Marcos Maniacs

Greetings everyone,
The 24 Hours of Daytona was a different animal this year, with some 
rule changes, a new class, and a rather suprising and unexpected 
finish.
I had been planning to take the Marcos down, however had a chassis 
vibration and quite a bit of exhaust gasses coming into the car ( I 
suspect that this is from a boot lid that doesn't fit as tight as it 
needs to) Since I need all the brain cells I have, and its a 700 mile 
drive to Daytona, I elected to trailer the car. Planning to leave on 
Wednesday night directly from work, I decided to load the car on 
Tuesday night. This is when the adventures began.  I didn't get 
started until after dark, which proved to play an important role. I 
managed to get the front tires on the trailer, then it got stuck in 
the snow, then one of the ramps slipped, then the car struck the side 
of the trailer, a big chunk of paint was scraped just below the 
bonnet ( don't worry, its plastic).  So I had to roll around in the 
dark, in the snow, beneath the car to jack the back end up to fix the 
ramp.  This resulted in the front tires on the trailer, and the rear 
of the car kind of hanging in air. Anyway, I finally got the car on 
the trailer and secured, and then it started raining, and rained some 
more, then rained after that the entire next day.  I was able to 
leave work on time and the rain persisted until I reached Savannah GA.
  Sky's began to clear as I got into Florida, blue with whispy white 
clouds and the temperature in the seventies.  This was a pleasant 
relief for me, as one week earlier it had been one degree at my house 
( and that's Farenheit for all you Canadians ).  I had worked on a 
crew during the 24 hour weekend about 20 years ago and remembered 
that we had parked the trailer outside NASCAR turn three, so I drove 
over there and between track security and parking it only took about 
an hour to figure out that it was OK to park the truck & trailer for 
the weekend. No problems unloading the Marcos, it went quickly and 
uneventful.
  Only one Marcos had been entered in the event, a Mantis in the GT 
class.  ( Last year saw not only two Mantis but also LM600 ).  Peter 
had brought over a film crew from the Netherlands, so the pit was 
overloaded with camera and sound people recording every thing.  The 
afternoon qualifying session was not kind to the team.  However it 
also brought other suprises.  The new Daytona prototypes went out 
first, but when the GT cars went out it was the Justin Bell/Derek 
Bell Corvette that was turning the fastest times !!!  But, Grand-Am 
rules state that the Daytona prototypes start on the front row so the 
Corvette was pushed back on the grid.
   Also on Thursday afternoon I noticed the Marcos had a miss as I 
was driving around, which was a plug wire arcing to one of the heater 
control cables.  As I was fixing that a gentleman who was a tech 
inspector for Historic Sports Cars came up, he was from Sweden and 
also owns a Marcos, so we had to swap some stories.
   Friday started out rather chaotic.  I went to the trailer parking 
area early in the morning and there was Hayes Harris unloading some 
Lotusi.  With him was a friend who had brought his cars, so we drove 
into the track with Hayes in a Lotus Exige ( an Elise on steroids), 
then me, then a deThomoso Mangusta, followed by a TVR with a 289!!! 
There was some beautiful sounds from that bunch.  We parked in the 
Milestones area, with a gaggle of Ferarris, Porches, a beautiful 
white XK120 and a light green XKE coupe.  Anyway, a friend is on the 
crew of the Otis Chevrolet Rondeau, and they needed an extra hand 
during the HSR race, so this is where the chaos ensued, as the HSR 
race started at 10:30 and the Milestone staging was about the same 
time. So I helped out in the Rondeau pit ( but really didn't do much)
for about half of the race, however the Rondeau went out shortly 
after that with a little crunch in the wall.  But I did make it in 
time for the Milestone parade lap.  
  Joining me for the parade lap was Derrick from the Marcos team.  
During the laps his knuckles didn't turn white and there was still 
some color in his face, so I guess I wasn't going fast enough!!! 
However maybe somebody can tell me what it means when the white 
needle on the tachometer goes into the area thats painted red???
After the laps I parked with Hayes and the Lotus Elise and Exige and 
there were lots of questions about all the cars.
  Friday qualifying went a little better.  Cor was able to turn 
some :55's, but since the front of the grid was determined on 
thursday they were 40th.  Also, I did talk with Cougar Jacobsen, whom 
if you will recall was a regular with Marcos team during last year 
and I think was in the 04 Mantis which finished the 24 Hour.  He was 
with a Dutch team running a GT Porsche, however they had problems 
sorting the car out and didn't start the race.
  Saturday was an early start, I did go down to confirm that there is 
a beach in Daytona, picked up a few shells but then off to the track. 
Again I was able to park with Hayes's cars.  Unfortunately, the whole 
mood at the track changed as the news of the catastrophy spread.
   One person did check out the Marcos quite closely, then told me 
his name was Chip Pitts and he had an "84 regency red with tan 
interior. It turned out that it is Jeff Caraway's car, so he was 
quite suprised that I knew the car well and was telling him about 
some of it's idiosincricies (sp?).  Later, after the race started we 
talked for what must have been two hours, and his wife Lori was very 
tolerant of our "obsession".
   Shortly after the race started the Marcos's troubles began. There 
was noise & vibration from the gearbox area, however the real problem 
was in the differential, which could be turned manually, then freeze, 
then could be turned again. The team had to replace gearbox and rear 
end which cost a lot of time. In the early morning hours the wheels 
were falling off, as there were problems with the hubs. Midmorning 
more calamity as a power steering hose failed, damaging the PS pump 
and also the water pump.  However, the car was stuck in the 22nd 
position, as there wasn't enough time to make enough laps to overtake 
the 21st car.  The team was able to rejoin the race with about twenty 
minutes left, but on the final lap, to add insult to injury, another 
wheel parted company.
   The big "buzz" in pit lane was the success of the GT cars. The #66 
Buckler, Schrom, Bernhard, Jorgmiester Porsche had crept into the 
lead on Saturday evening, challenged by the #88 
Brabham,Maxwell,Empiringham Ford daytona prototype,  Maxwell had a 
spin but their biggest problem came Sunday moring with stuck Throttle 
return springs, This allowed not only the Buckler porsche to jump 
into a commanding lead, but also the 35 Ferrari and 83 Porsche to 
follow which resulted in a 1-2-3 overall finish for the GT class.
   Kudos go to the #21 Lola Nissan.  On Saturday evening following 
full course caution restart, the Lola spun going into turn 1.  There 
was a pack of cars behind them, and the #67 Porsche had nowhere to go 
but directly on top of the Lola, resulting in considerable damage to 
both cars. The Lola teamed worked to replace suspension, steering and 
bodywork and reentered the race, the team commenting that the car was 
running and handling better than before the crash.  They finished 
third in SRP II class.
   Heartbreaking finish for the #46 Corvette.  Leading the GTS class, 
they pit with about half hour left in the race, but have differential 
failure.  The team replaces the gears while in pit row, and as they 
repair the car the #24 Mosler takes the GTS lead.  As the Corvette 
battles back, the shift lever breaks off in the drivers hand and the 
Corvette finishes stuck in third gear, the Mosler squeaking by with a 
class win.
   After arriving at the track on Saturday morning at 7AM I left 
Sunday at 2pm, arriving home at 7:15 on Monday morning in time to be 
at work at 8:30.  Luckily no one pays enough attention to me to 
realize that I hadn't been to bed since Friday night!!!!
   Later y'all
   Michael