Jul 28-30 at Road Atlanta, GA

It was nice to finish a weekend and not have to completely rebuild the cars. Palomar Racing left Virginia and headed north, rather than sending the cars back to California we sent them to Connecticut. We had made arrangements with our friends at Autotechnic. We would do the turn around service in CT as well as trade our hauler. While we found the Ford to be great for our needs on the west coast, every time we headed East over the Rockies it was a challenge. A true rig was needed to do this type of travel and Autotechnic’s previous rig was available.

This was a reasonably quick turn around and so Keeley got started as soon as he arrived at their shop. A week before Atlanta he was joined by Matt and Andy to help with the transfer between rigs. We also had to remove the Enphase battery system from the rig at the same time. Somehow in a day the three were able to move 10 tons of cars and gear and off went Keeley and Matt to Atlanta.

At Atlanta we had made arrangements to have Chattanooga Tourenwagen piloting the 15. Was a long time team running in WRL it was going to be good to get their impression of our car. Thursday saw us unload our new rig and set it up for the first time. It was a challenge as no one truly had experience with its quirks. But come Thursday evening the rig was set up and ready to go. We introduced the Chattanooga boys to the car and our team and set to get ready for a busy weekend.

Friday began with both cars gettng to know the track. Come late morning the 14 was making some bad noises in the engine bay, not again… But yes it was coming apart and now was the time to address it rather than start the swap Friday night. Meanwhile Chattanooga continued to test and qualify the 15. They had a mostly unexciting day, thank goodness.

So off we went to a ACI motoring with the 14, their shop was literally next door to the track and they offered up a corner of the shop for us to work in. So began a thrash with help from both our team as well as Chattanooga’s team to change the engine in the 14 again. Thank goodness we started earlier than later, because as it was we didn’t get the car mostly finished until 5AM. Motor swap complete, front control arms complete, wire harness sorted, not so much. Blair, Nik and Andy headed back to the hotel at 5 to take a quick shower and then head back to the track to prep for the race in 3 hours. A few more issues with the swap came to our attention as we were prepping and so the race started without us. Thanks to an early call from Brett Strom of Strom Motorsports we finally had the electric mostly sorted. We also were able to get injectors rebuilt and a alignment eyeballed in the paddock we sent the car out on track around 10, we were just about 2 hours into the race but we made the track, and it was 7 hours until the finish, anything can happen in 7 hours.

Including the 15 taking an agricultural line and ripping the splitter off the car, again. It wasn’t an hour after the 14 joined the track that the 15 was towed to the paddock for repairs. Their team jumped into the repairs like the pros they are, it helped than most of the team are mechanics by trade unlike Palomar who is built around a bunch of drivers who barely know the names of tools much less how to properly use them.

It took the 15 about an hour to replace the front bumper and splitter before they pulled back on track and continued the race. Meanwhile the 14 was turning laps.

At the end of Saturday we had survived, both cars finished the race despite all the adversity. The 15 finished in 5th while the 14 managed a 7th place finish ahead of more than half the field. We spent a couple hours gettng the cars serviced Saturday evening and then headed off to dinner, tonight we would dine as a team at a local Mexican joint.

Sunday morning we gather again early at the track and begin the 7 hour Sunday race. A tradition in the South is for the races to take a break around 10AM for church. We took the break for the team to go get Ice Cream. When the race resumed we were running in the top 5 with both cars. Shortly into the restart the 15 was off course, they were afraid of an overheating issue, and then tragedy struck the nose of the car was pulled off by the tow truck! Rather than try to repair it again Chattanooga chose to throw in the towel and began packing their pits, it was understandable and a tough weekend for us both.

Meanwhile the 14 was continuing to turn laps. It wasn’t setting the track on fire, but it was running consistently. At the end of the 7 hour race we finished 4th and the 15 took 11th place. We would like to believe we gained a ton of respect for our efforts. After all we went through this season we are still committed to running and finishing races.

This is our second race weekend with our new 18” Apex wheels fitted with wider Yokohama AD09 285/30/18 rubber, we can definitely say its making a difference and the longevity of these Yokohamas is amazing.

As a team we repacked the new hauler and sent Keeley back to San Diego in his new home. The rest of us headed back to Atlanta and lucked into an amazing southern seafood dinner.

Its amazing the hard work put in by the entire team to run this program. Even more amazing is the help we receive from the community, its friends that make the difference and that is why we are always willing to lend a hand to others in the paddock when we can.

Thank you to Bimmerworld, Apex Wheels, Red Line Oil, AGA Tools, Swift Springs, and Rugged Radios amongst others for all your support.