It is two days before we leave for Thunderhill and it’s time to “switch on”.
An important part of racing is understanding the rules we’re working with and making sure not to run afoul in any way – it’s also a good idea to be aware of what you may be up against.
While doing the final preparations of the car, the subject of the “factory” Honda CR-Z’s entered in our class (E3) came up. I wasn’t there and the first I heard of any concern was when I received a call from Sean Hedrick asking what I knew about this – and if I would look into HOW that bitchin’ little piece had worked it’s way into E3.
I had seen the car at SEMA and gave it a second look (but not a third) – it is gorgeous, but surely it was nothing I had any reason to be particularly interested in. It had a big wing, a splitter and a retro-cool graphics package that made it look to be just another hotted up corporate promo piece – which is probably truer than not, but…
Honda CR-Z
Then, this story about how Honda is going “grassroots” racing caught one of the guy’s attention… He thought this was one of the cars entered in E3? Really?
Any yahoo can write a blog (duh…) so – we can’t just take this at face value – because, if we did, this car couldn’t be E3 eligible (they’re advertising too much horsepower, for example). On the other hand, we probably shouldn’t just ignore it. I’m most concerned that the car has a turbo and a custom built ECU, which both make the car unbelievably easy to quickly tune to higher horsepower numbers and back again in an un-detectable way.
I’ll continue to chase down the rules (that are somewhat complicated regarding these things) and figure out where we stand. I don’t mind a fight, but if I’ve agreed to fight with a knife (or a 20 year old chick car), I want to know the other guy isn’t packin’ a gun (or two) – well, at least I want to know what kind of gun it is.
The Miatacage.com Endurance Racing Team has won the “21 Hours of Thunderhill” two years in a row – and there isn’t a trophy for that. The first week in December we will be heading south to do the 2009 result one better and win the bloody thing for a change.
2009 Post Race Photo - all fingers and toes intact...
Sean Hedrick (Mr. Miatacage.com) is a longtime supporter of amateur sports car racing, in general, and Spec Miata, specifically. “The White Car” was built by members of the team with the purpose of winning this race in 2008 – we blew it… up.
The short version (long version is in here somewhere) is that the throttle body broke while we were leading the ultra-competitive E2 class by what I recall being as much as 5 laps. By the time we found a replacement we were down 5 laps and not much interested in finishing second. While 2 laps down, we decided to skip an under hood check to add some oil to the motor which was consuming lots of it. We don’t know exactly how much oil came out of the four holes made in the block when the connecting rod separated itself from the piston – but it was most of the rest.
In 2009 we were again enjoying a comfortable 5 lap lead when a rear hub sheered itself in two – yes, that IS weird… the car was towed back to the paddock where drivers Ken Sutherland and Will Schrader made repairs which allowed us to finish – in 15th overall and 2nd place in class E2.
Putting on the pressure late in the 09 race.
During 2009, I had raced the car a couple of times – so it was already well sorted when it came time to do the Thunderhill preparations. It really is one of the best Spec Miata’s I have ever driven. It has a safe cage with a nice roomy cockpit; it’s easy to see out of and is generally comfortable to drive quickly.
In 2010, the team made The White Car available as a rental (to increase the 25 Hour budget) and it was returned molested to the extent that it needed some real “body shop” kind of attention. The shakedown that followed resulted in more damage (which was easily repaired) and then the fresh enduro motor nearly suffered a catastrophic failure which required a complete rebuild after just one lap.
Everything is okay now as the team packs for the trip to Willows, California. Hopefully the strange luck has played itself out and this 3rd time will be a charm. The team of previous years is mostly intact and the driver’s roster contains only Oregon Region Spec Miata Champions (amongst other substantial accomplishments) – all of them are championship and race winners.
As last year, drivers Sutherland and Schrader are joined by Jon Davies and newly crowned Oregon Region SM champ Bruce Wilson. Brian Clemons will again serve as Crew Chief and Carrie Sutherland as Den Mother.
