We never dreamed we would ever own a Corvette when we were growing up much less racing them.  The Pantherbranch Racing Team will begin racing two Corvettes in 2010, a 2008 Z06 and a 2010 ZR1.  High speeds thrill us at a time when most people are starting to slow down.  The Big Bend Open Road Race is now in the history books as our first open road race.  We're hooked.  The race course was US 285 from Ft. Stockton, Texas to Sanderson, Texas.   The total distance was 59 miles and then return 59 miles.  Alice drove the first leg, going through the radar trap at 134.1 MPH and an average speed for the 59 miles of 115.615.  We made a rookie mistake of not trusting our timing and slowed behind another car and lost time.  We knew we had to make time up on the return leg so although Jim went through the visible radar trap at 124.9 MPH we averaged 126.711 MPH for the 59 miles  on the return so needless to say we were rocking and rolling on both legs of the race.  It was great weather although the racing suits got a little hot waiting on the grid.  We worked very hard but we were figuring timing adjustments until we crossed the finish line at about 130 MPH, almost a minute AHEAD of our target time.  

The Z06 was absolutely outstanding during the race and the response was fantastic.  We finished 17th of the 22 cars in our class.  One thing was for sure we weren't getting penalzed for going too slow.  We had to reach our 120 MPH average without going less than 30 MPH under and 20 MPH over that speed.   We had some timing issues to work out and we are now better prepared this year. We have a plan to tighten up our time and have more consistent speeds in 2010.  We didn't drive any curve at less than 100 MPH so we love the handling and performance of the Z06.  We did pass two cars of the return leg at 140 MPH in order to make up lost time from our misjudging our time on the first leg.   For safety purposes we worked out a system before the return that we would flash our lights and they would acknowledge with a right turn signal.  Both cars were passed useing these signals.  We can't over emphasize the importance of safety is for speeds involved in an open road race.  

One funny story was that Alice finished the first leg of the race and as soon as we exited the car, a young man came running up to her asking for her autograph stating, "you are the first girl racer's autograph that I have gotten".  Alice gave the young man her autograph and then said "would you like his autograph too, he's a racer?"  The kid said "yeah" but wasn't as excited about that autograph.  The people at both Ft. Stockton and Sanderson were outstanding hosts.  The Sanderson folks put on a welcoming party that is second to none.  The County Judge let us use one of his rooms for our rookie school.  Everyone was a class group of Southerners with Texas hospitality.

We want to say thank you to the Permian Basin Corvette Club from the Midland/Odessa, Texas area who graciously let us become part of their group for outings and events at the race.  The great group of racers has allowed us to be part of their group for the 2010 event at Big Bend.  Everyone was very helpful and gracious to us our first year.  

We want to thank the many volunteers who are so graciously giving of their time to make racing possible.  Without them we couldn't race.  So, THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS and RACE WORKERS.   

More information on the Big Bend Open Road race can be found at http://www.bborr.com/ .  We are now registered to return to Ft Stockton in April and run the Big Bend Race, and conclude with a race in Nebraska called the Sandhills Open Road Challenge.  It is a totally different course with lower overall speeds.  We have been accepted into the Sandhills race and information on that event can be found at http://www.sorcrace.com/.  We applied for the 95 MPH class at Sandhills due to terrain and road course being very different from Big Bend.  

Suggestions and other helpful racing/tming information can be sent to vettez06@pantherbranch.com.    Thank you to all who have sent suggestions on timing and racing in general.   Racers are a wonderfully helpful group.

Our local Corvette Club is Nature Coast Corvette Club and their URL is http://www.ncvette.com/  This is a fun group of folks who really enjoy participating in different types of Corvette activities and fun events.  If you move or live in the Florida Nature Coast area, you would enjoy this Corvette Club and it's members.  There are Corvettes from all generations in this fun club.

   Corvette is America's Sports Car.  If you ever wanted a sports car, you will love a Corvette.  The Corvette we raced in 2009 and will race in 2010 is 505 HP with quarter-mile times of 11.7seconds at 125 mph and a top speed of 198 mph so the car performs well in an open road race.  We do not drive in open road racing events with the traction control off.  We have too much respect for the cars performance to chance driver error during an event.  The tires are OEM and speed rated for a maximum of 186 MPH although our speeds are less than that for the Z06 entries.  We have always enjoyed high performance automobiles and the C6 Z06 Corvette is one of the best.   This car gets almost 30 MPG highway when traveling.  Just don't touch the accelerator. 

The ZR1, aka Tweety on Steroids, is now part of the family.  That bad boy has 638 HP and as a result we will spend some time at a driving school in Nevada.  We have decided to sell the 03 Anniversary car since we rarely drive it and there are only about 12,000 miles on the odometer.  If you are interested in an 03 Anniversary Corvette Convertible six speed, contact us for more information.    

We are now looking at Mile Marker 1 in Miami for a future event.  Thanks to racer Bob Cox for bringing that to our attention and for the helpful timing suggestions he provided.  Bob runs the Big Bend event as well as Bonneville Salt Flats.