I got my first taste of enduro this year at the Glen with a 2-hour, which went so-so. We weren't really prepared for any contingency, and it showed, althoguh we were running at the end. I'd like to work my way up to longer events. My car is simple, slow and reliable.

I've always wanted to do the 24 hours of Moroso and was wondering what kind of funding and spares would be needed for such an event, especially tires and brakes and so on. Has anyone here done the race, or even a 12 hour? I would run it with my stock-engined 88 hatch, or maybe a D16 vtec swap if I had a sponsor. Obviously, I'm talking about 2004 here. I would like to be able to estimate the cost and ressouces necessary: how many crew, how many days in advance do they all arrive, how much is saved by running two cars, maybe mine and a CRX so we could pool spares? If I were to go, I believe I could get a local speed shop behind me for transportation and inexpensive parts as well as prep. Maybe I'm just dreaming, but you all know how fun it is to dream about almost insane racing projects during the winter...

 

I've crewed for several 12 Hours at the Point entrants. The frist year, we had three Spec RX-7s entered. The following year, 2 SRX-7s. The third year, it was 2 Spec Miatas.

What we learned:
- Bring all the crew you want, but only allow actual hot-pit-ready crew anywhere near the pits. Everybody else just gets in the way. Most SCCA races, you are allowed 5 crew in the hot pits + a fire man.

- even with multiple cars entered, you should only have one active crew. Stagger the pits of the cars accordingly. Have a few backup crew in case the **** hits the fan and both cars are in - but try VERY hard to avoid this.

- You will want the 5 allowed crew. Probably won't use them all every stop, but sometimes you will.

- Toyos last forever. We used 5 on each Miata. But Miata are easy on tires. I think the SRX-7s used 6-7 tires each.

- Hawk Blues last forever. We tried several rear compounds and settled on Blues - everything else wore down or fell apart. We needed adjustable bias to use them in rear.

- Get plenty of test days beforehand. Small problems become big when you have three drivers and large entry fees. Our first effort was in new cars - a big mistake - one had a bad gas tank, one had wonky rear brakes, the other won its class.

- Food food food. Bring plenty. Have a designated chef and a large grill. Drivers get priority, then crew, then everybody else. Plenty of Gatorade, water, etc.

- Hire a good crew cheif if you don't know one. They make the difference between a so-so weekend and a fun weekend (regardless of actual competitiveness). We've had three in three efforts. Year one, it was a buddy of a buddy and it went ok. Year two it was a experienced enduro crew, but first attempt at cheif - it went better. Year three, it was an experienced enduro crew cheif and it went VERY well - calculating pit stops, juggling crew members, listening to whiny drivers, etc takes lots of energy and patience - some people are just not cut out for it.

- Invest in good radios and test them beforehand. Not having to wave pit boards is good. Only the crew cheif and active drivers should be on the radio.

- Have an airconditioned place for drivers to nap.

- Food Food Food. Water, gatorade, etc.

- Make sure everybody knows the goals going into the weekend. Do you want to be fair in distributing seat time, or do you want to win? Can all the drivers do night legs (we have several drivers who cannot drive at night, they end up shorted half a session, but are ok with it since they know beforehand).

- Practice fueling before the weekend. Most SCCA events have a minimum pit time if fuel tank is opened (I think 90 seconds at the 12 Hours of Summit Point). Make sure you can dump 11 gallons (or whatever you need) in that time. Standard gas jugs CANNOT do the job - you will need NASCAR dump cans or jerry-rig something similar. We got our stops down below the min 90 second stop - this included all fuel, driver change, two tires, window cleaning, fluid checks, etc. Not only does it make the team faster overall, it is GREAT for moral to consistently beat the min time.

- Spares - we brought one of the driver's sprint cars to scavenge if needed. Minimum stuff: brake pads, calipers and hardware, clutch, tranny, fluids, tires.

- tire changes - use fresh lug nuts each change (they get hot, don't make your crew juggle hot nuts). If you can borrow GOOD cordless impacts do it. Find a lightweight race jack to use.

- crew - 1x fuel man. 1x fire man. 1x crew chieft. 1x master tech. 3xmisc crew.
The master tech is the chiefs right-hand man. The cheif will get the cars into the pit, the master tech will make sure they are trackworthy within the 90 second time slot. The misc crew do whatever the cheif and/or master tech tell them. All should be competent mechanics (capable of tire changes, brake changes, diagnosing minor issues, spotting "bad stuff", etc). The fuel man and fire man must refuel the car and also ensure the dump cans are getting filled on time. Make sure at least one of the misc crew brings Nomex gear for relief fuel duty. The master tech should know the car inside and out and be able to fix stuff in minimal time (jerry rigged if needed, etc). He should not be afraid of the BFH.

- tools - be very precise in where you leave them and what you do with them. Only lay out what is needed for a particular task. Bring plenty of air and backup impact wrenches. The master tech should be in charge of tools - nobody should be in the tool chest without explicit instructions.

- food food food. water. gatorade. etc.

- and lets not forget beer for the party at the end of the race. and more food. and more beer.

If you have any other questions, let me know. I've tried real hard to remember what we did right and wrong the last several years. Enduros are a ton of work, but also a ton of fun if you do it properly.


[Modified by Crack Monkey, 9:47 PM 12/23/2002]

 

Wow, fantastically informative post! I think my Civic would be similarly easy on tires, as it only has 92 hp and weighs under 2000 pounds. I think it sounds like a good idea to run 2 cars of the same make. When you say testing days, I assume that they don't have to be on the actual track of the race, right? We live close to several small tracks, but well over 1000 miles from Moroso (and 3000 from Thunderhill if they hold their 25-hour). Also, how many hours or days in advance do different parts of the team have to arrive at the event? I'm assuming you need a certain number of motel rooms for a certain number of days and that you make it so the crew doesn't pay for anything and that this is where it gets expensive. Did your team ever estimate the total cost of a 12-hour event including all expenses? How did you divide the expenses? Was the owner of the car one of the drivers and did he pay a lesser share? Was the crew a bunch of buddies or were they employees of a sponsor? Thanks again.

 

Yeah, any track is fine. Just don't make an enduro the first event of the year.

Since we all live within a few hours of Summit, and practice started Friday night, most of us showed up Fridday afternoon. One of the drivers has an RV, so those of us who didn't want to go home stayed there. If you have crew travelling a long distance, then you would need to provide motel rooms or RV space.

We did, but I forget the figure. It was not cheap. I seem to recall $1500+ per driver on a three driver team.

Drivers paid evenly.

Yes, the one driver owned all of the cars we used. He paid his share, of course his share of the rental was paid to himself.

Mostly friends. A few employees (one driver owns a race shop).

We did have small sponsors. I don't remember if any were cash. We got some lights for the cars, some tires, and other odds and ends.

 

One of my racer friends (Neil) ran this enduro a few times in an ITS 240z - he said the costs were absurd, about $6000 for the whole weekend. And then the motor was toast afterwards. And it had no brakes. Wait... it never had brakes.

 

Unfortunately the Moroso 24 hour is no more. The Florida Region will be holding a 12 hour in mid-April at Homestead. Check out http://www.floridaregionscca.com for more. Then the 12 hours at the point in May. The 6 hour race at Nelson Ledges Aug 9-10, The Gingerman 10 hour may be a 12 hour Labor Day weekend, EMRA 4 hour at Summit Point, and Thunderhill 12-25 hour in December. There are probably a few more, and hopefully a true 24 hour can be put back together!