If you had asked me two weeks ago whether our ratty old 1965 Volkswagen Beetle would complete the inaugural 24 hours of ILamuna, I probably would have said 'no.'
Despite a damaged engine the Team Short-Shifters Beetle finished 26th overall in the 2021 24 hours of ILamuna.If you had asked me two weeks ago whether our ratty old 1965 Volkswagen Beetle would complete the inaugural 24 hours of ILamuna, I probably would have said"no." For the simple reason that despite our hard work , we simply didn't have enough testing under our belt: long hours at the racetrack spent beating out all the inevitable gremlins that come with any new build.
Next up was the race itself, which began with sirens and fireworks at 3.42pm on Saturday afternoon — a classic Le Mans-style start where drivers had to run from one side of the track to their cars waiting at the other. Wernher Hartzenberg took the honours and after strapping himself into his seat impressively fast, soon settled down in a comfortable midfield position where he circulated sans any drama until our first driver change at 6pm.
Probably the most comfortable around Red Star Raceway in the dark , I was determined to get us up the order. I put the hammer down, kept it consistent and made the most of familiarity. Not to mention the Beetle's reliability. Since sorting out the gear selection error, the little Bug had been lapping like a champion: tyre wear was good, oil pressure ample and the all-important temperature gauge always on the right side of the 100ºC mark. It was also handling fantastically well.
In the night we had managed to work our way up to 17th overall but thanks to this gearbox drama we had sunk all the way down to 33rd. Fortunately some other teams also started having problems of their own. Indeed, the gruelling nature of this event was starting to take its toll on tired machinery and we were able to gain a few places during Adams', Grant's and Hartzenberg's final stints.
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