The 3X team struggled with mechanical problems early on in the event, but managed to come back from starting in last place to finish 10th out of 17th in the final championship race. See the bottom of this page for race weekend pictures. Click on the photos for a larger view.

Starting position for the heat races was done semi-randomly, with the results of the heat races determining your starting position in the championship race.

Heat 1

The 3X Car starts in position 12 with Terry Noakes behind the wheel. Terry does well with some aggressive passes, but the car doesn't seem to be quite as fast on the straightaways as the other cars. Of course when Terry ends up half on top of a car that spun in front of him, that cost some time too. Our first pitstop is pretty slow, and Kim Hubbard got back out in last place. She drives a clean race and manages to get past a car that spins on the last lap. Unfortunately, a timing and scoring problem failed to count our last lap, so officially we come in last.

Heat 2

Mark Frankovic is first up, with a lucky number 3 starting spot. Mark drives an aggressive race, but unfortunately, a little wheel banging with another car cuts the valve stem off of his left rear tire, the drive wheel. Mark starts losing ground, and it is time for him to come in for a pit stop. In the heat of the battle, we don't notice that his tire is down until Danny Brown speeds out of the pits trailing sparks! We frantically try to signal Danny to stop, but before the corner workers understand what we are trying to say, Danny is around the corner and scraping his way around the course. In spite of driving around on the drive sprocket instead of his rear tire, Danny manages to hang with the other cars. The next time by the pits, we frantically wave the pit sign, but he is not able to come into the pits until after one more lap. Finally, Danny is able to come scraping and sparking into the pits. If it had been any other wheel, we would have been able to attempt a fast tire change to send him back out. But the drive wheel requires a special wheel and requires removing the chain. Another last place finish.

We immediately begin loading up the tools and getting the car ready to head to the garage area. Fortunately, there are spare parts for sale, and the race organizers even supply mechanics who do most of the work. Thanks to some fast work by the mechanics, are able to get the car ready for the next heat.

Heat 3

Because of the emergency mechanical work, we want a driver familiar with the mechanics of the car to take it out first. This means Terry. Terry manages to cut through the field to move up several spots from his 15th place starting position. The car is running even better than before the tire problems. Our pit stop was much improved, but still dropped us back several positions, but Danny managed to hold on and stay ahead of several cars.

Heat 4

Mark Frankovic starts off the race again, this time in 6th position. With four good tires under him, Mark drives a good race. Thanks to some suggestions by Danny, we finally have a fast pit stop, and put Kim Sweet in the car for the second segment. Kim drives a good clean segment, preserving our position, and picks up some spots when cars in front of her spun.

Championship Heat.

Our performance has improved over the last two heats, but our overall heat race scores are still pretty low. We start the championship race in last place. The team decides to put our most aggressive driver in first to see what he can do. Terry starts well and gets inside another car in the first turn of the race. Our team starts cheering louder. Even our pit steward, starts cheering us on. (Pit stewards are officials who watch for rules violations during pit stops). Up till this point the body work on the 3X car was in fairly good shape, but now it is starting to show some more battle scars. Between Terry's passes and other cars making pit stops, Terry is up to 5th place by the time it is time for our pit stop. We manage a 14.9 second pit stop, which is about our best of the weekend, but still almost twice as long as the stops of the top teams.

Danny is in the car and away in about 12-13th spot. Danny passes a couple cars and some cars make late race pit stops. But by now the field has spread out. Danny is picking up time, but we don't have enough laps left. We finish the race in 10th out of 17 cars.

The 1998 3X Mini Gran Prix team. Kim Hubbard, Danny Brown, Mark Frankovic, Andy Welter, Terry Noakes, Kim Sweet (left to right)
Terry Noakes gets ready to take the green flag		Terry "The Terminator" Noakes looks for his next victim.
Kim Hubbard puts on her game face waiting for the first pit stop.		Kim Hubbard roaring down the front straight.
Mark Frankovic hangs onto his position even with one flat tire.		The 3X car goes behind the wall to get it's drive wheel replaced.
Kim Sweet flashes past the pits		Finally, a fast pitstop!
Danny Brown shows what he can do with four good tires.		The long day of racing takes its toll on some of the competitors.
Someone told this driver to keep the rubber on the road... I don't think this is what they meant.		Now which way am I supposed to be going again?
The crowd cheers as Terry grabs another spot in the final race.