The Roman Scholar: Albacete WEC Blog

By Will Gruy

Gruy is an American university student living in Rome and racing in the World Endurance Championship. See his last blog here.
I had finished all my exams for the summer and so I went Spain early, as I had never been to Madrid and wanted to check out the city a bit. I spent three days there by myself, walking aimlessly around, sleeping in parks after lunches at the most authentic little tapas bars I could find. I stayed in a little youth hostel in the back of a gothic clothing store. I took a train to Albacete, and the team picked me up. When I got in the car, my team manager looked at me with my rucksack and said, “Okay you little Gypsy, vacation is over. I expect a lot out of you this weekend.” I shut up and nodded to show him that for me, mental preparation for the race had already started back in Rome when I had closed the door to my apartment and walked away.

This year, the race at Albacete was only a two-day event, so all the riders had to get up to speed from the first session out. We did really well in qualifying, posting the fourth-fastest time, and I was feeling very confident during the night sessions. The days, though, were very hot, and many teams were having problems with rear tires. With little testing time before the race, we went in with our fingers crossed, hoping we had made the right tire decision.

The race began at 6 p.m., and for the first few hours we managed to stay in the top positions. After about three hours, though, we began having problems. The bike would sputter after twenty laps, whereas we were suppose to be able to complete about thirty-eight laps before coming in for a pit stop.

At first we thought it was the pit-speed limiter that was causing an electrical malfunction, but after I went out with the limiter unplugged, we discovered that wasn’t the problem at all. Instead, it was a fuel-pump malfunction, and without a spare gas tank, that would mean a very lengthy pit stop.

By the time the bike was repaired, we had fallen back as far as twentieth place, but we soon began to make up time. The sun had set and the air was a bit cooler, so the bikes were running well. The track was still hot, though, so the tires would fade badly for the last ten laps or so of each stint. Regardless, we were able to regain positions and made it up as far as eleventh place in the EWC class, earning some points and keeping our third place in the Endurance World Championship standings.

The race finished at 2 a.m., so that meant our hospitality was converted into a late-night bar/cafeteria…. except there were few girls—just smelly riders, mechanics, wine, beer and lots of pasta. The team manager even thought it a good idea to throw Rossana in the little swimming pool we had set up behind the hospitality. She’s an elegant, middle-aged Italian woman, but most importantly, representative of our new sponsor Zucchelli Enologica. When the team saw this, we thought Oh NO! I guess we aren’t getting a salary this year! But luckily she was all smiles…. so being Italian gentlemen, everyone else jumped in to keep her company. By 5 a.m., everyone had dried off adequately and was in bed. By 8 a.m., everyone was working hard to take down the pit box, hospitality tents, load the trucks, and start on the homeward journey.

Thanks to Amadeus Energy Limited (www.amadeusenergy.com) for being part of the team.