In the initial driver's meeting, organizer Brock Yates Jr. told all the One Lappers that everything will start out fine, but by the end of the week you will hate your co-driver. In mine and Fish's case, it couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, we were just remarking earlier, that as the week has progressed, we have just slowly transformed into Beavis and Butthead, simply sitting next to each other giggling at stupid stuff.
Hours and hours on the road with limited sleep after a track day is usually pretty relaxing - but on the 7th day, you definitely start to question your sanity. Then there's the realization leaving NJMP and driving West from Philadelphia that you're now driving INTO the sun, and for four hours you are miserable human beings. Somehow, through it all, we are still degrading into more and more juvenile behavior and having the time of our lives.
The event at NJMP today went better than recently reported... they initially had us listed in 42nd place for the morning run - and despite Fish's somewhat spectacular off in the 'showcase' turn due to improper gear selection (we forgot to talk about speed/gear on the course walk for that corner), it didn't seem like we would have been that far back. Luckily, the results were wrong as posted, and we were 23rd... only one position and around a second off our rivals in the factory BMW effort.
The factory supported team running the X6M has been very consistently a touch quicker than Richard in our van, but I've been able to beat them by a pretty large margin. This has made it into a pretty close race, with us being 5 points back right now in the class standings. With just three events left, all we need is a pretty small bobble to lose our chance at the class win. We have them pretty handily on overall points right now, however, and on overall time margin - which is the eventual tie-breaker if we need it.
We're just about in Pittsburgh now, ready for a nice dinner and then a short blast up to Youngstown for the night. I drive tomorrow, and it's at the track I first drove on - Nelson Ledges. It's pretty special for me to come back there in such a unique event, and with the support of Mazda and all our other great partners. I hope to be able to take back the points lead for us and bring us that one step closer to victory.
The social aspect of this event has been just wonderful - everyone is so supportive, and everyone is genuinely having a great time. When the Subaru team broke a hub, Richard located the parts and had a parts driver deliver them to St Loius so they could repair the car and continue the event. When the CTS rolled the first day, they simply went to the car dealership, bought a Chrysler Crossfire and continued. There are great stories all over the place!
It's off to dinner, and some rest to prepare for another big day in this week long endurance test. And if this wasn't enough, it looks like within 5hrs of the end of the One Lap, we might have the van at Autobahn Country Club doing a three-hour enduro. Yes, we are crazy! An idea like that can only be hatched after 7 straight days on the road, and 3300miles covered.
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