VW GTI finishes NASA 25 hour enduro

[Joe Craven]

German-Sport.com Racing team had an great weekend in the 25 hour enduro at Thunderhill raceway in Willows California. We've run many previous NASA enduros including the 12 hour, but this is has to be the most intense and competitive enduro to date. The drivers pushed their cars nearly to 10/10s, aggressively passing in the corners much like one would do in a standard 30 minute race. The German-Sport team entered a 83 VW GTI Cup car into the E3 class, which included classes such as NASA's PS3, GTI, H5 and SCCA's ITB, ITC, and SSC. Cars of interest in the E3 included various Honda models, Mini Coopers, Alfa Romeo Sprint, BMW 318i, 4 VW GTIs, etc. We were automatically entered into the 12 hour and 25 hour portions of the event. We finally did very well, placing 2nd in the 12 hour and 3rd in the 25 hour. Saturday morning was very clear but windy, and the track remained dry as we placed our cars on the grid. Shortly before the race began, the rain began to fall as they would for many more hours. We got off to a great start, rain is a great equalizer for low powered race cars :-) We were gridded way in the back near the 70th position but moved to the mid 20th position by hour 2. We led our class for much of the event, listed as 1st in class for the first 5 hours of the race. One of our racers unfortunately slid off the track under the rain and muddy conditions and had to wait for a truck to pull him out of the mud. We fell back to approx. 7th place but quickly got back in the groove and began moving up in our class. However, Team GOTO in a little 1.5 liter Honda CRX were consistently fast and were running about 30 minutes longer per pit stop than our slightly faster GTI which evened things out. I should mention Team Alfa in their late 70s Sprint was running strong. We were faster and didn't consider them a threat. In previous 12 hour races, they seemed to spend more times in the pits than on the track. They were in 2nd position after our off track excursion but we knew they'd break and we'd pass them anyways. The Minis ran strong in the rain, but the rain ceased sometime after nightfall and they just couldn't keep up with our faster GTI. By the 12th hour, we had passed Team Alfa for 2nd place and were about 7 laps down on Team GOTO. They pitted a couple of times unexpectantly and were brought in again for passing under yellow. We were able to make up much lost ground and finally were within 2 laps. I took my stint and was able to pass the Team GOTO CRX a couple of times which finally put us on the same lap. By the 14th hour, we were back in the lead and running strong. We consistently outran the CRX and built up a 2.5 lap lead by the 17th hour and things were looking good. We pitted, added 10 gallons of gas, replaced the left front tire but the car wouldn't start. The crew pushed started the car but it just sputtered and would barely idle. We pushed the car back to our hot pit and quickly diagnosed a low voltage condition. In when our spare battery and alternator and all looked well. I took back to the track knowing that our hard fought for lead had vanished. 30 more minutes into this session and the car started sputtering again. It died before I could make it back to the pits and I had to wait for the tow crew in the middle of the night. It seemed an eternity but they finally got our car back to the pits where we finally determined that a wire had broke in the wiring harness. We replaced the alternator wiring, and the car ran well again. We were probably well back in the pack, Team GOTO with an insurmountable 17 lap lead, Team Alfa in 2nd with a hard charging Honda Civic of Team Metric Motorsports in 3rd. At this point, the track was very dark and drying very rapidly. There was a lot of mud and cones, and other various car parts littering the track. All was well if you stayed on the line but everyone was driving so fast and passing 3 abreast in the corners, one had to be extremely careful to not lose control in the mud. While it appeared that Team GOTO had the race won, somehow they got collected with the Team Crevier Mini and had to be towed off track. They were never able to return and ultimately finished 4th. Team Crevier kept the car on the track with smoke pouring off the left rear wheel until the 24th hour when I saw them parked off the side of the track. Team Metric Motorsports won the race, and Team Alfa finished a well deserved if surprising 2nd in their Alfa Sprint. As I mentioned before ,we finished 3rd, starter failed, clutch slipping yet it crossed the finish line at the 25th hour. Everybody was so jubilant to have had the opportunity to compete in such a grand and history making event.

Not to quote our new governor but

"I'll be back"

#37 ITB