These are a few pictures from our first race as the Army Of Darkness. The last 24-hour race at Nelson's Ledges took place on the July 4th weekend of 1993. We had bought an FZR 600 for $2,000 and all took time off from racing against each other to race with each other. Sometimes it was difficult to remember that we were a team in practice. We were in fifth place at the fifteenth hour when the transmission let go. This was an appropriate introduction to endurance racing.

Here is John Donnelly before he lowered his standards of what race bikes should look like. This was his Formula III 400 with lots of cool bits on it. The whole package was compromised by his orange leathers.

This is William Lindsay crashing the bike in turn 13 about 2 hours before the green flag would start the race. This added a little tension to an otherwise relaxed and well rested crew. Note the auxiliary taillight mounted on the right side of the motorcycle is not touching the ground.

This is Tim and Alex fixing the bike after William's accident. The red blob in the foreground is an extra light added to aid identification of our motorcycle at night. It didn't really help cause when you're on pit road at 2:00am staring into 260 watts of high beam you can't see shit. Note the drop of sweat on Tim's nose.

Here Alex holds a slightly used starter cover from an FZR 600. The crash also contributed to lightening the crank by shaving valuable milligrams off of the starter clutch bolt. We also replaced the steering damper, master cylinder, tires, and brake pads. John had to figure out if the bike was bent or not at the start of the race.

Fifteen hours later and our race was over. The transmission went south and took the cases with it. We blew it up at 7:15am after running all night without incident. Dead by dawn.

Here is the crew and riders of the first race without Amy Pickering who took the picture. From left to right is Hillary (whose last name I can't remember), William Lindsay, Ken Coleman, Joe Wootton, Alex Priest, Dean Middleton, Tim Gooding, Sam Fleming, Digital, John Donnelly, Steve Ward, Jim Williams and YT Lechner.

The 1996 team in 1993

This is Tim asleep in the van on the way home. We are on our way home although the race is not over. This is the first sleep Tim has had for 30 some hours and he is obviously dreaming he is somewhere else.

Here is Sam getting hassled by the man in Daytona after failing to signal when turning off the beach. The bald guy wanted to know if we were there for the "first races to be held in October". And then they wonder why they don't get respect. This is not actually from the 24 hour race but I can put whatever I want here and you can't stop me.