Sounds like fun! Congratulations on the rain start and finish, nice job.
I've not been racing long, but I've learned that Racer Hours are different from normal life - they have you up extremely late and up extremely early.
They don't let you race with knock ons do they? And, what sort of power do you have, I can't remember what your motor configuration was. I do remember the ZF though, so maybe more displacement is the answer since your transaxle can deal with it.