Teaming up with James Colborn, Dan Martinson entered his first Pro Endurance Race in the #73 Gear Tie Compass 360 Racing Honda Civic in the Grand Am Continental Sports Car Challenge Race at Road Atlanta. The weekend proved to be a big challenge for both the drivers and the Compass 360 Racing Team to keep the car on the track.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of seat time in the car before the race. We fought gearbox and temperature issues, along with the weather, all weekend.” After spending time with Pro-Driver Ryan Eversley, Dan was able to put down a competitive lap in the final practice session on Saturday. “Ryan was great to work with. He’s been driving these Hondas for a while now and this is his home track. It was my first time driving a front wheel drive race car. So, I was pretty happy to put down a good lap once the car was set up correctly.”
The bad luck continued at the start of the race when the engine overheated. “James didn’t make it to grid and had to wait for the team to fix the cooling issue. When he finally got out on the track, he was a full lap down.” To make things worse, the gearbox broke again half way through the race and Martinson was never able to join the race. “What can I say?…it was a huge disappointment. Two gearboxes and two cooling issues in two days…not impressive. My 1989 Porsche 944S2 goes an entire weekend at the same speeds without any of these issues. I guess Honda has a lot of work to do.”
Fortunately, there were a lot of fans at the event and the Gear Tie Honda did get some TV exposure during the race. “The weekend wasn’t a total bust. I was able to hand out a ton of Gear Ties to the fans during the weekend. And, the Compass360 Racing Team offered to keep the Gear Tie logo on the car for the rest of the season. I couldn’t pass up that offer! They are a great group of guys.”
Next up for Martinson is the PCA race at Sebring International Raceway on April 26-17. The Gear Tie Porsche Cayman will be back in shape and ready for a full week of racing…including a 3 hour enduro.
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