Endurance Racing: From Lemons to Le Mans

You know driver coach.Ross Bentley from his Speed Secrets series of books, perhaps you subscribe to his great Speed Secrets Weekly newsletter or shared his Instructor Manifesto.   

Maybe you've read the many How to Drive Faster  articles he has written for Axis,  Ross always has thought provoking tips on practicing the sport we love, better.

Ross' latest is about the ever more popular endurance format.   "Endurance Racing: from Lemons to Le Mans" is a downloadable e-book available free of charge. 

Below is the introduction.  to download the complete book, follow this link

There’s something magical about endurance racing... driving long stints and the rhythm you get into, passing and being passed, night driving, adapting to changing conditions, dealing with problems, strategy and teamwork, and finding the perfect compromise of seating and handling setups between drivers.

Watch Steve McQueen’s classic movie, Le Mans, or Audi’s documentary, Truth in 24, and you can’t help but get caught up in the romanticism of the marathon struggles at the legendary French race. But what about the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Sebring 12-Hour, or Petite Le Mans? Chumpcar World Series and LeMons? Thunderhill 25-Hour? Club enduros? All classics from the day they were born because of what they are, and the tremendous effort individuals and teams put into them.

Endurance racing is challenging, fun, physically and mentally demanding, and... well, sometimes frustrating!

Why frustrating? Because endurance racing can be painful. But like running a marathon, every little bit of pain is worth it. Of course, that’s what you often say about a month after an endurance race.

Sometimes, you finish an endurance race, and immediately promise yourself (and anyone else who will listen) that you’ll never do it again because it was painful, challenging, tiring, and frustrating! And it’s because the reward doesn’t always seem to equal the demands. Often, the second an endurance race has been run, you can hear dozens of people swearing they’ll never do it again.

So, why does that decision change so often? Why do we go back to doing another endurance race, and then another, and then another? Mostly because our memories are flawed. It seems that about three weeks after you swear on a stack of bibles that you’ll never do another enduro again, you think to yourself, “Well, I probably will never do another one again. Okay, it could happen, but it’s unlikely.”
Then, a couple of weeks later, when the pain and difficulty of your previous endurance race has faded from your memory, you publicly announce that you’re going to do that race again – and win it! It’s drawn you back into its web.
And that’s how so many drivers and teams feel about endurance races. They’re addictive. They’re the ultimate motorsport challenge. It’s a love/hate relationship.

Endurance races can be just about any length, from a couple of hours to twenty- four and beyond. One way to define an endurance race is the requirement of more than one driver. I’ve written this guide with that definition in mind.

This eBook started life as a simple bullet-pointed document full of thoughts, tips, and ideas about endurance racing for a team that I was coaching at the Daytona 24-Hour race. Since then, I’ve
expanded it. While endurance races are long, my goal for this eBook is to make it short and to the point, kind of a sprint race format of information for endurance racers - just enough information to make you think, and to give you the key guidelines to improve your chances of being successful.
Along with my tips and advice, I’ve added some personal stories, so you can learn from my experiences.

I realize that not everyone reading this will drive at Daytona or Le Mans. Many will be competing in club events or one of the “low-cost endurance” races (LeMons, Chumpcar, American Endurance Racing, World Racing League, etc.). I’ve competed in almost all levels and types of endurance races, and I’ve noticed that the approach, the preparation, and how you actually drive in them is very similar. I think you’ll find most of what I’ve written will apply to whatever form of endurance race you’re competing in.

Photos: BMW AG, Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Nissan and Aston Martin Press.

American Endurance Racing.

Racing at Watkins Glen in late October, the trees blazing with fall colors, is simply glorious.   Axis of Oversteer  was recently invited to drive in twin 7.5 hour races by the new American Endurance Racing series and it was great!

