2004 25 hours of Thunderhill

photos and article by: John McNulty

Twenty-five hours of continuous racing seemed like an eternity. It certainly felt that way for many of the teams at the U.S. Air Force sponsored 25 Hours of Thunderhill endurance race held December 6 and 7, 2003 at Thunderhill Raceway in Northern California. Very few teams finished the race unscathed as mechanical problems were an epidemic and bent sheet metal from collisions with other cars could be found on just about every car. But that’s to be expected when you combine a challenging track with rain and mud, 73 cars, 25 hours, mental and physical fatigue, darkness, and adrenaline.

One of the teams that had their share of misfortune was the Toyo-Endless-5Zigen-Alaniz (TE5A) team. They suffered from a major collision with a Porsche GT3 and mechanical problems that were mostly due to this collision. To be sure, the TE5A team's intestinal fortitude was severely tested as they were given up for dead many times. However, they soldiered on to finish this race after suffering a transmission failure; exhaust leaks; gas tank leaks; a constant velocity (C.V.) joint failure; broken alternator belt; collisions; and disqualification. While it would have been easy to give up, there were no quitters on this team. This was a testament to the old adage, "if there is a will there is a way".

Endurance races, also known as enduros, generally feature a wide variety of cars and this race was no exception. Porsche GT3's, with over 415 horsepower on tap, shared the track with sub 100 horsepower Honda Civics and Mazda Miatas.

Lee Lim, and 5Zigen's Tsuyoshi Inoue. Without this crew, this story of triumph over tremendous adversity wouldn't have happened. This is endurance racing! Toyo Tires, Endless Brakes, 5Zigen, Alaniz Tuning, Autocannon, and GT-Pro were the primary sponsors of the team.

reliable. Winning a 25-hour race means you first have to finish. The car was barely ready the night before it was supposed to be at the track. Many major components on the TE5A Civic were thoroughly checked over. The B18C engine with around 210 crankshaft horsepower was compression tested to ensure freshness.

Cold damp weather and a fast and twisty road course greeted the 73 teams of drivers and their support crew for the National Autosport (NASA) sanctioned Thunderhill 25-hour enduro. Most of the enduro teams arrived on Friday morning for testing, and for some of those who had never been to Thunderhill, a chance to learn the track.

Learning a new track is often a humbling experience for a driver. The first couple of laps usually feel awkward and slow, especially on a challenging track like Thunderhill. This track is very fast with three completely blind corners and lots of elevation change. Going consistently fast here will require patience and many laps of practice to get the driving fundamentals right, such as learning the fastest line around the track.

The TE5A drivers took it easy for their first two or three track sessions until they felt comfortable enough to push the pace. Pushing the car too hard on a new track would be a recipe for disaster. Flying off the track and injuring the car was the last thing anyone on the team wanted to do. We all progressed quickly and by the end of the day, each driver was up to race pace. Thankfully, the whole team got through Friday's test day without incident and we were now ready to do battle in the race.

Cars in each class are racing each other and not the cars from another class. So, for example, each E0 car races the other E0 cars but not against an ES car. This means that there are really six races taking place on the racetrack at the same time.

The enduro classes range from the unlimited ES class down to the E3 class. In ES, the Porsche GT3, BMW M3's, and a super-nimble Caterham battled for class supremacy. The E0 class was composed mainly of Honda Challenge H1 hybrids, Taz Harvey's Speedvision car, and powerful BMW E36 328's. The E1 class combined a Grand Am spec. Mini Cooper with BMW 325's and a multitude of other makes and models. In E2, which had the largest field, Honda Challenge H4 cars such as basically stock Honda Civics, Miata's, RX7's, and LS Integras fought it out. Last but certainly not least, the E3 class had an enthusiastic gathering of an old school 1987 Honda CRX, stock Mini Coopers, and VW GTI's.

Teams were assembled of both professional and amateur drivers. Pro drivers included former Indycar driver, Davy Jones, who drove the Motivation Motorsports BMW E36 M3 in the ES class.In addition, SCCA Speedvision race winners Bob Endicott drove the ESSES-Mugen Civic and Roger Foo drove for the RNR Honda and Team Honda Research teams. Speedvision top guns Taz Harvey and Paul Bonaccorsi shared Taz's NN racing's Speedvision 1999 Civic Si. Other than a few other pros, most of the drivers in this race were amateurs.

Some teams were big-buck dollar efforts such as Glen Yee Motorsport's two Porsche GT3's while others were put together on a shoestring budget. From Japan, the Spoon Sports team brought a beautiful right

hand drive Honda Accord, which has the same body as an Acura TSX sold here in the U.S. It was the diversity of the cars and drivers that made this a world-class event.

