Earlier in the day I had wandered by Ross Robbins' pit area, and heard that Burt would be sharing driving duties for the one hour enduro in Ross's lovely red Elan. When I realized the enduro was on, I headed to pit lane, where I saw Bert and the rest of the crew waiting for Ross to come in for his mandatory 5 minute stop for fueling and driver change. I took a place on the wall next to Tim Holland's friend Terri, who was looking sharp in her Lotus Engineering driving suit, keeping times for Tim. I asked her if she was sharing the ride with him and she explained that though she couldn't drive here at Road America, she had plenty of seat time in the 41 back at Waterford Hills and other courses. She pointed out that Tim would be coming in soon saying there was not much time left before the pit stops were required to take place. I looked over at Burt, who was still standing, helmet in hand, waiting for Ross to decide it was time to come in.

Tim came in on the next lap, rolling smartly to a stop in his pit. Terri was at the ready, pulling at the spring catches to release the engine cover as Tim clambered out of the cockpit. As they attended to the car, I watched Peter Warr wander up to the pit wall, and step up on it for a better view. I imagined he was watching over them as if they were his own team from a distant past. I was actually surprised to see that the single piece cockpit surround and front body work needed to be removed to access the fuel filler. Didn't seem to be that quick a process, but then there must be something I don't understand about the 41B... not meant for longer runs? I dunno. As it was, Tim and Terri finished with their fueling and check over of the car, and Tim climbed back in to finish the job.

As Tim pulled out, I noticed a yellow flag was waving at the starting bridge, indicating a full course yellow. I could hear Burt lamenting to Ross's crew - he's got to come in under the yellow! He's got to come in!

Burt was standing out at the dividing wall between the pit lane and the front straight, waving his helmet up and down to get Ross's attention. Next lap around, Burt had his helmet on, and was jumping up and down pointing dramatically at his wrist, indicating to Ross that time was running short on his pit stop requirement.

As he passed by, Ross gave a cheerful little wave, which I'm sure made Burt feel much better! It must have been the next lap around that Ross did come in, and Burt was all over the car, fueling while Ross climbed out, then climbing in and waiting anxiously while Ross helped adjust the harness and get him settled in. The starter in the Elan had failed earlier in the day, so a push was required, and Burt was finally on his merry way.

After the enduro I went back down to the Lotus group at turn 5. I mentioned to someone that I planned to take my Seven out for track touring and they pointed out that I'd best get over to tech inspection because they were closing in 10 minutes. Tech inspection?! I'd never considered that the car needed to be tech'ed to go touring, but I hopped in and dashed over to the main garage where I lined up behind a brand new BMW Sedan that was already in the drive through bay. I turned the car off and got out, wandering into the garage to have a closer look. In front of the BMW was a new Porsche, which was just being waved out. I turned back to the Seven to see a younger fellow in a new silver Mercedes CLK something or other inching up next to the Seven with the obvious intention of pulling ahead and into the bay.

I raised my hands in a questioning gesture and pointed at my Seven. Oh, he said, didn't realize you were taking it into tech. What an ... well, I'd best reserve further comment on that. So I fired up the Seven and pulled into tech, hoping that I'd get a refund of my 25 bucks when they chuckled asked where my catch tanks were, or whether or not my seat belts were of current spec. As it was, they had a quick peek under the bonnet 'okay that's good' and standing behind 'let's see the brake lights... good' grabbing each front wheel and giving a tug apparently convinced the inspector that they weren't going to fall off, and that was it!