Round 6 of the LCUSA = success!! Once again Team Dietsch Werks had a fantastic weekend displaying what we do best.. setting up and supporting drivers and their race cars. Colin Wall, in our 06 Sport Elise and Dave Anderson in our 04 Pre Production Elise. Everyone had a blast and got to show the world what team work and racing is all about.

Friday evening my guys, Rob, Jon and Herb unloaded at Spring Mountain Motorsport Ranch, after checking into their amazing condo facilities overlooking turn 1 and 2 and headed to Red Rock to meet up with our fellow Lotus buddies who were participating in the LOG weekend. About 50 of us went to a Brazilian steakhouse and woke up to 'meat' hangovers the next morning. Thank goodness Saturdays race day was uneventful because Sunday brought tons of excitement when the first session of the day unfortunately brought the Sport Elise into the paddock with a blown clutch. Colin, thinking that was it for the weekend retreated to the air conditioned comfort of his rental car while my guys hung their heads low, a bit disappointed about the Sport Elise's weekend coming to an abrupt end before the day even really started... and what could suck more than flying all the way from Canada to compete in the Lotus Cup and not getting to race! Robb Bobbano, our hero, walks over and hands the guys a clutch he had just hanging around his garage. Rob is grateful of course and makes plans with the guys to install it  a week later all the while apologizing to Colin about his ruined weekend. Meanwhile, Sebastian and I slept in and didnt make it onto the track till 10 am or so.

When we arrived at the track I could see the low energy and disappointment in the air. I asked Rob has was wrong and he looked down and said "blown clutch". Sebastian said "uh oh" and I started tapping my toes..hmmm.. I see a new clutch, 4 jack stands, tools and 3 very talented mechanics.. "get busy" I said! The guys all looked at each other and their watches, Rob said "lets have some fun" and they all got to work. Herb got underneath and pulled off the under tray, rear left axle, lower starter bolt, lower bell housing bolt, motor mounts and rear diffuser as well as drained the tranny fluid with a bug sprayer Colin and his Father went into town to purchase. John was on top working on the shifter linkage, coolant reservoir, upper bell housing bolts, intake arms, clutch slave cylinder, upper tranny mounts and upper starter bolts while Rob focused on the left rear suspension including the upper and lower control arms, upper shock bolts and parking brake cables and calipers. Sebastian grabbed a wrench and started working on the exhaust. Yep, you heard me..see pics below :). 

Once all the parts were off the guys worked together to lower the transmission where they removed the pressure plate and found the damaged clutch disk. They then installed the new clutch disk and pressure plate, put the tranny back in and then STOPPED FOR LUNCH..haha.. with an hour left to go the guys got back into their spots and began putting the car back together. At this point the clock was really ticking. They started the job around 11 am and it was now 1:30. They had less than 1 hour to get it back together so Colin and Rob could race. At around 2:15, 30 minutes to go, people started gathering around making bets whether or not the guys could do it. Mind you this is normally at least a 7 hour job on a lift, they had been at it for 3 hours on jack stands..

We are down to 15 minutes and Colin's coach Jonothan looks at me and starts chewing on his nails.. I had already bitten mine off at this point..I dont know crap about their status besides feeling the nervousness of getting the job done and watching the sweat pour from all three guys foreheads. Rob yells from underneath the car "get Colin in the car" so Colin suites up and gets in while the car is still on the stands, I ran over to Jim who was lining up the drivers on grid and said "we are done, give us 30 seconds" well, 30 seconds was all we had and by the time I had ran back to the car the guys were lowering the car and with 10 seconds to go Colin literally drives out from under the tent and onto grid!! Wait, we are not done yet, 3 of us grab bottles of water and help Rob wash his hands and get him suited up. I am tying his shoes while Jon and Herb are waiting with the door open to his Elise and he gets on grid with about 3 seconds to spare! whewww!! Freaking Rock Stars!! I grinned big while watching everyone in the paddock area stare at amazement thinking "WTF!!, did they just change a clutch, at the track, in 3 hours..and stop for lunch?" yes, yes they did..and Dietsch Werks would like to remind everyone that its not the norm..adrenaline, extreme talent and manpower X3 is the only way that was even possible.. ohh and Colin came in first in his class!!