So July 15th, I'm co-driving an enduro in a Civic hatchback with a friend of mine, the car will eventually be part of a new series myself and our local sanctioning body have put together. The race is 2 hours, and it's at night. I know the track well, and I'm comfortable in the car, **** I helped him a lot when he was learning to drive it. Any advice for prepping for this type of undertaking is welcome.

Justin

 

Hey Justin - are you and Scott R driving his car? I was wondering if that car would be out in race group when he said it was done. Glad to have you guys out.

Erik and I have been gearing up for the race too. Since I've never run a night race or an enduro before, I don't really have much advice in the way of prep except for I would highly recommend having a water bottle in the car so that you can take a drink if you need it. You can clip a camelback around the roll bar and just velcro the drinking tube to one of the shoulder harnesses so that you can find it easily w/o looking. Make sure you start with a good amount of meat (like near 100%) on the pads and tires. If you guys don't have a watch in the car, you might want to consider having one (unless you're using radios) so that you'll know when you're in your pit window and when the race is winding down.

Driving wise, you guys will both be fine, since you've both put a lot of HPDE time in. It might take a little getting used to race pace, but since this is an enduro, it won't be as fast as a sprint.

- Scott

 

Don't be fooled by the "Enduro" race time of 2 hours. It will be run at a Sprint Pace - flat out all the way. Be sure NOT to waste ANY time switching drivers - practice practice practice the change!

Will you need to refuel? If so it's probably best to start full and only put in what you need to finish at your pit stop - save time!

Have fun!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LoooseGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So July 15th, I'm co-driving an enduro in a Civic hatchback with a friend of mine, the car will eventually be part of a new series myself and our local sanctioning body have put together. The race is 2 hours, and it's at night. I know the track well, and I'm comfortable in the car, **** I helped him a lot when he was learning to drive it. Any advice for prepping for this type of undertaking is welcome.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Driving your first race in the dark is not the way I'd want to do it, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The glare from the cars behind will drive you nuts. Taping the back-glass with horizontal stripes of 2" tape (2-3" apart) will help make it more bearable.

Go potty before you get in the car. And don't hit anything.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thawley &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Driving your first race in the dark is not the way I'd want to do it, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The glare from the cars behind will drive you nuts. Taping the back-glass with horizontal stripes of 2" tape (2-3" apart) will help make it more bearable.

Go potty before you get in the car. And don't hit anything.</TD></TR></TABLE>

HAHA. That is what I was thinking John.

Driving at night is a different kind of beast. Will the car have good lighting? It is very hard to pick turn in points and apexes if the lights are not up to the task.

And yes, even though it will be an "enduro", a 2 hour race is pretty short for an enduro and will be run mostly at a sprint pace!
You will need to be cautious because enduro's have a very wide mix of car speeds. There will probably be some pretty fast cars coming through you during your hour stint!
Stay hydrated, be safe, and have fun!

 

You picked your first race to be a night enduro? You are brave.

There are so much to enduro prep and race strategy that a book can be written on this. It would be overwhelming to list everything, so I will list the most critical stuff that will help you and your car come back in one piece:

- Get more lights than you think you will ever need. Aim at least 2 forward (high beam would do), and 2 more at 45 deg to the side so you can see the apex in the turns. Aim at least 30-50 ft in front of you. Go beefy on the support structure, vibration will shake loose bolts and poor welds. Don't mount lights low, ie: below bumper level. Mount them at least as high as your head lights

- Since you got bright lights, so do others and you will be blind if you don't do this trick. Run duct tapes across your rear window from side to side, spaced them out about 4-5 inches apart per strip. This will help block some light out of your eyes.

- You will need a way to signal for pit in. If you radio fails, you are now screwed. Here's remedy. Mount a green or blue (some weird color) light next to the window behind your head and have a switch within reach. Flash this light 1-2 lap before you come for pit. Radio fails often in a race, so this is the only backup method that has worked for us in the past.

- eliminate or dim as much interior light as you can so your eyes do not have to fight to see in the dark.

- Find someone at same pace as you, stick to their *** and use their lights to learn the track in the dark

- make sure your lights don't overload your alternator. use relays to switch on on the power to your lights and do a good job with wiring. Fire is often caused by wiring.

- LooseGSR is right, this will be a sprint race. If driver change is required, run the faster driver as long as you can. Knowing honda gas mileage, it will run approx 1.75 hour at race pace for an ITA car. So plan your strategy with fuel and driver change together.

- There won't be time to drink from a camel pack. In fact, you are so focused, you won't do much but look for the next turn in or braking zone. Just drink plenty of gatorade 2-3 hours before the race and you will be fine.

We ran the 25hr at thunderhill a few times, and we won the west coast enduro series a few times also. PM us if you got questions, we will be glad to help with the little tricks.

Tommy
http://www.k2rd.com/teammidnight/

 

short enduros are fun, I wish we can have one down here in Socal. 4 hr or less is the best for a club racer.

