Many times I have raced two cars in one enduro, we pit one car ,I get out , next lap we pit the other and I get in the last car. 1.5 hrs less 6 minutes. We are there to race, gives you lots of track time. Enduros here to stay!

 

YA DA MAN!

 

Can we require Bruce to be Club Race chair for life? How about Sainthood?
All kidding aside let me be the first to lift a class ( it's sunday morning afterall)to King BB

 

Great news Bruce, thanks for the good work!

 

When I drove in my first enduro last October, I was worried about the ability to focus for an hour straight. I now know it's not an issue. I got a few experienced enduro folk to help me and the race went pretty well. I ended up doing a double stint (2 hours in the car) without any problems regarding focus or fatigue. I see no reason for an arbitrary rule of not more than 1.5 hours.

 

If I recall correctly, it was that workers wouldn't like it....Again, not a good reason.

 

I can assure you that "the lawyers" have nothing to do with our rules mandating driver changes for any enduros longer than 90 minutes (although I am a bit personally insulted by some of the lawyer bashing that goes on in some of the posts on Rennlist, especially when they have no basis in fact.)

There are several considerations:

First, are our drivers, as a group, up to longer stints behind the wheel?

The stewards and advisory committee reviewed this issue this January. There was not one member of either group who did not believe that a stint longer than 90 minutes is too long for the average PCA club racer. Both groups include members with endurance driving experience at Daytona 24 hours, Sebring 12 hours, and other longer events. All of those members were of the opinion that for the majority of our drivers, a stint longer than 90 minutes was just too long.

Sure, there are exceptions among our drivers. Some are in excellent shape. Some are very experienced at long driving stints, etc. But, for the majority of our drivers, we believe it is just too long.

The other issue that is driving the lack of longer enduros in PCA club racing is the simple fact that the national staff and the local region organizers question whether a longer enduro would receive the participation levels needed to make it worth it. It is really easy to post on the racing forum that someone is interested in driving in such an event. Unfortunately, we are skeptical that there would actually be a big turn out.

There are several reasons for this skepticism. First, our current enduros, although well attended, do see some bleeding off of numbers from sprint races at the same events. We have done some informal polling as to why that is and although there are a variety of other factors, including wanting to get home a day early,etc., for the most part it is a reluctance to want to subject the car, and most importantly its expensive engine, to the long pounding of a longer race.

We also see a reluctance on the part of most of our drivers to share cars with another driver. I, for one, don't share that reluctance but am also very careful in who I chose to co drive with me. The possible dispute arising from a "who was responsible" "who should pay" in an engine zing or car damage incident goes up dramatically when one participates in longer events.

The cost of a longer enduro also is an issue. Track rentals have gone up significantly over the last couple of years. Host regions are being squeezed. Most regions are reluctant to schedule a long enduro and risk a financial shortfall. The races at the famous tracks aren't up for longer enduros either, for essentially the opposite reason, they don't want to kill what for some regions is a cash cow.

We are excited about the possible growth of some of the less expensive classes, such as Spec Boxster and the SP classes. We believe that if there is growth in those classes it could result in a more viable possibility of a longer enduro or two, as those cars are simply less expensive to buy/build and in some instances, less expensive to run. For instance, a group of PCA racers I know ran a 944 for several years at the NASA 25 hours of Thunderhill. I believe each of them threw $2500 into the kitty and that covered the tires, gas, rental of motorhome, rebuild of car after the event, etc. The cost of tires for a cup car for a 25 hour enduro wouldn't be covered by that, let alone any other wear parts.

I can see the possibility of a longer enduro at one of our smaller events. The track needs to be set up for such an event but also needs to be one of our lower rental cost tracks. It needs a good worker corps as staffing a longer race with limited corner working staff would be very problematic. It probably needs to be located near a large number of potential entrants (which means Brainerd, or No Problem, for instance, are probably ruled out although Brainerd would be an excellent place for a longer enduro as it has a huge pit lane, nothing to hit/good run off, etc.)

My suggestion is that if you really want to see a longer enduro at your local club race you get involved in your local race and help make it happen. It's easy to post comments from your computer but event chairs are looking for workers to actually make it happen.

Thanks
Bruce Boeder

 

If you look at the rule book, there is no arbitrary rule for enduro length. The rule book provides for enduros with a minimum length of 60 minutes and no maximum length. There are only rules regarding how often the 5 minute pit stops are required and whether or not a driver change is mandatory. It is the Regions that largely determine the format, so if you can get a Region to put on a longer enduro National has the rules that would accomodate it.

I suspect there might be participation challenges to overcome with a longer enduro which is why we haven't seen the longer enduros.

 

I don't know about any rumor regarding the elimination of enduros on a National level, but this thread https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-a...ce-format.html may have stirred some discussion regarding the elimination of enduros at the WGI club race.

Regardless, 6 of the 7 club racers in my region who have commented to me about this proposed change to the WGI race format are in favor of retaining the enduro.

 

Looks like the real answer is above.

 

Yeah !

 

Is that really the answer?
Or could it be that the majority of PCA racers do not want, nor would participate in a 3,6,or 12 hour enduro?

A 6 hour enduro is roughly the equivalent of 10-12 sprint races of wear and tear/engine hours.

Long enduros are really about team performance. The drivers role while still important is greatly diminished, with regards to overall outcome of the race.

There are a lot of PCA racers that have minimal or no support at all, at races.

 

Ya got me, Doug...but I take Bruce at his word.

 

I'm going to stop responding to individual posts (like Doug's above) because I'll just make people mad.... I'll take Bruce's advice and work with my local club on having a longer enduro at Sebring or Daytona.

 

Peter,
Feel free to respond to my post, you certainly are not going to make me mad.
I was just posing some questions.

I understand that you are in favor of longer enduros, but that does not mean that is what most people want.

Hell, maybe a lot of people want longer enduros.

Why is it we can all chat, laugh,agree and disagree at the track, but a soon as we start typing it gets so emotional?