The entire team has been through this exercise at least once. Jason Rawlins (the owner of my 2007 Championship winning car) and his wife Cheree will be with us again. Kevin “Big Hands” Clark and Josh McKinney are back for the second time – this time possibly with Josh’s wife Holli and their newly born daughter (start them young…).
Perfect Pit Stops in 2009 - The Team Returns
Sam Davies will be joined by her younger sister Claire (neither of them are strangers to race cars, and Dave Sutherland and Ed Pavone (both longtime crew members of team leader Ken Sutherland) will provide “over-the-wall” experience. In addition Ed brings financial support to the team – you might say he is fully committed to the program…
I’ll be there to fill in when needed, file and defend protests, annoy competitors and report here on the team’s progress. If there is any doubt that we race because it’s “hard”, the fact that we are returning again, should put that debate to rest.
There has been plenty happening lately (I am bicycle racing some and I’ve done some driver coaching), but I haven’t taken any time to write about it. This, however, was an important week that capped off an unusually strange year…
Last Sunday was my first visit to Alpenrose Dairy since I broke my femoral neck there, almost exactly a year ago. I managed this while previewing the opening race of the 2009 Cross Crusade bicycle racing series. Thursday, I strapped into a race car for the first time since before the cycling mishap.
Part of the fall-out of the cycling crash was the necessity to make some difficult decisions. The first was to yield my place as a driver in the Miatacage.com effort to win the 25 Hours of Thunderhill in December – it was the best thing for the team, but also put me on a path that lead away from being reliably effective as a race driver.
Working Out the Bugs at an Early Season Cross Race
The nice part was that it allowed me to focus on rehabilitating my injury and regaining some of my fitness more quickly. I was racing the bicycle again at Tucson in March (5 months after surgery) and I feel very healthy – that is a reasonable accomplishment with which I am very pleased.
Return to the Scene…:
Upon arriving at Alpenrose on Sunday, we walked toward the place on the course where I had fallen. There is a concrete stairway on the grounds that makes an interesting (but totally treacherous, in my view) feature for a cross race. As last year, the morning was a bit damp and at 9:30 (before the start of the second race) there was already lots of wet dirt on the black-top where riders must dismount their bicycles.
I stepped onto the course and ran my foot across the dirty surface where the racers would leave a grass area to make a 180 turn on the approach to the dismounting zone – F*** ME, it was super slick!!! I didn’t need this – let the two hour long freak-out session begin.
My race (Masters 50) would start at 11:40. We watched the start of the Clydesdale (200 plus pounders) and Cat C (like Cat 4 on the road) race and observed the carnage. Every third rider was hitting the ground – HARD. How smart would it be for me, knowing how dangerous this course can be, to race here?
Searching for Grip…
There was a break scheduled for after the Cat C race, so I returned to the car to get kitted up and prepare to have a look at the rest of it – but especially the stairs. Everybody and their brother (and sisters and all of their kids) was out there. It was mostly okay, but the course also utilizes the famous Alpenrose Velodrome which is concrete on the apron and is painted on the smooth banked concrete surface. So – lots of hard surface with dirt and / or mud on it (or wet paint). Perfect… Even better was that because of the slow movement of the preview caravan, I was diverted from the course before reaching the stairs. So, I wouldn’t have the peace of mind of some perspective and having done one low speed dismount there prior to lap 1 of the race.
I had, by now (and sensibly), managed to persuade myself that racing this day was a bad idea. Ken, Carrie and Emma Sutherland had come out to see about this sport that was filling the void left by auto racing, and I informed them that I would be able to explain it to them during my race, because I wasn’t going out there just to entertain the Portland hippies. Carrie was understanding, but Ken thought it would be good if I started at the back and just rode around – after all, I was entered and everything…
I did have a pretty good starting draw for riding around at the back – so, what the hell? My number in the “starting lottery” was picked seventh of ten. What that means is that everybody with a number that ends with a “2” would start together about two thirds deep in the field.
