24 hour endurance race report

[ysar]

Last weekend I brought my Toyota Yaris in B-Spec trim to a 24 hour race at Buttonwillow hosted by Lucky Dog Racing League. Through attrition, good fortune, and fast night driving, we were able to pull out a 3rd place overall. It was alternately terrifying and exhilarating. No reflectors on the track and very little albedo made seeing the track difficult. And weeks without rain meant that every time someone dropped 2 wheels it kicked up dust clouds that blinded you.

[ArmstrongRacing]

Awesome man! Ive been wanting to do this as well. I've only done the Chumpcar 8 hour races so far, 24 must be so exhausting and amazing!

[ysar]

24 hours is special in the way that getting punched in the face is special. I've done it once. Do I need to do it again? A lot of the reluctance is the additional work before and after the race. So I'd probably be more interested in driving someone else's car if I did another.

[tmontague]

This is great, congrats on the podium finish!

[ABSPLASTIC]

Awesome!

Curious though, which cars finished 2nd and 1st?

[ysar]

Miata, E36, Yaris. You know, the usual culprits.

[ArmstrongRacing]

Miata, E36, Yaris. You know, the usual culprits.

Nice blog. I have to agree with you on the protesting BS, I was once protested for giving a 180lb new guy a ride along at autocross. And also when I did chumpcar at Chuckwalla,people protested our shocks being adjustable when we had done nothing to the engine...

Some people act like babies

[Jason@SportsCar]

Last weekend I brought my Toyota Yaris in B-Spec trim to a 24 hour race at Buttonwillow hosted by Lucky Dog Racing League. Through attrition, good fortune, and fast night driving, we were able to pull out a 3rd place overall. It was alternately terrifying and exhilarating. No reflectors on the track and very little albedo made seeing the track difficult. And weeks without rain meant that every time someone dropped 2 wheels it kicked up dust clouds that blinded you.

Nicely done. Looked like you were doing nearly two hour runs on a tank of fuel, impressive. How many tires did you guys burn up in 24 hours?

It seems to get extra dark at Buttonwillow, cant imagine how bad it was when the dust would get kicked up in the middle of the night. :eek:

[ysar]

It will go slightly over 2 hours on one tank of fuel. It's only making 100 hp so fuel usage is minimal. I had no intention of getting near the podium so I brought 340 treadwear tires with the hope that I wouldn't have to switch. As it turned out, I used up 6 tires and 2 sets of brake pads. The first set of pads were gone at about 8.5 hours, so we had to get the second set to last about 15.5. We were metal-to-metal at the end of the race.

Indeed, Buttonwillow in the middle of a very dry February night is difficult on the eyes.

[Jason@SportsCar]

It will go slightly over 2 hours on one tank of fuel. It's only making 100 hp so fuel usage is minimal. I had no intention of getting near the podium so I brought 340 treadwear tires with the hope that I wouldn't have to switch. As it turned out, I used up 6 tires and 2 sets of brake pads. The first set of pads were gone at about 8.5 hours, so we had to get the second set to last about 15.5. We were metal-to-metal at the end of the race.

Indeed, Buttonwillow in the middle of a very dry February night is difficult on the eyes.

Call up Porterfield and have them cut you a set of Hawk DTC-60 pads, I can run the same set all season - only put new one on for the Runoffs because its the Runoffs - its well worth the money.

You planning to do the Runoffs at Sonoma? We are going to hit the Majors there at the end of June as a tune up for the big race.

[ysar]

After much thought, I'm not planning on the Runoffs. It's mostly about costs. To be competitive, I'd need the new suspension kit, a fresh motor, a couple sets of sticky tires, and practice time at Sonoma (they don't allow coaching, so I don't get free sessions there as I do elsewhere). And then there's the entry fees for 3 Majors and the Runoffs. In endurance racing I offset my costs by charging seat time.

For endurance races, I'm going to switch to a larger caliper and rotor. There are lots of pad choices for Corolla calipers.

[xnamerxx]

After much thought, I'm not planning on the Runoffs. It's mostly about costs. To be competitive, I'd need the new suspension kit, a fresh motor, a couple sets of sticky tires, and practice time at Sonoma (they don't allow coaching, so I don't get free sessions there as I do elsewhere). And then there's the entry fees for 3 Majors and the Runoffs. In endurance racing I offset my costs by charging seat time.

For endurance races, I'm going to switch to a larger caliper and rotor. There are lots of pad choices for Corolla calipers.

Look for a set of Raybestos St43, its what I used to run in the Miata and pretty much the only pad outside of the porterfield R4e that could get through a race. Very grabby though so run them with ABS. Porterfield should be able to cut a set for you if needed.