18 replies to this topic

[Alberto]

Got back a couple of hours ago from the 25 hour race. It was my first time.

Frigging awesome race.

Lots of energy and friendly competition throughout the pits.

Awesome cars.

Awesome people.


I crewed for the Johnny D Racing team sponsored by LeMans Karting in Fremont, CA. John Dirkson and Barret Tilley drove John's 99 BRG/white to 2nd in E3 in the 6 hour. Woot! Woot! Got a cool little trophy to boot. Best lap time in PTE/E2 was somewhere around 2:04 or so.

Here were are in CJ Racing's pits w/ Jason Saini's crew:


Here are the 2 drivers and my fat ass on the main strait waiting for the military demonstrations:


Here is our neighbors in the World of Speed pits. Full pro team...


Here is our measely, grassroots pits. Just some gas and miscellaneous stuff.



And here is the reason we did this. A cool 4" tall trophy!

[Alberto]

I spent some time chatting with the guys in the 949 pits since one of my friends was crewing for them. Very well organized amateur team. After the race, I got to talking with their crew chief and found that he was none other than Oscar Jackson of Jackson Racing fame. Hung out chatting with him for about 15 minutes. Apparently he came out of retirement to help the 949 team prep for the 25 hour race. I think his son was one of the drivers. Very cool meeting Oscar in person.

949 ran two cars. Their orange crush NB and a red NB. One of their cars came in first in class in E2.

One of the drivers that I crewed for in the 4 hour SCCA RDC Illgen enduro, Guy Laidig, drove for the AMG team in a NC chassis Miata in E2. Deal Polsley was also on that team. They were right behind the winning NB chassis 949 car. DP put down some 2:01s in that car in his stint this morning. Friggin amazing....

Sadly [local SM driver] Dion's team didn't make it. They blew a motor before the race started.

Congrats to all the teams that participated.

[jaje]

A friend of mine (and guy I raced with all year) raced one of the Hooverspeed Miatas and they finished 2nd in class. He's never driven a Miata before (mainly 944-Spec). Pretty good as he had faster laps than the Pro driving the same car.

[john mueller]

To add, the 949 team finished P1 (#99, aka 'Crusher') & P3 (#051 aka 'Enzo') in E2 class - this was their first attempt at a 25hr and I'd guess one of their cars lead E2 98% of the race. An absolutely astounding effort.

[Joey Jordan]

I drove the B-spec Mazda 2 with Josh Hurley, Elliott Skeer, Tim buck, and Randy Hale. We finished 32nd overall and 9th in class. I drove almost 7 hours and that little 2 is soooooo much fun to drive! It just keeps on tickin. It's extremely fast through the corners. I barely even had to brake if at all going into turns 1,6, and 9. I feel I could go though the corner as fast as anyone out there. It was a little weird though, I had to treat Spec Miatas like they were high powered cars! Overall my conclusion of the Mazda 2 is that it is ridiculously stupidly fun to drive.

I am now officially ruined... that being my first enduro sprint races are never going to be the same. There is no competing with the ups and downs, the all out effort of your team to compete against the clock, the preservation of your vehicle, or after driving for hours getting into a rhythm turning into a machine turning out consistent lap after lap, and all the other things that goes into the epic 25 hours of Thunderhill. Truly amazing experience!

[Charlie Hayes]

Our efforts into the 25 were slim. We didn't know which car we would run until after the last NASA Spec E30 race, we had extra tires from Nationals at Mid Ohio and some decent left over take offs. We put new brakes and wheel bearings on the car and said it was ready for action. We had a 7 man team 4 of them being drivers. Phil Holifield stepped in during the earlier morning hours to relieve Tim and I from switching off fueling. That helped out so much, thanks a lot Phil!!

The car was absolutely amazing, we made a bad call with going out on full tread RA1s for the start thinking we would get a lot of time out of them and making up for that, though the pace was off and it ended up hurting us. At 4am we made a scheduled 4 corner pad change on the car taking 21 minutes total also noticing the RF swaybar bracket was broken causing some weird oversteer problems. Now the car was back to awesome condition! Around 7am Loren called in with a "slight misfire" the gang was going around frantically trying to diagnose the problem, ended up being a frayed wire on the crank trigger. That took us off track and put us back paddock for about 30 minutes but the car went out and now not missing a beat. We finished the race 26th overall and 7th in class. I think we did awesome for a complete rookie team. Not one driver had experience driving the 25 and everyone on the team except Tim and Phil had no experience even in the crewing part for the 25. Great experience and I think I can easily say I will race that race as often as I can!!!

[dp35]

Around 10:00 PM, Dean & I passed that Mazda 2 after T9. It was WAY off track driver's right, but it was still flying & apparently not lifting. I thought it was going to flip as it went through a slight ditch at approx 70 mph.

[Elliott Skeer]

Around 10:00 PM, Dean & I passed that Mazda 2 after T9. It was WAY off track driver's right, but it was still flying & apparently not lifting. I thought it was going to flip as it went through a slight ditch at approx 70 mph.

