Thursday, June 30, 2005
WR Racing @ Sebring 12hrs
WR Racing Finishes 12 Hours of Sebring!
This past Saturday, all day, WOSEC (http://www.wosec.co.uk/) held the 12 Hours of Sebring race. It was an insane 397 laps around the Sebring circuit in Florida, running GTP cars. Clouds had been in and out all week leading up to the race, but when race time finally came, the skies were clear, and the temperature a pleasant 75 degrees. Perfect racing conditions (especially since I never really altered the 70 clear setup I downloaded).
WR Racing have had problems finishing as of late, losing one of two cars to mechanical problems while running an impressive 6th at the 8 hours of Silverstone; then losing all three of the cars they had entered at the 6 hour night-time Spa race.
That trend looked to continue, when first-stint driver Tim Spencer reported that the WR Racing 18 car had lost 2nd gear, just 16 laps into the race. A shortage of drivers this month (4, down from the usual 6 or 7 or so) meant WR Racing only entered one car, and that car was already having problems. However, WR18 ran okay only using 3rd - 5th gear, and Spencer completed his scheduled 2-hour (2 fuel run) stint with few other problems, aside from the occasional off.
Sandeep Banerjee would then take over, having tweaked the car during the change-over for a 3 gear setup. (When you do driver changes in N2k3, it loads your default setup, so two drivers can have completely different setups; when we heard Tim lost a gear, we went in and changed the ratios for 3rd and 4th to provide better accelleration.) He also ran for 2 hours with minimal problems.
Then he handed it over to Tom Hakes, who ran the longest stint of WR's race at nearly 3 hours. It was scheduled for a full 3 fuel runs, but Hakes slipped up trying to pass a lapper and put it in the tires 10 laps from his scheduled race departure. The car was massively damaged, but still drivable. Hakes came in to fix the damage, and it was decided to do a driver change then.
Unfortunately, in the haste to change drivers, the crew didn't have time to fix the damage. (In 2k3, if you disco and come back, you get new tires and full fuel, but damage remains unless you wait for the pit crew to finish.) To add to the confusion, Spencer, who was set to run a 1-hour stint, twisted his ankle trying to get into the car (computer crashed). Time was lost in the confusion, but finally REDACTED (me!) stepped over Spencer's body and into the driver's seat. REDACTED was set to run the final 3 hours of the race as his one and only stint, but things change in the heat of the race.
REDACTED ran slow for his first fuel run, with the car still heavily damaged. He found himself getting passed in the fast sections, and keeping pace - sometimes even getting held up - in the slow ones. At one point, the SBRC 2 car attempted an ill-advised pass and spun them both. Luckily it was in a spot with all kinds of tarmac runoff, so both cars continued without problems. REDACTED pitted, fixing the damage, and was off again, at a much quicker pace now.
His old 1:53's became 1:49's; no where near the leader's pace, but decent nonetheless, and with only three gears to work with. At one point he came up on TPTCC Regulars #41, who were slower but laps ahead in the overall standings. The 41 slowed unexpectedly, and REDACTED rear-ended them. They both spun, but neither hit anything, and both continued on.
Banerjee took back over for REDACTED after 2 hours, running a "quick" 1 hour stint for the team. The stint was mostly incident-free, although at one point the Chilean Racing car waved Banerjee by only to block him, causing a spin.
Then Spencer - the man who qualified the car over 10 hours earlier - stepped in to run the final 2 hours of the race. It wasn't just a cruise to the checkers, though, as WR Racing 18 and the aforementioned Chilean Racing (#20) battled on the track for 7th place. Spencer closed in on them and worked them over for a number of laps before finally getting by them cleanly. A lap later, going into T1, the WR Racing car was punted from behind by the 20 car, spinning into the tires.
Spencer then set out on a mission to catch Chilean Racing and return the favor, even running a 1:49.1 with the damaged car - WR's best in the race - trying to catch them. With all this speed, Spencer used up his rear tires too quickly, leading to a couple spins, and leaving the punt unreturned. However, WR Racing finished 8th out of 20, a solid effort overcoming some problems in the race.
And while not pertaining to WR Racing, amazingly 5th place changed hands on the last lap - the last straightaway even - of the race. That's the 397th lap for those scoring at home. Absolutely crazy in a race that doesn't wait for anyone - no cautions, no rests, none of that oval racing stuff - a position can change on the final lap. The final 20 seconds of a race that ended up being over 12 hours long.
As a side note, this is the longest race I've ever been a part of. I was scheduled to run in last years 24 Heures du Mans, but our car crashed out 2 hours in. I only ran 2 hours in this race (was set to run 3 before plans got shuffled around), but it still took up my whole day between watching on NRTV and talking on Ventrilo.
But it was worth it, for sure. Great fun, and great drama watching Tim's final run on NRTV. I would even check the gap and tell him if he was closing... it was almost like being a spotter at times. "There's traffic ahead", I'd say. We came up on the 2nd place car (who had eased up considerably just trying to finish), and some of their team members were also on NRTV. So I asked them in the chat if we could get a let-by. And on the next straight, they pulled over and slowed. How cool is that? Like being a NASCAR spotter and making deals.
When the race was over, we all congratulated each other on Ventrilo, except Tom, who had gone to bed (it was something like 1 am where he was). I don't even know what kind of hours Tim and Sandeep (Australia and India) were up at to race. Tim especially had to put in quite a commitment, driving at the start and the finish of the race. I had it pretty nice with a 7am - 8pm timeslot here on east coast time.
Nice to finish one of these endurance races again, and it was great fun running it, even if I hated all things Chilean afterward.
