Day 5: Daytona on 4 hours of sleep

Getting in at 2:30 this morning was not part of the original plan. We didn't fare much different from many of the other teams - as a number of them were also running on fumes when we pulled into garages at Daytona. The drive through the tunnel was breathtaking and you got the sense that there was something special about the day.

I think we could've had 2 hours of sleep and made it though the day. This was a terrific moment for both of use to experience...in fact it is worth the entire trip. The only reason we needing the 4 hours of sleep was to get us through to South Carolina tonight.

We split today - obviously you don't drive 2,000 miles and not get to drive at this historic location. We had an added bonus of hot laps at lunch. The video (coming tomorrow) is of these hot laps. It is quite lengthy, but you get a great sense of the proper driving line and of the speeds that you "start" at...i.e.120 mph on the embankment. Just think, the professionals are going 200+ and passing each other. Now that demands some respect for turning left!

More photos have been added to the gallery, and more up to date comments and pics of our transit driving are on the FaceBook page: www.facebook.com/shinolaraceteam - which is also accessible on several links from the blog.

And that is what 31 degrees of pure engineering genius looks like from inside the car...

morning mileage: 35,139