Well after a long fought battle with the Mini Koopa I was kind of looking forward to thrashing on a different vehicle for a bit. In preparation for the 25 hour race there were some worthwhile repairs we had to make on the Nachofriends’ Celica. I went over to their shop and assisted their team (mostly Andrew doing alignment while the rest of us assisted around him). Before we could do the alignment we had to swap out a front strut assembly that had gotten realigned by another vehicle in a previous race. After compressing the spring using about a hundred zip ties, and praying the bomb didn’t explode, we transfer it over to the new strut assembly and slapped everything back together, installed a cool shirt system and cornering lights and we were basically ready to roll. I took some wheels and tires to mount, but everything else was ready to be loaded.
The tow down and back for the weekend was long like the Sonoma drive but we powered through on the way down and slept in the trailer Friday night before the race began. Tech inspection was interesting cause we had normal safety tech, then BS inspection, and then once it got dark we had another tech inspection for headlights and number lights. We went with the number boards that were installed by Nash at the same time as when we were working on the alignment. No issues through inspection and we were ready to roll.
We decided on Saturday, because of how ungodly hot it was gonna be and to save ourselves from having to gear up for pit stops that we would be fueling at the gas pumps on site and then driver changes at the paddock. Our paddock was right beside the track entrance so it was pretty convenient to maneuver around.
I was feeling pretty comfortable in the car after the first 10 or so laps. I had done some simulator practice to learn the track/cornering and the Celica was very nice to drive. After the mid race pit stop to change to new tires and check the brake pads, the car was ready to complete the second half of the race. After a couple hours of sleep and some late night shenanigans, I got the pleasure of driving the early morning slot so the first half of the stint was darkness and as the sun came up the track came alive. It was also nice to be racing the car when it wasn’t over 100 degrees outside.
All in all it was another great experience in my racing career. I was fortunate to meet more like-minded folks and make more friends that understood the car addiction. I also learned how nice it was to have a cool shirt system in the car. This was going to be a nice upgrade for the Mini Koopa once we ordered the parts needed for the system. Hope to see you at the next one!
