The Devil in the Dark 2012

[tdw6974]

Report???!!!

[CRallo]

Bimmerworld came with their enduro car... had about 20 laps on the field. Fast car, huge cell and pro crew! TrackPro/Bulldog smashed their M3 in the rain causing one of only two FCY's... Limitless Racing was there with their R8 LMS, but were only running 2.5 hours to test for the GA race. The car was fast and sounded awesome!! Their rookie started the race from pole, spun and made it back to first before the driver change. They don't have a pro crew... I think the Bimmerworld car had the lead the whole rest of the way. The number white 61 Mx5 Cup car had a fuel pickup/sending unit issue that we found the hard way and got towed in for our first stop! :/ but solid driving and awesome stops got us back up to 10th overall which we held even when we lost 4th and then 5th and then 6th!! Fortunately for us it rained pretty solid for the last two hours... We still were passing people! I fueled that car in a last minute deal with Hale Motorsports and had a great time!!!!

Some bumping and banging out there, pretty clean overall... Body Motion had a Caymen there that was second over all. Dog Gone Racing was the leading Spec Racer in 9th overall and technically 3rd in class(E2). Some good tight racing out there between Miata's... Not sure how E3 turned out. The ITB VW's ran well as far as I could tell... Not sure if they ever had to stop for gas! LOL

Some what random off the top of my head stuff. I wasn't smart enough to get a results sheet...

[callard]

Kirk said that they had parts breakage that never happened before. He suspects manufacturing issues.
The Radial Motorsports Acura finished 3rd O/A and 1st in class behind the BMW and Porsche. Not bad for a 1.8 liter car that ran the entire time it was raining on dry tires.
Tom Beverly is the new rain god!

[brandonl]

Kirk said that they had parts breakage that never happened before. He suspects manufacturing issues.
The Radial Motorsports Acura finished 3rd O/A and 1st in class behind the BMW and Porsche. Not bad for a 1.8 liter car that ran the entire time it was raining on dry tires.
Tom Beverly is the new rain god!

Pics of these broken parts are coming soon. Stay tuned.

Brandon

[Terry Hanushek]

Congratulations to Harold Petit, Randy Mueller, David Baker and Scott Baker from the #28 Johnstone Supply Team BMW M3 for their second consecutive victory in The Devil in the Dark 2012. This year the team covered 433 laps exceeding last year's winning total of by five laps.

And congratulations to the other 38 teams that hit the track in the third edition of The Devil. Several teams struggled with mechanical gremlins, a few did not finish but 30 teams were still running when the checker flag flew at the end of the 12 hours.

Class Podiums

E1

1 - #28 Johnstone Supply BMW M3 - 433 laps
2 - #20 Bodymotion Racing 1 Porsche Cayman - 415 laps
3 - #92 Team Track Pro BMW M3 - 288 laps

E2

1 - #94 Radial Motorsports Acura Integra - 405 laps
2 - #99 Elgin Racing Mazda MX5 - 403 laps
3 - #21 Dog Gone Racing Spec Racer Ford - 396 laps

E3

1 - #58 Henwood Motorsports / Main Line Overland Miata - 403 laps
2 - #32 Flatout Motorsports 2 Miata - 402 laps
3 - #91 Bollywoodlawn Sync'd Miata - 399 laps

E4

1 - #2 Team Troxell VW Golf - 341 laps
2 - #9 Ted Hulse Racing Honda Si - 313 laps
3 - #42 Maximum Attack Motorsports 2 VW Golf - 303 laps

The complete results are at: http://www.nediv.com/images/results/...linthedark.pdf

Thanks to all of the teams who helped make this year's 12 Hour a very successful event.

See ya same time, same place next year

Terry

[Knestis]

We talked about it in person, Terry, but so I'm on public record as well, I think the "E" classing structure is a great idea and was implemented well.

There will always be someone who thinks they are getting dorked by the grouping but, particularly in an endurance race, the variables controlled by the teams and drivers have a MUCH greater influence on outcomes than do the class we're plunked in.

Fewer classes and more competition should always be an objective in our game.

K

[RSTPerformance]

I wasn't at the race but I like K said, wish more enduros were that way! In my ITB car I would rather finish last trying than first just driving around...

Raymond

[brandonl]

Pics of these broken parts are coming soon. Stay tuned.

Brandon

[mossaidis]

Sorry about the parts explosion...

I think tGA said it once as well as others. if you want to run lengthy enduros and survive until the end, you need a car setup to run just enduros. You better have installed new ball joints, axles, bearings, hubs, brakes, rotors, etc... and done so for every enduro.

"$$$$ I will make it rain all in here! $$$$" ... yeah not.

[Bill Miller]

There used to be a big problem w/ A1 (Rabbit) VW front wheel bearings. You pretty much could not torque the axle nuts too much. I used to use a 3/4" breaker bar w/ a 6' long pipe and stand on it, to tighten mine (or the 3/4" impact gun w/ 180 psig of air behind it).

I know Cameron is pretty meticulous w/ Pablo, and I know Kirk is almost fanatical about presenting a well prepared car, so I'm a bit hesitant to speculate that the axle nut wasn't torqued enough, but that's what the pictures look like.

[StephenB]

We loved the Watkins Glen 4 hr this year so we are now thinking that this event is a "Must do" for 2013! Does anyone know how many drivers you can enter for a car? entry form last year had 5 spots BUT nothing limited the drivers. Sadly we will need to stop every Hr with the RX8 for gas. Since you need to exit the car to do a pit stop why not change out drivers. Thinking if 11 or 12 of us did this it wouldnt be that expensive and I think we could afford it

We use about 1 gallon of fuel every 5 minutes so it looks like 150 gallons for the race and probably up over 220gallons for the event. $850 in gas

2 sets of tires $1K each (not hoosiers, maybe BFG)

entry fee $750

Brakes $300 (Do you all change them 1/2 way??)

Complete fluid flush Oil $20, rear end $30, tranny $30

And if NOTHING Breaks.... that might be all the expense? thoughts??

4K plus travel and food??

Stephen

[Knestis]

The track was ROUGH on tires last year...

K

[brandonl]

There is a max number of drivers (6, iirc), check out last years supps. Kirk is right, you burn through left front tires at njmp. Interesting idea though.

Brandon

[Terry Hanushek]

Stephen

We loved the Watkins Glen 4 hr this year so we are now thinking that this event is a "Must do" for 2013! Does anyone know how many drivers you can enter for a car? entry form last year had 5 spots BUT nothing limited the drivers. Sadly we will need to stop every Hr with the RX8 for gas. Since you need to exit the car to do a pit stop why not change out drivers. Thinking if 11 or 12 of us did this it wouldnt be that expensive and I think we could afford it

I know you guys have been very interested in long distance enduros and its great that you are actively considering The Devil in the Dark 2013.

We have never had a specific limit on the number of drivers (nor any requests for a team as large as yours ). I'm sure that we can accommodate your team - let me know how I can help you.

Hope to see ya at The Devil

Terry

[StephenB]

Thanks for the reply Terry! I am going to start getting the tropps ready to go and we are going to try and make this happen. Lemons has nothing on us... this is AFFORDABLE racing!! Should be a blast.

Need to get the number plates and figure out the gas thing. Do people normally just keep buying gas at the track or do they bring a crap load in with them? that is a LOT of gas cans!

Stephen