This past Saturday, all day, WOSEC (http://www.wosec.co.uk/) held the 12 Hours of Sebring race. It was an insane 397 laps around the Sebring circuit in Florida, running GTP cars. Clouds had been in and out all week leading up to the race, but when race time finally came, the skies were clear, and the temperature a pleasant 75 degrees. Perfect racing conditions (especially since I never really altered the 70 clear setup I downloaded).
WR Racing have had problems finishing as of late, losing one of two cars to mechanical problems while running an impressive 6th at the 8 hours of Silverstone; then losing all three of the cars they had entered at the 6 hour night-time Spa race.
That trend looked to continue, when first-stint driver Tim Spencer reported that the WR Racing 18 car had lost 2nd gear, just 16 laps into the race. A shortage of drivers this month (4, down from the usual 6 or 7 or so) meant WR Racing only entered one car, and that car was already having problems. However, WR18 ran okay only using 3rd - 5th gear, and Spencer completed his scheduled 2-hour (2 fuel run) stint with few other problems, aside from the occasional off.
Sandeep Banerjee would then take over, having tweaked the car during the change-over for a 3 gear setup. (When you do driver changes in N2k3, it loads your default setup, so two drivers can have completely different setups; when we heard Tim lost a gear, we went in and changed the ratios for 3rd and 4th to provide better accelleration.) He also ran for 2 hours with minimal problems.
Then he handed it over to Tom Hakes, who ran the longest stint of WR's race at nearly 3 hours. It was scheduled for a full 3 fuel runs, but Hakes slipped up trying to pass a lapper and put it in the tires 10 laps from his scheduled race departure. The car was massively damaged, but still drivable. Hakes came in to fix the damage, and it was decided to do a driver change then.
Unfortunately, in the haste to change drivers, the crew didn't have time to fix the damage. (In 2k3, if you disco and come back, you get new tires and full fuel, but damage remains unless you wait for the pit crew to finish.) To add to the confusion, Spencer, who was set to run a 1-hour stint, twisted his ankle trying to get into the car (computer crashed). Time was lost in the confusion, but finally REDACTED (me!) stepped over Spencer's body and into the driver's seat. REDACTED was set to run the final 3 hours of the race as his one and only stint, but things change in the heat of the race.
REDACTED ran slow for his first fuel run, with the car still heavily damaged. He found himself getting passed in the fast sections, and keeping pace - sometimes even getting held up - in the slow ones. At one point, the SBRC 2 car attempted an ill-advised pass and spun them both. Luckily it was in a spot with all kinds of tarmac runoff, so both cars continued without problems. REDACTED pitted, fixing the damage, and was off again, at a much quicker pace now.
His old 1:53's became 1:49's; no where near the leader's pace, but decent nonetheless, and with only three gears to work with. At one point he came up on TPTCC Regulars #41, who were slower but laps ahead in the overall standings. The 41 slowed unexpectedly, and REDACTED rear-ended them. They both spun, but neither hit anything, and both continued on.
Banerjee took back over for REDACTED after 2 hours, running a "quick" 1 hour stint for the team. The stint was mostly incident-free, although at one point the Chilean Racing car waved Banerjee by only to block him, causing a spin.
Then Spencer - the man who qualified the car over 10 hours earlier - stepped in to run the final 2 hours of the race. It wasn't just a cruise to the checkers, though, as WR Racing 18 and the aforementioned Chilean Racing (#20) battled on the track for 7th place. Spencer closed in on them and worked them over for a number of laps before finally getting by them cleanly. A lap later, going into T1, the WR Racing car was punted from behind by the 20 car, spinning into the tires.
Spencer then set out on a mission to catch Chilean Racing and return the favor, even running a 1:49.1 with the damaged car - WR's best in the race - trying to catch them. With all this speed, Spencer used up his rear tires too quickly, leading to a couple spins, and leaving the punt unreturned. However, WR Racing finished 8th out of 20, a solid effort overcoming some problems in the race.
And while not pertaining to WR Racing, amazingly 5th place changed hands on the last lap - the last straightaway even - of the race. That's the 397th lap for those scoring at home. Absolutely crazy in a race that doesn't wait for anyone - no cautions, no rests, none of that oval racing stuff - a position can change on the final lap. The final 20 seconds of a race that ended up being over 12 hours long.
As a side note, this is the longest race I've ever been a part of. I was scheduled to run in last years 24 Heures du Mans, but our car crashed out 2 hours in. I only ran 2 hours in this race (was set to run 3 before plans got shuffled around), but it still took up my whole day between watching on NRTV and talking on Ventrilo.
But it was worth it, for sure. Great fun, and great drama watching Tim's final run on NRTV. I would even check the gap and tell him if he was closing... it was almost like being a spotter at times. "There's traffic ahead", I'd say. We came up on the 2nd place car (who had eased up considerably just trying to finish), and some of their team members were also on NRTV. So I asked them in the chat if we could get a let-by. And on the next straight, they pulled over and slowed. How cool is that? Like being a NASCAR spotter and making deals.
When the race was over, we all congratulated each other on Ventrilo, except Tom, who had gone to bed (it was something like 1 am where he was). I don't even know what kind of hours Tim and Sandeep (Australia and India) were up at to race. Tim especially had to put in quite a commitment, driving at the start and the finish of the race. I had it pretty nice with a 7am - 8pm timeslot here on east coast time.
Nice to finish one of these endurance races again, and it was great fun running it, even if I hated all things Chilean afterward.
# posted by class of 89 : 4:06 PM
