With each successive lap, I rode the apex curbs a little higher. The harder you hit them, the larger radius you could take. The flip side was that it also kicked the inside wheels higher in the air, pitching the car toward the outside wall. Searching for the right amount of showboating two-wheel action was about the most fun I've ever had in my entire life.
The only scary section was the front straight. The nice banking allowed the long curve to be taken flat out. I'd say the car pulled close to 135mph before hitting around 150 at the braking zone. But, the pit wall blocked forward visibility to less than 100 feet on the fastest inside line. If anyone stalled in there, I would have likely never known what happened.
At the end of the fourth lap, the engine quit at this very spot. I checked the mirror and breathed a big sigh of relief for my competitors. This time I wasn't losing fluid. I coasted down to the runoff at the end of the straight. I hit the starter a couple of times. The crank was spinning, but it didn't sound like anything else was. I had to sit and watch as everyone else got to play for another four or five laps. The corner workers were really cool, though. They gave me an icy bottle of water while we waited for the session to end.
The Hasport crew was remarkably upbeat as I was towed back to the pits. The cameras had been chasing our car for all four of my laps, so they got to see the whole thing on the Jumbo-Tron. We also clocked the third fastest time of the group, only losing to the Evasive Motorsports Evo and the C-West S2000. Forensic surgery revealed that the oil pump had come loose, leading to a timing chain failure. Gillespie looked up from under the car and asked: "Do you want to keep going?"
Those four laps were incredible. I had driven at the Long Beach Grand Prix. But there was no way to get the car out of the paddock and swap the motor. Getting something running was going to be a serious burden on everyone involved and they had hardly slept since I nuked the last motor. I looked back and replied: "Yes." Brian smiled as if his question was facetious.
Those were tourist laps and I wanted to own that place. I was getting a feel for it, but I knew there was a lot of time left. With every corner being blind and every exit waiting to snatch you up, it was taking longer than usual to get a rhythm going. I wanted another go at it. I may never get the chance again. So what if it didn't have a motor? This is Hasport we're talking about. As if a motor swap ever intimidated those guys.
The team scattered across the city. Martinez buttoned up another K24 at his house, Borelli hunted down an engine hoist, then everyone met back at the track at 5 a.m. to smuggle everything into the paddock. Well, almost everyone. I overslept and rolled in around noon. The car had a crowd gathered around it as the guys demonstrated how to install a K-series motor into an old Integra.
I clocked 1:33.8 on my third lap, taking nearly three seconds off the previous day's time. But just as I started lap four, she shut down again. A hot air bubble in the coolant system had made its way to the temp sensor, sending the Hondata ECU into limp mode. Another cold water with my boys down at turn one and it was time to head back to the pits. This was the first time I'd been able to drive the Integra into the pits under its own power, even if it wouldn't rev over four grand.