GRM review of the 13 Hour Charge of the Headlight Brigade

[Will Campbell]

Grassroots Motorsports has a new digital edition out today, and the free issue happens to have a review of the 13 hour enduro that the #01 factory Superlite SLC ran last Fall.

You can see it beginning on page 146 at Grassroots Motorsports - APR 2012

The #01 car set the fastest lap by over 4 seconds, about 4 seconds under the current ITE lap record. This was done on street tires, an enduro engine and a 5000 RPM rev limit.

 

[Jeff Young]

CAn't get it to open but I highly doubt that ITE car was on street tires in the dry.

In the rain maybe. We were significantly faster than it in the rain as well -- Skeen ran off in the Cadillac to probably a half a lap lead early, and the Mini and us (me in the Lola) stayed 2-3 (I could have passed the Mini but for the short gearing with the rain tires) for about 40 minutes until teh water pump failed.

In the dry, that ITE car probably would have murderated us. Rumor was it had several sets of tunes in the ECU. It ran consistent 2:10s and 2:12s for a long while until the SLC got back in the hunt and was turning consistent low 2:00s. Then, for the first time they had to turn the wick up to have a shot at teh overall.

Ron remarked the other day that this event is no longer an amateur show (at least to win the overall) and he is right about that.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

It was a hell of a lot of fun ...even as hard as we all worked to overcome our "first time" endurance issues...

We will be back in 2012.....for sure...and they will need a much bigger wick....

 

[Will Campbell]

CAn't get it to open but I highly doubt that ITE car was on street tires in the dry.

In the rain maybe. We were significantly faster than it in the rain as well -- Skeen ran off in the Cadillac to probably a half a lap lead early, and the Mini and us (me in the Lola) stayed 2-3 (I could have passed the Mini but for the short gearing with the rain tires) for about 40 minutes until teh water pump failed.

In the dry, that ITE car probably would have murderated us. Rumor was it had several sets of tunes in the ECU. It ran consistent 2:10s and 2:12s for a long while until the SLC got back in the hunt and was turning consistent low 2:00s. Then, for the first time they had to turn the wick up to have a shot at teh overall.

Ron remarked the other day that this event is no longer an amateur show (at least to win the overall) and he is right about that.

Jeff, to clarify, the 01 car was running in ITE, and we were running DOT tires, 5000 RPM rev limits, etc., when we ran 4 seconds under the lap record when Josh cracked off a leisurely 2:00 lap. The fastest any other car in the race went, including the Cadillac driven by Skeen, or the winning BMW, was a 2:04, which was on or near the then-current lap record.

 

[Jeff Young]

Jeff, to clarify, the 01 car was running in ITE, and we were running DOT tires, 5000 RPM rev limits, etc., when we ran 4 seconds under the lap record when Josh cracked off a leisurely 2:00 lap. The fastest any other car in the race went, including the Cadillac driven by Skeen, or the winning BMW, was a 2:04, which was on or near the then-current lap record.

By DOT tires you mean Hoosiers or the equivalent? Having raced on them for going on 8 years, I know they are "DOT" but to call them street tires is a bit of a stretch....lol.....

What kind of hp does that car have? A 2:00 flat is no joke at VIR. You were in one of the BMWs?

 

[Will Campbell]

By DOT tires you mean Hoosiers or the equivalent? Having raced on them for going on 8 years, I know they are "DOT" but to call them street tires is a bit of a stretch....lol.....

What kind of hp does that car have? A 2:00 flat is no joke at VIR. You were in one of the BMWs?

Jeff, I don't think you realize I was talking about the SLC. And yes, we were running DOT Hoosiers, instead of the Dunlop race tires we ran everywhere else that year.

 

[Jeff Young]

Ah! No, I did not. I thought you were in one of the BMWs......That clarifies things.

To be fair to ITE, that class has never seen anything like the SLC (or the Lola for that matter) before. It's mostly production cars with high hp that don't fit in regular improved touring classes.

The closest equivalent to the SLC and the Lola would be the Daytona prototypes that ran I think low to mid 1:40s a few years back at the Grand Am race. On Conti race slicks of course.....

All that said, you guys put on a great show at the 13 hour. I hope Fran is right and you are back. Cars like yours make the event higher profile and get everyone else to try and up their game. Great work.