After skipping the GLP on 20.06.2009 we entered the race on Saturday.

Eventhough it was raining cats and dogs on Friday evening, the weather forecasts looked promising.

The track should have been open for tourist traffic on Friday evening but was closed due to heavy rain and a couple of accidents. Just as we wanted to leave for our bed & breakfast, the track opened for another half an hour and we managed to do a shakedown lap. We had vibrations on the front axle, but decided to enter Charlie anyway as he was still driveable and the vibrations weren’t too bad.

Technical inspection

The weather on Saturday was warm and sunny. Ideal conditions for a couple of nice laps on the Ring. We prepared Charlie with the Schroth safety belts, checked the wheel bolts, tire pressure, oil, coolant and passed technical inspection.

Drivers Briefing

So after a short drivers briefing we waited for the race to start.

The Rusty Nail Racing Team - Darcy & Susanne with Charlie

Darcy

The event was started a little late, as there was another competion before our race.  Once we got onto the track, we started having fun. The first stint was not as good as we hoped, we had quite a lot of traffic behind us just before crossing the line and we crossed the line a little early because Darcy didn’t want to block the other traffic by driving too slow. We stopped for a short break, some fresh air and refueling in round 6 and it seems that was better for Susanne, as she didn’t feel sick this time.

On the track

The driving was really fun and we drove a faster lap time each lap to the waiting zone eventhough Darcy didn’t push any harder than before. So yes, it does help if you find a nice and round line to drive and don’t encounter too much traffic. We did encounter an overambitious driver though. He shot past us in Adenauer Forst and slammed his brakes right infront of us for turn two in the Forst. To avoid a collision, I had to slam the brakes too and almost came to a stop.

As his car didn’t match charlies power, we overtook him through Metzgesfeld and he was right on our bumper as we braked for Kallenhard. He really didn’t have a chance to pass but seemed to love to tail gate us.  He squeezed past us in Wehrseifen on the brakes, which is not a really good idea to do, but we once again got him right after Ex-Mühle and since then never cought up. Later on Darcy found some red paint on the rear tow hook. It seems, he was pretty close.

Other than that it was a great and fair event and we finished 5th in the MINI classification and 84th overall with 60,7 penalty points. So this is our first trophy :)

Charlie, the helmets and the trophies

close up of helmets and trophies