Dixcelbrake
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- Joined
- Apr 16, 2008
- Messages
- 282
Nasa Thunderhill 25 hrs special event â Race Report
16th December 2009
Race date: 5-6 December â2009
The Worlds longest and largest race Thunderhill 25 hrs in north San Francisco
It was an honour for me to join Team Gear X and race in their K20 powered DC2 US Touring car.
This was the first time for this new Team of drivers and we finished 38th overall (96 cars start) and 11th in our class (17 cars in class).
Our team mates included the famous â Jeff (Kiwi) Owen, owner of Special Project Motorsports, Alan Stewart â New Zealand Honda Cup champion, Tom Lepper â Spoon US owner and 5 times touring car champion, John Hsu â the desert racer and myself Dixon Cheng.
The Race started at 11am but we had misfiring problem and was losing a lot of power. From our experience we thought it was caused by bad fuel supplied at the track, we drilled it down to a blocked fuel injector! We got them fixed within an hour and got back out on track again.
John was the first one out on track for the first stint which he completed 30 laps (1hr). I took over on the 2nd stint without any problems for 48 laps (1 hr 30 mins) and lapped with the fastest lap of 2 mins 05 seconds on our 61st lap, only 0.2 secs slower than the Spoon FD2 Civic Type R.
Alan Steward took over the 3rd stint but due to oil on the track and due to our HID lights not working probably, he called it in after just 8 laps and we had to fix the light problem before we could get the car out again.
Jeff Owen took the 4th Stint, and after 30 laps he was hit by a BMW spinning the car off the track. We called him in to get the car checked over and changed driverâs at the same time. On our 5th stint we had our US touring car champion Tom Lepper.
After 3 laps, Tom reported a problem with the backend, saying the car was un-drivable due to the backend being very loose. He came back to the pitâs and we found one of the oil cooler hoses from the gearbox was damaged, most likely from the contact with the BMW in the last stint. This caused the gearbox to overheat and the bearing seized up, melting the casing and putting a big hole in the side of the gearbox.
We had no option but to remove the gearbox and change to a new one. Due to the extreme heat around the engine bay and gearbox, it took our mechanics 2 hours to swap the new box over and by the time our box was done the Spoon FD2 was 100 laps in front of us and it was already 10pm. Although disappointed we werenât too concerned as we know that anything can happen during an endurance event. We still had 14 hours until the chequered flag.
John took the car out as soon as the gearbox was in but unfortunately on his 20th lap we had an engine failure â valve guide seized and caused one of the valves to hit the piston and destroy the whole engine. Luckily we had a spare engine and our mechanics quickly got the pit setup and got the engine swapped over. It took us a while to swap the engine and it was 3am by the time the engine was back in.
Our mapper took the car for a quick drive around the pit and put in a conservative map to make sure the car would last the remaining 8 hours. By the time I got back into the car again, we were almost in last position and 250 laps behind the Spoon FD2 which hadnât suffered any problems unlike us. So we decided that I would do a double stint to try to pull back as much time as possible.
When I took over the driving seat at 4am, it was cold, dark, and I was tired but I managed to get 82 laps before we changed drivers.
It was the most beautiful scene seeing the sunrise during the race.
Pit stop â
John, Jeff then Alan took over the next few stints, as the track was light again and there was only few hours left till the finish. Everyone started getting a little aggressive on track and few of the other teams blew their engineâs spilling oil on the track, our car had a few scrapes front, back and side which caused a few punctures. Our guys managed to sort all of the problems.
John took the last stint and took the chequered flag at 12pm.
This was everyoneâs first attempt at a 25 hrs event, none of us had any experience at Endurance Racing and we are very proud and happy that we managed to finished the race. We are now looking forward to the 2010 event, for sure we will have a much stronger package and we will put everything from our experience into the new car.
Our car and Engine bay after the race
Special thanks to -
Dixcel Brake â Supplied us with an endurance disc and pad combination along with racing brake fluid for this event. We were the only car on the grid which finished the race using one set of discs and padâs. After the whole race the front padâs had only used 2mm of wear and the disk was only covered in surface wear, we weâre all amazed by the braking power we had throughout the race.
Front brake after 25 hrs
Rear Brake
http://www.dmsracingltd.co.uk/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/thunderhill-10.jpg
GearX for the amazing gearbox, the box was run with no oil before we swapped it over and the driver didnât even notice a difference in the gearchange!
Calloâs Racing â For the pit crew, race truck support
Motul â Engine, gearbox oil
Team â
Drivers â
Spoon owner â Ichishima San
Some others â
Our race truck â
Spoon â
Some didnât finish the race â
Our practice car â
This guy finished the whole 25 hrs race on his own in an MX5. He broke the world record in Endurance racing. Its amazing, no one could understand how he did it! And yes he won the class with most laps finished!
