Ninja Store 1

I’m not typically a BMW fan when it comes to GT3 racing, but for some reason I really like this year’s pole sitters, mostly the livery…

The Bathurst 12 Hour is a great event that I haven’t been able to watch for the past couple years due to my racing, but I’ve finally got the same weekend off that it’s on, so my plans are full for the rest of the day!

Catch the race on the Bathurst 12 Hour YouTube channel!

One of the funnier things to happen at Eagles Canyon last weekend was having to hide the cars from a pretty severe thunderstorm. Fiona was given a comfy garage space while Hulk was hidden in the tech shed. That left us to find one more place to hide Cherry… which we found underneath one of the newer projects ECR had going on, a new concessions stand. She sat pretty all night and was ready to get to a P5 finish on Sunday.

A wise man was once asked: “The helmet has a special meaning to many drivers. How important is it to you?”

The wise man responded with, “it protects my head”

He’s not wrong, the helmet’s primary function is head protection, believe it or not. A lot of drivers have their helmets painted or decorated to differentiate themselves from other. While I might still do that, I do prefer a different method.

Here’s my helmet in its well used and well loved glory. makes a fantastic product and I am particularly fond of the built-in comms. I’d encourage anyone I know to get a Stilo

Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of all of the crew and drivers, Fiona did not feel like playing ball. We suffered misfires and electrical issues all race on Saturday and were unable to demonstrate the pace the car really had. That being said, Fiona is fast… very fast. Without pushing too hard and still making mistakes, I was able to set the fourth fastest GP2 time on Saturday.

However, that is pretty much it for good news. After my run with the car, which saw the misfire clear up, it returned and worsened as the race progressed. By the end, we turned 76 laps on Saturday, which is still 71 more than the most laps previously turned by Fiona in one day. We were classified as a DNF, meaning no points from a very disappointing day.

That night, while attempting to diagnose and rectify the issues with the car, the motor slipped a timing chain and that was that. Fiona will be back and better than ever, but it would not be this weekend.

For Sunday, we were graciously offered to drive Hulk as a consolation for losing our car the night before. At first, Hulk was fun to drive, but that went away when I suffered a catastrophic wheel stud failure at a highly loaded part of the track leading to the rapid departure of the left front wheel. It was a pretty big bump, and I’m super disappointed that happened, but it’s racing. Sometimes you get super lucky… other times, you’re not. This weekend was plainly unlucky for all of us. However, that in no way defines the hard work everyone at put in. I could not be more proud of the crew guys. They put in an amazing amount of effort to fix Fiona when fixable and prep Hulk when she wasn’t. Thank you guys.

This has to be one of my favorite photos from the HSR Classic 24. It shows how much of a mashup group G was from a car perspective. A factory built VW Golf TCR, an early 2000’s Ferrari Challenge series car, and one of the founding members of the GT4 class in the Aston Martin, all chased by a road going E92 M3 built for the World Racing League.

During the interview post race, the first question asked to me was about the origins of Cherry. It’s cool to get recognition about the story behind the car I’m driving. Yes, Cherry is a road car, and yes, she is still fast enough to compete against factory built racecars. If that isn’t a glowing endorsement on that car as a whole, I don’t know what is!

I told all of you to be ready for more amateur phone photography. Today’s theme is apparently road cars!

Got to watch the second MX-5 race from the spotter’s stand again, which, again, was amazing. Didn’t get to see a ton of on track action otherwise though, apart from a couple hours of the Michelin Pilot Challenge.

Did some business, met a few people, learned some new numbers, and all around had a great time at day 2 of the Rolex 24!

Tomorrow’s the big day! I’m so excited, I almost just slept at the track! Just kidding

Have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year everyone!

There’s some pretty cool news coming up that I’m pretty excited to share, so be on the lookout!