Photo Courtesy Of Jorge
Showing posts with label Bill Beilharz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Beilharz. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
So I Said To The Guy... The Only Way You'll Win Is If I Don't Show Up.
Now by God we'll never know but boy that would be a race to see. Congratulations To Stig and Ana for an awesome victory and to Bill Beilharz for being such an awesome representation of what being a Champion of La Carrera Panamericana is all about.
Photo Courtesy Of Jorge
Photo Courtesy Of Jorge
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Some Pretty Exciting LCP News
I just read the following quote on our good friend Mats Hammarlund's site.....
"Here is some news straight from the mouth of Jorge Ceballos. He was the copilot in the winning Studebaker from last year with Bill Beilharts as driver.
They are coming back this year to defend their title!"
That's very cool and I wish them luck. As fun as the race is, it's even more exciting when you start hoping someone can bring home the bragging rights to the good ole U.S.A. and hey California is even better.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
La Carrera - Day Six and Seven As Seen Through The Eyes Of Bill Beilharz
Just get to the finish
After Day 5, I was just trying to finish the rally with no further mistakes. We had, what we thought, was a comfortable lead on Jorge Pedrero. I could slow down to a safe speed and just protect my lead. This is the worst time for me. I would much rather have someone in front of me that I'm going to pressure into a mistake or set up to make that "last lap" pass - that's fun. I hate it when I have a comfortable lead to the next car and the only way I can lose is to make a mistake. When I try to slow down, I make more mistakes (like Day 5).
I was glad this was a short day ending with a party in Zacatecas. I had a few beers and then went back to the room early. I didn't want to drive the last day with a hangover. That night we got our first "official" cumulative results and discovered that the Day 1 timing mistake had not been corrected as promised. This meant we only had about 1 minute lead over Jorge Pedrero. Pedrero was also aware of our small lead and was driving his car hard. Pedrero is a very good driver. His car, with driver/co-driver weighed at least 300 lbs more than our car and had an engine with 60 cubic inches less displacement. Even so, he was driving fast enough that I couldn't make another mistake and expect to make it up in just a day.
We started the last day running "La Bufa" out of town. It was cold and there was even a chance of ice on the road. I drove the first part way too slow and then, to make matters worse, about 2/3rd of the way down the longest straightaway, there were 5 cows meandering across the road. I slowed and started honking my horn. Once the last one cleared a lane I accelerated again. As we finished the stage, I saw Pedrero in my rear view mirror - bad sign. He had made up 22 seconds on just that one stage, I was starting to get (even more) worried.
Fortunately, the day's last stages were high speed. The way my car is geared it will only go 180 MPH but it gets there fast. I was counting on it's power to finish the day still in the lead. Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to service the car properly at the days service stop. We left the service stop low on oil and had only partially re jetted the carburetor.
I drove the next couple of stages pretty hard and regained some time but the oil pressure dropped to 0 at the end of the later stage. It came back when I put it in neutral so I wasn't too worried until I noticed that the oil pressure gauge was now showing about 5 lbs more oil pressure than I was used to seeing. All I could think of was that I had spun a main bearing - we still had two more speed sections to run. I reduced my shift points to 6000 RPM and would drive at full throttle until the oil pressure dropped to 0, push in the clutch and let the engine idle till the oil pressure came back. put it back in gear and give it full throttle again. Looking at the timing results, I don't know why we didn't lose more time. Maybe everyone else had also backed off.
The last 100 mile transit stage into Nuevo Laredo seemed to take forever. I was just hoping the car would make it. When we finally got there it was such a relief. My brother and father were there to meet me (along with 10000 others) and we had a great celebration. Once I crossed the finish arch I did a 5 second burnout with the engine on the rev limiter. It didn't blow up so I guess I was worrying about nothing.
What a race! After last year's failure I had to come back. Just to finish is an accomplishment but to win overall made it perfect. With Jorge's help, we had finished ahead of many very good drivers. In hindsight, I can say that it wasn't the best driver that won, just the fastest, hardest working, luckiest driver.
I don't know how I'll top this, but I'll figure out something....
(EDIT) When I reread this I realized that the following sentences were misleading:
"Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to service the car properly at the days service stop. We left the service stop low on oil and had only partially re jetted the carburetor."
Reading this, you might think that my service crew did something wrong - this is not the case. It was my decision not to finish re jetting the carburetor and the car left the service stop with the oil topped off. A problem with how I had plumbed my catch tank caused it to fill with oil during the long 3500 RPM transit stages that afternoon. At a later fuel stop, I drained the catch tank but chose not take time to add oil.
Kent and Tony did everything correctly. I didn't have to ask them to do much, most things they saw and did themselves.
My Apologies.
After Day 5, I was just trying to finish the rally with no further mistakes. We had, what we thought, was a comfortable lead on Jorge Pedrero. I could slow down to a safe speed and just protect my lead. This is the worst time for me. I would much rather have someone in front of me that I'm going to pressure into a mistake or set up to make that "last lap" pass - that's fun. I hate it when I have a comfortable lead to the next car and the only way I can lose is to make a mistake. When I try to slow down, I make more mistakes (like Day 5).
I was glad this was a short day ending with a party in Zacatecas. I had a few beers and then went back to the room early. I didn't want to drive the last day with a hangover. That night we got our first "official" cumulative results and discovered that the Day 1 timing mistake had not been corrected as promised. This meant we only had about 1 minute lead over Jorge Pedrero. Pedrero was also aware of our small lead and was driving his car hard. Pedrero is a very good driver. His car, with driver/co-driver weighed at least 300 lbs more than our car and had an engine with 60 cubic inches less displacement. Even so, he was driving fast enough that I couldn't make another mistake and expect to make it up in just a day.
