Here's a 22 page thread dedicated to the building of the car: BUILD THREAD
Our team consisted of 6 drivers, ranging in experience from seasoned veterans to novices just starting out. We knew going in that having 6 drivers instead of the required minimum of 4 would limit each driver's time behind the wheel, but we hoped that having time to rest and stay fresh would keep our team moving forward when others faulted.
Friday morning of the race weekend arrived with an ominous forecast...record heat and a chance for severe thunderstorms. And by record heat, I mean ALL TIME RECORD heat. As in 105*. Awesome. We had made special plans to deal with the heat. We installed a cooler in the car which was wired to pump ice cold water to special shirts that each driver wore, hopefully keep each of us cool in the heat of battle. We also made provisions to install large insulated drink bottles in the car for each driver to use to stay hydrated during the race. Regardless, there wouldn't be much other than shade to protect us from the elements when we weren't in the car.
The entire day on Friday was set aside to get the teams into the track, get cars unloaded, pit spaces set up, and cars and drivers registered. Two of our drivers arrived at the track around 10:30pm Thursday night to get in line. Amazingly, they found themselves behind 50 or so other teams who had similar plans. They spent the night inside the car trailer and held our spot in line. I arrived at the track about 7:30am Friday and joined in the "hurry up and wait" process at VIR's rear entrance. We had been told that the gates would open at 8:00am. They didn't open until 8:30am, but the delay seemed absolutely reasonable with the madhouse that was forming due to 84 teams and over 500 drivers and crew showing up for the event. Around 9:00am our portion of our team caravan had made it to the outskirts of the South Course paddock. We noticed a still unclaimed portion of front-row grass parking and jumped on it. This would end up being our base of operations for the weekend. As the 3 of us got unpacked, the rest of our team showed up with all the tools, generators, and most importantly, the car. They stayed in line and headed for our designated paddock spot.
As fate would have it, we got a GREAT paddock spot. Right on the front row and about 50 feet from the front door of the Timing and Scoring building. We got things unpacked there and started in on making sure we had everything where we needed it for the race to follow.
The guys who built the car had done a really nice job and it was basically ready to go when the rolled it off the trailer. We made a smart move and got the car in the front of the line for technical/safety inspection. The car passed with flying colors.
With the car ready to go and all the drivers registered, we were able to focus our attention on driving. VIR had arranged for the track to be open from noon to 4pm as a test session for all the cars registered for the race that weekend. Since two of our team members (including myself) had never driven the car, we felt it was important to get a chance to get some seat time and get a feel for the car before it mattered. A secondary goal of the test session was to make sure that everything was ready to go on the car. I was first in the car for the testing. I did about 10 laps around South Course and got comfortable with the dynamics of the car. Having never driven a front wheel drive car in anger on track, I knew I was going to have a little bit of a learning curve. The 10 laps wasn't enough to tell me everything I wanted to know, but it pointed me in the right direction. After a couple other drivers spent some time in the car, the car began having some weird fuel delivery issues. The gas tank was getting overly pressurized and fuel was back-feeding itself into the emissions control system. Not good, but this is why you test the car before racing. Without time or parts for a fix, we simply bandaided the situation by removing some of the emissions system and loosening the gas cap. With that drama behind us we checked in for a much needed night of sleep at the hotel.