I’m glad that cross is popular, and eventually it all sorts out, but it can be frustrating (and a bit dangerous) when lots of guys that haven’t been on a race bike since last December are starting in front of you. No, I don’t have a plan that you would like and that would also solve the problem… But, what this means is that the faster guys starting at the back (like my friend Gregg Leion who drew the eighth number) would be blowing through the field at the start. Gregg is retired so he doesn’t have to bother with being at work Monday morning and therefore can take big risks…
It all turned out okay – some of the 130 Master B’s that started 2 minutes ahead of us ended up on the ground before reaching the first turn (or the actual start line), but we were fine. I had a good race and after starting somewhere around 60th of 84 old dudes, I not only stayed upright, but I also made it to 17th place – which gets me 2 points and a call-up for the next race in the series (meaning that I start nearer the pointy end).
That’s one demon slain.
And then, back at the race track…:
The Miatagace.com Race Team has been preparing for the 25 hours of Thunderhill pretty much since, for the second year in a row, we led most of the race only to have a mechanical failure within sight of the finish. Part of that preparation has included renting the car to other drivers so that the team budget can be supplemented – money fixes everything… Well, the car has been knocked around a bit as a result, and it would be useful to run it.
As this weekend is the final SCCA Regional Race of the year (two of them, actually) at Portland International Raceway. Race weekends always begin with an un-official test day, which would be Thursday. This would be the best last chance to do any testing before Thunderhill, and there were some new suspension bits to try and decisions to make.
Drivers Will Schrader and Jonny Davies would handle that task along with crew member Josh McKinney. Chuck Hall had made lots of changes to his Spec Miata for this season, but had only run it once. He was in town to evaluate any other changes to make over this winter. He invited me to come out and do some laps so that he could have a second opinion.
I suppose that driving a Spec Miata, for me, is a bit like riding a bike – it’s not a sure thing that I’ll do it properly… The car ran well earlier in the year, but we would have the challenge of running on two sets of questionable tires (a mostly used up set of R-888’s from last year, and some RA-1’s from 2003).
The good news for me is that I’ve spent a lot of time racing on tires that others would have thrown out (or had). We started on the 888’s which some guys didn’t care for, but I liked the couple of times I raced on them last year – they feel a bit more like “real” race tires. We did air pressure and ride height adjustments to get the balance right and the car was a comfortable “loose-ish” – just like we want it.
One of the coolest things I saw all day was an old (mid – late 1970’s) March Formula Atlantic car. In my first session, it passed me leaving the chicane and it was neat to see the massive rear tires (those cars were only low 200’s on horse power). All of that mechanical grip made them a blast to watch when there were fields of 50 of them “back in the day” – aerodynamics, schmerodynamics. Cool stuff.
The Business End of a March 76B Formula Atlantic
The first laps on the nearly eight year old RA-1’s felt like the dirty, damp concrete surface at Alpenrose. After a half dozen laps they began to gain some grip and the lap times started to come down. I ran a good series in the high 1:32’s and low 33’s with a handful of laps within 2/10ths of a second – I was pleased with the consistency and the behavior of the car, so we called it a day.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to me was that I was comfortable in that particular car. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in it over the years, and the driving position and mirror set-up have always been a challenge. Cyclists can think of this as a seat being too far forward, or handlebars that you don’t like the feel of – it makes a difference.
Today, however, everything was fine even though the car hadn’t changed. I think that not having the recent perspective of something that I was used to contributed to that. This makes me think that I could have done better adjusting to such changes in the past. I learn something every time I go to the race track.
People say that racing is hard and the best way anybody said it to me about the experience of this year’s Thunderhill 25 was Jonny Davies. Jonny’s summary of our race was that racing teaches you a lot about yourself. Frankly, I’ve been experiencing plenty of adversity and failure lately, via bicycle racing, and there could be only one acceptable result… But, what Jonny said is a little window into why we race – we race because it is hard, because success is fleeting, and because victories are glorious.