We started the last day running "La Bufa" out of town. It was cold and there was even a chance of ice on the road. I drove the first part way too slow and then, to make matters worse, about 2/3rd of the way down the longest straightaway, there were 5 cows meandering across the road. I slowed and started honking my horn. Once the last one cleared a lane I accelerated again. As we finished the stage, I saw Pedrero in my rear view mirror - bad sign. He had made up 22 seconds on just that one stage, I was starting to get (even more) worried.
Fortunately, the day's last stages were high speed. The way my car is geared it will only go 180 MPH but it gets there fast. I was counting on it's power to finish the day still in the lead. Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to service the car properly at the days service stop. We left the service stop low on oil and had only partially re jetted the carburetor.
I drove the next couple of stages pretty hard and regained some time but the oil pressure dropped to 0 at the end of the later stage. It came back when I put it in neutral so I wasn't too worried until I noticed that the oil pressure gauge was now showing about 5 lbs more oil pressure than I was used to seeing. All I could think of was that I had spun a main bearing - we still had two more speed sections to run. I reduced my shift points to 6000 RPM and would drive at full throttle until the oil pressure dropped to 0, push in the clutch and let the engine idle till the oil pressure came back. put it back in gear and give it full throttle again. Looking at the timing results, I don't know why we didn't lose more time. Maybe everyone else had also backed off.
The last 100 mile transit stage into Nuevo Laredo seemed to take forever. I was just hoping the car would make it. When we finally got there it was such a relief. My brother and father were there to meet me (along with 10000 others) and we had a great celebration. Once I crossed the finish arch I did a 5 second burnout with the engine on the rev limiter. It didn't blow up so I guess I was worrying about nothing.
What a race! After last year's failure I had to come back. Just to finish is an accomplishment but to win overall made it perfect. With Jorge's help, we had finished ahead of many very good drivers. In hindsight, I can say that it wasn't the best driver that won, just the fastest, hardest working, luckiest driver.
I don't know how I'll top this, but I'll figure out something....
(EDIT) When I reread this I realized that the following sentences were misleading:
"Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to service the car properly at the days service stop. We left the service stop low on oil and had only partially re jetted the carburetor."
Reading this, you might think that my service crew did something wrong - this is not the case. It was my decision not to finish re jetting the carburetor and the car left the service stop with the oil topped off. A problem with how I had plumbed my catch tank caused it to fill with oil during the long 3500 RPM transit stages that afternoon. At a later fuel stop, I drained the catch tank but chose not take time to add oil.
Kent and Tony did everything correctly. I didn't have to ask them to do much, most things they saw and did themselves.
My Apologies.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Someone's Momma Is Proud
And why wouldn't she be but if you guessed it's Bill Beilharz's momma then you guessed wrong. Oh I'm sure Bill's mother is proud too but this newspaper article from The Arizona Republic Cars.Com was sent in by the mother of crew member Kent Durkee and she even corrected a mistake when she wrote, "Also, a correction - Kent is the one in the middle without the hat, Tony is on the right." Hey, don't mess with a proud mom.
Funny isn't it... The last thing we would ever expect our mothers would have been pleased with would be seeing us on the cover of a newspaper describing the dangerous race we were in and how fast we drive. My mother would have sent me out to bring back a switch.
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
Funny isn't it... The last thing we would ever expect our mothers would have been pleased with would be seeing us on the cover of a newspaper describing the dangerous race we were in and how fast we drive. My mother would have sent me out to bring back a switch.
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
Sunday, November 16, 2008
La Carrera - Day Five As Seen Through The Eyes Of Bill Beilharz
I almost threw it all away.
I woke up thinking about what I had heard at the drivers meeting the night before. What I understood was that today we would have speed sections up and down a mountain that were "tighter" than we had seen before and some of the stages had poor pavement with rocks. Jorge said that he did not see this in the route book but I decided to load the fuel tank up with the full 32 gallons. My idea was to get the rear end moving around to help on the tighter corners.
The first two speed sections were loose and fast with some debris on the road. We were back in the lead so I wasn't really pushing it. Then on the 3rd speed section entering a Right 2 Long corner at approx. 100 mph the rear end starts coming around. I tried to stay with it but the corner was about 30 degrees too long. The left rear tire dropped off of the pavement and then "PDDDT" we shaved 3 or 4 concrete posts off of the edge of the road. Then we were sliding sideways down an incline so fast that grasshoppers were strained through my mesh window net. Bug juice covered the side of my helmet and streaked sideways across the windshield. I was thinking "Oh no. I was in the lead and threw it away again". Jorge remembers me telling him "Don't worry, everything will be OK". The vegetation we were sliding through seemed to pile up under the cars belly pan keeping the tires from digging into the ground. We slid into an clearing that must have been a work area when they were building the road. I only saw it for a couple of seconds but it seemed to be covered with waste concrete. We found ourselves rolling forward at about 20 MPH. I put the car into first gear and popped the clutch. The motor fired and we accelerated across the clearing while I looked for a way out. At this point I decided I was going to get back onto the road or wreck the car trying. Through the bushes, I caught a glimpse of sky up toward where I imagined the road to be and steered for it, still accelerating. We hit the slope, powered up through the brush, and suddenly flopped out onto the road again. I glanced to my right half expecting to see Stig about to t-bone us. I dumped the clutch, did a "Bat Turn" and burned out of there. Stig later estimated that it was 150 meters from where he saw skid marks leaving the road to where he saw the tire marks I left as I reent ered the stage. It seemed like a lifetime to me but Jorge figures we lost just 12 seconds. Only a miraculous set of circunstances allowed us to continue.
