The Endurance Race for Cars

May 9, 2010 in 2010 One Lap of America

One Lap of America is very much, and will always be an endurance race. The mechanical wear and tear on these cars is more than any other event. It was an amazingly harsh year for cars as there was a lot of shifts of power among some of the fastest cars, as they could not stand up to the physical demands.

The list of teams that broke something is too long to list. We saw our friends throw belts, loose power steering, have their air-bags deployed and continued on.  Some of the mechanical issues however were bigger than a quick repair job.

Find comfort in the fact that we were not the only ones breaking.  We were just prepared to fix our car no matter what, in order to finish this race.

the GTR
After having some major ignition issues at Road America, the GTR team decided they would back out of the event, after they were unable to get it sorted by Mid-America.

Talking with Will Taylor, they can’t get the spark they need in the motor to keep it running at the level they wanted to run. When you are shooting for the podium and the car isn’t going to cooperate, you start planning for next year. Here is a shot of the

spark plug that the car ingested at Road America.

Steven Rankins and Jon Krolewicz rented a car, went back to South Bend and grabbed the Subaru to drive, to at least enjoy the rest of the event.

the Evo X

The White Evo X of Paul Seto and Barry Stewart threw something as simple as a serpentine belt because the idler pulley separated, loosing the chance to run at Road America.  While it was one of the smaller drama incidents, it acted as a sharp reminder that even the Evo is not immune to removal from this event with a minor slip up.  I think there will be a spare belt and pulley in the parts bin for Chris and Sean next year.

the Cadillac

Photo Credit - Motor Trend

At Road America we were reminded that we were not on a Sunday drive across the country, but we were in fact racing.  Unfortunately the Cadillac CTS V of Howard LaFever ended up going off track and rolling after grabbing the gravel and flipping into a fence.  Howard walked away with some cuts and bruises, but is otherwise alright.  He returned later in a Chrysler Crossfire to finish the event.

the Sti

We watched the car of Michael Lattos and Erik Van Cleef launch at Gateway and knew something was wrong as there was a lot of noise and smoke, but not a lot of motion.  The result was a broken axle, which tore up the bearing and lead to the wheel dragging behind the car within half a lap.

Photo Credit - Motor Trend

Z06 Blows a Motor

Brock sent out a Tweet that Dan Cochran was out of the running due to a blown motor in his Corvette Z06.  The irony being that this was Dan’s 20th One Lap event, with a sticker on the back of the car stating “20 and done”.

the Mustang

We made it to Nelson Ledges and it felt like the last hurdle in an epic journey of survival.  The track was cold and was about the least forgiving track surface we have ever been on.  Into the afternoon runs, I had a pause moment where I could take some photos, and I grabbed pictures of the Mustang snaking it’s way down the back curves after blowing the motor.  The result was a large crack in the block and piston wrist pin that was deposited on the track, ending the season for them. I repeatedly heard Tim chanting “I am not going to break at Nelson Ledges”, mentally willing the car to take the torture of that track. We survived with a smacked exhaust as the car bottoms out the track.  That will need some attention now that we are home.

the Ultima GTR

After battling electrical issues the entire trip, the car’s alternator finally took a dump. Running the car on batteries, up to the last event, the car wouldn’t run around the whole loop, leaving the Dubler team running out there to push it to a finish to at least eliminate the DNF on the record. The car left on a trailer, headed for Rennessy Fabrication for an overhaul before next year.

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