engine so that they can stay in the event!! That is dedication!!

And some pictures of Steve Rankins mishap…

And I think I found another picture of Adam and Peter. If you look close, you can see the car and I believe that is Adam on the left side of that group. This was taken at Miller Motorsports Park.

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Tue May 08, 2007 5:45 pm

It looks like our intrepid racers finally made the damage report. Not a report they, or I for that matter, wanted to make.

During the afternoon heat, the power steering hoses burst and caused Peter to claim their first, and hopefully only, DNF for the event. Fortunately, it is a relatively easy fix. They just need to get the parts.

They are already talking to Winslow BMW in Colorado Springs about getting replacement parts. The bad thing is, the dealership is about an hour north of Pueblo. Hopefully they will get the part, install it and still make it to Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, just outside of Tulsa, before the start of the event tomorrow morning.

But ever the optimist, Adam says that, even though this will put them about 25 points behind the first place car, they could still win their class by winning the remaining 9 events.

He said that he will call me later once they get everything back together and they are on the road. Good luck guys!!

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Tue May 08, 2007 6:27 pm

I just talked to Adam and they have the part and a spare on the way from Winslow BMW.

I also got a little more information on what happened. Apparently Peter went out for his warm up lap and got through a couple of corners and all of a sudden he didn’t have any steering. He pulled into the pits and Adam said that fluid was just pouring on to the ground. So they pulled the under tray off to get a better look and saw the problem. One of the power steering hoses had broke. They fixed it as best they could and Adam hopped into the car, he had been running about 20 seconds faster than they rest of the class, they felt that would make up for the 10 second penalty for running with another heat. So Adam pulled the car into line for the next heat and shut it off. When he started it back up, another of the hoses burst. They immediately withdrew from the heat to try and fix the problem.

They figure that they will be getting on the road by 6:00, about an hour late, for the 10 hour drive. Hopefully they will get there with enough time to be able to take a nap.

On a side note, the BMW M6 is waiting for a lower control arm to be delivered by the same dealership.

The Mopar sponsored Neon (SRT-4) of Dale Seely managed to crack the oil pan and are fixing it with JB Weld!

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

That sounds like a crazy good time. Keep the updates coming, Todd, we're reading them all!!!! Thanks for all the typing!

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue May 08, 2007 9:07 pm

MikeWhitney wrote:

That sounds like a crazy good time. Keep the updates coming, Todd, we're reading them all!!!! Thanks for all the typing!

Ditto

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Wed May 09, 2007 11:20 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

That sounds like a crazy good time. Keep the updates coming, Todd, we're reading them all!!!! Thanks for all the typing!

+1, and here's hoping that the hose problem is not just a symptom of something else in the power steering pump/rack...fingers crossed.

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Wed May 09, 2007 11:58 am

When I talked to Adam last night, he said that the tech at Winslow BMW, an SCCA and BMWCCA racer, said that it is a common problem with E46 M3s that are raced. Not real sure of the specifics, but when I get home and look at my notes, I'll post it here.

They ended up by falling to 30 points out of first. What they are hoping for is Woody Hair and Mark Donohue Williams to battle for 2nd and swap at every event and for Adam and Peter to win the remaining events. If that happens, they could still win their class.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Wed May 09, 2007 1:24 pm

Todd Breakey wrote:

When I talked to Adam last night, he said that the tech at Winslow BMW, an SCCA and BMWCCA racer, said that it is a common problem with E46 M3s that are raced. Not real sure of the specifics, but when I get home and look at my notes, I'll post it here.

They ended up by falling to 30 points out of first. What they are hoping for is Woody Hair and Mark Donohue Williams to battle for 2nd and swap at every event and for Adam and Peter to win the remaining events. If that happens, they could still win their class.

Sounds like it will be a heck of a fun challenge. I've known Woody for almost 25 years...way back in the 1980's we use to do all the BMWCCA track events at Summit Point every year and all the club autocrosses up in the DC area. BMW club track days back then were like time trials now since we ran timed runs, published the results in the newsletter, etc...all the fun insurance companies eventually took away.

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Wed May 09, 2007 6:21 pm

I’m sorry for the much delayed progress report. Work kept me away from the computer most of the day as I waited for an auditor, who was a no show by the way!!!!

Hallett Motor Racing Circuit prides themselves in their ability to run the course in either direction. They didn’t take advantage of that today for some reason and ran both heats counter clock wise.

On with the report!! Luck was on Adam and Peter’s side today, a nice change after yesterday. Because of the DNF and their ultimate 28th place ranking overall, they got put into a later run group today. This allowed the track to dry out a lot during the first heats. Their close competitors had to run in the earlier heats and on a wet track. By the time Adam climbed into the cockpit, the track was drying and getting faster. Adam ran the 6th fastest time in the morning session, 4:38.057, which set him up for a blistering fast run in the afternoon, dropping 4 seconds to a 4:34.418, another 6th place finish overall.

Because of his stellar performance today Adam and Peter have moved into second place in class and only 5 points out of first!! They are now sitting in 21st position overall.

The good news is the power steering hoses all held together today!! They do still have a spare, just in case.

Damage Report…

One of the Corvette Z06s managed to go off in turn one when he completely blew past his braking point. He slid all the way to the tire wall and dented the car. Somehow he managed to be able to “pop” the dent out and resume the race. I’m not sure how you “pop” out a dent on a fiberglass car though??

They are now in the middle of a 675 mile drive to O’Reily Raceway Park, formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. There they will have two time trials on the road course and two heats at the drag strip. Let’s hope the rain holds off until after the drags are done.

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Wed May 09, 2007 8:20 pm

I found this on the M5 team's blog.

Quote:

What transpired next was and incredible display of resourcefulness and deal making. We obviously needed a replacement part for the M6 or else it wouldn't be able to make it to the next destination, much less make it out for its afternoon session. Someone figured out that the part was identical on the M5 and the M6, so we found the nearest BMW dealer and (to make a long story short) we nearly had to buy an entire brand new M5 just to get the part for our broken M6 (yes, the thought was actually entertained). Instead, after a little bit of sweet talking, some begging and then eventually finding the right guy to talk to (a service manager who races BMWs of his own) we convinced them to sell us the part we needed off of the brand new M5 sitting on the showroom floor. The GM of the dealership wasn't thrilled because he has to wait for the replacement to come from Germany before he can sell that car, but we got our part and the M6 is still in the fight.

They almost bought an entire car for one part?!?!?!?!!?!? :eek:

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 2007 2:11 pm

They finally got some air time on the Mopars At The Track video site!!!

Mopars At The Track Video

They are on there at approximately the 3:00 mark.

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 2007 2:30 pm

Todd,

Do you have the specs on their car? I was just curious what they had done to it to prep for one lap.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 2007 2:38 pm

Todd Breakey wrote:

They almost bought an entire car for one part?!?!?!?!!?!?

I was considering that when we blew the motor before the 13 hour last year. Of course, we would have "only" had to buy an RSX or TSX to get what we needed. Probably would have done it, too, had we not found the motor we found.

--Donnie

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 2007 3:04 pm

Donnie Barnes wrote:

I was considering that when we blew the motor before the 13 hour last year. Of course, we would have "only" had to buy an RSX or TSX to get what we needed. Probably would have done it, too, had we not found the motor we found.

--Donnie

That's the 'Reid Allred penalty'. Anyone who let's Reid drive their car needs to be ready to buy another one at a moment's notice.

So when did Reid join the boys in the M6?

- AB

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