...That was Josh
I had a great time racing in my first endurance race with the Hale Motorsports crew. That little 2 is one amazing car, just pick the inside wheel up and keep it up! We had the slowest fastest lap out of all the cars in the race, but pitting every 2 hours makes up for that. Start was a little wild as I thought that we were not going to go 3 wide into turn 1...I was wrong, and ended up in the middle. First 3 hours went by too fast, didn't want to get out

Got back in at 12:40 and pulled another 2 hour stint, the crew checked the now worn rf and said it should last for another 2, only managed half of that as it blew down the front straight. But got it back to the pits and put on a new tire and some fuel. So when I got out after about 4 and a half hours after getting in, I knew 2 things... I was mentally going down fast, and I LOVE night racing!!

I cant wait to look back on this in 20 years and think about my 1st endurance race and how incredible it was! Such an amazing time!

[Alberto]

Nice result Charlie. I didn't even know you guys were there or I would have stopped in to help. I think the only time I noticed you guys was when I was walking down pit lane at the end.

[Ron Alan]

To add, the 949 team finished P1 (#99, aka 'Crusher') & P3 (#051 aka 'Enzo') in E2 class - this was their first attempt at a 25hr and I'd guess one of their cars lead E2 98% of the race. An absolutely astounding effort.

The order is correct but the names wrong I believe...the orange 051 car is "Crusher" and "Enzo" the 99. Needless to say these guys did a great job for their first event. They had their issues as did everyone else in the class but won the battle of mistakes and failed parts.

From what I gathered, the 99 car had a major failure when one of its wheels(sponsor no less)broke out of its center and rolled off into the dark. Rolling on the brake rotor the driver didn't wait for the tow truck and drove the car back to the pit... fortunately this only ruined the rotor and saved them a ton of time. When the 051, which had been leading the majority of the race to that point, had major problems, it allowed the E2 entry of AMG (who had been running 2nd most of the race)to take the lead with the 99 moving into 2nd. When the AMG MX5 had a hub failure, the 99 moved into first and never looked back. The AMG MX5 fought back with 4 hrs to go(driven by local talent Darin Polsley and Pro driver Todd Lamb)to make up 2 laps and pass 051(Crusher) with 15 minutes to go to claim 2nd.in E2.

This is just a great event...guarantee plans and strategy are already being planned for next year! The class battles are great and I hope someone will come and give Mercer Motorsports a run for their money for the overall win

[dtfastbear]

The wheel didn't break on Crusher, the studs in the hub broke. The car (and rotor, specifically) dropped down ONTO the wheel and put a puncture in the inside of the wheel. All of the spokes were still perfect after the incident. There are some great pictures floating around of the "flatspotted rotor" after our driver hauled ass back to the pits with the car resting on the brake rotor as the caliper held the rotor in place after several of the studs broke.

Dean

[Dennis]

And RJ wins E3! Way to go Jaime! We were rooting for you. Local boy makes good.

Driven to the Track Racing/3D Racing finished 11th in E3 and we were still running at the end with a split, separated header. Awesome dry weekend, too windy but oh well.

Dennis

[Mike Colangelo]

The wheel didn't break on Crusher, the studs in the hub broke. The car (and rotor, specifically) dropped down ONTO the wheel and put a puncture in the inside of the wheel. All of the spokes were still perfect after the incident. There are some great pictures floating around of the "flatspotted rotor" after our driver hauled ass back to the pits with the car resting on the brake rotor as the caliper held the rotor in place after several of the studs broke.

Dean

One of the Team Divaspeed blue & pink Integras lost its right rear wheel. It appeared to be a hub failure from what I saw as it limped along in the pits.

[Ron Alan]

The wheel didn't break on Crusher, the studs in the hub broke. The car (and rotor, specifically) dropped down ONTO the wheel and put a puncture in the inside of the wheel. All of the spokes were still perfect after the incident. There are some great pictures floating around of the "flatspotted rotor" after our driver hauled ass back to the pits with the car resting on the brake rotor as the caliper held the rotor in place after several of the studs broke.

Dean

Sorry...guess I misunderstood what Nick said to me...thought he was driving the red 99 car when this happened. Remembered hole in the wheel(assumed center as this is how I've seen other wheels fail)but didn't hear broken studs...my bad. Did see the rotor...ouch! Still a great win!
Congrats to Jamie and Craig for the E3 win with RJ racing. Curious to know what happened to the Miata Cage E3 car early on? Seemed to go down many laps early? Considering their E2 entry was on it's 3rd motor by race time...thought it finished pretty darn well!
Glad you had a good time Charlie...finishing your first is always a plus!
Elliot, can't give you a hard time about driving the box...it is a Mazda

[Jaime Florence]

What a privilege it was to drive with RJ Racing again this year. The entire crew worked their butts off, got very little sleep and performed with excellence. It was really great watching the pit stops and how smooth everything went each and every time. It was clearly the pit stops that made this possible. The car ran great all weekend and was really nice to drive. (Thank you Stewart Development) Huge thanks to the crew for handling the small technical challenges we faced without missing a beat.

