Crewed at 12-Hour SCCA Enduro at Summit Point
 

Spent this Friday/Saturday crewing for one of my buddy's ITS RX-7 and his teammate's SSM Miata at the "12-Hours at the Point" endurance race at the Summit Point Raceway (SCCA).

Not going to bore you with details, but long story short the RX-7 only made it about 1/2 hour into the race because of serious overheating issues. This is after we had already replaced the transmission and clutch between Friday's night practice and the night qualifying session. We ended up missing qualifying and started 45th, but had moved up to the upper 20s by the time the car called it quits. I had to leave about 10 hour into the race, but the Miata was still running strong at the top of its class. I was the ventman for the RX7 and fireman for the Miata during the frequent pit stops.

Anyhow, good times...alot of work! I'm tired as hell.

Here are some pics of some highlights, which is much more interesting than me talking more:

Ok, so I had to take ONE of the Maxima
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris019.jpg

The team
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris023.jpg

Up into the truck for work...
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris010.jpg

Don't you wish you had a lift in YOUR truck?
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris013.jpg

This 944 was the fastest car out there for the race. He made it about 6 hours before something went wrong
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris020.jpg

Night lighting
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris015.jpg

The "garage" area
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris001.jpg

Nomex suits suck...
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris029.jpg

All the cars in grid for starting
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris031.jpg

Note in this pic how there are no dents or scrapes on this car. A few hours later, all four corners are banged up
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris034.jpg

Some shots from various parts of the track

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris040.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris041.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris043.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris044.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris045.jpg

This is what happens when a wild turkey runs out in the track and you hit it doing 100mph. The mangled turkey was actually INSIDE the car and the driver did another 2 laps before he could pit (his teammate was in his pit spot)

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris081.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris082.jpg

What did he do? Run the next 8 hours of the race with no windshield (back window also removed so it wouldn't blow out from the wind)

https://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j...thChris091.jpg

Sometimes, you can take a corner too fast...

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris076.jpg

he didn't rejoin the race, needless to say
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris078.jpg

doing some fuel transfer
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris075.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris066.jpg

trying to look important
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris067.jpg

The race's leaders by a long way...Mitch Piper's 2 BMWs. These are the guys who put on my SFCs. Crazy that the 911 caught back up with them. I had a feeling the 911 was a bit faster, but was 2 laps down at one point.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris062.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris065.jpg

wonder if Jared is driving
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris056.jpg

This porsche was just MEAN...love teh side exaust.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris063.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris074.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris083.jpg

loadign up the trailer

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris088.jpg

me with our driver, Chris Mitchum
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris087.jpg

lol
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris084.jpg

working on the Miata
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris099.jpg

some night shot attempts (damn mini digital camera)

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris100.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris101.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris102.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris103.jpg

Nice! I love working crew, you get closer to the action. Good pics!

Nice pictures. I spent a day at that track last summer with a friend who lives maybe 10 minutes away watching the Corvette and Porsche clubs who had rented out the track for the day go at it. Lots of fun just to watch. I'm sure driving it or even helping crew would be loads of fun.

The guy who hit the turkey. No glass now
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris091.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris093.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris092.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris096.jpg

A few more dents on the Benz now. you can't see it but the front bumper is held on by zip ties and straps now...

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...thChris095.jpg

very nice pics...what were the rules you had to meet for the car to be able to race?

Nice pics.I was on the drift side yesterday.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...2/HPIM0827.jpg

http://www.12hoursatthepoint.net/

here's the page for the event. Car classing is based on SCCA road racing classes mixing pro cars, non-pro track-built cars, and a handfull of street-legal cars (in this case, some of the Miatas and a couple VW Golfs).

I'm not all that knowledgeable about the build/modding specs for the various classes (they are VERY different from autocross classes), but if you are interested in the classes, you can check them out on SCCA's website in the "club racing" section.

