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Endurance Classification for Spec Iron?


olaaf

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We had an SI car run the 4.5hr enduro at Autobahn last year, and I believe he registered into the E0 class, but... I've also run with them in sprint races, and I can say that there is no way that the SI car (at least the one or two I've run across) would be competitive in E0 up against the AI, ST3, PTA (RIP), HC1 and GTS3 cars. More on a par with the rest of the E1 field (PTB, CMC, HC2, etc). It'll either wind up being at the bottom of the E0 range or the top of the E1 range.

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  • 3 weeks later...

There's a good point... You don't necessarily need to register the car as an SI car, you could easily turn in the PT classification sheet and run it as PTB, which IIRC is in E1.

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A fully tricked out SI car has 65 points, puts us in super touring 3. unless one goes with narrow street tires. i had emailed [email protected] as listed in the Endurance Rules, but no response yet. it's been about 2 weeks. anyone know who else to contact?

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I looked at building an SI / AI car for endurance racing. The 10 gallon fill rule favors light cars. I figure a spec Miata would kick my butt as a legal SI car. I gave up the idea. American Iron cars (CMC, SI & AI) are limited in endurance rules due to the class rules they need to follow, and the 10 gallon fill rule. I gave up because cars in GTS for instance can change a bunch of things to help in Endurance races that spec classes cannot (wider tires, bigger fuel cells, bigger brakes etc.) NASA endurance racing is handicapping powerful big heavy cars - especially spec classes. Good luck with you efforts.

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You should ping the Texas guys like Landrum and Dr. Frank - they typically win overall in our 4-6-9hr enduros - at least every one I've been around since I moved to this region. And it's not like we don't have any SMs going after them either. Maybe there is some tip or trick they're doing that would help you.

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I looked at building an SI / AI car for endurance racing. The 10 gallon fill rule favors light cars. I figure a spec Miata would kick my butt as a legal SI car. I gave up the idea. American Iron cars (CMC, SI & AI) are limited in endurance rules due to the class rules they need to follow, and the 10 gallon fill rule. I gave up because cars in GTS for instance can change a bunch of things to help in Endurance races that spec classes cannot (wider tires, bigger fuel cells, bigger brakes etc.) NASA endurance racing is handicapping powerful big heavy cars - especially spec classes. Good luck with you efforts.

 

I hear you, Chris... Unless you're in ES or ESR, you're kind of screwed in the overall standings vs.something like a 944SPEC car. I *THINK* it's the 1988 chassis that had an available (and thus legal) 24 gallon fuel tank. S197 Mustangs come with a 16 gallon tank that's hard to actually stuff. Multiple "pour then let it settle" iterations are required to actually get all 16 in.

 

Two rules to keep in mind that do help to even the playing field somewhat:

 

3.4. Fuel tanks / cells

The Race Director reserves the right to impose certain requirements on those cars with gas tanks (or fuel

cell) significantly larger than originally equipped. Teams that have installed tanks (or fuel cells) larger than

stock, and are entered in E0, E1, E2, or E3 class, may be required to drain the tank and fill it with the

same amount of fuel that the original stock tank held. Additionally, teams are cautioned that modifying or

substituting the OEM tank can be illegal in some class rules; and could also be deemed a safety hazard.

No vehicle may have more than two fuel tanks and/ or cells. No vehicle may carry more than forty four

(44) gallons of fuel at any given time.

 

With that one, it's up to the race director to require that all cars start with no more than the stock tank capacity, regardless of tank/cell size as raced.

 

The one thing that many people miss about the 8.2 Refueling rule is that the 10-gallon limit is only in force for races "of six hours or greater." That means that the 10-gallon, 2-can stop limit is NOT in effect for anything shorter than six hours (permitted by specific omission). If you have the theoretical 44-gallon cell in your car, that effectively means that you will either start the race with 16 or 44 gallons of fuel (race director's call), and then you can "top off" the ENTIRE cell on one pit stop, if you don't mind lugging 400lbs of fuel around with you... If you average out around 15GPH, that means that the first fuel load will last you nearly three hours! Yes, the rules also require a minimum of 5 gallons to be added during the course of the race, but with that, you could do an entire 3-hour enduro on what everybody else would consider a "splash and go" stop. It's been a while since I went over the AI rulebook, but I don't think there's an actual limit to the size of an installed fuel cell. With SI, yes, since the stock saddlebag tank is spec'd, but I don't think so with AI.

 

FWIW, at last year's Autobahn 4.5, we ran (and won the E0 class) a 4-stop strategy sticking with 10-gallon dumps (due to difficulty refueling the stock saddlebag tank). We still got beat by a Radical SR3 (13 laps!), a Riley Mark XI DP car (10 laps) and a pair of Miatae (6 laps and 4 laps, both on 2-stop strategies). My car is, well, AI Lite? 100% AI compliant, but sitting at a 10.7:1 ratio. I was hoping for a leg-up in fuel mileage, which I got, running at least two or more laps per stop than any of the other E0 cars. If I had a cell in it, and could refuel it quicker, I would bet that I could have picked up another lap or two against the field, so in that particular case, the hardware is a definite help. Not really so much in the base sprint classes, but certainly so for enduros.

 

In the end, the "pony cars" don't have a shot at the overall, but they certainly do in their home Enduro class!

 

Also, keep in mind that an S197 won E0 in the 2013 Thunderhill 25hr, with a 16-gallon starting load and 10 gallon per stop cap.

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With SI, yes, since the stock saddlebag tank is spec'd, but I don't think so with AI.

 

You can install a cell in an SI car, “highly recommended” according to the rules. I have a 22gal cell that I had considered installing, but with the front weight percentage rule (53.5) I think it might have been hard to keep that with a cell way in the back, and also the fuel pump complications.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The 10 gallon rule is kinda dumb in an enduro in my mind. We've abandoned it in the SE for the short (4hr) enduros and certainly for the 8hr in December.

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Personally, I agree with you. Unfortunately, that makes a maxi-sized fuel cell a "must have" item. If you have two identical cars, one with a 16 gallon cell, and the other with a 32 gallon cell, the car with the smaller cell will spend MORE than twice as much time on pit lane, given the in- and out- runs. That equates to laps of differential. I'd be a lot happier with Enduro-class-based maximum cell capacities to keep the playing field even. Also, FYI, the 10-galllon rule is only in effect for races of six hours or greater.

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Update:

 

The AI/SI directors have let me know that SI probably fits in E1, but i need to follow up with HQ. I emailed HQ this morning and i heard that the executive director will make the ruling.

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  • 2 months later...

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