That 6:00am wake-up call seemed to come way too early. That's the thing about a 24 hour race like this...even though the racing itself would last 24 hours, we were planning on a good 30+ hours of non-stop involvement due to everything that would have to happen pre and post-race. We were at the track by 7:30am to make sure everything was ready to go before our 9:ooam all-hands meeting. Coolers and drink bottles were filled. Gas jugs were pumped full. Driving order and pit duties were finalized. As a result of some dinner table discussion the night before, we also decided to check over a couple more things with the fuel system. Here's the car about 30 minutes before the call to grid:
With the car ready to go and all the drivers registered, we were able to focus our attention on driving. VIR had arranged for the track to be open from noon to 4pm as a test session for all the cars registered for the race that weekend. Since two of our team members (including myself) had never driven the car, we felt it was important to get a chance to get some seat time and get a feel for the car before it mattered. A secondary goal of the test session was to make sure that everything was ready to go on the car. I was first in the car for the testing. I did about 10 laps around South Course and got comfortable with the dynamics of the car. Having never driven a front wheel drive car in anger on track, I knew I was going to have a little bit of a learning curve. The 10 laps wasn't enough to tell me everything I wanted to know, but it pointed me in the right direction. After a couple other drivers spent some time in the car, the car began having some weird fuel delivery issues. The gas tank was getting overly pressurized and fuel was back-feeding itself into the emissions control system. Not good, but this is why you test the car before racing. Without time or parts for a fix, we simply bandaided the situation by removing some of the emissions system and loosening the gas cap. With that drama behind us we checked in for a much needed night of sleep at the hotel.
That 6:00am wake-up call seemed to come way too early. That's the thing about a 24 hour race like this...even though the racing itself would last 24 hours, we were planning on a good 30+ hours of non-stop involvement due to everything that would have to happen pre and post-race. We were at the track by 7:30am to make sure everything was ready to go before our 9:ooam all-hands meeting. Coolers and drink bottles were filled. Gas jugs were pumped full. Driving order and pit duties were finalized. As a result of some dinner table discussion the night before, we also decided to check over a couple more things with the fuel system. Here's the car about 30 minutes before the call to grid:
I was going to be driving the first stint, so seeing the car in the air and work being done to the fuel system was a bit unnerving. There wasn't anything I could do about it at that point, however, so I got suited up. By 9:30am it was already 90* out so putting on that heavy fire suit and helmet wasn't something I was looking forward to. As soon as I was able I got in the driver's seat and got my cool suit hooked up. A flip of a switch and I was in cool suit heaven. It is amazing how much of a difference that simple system can make.
Now it was time to focus on the task at hand. Since I was driving first, I main emphasis was to keep my nose clean and bring the car back ready to go for the next driver. Everyone agreed that this task was surely going to be easier said than done as having 84 cars piled onto a 1.6 mile race track was sure to produce some nasty battles for small pieces of real estate. I got the car onto the grid behind about 1/3 of the field. They told us in the driver's meeting that they wanted us all to get out there and do a few laps, nose to tail, so they could make sure that the timing and scoring system was working for all the cars. Once they verified that everything was good to go, they would start the race. We did 5 or 6 laps at around half-pace before the green flag came out.
Here's the video of the first 15 minutes of the race, starting with the green flag. (Look for Ronald McDonald waving the flag in the start/finish tower)
Here's the video of the first 15 minutes of the race, starting with the green flag. (Look for Ronald McDonald waving the flag in the start/finish tower)
We officially started the race in 20th position, a spot that was completely random but I'm glad it was in the top 1/4 of the field. Our car was smoking fast and had a nice power advantage on most of the other cars on the track. This made passing a fairly easy task. The biggest difficulty was dealing with packs of slower cars and being able to pick out the best line and timing that got through them. The car was fast enough that the closing speed we had over some other cars could create quite a pucker moment if you weren't anticipating enough. I managed to get the car up to 6th position by the 7th lap. I had to pit about half way through my 90 minute stint because gas was pouring out of our purposely loosened gas cap. Pulling in to get it tightened down cost us a couple of positions. I pitted the car again on lap 26 and handed the car over to our next driver.
This pit stop was our first opportunity to refuel the car and change drivers. We had talked over how it was going to go and the responsibilities of each person, but actually doing it is always more difficult than talking about it. I unlatched my belts, unplugged my radio, dropped the window net, and unhooked my coolsuit fittings to get out of the car. Once out, I immediately took over refueling duties. Since the person responsible for putting gas in the car was required to wear a fire suit, helmet and gloves, we decided it made the most sense for the driver (the only guy already dressed in that stuff) to be the one to handle the gas cans. For this stop, we were done fueling before the driver change was complete. Everything seemed to go fine and the car was back on track having dropped to 23rd during the stop. I felt great after my stint, so the coolsuit and drink bottle had done their job.
