On The Phone with Racer Pierre Perret
After taking third at the BITD Vegas to Reno the Long Way race, Pierre Perret 1909 called to check in and let us know about his challenges of the week.
“Well, I finished on three tires again!” After a long, long race (996 miles total), he got his 6th flat tire on the front right 20 miles away from the finish line. About 10 miles out, he decided that they should stop and change it. Just as they got out of the car, the 1924 team passed them. He told his co-driver to get back in and they chased the 1924 team all the way to the finish line. It was a good call on Perret’s part because after adjusted time, he took third place overall by only 5 minutes! He could have lost the podium by that tire change alone!
Perret has found that if these vehicles can make it 30 miles, then they can usually make it to the finish line. On Day 1, he drove very conservative about 35-40mph to conserve the motor and transmission, but he still ended up having to change the clutch. “I am new for this year, so I have been doing a lot of R&D with this RZR to see what will work,” said Perret.
Finishing Day 3 with Flat Tire
On Day 2 he ran into transmission problems. He had to have a friend that was 9 hours away buy parts and run them out to the starting line! With the delay in getting the parts, he was late getting to the starting line on Day 3. Once he made the Day 3 starting line, he had wiring problems that had wiring shorting out. They rewired and off he drove to a crash just before pit 2, and onto the finish line!
“My whole team had a great, great time. It was a very long 3 days, but it was all worth it.”
Next race is the BITD SilverState. They are planning on tearing the whole car down, checking everything, and basically build a new car in 4 weeks.
Category: On the Phone With...., Polaris, Random Thoughts
