Kicking ass and taking names - Beaverun May 7th

Today was the final race track event at Beaverun in Pennsylvania. Last night was the longest drive of this years route thus far. We had to drive over 600 miles from the BMW Performance Center in SC. We got into Beaverun around 2am last night, and my dad that was coming down from NY was still running a bit behind. I crashed out hard, and my dad Frank got in around 2:40am from NYC. The track was only two miles away so we got up almost on time, hit the snooze button and slept over a half hour, whoops. It looked like it was soggy outside but infact the weather was clear and it wasn't wet, whoo hoo. I was up late studying the track notes that Tom Long had left for me and watching some in car track video on You Tube. I was fairly comfortable with the track and the overall line/speed of the turns. I slept on it, and was ready to go in the morning with yet another 3 1/2 hour sleep night.

Beaverun session 1:
I went out in a run group that was behind the group that I normally run with, and the cars were a bit slower, so I went out first in line. I was 1.5 seconds faster than the Audi S4 racecar at the end of lap 2, but on the final lap I caught the Mitsu Evo coming into the last turn complex. He held me up and I lost 2 seconds! I ended up in 2nd in class, 12th overall, lost to the S4 by .40 seconds. All the studying last night had paid off. This is such close running it's ridiculous, great racing for sure. At this point we are tied for class points for 1st in class with the Audi, and about 30 points ahead of 2nd/3rd place.

As I mentioned, my dad come down fron NYC to Beaverun and just like last year he brought 25 lbs of authentic polish Kielbasa. In his rush to leave, he forgot his bbq grill! So, we asked the police interceptor One Lap car if we can use their Crown Vic bbq grill/trailer and they were very welcoming. We must have fed 30 + people and everyone loved the Kielbasa. My dad brought 3 different types, with all the fixings! Even had Polish beer for those who weren't driving. We have some of that left over for the evening....

Second session, Beaverun:
On the second session I took it up a notch and found an extra second in the last turn coming onto the front straight. I had the track down at this point and was booking it. My lap time was right at about 1:06's and the GTR in 1st place was running 1:08's!! I ended up 1st in class, and the two M3's got between us and the S4. This is great for us since now we are 15 points, or 3 finishing positions ahead of the Audi! Come to find out the Babcock's, father and son, in the S4 had some serious problems with the car at the end of the last lap. It seems as the car went into limp mode possibly b/c of oil blow by in the intercooler. Also, thier strut tower was seperating from the frame/chassis on both sides of the front end. Hopefully they can limp the car back to TireRack and finish the dry skid pad tomorrow. For now, we have to finish in front of the Audi, or at least 3rd in class behind the Audi to keep our 1st in class position. At the begining of the 2nd Beaverun session we were still in 6th overall, although the Ultima GTR was 10 points behind us and may have slipped into 6th. The Ultima is a supercar of course, and one of Lee Noble's first great achievements. So, it will all come down to the skid pad tomorrow for final finishing position. We are hoping that it will be WET!!!!!!! This piggy likes the wet :)

Fun Run Hot Laps at Beaverun- end of day:
Brock let us have an open track day at the end of the final run group of the day, so what a better way to take my pops on the racetrack and have him experience high performance driving than today! I found a helmet for my dad and we were off! Andrew Carbonell jumped in the back seat and we were off doing laps with 3 people in the car, lol! I ran the race pace and probably a little bit faster, although we didn't time the laps. My dad was completely BLOWN AWAY of what a car can do on the race track... He thought that we were literally going to flip over and not make the turns. The M5 is such a capable car on the track it is truly an engineering and automotive marvel. ALL the Sport and ALL the luxury, it doesn't fall short in either department. Peter Lier followed us in the GT2 and was amazed of how fast I was moving the M5 around the track. Andrew, who was riding in the back seat comented on how I was hitting all my marks and there wasn't any time being left on the table around Beaverun. A very appreciated comment from an incredible pro driver, I was taken, and very excited to hear.

1st in Class and 6th Overall moving into tomorrow! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!