We Finished!
After months of preparation we completed the inaugural ChumpCar Halloween 24 hour endurance race at Portland International Raceway!
A fast and durable little LabRat was assembled by our crack team of Miata-owning autocrossers. In the weeks leading up to the race we were faced with the disappointment of having one of our drivers drop out of our lineup. We checked around to try to fill that driver slot with someone who would fit our team and if they had Miata expertise, all the better.
Well, even though he’d never driven a Miata, we asked one of our Megajolt users – Anthony Kalcounis of Giant Killer Racing of Calgary, Alberta – to join in the crazy yet serious fun. He, along with his BMW 2002 crew chief Harry Taylor and Harry’s dad Bob, trekked down to PIR to check out our crap can and novice racing team. Their contribution of raw talent, ability, and experience transformed us into what felt like a stellar, well-oiled racing team! Even though we tend to avoid this word, we seemed to have it: Synergy. Anthony was pleasantly surprised by our car and team and we were extremely pleased with how easily he and Harry and Bob worked with us. Over any prize or award this weekend, the friendship we forged with the folks from the Great White North is the best of all.
Since the weekend yielded so many perspectives and experiences, we’ll publish our adventure in separate installments. However, here are a few of the highlights:
1. We posted the fastest lap of the entire race- Anthony at 1:35.782 – approximately 4 seconds faster than the next closest competitor.
2. We claimed the fastest lap of 74.006 MPH
3. About 6 hours into the race one of our drivers had an off course excursion, requiring significant suspension and intake repair. We fell from 7th place to 29th- and clawed our way back to 7th overall by the end of the race!
4. Our turbocharged engine did not implode, contrary to the tech inspectors’ predictions and our fears!
5. We know how to rock a theme! Our LabRat was painted to look like a rat and we dressed as the mad scientists who bio-engineered this beast. Our trick-or-treat pit spot was also themed as a biolab and we gave out chocolate eyeballs and Nerds candy.
Some snapshots
[…] the bodywork and hard-top, and a bunch of go-fast wing-dings and bubbles and graphics. Here is the blog post about it by the guys who raced – nice going dudes, fastest […]
Nice running! Fastest lap in two dimensions even, ‘eh? I knew that Miata was something special 🙂
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Brent Picasso, Laura Kimball. Laura Kimball said: First LabRat recap of #ChumpCar from @AutosportLabs (more to come!) http://bit.ly/jO9fz […]
Wow the rat looks battle scarred for sure. It was a blast running with you guys.
Anthony
i discovered chumpcar last week. last night, prior to looking in to it more deeply, i mentioned to my wife that “a miata would blow away the field, but you could never find one worth less than $500”. im shocked that you value yours at that price point. congrats on your race-pace. looks like a blast.