The team put in a huge effort. Our budget and team resources were very limited (especially compared to other teams) and we were able to finish 3rd on track (out of 17 cars in our class). The 2nd place team was later penalized by NASA and moved down to 3rd place. One of the 2nd place car team drivers said this was due to unsportsmanlike conduct. We were then awarded the 2nd place trophy (the one lack of planning on our part - we didn’t really have space for a 6-foot trophy in the truck). Runner-up position in our first attempt at the race? It’s almost too good to be true. This will certainly make us work that much harder to make sure we don’t disappoint next year.

Our small crew was phenomenal. Norm and Bob were jumping from cooking food to wrenching the car (I didn’t want to think about whether they washed their hands or not but I’m sure they did!) to getting more gas to telling us some great stories - sometimes all at once. Tim seemed to be everywhere. On the radio, taking splits, organizing the next pit stop, coordinating strategy with Rob, dumping every can of fuel in record time, etc. We had some of the smoothest and most professional pit stops on the grid. Tire changes and brake pad changes were done with ease. Amazing stuff. We need to make sure to film more of the action next year (though I don’t know how I feel about teams seeing our secrets or getting to know who’s on our crew and trying to steal them!).

The drivers (Rob Gibson, John Mueller, Mark Powell, Dion Johnson) were fantastic as well. Everybody put in very consistent times and all of our times were within shooting distance of each other. It was like going to the shooting range and having all your shots covered by a quarter. Fast, consistent, and clean racing was the order of the day. The car literally had only three scratches on it after the race and none of these were the fault of our drivers. We could wash it, change fluids, and put it back on track for the next race. That makes me very happy as a team owner. Usually the off season is spent tracking down cheap fenders, tie rods, suspension pieces, and/or doors.

The guys gave me the honor of finishing up the last 2+ hours of the race and I made the most of it. We were able to track down and pass the 3rd place #14 Autoville car in the last half hour. I can’t tell you how much fun it was to get split updates over the radio knowing I was closing in on the car at a rate of anywhere from 4-9 seconds per lap. In fact, my fastest lap time of the race was the lap I passed the 3rd place car! Very satisfying especially since I only made one small mistake during that stint (locking up the right front into Turn 10 while two battling E0 cars were passing me - I was still able to keep my line and didn’t really lose any time).

Overall a great weekend. We satisfied all of our goals and expectations and walked away with results that even we didn’t realistically fathom. We’re already planning next year’s foray and potentially a two car effort. Stay tuned for updates at rjracing.net

The second place car in our class (we finished on the same lap) was docked a position (details later) and we moved up to second.

The race restarted at 5:30 am with slightly lifted fog which promptly settled back in. I was in the car and it was the scariest, weirdest stint of my life. The race was extended three hours and ended a 3:00pm PST.

A Mazada MX5 Miata from MER was the overall race winner - amazing!

Wifi connectivity at the track was terrible, unfortunately it was impossible to provide more updates.

Running with RJ Racing was great - a super bunch of guys that I hope to race with again.

More later,

Mark

This is very tough to deal with. Not only can we not compete in the race but we have been on high adrenaline all weekend. There was nothing but sense of urgency among everybody here. Now all we can do is hurry up and wait. We look outside every once in a while hoping that it looks a little clearer. We eagerly await the hourly announcement form race control to see if maybe we’ll start back up that hour. I guess racers are eternal optimists. We all know what they’re going to say over the radio: “It’s [blank] o’clock and it’s foggy. No racing for the next hour.” Oh well. I guess we’ll learn patience one way or another.

The good news is that we are currently running in 2nd place in class after qualifying 7th. Here’s how we did it…

The car really came together after the testing session. This morning was a breeze. A lot of waiting for the race to start. This is also something we weren’t used to – there is always something to do as the minutes tick closer to the start time. (Yes, the crew is that good.) We even slept in a bit this morning confident that we accomplished our goals and executed our tasks the night before.

Rob Gibson started the race and immediately started putting down his fastest laps at Thunderhill. Since we were competing in the 6 Hour Enduro that is held the first part of the 25 Hour race we were striking a balance between pushing hard the first six hours and making sure we conserved enough for the remaining 19. And since we needed to win the race to win the Western Endurance Racing Championship there was even more pressure to not make mistakes. The only other team that was in contention in the championship came in for an early pitstop with a transmission problem. This gave us a comfortable lead of two laps.