Team Miatacage.com
I love this team. There is another thing about racing that outsiders don’t always understand. Racing becomes part of ones soul, and there is an understanding and camaraderie amongst racers that can only come from the same (and shared) experiences. It is why bitter rivals will help each other to regain the battle – it is why these rivals will then become team mates and aspire (and conspire) to do great things.
There have been 3 “powerhouse” teams in the Northwest since the beginning of Spec Miata. The Miatacage.com enduro effort is loaded with members of those teams. There had been collaboration between Jonny’s Hood River team (from which I came) and Ken Sutherland’s Ludicrous Speed team for some time – Ken and I became de facto team mates (and later Ken and Bruce Wilson) when we needed partners to challenge Will Schrader and his mentor Gary Bockman. But, Ken and Will on the same team… Who woulda thunk the results could be so spectacular?
Speaking of spectacular, we all witnessed a pretty amazing thing last weekend. Steve Gorriaran drove to victory solo in an E2 class Spec Miata – I would have preferred to see him drive to an E1 class victory, but I’m glad I got to see it. I don’t know Steve and only spent a small amount of time observing their pit stops. The car was fast and he must have done an excellent job of staying out of trouble. When I first heard that he was making an attempt at a solo, I didn’t believe it. I still don’t have my head wrapped around it – I have a high fitness level for a race driver, and I don’t think I would ever have thought of something like this. Way to go!!! – I’m still mostly speechless.
A Gorilla leading Team Miatacage.com
Our race went pretty well and exactly according to plan. We knew that our pace would be slower than our primary competitors, but we also expected it would come out in the wash. Our plan was simple – my contribution to the team this year was minimal (not such a bad plan in and of itself…). My greatest success has come from making and executing simple plans. So, what I did was to share the simple wisdom of my very first driving coach, Richard Spenard. He told me “If you can’t do it slow, you can’t do it fast”. This is mostly what I remember of Richard and those words have never been proven false – If my ability to understand English laden with French had been better 30 years ago, maybe I would have remembered too much and screwed it all up..?
To the drivers and crew: “If things are not going well, the solution is not to do it faster, the solution is to do it slower.” The drivers were quick and the crew was fast from the beginning and both simply got better.
Team Miatacage.com was always running near the top of the order. Early on we had small battles with an Acura that I remember from last year (we expected it to break) and one of the BMW E30’s (that we knew nothing about). The problem with the E30’s (like PRO3 cars in the Northwest), is that they have enough power to drive by us on the straights and are much slower in the corners. I think a good one (well driven) should be just a little bit faster than us, and that unfortunately slows us down a bit and causes stress with drivers that are sometimes in a hurry to get somewhere (over and over again).
car number 9 making laps
We overcame all of that and settled in to a top 3 battle. We did survive an early race situation in which Bruce was hit very hard in the left rear corner by the number 62 Atlanta Motorsport Group (AMG) car. The car was brought to the paddock for a look see. We checked camber and did a several minute inspection before deciding to send the car back out – we lost 2 – 3 laps.
Our primary challenge, however, was that we had brought a 1.6 liter car (which is what we know). Our preferred car would have been either a 99 Miata (like Gorriaran’s) or a 1.8 liter car like those 3D Racing and AMG had brought. One advantage with the smaller motor was that we would get slightly better fuel mileage – this is important because the rules allow only 10 gallons of fuel to be added per pit stop. We also would be easier on brakes and tires (which in some cases were very old Toyo RA-1’s). Don’t get me wrong, our car is capable of very fast laps – it is very nearly identical to most National level Spec Miatas (Ken is a multi-time Divisional Champion and Will the SM lap record holder at Thunderhill, in similar cars). I am proudest of the fact that this was a budget effort – just a handful of guys proving that it is possible to run up front without breaking the bank – If you must bring a knife to a gun fight, bring a handful of ninja masters to operate it…
Brian Clemons (an ex-rival of mine) did a stellar job as a first time crew chief. I always thought that Brian was a great guy for that job – mostly because he is smart, focused, sees the big picture and has been around the cars for so long. Sean Hedrick, the car owner, has great observational detail skills and I can do most anything extra that’s needed (if you can trick me into concentrating long enough). So, Brian C. organized the tasks and did absolutely unbelievable, spot on, fuel consumption calculations (which then made the flawless fuel stops possible). Sean knew when any of our competitors would enter the pits (and for how long) and I monitored scoring, wrote updates and went over the wall for under hood inspections during driver change stops.
