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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
The team
Up into the truck for work...
Don't you wish you had a lift in YOUR truck?
This 944 was the fastest car out there for the race. He made it about 6 hours before something went wrong
__________________ Sold: 2000 Maxima SE - PR Intake - Frankencar CB - Truax SFCs - Wilwoods - Eibachs - Blehm LTB - Cattman Ypipe
Stillen RSB - RSTB - FSTB - ES Bushes - G wheels - Raxles - Mach1 lip - Illuminas - and plenty more
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)
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)
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.
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.
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
__________________ Sold: 2000 Maxima SE - PR Intake - Frankencar CB - Truax SFCs - Wilwoods - Eibachs - Blehm LTB - Cattman Ypipe
Stillen RSB - RSTB - FSTB - ES Bushes - G wheels - Raxles - Mach1 lip - Illuminas - and plenty more
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)
__________________ Sold: 2000 Maxima SE - PR Intake - Frankencar CB - Truax SFCs - Wilwoods - Eibachs - Blehm LTB - Cattman Ypipe
Stillen RSB - RSTB - FSTB - ES Bushes - G wheels - Raxles - Mach1 lip - Illuminas - and plenty more
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.
__________________ Sold: 2000 Maxima SE - PR Intake - Frankencar CB - Truax SFCs - Wilwoods - Eibachs - Blehm LTB - Cattman Ypipe
Stillen RSB - RSTB - FSTB - ES Bushes - G wheels - Raxles - Mach1 lip - Illuminas - and plenty more
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
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
__________________ Sold: 2000 Maxima SE - PR Intake - Frankencar CB - Truax SFCs - Wilwoods - Eibachs - Blehm LTB - Cattman Ypipe
Stillen RSB - RSTB - FSTB - ES Bushes - G wheels - Raxles - Mach1 lip - Illuminas - and plenty more
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.
The problem is that it IS an RX-7... nearly all of them overheat
The problem is that it IS an RX-7... nearly all of them overheat
Sweet pics tho
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....
__________________ Sold: 2000 Maxima SE - PR Intake - Frankencar CB - Truax SFCs - Wilwoods - Eibachs - Blehm LTB - Cattman Ypipe
Stillen RSB - RSTB - FSTB - ES Bushes - G wheels - Raxles - Mach1 lip - Illuminas - and plenty more
WOW, what a great thread Irish! Gotta love how you put it all in a story with the descriptions! Love this kind of racing!
BTW what was the winning price?
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WOW, what a great thread Irish! Gotta love how you put it all in a story with the descriptions! 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.
__________________ Sold: 2000 Maxima SE - PR Intake - Frankencar CB - Truax SFCs - Wilwoods - Eibachs - Blehm LTB - Cattman Ypipe
Stillen RSB - RSTB - FSTB - ES Bushes - G wheels - Raxles - Mach1 lip - Illuminas - and plenty more
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)
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.
__________________ 2002 Infiniti I35 Sport Package
Progress RSB, Otto FSTB, Michellin Pilot Sports A/S, Eibach Springs, Illumina Shocks, Fx35 Brakes Rotors/Calipers, Custom SFCs 1989 Mazda Rx7 GTU
Ls1/T56 W/ Ported TB and Full Exhaust
11.67 at 120mph 3rd time out
) 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?
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