(Last) Weekly Roundup: Not That Close, Definitely No Cigar Edition

We expected to win big this past weekend. We had an all-star driver lineup, we had a perfectly-sorted car prepped with no expense spared, we had a first-rate crew. In a series where one of the competitors showed up with a total of four people to drive and fix the car, we brought seventeen pairs of hands. Plus at least five ad-hoc fans and helpers who showed up at the last minute.

In the end, we finished 41st of 59 cars on Day 1 (8th of 9 in class) and 30th of 51 cars on Day 2 (6th of 9 in class) despite leading the race for over an hour on Sunday. We replaced the transmission --- twice. We had to sent someone to get a radiator 105 miles away in weather so bad that semi-trucks were being blown over onto their sides. We had five contact incidents, destroying both doors, one fender, and the nose. Needless to say, there were no trophies involved and the unexpected expenses flowed like water.

It could have been worse. One of our competitors showed up in a brand-new MX-5 Cup car, only to total it on LAP TWO of Saturday's race. At least seven cars were crashed beyond reasonable repair. A Ferrari 458 Challenge won the first day and went home with damage on all four corners the second day. Then there was the team that built an engine out of two bad ones and managed to complete just one lap --- which happened to be the last lap of Sunday's race.

It was a weekend notable for poverty of results but richness of experience. A few of the best stories will appear in R&T later this week. For now, though, let's see what got done last week.

I wrote about aerobacks. I never tire of writing about aerobacks.

Bark knocked out an article on an empty auto show for TTAC.

We have some book reviews and few more great vintage-car pieces to show you this week. And there's more racing this weekend. Let's hope it goes a little better!