Another Flawless Pit Stop
Dave Sutherland and a new crew member, Josh McKinney, did fuel – every time. Part of our “no mistake” strategy was to do it the same way every single time. Fuel spills equal penalties, so getting this right can be worth several minutes (if something were to get botched up). They were machines – they put 157 gallons of fuel in the car without spilling a drop. It’s never a sure bet I will get a beer down without getting some on my shirt – I was impressed.
In the past we have had a driver do the tire changes – Ken is kind of a control freak and prefers he do the job, himself. This time we had Jason Rawlins, who is new to Spec Miata, but has a ton of moto-cross experience (so he performs under pressure and doesn’t make mistakes) – that allowed the drivers to sleep and not worry about our “no mistakes” strategy.
Our jack-man, Kevin Clark, had been with us before, as had Ed Pavone (on the windscreen and other external details) and Jordan Wilson awake for every pit stop in fire gear to watch for fueling issues while manning the mandatory fire bottle. Brian C. was through the window on every pit stop to make sure the driver was comfortable and the radios worked.
Food and rest are also important parts of endurance racing. That job was handled by Carrie Sutherland and Cheree Rawlins. There was always water, coffee, and something to eat available when a team member needed it I think part of Jonny’s plan, for daughter Sam and Kelli Clark, is for them to work into that role… – I asked them once what was for breakfast and the answer was “what would you like”. That’s the right answer – and with a smile. But, I’ve observed Sam’s skills in a go-kart and I’m pretty sure she’s just waiting for her chance to drive.
Kelli and Sam - Racing Skills!!!
We thought the race would really start sometime around sunrise. I had asked the drivers to please just get through the night, so that we could have something to fight with in the morning – and they did that. As a matter of fact, we were 5 -6 laps up, while Pat Newton, with his 3D Racing crew and Team Gorilla were battling it out, sometimes on the same lap. Perfect, let those guys chew each other up while we putt around. Then it happened – with less than 3 hours to go, Will called in to say the right rear wheel was gone. It turned out to be a sheered hub – something we don’t see in the Northwest, but I am told is more common other places.
Miatacage, Gorilla and 3D just before the broken hubs
Basically, the forces put onto the part which the wheel attaches to broke into two pieces – one stayed with the car and the suspension upright, the other went with the detached wheel. It took a while for the car to reach our paddock area with the tow truck. When it did, Will and Ken , with parts and tool feeds from the crew, repaired the car in about 10 minutes.
Because our spare car has the original rear differential and rear axles from the 1.6 liter Miata and the race car the updated version, we didn’t have a spare axle. Ken was able to borrow one from AMG, the team with the car that had run into us earlier. I wrote some harsh words about one team member in particular after that, but in the true spirit of racing they helped us when we needed it, and that is one of those special things that happen in sports car racing. Thank you, Marc.
number 9 making slow trip to paddock
We entered the race again in 3rd place, behind Team Gorilla and 3D Racing – not bad. I recall that we were about 4 laps down. I’m the guy that wants the drivers to be extra careful with the car – SLOW THE F**K DOWN!!! But we had 4 laps to make up, and I believed we had a guy that could maybe do it if we got some help. My last words to Ken as he left the paddock were “burn it to the ground” – and our boy set sail like a bat working his way out of hell.