Photo Courtesy Of Coop
The cockpit was full of stickers and bugs. I picked a stunned grasshopper off of my knee and handed to the timing official at the end of the stage. We didn't have time to check the car, but buy swerving around it seemed OK. The left rear tire had grass in the bead and was slowly going down. We had one more stage to run before the service stop so I took it easy. It was lucky we did. There was a bad corner and 3 of my competitors crashed there. CLICK HERE see the video you'll agree that it was lucky no one was killed.
The first car to crash was driven by Stewart and Linda Robertson. Linda suffered the only injuries with two compressed disks in her neck. She emailed me a couple of days ago and said that, with some physical therapy, she expects to fully recover. Amazingly she is looking forward to competing in the 2009 Chihuahua Express. Her husband, Stewart, is taking her to Hawaii for some R & R. You also have probably heard race drivers say that "the safest place to run is up front". It's true.
We got to the service stop with no further driver errors. Tony and Kent got the car in the air and checked it over for damage. Nothing was damaged other than a bashed in door jamb and two ruined tires. They changed all four tires, taped the drivers door shut, and replaced a cracked front brake rotor while I dug handfuls of vegetation out of the car. With our previous heat problems, I was particularly worried about all the dry grass that was under the seats. The last two stages turned out to be the ones that were spoke of at the drivers meeting. I tried to take it easy, just glad to still be in the race.
I do have to say that the "turn around" at La Congoja was particularly enjoyable. The food spread that was put out for us was "over the top". I spent most of the time nursing a cup of coffee and worrying about the drive down. Shortly after we left the service stop I noticed a strange noise emanating from the left front wheel. When I stopped to check, I discovered that the bolts attaching the brake mount to the upright had loosened. One bolt had already fallen out and the last one was about halfway out. We didn't have any time to do anything but get the tool kit out and retighten the one remaining bolt as tight as I could get it. If that last bolt fell out, nothing good was going to happen. I started to tell Jorge but stopped, figuring he had already been tortured enough that day. We made it up/down the hill safely and almost made it to the hotel before I had to stop and tighten the bolt again. The guys replaced the lost bolt that night and swore to recheck them at every stop. After that, I was more worried about them stripping the threads than the bolts coming loose again.
We all worked hard but the only thing that got us through this day was luck.
I woke up thinking about what I had heard at the drivers meeting the night before. What I understood was that today we would have speed sections up and down a mountain that were "tighter" than we had seen before and some of the stages had poor pavement with rocks. Jorge said that he did not see this in the route book but I decided to load the fuel tank up with the full 32 gallons. My idea was to get the rear end moving around to help on the tighter corners.
The first two speed sections were loose and fast with some debris on the road. We were back in the lead so I wasn't really pushing it. Then on the 3rd speed section entering a Right 2 Long corner at approx. 100 mph the rear end starts coming around. I tried to stay with it but the corner was about 30 degrees too long. The left rear tire dropped off of the pavement and then "PDDDT" we shaved 3 or 4 concrete posts off of the edge of the road. Then we were sliding sideways down an incline so fast that grasshoppers were strained through my mesh window net. Bug juice covered the side of my helmet and streaked sideways across the windshield. I was thinking "Oh no. I was in the lead and threw it away again". Jorge remembers me telling him "Don't worry, everything will be OK". The vegetation we were sliding through seemed to pile up under the cars belly pan keeping the tires from digging into the ground. We slid into an clearing that must have been a work area when they were building the road. I only saw it for a couple of seconds but it seemed to be covered with waste concrete. We found ourselves rolling forward at about 20 MPH. I put the car into first gear and popped the clutch. The motor fired and we accelerated across the clearing while I looked for a way out. At this point I decided I was going to get back onto the road or wreck the car trying. Through the bushes, I caught a glimpse of sky up toward where I imagined the road to be and steered for it, still accelerating. We hit the slope, powered up through the brush, and suddenly flopped out onto the road again. I glanced to my right half expecting to see Stig about to t-bone us. I dumped the clutch, did a "Bat Turn" and burned out of there. Stig later estimated that it was 150 meters from where he saw skid marks leaving the road to where he saw the tire marks I left as I reent ered the stage. It seemed like a lifetime to me but Jorge figures we lost just 12 seconds. Only a miraculous set of circunstances allowed us to continue.
Photo Courtesy Of Coop
The cockpit was full of stickers and bugs. I picked a stunned grasshopper off of my knee and handed to the timing official at the end of the stage. We didn't have time to check the car, but buy swerving around it seemed OK. The left rear tire had grass in the bead and was slowly going down. We had one more stage to run before the service stop so I took it easy. It was lucky we did. There was a bad corner and 3 of my competitors crashed there. CLICK HERE see the video you'll agree that it was lucky no one was killed.
The first car to crash was driven by Stewart and Linda Robertson. Linda suffered the only injuries with two compressed disks in her neck. She emailed me a couple of days ago and said that, with some physical therapy, she expects to fully recover. Amazingly she is looking forward to competing in the 2009 Chihuahua Express. Her husband, Stewart, is taking her to Hawaii for some R & R. You also have probably heard race drivers say that "the safest place to run is up front". It's true.
We got to the service stop with no further driver errors. Tony and Kent got the car in the air and checked it over for damage. Nothing was damaged other than a bashed in door jamb and two ruined tires. They changed all four tires, taped the drivers door shut, and replaced a cracked front brake rotor while I dug handfuls of vegetation out of the car. With our previous heat problems, I was particularly worried about all the dry grass that was under the seats. The last two stages turned out to be the ones that were spoke of at the drivers meeting. I tried to take it easy, just glad to still be in the race.
