My effort at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill
12-09-2010, 12:07 AM
#1
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Car Info: 08 STI
My effort at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill
I usually plan to go up to Willows this time of year to watch the 25 hour spectacle. Sometimes I know a driver in the event to watch for and hang out with, and other times not.
This year I didn't think I knew any drivers, so I wasn't really planning on going [although it turns out I totally missed Norcal SE30 champion Greg Peterson]. At some point last week Gary Sheehan posted a picture of the toughest GR STi I'd ever seen- and that it was almost ready for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Even though I already had some plans for the weekend I instantly knew I had a reason to drive up for a few hours.
At 10:15 Saturday morning I arrived in Willows, just in time to get some coffee and browse through the starting grid. It was pretty easy to find the #67. I had a quick look over the car and the team all looked focused the task at hand.
Seeing what I came to see on the grid, I quickly looked over the rest of the cars and headed up the hill to view the start between turns 8 and 9. The forecast called for some rain, but it was nearly dry for the green flag. After a zoning out for few laps of double yellow flags and finally the first race paced laps on top of the hill I headed back down the hill to get a closer look at the cars at turn 14.
The #67 sounded awesome!
During lunch I noticed that I hadn't seen the #67 black STi go by in a long time. It seemed likely that I might find it in the pits so I headed back through the paddock. There's constant work being done there throughout the 25 hour race. Its always interesting to see which cars are either still being worked on, are in again, or whats been dragged in from the track in various states of disrepair.
Unfortunately, the #67 STi was easy to find.
There wasn't much work visible when I got there, which is usually a bad sign. Then I noticed all the work seemed to be at the right front corner. After a bit of poking my nose around the car and trying to keep out of the way, Gary Sheehan appeared with a control arm and began working on it on top of a tool chest. Eventually he rather calmly, almost quietly mentioned to those of us gathered around their car that they needed to look for a 08+ STi to get control arms off of and then he went on his way. I wasn't really sure if he was the serious about it since he was so calm and quiet about it. It sounded like the spherical bearing that had been fabricated into theirs seized up, just a few hours into this 25 hour race.
From the moment I decided to come watch the race and this car, I had the feeling in the back of my head that my car own GR STi could be called on for spares. That feeling was getting a lot stronger now. Up to this point I'd kept quiet and it seemed like the team had located another GR STi. However, after another 10 minutes of waiting for the owner to arrive the team learned the owner wasn't serious about loaning them control arms after all. Once I heard that I spoke up, even thought I knew I had plans to leave for home in a just a few hours.
It simply didn't seem right that these guys had spent countless hours working this car for the better part of this last year to get ready for this race only to have such a relatively minor thing take you out. It also didn't seem right that someone would back out of something like that knowing the team desperately needed them- and that this other GR owner was going to be there for the duration of the race anyway. And all the while, the clock continued to count down and the other cars continued on their way while they were sitting in the pits.
Dustin from Cobb gave me a ride up to where my car was parked and as I got in I noticed that there was already a note on my windshield from someone on the team. I drove back to their pits and handed the car off to one of the mechanics. It seemed like half the team was around me in an instant once realized they really had a donor car.
They would get me new parts after the race.
They would get me a rental car.
They would put me up in a hotel room.
They would feed me.
They were all around gracious and generous.
But I was already 100% on board to let them use my parts. I was just trying to figure out how I was going to change my plans for the weekend. I'm very lucky though to have such a lovely and understanding wife.
Within minutes the team had harvested the control arms off my car and set about placing them into the racecar.
I was really happy to see the car get back out on track not much more than a half hour from when they started the transplant. Not long after the car got back under way the steady genuine stream of thanks started from everyone on the team, and it continued for another 20-some hours.
After the team looked into a rental car for me, it seemed like the best and easiest plan would be just to stay the night and they'd put me up in one of their hotel rooms for the night.
Up til now, all I really knew about the team was that Gary was one of the drivers but I over the duration of the race I learned a lot more about them as I got to know various members of the team. I would chat with them as I watched from the pit box, then head off to watch the race from various spots and look around at the assorted carnage in the paddock.
