SLC Takes Pole Position at 13 Hour race at VIR

Tonite car owner Dan Raver wheeled his SLC to a 1:55 lap, fast enough to edge out last year's winner for pole position at the 13 hour Charge of the Headlight Brigade at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, VA.

Then Mike Skeen took the car out for night practice, and ran a 1:52.

Which is blisteringly quick, especially at night!

Good luck to the Raver Motorsports team, Agile, Dan Raver, Chris Durbin and Mike Skeen!
 
Apparently they had "axle problems"- 3 times, so they spent a fair amount of time in the pits. Maybe they can clarify what is meant by that, since the axles themselves are pretty bulletproof. Perhaps it was CV problems, or the bells on the transaxle?

In any case, the Raver SLC shattered the old lap record for ITE, which was held by a Superlite LMP (which took the lap record from the original factory SLC-- are you seeing a pattern here?).

The new lap record, a 1:52, is blisteringly quick for any car running the Full Course at VIR, much less a car on DOT tires, as the 13 requires. No doubt a lap in the 1:4x range is possible with just the addition of slicks and good conditions.

The fast lap in the race was a full 4 seconds faster than any other car was able to manage in practice, qualifying or the race. That's pretty impressive, especially for a team running the car in their first year.

The cars and the times at the 13 hour race just get faster every year, and it's great to see another SLC, and a customer car at that, going so incredibly quickly, so congratulations are in order for Raver Motorsports, and Agile Performance, who built and prepped the car.
 

Keith

Moderator
Are there any race results which show the make of car? Or have I missed something in the link?

I hate it when they do that (or rather don't do that)... :veryangry:
 

Keith

Moderator
The SLC wasn't running up against anything much here was it? Just a bunch of aging performance sedans... (Radical excepted)

What is SLC's peer group and when are we going to see it racing these head-to-head?

Apologies if it already has and would very much like to see the results... :)
 

Ron Earp

Admin
There were some damn fast cars in that race group. Eight or nine cars were capable of 2:00 times or better and that is getting it done at VIR. CTSV-Caddy, Boss Mustang, M3, 911 GT3, and a bunch others, all full on prepped race cars and none of them stock, and many with pro drivers. So yeah, only an M3, but think World Challenge M3.
 
The SLC wasn't running up against anything much here was it? Just a bunch of aging performance sedans... (Radical excepted)

What is SLC's peer group and when are we going to see it racing these head-to-head?

Apologies if it already has and would very much like to see the results... :)

Ron's already addressed the 13 hour race, in which the SLC had a 25 minute lead on the rest of the field before an axle failure. That race had some serious race cars, with very professional teams and drivers running there.

When the factory SLC was running, it ran in Super Unlimited, which is, as the name implies, unlimited. Essentially, you just need four wheels and fenders. It competed against dedicated sport racers, cars with over 1000 HP, ex-IMSA cars, etc. And in that trim, it set lap records and won the NASA Super Unlimited National Championship.

The 03 car on the West coast led the 25 hour race there, running ahead of sports racers like the Wolf, factory-backed Audi TT endurance racers, many Porsche Cup cars, and so forth.

And the Raver car was leading the East Coast NASA Championship against a V8 radical, a Daytona Prototype and other fast cars with an 8-second lead on the field until a yellow flag incident let the Radical slip by.

I think that's a pretty good race history for the car, with different teams all being able to win or dominate with the car, at the highest level of racing where the car is allowed to compete.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
I just ran my completely unsorted 1st time at the track SLC at Big Willows out here in Calif. In the second group (faster than the first) was a completely race prepared GT350 Mustang with a +500hp 351 in it and a Jericho 5 speed on big fat R6s. That is a fast car and would pull me on the straights, but he HAD to let me by because I was damn near running him over on corner entry. Now that's not in a race but I have no dough that these SLC's are fast.

Not only did the 03 car lead the 25hours at thunder hill, it lead for 14 hours, stopped to fix something for more than a hour and lost by 4 laps against a Norma with pro drivers and a 450HP BMW motor in it AND a 24 hours of Daytona experienced GT3 Porsche team.

They had them beat hands down.
 
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Keith

Moderator
Well that just goes and shows my ignorance doesn't it? I have always equated mid engined monocoque chassis race cars with those of a similar ilk i.e. Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati etc. I was always amazed that a traditional layout Aston Martin, Corvette, Viper could run with a mid engined car. I would have put the SLC in with the DP's to be honest.

Are the M3's tube framed, unibody or combination?

I think if I invested in such as an SLC with a moderate amount of performance mods, I would expect it to outrun those cars (with the possible exception of the Radical and DP) and be darned disappointed if it didn't.
 

Fran Hall RCR

GT40s Sponsor
Ferrari and Porsche probably get upset when they get bested by Aston and Corvette at the 24hr of Le Mans too eh Keith....?
 

Keith

Moderator
Not this year..:thumbsdown:

Don't know how AM find the cash to go racing anyway.

Might be different with the new AMG motors though..

Apologies for drift..
 
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