Almost immediately we got some help. 3D Racing had the same failure we had suffered, but on the opposite side. Good thing for them it was the other side too, because they were able to borrow the “other” spare from AMG. What this meant is that we were now second but that Gorilla no longer needed to push for a victory. I’m not sure that changed anything for us. I’d have preferred they race each other to the very end and increase their chances to have problems. One of the Gorilla team members told us after the race that they were nursing a front hub issue – but we don’t know if that would have made a difference.
In the end we were 2 laps down in second place for E2 and 15th overall. Those 2 laps are our reminder that this kind of racing does not look kindly on even small mistakes. Our time in the pit after the early collision ended up being the difference in this race. We had other bobbles that make another lap. On the other hand, the pit stops were flawless and the speed of the car, when necessary, exceeded our expectations. There were errors, but 25 hours thrashing a race car is supposed to cause errors.
Team Miatacage.com After 25 Hours
The disappointment we all felt at coming so close once again was only unbearable for as long as it took to realize that there was another race to prepare for. As Jonny said, we learned a lot about ourselves. We also learned a lot about Team Miatacage.com as a group – we’re pretty good at this. We made new friends, strengthened relationships, and established new rivalries. Yes, racing is hard, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.
Jonny got out of the car at about 7:05 am and Will got back in. The sunrise was absolutely spectacular – there is nothing like watching the sun come up over a track full of race cars.
Team Gorilla had come in for a pit stop just before us, and it does seem that the driver got out, made a nature break and got back in – as an amateur endurance athlete, I think his is a pretty impressive performance. After our stop the difference is still seven plus laps.
Our Northwest Spec Miata buddy’s team (3D Racing, featuring Pat Newton on lead vocals) is chasing down the Gorilla car and is within a lap, or so.
After Jonny’s fuel stop, a little before 6am, his daughter Sam and friend Kelli came out to see how Jonny was doing. One of their projects has been to help document the race on video. Kelli said hello on the radio and handed off to Sam. Jonny told Sam that he would get her some breakfast when he was finished driving – Sam told her Dad to “just drive the car”.
the girls working on important racing tasks
The big excitement at the motor coach this morning is that Carrie ventured outside in her pajamas. I don’t think anyone would have noticed, but she made an announcement – so I thought maybe it was worth mentioning.
We are on schedule with all of our tire changing and have made our regular checks under the hood. Everything looks good. We are at the 20.5 hour mark – last year the race was a total of something less than 18 because of the fog. We’ve improved on that.
We are 1st in E2 and 14th overall. Steve Gorriaran (Team Gorilla), we believe is attempting to do the race solo – this is why their pit-stops are sometimes quite long. That car is very vast (a 99 SM that has run laps considerably faster than our Thunderhill Spec Miata lap record holder). Team Gorilla is now 6 laps down to us in 3rd place (E2) – very impressive.
2nd place is held by 3D Racing, which is a reworked version of last years winner with our friend Pat Newton as crew chief (also 6 laps down).
The Atlanta Motorsport Group car that was rotating in and out of the lead with Gorilla and Miatacage had some sort of an off track excursion (it passed us on a hook about 2 hours ago). When I say “us” I mean those of us waiting in the pit to service our car.
Ken Sutherland just took a load of fuel and continues to work his way through his second stint. It’s the middle of the night and we’re driving round in circles burning gas.
Bruce had an eventful stint. It seems that everything mostly went well, but about 30 minutes into his second fuel load, Bruce called to say that he had been punted by the #62 Atlanta Motorsport Group car. This car has 2 drivers that both Bruce and I (well, and a ton of other people) have had issues with in the past on it’s roster, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to me.
It turns out that it was neither of those two that were the driver when the 62 car lost control under the brakes while attempting a pass. Bruce had just passed another car and the AMG car made a try at the double – like in a sprint race.