Photos by Bob Magee

At Team Axis we have all been involved in competition of one kind or another, from SCCA Pro Solo autocross to Time Trial to NASA and PCA Club Racing to Carrera Cup and Ferrari Challenge.
Sprint races are great, we love the 11/10th-ness of it but endurance competition is also an integral part of the tin top experience, the pinnacles of racing with fenders being marathons:  Le Mans, The 24 Hours of the Nürburgring, Daytona, Sebring, Bathurst.

At some point, a true tracktard yearns for that sort of punishment.

CG has raced at the top of the pyramid: the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Bucket list taken care of  but ultimately he found the experience somewhat frustrating, cost/benefit wise.   As you can imagine, calling it expensive would be a wild understatement and the frustration of losing Sebring because of a faulty $10 brake pedal light switch is close to  unbearable.

At the opposite side of the spectrum is what is affectionately know as "crapcan racing" and right here let me get one thing out of the way:  Axis was banned from Lemons.

Apparently they did not appreciate efforts to actually race,  we like to race and, without taking anything away from those who enjoy comedy infused competition, that scene is just not for us.

Here's the rub for the endurance pining tracktards,  there is not much between the lofty heights of Pro/Am racing like Daytona  and the comedy of Lemons.      There are one off races Like 25 hours of Thunderhill and, closer to us, the 12 hour Devil in The Dark and there is Chump Car.

But what if you already take part it, let's say, NASA club racing and you feel the urge to endure? Where could you race your well prepared Honda Challenge or GTS or Spec E30 car for longer than 45 minutes?

This is where American Endurance Racing is hoping to fit in.  

AER was started by group of Chump car refugees who were unsatisfied with the direction of that series.   Their goal is a series with simple rules that can accommodate cars from SCCA, NASA, BMW and Porsche club racing as well as some faster Chump/Lemons cars.

And my goal here is to convince any club racers reading that it's a great idea.

AER invited Axis to race in their "VIP" car at the double 7.5 Hour Enduros at Watkins Glen.  It's the first time anyone has deemed Axis worth inviting to anything,  thank you AER!

So, club racers, what's your most expensive consumable?  I know, the whole car is a consumable but you probably spend enough on tires that the idea of back to back 7 hr races is daunting, right?

AER solves that by mandating 140+ street tires. Most people used Dunlop Direzza or Falken Azenis, I believe most people used the same tire for Friday practice and both of that 7.5 hour races.

But wait, I'm not going to put street tires on my race car, it will not be any fun, you say?

OK, it will be slower of course but not nearly as slow as you think.  If your car stays healthy you will set your fastest times towards the end of the race.   I set what was the fastest lap in one of the two cars I drove,  6 laps from the end of the 7.5 hour race.   Jeff "speedycop" Bloch drove another of the AER "press" SpecE30 to a 2:21.xx lap after pounding a well used set of Direzza for almost 90 minutes.
That's not slow, The lap record for SpecE30 at Watkins Glen, on Toyo RR is a high 2:18!

Street tires will, without a doubt, work your driving chops as will driving 90+ minute stints.  I drove three stints of over 90 minutes over two days and I can tell you I drove almost every one as fast as the car would go, I know I'm a better driver for it.

Josh Hughes busy running strategy 

Another great plus, you don't have to change to rains.  At the Glen where weather changed from freezing rain to bright sunshine a few times during the week end, this was very welcome.

What about pit stops?

The idea is to give those not willing to put a huge fuel cell and expensive filler equipment in their cars a chance so there is a mandated minimum number of stops based on the lengths of the race and each stop/driver change has to take a minimum of 3 minutes, pit in to pit out.

Classing is done based on qualifying times.  Sandbagging will only cause one to be moved up in class.

That's mostly it as far as rules.  At Watkins Glen,  while the field was more Chump car than Club Racers, the classing seems to work quite well with only a couple of adjustments needed.

