The weekend started with an advanced drivers school for those new to 'Vintage' Racing, where the emphasis was placed on respect and good judgment. After a half day of class time and a couple of lead and follow sessions the students blended into their regular run groups for the remainder of the weekend.
The ELB Pinto faced a series of mechanical issues that materialized during Friday afternoon practice sessions. The shifter linkage kept jamming making the car undrivable. Team driver Jim Karamanis and crew chief Ralph Pagington pulled the transmission from the car to identify the issue, but were only able to patch it back together. The car was back in one piece for Saturday morning practice with the realization that 2nd gear would be unusable for the remainder of the weekend. With ginger driving, the car was able to be nursed through race time on Saturday and as far as Sunday morning practice. Several times the car was stranded on track, but the BeaveRun workers happily towed the car back to the paddock and encouraged the team to keep band-aiding the car back together and continue on track.
The Kingstowne Racing BMW faired much better. Driver Krisjan Berzins participated as part of the Historic Trans-Am Group and also made an appearance in the Porsche – BMW challenge race. The car was rock solid all weekend and Krisjan ran progressively lower lap times throughout the weekend.
The team also met many wonderful people at this event, including the Schindel's who campaign a BMW 2002, the Wentz's who campaign a 1968 Mustang, McKie Racing with driver Brian McKie's beautifully prepared 1965 MGB, Tripod Racing with their immaculate Datsun 510s, Nial McCabe and his Spridget, as well as many, many others.
Special thanks to the Vintage Racer Group and the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix for putting on an extremely well run and unforgettable event.
ELBRacing is now working on correcting the transmission issues encountered during the race weekend in preparation for an appearance later this year at the 'Turkey Bowl' at Summit Point Motorsports Park.
Beaverun 2010 Slideshow:
Beaverun 2010 Race, Part 1
Beaverun 2010 Race, Part2