After Rob’s stint, Dion Johnson got in the car and also put down impressive times but our competitor was closing in on us. All we could do was keep pushing and hope for the best. I got in the car for the last half of the six hour race. At this point Rob and Dion had gotten us up to first in class in the six hour race, and third in class in the 25 Hour race – very impressive indeed. With the championship in the balance I pushed as hard as I could while saving fuel (yes, those are contradictory). As the laps drew near we thought we might be light on fuel but decided to keep pushing anyway as we couldn’t risk losing the six hour race. One lap from the end the car sputtered. Luckily, this happens first and most severely on right handed turns and Thunderhill is predominately left hand turns. If I could just make it around those few right handers we would win and all I’d have to do is get around one more time to pit for fuel, tires, and a new driver. Needless to say, we won the six hour race and made it back on fumes. The fuel stop and tire change went smoothly and John Mueller was in the car for his first racing night laps. It was obvious he was having a ball and enjoying the challenge. His lap times were strong and he passed a competitor to move us into 2nd place in our class. That’s when the fog hit.

With the cars parked on the front straight and dense fog hanging around it looks like we’ll have to rename this event “The 11 Hours of Thunderhill”. Race Control will get us back into the cars as soon as possible.

We should all be well rested when that happens!

After a quick bleed of the braking system I got on track to scrub in our tires for the race. This consisted of 3-5 increasingly faster laps on each set of brand new tires to make sure they last as long as possible through the 25 Hours. Immediately after hitting the track my suspicions were confirmed - all the hard work we have put into the car showed immediately. More power. Better balanced. What a great feeling. But still room for improvement (always).

After the tire work we immediately went to work tuning to get a fast and tire friendly setup on the car while allowing some time for all the drivers to get behind the wheel to familiarize themselves with the track and/or the car. Mark got in the car and quickly came up to speed. However, he noticed the smell of exhaust so we pulled in to assess the problem. There was also some setup work to be done. Work, work, work. Lunch was closing in on us and the issues to be addressed were increasing rather than decreasing. This just means we’re not working hard enough.

Lunchtime provided an opportunity to tweak the setup without losing any track time. After lunch the car felt better and Dion and Mueller traded shifts in the car and put down impressive lap times. The afternoon was closing in on us and we still needed to get Rob in the car. With the exhaust problem coming and going and shortly before the end of the test day Rob finally got some laps in showing that all drivers were within a respectable range of times. As the afternoon went on you could sense a growing excitement amongst the team that things were starting to come together. After a short practice and qualifying session our last crew member, Bob, arrived. Tim and Bob converged on the car and started solving problems left and right. The rest of the team started to pitch in to help in any way they could. It’s hard to describe the atmosphere at that moment. Multiple individuals with various backgrounds and experiences all focusing on various problems with one common goal. Problems being solved left and right. Hearing one person after another take a task, diagnose a problem that seemed insurmountable only hours before, solve it, then ask what else to needs to be done. No ego. No complaining. It’s pretty amazing. I’m probably not articulating very well since it’s so late but the bottom line is this is why we love racing, and endurance racing especially.  Never stop. Never give up. Forget sleep. Forget eating. In fact, as I’m writing this in the RV trackside my ears are being filled with generators whirring and hammers banging sheet metal as we approach midnight. It might sound crazy to some but to us crazies we ask “why would you want to do anything else?” You know your team loves working to make the car and team better when you have to force them to sit down to eat.

Special thanks to Norm for the great dinner, tips and tricks, and going the extra mile and to Bob for showing up after a flight and car ride only to crawl under a dirty race car to change fluids. Thankless tasks but I’ll try to remedy the thankless part here. And Tim has, as usual, been amazing. How do we do a race like this with such a small crew? Do I really have to tell you at this point? For the uninitiating I’m talking about the tireless effort and never say die attitude Tim brings to the team. I look forward to asking him what else can be done. Here’s to tomorrow… Whatever obstacles are in our way I’m sure we’re prepared to handle them.

- John

In our E2 class we qualified 7th with a lap time of 2:10.3. Pole in E2 is 2:05.1. Our car feels great!

The weather was nice today, little wind with temps around 60. Tonight the forecast low is in the mid 30’s.

Tomorrow during the race you can follow live timing and scoring here. Green flag at 11:00 AM PST.

Mark

Mark was already at the track. We’re expecting the rest of the team throughout the day today.

So far, so good. Our pit and paddock space couldn’t be better giving us quick access to the paddock from our pit. (Special thanks to Marcus and Dean for eyeing a great paddock spot for us and keeping it from being commandeered by the paddock police!) The weather is beautiful (albeit cold). No fog overnight tonight so we’re crossing our fingers it holds off through the weekend but we’re prepared either way. And I snagged the best room - a view of pit lane, Turn 5, and the sunrise (I’m sure we’ll be seeing all of those the next couple days!).

Today (Friday) is just getting started and is going to be a busy one. A full day of testing followed by a short qualifying session while making final preparations for the race tomorrow then final car preparation. There’s a lot to be done but everybody is in good spirits and looking forward to the challenge.

