This week in Wndsor was rolling along perfectly. Dennis and I worked on the set up of our plane and engine, and our test flights were going perfectly. The entire team was in sync and we were super happy and confident about our chances of a good result for this weekend’s race.

On Tuesday afternoon, things changed dramatically. On the last test flight prior to calibration, something went wrong inside our engine which necessitated a quick return to the airport. Upon further inspection, we came to the conclusion that the camshaft was in the process of “giving up the ghost”, which meant that our newly installed (Rio) race engine was now an expensive paperweight.

My #99 Team never thought twice about it and went to work changing our engine overnight. Remember that this process takes about a week in most aviation shops, however, the RBAR does not follow a normal routine so we HAD to get the engine and plane ready to fly for Wednesday. The team arrived back at the hotel at 2AM and was back at it 7AM that same morning. It’s now 10:30AM and we’re on the home stretch. A team really comes together when the chips are down and last night, they showed everyone in the RBAR that we’re a dedicated group of professionals.

Our new engine does not have the horsepower that the old engine had but it should be race safe and ready. I will need to push VERY hard to finish high in the race results but I am sure I can do that. A little wind wouldn’t hurt either.

In life, You have to give it your all to be successful. You must also be willing to risk failure in that pursuit. So, we have tried, but failed, in our pursuit of “extreme” horsepower. But that’s racing and we will come back at it again and will not look back.

One of the traits of any champion is never giving up. THAT, Team #99, will NEVER do.

MG