Chris is a former pro driver and car-builder, but now that he's married and has a baby he's doing more behind-the-scenes stuff for race companies and only runs a few of his own races each year.

his other cars include:
- factory 5 Cobra
- a road-racing stock car (think NASCAR but on a road course)
- two gen-1 RX-7's that are much more heavily prepared than the Gen-2 he used for the enduro
- and a handfull of other race-type cars

yeah, all the guys running the enduro were laughing about all the teenagers going to the drift event on Shennandoah Circuit, and how they'd never seen so many Civics and Eclipses with big tails coming through the gate (they meant the spectators, not the competitors, lol)

^^Moar pics of that chick please. :naughty:

Meh...that's cuz old people over 30 can't drive worth a shiet.....

well alone over 50..........

Very impressive. Any thoughts on what can be done to prevent overheating?

The problem with the RX-7 was (we suspected) that the big oil cooler was blocking air from the big radiator. The problem with ITS class is that there are VERY strict rules about where you can mount things (like the oil cooler) and there isn't much flexibility. I think Chris plans to go to a different style radiator and oil cooler setup (within the rules, of course) for the next race.

Looks like fun....

The porsche exhaust got me hawt..:wall:

Were you spraying NOS on the track, I hear it helps down the straights and helps set up the turns.......especially turn 1 at full throttle.....

Whos the fat dude with the red shirt?

err....the whole team was wearing red shirts. You'll have to be a bit more specific. I wouldn't say any of them were "fat" though....

don't hate just because turkeys don't like Miatas :bill:

3 and 4 pic

IIRC his name was Cory. The rest of the guys there have been crewing together for years and they had some nickname for him that I forget. I was the n00b and kept on forgetting everyone's names and nicknames :grinno:

All those guys knew damn near everything about cars though.....they're all "lifers" so to say....day job is working at race shops....weekend job is crewing for racecars :grinno:

Niiiiice maing. I was laughing my arse off imagining the turkey inside that poor miata for 2 laps... :laugh:

P.S. you look ghey. :grinno:

:wall:

The problem is that it IS an RX-7... nearly all of them overheat

Sweet pics tho:thumbsup:

Dunno, I think all of the gen-1 RX7's went the distance. The three gen-2 RX7s...ours had overheating problems, another one blew up its tranny, and I don't recall what the third one did.

Chris has gone complete 24-hour races in that car before, but he was pretty sure that the oil cooler location (which was blocking about half the radiator) was the culprit, since it was the only piece that was newly-installed.

It used to be located elsewhere when the car ran in a higher class, but with the ITS rules, it HAD to be located where it was, since no custom front bumper could be used in ITS....

WOW, what a great thread Irish! Gotta love how you put it all in a story with the descriptions! :thumbsup: Love this kind of racing!
BTW what was the winning price?

Honestly, I have no idea. We were busy drinking beers and loading up the car/gear when the race was getting near its end. IIRC it is pretty substantial though.

For some reason, drifting attracts honda kids. I dont know why. I run drift events and compete in the USD series (not this year :( ) and theres always a ton of them despite the fact none of their cars can drift. Maybe its because their cars are for show and drifting is for show too?

Anyway, I love those enduros at summit, some of those guys drive like mad men. Sucks about the turkey... I would have eaten it if i was the guy in the miata.

Nice pics. Summit is one of my favorite tracks and was where I ran my first SCCA race solo (ITA 1st Gen CRX Si) WAAAAY back in 2001 IIRC. Been there many times, and was also one of the few (if not the ONLY one) to go OVER the BERM at Turn 10 (that was back in 1995!) That was during an HPDE back then.

I was at Summit Point with the Maxima back in April doing a 2 day HPDE with the PCA. Awesome track

how did the FC (2nd gen) do in the standings?

As you already know I have a thing for FCs

The #7 car finished 25th....52 laps down from the winners

The #16 car finished 27th....55 laps down.

Our Rx-7 finished 44th......454 laps down :mecry:

Our Miata finished 14th....down 33 laps.