Damn True
12-03-2007, 02:24 PM
The longest and toughest motorsports event in North America was held this last weekend. In conditions that could be described as brutal 72 sports cars battled for 25 hours in sub-freezing night time temps, howling winds, rain and even snow for a few minutes.
I'm sun/windburnt, my voice is thrashed, my hands are cracked and bleeding, my back, knees, shoulders and ankles are killing me, my nose is bleeding every time I sneeze but I could not be happier.
Wow, wow and just wow.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
That was one of the most amazing and nerve wracking experience of my life.
As mentioned I served among the fine crew of the Team BiggsB Enterprises #55 Miata.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
Our drivers included; Andrew Caddell
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif,
Todd Lamb
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif,
David Barr
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif, Kim Wilcox
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
and Charles Mathes
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif.
Our drivers were able to combine blistering lap times (Andrew, Todd and David were able to knock down 2:06's day or night. The SM lap record at T-Hill is a mid 2:05.) and remarkable consistancy all while preserving the car. As a group we were able to run laps right around 2:09 at will without stressing tires, brakes or driver.
Our crew had an average of 3 years experience at the 25hr and we went in feeling that we had a system in place that could bring us to the podium.
Our competition absolutely refused to make it easy on us though. The race began with the Wheels America #05 Miata out front but they had reliability issues early on that removed them from contention. Allowing us into a lead that we would not surrender. However, it was by no means easy. The #04 Market Scan Motorsports Miata had us covered like a wet blanket through much of the first 12hrs. They never allowed us to gain more than a 2 lap advantage. Sadly, they succumbed to a blown engine sometime in the middle of the night. The #68 Team Kumho-1 Miata entry then stepped up their game and gave us an equal challenge. We were never able to open up more than a 2-6 lap advantage. The cushion fluctuated due to our differential pit cycles. We kept a close eye on them through the entire event as we felt they were the biggest threat.
The car was running like a top, the drivers were rock-solid, fast, safe and consistant and by the 12hr mark we felt like we were in a position where no other team could beat us, unless we made a mistake. And that friends, is a tough spot to be in. All it would have taken was a couple of drops of spilled fuel, a pit window pushed slightly too far, a minor off-track excursion, the slightest contact with another car...any mistake on our part would have cost us the win. Our plan through the race was to go as slowly and carefully as possible in the pits and allow the drivers to go like hell (without hurting the car) on the track. It worked, but not without a couple of dicey moments.
Before the race ever started we discovered that we'd gotten a bad batch of wheel studs from ARP. Six out of the eight studs on the rear of the car stripped their knurls resulting in a loss of lug torque and rear tires that resembled shopping cart wheels. So I guess Andrew wasn't full of it when he told us it was "a bit loose" pretty much everywhere. We swapped rear hubs with spares in no time prior to qualifying but the spares presented a problem of their own. The spare hubs had OE wheel studs in them which were much shorter than the ARP studs. The problem was that our Kazera wheels had a much thicker mounting flange than the OE wheels. We didn't have adequate thread engagement on the wheel lugs and the slightest error in performing a tire change would have resulted in a cross-threaded or stripped stud and a sad ending to our effort as we could clearly not afford an extended trip behind the wall.
The first seven hours of the race went very well. Then David Barr called in reporting that the car had began to handle poorly, very poorly. We were afraid that the wheel stud problem that we'd found on the rear had shown up at the front end as well.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
We brought him in and found a delaminated tire. Plenty of rubber on the tire, but a 4" wide band around the center of the tire that went away...somewhere...and was corded.
That was a close one.
Then at about 3am the car got loud. Really loud. The driver called in thinking we'd lost the exhaust south of the header. The downpipe had come loose from the header flange but thankfully it had not come completely off. We were able to bring it behind the wall, zap a couple of nuts onto the header-downpipe flange and send it back out. Less than a minute behind the wall.
Another close call.
The remainder of our stops were planned and routine.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
Tom did a fantastic job with the fuel. He ironmaned the whole thing and never spilled a drop. I did that last year. Tom is a stud. Driver changes went without a hitch as well. Due in no small part to Tom's prep of the belts and com-cables.
