Racing
Brian Makse has been playing race driver, driver coach and event facilitator for auto manufacturers for over 15 years. More recently, Brian has competed in the 2005 and 2006 One Lap Of America events.
The One Lap Of America is a direct descendant of the Cannonball Run, which is the original "Run". Unlike the Gumbag, Playa and Randomly-Named Runs, the Cannonball is the only competitive run with points based on actual on-track performance.
In 2005, Brian teamed with car-owner and notorious bon-vivant, Jack Baruth, in a 1986 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16, one of the original homologated roadgoing touring cars. While the Cosworth-Benz was a stylish and delightful ride, it was grossly underpowered. Despite on-track successes, like eclipsing BMW M-Roadsters, Corvettes, Lotus Elises, the Benzo was no match for the 500+ horsepower STis and Evo 8s.
For 2006, Brian and Jack teamed up again, this time with a 2005 Mercedes-Benz E320 CDI. Although Audi beat them to it with the dominant R10 race car, the team was delighted to show the world that diesels are performance cars, too. Again, they out-performed many high-powered sports cars, but this time, they won the Alternative Fuel class--and paid for their trophies to prove it.
In the fall of 2007, Brian joined forces with his One Lap of America teammates to win the inaugural 24 Hours of LeMons Detroit.
Brian started the 2008 racing season with a one-off drive in the Green Baron Motorsports Dodge Neon, then was subsequently contracted to co-drive the Pakistan Express Racing Team Honda Civic with Faisal Ahmad.