Another very exciting week in the life of Autosport Designs/Sinders Racing.
The weather at this wonderfully challenging 2.54 mile track in central
Georgia, venue for the 12th round of the Speed World GT Championship, was
warm and breezy, the exact opposite of the monsoon we experienced in Canada
at the beginning of September. The practice sessions were uneventful, with
both Tommy and Johnny continually lapping in the top half and third of the
thirty two car field. Qualifying turned into a real battle for supremacy
amongst the championship contenders and our hope of being up in the top half
of the grid alas was not to be realized.
The two Aston Martin DBRS9s of Autosport Designs Racing went out for
practice with one car between them. After two laps Tom had overtaken that
car and both he and Johnny decided they would push/pull each other round the
track. This was a fine idea for the first two laps with Tom getting an
excellent tow down the back straight then Johnny spun in turn seven and Tom
had no alternative but to spin in order to try and avoid his team mate.
Well, at least he managed to limit the damage to both cars, his car (#43)
had just a scratch on its nose but unfortunately Johnny (car #44) had a gash
in the rocker panel (caused by the tow hook of the 43 car) and the passenger
side door was hanging off its hinges - nothing some good old fashioned duct
tape could'nt fix! So it was off out again on flat spotted tires to see how
high up the grid they could get. The team ended up with Tom (#43) in 22nd
place and Johnny (#44) in 18th spot. 3.9 seconds covered pole through to the
28th placed car.
Following a torrential downpour after qualifying, race day was absolutely
perfect,- sunny, warm with a very slight wind blowing. As the lights turned
from red to green, twenty eight cars thundered into turn one with both
Johnny (#44) and Tom (#43) gaining one place each as they disappeared out of
sight. The race settled into a battle for the lead between the Cadillac
CTS-V, and the Dodge SRT Viper, with the Cadillac eventually coming away
with the win after fifty minutes of very hard racing throughout the field
with battles being fought between Chevrolet Corvette C6s, Porsche GT3s,
Mustang Cobras, Pontiac GTOs and of course the Aston Martin DBRS9s of
Autosport Designs/Sinders Racing.
Unfortunately, Johnny Mowlem (#44) lost his clutch on lap two but still
managed to finish eleventh overall and Tom Padopoulos made the podium, being
awarded the Hard Charger Award for gaining the most places during the race,
going from 22nd to finishing 12th.
Tom Papadopoulos, team principal and driver said “another good overall team
result which ended with my award and I am sure that if Johnny had not lost
his clutch he would have been higher up the finishing list”. Johnny said
that, “losing the clutch so early on in the race was a disappointment but
there is very little one can do about it except carry on! Again another
great drive for Tom and another good overall performance for the team”.
This race, and the final race of the season at Mazda Raceway, Autosport
Designs/Sinders Racing will be carrying decals for two charities, one for a
state of the art children's hospital in Oxford, England and the other for
Bridge House, a charity for addictions of many types. Bridge House was
started in New Orleans in 1957 and has been helping people since then and
has been especially active following Hurricane Katrina.
Autosport Designs Racing, Sinders Racing and Jefferies will be donating
$20,000.00 between these two charities and would like to see matching
donations from the other teams involved in the SCCA Speed World Challenge GT
and TC series. Obviously we would like these donations to be to the two
charities we are supporting but the important thing is to donate an amount
to a charity which can be one of each team’s choices.
Autosport Designs/Sinders Racing would also like to congratulate Johnny for
finishing second overall driving the Zytec P1 car in the Petit Le Mans 12
Hour Race over the same weekend. This was Johnny’s first drive of a
Prototype and what a great result!