The Projekt comes to Texas

As a continuing effort of development, the STU BMW Z4 from Classic BMW Motorsports made it's Texas debut at the Texas World Speedway. The quick car, featuring the BMW N55, single turbo 6 cylinder engine, has been a complicated and frustrating project. In its previous race outing it has shown signs of greatness, but mostly fault signs on the instrument cluster showing that something is not right. While at the garage in Plano Texas, the crew and crew chief, Tom Bull has made various changes and adjustments to the BMW roadster. The hopes were high as the car took to one of the fastest circuits on the SCCA schedule. In a continual downpour Toby Grahovec took the Z4 to the track and cautious guided the car around experiencing zero failures. In qualifying Grahovec posted a pole position worthy time and returned to the paddock area excited and thrilled with the behavior of little car. Descriptions of the car's speed actually contained utterances of profanity, from Grahovec, that must mean the car was really quick!

Race conditions remained the same as a seriously damp track proved to be to both the Z4 and to Grahovec's liking as Toby drove the car through the pack and posted the quickest lap time for STU cars and took home a checkered flag victory for the very first time in the STU class! A performance that displayed zero fault codes, not even a stumble, maybe all of the issues had been solved?

On Sunday, the moments before the race saw sunshine for the first time in days. The beginning of the race presented a soaking wet track, that would be drying as the race progressed. A decision to run racing slick tires, (tires made for dry conditions) made for a careful and cautious beginning to the race. The first lap proved to be difficult as the dash showed multiple lights on the cluster as the car exceeded 130 miles per hour. The gas pedal felt numb during this event and Grahovec cautiously guided the car around the track hoping to control a potential problem. A few laps of assuring himself that the car was indeed operational left Grahovec off the pace. But this race was about development and finding more potential problems. The problem at 130 miles per hour had yet to be seen and it sent the crew into motion to discover its source. The remainder of the race saw Grahovec continue to gain rhythm in the BMW and in the end he had finished the race in 3rd position, posting the quickest lap of the weekend for the STU class. (even with the maniacal 130 mph issues.) After the race Grahovec said that once the track began to dry, the car began to handle horribly. Looks like in the weeks ahead handling will become another area of focus.

Next race, Hallett, Oklahoma (April 14th-15th)

BF Goodrich SuperTour---Racing in the Rain

Texas has been in the middle of a horrible drought. Lake levels have fallen so low that docks are unusable and water supplies have been reduced to frightening low levels. What Texas needs is a spring full of big rains, and this weekend in College Station, Texas they got the rain they needed. The team from Classic BMW Motorsports cruised into the home of the Texas World Speedway, once a track on the NASCAR circuit known for very high speeds, and found their paddock area. They unloaded the two BMW Z4 racing cars and then watched as the skys darkened and rain fell on the track. And that was the view that they had until nearly 2:30pm on Sunday. Now, rain may bother some, but rain and Toby Grahovec, driver of the Classic BMW Z4's, are very tight friends. Rain is said to be the great equalizer in racing. It shuffles the advantage that a powerful car may have to the driver's skills and how well he can display his talent at total car control. Grahovec is quite good in the wet. Some may attribute this to his years of playing hockey and his expert skating ability, others may say that it has to do with his upbringing on the cold, slick surfaces around Chicago, Illinois, and then others may say that it is his years of working as a driver for Bridgestone Tires and their Drivers' Edge program where Toby constantly slides cars around parking lots all over America demonstrating car control to those that are in need of a lesson. Whatever the reason, Grahovec smiles when the forecast is for rain.

Saturday found Grahovec on pole for the Showroom Stock B race. Upon the displaying of the green flag, Grahovec in the slippery stuff, managed to quickly distance himself from the second place Mustang of Steven Zink. In orderly, methodical, fashion the lead spread to an unsurmountable advantage and Grahovec crossed the finish line with more than a 20 second advantage. (Victory number 4 for the 2012 season)

Sunday marked the second BF Goodrich Tires Super Tour Event of 2012. The weather conditions were horrible as overnight rains were so severe that the grandstands literally looked like waterfalls as the torrential downpours ended morning qualifying and postponed the afternoon race schedule. With a wet track the race began with Grahovec on pole and the little orange Z4 stepped right back to its pace from Saturday and again distanced itself from its class. Smooth as silk, Grahovec took the checkered flag and climbed the top step of the podium for the 5th time this season and the 45th time during his career with the Classic BMW Z4!

This also marks Grahovec's second BF Goodrich Tires Super Event victory on the 2012 season in the Classic BMW Motorsports BMW Z4 in Showroom Stock B.