The AER press cars were mostly BMW SpecE30s.  It would be fair to say that, while perfectly functional,  they were all less than impeccably prepared.  On the second day, Josh Hughes, Travis Okulski, Kyle Aaron and myself finished second in class despite a car that had become so slow, some of the local wildlife could climb the Esses faster.  No matter, we all drove the car as fast as it could possibly go for our full 90 minute plus stints, using practically no brakes around the track and having fun with futile passing attempts like this.

And then there is is that spirit of endurance.  One of the AER cars lost its transmission on the first day of practice, the guys were up until 4 am putting a new one in with the car on jacks.  Heroic and the car went on to a class win thanks in part to one of the top NASA club racers, the very fast Eric Wong.

The race winning car crashed hard on Friday, t-boning the safer barrier at the exit of turn 11 and smashing most of the front end.    I watched as the frame rails were pulled "straight" using a chain and a pick up truck, space for the radiator was made using a large sledge hammer.     The car was somehow buttoned up by Saturday morning and went on to two back to back overall wins thanks in no small part to some truly amazing driving in the rain by Pirelli World Challenge's Mike Skeen.

So, racers, I urge you to take a look,   the event was well run, cost is reasonable,  drivers are good and the atmosphere was super friendly and fun....  I mean, c'mob, someone actually showed up with a whole pig to BBQ!   It was delicious!

The final race of the 2014 season for AER will be at Lime Rock on November 21-22, bring your snow tires.  In 2015 AER will expand with races at Summit Point, New Jersey Motorsport Park, Watkins Glen and more.

The 25

2012 Air Force 25 Hours of Thunderhill winner Ehret Porsche by Danny Sullivan

The 25 Hours of Thunderhil, because only 24 hours is for wimps. The NASA sanctioned event is the enduro equivalent of turning up to 11, it's one more, isn't it?

Have a look at this film, sent to us by Pete Billington showcasing three Miata fielded by the Atlanta Motorsports Group.

The main sponsor for the guys is Optrix, makers of cases which allow you to use an iPhone as an "action cam". Beyond simply protecting the phone, the Optrix case has a high quality built in wide angle lens allowing for a 175 degree field of view. All the onboard, cockpit, POV and time lapse pit shots in the film were done with iPhones.

Optrix also offers an app, Optrix Video Pro, allowing real time overlay of GPS and accelerometer data.   Some of you may be familiar with Harry's LapTimer Pro, this is a reworking of the the same software by the same designer.

The AMG crowd survived the 25 quite well at this year, a 1st, a 3rd and a 4th in class. Well done guys!

E0 Class, 4th Place
Daniel Deckers
Michael Hall
Stephan Tisseront
Kevin Baillie

E1 class, 3rd Place
Todd Lamb,
Andrew Caddell
Brad Rampelberg
Ryan Winchester

E2 class, 1st Place
Guy Laidig
Beau Borders
Todd Launchbaugh
Travis Wolcott

Film by Landis Fields, Brian Berringer, Pete Billington, Punn Wiantrakoon, Zac Wollons and Anna Fields. Music by Vincent Tone - Astronaut.

The 25 Hours of Thunderhill, because 24 Hours is for wimps

NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill, the endurance racing equivalent of Nigel Tufnel's amp, exists because, say you've raced for 24 hours and you need to go just that little bit extra, to push you over the cliff so to speak, what do you do?

Check out the story of Krider Racing as told in this documentary by "Racer Boy" Rob Krieder. You might recognize Rob from Speed:Sport:Life and Jalopnik.
Set aside about a 1/2 hour.







Krider Racing, a team that drove its way to success in crap-can racing with both the 24 Hours of LeMons and ChumpCar $500 racecar events, graduated to National Auto Sport Association (NASA) races and competed in the Western Endurance Racing Championship (WERC). The team applied their tried-and-true formula from racing beaters and went on to earn the 2010 E3 Championship title in the WERC series. Cameras followed the team to NASA’s headline-year-ending event, the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. With narration by “RacerBoy” Rob Krider and production from GoRacingTV.com this gritty documentary came to life about what it was like to “Survive the 25.”