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| To win the race we had to achieve the most number of laps, without exceeding our nominated lap times. We also had to make sure we could minimise the number of driver changes as each driver change cost us about 3 minutes of track time to complete laps. But there were limitations. We couldn't run much more than an hour without risking, running on empty. Running out of fuel on the track, would be a disaster. We also had to think about driver fatigue. We needed to maintain the pace, be incident free and be 100% on vehicle reliability. We opted to run each driver for a one hour period. This would mean five driver changes and a maximum of 15 minutes lost track time, or less if our driver changes were quicker. So there we were with 30 minutes to go. The big black Porsche was on the track again. The announcer had us at fourth. It was a good result, we were running to plan. If everyone else was running to plan, then we would finish fourth. The announcer then made an announcement which gave us some hope. It transpired that the positions he had been calling all day did not include penalty times. Penalty times would be available shortly he said. With less than 15 minutes to go, everything changed. The sheets of white paper distributed hurriedly to the teams from the race officials, contained the handwritten lap penalties. We didn't rate a mention. We liked it! Then came the next announcement. There were only three laps to go to complete the six hours. The announcer said that after more than five hours and including all penalties there were four teams on the same lap. The Alfa Club was running first. We were lying second not too far behind in the big black Porsche. We were lapping more than six seconds a lap faster. We could win this race! But we had just signalled Michael to take it easy. He was getting too close to his nominated time. Now we had to figure out how to get him to go a bit quicker, but not too quick! Within the space of a lap and a half, Michael had solved the problem himself and went by the dark blue Alfa. We were in the lead. The announcer concurred. So there we were, Michael had just entered the long back straight next to the new pit lane. He was In front. Clear track in front and behind! On his way to the chequered flag only a kilometre away. Then, there he was. Coming out of the "esses" onto the front straight heading toward us, the timing tower and the chequered flag! As he went across the finish line and got the chequered flag, the announcer acknowledged: " The provisional winner of the Great Race at Winton is the Maserati Club". We exploded. What a great race. What a great result! Celebrations were in order. But reality set in. I had to get back to Melbourne in what was left of the daylight. Michael and a few others in the team, were however happy to stay around for the presentation, give my apologies and accept the award. What a great moment. But that's really only one part of the story. The real story started just over a week earlier.
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