Essential to any race effort is a dedicated team, willing to work long hours with little glory. Here Carol sits in front of the Tiger Racing Team in Atlanta, 2001.

Derived from Formula One technology, the 355 F1 featured a six speed gearbox and a clutch, but the gearshifts and clutch operations were made via several computers and a complex series of electrohydraulic selectors. Ferrari had refined this to a degree that even a novice was able to shift the car via "paddles" on the steering column faster than a race driver could shift manually. It blended the functions of an automatic with the blessing of a six speed manual transmission. For Tom and Carol, this eliminated the hardest aspect of a hand control vehicle, that of shifting a manual transmission. A new 355 Challenge car with the F1shifter was ordered, and when it arrived it was equipped with a brake and throttle system designed by Carol's father and fabricated by master craftsman Steele Therkleson. The Ferrari "paddles" were changed to two thumb switches on the steering wheel, the right for upshifts and the left for downshifting. The telescopic feature of the steering wheel provided the mechanics and leverage for the brake; pushing in, or away from the driver's body, on the steering wheel activated the brakes. A concentric ring added behind the steering wheel actuated the throttle. As the ring is pulled toward the driver, more throttle is applied. The travel of the ring is about two inches. Finally, the steering ratio was increased by about 30 percent, allowing the driver to keep both hands at the three and nine o'clock positions at all times. While this sounds complex, Carol said that is simple to learn. "Every able bodied driver that has driven the car has learned the system within a few laps." During another trip to California in 2000, Regazzoni again came by the Tiger Racing's shop. Carol and Clay took the 355 to the track. "It was an amazing weekend for me. Clay is a wonderful man and still a remarkably talented race driver."

In 1998, Carol participated in Ferrari Challenge events, which gave her tremendous experience. She returned to SCCA club racing the following year and became the Cal Club Regional T1 champion. She felt she was ready to move on to an even more competitive series, the Speedvision World Challenge GT, which was not only extremely competitive, but the entire series was televised by Speedvision.

On paper, the Ferrari 355 looks competitive, with a horsepower to weight ratio roughly equivalent to that of the Acura NSX and the Audis, Porsches and Mustangs which make up the field. The fact that Carol is the only entrant in the series with a Ferrari, however, belies the figures. "We only bought the 355 because of the shifter," said Carol. The Ferrari F1 system was designed for the street and not the track, and was not an option on the race-tuned Challenge cars. Special permission had to be obtained from Ferrari to use the F1 system on the Challenge car. "They finally sold it to us with that understanding. Sure enough, we had to struggle with the shifter. We had to do a lot of work to bulk up the system." The World Challenge GT cars are essentially stock, and right out of the bag the 355 F1 has about half the torque of the front runners. "On a road course, torque is very important to pull away out of the corners," said Tom.