Fighting for the Championship 

by Edward Inclan

This has been an absolutely awesome year for Team GB400R straight  from the production line, we have managed to have at least a podium finish. Once again a 1st and 2nd place this past weekend. We have been running in the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) Super Production Class Championship. A new car, a mild engine combo and a very limited racing budget. This is what we have been working with all season long.

Nick Burr and I have been teammates for a long time and the closest to a championship was in 1999 SCCA American Sedan where we took 2nd place. It has been a long and rocky road but the dedication and passion have been our energy to keep pushing. This season we have teamed up with GB Motorsports in an effort to promote and sell their streetcars. The campaign has been fun to say the least and we are creating heritage for the GB Roadster cars in the process.  One of our goals was to be recognized by sanctioning bodies as a car manufacturer which has been a struggle.

SCCA has opened its doors at the regional level and so has NASA. On the Professional front Grand Am has also opened its doors (pending final approval) but have not yet been able to make any of their events due to a lack of funding. Most of their events are on the east coast. SCCA Pro-Racing (World Challenge and Trans AM) and American Le Mans are still considering bending their rules in order to allow the car to run.

Well, back to our championship, as of September we were 6 points behind the leader Ron Bailey.  

Ron Bailey #35 S/P Camaro, powered by a 400c.i small block and NASCAR style Goodyear slicks

We would have had a lead on the points had it not been for the accident we had in the last race. Going into the weekend we knew that we had to finish ahead of Bailey in both races to catch up. Then, the 3-hour Endurance race in November would be the tiebreaker.

To our surprise there were new competitors this weekend. All of them were tube frame chassis and running on slick tires (slicks will give you about a 2–3 second advantage). David Arnheiter in a NASCAR southwest touring car, Tom Dragun in a new Mazda RX7. This is a spec type car he has been working on with the assistance of Pablo Moubuij who has built some of the fastest Mazda’s. They intend to have several of these cars out next season.  Matt Robinson from San Francisco in Grand Torino that had a 500 c.i monster motor!

These cars would not be points contenders but could potentially take away the points spread from us in order to take the championship from Ron Bailey.

We went out to qualify on Saturday and realized that our work would be difficult, we had older tires and although pushing the car we were 2 seconds slower than Bailey. Nick Burr had been working way too hard on the car to just give it away, out of the blue he stepped up to the plate and bought a full set of tires! WOW!  I’m not sure what kind of sexual favors he expected????

Doug Gladney and I were in shock but we knew he had purchased our ticket to better odds. Now it was up to me to keep the car in one piece and in the lead.

The race started and we were all over David’s #33 T-Bird after 4 laps of being all over him, he finally made a mistake and spun out allowing us to take the lead for about 6 laps. David was able to catch up and the fight re-stared! I knew that he had a big advantage from the slicks and more horsepower; therefore, I had to block him as much as possible. I successfully did that for about 3 laps but finally he got braver and we both went in to turn 1 side by side all the way to turn 3 where he was able to hook up better and pulled away. I was able to stay up with him but it was too late, the checkered flag dropped and we managed a 2^nd place.  

For Sunday's race we had to find a way to get around David's car. We went to work and after some extensive bench racing we decided that the car could handle more fuel and less down force.  After the qualifying session we found that our alternator was not charging any more, so I got on the road and drove to the nearest auto parts store in Shaffer (a little town 20 miles from the track).  In the meantime, Nick and Doug went to work on the car.  They installed new spark plug wires (our old ones had too much resistance), re-jetted the carburetor, changed the oil in the motor and took some of the attack off the rear wing. These changes should gain some top end speed and more acceleration which we needed.

As the race started David lost its brakes and fell back, what a break! I was on the S/P lead, then the Pro-Trucks (crash trucks as we call them) who started in front of our group lived up to their reputation and got loose on turn 3 and took each other out! In the commotion and not being able to see which way to go,  Tom Dragoun got around me in his very fast new Mazda. 

The race was on and Tom and I had to duke-it out for the first half of the race. Tom worked a very defensive line making it very difficult for me to pass. However, the pressure started to get to him  and he made a few mistakes that allowed me to get him at the braking zone in turn 1.

 From that point on I drove the GB400R as fast as I could in order to keep the competition behind. With 4 laps to go, the car developed a slight miss on certain corners which we later found out that the car was running out of gas. Had the race been 5 laps longer we may have kissed the win good bye!

By the end of the race we counted the points and if I still remember how to add, we are 1 point ahead of Bailey....which could make us the champions if he does not show up for the last race of the season on November 3-4 which will be a 3 hour endurance race at Buttonwillow Raceway.

In our race group, the ITE Class had some interesting cars and even a local celebrity. Disc Jockey  Joe Benson "Uncle Joe" from 93.1 Arrow FM radio, raced his Nissan 300Z.

Some of you may have seen this beautiful Nissan at the Long Beach GP every year in the Arrow 93.1 booth. Along side Douglas Mc Donald in his #1 black Mustang who has just recently started in the class and getting better.

It's important for me to recognize all the people who have contributed to this project and making it a reality. Sam and John Gladney who have trusted me and allowed me to steer the team in order to help them sell their cars.  My wife Sue, who has put up with me through this challenge and helped me keep my sanity. She is my #1 fan and supporter. She volunteered to baby sit my nephews this race weekend so she missed the action. I know she would have loved to have been there, thanks babe!