Friday, December 5, 2003 - 8:00 A.M.:
The TE5A Civic received one last inspection to make sure that nothing fell off or loosened up during the trip up from Los Angeles. Tom Okihisa was the only driver on our team who has driven Thunderhill before so the rest of us wanted to get familiar with the track. Sam took the car out on the track to shake it down and make sure all systems were working. Sam recorded a fast time of 2:17 in the cool damp morning air. Each driver did fifteen or twenty minute sessions on the track. After each session, the tire air pressures and temperatures were recorded. This tire data helped us make chassis adjustments to improve the Civic's handling. Inspection of the tire data revealed that the car had too much static negative camber in the left front tire. Excessive negative camber tends to wear out the inside edge of the tire.

And for a long enduro, even tire wear is critical to the success of the team because time-consuming tire changes can be minimized. About a degree of negative camber was taken out of the left front tire, which resulted in more consistent tire wear. These chassis

adjustments and getting used to the track netted Andy Hope the fastest time so far of 2:11.7.

Friday, 5:30 P.M. Race Qualifying:
Qualifying for the enduro was a thirty-minute session that was used to determine the grid positions for the race. Andy Hope was chosen to qualify our car since he is a very fast driver and he was our best chance to knock off a fast lap. Andy was at a slight disadvantage with our car though. Our Civic was noticeably down on power to some of the other cars in our class so it would take an excellent driver to beat the fastest cars in our E0 class. The BMW 328's, which are also in the E0 class, were reportedly putting out over 250 hp to the wheels while our Civic puts out only about 180 hp. However, we still managed to post a very good time of 2:08.9 to qualify third in class. Not surprisingly, the Bullet Motorsports BMW 328 registered the fastest time of 2:06.7. Taz Harvey, a talented Speedvision touring car driver, recorded the fourth fastest E0 time of 2:10.4.

Saturday, 11:00 AM:
Just before the race started, 30 mph wind gusts and moderate rain began to dampen the track. This didn't stop the two Air Force F15 fighter jets from making a flyover, so the weather wasn't going to stop this race either. Sam Higashi started the race for the TE5A team. After two parade laps the race was under way. Immediately, the Flying Lizard Porsche GT3 left the large field far behind. The Porsche driver was incredibly fast considering the wet conditions. The TEB5A Civic was slotted in about 23 rd place overall and fourth in class behind the Taz Harvey Civic Si, Silicon Valley BMW 328, and the Bullet Motorsports BMW 328. Sam stayed in the car for over 3-1/2 hours without incident and then Tom Okihisa took over driving duties.

After an hour of fast consistent driving, Tom made minor contact with lapped car, which caused only slight front-end damage. Steve Ellsworth replaced Tom on the next pit, while duck tape was applied to keep the bumper skin from falling off after Tom's incident .

However, while fueling up the Civic some gas overflowed onto the ground. This was a big mistake and we were certain to be penalized by from the pit official. And sure enough, we were told to bring the car into the pits to serve a five-minute time penalty. At this point, 6:30 P.M., we were still in fourth place in class and 19 th overall but we were falling back on laps to the leaders. Soon after the pit incident, Steve radioed in that the headlights weren't working. He brought the Civic into the pits where it was determined that the alternator belt was missing. After a five-minute repair job, Steve was back in the race. On our next pit stop, I replaced Steve in the driver's seat. We were still fourth in class when I took over.

Saturday 7:30 P.M.:
I was in the car for only 45 minutes when the disaster struck. I was on the inside dry line passing some slower cars that were on the outside going into turn 10. Suddenly, one of the fast and impatient Porsche GT3 drivers rear-ended me so hard that it launched my car into an unsuspecting Integra that was in the middle of the turn. Needless to say, the impact caved in the Integra's drivers side door and pushed him off the track into the muddy muck. The Porsche driver continued racing without any apparent damage.

My car seemed fine at first, but within two laps my transmission wouldn't shift into any gear but third or fifth and I started to smell exhaust fumes. Since there was a full course yellow flag at this time, I couldn't enter the pits for repairs without receiving a time penalty. So I stayed out a couple of laps with my ailing gearbox and the strong smell of exhaust fumes.

I radioed my pits and informed them that I had a bad headache and was becoming very lightheaded due to the exhaust fumes. A pit official was summoned and was told that we had a medical emergency. We were allowed to break the rules and pass all the cars including the pace car so that I could get out of the car before losing consciousness. I made it into our pit

stall and then I stumbled out of the car while coughing and gasping for air. My face was gray and pale, but I eventually recovered after about hour or so. Meanwhile, our crew worked on a leaky exhaust system and bent shift linkage from the Porsche incident.

Saturday, 8:45 P.M.:
Andy Hope was next in the car. He immediately radioed in that the transmission only had third and fifth gears. We looked on the real time AMB race report and noticed that he was running fast and consistent 2:25 lap times. Andy is an excellent driver especially at night and with an injured car.

After about thirty minutes in the car, Andy reported that the transmission was making loud metal-to-metal noises. He also mentioned that he didn't think the car would make it 12 more hours.

