Sat May 2nd Autobahn

This is a great race track and has an incredible facility, it is like a Country Club for car guys. Instead of golfclubs and caddy's you have race shops, garages and racecars. We had to bleed the brakes again due to air in the line, as Rachel mentioned before. The brakes came out great and we were ready to go! The track was extrememly slippery and had sand that was washed up by all the recent rain in the area. Mark Pombo (a great guy and Jetta TDi Cup pro-driver) drove Derek's GTR for the Autobahn event, until Derek, Tom Long, Andrew Carbonell and Rhett O'doski flew in Saturday evening from the Grand Am race in New Jersy.

This year the competition is fierce for the top 5. Derek's GTR is competing with my friends Ian Stuart/Peter Lier from Orlando, Fl running the black Porsche GT2, and then the other Nissan GTR is proving to be stiff competition as well.

Some snap shots from the Autobahn paddock area:





** Mark was the fastest car by far, 3-4 seconds, in the first out lap, on lap 2 the car went into limp mode and the power was cut down to 1/3! Mark was mid-corner when the GTR lost power and almost lost it, his last two laps were slow(er) and he finished up with a 11th place position, which is not what he hoped for. Fortunately it's not Mark's fault since the car had a failure.

Mark with the GTR, me with the M5, and Mark, Ian and Rankins with the other GTR.




**Ian Stewart took 1st place with the GT2, and Steve Rankins took 2nd in the other GTR! Both are top Auto-Xers and Ian is a multiple National Champion. I have never run this track before and it was rather technical, not including all the sand that was on the track! I finished in a respectable 17th overall, and 4rd in class. The BMW Performance driving school E90 M3 beat me by a total of 2 seconds, the Audi S4 racecar, and other E90 M3 just about tied at 3 seconds a lap faster-- both have run there before. We have many other high Horse Power tracks that we will be able to gain some points, including our home tracks of Sebring and Daytona!!!

Troy Fralick in the Freedom Autosport M6 and Mark Pombo in the GTR: