2009 VIR 13-Hour Recap

The #35 Acura TL-R endured a tough race this year at the VIR 13-Hour. We qualified in P2 behind the beastly 400 horsepower Honda Civic of Mark Hein. In the misting conditions before the race, we chose to start the race the race on dry BFGoodrich tires. The racecars on wet tires rocketed to the front, but as the dry line developed we worked our way back up to P3. For the first 2.5 hours, we fluctuated from P2-P4 due to pit strategy but stayed close to the #39 Bimmerworld team who was leading the race. However, we lost 4th gear in our 3rd stint of the race.

With 4th gear, we were the fastest car in the Top 10. The TL-R was 4 seconds slower after losing 4th gear, but we remained one of the fastest car around VIR and stayed in P3. We stayed in the top 4 until the 9-hour mark when we lost 3rd gear. This ended a challenging race for the THR team. We kept the car competitive despite gearbox trouble, engine ECU problems, and losing a front suspension bolt, but losing 3rd was an issue we could not overcome.

Congrats to the Bimmerworld team for winning two years in a row and the #52 HART team for the P2 finish.

#35 TL-R after some bodywork modification thanks to an RX-7
#52 HART Civic
Pole Qualifying Civic

My Dad took about 200 photos from the race. Here is the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogburn/sets/72157622579950267/

VIR 13-Hour This Weekend

The 2009 "Charge of the Headlight Brigade" SCCA VIR 13-Hour enduro is this Halloween weekend. I am crew chief for the #35 Team Honda Research Acura TL-R that is competing in ITE class. Last year,we were on pole and finished 2nd overall to the Bimmerworld crew. We were on the lead lap and only lost by 30 seconds. With fewer errors, we could have won the race by a few laps.

We learned a lot from last year and are ready to take the overall win. It should be an exciting race this year with a strong class of ITE racers, two Honda of America Racing Team (HART) cars and Bimmerworld. I am making the 8-hour trek to VIR after work tomorrow so wish us luck!

Photos from last year's race: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogburn/sets/72157608576686571/