Hope all of our friends are doing well back in the States. We arrived at the racetrack on Monday and have been running around all week.
The first step for us was completing tech inspection. Inspection in Germany is one of the toughest in the world. We ran into a few minor issues that did slow us down a bit, but this event is not scored... However, we did hit the ground running for our static events.
Posting top performances in Cost, Design, and Marketing allowed Zips Racing to feel assured that their hard work and preparation for these events is finally paying off. The past 3 years we have taken a "Money-Ball" approach towards the static events. By this, I mean that we are out to get the maximum amount of points in EACH event. Some teams may blow off Cost or Presentation, but we feel these could be our saving grace at the end of the day. For the first time ever we made Cost finals and the results will come later tonight. I'll make a summary post with all of our results after the awards ceremony.
For me it was very exciting day. Posting a top performance in Cost has been a goal of mine since I starting on the team 5 years ago. My parents, who are celebrating their 40th wedding aniversery decided to plan a European cruise and allow some time in Germany to watch the race. It was great to walk around the pits with my mom and dad and explain the complexity of this German competition to them both. The picture below is after the autocross race.
After the static events we moved to dynamic events. We surprised ourselves with our performances in Acceleration and Skidpad by landing a top-10 in each of these events. Autocross had some very stiff competition, but we managed to land a top-20. We are hoping that our consistency will push us into a top 10 in endurance and top 20 in fuel economy.
As always, our overall goal is a top-10 finish. But we always keep our sights on a top-5. The competition is SO competitive over here. None the less, we are having a blast and making many friends.
I'm sure I can speak for everyone by saying this. "We're nervous going into the final event, because we know there is a lot riding on the result. We've prepared in every way possible, and have examined the car several times. All we can do now is wait until it is our turn and then lay it on the line."
Stay tuned for another update in the next 24 hours,
Go Zips!
