July 4, 2008 - Team Autoxrs Headquarters

Hot on the heels of the DC Pro success, the team headed northwards to Northfield, OH near Cleveland for the 4th annual 4th of July NORA Challenge. With regular co-driver Roy Wendell still stationed in Denver, team owner Sean Banerjee would run the car alone. The challenge would consist of two heats with the top 15 drivers from each heat heading into a final shootout. The top 30 drivers would then battle it out to determine the final winner.

At the end of the day Sean ended up with a class win, but missed out on entering the top 30 challenge following a broken lock cylinder mishap.

The team left home base at 4AM due to the early event start and shortly beyond the Pennsylvania/Ohio border met up with regular Steel Cities competitors Dan Foley and Drew Ellis. The three cars caravanned along to the final destination of Northfield, OH. But, even before the team got to Northfield disaster struck when team owner Sean pulled off to verify directions with Dan. A broken lock cylinder on the CRX meant that Sean was locked out of the car on the side of I-480. Sean advised Dan and Drew to head to Northfield and inform the event officials that he would be there once AAA came by to unlock the car. An arduous 2 hour wait followed and by the time he finally got the car going again it was well past 9AM. Sean arrived on site to see the event had already started and STS2 was running heat #1. A quick word with the officials and they allowed the team to enter the event. With no time to set up the car and no course walk it was evident that winning STS2, let alone finishing top 15 would be a difficult task.

The first run on a cold course and Sean quickly went off course on an off set transition. A quick word with a SS Corvette driver and Sean got a hot lap in the SS car. With only 5 runs left it was time to get faster and hope for an entry into the challenge. Sean's second run looked promising, but a miscue on the finish slalom meant he had yet another off course excursion. Sean decided to take his third run at a slower pace so he could at least have one timed run on the score sheet. He recorded a 61.825 second run, but ended up with 2 cones at the finish. The finish proved to be tricky, a dip in the pavement followed by a sharp 90 degree left and right transition meant the car was off balance and care had to be taken to avoid an off course. Sean fell victim to this on his 4th run and had to forfeit the run to avoid hitting the timing equipment. Four runs and three off courses, things were not looking great. His final two runs were clean, but in the 60 second range. Following the morning heat Sean checked the set up on the car, only to realize the tire pressures were off by 10 lbs and the shocks weren't even adjusted. This probably explained some of the handling characteristics during the course of the morning session.

"It was a shame, we had a car that could finish top 10 in the challenge but the whole lock cylinder fiasco meant I had no time to set the car up or even focus on driving. The fact that I won STS2 despite having one good run proves how capable the car is." said car owner Sean after the event. The team will return to Northfield later in the season to run the other challenge event.

The team would once again like to thank Mark Connolly and everyone at McB Autosport for their continued support of the team. We'd also like to acknowledge the support provided by Jon Kofod/Team Flatoutracing and Curry's Auto Service.