Rob and John Gibson, Johnny Kanavas and Craig Evans all drove perfectly and we never touched another car (except one BMW that gave us a hit in the rear bumper). Craig was simply amazing and it was cool getting to cheer for him for once instead of watching him drive off into the distance from another car (behind).

You always expect to hear every squeak, rattle and vibration in the car when you are in the lead on the final laps and I know this…but boy I just about went out of my mind with all of the sensory input during my last stint. I’ve heard a few past winners comment on being sick to their stomach or wanting to barf from the pressure of the last couple of hours leading the 25 Hours. For me, my biggest challenge was holding back the tears.

[Sean - MiataCage]

Congratulations to the RJ Team! You guys ran a flawless race! I also want to congratulate the 949 Guys in E2 who also ran a fantastic race. We had some major motor issues on test day with our E2 and Emilio and team loaned us the head gasket we needed to make the race Saturday morning.

For those that have never done this race, you need to do whatever it takes to go to this race. I know for us, we will skip a few sprint races in order to be a part of this race if we have to. Jerry and team put on a great event and a fantastic track. See you all again next year!

Congratulations to all who Won, Raced and Finished!

[Rob Gibson]

Congratulations to Hooverspeed and Miatacage on their 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in E3. You guys did a great job and kept us REAL honest forcing us to manage that gap. We're absolutely thrilled about the win. The crew and drivers never put a foot wrong. All of our pit stops were within seconds of each other.

Jaime mentioned the only contact was when I got tagged from behind by an E1 car during the first stint of the race. Though it wasn't a BMW but a fellow Mazda! He must have just misjudged when going by me on the straight, gave me a major bump draft in the right rear, which pushed me off driver left and put two wheels in the dirt. He waved after he went by so all's well. Took a minor chunk out of the bumper but that was our only mark. Cleanest car in post-race tech.

[Alberto]

We had some major motor issues on test day with our E2 and Emilio and team loaned us the head gasket we needed to make the race Saturday morning.

I was parked next to you and noticed your frequent use of the ole engine hoist. Seems like one of your pistons in this motor wasn't happy...

[Todd Lamb]

This race is always a fun time, albeit a grueling experience.

We were originally going to run Atlanta Motorsports Group's SM in E3, but a rollover at the 13Hours a few weeks prior to the race meant we had to find a backup plan, so we elected to step up to E2 and run a SM5 instead.

The driver lineup came together late, as seems to always be the case with these races. We had 4 drivers (myself, Ryan Winchester, Beau Borders, and Guy Laidig) over 6' tall and one horse jockey (Darin Polsley) who was 5'4".



We were able to make it work quite well since Darin brought a very fancy seat insert that had him up on the wheel.

The AMG crew worked late to get all the final prep done on the car, mostly driver comfort stuff but also new hubs, brakes, etc.



The driver's meeting was packed - so many drivers in so little space, much like the first 6 hours of the race!



There always seems to be some story line at the 25 involving the weather - fog, snow, rain, etc....this year it was the wind. Driving the RV from Sacramento was a challenge with the cross wind. It felt like a pit stop for right side tires....right side jacked up and left side full on the bump stops at 65mph, with a half turn of countersteer the whole time. Fortunately, Thunderhill is setup to capitalize on wind power.



And just when the racing, the noise, the cold, and the wind became a little bit tiring, we would file over and get a little love from the two border collie puppies that were playing in our paddock.



So onto the race - we missed qualifying due to a lighting issue and I started near the back of the 86 car field, with the E2 polesitter somewhere in the 20's I believe. We were up to 2nd in class after the first stint. Long story short, three cars took turns leading the class, swapping as one car would have problems and fall back. We led from around hour 12 to about hour 22 but then it was our turn for problems. RR hub flange had some sort of issue and we had to replace it. By the time we got back on track we were 4th in class. Darin hopped in and we put on new tires to make up some time. He clicked off some very impressive laps and we were back in contention for 2nd. I jumped in for the final hour and battled thru traffic to make up for the pit stop and passed for second with a handful of laps left in the race. Pretty exciting stuff at the end of a 25 hour event.



I don't know where the beers came from, somebody must have left them on the table.



Congrats to the 99 team for the win! It was an entertaining battle.

Also, congrats to our sister car from AMG that won in E0! The CJ Wilson Mazda won E1, and the RJR Miata won E3. That's 4 wins for Mazda in 6 classes!

Very proud of AMG and my co-drivers - finishing 11th overall in that field of much faster cars is a huge accomplishment! Thanks to our technical partners: SafeRacer, BFGoodrich, and Cobalt Friction.

Already looking forward to next year! Who's in?