14 replies to this topic

[Brian Ghidinelli]

I had the luck to drive with Tiger Racing this year at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill in an E46 BMW M3 with 400+HP. Coming from mostly spec miatas, it was a lot of fun to drive something with the power output of almost a miata at every tire. Here's some video from my twilight stint (Shot with Contour HD - turn on HD!):



Still love SM but the power could be addictive...

[Jim Drago]

Never driven at night in a race car... Call me a *%^&* but I couldnt see too well at all, thought there would be more light Looks fun though
Jim

[FTodaro]

Brian that looks like a blast, I just wonder if that night driving is limed to the younger guys. I am glad to see they put up reflective makers in the corners but I would think it would be a challenge. I agree looks like a blast but you better know the track.

How much do the lap times slow during the dark hrs?

[dp35]

Lap times slow in the dark? Not a chance!

[cam]

The various generations of Miata/MX5s do very well in these long endurance events. The reflective markers are new as of last year, IMHO, they get in the way more than help. As for as slowing down at night, it is a very long race, at no point in time should you really be driving 10/10^th if you want the equipment to survive, therefore night time laps are not really slower. I set my team’s quickest lap around 10 PM whilst maintaining clean and consistent laps and my teams slightly conservative approach was rewarded with another podium finish. It is a very fun and rewarding event.

Added:

Class E3 in a 1.6 SM HooverSpeed. Marc had 3 cars this year, all Miatas. One was a 1.8 with mods in E2 and the other two were both 1.6 in E3. The other E3 car was close to the podium but driver error sometime in the early morning hours made that car uncompetitive. All in all, Marc and his crew did a great job supporting a three car effort.

[Ron Alan]

The various generations of Miata/MX5s do very well in these long endurance events. The reflective markers are new as of last year, IMHO, they get in the way more than help. As for as slowing down at night, it is a very long race, at no point in time should you really be driving 10/10^th if you want the equipment to survive, therefore night time laps are not really slower. I set my team’s quickest lap around 10 PM whilst maintaining clean and consistent laps and my teams slightly conservative approach was rewarded with another podium finish. It is a very fun and rewarding event.

Which car and class were you in?

Brian, thanks for the vid! Love it! I hope the many others that participated and are here on the forum can share a little at some point
Elliot...lets see some B-spec???

[Johnny D]

A little day/night racing at Buttonwillow Raceway, CA

Jump to 30 to 40mins in for the night portion.
http://www.youtube.c...&v=fOhf0Ge68MI#!

J~

[Rob Burgoon]

What, no credit? Ignore the first 5-10 laps, I was fishing around for my coolshirt hose trying to hook it up one handed without looking.

[Greg Cicatelli]

Great drive, Brian! Really good job cutting the highlights together too. Those E46's are great race cars - something to consider for the next rig. Thanks for sharing.

Greg

[dtfastbear]

Nice vid, Brian! Thanks for sharing. I agree that the reflectors changed things at night. I actually liked them eventually, but they had a "narrowing" effect and it took me a while to get used to them. It felt like driving down a hallway for the first couple laps.

We have 50 hours of video to sort through from two cars, but Emilio and William are going to put together some sort of highlight reel eventually. I'll share that here.

I'd LOVE to see some B-spec video. In particular, the driver that went off at T9 and kept his foot in it all the way through the dirt, re-entering the track close to T10. Darin and I went by on track, and I almost crashed braking into T10 from laughing so hard, seeing that little bugger jumping through the dirt at 80+ mph.

Cheers,

Dean

[Brian Ghidinelli]

@Jim - the video is perhaps a little darker than reality; you lose some of the distance highlights although these lights were not as good as the the other car I've driven at night (The Team Bimmerworld car has epic lights).

Cam has it right - although I've set fast lap both times at night when I've driven, these aren't qualifying laps by any means. There's no point in shoving it down the inside or making a risky pass... the 25 is all about staying on the black stuff and on the hot side of the pit wall.

That's even more the case when it's not your car and, like having a miata of power at every wheel, you have about a miata of $$$ at every wheel too.

@Greg - don't rush to a BMW, Mazda took 4 of 5 fendered podiums...

[Danny Steyn]

Brian

Great video - and great editing
Your video so makes me want to do this race
thanks

[Ken SM94]

I'd LOVE to see some B-spec video. In particular, the driver that went off at T9 and kept his foot in it all the way through the dirt, re-entering the track close to T10. Darin and I went by on track, and I almost crashed braking into T10 from laughing so hard, seeing that little bugger jumping through the dirt at 80+ mph.

Cheers,

Dean

Hey Dean, I seem to remember a certain red Miata over there at one point too! Did the driver ever confess??

I congratulated your team after the race but never did see you (maybe I did and a lack of sleep prevents me from remembering!) Anyway, cangrats again to all of you guys. You were on it!!

Thanks for the video Brian!

On a different note; who was the weapon in the #41 black Firebird?? That guy should be a golfer, not a racecar driver!!! Thank god they were only driving the 6 hour.

[dtfastbear]

Thanks, Ken. It was a dream weekend for us. Yes, we know the T9 farmer on our team...

And if I was a betting man, I'd say the "pilot" of the black Firebird took some turns in the TruSpeed GT3 after he finished with the 6 hour.

[dp35]

^^^ Dean, re TruSpeed - you took the words right off my keyboard. It's funny now, but sure wasn't at the time.