We knew there really wasn't any reason to be paying attention to the timing and scoring results, especially this early into the race. It turned out to be a good thing that we weren't watching, as doing so might have stressed us out quite a bit more.
Somewhere during the 4th driver's stint, the car began to hesitate. It seemed like it was having fuel delivery issues again, very similar to what we had discovered during the test day. We pitted the car and I cracked the gas cap to discover A LOT of built up pressure in the tank. After releasing the pressure, the car wouldn't start. it was acting like it was flooded. We quickly pulled a spark plug but it was dry. We tried push starting the car on pit road but couldn't get it to fire. Instead, several of us had to push the car up pit road and back to our spot in the paddock. Thank goodness our spot was a close as it was. Since a lap on South Course only takes about a minute and a half, any time spent working on the car is tough to overcome. This is where not looking as the standings helped out...we were winning the race right before the fuel issues started again! It's nice to know that now, and I'm so glad we didn't know it at the time. By the time we got the car back out on track we had dropped to 44th. It only behaved for another handful of laps before the problems showed up again. Since we were getting close to the required 1 hour break period, we decided to park the car and get the problems fixed for good before the race restarted. Back in the pits we found the problem. Our gas tank was full of gunk. The gunk had been sucked up by the fuel pump, starving it for fuel. It has also clogged the tank vent lines causing the overpressure situation.
This pit stop was our first opportunity to refuel the car and change drivers. We had talked over how it was going to go and the responsibilities of each person, but actually doing it is always more difficult than talking about it. I unlatched my belts, unplugged my radio, dropped the window net, and unhooked my coolsuit fittings to get out of the car. Once out, I immediately took over refueling duties. Since the person responsible for putting gas in the car was required to wear a fire suit, helmet and gloves, we decided it made the most sense for the driver (the only guy already dressed in that stuff) to be the one to handle the gas cans. For this stop, we were done fueling before the driver change was complete. Everything seemed to go fine and the car was back on track having dropped to 23rd during the stop. I felt great after my stint, so the coolsuit and drink bottle had done their job.
We knew there really wasn't any reason to be paying attention to the timing and scoring results, especially this early into the race. It turned out to be a good thing that we weren't watching, as doing so might have stressed us out quite a bit more.
Somewhere during the 4th driver's stint, the car began to hesitate. It seemed like it was having fuel delivery issues again, very similar to what we had discovered during the test day. We pitted the car and I cracked the gas cap to discover A LOT of built up pressure in the tank. After releasing the pressure, the car wouldn't start. it was acting like it was flooded. We quickly pulled a spark plug but it was dry. We tried push starting the car on pit road but couldn't get it to fire. Instead, several of us had to push the car up pit road and back to our spot in the paddock. Thank goodness our spot was a close as it was. Since a lap on South Course only takes about a minute and a half, any time spent working on the car is tough to overcome. This is where not looking as the standings helped out...we were winning the race right before the fuel issues started again! It's nice to know that now, and I'm so glad we didn't know it at the time. By the time we got the car back out on track we had dropped to 44th. It only behaved for another handful of laps before the problems showed up again. Since we were getting close to the required 1 hour break period, we decided to park the car and get the problems fixed for good before the race restarted. Back in the pits we found the problem. Our gas tank was full of gunk. The gunk had been sucked up by the fuel pump, starving it for fuel. It has also clogged the tank vent lines causing the overpressure situation.
