2011 VIR 13 Hour - RCR T70 Replica

Ron Earp

Admin
Preparations for the SCCA VIR 13 Hour race have been underway for a few weeks now. We'll be running the car for sure this year so we can check that "Raced Can Am replica in endurance race" box off.

The car has markedly improved over the last year and it seems to now be capable of running for many hours at a time without any difficulties. We sure have come a long way in two years and I'm pleased to say the car is a pleasure to drive at a race pace as long as the outside temps are below 75F or so. With the 13 hour being at the end of the month I suspect our temperature limitations won't be an issue.

The driver lineup this year are the same folks I race with and against in SCCA Improved Touring: Jeff Young, Steve Parrish, Robert Michell, and Ron Munnerlyn. All have plenty of race experience and can get the job done as long as the car holds up. Each driver is expected to do a two hour stint at a time, a seriously non-trival amount of time in this car. Driving a sedan with windscreen for 1.5 hours is one thing, but the T70 is a different animal.

Final preparations are happening this week with things like lighted number plate going on, radios being installed, and additional auxiliary lights being fitted. I took this shot of the car this evening as I noticed the "www.gt40s.com" logo as I was walking by and thought to post on the forum. While the T70 isn't a GT40, it is a close cousin and I don't know of any other 60s replicas competing in a modern racing event, much less an endurance race. I hope it is close enough in DNA that even the GT40 diehards can pull for us and send us some good vibes.

I'll be updating with pictures here over the next couple of weeks and during the race while at the track. 10/29/11 is the race date so if you've got any anti-rain dances in your repertoire then bust-a-move.

R
 

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Malcolm

Supporter
Hope it all runs well for you guys. Has it ever rained at the 13 Hours? I've seen it too hot, too cold and just right but never heard of rain. But the weather is so weird these days guess anything can happen. Have a great race.
 

Jeff Young

GT40s Supporter
Yes, rained last year? Or the year before? In fact I think the event was called early because of lightning (threatens corner workers).

I'm up there this weekend and the weather is to be spectacular. HIghs in the low 60s, lows in the 40s. I haven't touched the TR8 since Roebling so will be interesting to see if I can have a roll on the trailer, roll off weekend....we'll see.....

10 day forecast on weather.com only goes through next THursday but it looks like the weather may be good. Same as this weekend....
 

Malcolm

Supporter
Yes, rained last year? Or the year before? In fact I think the event was called early because of lightning (threatens corner workers).

So since we stopped coming over then? As for lightning and corner workers, tell them not to stand under the oak tree!
 

Jeff Young

GT40s Supporter
Yes, it was a year you didn't come. You guys always brought the cold...lol....

It must have been 2 years ago when we didn't run beacuse of teething issues with the Lola.
 

Ron Earp

Admin
2009 was the rain year. We had just received the Lola about three weeks earlier and I had the worst cold I'd had in years. Naively we continued to think we could run the car, with no development or solutions to the teething problems, and ultimately we didn't make the race. In hindsight it was clear we wouldn't make the race but we gave it the old college try.

In 2010 we almost made the race but with the CMP test day we had in September that didn't go so well the team decided to make a no go decision. And it was the right thing to do.

And now in 2011 it seems the car is ready to run the event and we'll see how we do. For whatever reason I'm pessimistic and have it in the back of my mind that it won't go the distance, but I know we've done everything we possibly can within our means and budget to insure that it will get the job done. I hope it'll be enough.

R
 
2009 was the rain year. We had just received the Lola about three weeks earlier and I had the worst cold I'd had in years. Naively we continued to think we could run the car, with no development or solutions to the teething problems, and ultimately we didn't make the race. In hindsight it was clear we wouldn't make the race but we gave it the old college try.

In 2010 we almost made the race but with the CMP test day we had in September that didn't go so well the team decided to make a no go decision. And it was the right thing to do.

And now in 2011 it seems the car is ready to run the event and we'll see how we do. For whatever reason I'm pessimistic and have it in the back of my mind that it won't go the distance, but I know we've done everything we possibly can within our means and budget to insure that it will get the job done. I hope it'll be enough.

R

Good Luck!
 