More news please visit - Dixon Motorsport, Race and Track Car Preparation, London UK, providing tuning services and 4 wheel alignment, Honda and Mitsubishi Specialists
Thanks
Dixon
16th December 2009
Race date: 5-6 December â2009
The Worlds longest and largest race Thunderhill 25 hrs in north San Francisco
It was an honour for me to join Team Gear X and race in their K20 powered DC2 US Touring car.
This was the first time for this new Team of drivers and we finished 38th overall (96 cars start) and 11th in our class (17 cars in class).
Our team mates included the famous â Jeff (Kiwi) Owen, owner of Special Project Motorsports, Alan Stewart â New Zealand Honda Cup champion, Tom Lepper â Spoon US owner and 5 times touring car champion, John Hsu â the desert racer and myself Dixon Cheng.
The Race started at 11am but we had misfiring problem and was losing a lot of power. From our experience we thought it was caused by bad fuel supplied at the track, we drilled it down to a blocked fuel injector! We got them fixed within an hour and got back out on track again.
John was the first one out on track for the first stint which he completed 30 laps (1hr). I took over on the 2nd stint without any problems for 48 laps (1 hr 30 mins) and lapped with the fastest lap of 2 mins 05 seconds on our 61st lap, only 0.2 secs slower than the Spoon FD2 Civic Type R.
Alan Steward took over the 3rd stint but due to oil on the track and due to our HID lights not working probably, he called it in after just 8 laps and we had to fix the light problem before we could get the car out again.
Jeff Owen took the 4th Stint, and after 30 laps he was hit by a BMW spinning the car off the track. We called him in to get the car checked over and changed driverâs at the same time. On our 5th stint we had our US touring car champion Tom Lepper.
After 3 laps, Tom reported a problem with the backend, saying the car was un-drivable due to the backend being very loose. He came back to the pitâs and we found one of the oil cooler hoses from the gearbox was damaged, most likely from the contact with the BMW in the last stint. This caused the gearbox to overheat and the bearing seized up, melting the casing and putting a big hole in the side of the gearbox.
We had no option but to remove the gearbox and change to a new one. Due to the extreme heat around the engine bay and gearbox, it took our mechanics 2 hours to swap the new box over and by the time our box was done the Spoon FD2 was 100 laps in front of us and it was already 10pm. Although disappointed we werenât too concerned as we know that anything can happen during an endurance event. We still had 14 hours until the chequered flag.
John took the car out as soon as the gearbox was in but unfortunately on his 20th lap we had an engine failure â valve guide seized and caused one of the valves to hit the piston and destroy the whole engine. Luckily we had a spare engine and our mechanics quickly got the pit setup and got the engine swapped over. It took us a while to swap the engine and it was 3am by the time the engine was back in.
Our mapper took the car for a quick drive around the pit and put in a conservative map to make sure the car would last the remaining 8 hours. By the time I got back into the car again, we were almost in last position and 250 laps behind the Spoon FD2 which hadnât suffered any problems unlike us. So we decided that I would do a double stint to try to pull back as much time as possible.
When I took over the driving seat at 4am, it was cold, dark, and I was tired but I managed to get 82 laps before we changed drivers.
It was the most beautiful scene seeing the sunrise during the race.
Pit stop â
John, Jeff then Alan took over the next few stints, as the track was light again and there was only few hours left till the finish. Everyone started getting a little aggressive on track and few of the other teams blew their engineâs spilling oil on the track, our car had a few scrapes front, back and side which caused a few punctures. Our guys managed to sort all of the problems.
John took the last stint and took the chequered flag at 12pm.
This was everyoneâs first attempt at a 25 hrs event, none of us had any experience at Endurance Racing and we are very proud and happy that we managed to finished the race. We are now looking forward to the 2010 event, for sure we will have a much stronger package and we will put everything from our experience into the new car.
Our car and Engine bay after the race
Special thanks to -
Dixcel Brake â Supplied us with an endurance disc and pad combination along with racing brake fluid for this event. We were the only car on the grid which finished the race using one set of discs and padâs. After the whole race the front padâs had only used 2mm of wear and the disk was only covered in surface wear, we weâre all amazed by the braking power we had throughout the race.
Front brake after 25 hrs
Rear Brake
http://www.dmsracingltd.co.uk/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/thunderhill-10.jpg
GearX for the amazing gearbox, the box was run with no oil before we swapped it over and the driver didnât even notice a difference in the gearchange!
Calloâs Racing â For the pit crew, race truck support
Motul â Engine, gearbox oil
Team â
Drivers â
Spoon owner â Ichishima San
Some others â
Our race truck â
Spoon â
Some didnât finish the race â
Our practice car â
This guy finished the whole 25 hrs race on his own in an MX5. He broke the world record in Endurance racing. Its amazing, no one could understand how he did it! And yes he won the class with most laps finished!
More news please visit - Dixon Motorsport, Race and Track Car Preparation, London UK, providing tuning services and 4 wheel alignment, Honda and Mitsubishi Specialists
Thanks
Dixon
great experience !
