I had the unique opportunity to help a team with a 24-hour endurance race at Virginia International Raceway during the weekend. A few of my really good buddies always campaign a car in the event, but this year it was a car they had never run before. They had held a few test days previously to shake it down, and those went really well, but the car’s first race was going to be 24 hours long!
We utilized a cool app called Driver Monitor, which is in-car software that disseminates the online timing and scoring so a driver can keep track of their position and know the gap to the cars ahead and behind.
My role with the team was, as usual, to help with car setup and with optimizing the drivers’ knowledge and comfort with the new car. My experience in endurance racing kicked in, and soon my role grew to helping with all of the details necessary for a 24-hour race—I became a de facto team manager!
Ultimately, the car’s pace is important, but reliability and good pit stops are what win an endurance race. It was a lot of fun meeting some of the volunteer crew and helping them work through the necessary spare parts, pit stop procedures, strategies and our overall game plan for the event.
The drivers did a great job staying out of trouble, and although there were some mechanical bumps along the way, the team persevered to finish strong in an 80-car field.
Speaking of big fields at VIR, Ross Bentley and I will be providing a coaching opportunity during the SCCA Runoffs there in October! Any Runoffs driver can sign up to get some extra coaching. Discounted sign-ups end next week, and you can find all of the information by clicking here.