jimeby

iTrader: (1)

I noticed plenty of RX-7 's on track for the 8 hour CSCC enduro road race last weekend in Portland. Somehow, we managed to keep running throughout the race... with only a couple half hour breaks to perform some scheduled service work. We racked up somewhere around 212 laps (over 500 miles) in about 7 hours of racing. My driver was tired, but is ready to go again. By the way, our car is an 85 SE. It still has the original engine with over 200,000 miles on it... it's never been out of the car. We finished 31st overall and 13th in class.... and our car number was 13.
There were two RX-7's pitted next to us that had a few issues but never gave up! They actually performed a mid-race engine replacement and got it back on track with plenty of race time left. They were all friendly guys and it was a pleasure to pit beside them.
Congratulations to all!

Blake

Were you pitted in spot 13? Yellow GSL-SE? My team was in pit 14, the yellow E36 M3 in P1. I was the front tire changer. I don't know exactly how we finished, but it was in the top 10...I think 5th or 6th in class, probably about 8th overall. Second at the start, first by T4, then we lost about 27 laps to a broken serpentine belt, occurring on lap 15 or so, causing us to overheat pretty bad, and then had to come back in on the very next lap to blead an air bubble out of the cooling system. Everything after that was clawing our way back up, but it was smooth sailing. Although, one of our drivers got car sick after about 30 minutes and we had to pull him out at an unscheduled stop. Then the next driver rerported feeling sick and we got worried about an exhaust headder leak, though he finished his stint and the next driver had no problems...they were probably following a rotary too closely.

Congrats on your race. Just finishing a long enduro is quite a feat, let alone doing so respectably placed. That GSL-SE pitted next to us was on stock wheels!

jimeby

iTrader: (1)

Well, who'da thunk. Yes... that was us pitted next to you. Yellow GLS-SE #13.
I noticed you had some cooling issues. I was very amazed that your car completed the race after getting that hot. But, it did look and sound good on track. I have new found respect for BMW. Send my congratulations to your team.
As for us, we had stock wheels, stock brakes and stock original engine. Plus, after our race tires got disqualified by the officials, we ran the final 5 hours on a set of 4 year old Goodrich TA street radials. My son was in the car 7 of the 8 hours... he just took two mandated 1/2 hour breaks.
Cheers!

z-beater

^^^right on and great times. Man 8 hours of racing that is insane!

Blake

That car is indestructible. It's been a race car since the day it rolled off the assembly line. Motorola Cup and it's successor Grand Am Cup, plus the odd club race here and there. The euro-spec 3.2 engine has only been out of it once (two years ago, after we were head-on'd at the 25 hour Thunderhill race...we still finished). It has been completely totalled at least 3 or 4 times and rebuilt, plus all the lesser but still notable benders. The Grand Am Cup Series basically considers racing a full-contact sport. How appropriate that NASCAR owns our sanctioning body! We were forced to retire it this year from profesional racing due to the limitation on age in the GAC rulebook (8 years max on a bodystyle). This year we got an M-Coupe for GAC, but the M3 was a better option for the 8 hour enduro due to our having more spare parts, wheels and familiarity. We actually won the PIR Enduro outright about 6 years ago (a couple years before I joined the team). It also has a handfull of top-ten finishes in pro racing. Thanks to that car, I can say I've changed tires under race conditions at Daytona, Watkins Glen, VIR, Mid-Ohio, Fontana, Portland, Phoenix, Barbur, etc.

Wow. If I had a roll cage, I could have raced you with the 85 GSL-SE I drove to the track! That's just crazy to do the whole race with one driver!

Blake

8 hours isn't too bad, actually. The shortest race I've ever crewed was 3 hours (Grand Am is an endurance series, with mandated driver changes, refueling and tire changes under race conditions). When I did the 25 hours at Thunderhill a couple years ago, 16 hours into it I realized: "we've already done two PIR Enduros back-to-back and we still have one to go...plus an hour!" D'oh!

I really like long enduros (at least the 3 to 12 hour ones; 24s suck!) because reliability, efficiency and consistency pay off more than in a sprint, plus you must do hot pit stops. God, that gets your adrenaline pumping! The 3 hour races we usually do are okay, but we only get one "real" pit stop (tires, fuel & driver) and one splash and go, unless there is rain or a convenient full-course yellow. The 8 hour is cool because we do about 4 tire changes (more if it rains), 6 fuel stops, and about 4 driver changes. Obviously, we combine them, but it still means at least 4 "real" stops, where I can be involved, and often more. Great practice and any mistakes are less critical...much less pressure than doing it, say, at Daytona, under the lights, on TV. The big downside to enduros is cost. Many sets of wheels and tires, obviously, but you have to have a lot more spare parts and a large pit-stop crew. We typically bring 6 to 8 crew to a race (two tire guys, jack guy, fueler, safety, deadman, mechanic, etc), and they all need plane tickets, rental cars, lodging, food, etc. Not to mention transporting the car and whatnot. Mucho expensive! That's why I crew instead of race.

