VIR 13 hours

[SeanB]

John Tavolacci and I will be down at VIR this weekend for the 13 hours crewing for the #18 ITA ex Grand AM cup Integra piloted by John Allen, Will Fox, Jon Kofod, Andrew Zimmerman.

We'll try and post updates and pictures over the weekend, there might be some crew spots open so if anyone is interested in coming along send me a PM.

[SeanB]

Some of the cooler cars on the list:

T2 Exige
T2 350Z
ITE TL-S driven by Honda R&D
Charles Espenlaub will be driving a Miata in SM
Current MX-5 cup Champ Jason Saini will be in an ITE MX-5 Cup car

[mirogsr]

That's awesome. Enjoy it guys.
Is that the race Integra what we were talking about before?

[mirogsr]

That's awesome. Enjoy it guys.
Is that the race Integra what we were talking about before?

And off topic question. Can you change my signature? I 'll send you new piX.
Is that OK?

[SeanB]

That's awesome. Enjoy it guys.
Is that the race Integra what we were talking about before?

It is one of them, the Nonnamaker's campaigned the Integras with great success back in the early 2000s in the very popular ST II class. The cars were sold in 2003 and purchased by some of my racing friends. There were 3 cars, all GSR tubs with LS motors.

Two of the cars were repainted, while Andrew's car is still in the Nonnamaker scheme.

Jon's car: I am Jon's crew chief in the MARRS series, and John T is also one of the other team members
http://flatoutracing.net/images/headlines/9-22-07-1.jpg

Ian's car:
http://flatoutracing.net/images/headlines/10-14-2005_2.jpg

Andrew's car: which John T and I will be crewing for
http://flatoutracing.net/images/headlines/10-14-2005_3.jpg

All three cars in 2004 in Honda Challenge:
http://flatoutracing.net/images/gallery/11-6_7-04/1.jpg

Back when the Nonnamaker's still owned the cars:
http://www.theracechannels.com/photos/03nonnmoj-27.jpg

[SeanB]

Brief story:

There is an element of luck required in racing, sadly the #18 team didn't have it. But, its racing and things happen and in the end the car made it safely in the trailer.

The day started in fine order, Johnny Allen was putting on a show for all of us. Up to P5 overall at the end of the 2nd hour mark and running consistent times in the 2:18 range when he radioed in and said the car had run out of gas. We hopped in the truck and got him fuel. Something was amiss, the night before and during the past week I had done the math for the car and realized we needed 17 gallons of fuel to make it to the 2.5 hour mark. The car made it 2 hrs and change before it shut itself down. My math was wrong, initial guess said we weren't getting 12 mpg as I thought and were getting 9.4 mpg. Johnny reported in that there was exhaust or some sort of fumes in the car, we took it as nothing major only to get a surprise later in the day.

Johnny stepped out and we put Will Fox in and fueled the car with 20 gallons of gas, Will being new to the car and track took it easy and was doing consistent times in the 2:23s. Until into the 1.5 hour mark of his stint he radioed in to say 4th gear was gone. The car would shift but zing to the limiter, a tranny swap would be 1.5 hours and we were still lapping faster than the other ITA cars. Will suddenly radioed to say the car had stalled and out of gas he was coming in. Big surprise, he was lapping slower and even with a full course yellow section we had used 20 gallons of fuel in 2 hours. It was becoming evident the car was not getting all the gas. (As of now its a mystery on why.)

Will came in and we fueled up with 17 gallons of gas and sent Jon Kofod out, he began slow as he designed a plan to work around the lack of 4th gear and then began to tick off laps in the 24s and 23s and even as low as 22s with no 4th gear. Some issues with slower cars meant he was getting frustrated, a good run would be lost because a shift to 5th made the car flat on its face. During the stint we were black flagged for car to car contact, came in and there was no penalty. A conversation with the other team and they said their driver did not report any contact, a small frustration but it wasn't costly. Jon came in at the 2 hour mark and Andrew Zimmerman would get in for his stint.

Another 17 gallons of fuel and Andrew went out, but things started going haywire. Andrew reported smoke coming from the car, Jon K went to the wall and immediately we saw the car spewing smoke as it went by. We had to bring Andrew in, a quick inspection under the car and under the hood did not report anything obvious. We had to go back behind the wall and figure out what was happening. We jacked the car up and realized tranny fluid was spewing out from the intermediate shaft. Taking apart the shaft and we began finding remnants of 4th gear coming out. A tranny had to be installed and with the amazing skills of everyone combined the tranny was swapped out in 1.5 hours and we filled the car completely to the brim with gas. That meant we had 23 gallons of gas in the car and knew since there was 2 hours left we would have enough gas to finish the race.

