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The AROCA 6-Hour Relay Race was a different kind of event for me as I was able to race against cars from various classes. Some were much faster and presented a challenge because I had to stay out of their way; and others were slower which gave me some good practice overtaking other cars.

A few weeks ago I was invited to join the EMpowered Racing Team by Kim Henshaw. They are a team of drivers from the BMW Drivers Club of NSW and they were looking for an additional driver so they could have two teams of three cars entered in the event. There was 4 BMW's, one Audi, and my Mazda.

The practice session on Friday allowed me to get some much needed track time as I had previously only done about 15 minutes at Eastern Creek Raceway. After about 35 laps we decided to put the car up on the axle stands and check out the brakes. The right-rear drum was a little difficult to remove, and when it finally came off the brake linings fell to the ground. We found that the slave cylinder had seized and the resulting effect was like driving with the hand-brake on. There was enough heat to burn the rubber seals off the slave cylinder and almost completely wear out the brand new brake shoes.

By Friday evening most of the cars were there and the garage started to get crowded. Kim's car is in the foreground, and David Towe's car is parked behind mine.

While I was out picking up new brake parts, Julie was busy getting the car prepared. I had to change the numbers for this race, so after checking fluids and cleaning all the glass, she was on to the numbers.

Kim just finished having his new engine built. No rotors, but it went OK just the same.

This is team 28 lined up and ready to race Sunday morning. First out was Ben, then Kim, then myself. We were already down one car as a mechanical failure in a gearbox put Martin's BMW's out. This meant that we could not afford any more failures, or worse, crashes.

The cars line up at 10:00 AM for the start of the race. Ben's BMW and Peter's Audi are starting about mid-field.

Up on the roof watching the start of the race; obviously talking about something important....

When you're up next, you have to be in the car ready to go at all times. As was the case, you never know if you will need to start your shift early. Kim lost his shift linkage in Turn 2 so I had to start my shift 5 minutes early.

Just crossed the Start/Finish line on the main straight....

...and heading in to Turn 1 at about 180 Km/h.

Exiting Turn 9 after coming around Corporate Hill.

Peter's Audi getting a refuel and service after one of his sessions.

After my first 45 minute session, I was approached by our Team Leader, Dave, and informed that from reports about Kim's car, he was out of the race with a broken shift linkage. This, along with the previous withdrawal of Martin's car, meant that it was going to be extremely difficult to continue with two teams in the race. Most of the other drivers were cross-entered in both teams, so they were able to build a strong Team 1 out of the remaining 3 cars. Team 1 was also placed higher in the field than Team 2. The request was to allow them to withdraw Team 2 so that Team 1 could continue and finish the race with a good chance of placing well.

As it turned out, after we had withdrawn Team 2 Kim's car was finally towed back into the pits only to find the 'broken' linkage was a missing circlip. It was realized (albeit too late) that it wasn't necessary to withdraw Team 2. As they say - "That's Motor racing". This is just one of those little lessons that the team has learned and will make the racing that much better in the future. It's too bad I won't be around next year to take Dave up on his offer to re-join the team for the next AROCA 6-Hour.

I'd like to thank Dave, Kim, and the rest of the team for this great opportunity to be a part of this fun weekend. I'd like to especially thank Big Dave Hibberd for all his help over the weekend and for keeping us all fed and watered.

I'd also like to say a big thanks to by buddy Rick James from Vancouver who has put in a lot of hours with me on the car in the previous week, as well as working all weekend to keep things going. And he says he's on vacation!