Listers, last weekend I raced in the the "Longest Day" 24 hour race at Nelson
Ledges (east of Cleveland, OH). What a race! Our very own Ted Shumacher was
the honorary starter. Ted has won this race a number of times in his TR8,
even taking first overall. It was great to see Ted there and learn of the
Triumph success there. Ted has also instructed there and his tips were very
helpful to our team.
I raced in the Rhinoceros Racing Mazda Miata in the SM class. We started 30th
out of 35 starters and finished 17th over all and 7th in class. This was the
first enduro for the car and the first 24 hour race for all team members. It
was also my first time in a Miata and at this track. The car ran great,
needing only tires, gas and a quart of oil. One team member liked driving the
car so much that he went out and bought a Spec Miata this week.
We were wondering how many TR3's I would have needed to finish such a race.
With the current tune of my motor I would probably have needed 3 motors. I am
sure a mildly tuned TR3/4 would run 24 hours fine, but with the rough track
surface I am not so sure the suspension would have stayed together or the car
would not have stayed on track. Turn 11 is taken flat out at the fastest part
of the track and has quite a dip in it at the apex. It did not upset the
Miata, but not so sure what my TR3 would do in it.
Anyway, I digress. We had 6 drivers, but a couple were only doing 1 hour
stints. I drove twice, 2 hours at a time (gas would only last 2 hours). It
was raining when I got in the car at 7:30 pm and drove into the darkness.
Fortunately the rain let up by around 8-8:30, for the rest of the race. There
were some fog patches that showed up early in the morning. I got to drive in
the daylight in the morning for another 2 hours.
The light of morning revealed quite a few damaged cars. Many crunched,
missing glass and fenders. A VW Golf had been on its roof during the night
and was crushed at the rear. They had a backhoe and a pick-up truck tugging
at it to stretch it back out. It kept going for a while, but was pitting very
often.
If you ever get a chance to participate or attend, go for it. It is quite the
event. We are already making plans for next year. Joe(B)
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