VIR Charge of the Headlight Brigade

Grrrr. Bobbie was right when she said this racing is like having a bipolar disorder. After a lot of work getting the ready for the 13 hour Charge of the Headlight Brigade at VIR, we were ready to see what we could do with the car. This time we were really trying: Marcus Motorsports had worked their tails off to put together a fast car that could last the race. All kinds of new goodies were on the car to improve safety and protect the car. In addition to Harry and Dan as drivers, we also added professional driver (and occasional Cobra competitor) Spencer Pumpelly.

Friday wasn't a test day and that was making us a bit nervous since we hadn't tested the car with all of the stuff. Sure enough, in the practice session it seemed like we were having some electrical problems so the team was busy trying to solve those. When the car was running it was fast, but we couldn't run full out because the car was missing a bit. So we did some work to fix the electrical stuff and sent Spencer back out. The plan was for him to sort the car and then put Harry in the car to get a little nighttime practice. Dan has the most time in the car and a lot of time at VIR, so the plan wasn't for him to get in the car until it was race time. With crew chief Steve Marcus and a fantastic group of volunteer crew guys, we were optimistic when the car went out. Spencer was unbelievably fast even though we were still having some electrical issue interfere with the engine running smoothly. Harry drove some in practice before the car died on the track and had to be towed in.

Knowing that we still had a little work to do wasn't so bad when we found out we had won the pole. In endurance racing a difference of a second or two is huge. So we were ecstatic when we found out we had won the pole by almost nearly 10 whole seconds. We were fast!!!

The crew (and Steve Marcus) did a great job getting things sorted during the night and we were kind of excited when the race first started. It was a 13 hour race and we really didn't know how the car was going to do, but we were having fun with the pole. Spencer went out really fast: lapping the first car in just 4 laps. We were smoking the field. Unfortunately, the engine was running rough again and Spencer had to come in early. We gave up the lead before we got him back out and he was back to moving to the front. No worries this early in the race. But that was about it. After just 58 minutes the car died and we were towed in again.

This time it was some internal engine problem. The team quietly pushed the car back into the trailer and – once again – we were back home while our competitors were still racing at the track.

This was some real anguish. Everyone had done a lot, but Steve Marcus had really worked the most to get things ready. He developed a strategy for the car and the race and all this was down the drain – all because of the one thing he hadn't been responsible for: the engine.

We'll be back, but for now it is a frustrating end to a season that also began with frustration in an endurance race. Next year we'll be rolling out a new car so the Coupe might take a little while to get ready again. When it does, we'll get our hopes up – again – and see what we can do on the track. But for now no one wants to go back to the race track any time soon.