Phokaioglaukos

Thanks for the helpful suggestions. We're renting a SSM car (that's the more-stock, regional variety of Spec Miata that is hugely popular in the Washington DC SCCA region that runs a series at Summit Point--we had 52 cars registered for the sprint race yesterday and I can 33rd....) from RP Performance which will support our car and three others in the 12 Hours. RP has had the winning Miata four times in the last five years, or something like that. They know their business.

Our team's goal is to finish cleanly. The 11 gallon fuel tank is good for about two hours, but we will probably make more driver changes than strictly necessary. I think we'll all want some of the night driving experience, for example. We will have cool shirts and radios, but we had not planned on in-car hydration. We'll have to consider that. RP will fit a light bar to the car and we'll use the Friday night practice to align the lights. We'll have dark film on the mirrors and tape on the back window to deal with the lights at night.

Because we'll be in a Miata and it's a multi-class race, there will be many faster cars on the track with us. Any thoughts how to address that, especially at night when it's hard to know who is behind us?

mrbill_fl

my .02 (worth about that)

for drinks, get a 1 or 1/2 gallon thermos drink bottle and run a clear hose down the drink spout and a camel back bite valve. (cheaper, faster refill, and larger than most bottles). get 2 one for water 2nd for gatoraid.

Zebra stripe the rear glass with racers tape... so you won't get blinded by big lights. (allows you to move your head a little, and use the tape for a shield)

Save the brakes! running slower times should save the pads.. consistent 8/10's laps should save the equipment for the end.

Big $$$ lights are not as important as good lights aimed at the apex, some 55watt hella's aimed 30-50 yds (crossed) ahead at the apex should work better than HID's aimed down track. (combined with high beams)

Have a pit board and go over signals in case the radios break, same for driver... (ie., one finger = pitting in 1 lap)

-add a colored light to the roof or behind the driver, (green/ blue ?) so crew can see its your car.

hammerwerfer

Drive your own car. Don't worry so much about the faster traffic. They can see you and will get by if you don't do anything stupid. Signal your intent if it isn't clear.

Tinted rear windows help.

Don't get tooo carried away with powerful lights in a small car. They do put a bit of drag on the engine, and we used to shut off our big lights on the straights.

Practice the driver changes. Remember to loosen the shoulder belts on the way in to the pits. Mark the seat positions and belt adjustments for each driver.

Use bungees or the like to hold the belts out of the seat between changes. Nothing worse than sitting on the belts for killing some time.

Rassel

+1034578657!

gums

I've done that race, and 13 hours at VIR, both twice. Best advice is that lights are critical, it's much darker than you think out there, and we are looking for little reference points at high speed. That, and the pit stops are the key. Get every single one of them down to the minute or minute and a half that you are alotted. No sense working your *** off to pick up 15 seconds on track, then dump over a minute on a pit stop.

Kurt R

So how did you finish?
The team I was crewing for took the lead after the second red flag, we were 3 seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field in the rain. Then the ecu took a crap and stranded the car on course, we lost a bunch of laps and ended up 21st overall.

It looked like a 944S2 smacked the wall pretty hard in Friday's first practice.

bobt993

Kurt, we felt for you guys. I was instructing over at Jefferson sorting my car from the last race dent. We saw the course go red from the weather for a long time.

VaSteve

One of those RP Miatas smacked the wall pretty good after dark. I hope that wasn't you. I know there's another Rennlister/GT-3 owner that was running his white Miata. That got banged as well but got back in the game and I assumed finished.


Kurt who were you crewing for? That 944 was a turbo and it's now a parts car...assuming you only need a passenger side. I was in the Carosel watching our team practice. I heard that car got 5 feet off the ground in the impact.


Gotta watch out for you Resientoter guys! We're sitting in the pits and a dark grey 996 with Dougherty graphics and numbers comes pulling up the pit lane in the middle of the race!! We all thought the driver was going to pull onto the course. Weather delay sucked. Both times, we got caught out in the middle of a pit stop with a wheel off.

The team I was crewing for won ITS (white e30). We battled this blue and white 240 Z all day on for him to disappear at the end of the race. While sitting in impound, they rolled it by on the flatbed. As I understand it, he driver went off into the skid pad and hit a tree.

I had fun with the camera...I'll update with the rest of the photos when they are done loading.


Shot at 2008-06-15

Bill L Seifert

That race brings bad memories. When we did it, one of our drivers hit the wall on his first lap. Sorta fixed that, blew a head gasket, fixed that, then broke the radiator. What an awful weekend. Prepare as much as you can, and don't wreck.

Bill Seifert

1987 944S Race Car
1999 Honda Civic Race Car

bobt993

Gotta watch out for you Resientoter guys! We're sitting in the pits and a dark grey 996 with Dougherty graphics and numbers comes pulling up the pit lane in the middle of the race!! We all thought the driver was going to pull onto the course. Weather delay sucked. Both times, we got caught out in the middle of a pit stop with a wheel off.

Sorry Kurt, can't stop stupid moves by some of our novice drovers................. My guess is he was looking for gas did not have a track map....LOL! Did they make you guys sit out the flag or did they let the racers exit the cars and cover em up?

BTW drove Summit today for the first time since last year. The track almost seems worse in T1 and T5 from before the repave.

VaSteve

The drivers had to stay in the cars during the rain delay. They were allowed to cover them up, but they had to stay in the car. We were in the middle of a wheel change (both times). We had to drop tools and sit under the canopy and dodge the drippings when it filled up!

It's universally decided that the new repave isn't wearing well.

Kurt R

I was with the two Integras right next to you. I was the guy usually out on pit lane directing the car in, then jacking the car.
I saw that guy - that was a WTF moment. Did you see the refueling fire on the RX-7 early in the race? That was pretty scary.

VaSteve

D'oh! If I known, I would have said hi. I was wearing a dark grey hat that said Porsche and carrying the camera or installing wheels. The fire was scary.... I got some photos of the aftermath. I'm surprised they could still drive it.

Here's some photos of the event ...you might be in one.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePh...8685664&page=1

Professor Helmüt Tester

Whoever told you guys that drivers had to stay in the cars during a black-flag was incorrect. Drivers may exit the car...and a good portion of the field did climb out and find other shelter.

Phokaioglaukos

Not me, but a teammate so we were out at 9-3/4 hours. The rental car is pretty banged up, but the driver is fine. Just ego damage. We had a great experience and were running well (for a novice team). I will definitely do this again next year. Now I have to get ready for MARRS 3 in my car.

The white SM car that went off in T5 (causing a double yellow) did finish, and the driver is fine, too. She seemed pretty upbeat at the end.