On Saturday me and 5 others from Madison Motorsports headed out to Summit Point to crew for Empire Resources (SSC Neon team) and Bimmerworld (ITS 325). I must say it was one of the funnest races I'd seen in awhile. And of course I ran into a lot of the NASA-VA/Honda-tech crew there .

For the 3 of us crewing for Empire all we had to do is fill their pit watch requirement. After that we were free to walk around the track, eat other people's food, and hang with our other 3 at Bimmerworld.

I must say that all of the teams there looked very well prepared. A Spec RX7 team was having transmission trouble and was able to swap another one in in only 40 minutes. Bimmerworld was running third overall when a rock punctured their radiator and they simply popped a new one in there. Maybe this is typical of an enduro but I was impressed nonetheless.

The coolest thing about this years event is that 50-odd cars started. This meant that over the course of the entire race there was close door to door competition. Even well into the night it was interesting to watch the cars go by because the competition was so good. Watching 4 or 5 Miatas dicing it up from turn 5 to turn 9 was quite a spectacle.

At the end of the night Empire's 84 car finished 2nd to the 200SX SE-R that Warren crewed with. I don't know where Bimmerworld finished because they went about 20 laps down because of the radiator (they had to stop again to bleed it). A Porsche Supercup finished first overall.

The event organizers seem to want to run a 24 hour event next year but I probably would prefer to keep it a 12 hour event. Another 12 hours would just mean more attrition and probably more than double the cost to run. Its also easier for spectators to watch all 12 hours, not that there were a whole lot of spectators but I figure that's SCCA's fault for not advertising.

At any rate I had a great time and hope to buy a ride in the race next year. Maybe next year they'll be more Integras out there (1 GS-R in ITS).

 

That Teg in ITS was actually an RS. Turns out I knew one of the drivers. Ivan Arzola. He's a REALLY good driver, though scummy racer doesn't begin to describe him. LOL.

Warren

 

I was crewing for the #19 ITC car. It was a long race for us. The car ran great for the first 4 hours. We were in a battle for the ITC lead most of the time.

- At the 4 hour mark the #2 rod decided to make an appearance out the side of the motor. It happened as the driver was shifting into 4th going into the chute - not a good place to oil the track and your tires. We got the car into the pit and did a motor change in record time. We used a drive shaft, 2 axle straps and a hitch ball/nut to make an engine hoist. 1.5 hours later we were back in business.

- At the 8 hour mark when the water pump/alternator belt broke. We swapped the alternator and a pulley, put the new belt on and got back out on track.

- At the 10 hour mark the driver pulled the car off and told the corner workers it was unrepairable and to just leave it there. Turns out it was a wire that popped off the alternator - a 2 minute fix.

We still managed a 3rd place finish in ITC however so the race was not a total loss. I would like to have seen the car cross the finish line after everything we went through to get it as far as we went.

I have always respected people who run enduros but that respect is greatly magnified now. 12 hours is a long-*** time to drive on a highway. I can only imagine what it is like in a race car.

All in all it was a blast and if I am not driving next year I will MOST DEFINATLEY crew again.

 

I didn't see the actual race but I did see the aftermath on Sunday morning.

I honestly can't imagine running a car for 12 hours. My car has serious issues afer 45 minutes, I doubt it would make it an entire 12 hours without many many things breaking.

The good news is I got the chance to meet the Politi family. I was sitting in the staging lanes just finsihing putting my helmet in gloves on when I see this women in my peripheral whom I didn't know calling me by name. Turned out to be Elyse... very nice people.

 

An RS you say? So that means they were tooling around with a B18B under the hood?

 

Looking back I can tell you this:

VTEC engages for me somewhere just past the start of the pit wall. I can't think of any way to run it with VTEC engaged the whole way through 10.

I NEVER heard his VTEC engage. A B18B would explain why . . .

 

Interesting, very interesting. If an RS was able to keep up with most of the ITS competition that means the GS-R will be sitting pretty. Its about time someone stepped up to dethrone the BMW 325 .

 

His qualifying time was a 1:34.xx. Fast ITS cars run 1:27s. He is a good bit off the pace.

FYI - The ITS record was set by Bret DePedro in an RX7 back in '99. He turned a 1:26.037.




[Modified by Cobra, 4:20 PM 6/3/2002]

 

It was a great weekend for racing. A bit humid, but that's life.

I crewed for Spec Miatas #62 (Tom Sweeton, Bret DePedro, and Don Barracks) and #63 (Brian Zalner, Kenny Zalner, and Jason Meise). #62 ran well all 12 hours and finished 2nd in class and 6th(?) overall. #63 was right in their tails until hour 8 or so when it boiled over and came in for water. After palying catch-up (which it did quite well), it blew out the diff with 30 minutes remaining. Still was good for 7th in class (of 11).

What was that RS doing in ITS? Only the GSR is classed, as I recall. Damn it was slow - and one of the drivers went out of his way to block both our cars. We had to have words with the pit crew.
Overall, a great weekend. Good weather, good people. And good moonshine after the racing was done.

 

Which, btw, is *exactly* why a Sentra SE-R doesn't belong in ITS.

Jon
who would build one if it ran in ITA

 

So... how did "The Johns" do??? Warren??? Details please!

Jon
who had to work