Team 949 Racing Thunderhill 25 Hours
12-06-2011, 05:04 AM
#161
It's not just amazing - it's staggering. The fuel costs, food, lodging, and race entry fees were just the icing on the cake - we had dozens of radios, earpieces, fleece jackets and beanies and long sleeve t-shirts for the entire crew, at least 1.5 cars worth of spare parts (and we STILL nearly ran out of hubs), and a 12-man crew that was worked 100% to capacity the entire weekend.
The most staggering thing is that despite the fact that we were the highest placing E3/E2/E1/E0 car and the highest placing sub-2liter car at the event (in our first ever attempt), much of the internal discussion has been about how we should have had more of everything - more tires, more crew members (at least 50% more crew members), and more spares.
The credit for the logistics goes entirely to Emilio and William - I cannot fathom how much time (and money) was spent on putting together the resources required to allow the team to earn this result.
The most staggering thing is that despite the fact that we were the highest placing E3/E2/E1/E0 car and the highest placing sub-2liter car at the event (in our first ever attempt), much of the internal discussion has been about how we should have had more of everything - more tires, more crew members (at least 50% more crew members), and more spares.
The credit for the logistics goes entirely to Emilio and William - I cannot fathom how much time (and money) was spent on putting together the resources required to allow the team to earn this result.
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12-06-2011, 10:49 AM
#165
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I got to where I was killing both front hubs about every year. I replaced one with an A.R.T and it didn't go bad. I now have both A.R.T hubs one 3 years old and one 4 years old still spin butter smooth. I think having the larger 11.75" rotors helps keep hub temps down a bit as well.
Bob
Bob
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12-06-2011, 11:43 AM
#167
Tour de Franzia
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I got to where I was killing both front hubs about every year. I replaced one with an A.R.T and it didn't go bad. I now have both A.R.T hubs one 3 years old and one 4 years old still spin butter smooth. I think having the larger 11.75" rotors helps keep hub temps down a bit as well.
Bob
Bob
I agree that our large rotors are a huge part of the bearings living longer.
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12-06-2011, 12:41 PM
#168
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We are damn good at hub swaps, folks - I can do one with smoking hot brakes in 4 minutes, jack up to jack down.
What's with the radiator opening cover? Was it really so cold at one point that the entire radiator needed covering? Or was that some shipping technique?
Huge props need to go to whoever came up with whatever they did to the engine.
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12-06-2011, 07:25 PM
#169
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I wish that someone had been timing the hub swaps, because I gaurantee that at least one of the several hubs that we did got done is less than 4 minutes. And If the damn calipers didn't have those damn spacer shims we could have been doing 2 minute hubs. I am calling for some sort of system to get the spacers stuck to the calipers. How does JB weld hold up in 1000* conditions?
What specifically are you referring to? The screen over the opening was IIRC 40 or 60% wire mesh for protection/keeping the car warmer/aero improvement. Somehow the car was still running so damn cool that it required a stock radiator and a solid plate where one of the fans would have gone just to keep the temps high enough. I still don't know much about what they did to that damn engine, but it ran cooler than any Miata engine that I have ever seen. I thought that it might have been the uber special oil, but even once we started using different oil, it was still too cool.
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12-06-2011, 07:47 PM
#170
That engine was definitely extremely good at cooling. Emilio shared a bit of info with me but I know there's more. And what he told me about would not be cheap or easy.
I can think of one company that has some Wilwood brackets that don't need shims
Based on the noises Andrew was making while doing one of those hub swaps, I don't think it will be long before he has something as well.
I can think of one company that has some Wilwood brackets that don't need shims
Based on the noises Andrew was making while doing one of those hub swaps, I don't think it will be long before he has something as well.
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12-06-2011, 10:51 PM
#171
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^ True dat. He was certainly not thrilled about the spacers, and getting things to line up perfectly while holding a rotor and caliper that are a bazillion degrees wasn't the most fun part of the weekend.
We had also considered tape, but our interpretation of the rules said that we couldn't.
We had also considered tape, but our interpretation of the rules said that we couldn't.
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12-07-2011, 01:32 AM
#172
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He ran with the AMG team in a MX5 in E2...which was both Crusher and Enzo's main competition. They passed Crusher with about 15 minutes to go but couldn't get back to Enzo who had about a 8 lap lead at the time. Like both these cars, mechanical issues played a big part in their finish.
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12-07-2011, 02:08 AM
#173
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I run them on the black car and the red car and they work great - doesn't mean it would work in a long-distance endurance environment, though. Running the hubs for 20-30 minutes at a time is a very different game than running the hubs for 25 hours straight.
Working with John and Emilio for this event has really peaked my interest for endurance racing - it is an entirely different animal from sprint racing in every aspect. A long-distance enduro car gets prepared differently, its goals are prioritized differently, and in the end it's much like building an autocross car and then taking it to the track - it will work, but it will never be ideal. The car that is fast in a time attack/sprint race setting is not the same car that will win a 25 hour endurance event.
We briefly discussed using our new turbo kit on a 25 hour car and I flat refused - it simply wouldn't be designed for that kind of use. I could certainly build a kit that could do it, but the price tag would be 2-3x what our kit will cost.
Working with John and Emilio for this event has really peaked my interest for endurance racing - it is an entirely different animal from sprint racing in every aspect. A long-distance enduro car gets prepared differently, its goals are prioritized differently, and in the end it's much like building an autocross car and then taking it to the track - it will work, but it will never be ideal. The car that is fast in a time attack/sprint race setting is not the same car that will win a 25 hour endurance event.
We briefly discussed using our new turbo kit on a 25 hour car and I flat refused - it simply wouldn't be designed for that kind of use. I could certainly build a kit that could do it, but the price tag would be 2-3x what our kit will cost.
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12-07-2011, 01:10 PM
#179
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^ Ya, if you were to do a Super, you'd want something along the lines of a JR super, and since we know this guy who used to have something to do with the company, and might know a thing of two about them, it could be a viable solution.
Though I think that other than a lot more back pressure on the engine, and the possibility of stretching exhaust studs, a turbo would probably work better. Though depending on classing, I still like the idea of an LSx motor. It just seems that it would be a lot less high-strung at any given power level, and the beefier trans and rear end SHOULD stand a better chance of making it the full 25.
But again, I am sort of nervous about turbos, and probably shouldn't be.
Though I think that other than a lot more back pressure on the engine, and the possibility of stretching exhaust studs, a turbo would probably work better. Though depending on classing, I still like the idea of an LSx motor. It just seems that it would be a lot less high-strung at any given power level, and the beefier trans and rear end SHOULD stand a better chance of making it the full 25.
But again, I am sort of nervous about turbos, and probably shouldn't be.
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12-07-2011, 01:59 PM
#180
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They also look at the general curves on the dyno and make decisions from there. Many FI Miatas run TTB with 240whp, but supposedly I have enough low-end torque that my peak output was reduced from 240 to 215whp, compensating for 230wtq at 3700rpm. Basically, I could either run 215whp or run the same peak numbers and reduce torque.
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