Now, driving 7 of 8 hours at an enduro...that's crazy!

Hyper4mance2k

iTrader: (40)

awesome. pix, pix pix....

23Racer

Hey guys, I was driving the #26 Brown Bros. Cobra R. I really enjoyed watching the #13 RX7's drivers side front wheel camber changes as you guys banged through the corners. I was also standing on the pit wall (trackside) when you guys lost the tire and fender. I dropped pretty fast.

It was a great race, but I do have to admit the closing speeds at night between us and some of the P3 cars were a little scary!!! Going into the braking zone in turn one, the closing speeds were close to 50 mph.

Again you guys did a great job with a realistic budget. Just getting a car to the finish of an 8 Hour is a big accomplishment.

jimeby

iTrader: (1)

He he he... so, that was YOUR red SE setting over there... In the middle of our tire problems the team was discussing the possibilites of "borrowing" your wheels and tires for a couple hours...

jimeby

iTrader: (1)

Dang! Lots of racers on this board! I've been a Mustang freak since the 60's and I LOVED watching and hearing your Cobra accelerate past our pits. It looked hot and made me jealous.
Yeah, the only changes we made to the stock front of our car is a cheap coil over kit and camber plates. We've only got 150lb/in springs and the stock bar in it. I don't even have a strut tower brace in it yet. It's on my list but just haven't gotten to it. I could see by the tires that we were only using about 3/4 of the tread.
Our biggest letdown of the race was the low cost race tires. They just weren't up to the task. The tread separation on the front was exciting for everybody I guess... my driver felt it begin to come apart as he rounded the last turn then it came apart about 5 seconds later. It did rip the fender off clean... and knocked the battery loose but other than that, no damage.
The closing speeds are part of this kind of racing. We were one of the slowest cars so you could say we were part of the problem. Driver Jack said everyone was very conservative and he had no close calls at all.
I think I spent $1700 total for the trip. That includes transportation, food, fuel, tires (ha!), fees, and bribes. Pretty cheap racing, really... oh yeah... and 15 bucks to ebay for our lights.
It really was a blast...

23Racer

Hey, no problem. Actually your driver team was very good and actually did seem to be looking in the mirror, unlike certain white Rabbits, LA-Z-Boy Civics, Miatas and a certain BMW (not mentioning any names). I was more concerned with whacking into someone.

By the way your race cost almost equals our cost per hour. EGADS!!!!!! Speed costs I guess, but I bet you got more fun per dollar. Driving the Cobra R wasn't fun, it was work.

Icemastr

iTrader: (2)

I think I am going to stay away from the enduros for awhile, replacing engines mid race, wearing two or three sets of tires, replacing pads, broken stuff sheesh. Over 300 race miles this year and all I have done is gone through a set and a half of tires.

z-beater

I agree, to me 1700 for one event is by no means cheap. But the only competitive racing that I have done is MX and operating costs for that are typically under 150 if you do not break anything.

I am surprised at how many racers there are here on the forum. But better to see you guys doing it on a track than on the steets.

I can only ride my bike for a good 15 mins at 100%. Then I am too tired to do anymore. Guess it is a totally different world. Oh yeah and our races last 20 mins max!

Blake

The one time I've been glad to have wheel locks! Actually, I would have been happy to loan them to you, but I'm afraid they probably suck worse than what you were using...old, hard rubber inherited from the previous owner.

Paddock parking is universally known as a parts scrounging yard for race teams in need -- don't park there if you don't want to "help" some team get back on track.

Blake

I know what you're saying, but your tire usage is pretty typical for us too...it's just that 300 miles is one 3 hour race (our typical length in GAC). In fact, I'd say just about everything in an enduro is about the same rate of wear and tear as sprint races. Brake pads, engines, etc. More racing causes more wear, but the rate of wear is similar. Endurance racing is probably easier on the equipment, if anything, due to the fewer but longer heat cycles, provided you don't cook anything.

Anyway, yeah, I totally understand why you'd want to spread 300 racing miles into a season of racing instead of a single weekend. Just making an observation.

23Racer

I thought that you guys might like to read the race writeup I did over in the Canadian Section. Title "A SLEDGEHAMMER VS a SCALPLE". It will give you an understanding of what we went through.

Again to all who competed, whether in the pits or on track, thanks for a great event.