 

My first race was a 3 1/2 hour Enduro at VIR, wasnt dark though Very fun, cant wait untill the next one.

Good Luck!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stealth430 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
- There won't be time to drink from a camel pack. In fact, you are so focused, you won't do much but look for the next turn in or braking zone. Just drink plenty of gatorade 2-3 hours before the race and you will be fine.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

No disrespect intended (and I appreciate the other tips), but I take it you have not raced in AZ in the summer before. It is NOT a good idea to go an hour without water. Your mental concentration will suffer as your body becomes dehydrated. It's likely to still be &gt; 100* in the cars even in the middle of the night. FIR has a 5/8 mile (drag strip) front straight, so in an ITA/H4 car, you have time to brush your teeth and comb your hair. Getting a drink isn't a problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stealth430 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
- eliminate or dim as much interior light as you can so your eyes do not have to fight to see in the dark.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Espescially the shift light, which is usually bright enough to from the moon at night. Just cover it with some tape.

 

Thanks for all the tips guys, and I do see your points in doing a night enduro as my first race. I'm honestly no too worried about it as I know the car well, and the track quite well too. I've also got in car video at night from the last enduro at the track from the street session I rode along with and I can use that to kind of gauge how to drive it.

The light issue is a important one and I'm going ot see if my roommate can get some HID's donated for the cause that can be used for this event. The point I like is that having some lights at 45 degrees out on either side to see apexes, any suggestions on an economical way to do this?

I agree with you Scott, driving in AZ is tough especially in summer. I know when I drive I always get out of the car and i'm very parched.

Overall I'm excited and looking forward to this opportunity and hope it goes well. Thanks everyone for the support and advice...keep it coming.

Justin

 

Another thought - if possible use the STOCK rearview mirror. You can then flip it to "night mode" andnot be blinded by cars behind you. The horizontal tape trick only works better than nothing.

 

I have no idea if this is a useful idea or not, but has anyone ever tried a pair of glasses with yellow lenses? They turn those brigt lights or friendly, warm, non-blinding, yellow. I can stair my buddy right in the face with his HID helmet mounted light when we do mountian bike rides at night with out even blinking. I have worn them on the street also and it seems to help.

 

Here's my tip - - -if you are only used to doing HPDE's than you aren't used to the fact that the "line" won't be perfect. Especially during any kind of start/restart. know that you may be forced 'off-line' & that you will need to react to that.

BudMan - who admits the first turn of my first race, I drove right off the track because I was on the outside (requires more turning than the 'perfect line')...I haven't made that mistake a 2nd time

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LoooseGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The light issue is a important one and I'm going ot see if my roommate can get some HID's donated for the cause that can be used for this event. The point I like is that having some lights at 45 degrees out on either side to see apexes, any suggestions on an economical way to do this?</TD></TR></TABLE>
The most economical way is not to do it at all. I've never run 45º lights. I think if you are actually LOOKING at apexes, you aren't driving/looking far enough ahead. In any case, if you still don't have HIDs/main lights that should be your priority. I'm not saying corner lights would not be of some value, but its really more of a rally thing than a road race thing. None of the winners at the 25-hour last year had them. And I didn't see any at Le Mans. I wouldn't waste your time with it.

HID main lights, however, will change your life. I run a friends rally-type light pod with two 150w Hellas and two HIDs. The HIDs are SOOOOooooo much brighter than the (very good) Hellas that I usually turn the Hellas off to reduce load on the alternator. They are barely useful. HIDs use less power, too. About half the wattage of the Hellas. I will do my best to NEVER buy anything but HIDs again. I cannot over state how good they are. Just be sure you get a complete HID set-up with housing/reflector/lens. I tried using HID bulbs and ballast in the stock Honda housings and it was absolute crap. Do it once. Do it right.

 

The value of the lights pointed at 45deg is up for debate, but let's just say there is always room for improvement even for the winners of last year's 25hr race. The reason for the 45 deg light is to spot your turn in, apex and exit before you get there because in a long sweeper like turn 2 at t-hill, your forward lights are pointing tangent to the track. You can look forward as much as your want, but the lights are not pointing at the exit.

We are beat this horse for a while, but the point is, get more lights than you need. Point them far and spread out the light. Pointing 3kW straight forward is not enough.

 

i'm going to LA tomorrow....anyone got some HID's I can borrow Looks like my only option at this point is to run just an HID kit in the stock headlight. It's only a 2 hour race, and before we go out we'll spend time making sure the lights are aimed and secured properly.

 

It is all depends on how competitive you want to be or expect to be. Wheel to wheel is definitely different. Like others have mentioned, mainly because most of the time if you are in the mix, the ideal line is not available to you. And beginners tend to slow down to much or caught by surprise when they are forced to drive offline.

Don't set expectation to high and be humble.

 

Andrie is right. Don't forget to have fun, don't take unnecessary risks since this your first time, and DON'T GIVE UP no matter what happens.