One of the things I like about NASA is that they actually do something about sketchy driving. I was the lucky guy that got to fill out the mandatory incident report. While doing that, one of my “favorite” drivers of all time, Marc Hoover, wanted to give me his opinion of what had happened – I’m not sure it’s possible for me to care less about what one guy thinks. Marc has way more mouth than skills, and I informed him that 1) we had been through this before, and 2) I wasn’t driving the car so he could save it, and 3) that his claim of the cars having been side by side was in conflict with both the damage to the left rear of our car and the corresponding damage to the right front of his. Marc thinks that since at that moment his car was “faster” (perhaps because it wasn’t slowing down for the corner) that his obligation to make a safe pass is not so important – nevermind that we are in the same class and 2 laps ahead….
It turns out that I even have an example of Marc’s excellent car control skills and judgement from an SCCA national at Thunderhill a couple of years ago. Bravo, big guy.
Marc is driving the white car in the following video.
Jonny Davies is now in the car and it is getting very dark. We are running second to The Gorilla with the AMG car on the next lap behind us. It is our plan to give those guys as much room as they need to get around without hitting us again. It’s a 1,500 minute race – and this ain’t “Days of Thunder” – even though it kind of sounds the same…
The weather has stayed nice all day with the temperature somewhere within a couple degrees of sixty and the cloud cover has slowly increased. All of the Miatacage.com drivers have been in the car, and after a few simple tweaks, all seem to be happy with the set-up. Everybody is running lap times that are in the range of the speed we were able to build a lead with last year.
making sure the wheels won't fall off
Early in the day Jonny Davies was concerned about a vibration in the rear of the car. After swapping the rear tires (with some improvement), and then the fronts, the vibration mostly went away. We had a few of the wheel / tire combinations checked and re-balanced and the problem is no longer evident.
We also are exploring the possible reasons for a slightly low oil pressure reading. The number isn’t dangerous and it is consistent – so it could be nothing. We’ll continue to monitor that, but unless it is simply a data error, there isn’t much to do other than change a motor. I don’t expect that, at this point.
NASA is having trouble with live timing and scoring, so we don’t know where we have qualified. Qualifying took place after the sun went down and Ken ran a 207.485 in heavy traffic. We expect there are a handful of cars capable of being faster for short periods of time. We’ll have to wait to see.
Most of the Miatacage.com team made it to Willows, California yesterday (Thursday). We brought a lot of stuff this time. 3 motor coaches and 3 race trailers filled with two complete race cars and enough parts to build another. Everything that we were wanting for last year, we believe, is here this time – we are short a couple of key team members, but have come up with excellent replacements.
The only issue we had yesterday is that the truck pulling the trailer with the race car had a minor overheating problem crossing the Siskyous (that slowed the caravan down a bit). The problem is believed to have been a faulty radiator cap and it has been corrected.
The weather is currently 37 degrees and partly cloudy – it is a beautiful day. The driving team is currently completing the paperwork required to participate in todays test. We have a schedule of tasks to accomplish and will be starting that within 30 minutes. Race cars are on track.
Updates and photos through the race with photos (as we get the data communication issues worked out).
As we prepare for the 2009 25 Hours of Thunderhill, I thought it would be good to tell a little bit of the story about how this race became particularly important to us.
25 Hours of Thunderhill Grid
In 2008 The Miatacage.com team traveled to Willows, California with a car that hadn’t existed 2 months earlier. In fact, there had been no plan to do “The 25”, at all. If it hadn’t been for our success at the ICSCC 12 Hours of the Cascades, at Portland, just over a month earlier, nobody would have ever thought of it.
The Miatacage.com Team - Version 08
The drivers for Portland were Jon Davies, Chuck Hall, Will Schrader and me. We had built the car with Sean Hedrick at Miatacage.com in less than 2 weeks and installed Chuck’s “special project” Miata motor. For the Cascade enduro the classes are “displacement based”, meaning that the only concern is how big the motor is. We had a small motor with some special parts in it and it was a rocket. We won our class by 12 laps and finished 4th overall.
