Karl had not raced in 2 years and had to get his competition license reinstated with literally no time to spare. His race history and string of success over the years helped make that happen at the last minute.
The Troy boys were busy taking care of other teams cars which gave Karl very little time to develop his rental into a car he felt comfortable driving.

The first session was scary as the car did not do what it was supposed to. 20th out of 30 cars is not what Karl was accustomed to. The team made some significant changes for the following run and it made the car much more predictable.

There were 3 pink Porsches. The other 2 were driven by Chris Brady, a 944 Cup regular, and Nick Esayian, a pro driver. Karl ended up being fastest of the three piglets for the remainder of the weekend including Sunday’s Championship race. He finished 4th in a car he has never sat in before and after a 2 year break from racing. He was very pleased with the result.

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• The car is powered by a 1cyl. 250cc engine that is turbocharged
• The car has a dry weight of 750 lbs. and has so little rolling resistance that one person can push it with only one finger.

Click on the thumbnails below for more photos of the Edison 2:
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The Edison 2 team is comprised of some of the best in the business. Pioneers in Aviation, Road Racing and Engineering are involved in achieving one common goal. To win the X Prize with innovating designs that will benefit the entire world by overcoming fuel shortages. It is a huge honor to be crew-chief on the #98 car. As always Oliver has found a way to employ a group of team members that put personal achievements aside. Everybody helps where ever they can. Whether it is your car or someone else’s. Teamwork is key and the term “impossible’ does not exist.

Over 100 cars from all over the world have been entered in this event. Many have gone home by not meeting the required criteria. After the last competition in June 2010 only 15 teams and 21 vehicles remain. #96, #97 and #98 are 3 of those. #97 and #98 are of the mainstream category which are 4 seater cars. The two Edison 2 cars are the only ones left for the finals in the mainstream class. #96 is in the 2 seater alternative class. Unfortunately #95 had technical difficulties and was eliminated from the competition. #96 posted 101.5 MPGe on E85 fuel which is a new world record.

Karl will be back at Michigan International Speedway beginning July 19th 2010 for the finals as crew-chief on #98.

To find out more about the team and the competition, go to www.edison2.com and www.Progressiveautoxprize.com.

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“There are two top candidates for this role — cars capable of relegating DaVia to third or even fourth place in one or more of the remaining events. One is Karl Troy, whose Corvette-engined Ultima GT has shown impressive speed, including a sweep of the Day 4 doubleheader at Roebling Road . Troy had problems in his first two VIR runs, but came on strong in the third to post the second-best time behind Adee.”

“South Carolinian Karl Troy, driving a Corvette-powered Ultima GT component car, emerged as a major contender as he came close to matching Popp’s time in the day’s second run, despite brake fade issues “

The series is divided into two groups. Cup, for the regular 2.5l and 2.7l 944s and Supercup, for the 944S, 944S2,944 Turbos and 968s. Karl had hopes of doing fairly well in his first season but the results would exceed anything he could have expected. In 2006 he and his Porsche won 14 out of 17 races and by the end of the year Karl became 2006 SE Regional Champion and by winning all three races at the Inaugural Nasa Championships, became the first 944 Supercup National Champion in History. In 2007 Karl is competing in the Southeastern and Midatlantic Championships looking for more competition which is vital in fine tuning his skills on track. He is currently leading the MA championship but is second in the SE due to engine failure at the beginning of may and missing races/points.

On May 5th,2007 the Porsche’s engine which had been so reliable for all these years, let go in qualifying dumping oil everywhere and catching the back of the car on fire. Karl was offered a spare car to drive on Sunday brought down by fellow Cup driver Joe Boschulte (also known as the 944 Cup Chef). He had just bought the car and wanted it on hand for parts to keep his main car going. Karl had already switched brake components from one car to the other on Saturday, putting the destroyed rotors from Joe’s car onto the rental car. To everyone’s surprise(incl. Karl’s) Karl put the car on the pole. Keep in mind that Karl was driving a cup car in supercup and with 70hp less than his S2, Karl stayed in the lead for the entire race taking first overall in a car he sat in for the first time that weekend.  Click here for video of the event.

Arriving at VIR well after midnight it was time to get some rest. Saturday morning during the first practice session the clutch pedal ended up on the floor and Karl had to pull it back up with his foot. That continued to happen every time he shifted and made the car undriveable. Yet his fastest lap was good for 4th overall out of 29 cars.

It was determined later that the only way to continue the weekend was to drive without the clutch and shift by matching revs. Karl qualified in second place and took the lead on lap 1 where he remained until the checkered flag. He repeated this performance on Sunday where he started from pole position. Two victories without a clutch gave Karl the nickname “Clutchless Bastard” from his 944 Cup friends.

A mysterious braking problem would reveal itself at random times usually on the last lap of each run depending on how hard the brakes were being used. It was responsible for a few off track excursions at speeds up to 170mph missing turn one when the car just didn’t want to stop. Those, somewhat frightful experiences definitely put a small dent in Karl’s confidence in when it would happen again and if he would live through it. In spite of some technical difficulties the car performed beautifully otherwise and came home in 6th place overall a personal best for Karl.

Karl’s co driver was younger brother Martin Troy who is now working at European Road and Racing as the BMW guru of the shop. His expertise ranges from Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes and BMW . Karl and Martin had a great time as a team and as brothers spending valuable time together which they had not done in years due to taking care of their own families.

An unfortunate and accidental brake bias adjustment giving the car a majority of rear brakes sent the Lambo into the wall during hard braking over 100 mph while going downhill into a turn. The rear tires locked instantly causing the car to spin out of control. That meant a DNF after the first event and a spot at the end of the entire field. The Lamborghini and seven other cars ended up in 77 th position making it impossible to finish this race at the top. The car was bent, a radiator leaking, the left rear quarterpanel, lights, etc. destroyed. The alignment was severely out of specs and caused the steering wheel to be off by almost ninety degrees. The car was almost undriveable.

The second event was better. With the brake bias adjustment under control the car finished 7 th in the second run even though it felt like a pig on ice with the rear trying to steer in its own direction. A crude alignment with a tape measure made the car only predictably scary to drive and we chose to leave well enough alone.

We managed a few top spots in various events such as Memphis Motorsport Park where the Lambo finished 3 rd in the second run only 1.5 secs. behind the overall winner over 3 laps. At Carolina Motorsports Park the Lambo repeated it’s success by placing third in both events, this time beating the overall winner of One Lap ’03. Several other 4 th and 5 th place spots helped get the Diablo back to 9th overall even after loosing valuable points at the beginning. That is one spot ahead of the result of 2002.

We would like to thank all of our sponsors who helped make all this possible. A special thanks goes to my friend and co-driver Mike Appleby. Without your financial support none of this would have been possible. I hope we can do something like this again one day. One Lap of America 2004 is almost here and I am not sure if I will enter a car. Check back soon to find out. Click on this link for the Car and Driver article featuring the European Road and Racing Diablo on page 4.