Clogged fuel pump:
The racing gods shined on us during the break...in the form of a very nasty thunderstorm. Lots of lightning and rain hit the track with very little warning. At some point a bolt of lightning hit the track's electrical station and knocked out all the power to timing and scoring. As a result, the restart of the race was delayed by an hour and a half. This allowed us to get the repairs finished and the car in line on grid just minutes before the race started. This reprieve meant we still had a shot. Day turned to night during the first stint after the restart. Here's a shot of pit road as night was approaching:
We switched over to running the Full Course configuration of VIR for the night session. This portion of the track is twice as long (3.2 miles) as South Course and features much higher speeds. I got back in the car somewhere around 11:30pm, about 12 hours since I had gotten out of it. We had decided to change the driving order a little bit and my stints were separated even more as a result. I got in the car knowing that I was going to be driving either for two hours or until the car ran out of gas, whichever came first. I had never driven on a race track at night. None of us had. I didn't know what to expect, beyond what my teammates were saying over the radio. The lights in the pits keep things nice and bright and blind you to just how dark it was out there. As I pulled out of the pits and onto VIR's long back straight, I got my first taste of exactly what I was up against. I couldn't see anything. Not in front of me, beside me, behind me. This was a track I knew well, so I had plenty of mind and muscle memory about where it went, but trying to navigate it (at race speed) without being able to see where it went was a challenge. The lights we had on the car were legal to the rules but were woefully inadequate and paled in comparison to what many of our competitors were running. I was either struggling to see the track with our dim lights or was being blinded by the lights of cars behind me. It took about 20 minutes of my stint before I started to feel confident about what I was doing out there given the visibility situation. Soon enough I was cruising and picking off lots of other cars. My 2 hour stint seemed to end all too soon. That two hours was absolutely the most terrifying and most thrilling time I've ever spent in a race car.
Here's some night video (taken from the first quarter of my second hour)
And my favorite photo from the race:
Within a couple of laps the driver radioed in that he was experiencing a bad vibration in the car at certain speeds. We had him bring it into the pits to check it out. While looking for the answer to the vibration problem, one of us noticed water leaking from the front of the car. Back to the paddock. We quickly determined that a pinhole leak had formed in the backside of the radiator in front of one of our cooling fans. Without a replacement, and with no desire to harm our engine, we had to make the tough call to park the car and not finish the race.
We ended up in 45th position but were long gone before the race actually ended. While it was frustrating to pack up while others were racing, it just wasn't meant to be for us. We were on track for 16 of the 24 hours. Everyone on the team got to drive a couple of stints, and everyone got some time in the dark. All in all, it was a great time. We know we have a competitive car and a competitive team. With any luck, we'll be up front at the end of the next one. It took me a couple of days to recover from the event. A 24 hour race is truly a test of man and machine, and I'm happy to say I've survived one. Congrats to all those that made it all 24.
And my favorite photo from the race:
The car ran great most of the night. We managed to work ourselves all the way back to 22nd overall. While I was getting some much-needed sleep in the trailer, one of the drivers brought the car into the pits with a brake pedal that was sitting on the floor. We brought him into the paddock and found that our rear brake pads were completely gone. In fact, all the friction material was long gone and we had been running on the backing plates for some time. They wore so thin that the left rear piston popped out of the caliper. We were within 30 minutes of the second mandatory break period, so we decided to perform a full brake job on the car. We replaced all the pads, bled the brakes, and put on a couple new tires. The car was ready to go for the third and final session of the race, this time back on South Course.
Within a couple of laps the driver radioed in that he was experiencing a bad vibration in the car at certain speeds. We had him bring it into the pits to check it out. While looking for the answer to the vibration problem, one of us noticed water leaking from the front of the car. Back to the paddock. We quickly determined that a pinhole leak had formed in the backside of the radiator in front of one of our cooling fans. Without a replacement, and with no desire to harm our engine, we had to make the tough call to park the car and not finish the race.
We ended up in 45th position but were long gone before the race actually ended. While it was frustrating to pack up while others were racing, it just wasn't meant to be for us. We were on track for 16 of the 24 hours. Everyone on the team got to drive a couple of stints, and everyone got some time in the dark. All in all, it was a great time. We know we have a competitive car and a competitive team. With any luck, we'll be up front at the end of the next one. It took me a couple of days to recover from the event. A 24 hour race is truly a test of man and machine, and I'm happy to say I've survived one. Congrats to all those that made it all 24.
Great account of the highs and lows of ChumpCar endurance racing. Thanks!
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