I do have to say that the "turn around" at La Congoja was particularly enjoyable. The food spread that was put out for us was "over the top". I spent most of the time nursing a cup of coffee and worrying about the drive down. Shortly after we left the service stop I noticed a strange noise emanating from the left front wheel. When I stopped to check, I discovered that the bolts attaching the brake mount to the upright had loosened. One bolt had already fallen out and the last one was about halfway out. We didn't have any time to do anything but get the tool kit out and retighten the one remaining bolt as tight as I could get it. If that last bolt fell out, nothing good was going to happen. I started to tell Jorge but stopped, figuring he had already been tortured enough that day. We made it up/down the hill safely and almost made it to the hotel before I had to stop and tighten the bolt again. The guys replaced the lost bolt that night and swore to recheck them at every stop. After that, I was more worried about them stripping the threads than the bolts coming loose again.
We all worked hard but the only thing that got us through this day was luck.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
La Carrera - Day Four As Seen Through The Eyes Of Bill Beilharz
I don't remember a whole lot about this day. We were close to regaining the lead so I started to think about "dialing it back" on the speed stages. Everyone that I trusted for advice was telling me to slow down.
Then we ran the 5th speed section. It was in the mountains and so foggy that I could barely see where I was going. With trust in Jorge's navigation skills I tried to keep my speed up. I thought that I might have an advantage over the guys behind me. Since I was the first car through the speed section I could be sure there were no cars spun out and blocking the road ahead. I thought that the drivers behind me might slow with this concern - Wrong. When we compared times after the stage it was revealed that Jorge Pedrero had beat us all. Stig explained it away as a young man who had not yet lost his feeling of immortality. I thought I was funny by suggesting that there should be a Masters class for all the old guys who were more cautious. That was until I joked to my young crew members. Tony, all too quickly, pointed out that it wouldn't make much of a difference. With the age of the drivers in this field, there were only two cars that wouldn't in the Masters class. I guess it's only the old guys who can afford such foolishness.
I wrote of my young crew's long racing experience. Here's a "team" picture of Tony and my son, Conrad, when they were 9 years old. These two were already racing wheel to wheel at 70 MPH. Kent was racing motocross about this same time. When I was that age I still had playing cards clothes pinned to my bike to make it sound like it had a motor.
Then we ran the 5th speed section. It was in the mountains and so foggy that I could barely see where I was going. With trust in Jorge's navigation skills I tried to keep my speed up. I thought that I might have an advantage over the guys behind me. Since I was the first car through the speed section I could be sure there were no cars spun out and blocking the road ahead. I thought that the drivers behind me might slow with this concern - Wrong. When we compared times after the stage it was revealed that Jorge Pedrero had beat us all. Stig explained it away as a young man who had not yet lost his feeling of immortality. I thought I was funny by suggesting that there should be a Masters class for all the old guys who were more cautious. That was until I joked to my young crew members. Tony, all too quickly, pointed out that it wouldn't make much of a difference. With the age of the drivers in this field, there were only two cars that wouldn't in the Masters class. I guess it's only the old guys who can afford such foolishness.
I wrote of my young crew's long racing experience. Here's a "team" picture of Tony and my son, Conrad, when they were 9 years old. These two were already racing wheel to wheel at 70 MPH. Kent was racing motocross about this same time. When I was that age I still had playing cards clothes pinned to my bike to make it sound like it had a motor.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
El Famoso
The following post was written by Bill Beilharz and while it is a worthwhile read one thing I enjoy about it is how one gentlemen racer (Bill) takes the time to remember his racing roots and others who where influential in his past. This is but one of the key ingredients to being a true gentleman but a very important one.
While we were in San Luis Potosi, an old friend came up to reintroduce himself. In 2000, Gerardo Castaneda was working at Mysla Ford in Tehuacan. Our tow vehicle had broke down there and Gerardo was one of the mechanics who helped to fix it. It was great to see him again and see how he has progressed in life. He is now married and had a great job as a Fleet Manger in San Luis. He introduced me to his beautiful wife and young son. We hung out for a while and I was feeling like pretty hot stuff, leading the race and having people, like Gerardo, wanting to be around me. Then he told me that, while it was really good to see me again, what he would really like is for me to introduce him to the famous Rusty Ward and possibly arrange for a picture of his son with Rusty. With some renewed sense of humility, I was happy to help him out.
Rusty is probably the most "famous" of the drivers in this race. I first met Rusty in 1994. He crewed for my brother, David, and I, during our first La Carrera. He then fell in love with this adventure, built a car and has been back to compete almost every year since. Back then we started calling him "Superman". He would work on the car till 11 PM and then go out partying, reappear the next morning just in time to leave for the next town - only do the same thing again that day. I don't know that I ever saw him sleeping. With his long, curly blonde hair he was a BIG hit with the ladies. Now that he's married with children he's slowed down a little but he still lives life to it's fullest.
For anyone who has missed his 2006 crash, here it is again:
I was crewing for him that year and, believe it or not, after we pried the sheet metal off of the tires, he was able to drive it out of the water.
I'm thinking of painting some sharks teeth on my car. Maybe I can steal some of his mojo.