Team Kumho-1 gave us quite a run and forced us to be perfect at every step if we wanted to beat them. The combination of a superbly prepped car, a fantastic crew and fast, consistant and consummately professional drivers allowed us to do just that.
http://www.livefromthe25.com/index.html
I'm sun/windburnt, my voice is thrashed, my hands are cracked and bleeding, my back, knees, shoulders and ankles are killing me, my nose is bleeding every time I sneeze but I could not be happier.
Wow, wow and just wow.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
That was one of the most amazing and nerve wracking experience of my life.
As mentioned I served among the fine crew of the Team BiggsB Enterprises #55 Miata.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
Our drivers included; Andrew Caddell
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif,
Todd Lamb
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif,
David Barr
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif, Kim Wilcox
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
and Charles Mathes
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif.
Our drivers were able to combine blistering lap times (Andrew, Todd and David were able to knock down 2:06's day or night. The SM lap record at T-Hill is a mid 2:05.) and remarkable consistancy all while preserving the car. As a group we were able to run laps right around 2:09 at will without stressing tires, brakes or driver.
Our crew had an average of 3 years experience at the 25hr and we went in feeling that we had a system in place that could bring us to the podium.
Our competition absolutely refused to make it easy on us though. The race began with the Wheels America #05 Miata out front but they had reliability issues early on that removed them from contention. Allowing us into a lead that we would not surrender. However, it was by no means easy. The #04 Market Scan Motorsports Miata had us covered like a wet blanket through much of the first 12hrs. They never allowed us to gain more than a 2 lap advantage. Sadly, they succumbed to a blown engine sometime in the middle of the night. The #68 Team Kumho-1 Miata entry then stepped up their game and gave us an equal challenge. We were never able to open up more than a 2-6 lap advantage. The cushion fluctuated due to our differential pit cycles. We kept a close eye on them through the entire event as we felt they were the biggest threat.
The car was running like a top, the drivers were rock-solid, fast, safe and consistant and by the 12hr mark we felt like we were in a position where no other team could beat us, unless we made a mistake. And that friends, is a tough spot to be in. All it would have taken was a couple of drops of spilled fuel, a pit window pushed slightly too far, a minor off-track excursion, the slightest contact with another car...any mistake on our part would have cost us the win. Our plan through the race was to go as slowly and carefully as possible in the pits and allow the drivers to go like hell (without hurting the car) on the track. It worked, but not without a couple of dicey moments.
Before the race ever started we discovered that we'd gotten a bad batch of wheel studs from ARP. Six out of the eight studs on the rear of the car stripped their knurls resulting in a loss of lug torque and rear tires that resembled shopping cart wheels. So I guess Andrew wasn't full of it when he told us it was "a bit loose" pretty much everywhere. We swapped rear hubs with spares in no time prior to qualifying but the spares presented a problem of their own. The spare hubs had OE wheel studs in them which were much shorter than the ARP studs. The problem was that our Kazera wheels had a much thicker mounting flange than the OE wheels. We didn't have adequate thread engagement on the wheel lugs and the slightest error in performing a tire change would have resulted in a cross-threaded or stripped stud and a sad ending to our effort as we could clearly not afford an extended trip behind the wall.
The first seven hours of the race went very well. Then David Barr called in reporting that the car had began to handle poorly, very poorly. We were afraid that the wheel stud problem that we'd found on the rear had shown up at the front end as well.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
We brought him in and found a delaminated tire. Plenty of rubber on the tire, but a 4" wide band around the center of the tire that went away...somewhere...and was corded.
That was a close one.
Then at about 3am the car got loud. Really loud. The driver called in thinking we'd lost the exhaust south of the header. The downpipe had come loose from the header flange but thankfully it had not come completely off. We were able to bring it behind the wall, zap a couple of nuts onto the header-downpipe flange and send it back out. Less than a minute behind the wall.
Another close call.
The remainder of our stops were planned and routine.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
Tom did a fantastic job with the fuel. He ironmaned the whole thing and never spilled a drop. I did that last year. Tom is a stud. Driver changes went without a hitch as well. Due in no small part to Tom's prep of the belts and com-cables.
Team Kumho-1 gave us quite a run and forced us to be perfect at every step if we wanted to beat them. The combination of a superbly prepped car, a fantastic crew and fast, consistant and consummately professional drivers allowed us to do just that.
http://www.livefromthe25.com/index.html