Later in the afternoon one of the other drivers asked if I was the owner of the white STi, and told me he was the owner of the #67. Just like everyone else on the team, Roland was super appreciative and very personable. Between stints he filled me in on a lot of what lead up to the assembly of Marathon Motorsports and the characters that had been gathered from various companies and shops. At 7:00pm I realized the longer I was there, the happier I was I'd let them use the control arms.
By the evening the on-again, off-again rain had set in. Watching racecars at night in the rain is both beautiful and mesmerizing. The only downside was that my little Fuji F20 really wasn't up to taking any worthwhile pics in those conditions. But from repairing windshields after a roll or the occasional pit fire, there was always some kind of action.
During the night Keith from 3ZERO3 Motorsports in Denver kept letting me know that he'd drop me off at the hotel anytime I was ready. But I was having such a good time talking with Roland and the team while watching old Japanese in-car footage of early 90's F1 on an iPad as Marshall kept track of timing, that it was midnight before I was somewhat reluctantly ready to get some sleep.
By 9:30am Keith had returned me to the track again, where to my relief, the #67 was still running.
At this stage in the race the mood among the surviving teams is clearly on preservation. The pace of some cars slows a bit while others come into the paddock to wait for the final few laps to return. The #67 was one of those, deciding to come in and wait out the final hour or so due to engine and rear diff cooling issues. At 11:15, with just 45 minutes to go, the team realized that the engine was worse off than they'd originally thought and without compression their race was really over.
Even though they had not quite made the checkered flag, from my experience, this was far from failure. After all, they would have finished any 24 hour race. On top of that, the drivers did an excellent job, none of them wrinkled the car in any way throughout the long long race. The rest of team also did a fantastic job with a group of people that for the most part had never worked together before this last week- and with a car that hadn't seen the track since it was still a street car. Pretty amazing stuff. I'm proud that I could contribute something to their success.
I'm pretty sure I'll be going back next December.
This year I didn't think I knew any drivers, so I wasn't really planning on going [although it turns out I totally missed Norcal SE30 champion Greg Peterson]. At some point last week Gary Sheehan posted a picture of the toughest GR STi I'd ever seen- and that it was almost ready for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Even though I already had some plans for the weekend I instantly knew I had a reason to drive up for a few hours.
At 10:15 Saturday morning I arrived in Willows, just in time to get some coffee and browse through the starting grid. It was pretty easy to find the #67. I had a quick look over the car and the team all looked focused the task at hand.
Seeing what I came to see on the grid, I quickly looked over the rest of the cars and headed up the hill to view the start between turns 8 and 9. The forecast called for some rain, but it was nearly dry for the green flag. After a zoning out for few laps of double yellow flags and finally the first race paced laps on top of the hill I headed back down the hill to get a closer look at the cars at turn 14.
The #67 sounded awesome!
During lunch I noticed that I hadn't seen the #67 black STi go by in a long time. It seemed likely that I might find it in the pits so I headed back through the paddock. There's constant work being done there throughout the 25 hour race. Its always interesting to see which cars are either still being worked on, are in again, or whats been dragged in from the track in various states of disrepair.
Unfortunately, the #67 STi was easy to find.
There wasn't much work visible when I got there, which is usually a bad sign. Then I noticed all the work seemed to be at the right front corner. After a bit of poking my nose around the car and trying to keep out of the way, Gary Sheehan appeared with a control arm and began working on it on top of a tool chest. Eventually he rather calmly, almost quietly mentioned to those of us gathered around their car that they needed to look for a 08+ STi to get control arms off of and then he went on his way. I wasn't really sure if he was the serious about it since he was so calm and quiet about it. It sounded like the spherical bearing that had been fabricated into theirs seized up, just a few hours into this 25 hour race.