Bruce Wilson, Jonny Davies, Ken Sutherland and Brian Towey
Two of our regular Miatacage.com teammates were not with us for the race, however. Ken Sutherland and Bruce Wilson, having missed all the fun, were now itching to do an enduro. We had over a month to prepare for the longest endurance race in the world – no problem. Sean offered to provide the car and lots of support – so the thrash began.
Thunderhill is a NASA (National Auto Sport Association) race. That meant we had to deal with yet another set of unfamiliar rules. Cars are “mapped” into an endurance racing class based on their performance (SM and ITA cars are E2, for example) – but our car wasn’t exactly either of those. After some discussion with NASA officials it was decided that we would re-prepare the car to be classified as PTE (Performance Touring E) which NASA also maps into class E2.
Bruce Wilson after a very busy first stint
Performance Touring is interesting as it uses a points system to make it possible for nearly any type of car to go racing. We considered the parts available to us and did some math to come up with what we thought could be a competitive car. We knew that a Miata with a 1.8 liter motor would be preferable (on sheer speed, anyway) as an ITA car, but we have a 1.6 liter and what we believe was the best driver line-up on the E2 grid.
We had to throw together another “less aggressive” motor to make the car E2 legal and capable of 25 hours. The rest of the parts which were “mostly” SM legal (and importantly, SM based) stayed with the car. Ken Sutherland organized the preparation. We installed a new transmission, micro-finished hubs, specially made brake pads that would last the entire 25 hours, an improved radio system and away we went.
Nap Time
The race was red flagged for fog in the middle of the night. We had taken the lead during my stint (and not because of anything, in particular, that I had done) and had a substantial lead when the race was stopped.
As the race resumed, we slowly extended our lead
As the race resumed, we settled into a solid rhythm and extended our lead to 5 laps when a part that never breaks, broke – and, we didn’t have a spare.
Ken Sutherland was able to scavenge a part and get the car running again in just over 20 minutes. The culprit was the throttle body – the shaft that controls the butterfly had snapped because of a small amount of corrosion that was hidden from view. That’s the kind of thing that can ruin your day.
Jonny Davies and Sean Hedrick - About to get some laps back
We now had a choice to make – the only choice. The car was running on pace again, but instead of being 5 laps up, we were 5 down. We made a plan. We would go at “sprint pace” for as long as the car would last – betting that somebody (everybody) else would have at least a small problem in the meantime.
The Miatacage.com crew performed flawless pit-stops
There are other choices to make when one makes choices… Our decision was to streamline our pit stops and only check under the hood (for oil level, as an example) when we were also changing a tire (this could gain us a full lap by the finish). Our motor was using a little bit of oil and this was a concern – not as big a concern as not winning, however.
We were running in second place (and gaining) with Ken in the car, running a scorching pace, when we developed a ventilation problem with the block. The problem was that you could see from one side of it through to the other and all of the oil had fallen out. That’s bad. And, it’s also why we must return.
I'll return this year in a different role - here with Ken Sutherland and Brian Clemons
The Miatacage.com travel team this year is mostly the same. The crew is missing two key members, Peter Lovejoy (to Fire Chief duties) and Garth “Crusher” Levin to his job making cruise ships beautiful for vacationers everywhere (I’m thinking tanned college co-eds and seriously considered joining him). The driving team this year includes Will Schrader (replacing me as I continue my recovery from the cycling injury). Will is the current Spec Miata lap record holder at Thunderhill and a great guy to race with. I can’t think of anybody I’d rather have take my place. I’ll be there as member of the Miatacage.com braintrust making sure that Peter and Garth aren’t too badly missed.
Live blogging on the race should happen in this space – Thunderhill is known for intermittent (read: poor) data access. We will do our best to circumnavigate the challenges.