Will went out for another stint, but soon radioed in that the car was stalled and wouldn't fire. It would fire and quit, fire and quit. Radio was spotty so we had no idea where he was, initial thoughts were battery. A while later EV towed the car in and we discovered the distributor connector was loose, a zip tie and the car was fixed. At this stage no one really wanted to drive, Johnny Allen said he'd finish up the stint. He went out and ran over some debris and had to come in as we had to remove it. The car was running ok for a stock LS tranny and he began clicking laps in the 2:22s. Until suddenly he came in with 20 minutes to go with no fuel. The car had apparently eaten 23 gallons in less than 2 hours, something was amiss in the fuel cell or fuel pump. A splash of gas and he was off into the night. The 13 hour mark struck and we finished, it was a long day but fun regardless with a team of amazing drivers and crew.

[SeanB]

Also:

There was a real ex Speed World Challenge Civic Type R, Johnny had a chance to check it out and I'll let him post details. It won the race overall and set fast lap, which is amazing given there was stiff competition from a Porsche 911 and the Piper BMW. There was also a former Turner Motorsports car, actually might have been two and I think it was also running SWC back in the day.

P.S. I recommend some of you autox only people to come out to a road race weekend, its an amazing experience specially endurance races.

[johnnytavo]

Yesss, the EP3 won, and like Sean said it was an ex Speed World Challenge car owned by Mark Hein. I believe its last season was 2006, and it became and enduro car after that. I forget how much power the car is making, it was built within Speed world challenge specs, so its probably putting down at least 250 whp and revving to 8500+ rpms; it sounded amazing. Here are some pics that a friend RJ took:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a188/JohnnyTavo/2007_VIR_13HR_0615.jpg

[johnnytavo]

Three wheeling moton goodness!

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a188/JohnnyTavo/2007_VIR_13HR_0491.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a188/JohnnyTavo/2007_VIR_13HR_0183.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a188/JohnnyTavo/2007_VIR_13HR_0860.jpg

Pics of the teggy!

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a188/JohnnyTavo/2007_VIR_13HR_0493.jpg


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a188/JohnnyTavo/2007_VIR_13HR_0696.jpg

[johnnytavo]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a188/JohnnyTavo/2007_VIR_13HR_0798.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a188/JohnnyTavo/2007_VIR_13HR_0855.jpg

[SeanB]

The suspension in the CTR probably cost more than most of our cars.

One of the funniest moments, Johnny on the radio late at night with Johnny Allen. Johnny A keys the radio and goes: "Dude the BMW in front of me is throwing sparks from the rotor... sweeet!!" Or Jon K keying the radio and asking us to find the #21 Miata and asking the driver to move or get moved.

[SeanB]

I think that CTR ran the 24 hrs at the Ring and Silverstone.

Oh and reading on Car and driver, the car was originally built for the European Touring Car series.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/6696/sport-tvs-touring-terrors-page2.html

[johnnytavo]

Hey I have that issue somehwere

[SeanB]

Remembering more of those moments...

"The Firebird broke!" Will's dad to Will over the radio in hour 5.

"I broke the car.....again" Will on the radio after the tranny fix

"Its out of gas....again". John Allen on the radio

"Let's fire up the grill and cook some burgers" (upon the team decision to proceed with swapping the transmission)

"Hey chicken ****, you want to drive?" John to Will on the radio following pit stop to yank brake duct piece from under the car.

"We're up to 52nd position, keep pushing" Will to John on the radio in hour 12 after getting the car back out following repair of electrical problem.

Jon K to on the radio: "Ok this Porsche in front has been holding me up, I should get a good lap next time by."

Johnny Allen after the race: "So I was driving around at night and forgot where I was on the track, the road started going left and I went whoa the road's going left"

John Allen on the radio: "I am smelling fumes in the car and its giving me headaches." Andrew back to John A: "Are you sure its not you, and deal with it."

John T after waking up Saturday morning: "I'm cold." We were sleeping in the tent and the temperature had dropped to about 35 degrees at night.