Dec 4-6 , 2009 • Willows, CA
For those of you who have participated in any sort of race event, you know the logistics involved in just getting you, your car, and your crew out to the event, let alone what goes along with running the car for any length of time. Teams plan and prep all year for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill event. So when I was asked to crew chief on the Special Projects Gear X DC2 Integra-having an idea of the daunting task involved in keeping a car racing for 25 straight hours-I was a little apprehensive. Especially knowing this project and plan came to fruition just a month prior. Time was short. With only weeks to go, all hands were on deck at the Special Projects garage. I even jumped in to help plumb the fuel lines and fabricated the sexy modular HID light rack for the night portion of the race. To convert the car from a Honda Challenge sprint race car, a large twenty-five gallon Fuel-Safe tank was secured. To increase breaking reliability and effectiveness, the crew installed a set of big, bad brakes from Stop Tech, and pads from Dixel that will last for more than 25 hours in a constant race environment. A transmission pump and cooler, along with large oil cooler, were both added. Every urethane bushing was pressed out and replaced with PCI(Pro Car Innovations) trailing arm spherical bearings and a full control arm “bronze” bushing kit. Additionally, a set of aero-friendly PCI side skirts and an MR2 electric Power steering bracket kit were added. Hardrace came on board with all of the adjustable suspension arms necessary to dial in the car for the big event. Unfortunately, the engine and transmission were nowhere to be found. Shawn Moore of Big Power Company had the k24 build well under control, while Syncrotech had the transmission almost finished. Once the power plant and drive train arrived, a sigh of relief was heard throughout the garage. With the engine in the car and ready for battle, the crew took the car to Church Automotive Testing to tune the Hondata ECU and set the fuel and spark. With the car almost complete, it was loaded into the race transport Wednesday night.
The team consisted of
John Hsu - Team owner
Al Stewart from New Zealand
Dixon Chang from England
Tom Lepper
Jeff "kiwi" Owen
The crew consisted of
Brian "Scooby" Slames of PCI
Leo Warner
Mauricio Rosillo
Paul Garcia
John Warner Carl
Jarred Augustin
Emanuel Rojas
Daniel Valencia
Javier Villabos
Shaun Moore
Eric Hernandez
Greg Leone
Connect
Special Projects
specialprojectsms.com
Here's my experience of the event as we raced through the day and into the night:
Thurs 5:00am - The race car and practice car both leave Church automotive tuned, but unfinished. They're headed for Thunderhill in the race transport.
Thurs 12:05pm - Brakes fail on the race transport big-rig sending it flying down the "the grapevine," at 130 mph. Almost killing everyone and destroying the cars. You read it right, very scary.
Thurs 12:07pm -The decision to take the runaway truck ramp is changed at the last minute in favor of drifting a 52,000-lb big rig.
Thurs 12:20pm -The rig finally comes to a rest after coasting about 5 miles past the bottom of the mountain pass.
Thurs 12:24pm - At rest the inside drive tire explodes from the built up heat, Dixon goes running off into the side of the road thinking they were under attack.
Thurs 3:00pm - Tire fixed and air breaks holding pressure, the rig was back on the road to Northern California.
Thurs 10:25pm - The team and cars finally roll into Thunderhill raceway in Willows, California.
Fri 7:00am - The cars are rolled out and some of the final finish work is done. The rest of the crew sets up the hot pit area
Fri 1:30pm - The cars are aligned, fueled, and hit the track for the practice session
Fri 4:15pm - The main car is having tuning issues and is pulled off the track.