Jeff Young

GT40s Supporter
The car is vastly improved this year over last. It's actually fun to drive and seems very reliable. It's run a test day at VIR, the UTCC and a full tet day at CMP with no real issues.

I think we will finish if we drive smart, but Ron's pessimism is not unwarranted. It's amazing the number of things that go wrong with a freaking Miata in a 13 hour race, much less a replica of a late 60s sports racer.

Kudos to Fran and RCR on the build, and to Ron and Jeff Giordano for getting the car sorted for an endurance event.
 

Ron Earp

Admin
It's amazing the number of things that go wrong with a freaking Miata in a 13 hour race, much less a replica of a late 60s sports racer.

Yep.

RCR have built a great car and provided fantastic support throughout our development program. But as you wrote, it is simply amazing to see the multitudes of variations of car failures. Each year 60, 75, even 90 cars have started that race and 15-20 of them will leave on a trailer before the race is over. Endurance racing is a tough sport and just finishing one is a win. Even the professional teams entered, and there are more than a few, have their share of failures.

If we had an unlimited budget we'd put in a new motor, have a spare motor, a truckload of spare "everythings", but that isn't going to happen for this all amateur team. As they say, we'll "run what we brung" and see how it shakes out.
 

Malcolm

Supporter
The one item that always fails to me is throttle cables. Why they should work fine for ever and then only need to do one day more service and so fail is beyond me! Annoying is not the word. In this years BritCar 24 Hours we had 57 starters and only 37 made the flag. The heat took some guys out as engines cooked.

Good luck guys, wish I was with you.
 

Ron Earp

Admin
Thanks Gentlemen, much appreciated. You guys need to come back over for the VIR 13 hour, get cracking!

Glenn, your ride is almost finished up so bring your 70s attire and you can be cruising in style. A few things have changed since you've last driven it.....

I'll have a laptop with wireless and a camera at the event so I plan to perform some real time updates on this thread.
 

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Glenn M

Supporter
It's looking great Ron, I love it and can't wait. I'll have to buy a new shirt to match though! And borrow some of Malcolms flares!

Regards to the other guys, and yes we do need to get back over and do it again. Tammy's itching to come and see VIR so it is when not if.

Enjoy yourselves

Glenn
 

Malcolm

Supporter
My miata build has been to SCCA tech rules as well as our MSA regs so the longer term plan is to bring it over to run with you guys again. But that is for the future, your race is the present so go for it guys!
 

Ron Earp

Admin
Prepare to Win - or do lots of work as the case might be. We've been at it hard this weekend. On Thursday night I found out the radiator was leaking, again. As a precautionary measure we were able to get one over-nighted thanks to RCR and tried to get the old one repaired. No dice on the old radiator, it was too far gone to repair.

Saturday was spent making mounts and fixtures for the new unit and we've now got it mounted up with rubber isolators in a better fashion than it was before. We also installed radios and finished other odds and ends. And, during our light check found out the alternator was getting ready to fail and the one of our aux lights had taken a hike. No problem, new alternator in, that's all good and new aux lights on the bench.

I hope that we'll get the car buttoned up today with final alignment done. That way we can perform light checks tonight and maybe call the prep work "done".

Drive lineup has been sorted out. Qualifying will be Jeff Young and Ron Munnerlyn, light check Robert Mitchell and Steve Parrish. The fastest qualifer will start the race and the lineup should be:

Ron or Jeff sessions one and two
Robert Mitchell
Steve Parrish
Ron Earp

And then it goes back around to whomever can drive.

SCCA tech is already making noise about the cage in the car and wanting another bar added - and the car has had a fooking logbook for almost two years! Not happy about that. I race in the SCCA because all my friends race there too, but if we could get decent competition in NASA (for our chosen classes) or we all moved there to race I'd be gone in a minute.
 

Ron Earp

Admin
We're done. That is to say, we've done all we can possibly do to get ready for the event. Alignment, corner weights, checking everything umpteen times, even a drink bottle for driver comfort.

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Malcolm

Supporter
You're ready a week before the event? Nah you must have missed something. No one is ready until 2 am the night before...... :)

PS envious you are that organised!
 
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