Vir 2007

[Malcolm]

Just a quick note to say a public thank you to Ron for getting Glenn and I seats in a Spec Miata (in Ron Munnerlyn's car) for this years 13 hour race at VIR. Plan A hadn't come to fruition so he set up a great plan B! Thanks Ron.

We had a great race with just 7 pit stops and immaculate car reliability which got us from 48th on the grid to 5th in class (out of 19) and 30th overall (out of a 78 car grid). Mike and Jerry were our co drivers and they also did a great job. We had a different crew this year but they were as good and freindly as the previous crew we used so great credit to them for standing in the pits for the whole 13 hours keeping the team's two cars running.

Glenn took his first rolling start and kept out of trouble. He also managed fastest lap for our team this year (rats!) with a 2:24.6 lap time. I only managed to get into the 25's this year so we have got to go back again now!

Great guys, great race, great car, great circuit and I am pleased to say we even managed an exciting finish stealing 5th in class with just two laps left in the race!

Ross, you there? Get a down under team together and come play next year.....

Thanks to all invovled.

[Ron Earp]

I don’t know if Malcolm is doing a write up of this year’s Charge of the Headlight Brigade at VIR. But, I have a few pictures to share and figured I’d post them.

This year I had no direct hand in preparing the cars that we were associated with. A friend of mine, Ron Munnerlyn, provided the two extremely well done Miatas for the race with sponsorship from his company, Laticrete

Malcolm and Glenn drove an awesome race with two other drivers, Jerry Munnerlyn and Mike Burke in the #68 Miata. They placed 5th in class, kept the car in good order, and put down some good laptimes for 13 hours straight. Nice work!

I drove a couple of stints in the #69 Miata with Ron Munnerlyn, Dave Brown, and Robert Mitchell. I didn’t do so well personally, just couldn’t get my grove on, but the other drivers did a great job and ran well. Unfortunately the bottom end gave up the ghost 40 mins from the finish. Still, the car was well done and ran strong despite the hicup.

Jeff Young also ran the 13 hour this year but did so with Ricky Thompson in a BMW Z3 2.8L car. They ended up placing second in class and in the top ten overall I think.

Next year we’re brewing up something special for the 13 hour but we’ll need to make sure it’ll come out okay before laying plans.

R

[srf#42]

Pretty appropriate pose for the 69 car Ron!!!!!!!!!!!!
So is 69 a he or a she?

[Jeff Young]

Malcolm and Glenn did an AWESOME job this year. The track has slowed some since last, with turn one's braking zone losing some grip. Most everyone was a tick or two slower at VIR all year.

A 5th in a very competitive Spec Miata field is outstanding. The lead SM was driven by Charles Esplenlaub, who is the factory Audi A4 driver in our equivalent of the British Touring Car Championship -- pretty stiff competition.

The 69 is a he. That's why we call Spec Miatas "Spank My Rodders". That Patron Tequila car is an "ITE" car by the way, and should have been WAY faster (probably a 170 hp new model year MX5 that ran the MX5 Cup pro series).

[Ron Earp]

Originally Posted by JeffYoung

The lead SM was driven by Charles Esplenlaub, who is the factory Audi A4 driver in our equivalent of the British Touring Car Championship -- pretty stiff competition.

Charles better bring some heat for 2008 if we get our Plan A working by then.