Sure enough, within fifteen minutes the tranny locked up and the Civic was idle once again. Our race was finished, or so we thought. That's before our pit crew said, "Hey, let's remove the tranny and see if someone else in the pits would sell us their tranny." As it turns out, there was team with an Integra GSR tranny that would work on our car. Unfortunately, the team that owned it wouldn't sell it to us. They felt they might need a spare tranny since they were still racing.

After thirty minutes of searching throughout the paddock, Andy ran into an old friend in the pits that knew someone in San Francisco that had a Integra Type R tranny. Andy didn't think twice and drove 190 miles to San Fran to pick up the tranny. Our two crew guys Lee and Sam R., who had almost no rest for 24 hours, swapped out the expired tranny with the newly acquired unit. The new tranny worked fine and Andy was back on the track. We lost a total of six hours with the transmission exchange, but it was worth it since we had our hearts set on finishing this race.

Sunday, 5:00 A.M.:
With only four laps on our new transmission disaster struck again. One of gas tank support straps had broken which allowed one end of the gas tank to fall to the ground. Andy heard the tank grinding on the asphalt and he attempted to limp the car into the pits. He only made it the top of the hill between turns four and five before a hole was ground into the tank. It was losing gas quickly and Andy had to get out of the car fast. Thank goodness there wasn't a fire. And once again, the Civic was towed into the pits for repairs.

To repair the car this time required a new gas tank strap and a gas tank sealant. We had to wait until 7 o'clock for Wal-Mart to open so we could purchase some plumber's tape and gas tank repair epoxy. It turns out that the plumber's tape wasn't needed since one of the crew

found a plastic coated cable that was fashioned into a strap. Crewmembers Sam and Lee once again earned the McGyver title since they could miraculously transform common items into racecar parts that actually worked. After convincing the NASA tech official that the gas tank was secure, we were allowed to race again.

Sunday, 9:30 A.M.:
This time, driver Sam Higashi completed a few laps before we got black-flagged. It turns out that the gas return line was leaking only in right hand turns. Unfortunately, a NASA official, who had been in contact with the race director, informed us that our car was disqualified because we incurred a serious repeated offence. Leaking gasoline is considered a serious problem and when a corner worker spots this problem, the car is immediately black-flagged. The black flag signals the driver to come into the pits since either the driver committed a serious offense or that there is a major problem with the car.

Since we were officially disqualified, we would not be allowed to finish the race even if the problem could be fixed. There were two choices: We could accept the disqualification and pack up and go home, or we could protest our disqualification. We weren't about to give up now. So, we protested our disqualification and at the same time crewmembers Sam and Lee fixed the gas leak just in case the disqualification was overturned.

To overturn a disqualification, official paperwork had to be filled out and then handed to the race director. We had to have a good reason to fight our disqualification. We argued that the leaking gasoline was actually a new problem. Since the gas wasn't leaking from the

original source, we suggested that the fuel return line problem was not a consequence of the damaged fuel tank. After a few minutes, the race director reluctantly granted us one last opportunity to finish the race. Whew! That was too close. Although we had only completed half the laps of the class leader, we just had to finish this race.

Sunday, 10:30 A.M.:
Only one and a half hours were left in the race. Nothing else could go wrong, right? Well, not exactly. Sam Higashi took the car out on the track for a twenty-minute stint. After two laps in the car, he radioed the pits that there was smoke coming into the car in turns 14 and 15. As it turned out, the smoke was due to C.V. joint oil landing on the hot exhaust. Thinking that something was wrong with the engine, Sam immediately brought the car into the pits. While there, oil from the C.V. joint boot was leaking on the ground. If the official noticed this oil we could be disqualified for good. Thankfully, the official didn't notice and Steve replaced Sam in the drivers seat.

Steve immediately reported over the radio that one of the rear tires felt flat. He came into the pits and it was determined that there wasn't a flat tire. However, oil was still leaking from the C.V. boot. Without lubrication, the C.V. joint will eventually fail and our

race would be over. Steve was able to complete his 20-minute stint in the car without a major failure, although he reported that the tire still felt flat.

I was next to drive the car with only about 40 minutes left in the race. The car felt good, but the flat tire "feel" of the car while cornering was still there. I am sure that the C.V. joint was failing and there seemed to be excessive play in the joint. I brought the car into the pits for one last driver change.

With fewer than 20 minutes left in the race, Andy Hope got the privilege of nursing the Civic home. He took it easy and avoided the pesky Porsches. And above all, Andy took the checkered flag. It was finally over and we got the most important thing to us - the checkered flag. Our crew and all the drivers were positive throughout the race and that's what made the difference in the end.

Our Civic was beaten, dented, dirty, and held together with duck tape and whatever Wal-mart had in the do-it-yourself section. We were penalized, disqualified, crashed into, our car was broken, but we made it to the end - somehow. Against all odds, we finished 257 laps for a total of 771 miles and earned sixth in our class. We will be back next year to win our class. All it takes is a little luck!

Looking forward to continuing the saga this year at Thunderhill Dec. 3rd to 5th 2004!