More to come later…

- John

After months of preparation and a year of waiting, the final round of the 2008 racing season is upon us. The team has tirelessly prepared the car to last through the longest endurance road race in the United States. With the extended length of the final round of the season, RJ Racing has enlisted the help of several new drivers and crew members. In addition to regular drivers Rob Gibson and John Gibson, the team has enlisted the driving talents of John Mueller, Dion Johnson, and Mark Powell.

John Mueller started driving high horsepower race cars five years ago then switched to Mazda Miatas to satisfy his competitive racing nature. John finished 2007 with several race wins and multiple podium finishes culminating in a runner-up position in the Southern California Spec Miata championship. In 2008, John became the co-director for the National Auto Sport Association’s (NASA) Spec Miata class growing car counts by 200% while founding a company, Weekend Racer (www.weekend-racer.com) that provides gear and supplies to racers. John also has crew chief experience at the 2008 NASA National races and was part of the RJ Racing team that finished on the podium at last year’s 12 Hour race at Thunderhill.

Dion Johnson started his racing career 14 years ago in a Datsun 510 and won several championships. Five years ago, he moved into racing Spec Miatas for some wheel-to-wheel excitement. After multiple successful seasons he came back stronger than ever with a new car earning top 10 finishes in several ultra-competitive racing classes including finishing fourth in the prestigious Spec Miata Challenge Series. He is also an instructor for several racing sanctioning bodies and clubs in addition to his crew chief experience at past 25 Hour races.

Mark Powell is an experienced Oregon based driver who has conquered the 25 Hours of Thunderhill on four previous occasions. His diverse racing interests include racing a Spec 911, vintage racing Porsche 356s, Porsche 911s and Formula Fords. In early 2008 he competed in the exotic New Zealand-based Southern Festival of Speed.

In addition to the drivers, the team has expanded its crew operations. Working with Crew Chief Tim “The Wizard of Oz” Gibson will be Norm Sandstrom and Bob Rinck. Norm Sandstrom began his career learning the fine art of car maintenance and repair as an apprentice in a top Mercedes-Benz auto repair shop. Bob Rinck is a racer and car mechanic that has built multiple race cars from the bottom up and has honed his skills behind the wheel racing cars as diverse as Triumph TR4As. These two new team members had a breadth of automotive and racing knowledge that will certainly help the team to propel to new heights.

All of the hard work and preparation comes to a head Saturday, December 6th at 11am PST. The team will be competing in two races held simultaneously: the 25 Hours of Thunderhill and a 6-hour endurance race held during the first part of the 25 Hour race. The winner of the 6-hour event will determine which team is crowned 2008 Western Endurance Racing Champion.

To keep up on the action, visit www.essesmotorsports.com and follow the links to the 2008 25 Hours of Thunderhill blog for updated race information and photos.

When:
Start – Saturday, December 6, 2008 11:00 AM PST
Finish – Sunday, December 7, 2008 12:00 PM PST

Where:
Thunderhill Raceway Park
5250 Highway 162.
Willows, CA 95988

Weather forecast:
Sunny with a chance of fog and highs in the low-60s F (high-teens C), lows in the high-30s F (high single digit C)

-RJ Racing

After four years of running my favorite race, the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, it was distressing to think that I would miss the 2008 version of the extreme enduro. Three weeks ago I had a long scheduled surgery to address a painful hamstring injury that looked like it would keep me on the sidelines. But, the surgery was much less of an issue than I anticipated and just one week before the race I went hunting for a ride.

Fortunately, I found a seat available with RJ Racing in their Spec Miata. Last year we were paddocked next RJ Racing and I snapped the photo above when they were battling for position with the overall race winning Daytona Prototype.

Stay tuned to the Esses Motorsports blog for 2008 25 Hours of Thunderhill race updates. You can subscribe to our RSS feed here.

2007 25 Hours of Thunderhill Coverage

2006 25 Hours of Thunderhill Coverage

]]> http://essesmotorsports.com/2008/12/01/2008-25-hours-of-thunderhill/feed/ http://essesmotorsports.com/2008/11/29/welcome-2007-25-hours-of-thunderhill/ http://essesmotorsports.com/2008/11/29/welcome-2007-25-hours-of-thunderhill/#comments Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:46:19 +0000 admin http://essesmotorsports.com/?p=5 The 2007 25 Hours of Thunderhill.]]> All of the posts from the Pacific Power Motorsports, 2007 25 Hours of Thunderhill blog have been transferred to this site. You can find the posts in reverse chronological order (newest first) here: The 2007 25 Hours of Thunderhill. View the 2007 25 Hours of Thunderhill Photo Gallery.