From the moment I decided to come watch the race and this car, I had the feeling in the back of my head that my car own GR STi could be called on for spares. That feeling was getting a lot stronger now. Up to this point I'd kept quiet and it seemed like the team had located another GR STi. However, after another 10 minutes of waiting for the owner to arrive the team learned the owner wasn't serious about loaning them control arms after all. Once I heard that I spoke up, even thought I knew I had plans to leave for home in a just a few hours.
It simply didn't seem right that these guys had spent countless hours working this car for the better part of this last year to get ready for this race only to have such a relatively minor thing take you out. It also didn't seem right that someone would back out of something like that knowing the team desperately needed them- and that this other GR owner was going to be there for the duration of the race anyway. And all the while, the clock continued to count down and the other cars continued on their way while they were sitting in the pits.
Dustin from Cobb gave me a ride up to where my car was parked and as I got in I noticed that there was already a note on my windshield from someone on the team. I drove back to their pits and handed the car off to one of the mechanics. It seemed like half the team was around me in an instant once realized they really had a donor car.
They would get me new parts after the race.
They would get me a rental car.
They would put me up in a hotel room.
They would feed me.
They were all around gracious and generous.
But I was already 100% on board to let them use my parts. I was just trying to figure out how I was going to change my plans for the weekend. I'm very lucky though to have such a lovely and understanding wife.
Within minutes the team had harvested the control arms off my car and set about placing them into the racecar.
I was really happy to see the car get back out on track not much more than a half hour from when they started the transplant. Not long after the car got back under way the steady genuine stream of thanks started from everyone on the team, and it continued for another 20-some hours.
After the team looked into a rental car for me, it seemed like the best and easiest plan would be just to stay the night and they'd put me up in one of their hotel rooms for the night.
Up til now, all I really knew about the team was that Gary was one of the drivers but I over the duration of the race I learned a lot more about them as I got to know various members of the team. I would chat with them as I watched from the pit box, then head off to watch the race from various spots and look around at the assorted carnage in the paddock.
Later in the afternoon one of the other drivers asked if I was the owner of the white STi, and told me he was the owner of the #67. Just like everyone else on the team, Roland was super appreciative and very personable. Between stints he filled me in on a lot of what lead up to the assembly of Marathon Motorsports and the characters that had been gathered from various companies and shops. At 7:00pm I realized the longer I was there, the happier I was I'd let them use the control arms.
By the evening the on-again, off-again rain had set in. Watching racecars at night in the rain is both beautiful and mesmerizing. The only downside was that my little Fuji F20 really wasn't up to taking any worthwhile pics in those conditions. But from repairing windshields after a roll or the occasional pit fire, there was always some kind of action.
During the night Keith from 3ZERO3 Motorsports in Denver kept letting me know that he'd drop me off at the hotel anytime I was ready. But I was having such a good time talking with Roland and the team while watching old Japanese in-car footage of early 90's F1 on an iPad as Marshall kept track of timing, that it was midnight before I was somewhat reluctantly ready to get some sleep.
By 9:30am Keith had returned me to the track again, where to my relief, the #67 was still running.
At this stage in the race the mood among the surviving teams is clearly on preservation. The pace of some cars slows a bit while others come into the paddock to wait for the final few laps to return. The #67 was one of those, deciding to come in and wait out the final hour or so due to engine and rear diff cooling issues. At 11:15, with just 45 minutes to go, the team realized that the engine was worse off than they'd originally thought and without compression their race was really over.
Even though they had not quite made the checkered flag, from my experience, this was far from failure. After all, they would have finished any 24 hour race. On top of that, the drivers did an excellent job, none of them wrinkled the car in any way throughout the long long race. The rest of team also did a fantastic job with a group of people that for the most part had never worked together before this last week- and with a car that hadn't seen the track since it was still a street car. Pretty amazing stuff. I'm proud that I could contribute something to their success.
I'm pretty sure I'll be going back next December.
12-09-2010, 08:12 AM
#4
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Sounds like a typical 25hr. Trannys control arms, knuckles, diffs, engines, nothing is sacred. If you drive a like car to an event your are a qualified doner. I know all of the guys you helped out and I'm certain they were stoked for the support.
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