By Alex lloyd
For this year’s race, our
Davidson Racing Norma M20F features a new engine. It was lifted from an E36 BMW M3, then massaged into a 3.5-liter good for 415 hp. The car itself weighs just 1,600 lbs., which means acceleration is somewhat akin to a detonating nuclear warhead.Normas are typically seen on hill climbs; one
won Pikes Peak last year in the hands of Romain Dumas. As stock, the M20F has roughly the performance of a Radical, but due to the aforementioned engine upgrade as well as a 6-speed Sadev paddle shift gearbox, ours is considerably faster.
The only car capable of keeping pace is JFC Racing’s Wolf. It’s
basically an open-wheel race car with more bodywork – and it’s probably quicker than us over a lap. Their drivers are stellar, too, including Indy 500 legend Al Unser Jr. But while ESR-class cars are known to be fast, they aren’t known to finish. We realize our biggest threat actually comes in the form of a far slower Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car,
a previous winner of the race with the reliability of a Dabbawala.
This is the tortoise.
Frisselle, a permanent fixture on the Davidson Racing team, starts the race. He immediately opens up a lead over
Team Quick Racing’s Superlight SLC with Mike Skeen at the wheel, partnered with factory Acura driver Ryan Eversly. Davidson Racing’s second car is also filled with hotshot racers like Dion von Moltke, Anthony Lazzaro, Burt Frisselle (Brian’s twin brother), Brandon Kraus and Dominic Cicero. Even
NASCAR star Kurt Busch is competing in the E0 class, along with a slew of big-name drivers.
What was once a race only for amateurs has morphed into one filled with professionals. But don’t be fooled, the 54-car field is still littered with amateur drivers in cars of varying speeds – from first-gen Miatas to aging BMWs to everything in between. There’s even a Chevy Silverado NASCAR-style truck (which was pretty quick) and a twin-engined Mini Cooper S (which broke). For the amateur, America’s longest endurance race (formally the world’s longest race) has ballooned into a defining, bucket list event.