La Carrera - Day Three As Seen Through The Eyes Of Bill Beilharz
Fun, Fun, Fun
We started the day running a 6.3 km speed stage on the Periferico. Edo. de Mexico (a city freeway). I was really looking forward to a full throttle blast down this 3 lane divided road. Unfortunately, there were way too many vehicles to pass. One of the few disadvantages of running up front is that the first (fast) car down the speed stage is a "wake up call" to everyone along the route. There was a police pickup sitting in the center lane about 2 km into the run. I had to lift to make sure I didn't hit him but still passed him so fast I couldn't tell if he was stopped or speeding along trying to get off the course. Next was the current Mexican rally champ in some 4 banger rally car and then some guy on an enduro motorcycle. The rally guy was supposed to sweep the course for safety but I really don't know why the motorcycle guy was running the stage. They released the motorcycle guy a minute ahead of me and the rally car 30 seconds ahead. I caught both of them on the inside of the first corner. The rally guy apologized later saying he saw me coming and slowed to protect the motorcycle rider as I passed. I did pretty good but it would have been nice to have a "do over".
The rest of the days speed stages passed uneventfully till we got to the race track at Queretaro. I had read that Mats Hammarlund team had been practicing there earlier in the year and was worried that I would be at a competitive disadvantage, never having been on the track. So, on the drive down to Tuxtla we stopped by the track and Kent and I walked it to map the braking points, racing line, etc. It paid off - We beat everybody. I felt like a gorilla in a cage full of monkeys. Jorge seemed to have a great time just hanging on and counting down the laps.
We still hadn't made up for the first day debacle but we were getting close.
We started the day running a 6.3 km speed stage on the Periferico. Edo. de Mexico (a city freeway). I was really looking forward to a full throttle blast down this 3 lane divided road. Unfortunately, there were way too many vehicles to pass. One of the few disadvantages of running up front is that the first (fast) car down the speed stage is a "wake up call" to everyone along the route. There was a police pickup sitting in the center lane about 2 km into the run. I had to lift to make sure I didn't hit him but still passed him so fast I couldn't tell if he was stopped or speeding along trying to get off the course. Next was the current Mexican rally champ in some 4 banger rally car and then some guy on an enduro motorcycle. The rally guy was supposed to sweep the course for safety but I really don't know why the motorcycle guy was running the stage. They released the motorcycle guy a minute ahead of me and the rally car 30 seconds ahead. I caught both of them on the inside of the first corner. The rally guy apologized later saying he saw me coming and slowed to protect the motorcycle rider as I passed. I did pretty good but it would have been nice to have a "do over".
The rest of the days speed stages passed uneventfully till we got to the race track at Queretaro. I had read that Mats Hammarlund team had been practicing there earlier in the year and was worried that I would be at a competitive disadvantage, never having been on the track. So, on the drive down to Tuxtla we stopped by the track and Kent and I walked it to map the braking points, racing line, etc. It paid off - We beat everybody. I felt like a gorilla in a cage full of monkeys. Jorge seemed to have a great time just hanging on and counting down the laps.
We still hadn't made up for the first day debacle but we were getting close.
Monday, November 10, 2008
La Carrera - Day Two As Seen Through The Eyes Of Bill Beilharz
The Public Relations day
We got up to a new day in Oaxaca. The race started here last year so I had some idea of the layout of the town.
We/I had a scare as we drove to the zocalo to start the day's leg. We pulled up to a stop light next to a new Chevy Suburban with tinted windows. Just then a pickup loaded with Special Police pulls up behind us and 5/6 guys jump out to point M-16s at the Suburban. Another pickup pulls in front to block both of us and 5/6 more uniformed police jump out to do the same. I was scared that a shootout was going to occur with us trapped right there. As quick as they arrived they determined who was in the Suburban, jumped back in the pickups and sped away - much to my relief. Jorge and I said only a few words about it but I'm pretty sure the only guy more worried than I was, was whoever was in that Suburban. What I am convinced of is that the Mexican government is serious about wiping out the Narco elements in Mexico.
With Jorge's navigation skills and my driving, we started the long climb from 5th place back to the lead. The day's racing ended just after noon with a huge party at the Zacalo de Tehuacan. Each year it seems to get bigger as more companies compete for your attention with dancing girls, loud music and free beer. I can't speak for everyone, but after an hour of this fiesta I was no longer in racing form.
We started the long transit to Mexico City. I wondered how it was going to go, driving into one of the worlds largest cities during rush hour. No worries, we had our own Federal police escort into the center of town and they even diverted traffic off of most of the roads we were on. I had thought the crowd in Tehuacan was big but it was dwarfed by the people of Mexico City. We were parked in the front and when I looked back towards the other cars; the mass of people filled the street for several blocks. GRW Racing Wear had sponsored us with some great looking crew shirts and a bunch of give away team caps. I decided to give some away to the crowd - bad idea with so many people around. I was soon pinned against the trunk as the crowd surged towards me. I had left the car in neutral and it started to roll forward with the weight of the crowd. I got out of this by throwing the hats high in the air away from me and the car. After that, I sat on the curb and let Jorge handle the crowd.
We stayed at the Camino Real that night. Most of the cities in Mexico have a Camino Real hotel and it's usually "the" place to stay. I was one of the late entries so we weren't always in the best hotels. This was great, it was close to the starting arch and had an indoor parking garage that we could use to service the car(s). The only complaint I had about the hotel was that it was huge! It must have been a 200 yard hike from the elevator to our rooms and the hallway still went on farther than I wanted to know.
Tony stayed to service the race car while Kent took a cab in search of parts to fix the front brakes on the Excursion. The front rotors were warped when we started the trip but the guys said that by the time they got to the hotel there were no front brakes at all. I hung around and pretended to be of use until I got too tired and went upstairs. Tony and Kent prepped the car, patched the Excursion, and continued to build good will for the team by offering advice and assistance to the other teams. They both thought it was funny that, because we were in the lead, everyone assumed we knew what we were doing. Even though these guys are still in their early 20's they each have about 15 years racing experience. I told them: "Don't sell yourselves short. The knowledge you take for granted is still a mystery to most of these other guys". I can't say it enough: Jorge and I would not have won this race without Kent and Tony crewing for us.
We got up to a new day in Oaxaca. The race started here last year so I had some idea of the layout of the town.
We/I had a scare as we drove to the zocalo to start the day's leg. We pulled up to a stop light next to a new Chevy Suburban with tinted windows. Just then a pickup loaded with Special Police pulls up behind us and 5/6 guys jump out to point M-16s at the Suburban. Another pickup pulls in front to block both of us and 5/6 more uniformed police jump out to do the same. I was scared that a shootout was going to occur with us trapped right there. As quick as they arrived they determined who was in the Suburban, jumped back in the pickups and sped away - much to my relief. Jorge and I said only a few words about it but I'm pretty sure the only guy more worried than I was, was whoever was in that Suburban. What I am convinced of is that the Mexican government is serious about wiping out the Narco elements in Mexico.
With Jorge's navigation skills and my driving, we started the long climb from 5th place back to the lead. The day's racing ended just after noon with a huge party at the Zacalo de Tehuacan. Each year it seems to get bigger as more companies compete for your attention with dancing girls, loud music and free beer. I can't speak for everyone, but after an hour of this fiesta I was no longer in racing form.
We started the long transit to Mexico City. I wondered how it was going to go, driving into one of the worlds largest cities during rush hour. No worries, we had our own Federal police escort into the center of town and they even diverted traffic off of most of the roads we were on. I had thought the crowd in Tehuacan was big but it was dwarfed by the people of Mexico City. We were parked in the front and when I looked back towards the other cars; the mass of people filled the street for several blocks. GRW Racing Wear had sponsored us with some great looking crew shirts and a bunch of give away team caps. I decided to give some away to the crowd - bad idea with so many people around. I was soon pinned against the trunk as the crowd surged towards me. I had left the car in neutral and it started to roll forward with the weight of the crowd. I got out of this by throwing the hats high in the air away from me and the car. After that, I sat on the curb and let Jorge handle the crowd.
We stayed at the Camino Real that night. Most of the cities in Mexico have a Camino Real hotel and it's usually "the" place to stay. I was one of the late entries so we weren't always in the best hotels. This was great, it was close to the starting arch and had an indoor parking garage that we could use to service the car(s). The only complaint I had about the hotel was that it was huge! It must have been a 200 yard hike from the elevator to our rooms and the hallway still went on farther than I wanted to know.
Tony stayed to service the race car while Kent took a cab in search of parts to fix the front brakes on the Excursion. The front rotors were warped when we started the trip but the guys said that by the time they got to the hotel there were no front brakes at all. I hung around and pretended to be of use until I got too tired and went upstairs. Tony and Kent prepped the car, patched the Excursion, and continued to build good will for the team by offering advice and assistance to the other teams. They both thought it was funny that, because we were in the lead, everyone assumed we knew what we were doing. Even though these guys are still in their early 20's they each have about 15 years racing experience. I told them: "Don't sell yourselves short. The knowledge you take for granted is still a mystery to most of these other guys". I can't say it enough: Jorge and I would not have won this race without Kent and Tony crewing for us.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
La Carrera - Day One As Seen Through The Eyes Of Bill Beilharz
2008 La Carrera Panamericana Champion Bill Beilharz has been so gracious as to share his personal experience with us. Here is his first edition of what I hope to be many more...
We spent the first few days working on the car. We had a nice pit space at the fairgrounds was normally filled by a food vendor. Tony and Kent did a great job applying the sponsor decals to the car.
Everyone seemed to think we were one of the teams to beat so there was some excitement when, the day before qualifying, I pulled the intake manifold off of the car. I had been losing sleep worrying about a strange sound that I heard in the motor and thought it might be one of the roller lifters failing. Using a mechanics stethoscope what I heard only compounded my worries. As I listened to each lifter, the howling sound only got worse as I moved toward the rear of the passenger side cylinder bank. I figured it was either a roller lifter going bad or just the normal sound of the starter cranking the motor. It took 5 hours of work to put my fears to rest - just the starter doing it's thing.
The pre qualifying went well. I did not take any chances and qualified one second slower than Jorge Pedrero and the same as Stig Blomqvist. It's Pedrero's home town and Stig, an experienced rally driver, had been pre driving the course in the previous weeks so I felt pretty good about our time.
Day 1 - Lesson 2: Never trust the timing officials to give you the correct time. If you care about your time always time the speed sections yourself and double check the officials time before you leave Control C. (Lesson 1 is Do not Crash.) The first speed section we ran was the same stretch of road as used in pre qualifying. Since I had run it before I felt confident and drove quit a bit faster. We finished the stage just behind Pedrero even though we had started 30 seconds behind him. It was apparent that we had gained quite a bit of time on him but the there was some trouble at Control C. The timing people asked Jorge if he had our time - Jorge said no. He had not yet got his routine down and missed starting the stop watch. The timing guys then said that they did not have a finish time for us and would add it to the sheet later. They sent us on our way without writing anything on our time sheet. When we got the results later that night we discovered that rather than being the fastest car by 7 seconds the timing officials had added another 30 seconds to our time. It was a obvious mistake and we filed a formal protest. The organizers promised that they were going to correct it "later" - they never did. Fortunately for us we were fast enough to cover all of our mistake and theirs.
It started to rain before the next speed section. We had prepared for this by treating the outside of the windshield with RainX and the inside with FogX. The RainX worked, the FogX did not. Having coped with this problem in endurance racing, I knew just what to do. We rigged up a t-shirt wrapped around a stick to mop the windshield in between gear changes. I was a little disappointed when they canceled the stage because they thought it was too dangerous.
The rain stopped and it got hot and humid. The exhaust system in this car is sandwiched between the belly pan and the floor so it's extra hot inside. I made the mistake of allowing myself to get overheated. I was feeling fuzzy headed and was just hoping to get through the last two speed sections so I could take my helmet off and open up my driving suit. It was about then we started noticing smoke in the cockpit.
At a race a few months before, both Jorge and I had noticed that our seats were getting pretty hot (the mufflers are just below them). I had added some reflective insulation to the bottom of the seats to help reduce this. My mistake was that it eliminated the air gap between the seat and the floor. The smoke we were seeing was Jorge's seat smoldering. (It could have been worse, it could have been my seat). We started looking for a source of water while having to breath the noxious fumes. We pulled into a gas station in a hurry and the attendant came over. I told him we did not need gas and when he saw the smoke he went to the front of the car and started to open the hood. I still had my helmet/Hans device on and it took about 20 seconds get my helmet off and make myself understood to him that we just needed some water. We soaked down Jorge's seat and the floor hissed as the water cooled it. We hopped back in the car and just made it the short distance to the start of the next speed stage. (Apparently, without any hood pins)
We took off when they raised the green flag and made it though the first 3 corners when, BAMM!, the hood flies open and folds back over the roof of the car. For a moment, I thought the motor had blown - there was a loud noise and everything went black. Once I realized what it was, I was able to keep the car on the road by looking out of the side windows. When I saw some gravel on the drivers side I swerved off of the road and slammed on the brakes. Fortunately, there was not spectators, cars, or a cliff there. I jumped out of the car, got spare hood pins out of the trunk, and started to bend the hood back straight enough that I could get a hood pin inserted. My progress was timed by my competitors roaring by every 30 seconds. I almost lost consciousness struggling for the first hood pin. I had to stop till I regained my vision and then switch to the other side. I got that one in, jumped back in the car and took off to re pass a car and finish the stage. I'm a little embarrassed to now say that I did not take the time to put my safety belts on or window net up. The net result was we had lost another 2 + minutes to our competition.
Kent and Tony did a great job fixing the hood that night at the hotel in Oaxaca. It opened and closed normally and they even repainted it.
Between the timing "mistake" and the hood popping open, I was pretty pissed off. Wisely, I hid in the hotel room and spoke to as few people as possible. Now that we have won the race, I can look back on the day with some release, but that night I was not fit to be around innocent beings.
The next few days were relatively uneventful. We put our heads down and drove as hard a possible to regain the lead without crashing. The following YouTube video will give you some idea of what we had to do:
I'll write some more in a couple of days. It's good to be home.
Bill
We spent the first few days working on the car. We had a nice pit space at the fairgrounds was normally filled by a food vendor. Tony and Kent did a great job applying the sponsor decals to the car.
Everyone seemed to think we were one of the teams to beat so there was some excitement when, the day before qualifying, I pulled the intake manifold off of the car. I had been losing sleep worrying about a strange sound that I heard in the motor and thought it might be one of the roller lifters failing. Using a mechanics stethoscope what I heard only compounded my worries. As I listened to each lifter, the howling sound only got worse as I moved toward the rear of the passenger side cylinder bank. I figured it was either a roller lifter going bad or just the normal sound of the starter cranking the motor. It took 5 hours of work to put my fears to rest - just the starter doing it's thing.
The pre qualifying went well. I did not take any chances and qualified one second slower than Jorge Pedrero and the same as Stig Blomqvist. It's Pedrero's home town and Stig, an experienced rally driver, had been pre driving the course in the previous weeks so I felt pretty good about our time.
Day 1 - Lesson 2: Never trust the timing officials to give you the correct time. If you care about your time always time the speed sections yourself and double check the officials time before you leave Control C. (Lesson 1 is Do not Crash.) The first speed section we ran was the same stretch of road as used in pre qualifying. Since I had run it before I felt confident and drove quit a bit faster. We finished the stage just behind Pedrero even though we had started 30 seconds behind him. It was apparent that we had gained quite a bit of time on him but the there was some trouble at Control C. The timing people asked Jorge if he had our time - Jorge said no. He had not yet got his routine down and missed starting the stop watch. The timing guys then said that they did not have a finish time for us and would add it to the sheet later. They sent us on our way without writing anything on our time sheet. When we got the results later that night we discovered that rather than being the fastest car by 7 seconds the timing officials had added another 30 seconds to our time. It was a obvious mistake and we filed a formal protest. The organizers promised that they were going to correct it "later" - they never did. Fortunately for us we were fast enough to cover all of our mistake and theirs.
It started to rain before the next speed section. We had prepared for this by treating the outside of the windshield with RainX and the inside with FogX. The RainX worked, the FogX did not. Having coped with this problem in endurance racing, I knew just what to do. We rigged up a t-shirt wrapped around a stick to mop the windshield in between gear changes. I was a little disappointed when they canceled the stage because they thought it was too dangerous.
The rain stopped and it got hot and humid. The exhaust system in this car is sandwiched between the belly pan and the floor so it's extra hot inside. I made the mistake of allowing myself to get overheated. I was feeling fuzzy headed and was just hoping to get through the last two speed sections so I could take my helmet off and open up my driving suit. It was about then we started noticing smoke in the cockpit.
At a race a few months before, both Jorge and I had noticed that our seats were getting pretty hot (the mufflers are just below them). I had added some reflective insulation to the bottom of the seats to help reduce this. My mistake was that it eliminated the air gap between the seat and the floor. The smoke we were seeing was Jorge's seat smoldering. (It could have been worse, it could have been my seat). We started looking for a source of water while having to breath the noxious fumes. We pulled into a gas station in a hurry and the attendant came over. I told him we did not need gas and when he saw the smoke he went to the front of the car and started to open the hood. I still had my helmet/Hans device on and it took about 20 seconds get my helmet off and make myself understood to him that we just needed some water. We soaked down Jorge's seat and the floor hissed as the water cooled it. We hopped back in the car and just made it the short distance to the start of the next speed stage. (Apparently, without any hood pins)
We took off when they raised the green flag and made it though the first 3 corners when, BAMM!, the hood flies open and folds back over the roof of the car. For a moment, I thought the motor had blown - there was a loud noise and everything went black. Once I realized what it was, I was able to keep the car on the road by looking out of the side windows. When I saw some gravel on the drivers side I swerved off of the road and slammed on the brakes. Fortunately, there was not spectators, cars, or a cliff there. I jumped out of the car, got spare hood pins out of the trunk, and started to bend the hood back straight enough that I could get a hood pin inserted. My progress was timed by my competitors roaring by every 30 seconds. I almost lost consciousness struggling for the first hood pin. I had to stop till I regained my vision and then switch to the other side. I got that one in, jumped back in the car and took off to re pass a car and finish the stage. I'm a little embarrassed to now say that I did not take the time to put my safety belts on or window net up. The net result was we had lost another 2 + minutes to our competition.
Kent and Tony did a great job fixing the hood that night at the hotel in Oaxaca. It opened and closed normally and they even repainted it.
Between the timing "mistake" and the hood popping open, I was pretty pissed off. Wisely, I hid in the hotel room and spoke to as few people as possible. Now that we have won the race, I can look back on the day with some release, but that night I was not fit to be around innocent beings.
The next few days were relatively uneventful. We put our heads down and drove as hard a possible to regain the lead without crashing. The following YouTube video will give you some idea of what we had to do:
I'll write some more in a couple of days. It's good to be home.
Bill
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Drive It Like You Stole It
Or should I say... Drive it like THEY stole it. As you know by now the 2008 La Carrera Panamericana champion is piloto Bill Beilharz and co-pilioto Jorge Ceballos driving the sleek black #108 Studebaker. But what I am surprised to learn is how many people do not know or remember the history of Bill Beilharz "comeback" overcoming what has to be one of the most amazing comeback challenges imaginable.
In 2007 when Jon and I ran La Carrera Panamericana we met many of the competitors in the ballpark at the staging area in Oaxaca. One of those competitors was none other that Bill Beilharz and his then co-piloto, Steve Warwick whom were pitted right next to us. Bill is an intense competitor with only one mind set... Let's race! In retrospect it's rather apparent that Bill can do just that but sadly in 2007 the #108's race was over almost before it began. On the very first day the she devil that hides amongst the gorges, cliffs and hills of Mexico jumped out of hiding and bit Bill right in the ass. Before he knew what happened they were resting way off the road having slid all the way under some scrub growth.
But the spin turned out to be only a small part of Bill's misfortune and while Bill and his co-piloto were attempting to get a tow and get back on the road again they returned only to find the #108 race car had been stripped! Wheels, gauges, Hans devices, helmets, gloves and with that their race was over. I never did figure out what was worse... seeing the car parked on it's trailer each day in front of the hotel or the visualization of some farmer wearing a set of Momo racing gloves and a Hans device while riding a donkey into the hills to retrieve a load of firewood. But I do know it made racers sick to their stomach.
Now you might say to yourself, "Wow, how bad can it get?" but the story does get worse than that. Since Bill's co-piloto, Steve Warwick, had no ride and when piloto Mike Anderson's co-piloto of the #432 Chevy decided to leave him to fend for himself it seemed like the perfect opportunity for the both of them. The good news was the #432 was back in the race... The bad news was it was just long enough to allow a photographer to shoot one of the most spectacular crash sequences of the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana.
It's not a well known fact but the next time I saw Steve it was just before he was involved in a crash when another La Carerra Panamericana piloto teammate's service truck, trailer and race car were destroyed. I'm not sure about the rest of you but for me the word "Jinx" comes to mind. I am not sure how Bill came to get hooked up with Jorge Ceballos but it appears it just might be one of the best things that could have happened to him.
With Jorge Ceballos sitting in the navigator's seat, Bill having learned a valuable lesson in the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana, was extra careful and drove a safe and calculated.... WHAT IN THE HELL AM SAYING??? Safe and Calculated my ass! He started up the #108 Studebaker, mashed down on the accelerator until it was about 6 inches from the radiator and never let up until he saw the finish arch and winning the race. Talk about overcoming adversity and all this time knowing he was in the toughest class and running against some of the finest racers in the world. I can't help but wonder if Bill ever had any nights during this years race when he had a hard time sleeping as he wondered if the wheels would still be on his car in the morning. This man is a driving fool and one all of us racers and La Carrera fans are all proud to call a champion. He drove it BEFORE anyone could steal it. Congratulations Bill and Jorge.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Too Excited To Be Tired
1st Place Overall #108 Bill Beilharz and Jorge Ceballos
2nd Place Overall #10 Jorge Pedrero and Marco Antonio
3rd Place Overall #133 Doug Mockett and Angelica Fuentes
Photos Courtesy Of Go Fast
Keep On Keepin On
Even the front runners can't stay out of the grapse of danger as seen here by the overall winning #108 Studebaker of Bill Beilharz.
#109 does a little dance with the devil.
Must have hit some ice.
Photos Courtesy Of Coop
#109 does a little dance with the devil.
Must have hit some ice.
Photos Courtesy Of Coop
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