BruceBe

Congratulations, Mike. I just stumbled on this. Don't hesitate to PM if you have questions. -Bruce Beachman Beachman Racing Authorized Caterham Dealer

As well as the big people *in* the big Recaro seat :-) BTW - I noticed at least one other thread talking about vehicle weight. This car weighs 1340lbs without fuel and driver. -Bruce

Those are CSR fenders, in fiberglass. Mark has 8(!) sets of 13x6 wheels, which ultimately constrained the tire package. The roll-cage adds a lot of additional aero-drag, and all the drivers could notice a big difference when drafting behind a larger BMW or Porsche. Thunderhill is certainly an open, flowing, horsepower track, more so with the bypass, which is how the race was run. Unless otherwise noted, the track records you'll find are indicated for a counter-clockwise orientation without the bypass of the Cyclone (Turn 5). This Caterham started life as an SCCA E-Production racer. The mods add a bit of horsepower, but probably not much more than a ragged-edge build for a National Run-Offs car. The car is also not at EP class weight, due to the larger fuel-cell and other ancillaries. Nonetheless, our fast lap of 1:58.2xx is right in line with the E-Production lap record of 1:58.757, given all of the adjustments. Our race strategy included a 2:01 lap-time target, to save the equipment and keep everyone on the paved side of the race-track. In fact, on several occasions drivers were "warned" to slow down. 25-hours is a long time. The faster Porsches could turn 1:49's at pace, and the Porsche behind us could turn 1:54-1:55 consistently. The 2nd place car was 22 laps in front of us. We had a total of 28 minutes in the pits during the entire race, which constituted 10 pit-stops. At a race-pace of 2:00/lap, we would have only gained 14 laps on the 2nd place car if we were pulling a trailer full of fuel, no tire changes, and had a single catheterized driver run the entire event :-) -Bruce

Here is a shot of the front of the car after the race. Just a little caked-on mud and oil from other cars, and 25-hours of bug jerky.

In the 2003 chassis, fitting the R500 engine is a bit more involved. As a result, it was a budget-based decision. Reviewing the gap between us and 1st place, the incremental HP with a mildly tuned R500 engine would have probably resulted in an identical finishing position. And pushing the extremes of the lb/hp ratio in the Caterham would not have yielded the necessary longevity. We certainly headed down to Willows for the win, but when ALMS GT2 Porshes show up (with their equipment, crews, and drivers), it gets a lot more difficult. It will please everyone to know, however, that the Caterham could be placed anywhere on the track, and had consistently higher mid-turn speeds than the Porsches. Mark, the car owner, has asked me to help him explore a fresh car build that could take on all-comers. So we might sell his current car/spares to fund that effort. Ahh...the lights. Well, we had a cunning plan that would remove the need to swap noses, by utilizing low-profile, tear-drop shaped driving lights. Utilizing the stock upper headlight brackets, we stacked two on each side. In addition, we also mounted two lights in the nose itself, as overheating was not an issue, and that placement would not contribute to overall Cd. In total, we had six lights, each with a 55w Halogen bulb. Unfortunately, the size of the reflector compromised the beam focus, and we just couldn't get a concentrated pattern that would give us enough site-distance at Thunderhill, which is ink-black in several fast sections. I had the exquisite pleasure of discovering this in the qualifying session, which put us in P50 for the start :-( For the race, we decided to go back to 2 standard 6-inch upper lights, in combination with the two grill-mounted driving lights. This would still avoid the nose-change, and *probably* give us enough light. All was well, until the upper aluminum headlight bracket extensions (originally designed for the low-drag, low-profile lights), fatigued and broke (thankfully) during the day-time hours. We quickly formulated a plan to prepare the spare nose, which had the two lower lights already mounted on it. The pit-stop sequence would go as follows: 1) Cut-off the stock upper headlight brackets (interfered with spare nose, which had it's own self-contained brackets 2) Unbolt 6" lights from hacked-off bracket 3) Mount these two lights to the spare nose 4) Install nose and plug-in lights 5) Aim lights in pit-lane The above was accomplished, along with a driver change, two new tires, and refueling in 4-minutes. And with all of the concerns about aero-drag, we turned our fastest lap with the lights installed. Next time, we'll have a removable light bar, similar to many other cars in the race, and run four 6" headlights. -Bruce

Thank you for the well-wishes regarding our race result at the 25-hours of Thunderhill. I literally stumbled on this thread just today, and it brought back very exciting and recent memories. The 2009 effort was a joint effort between Beachman Racing and McClure Racing. With a background in professional endurance racing (Grand Am Rolex GT , 2005-2007), Beachman Racing provided the engineering, vehicle preparation, team management, and race equipment. Mark McClure is the car owner, and provided additional crew. The four-driver lineup comprised Mark McClure, Darren Dilley, Jeff Remfert, and myself. Everyone behind the wheel has at least a decade of racing experience. Mark is an accomplished endurance racer, and our collaboration started in 2007, when he joined us at Miller Motorsports Park for the Rolex season finale in our Corvette. The Thunderhill effort was a culmination of approximately 2 years of vehicle preparation and on-track tuning. Since this *is* a USA 7 enthusiast site, I thought everyone might like to know the specifics of the vehicle, and a few of the necessary modifications to be competitive in a long format race. The 7 started as a 2003 EP-spec car, with the wide-track suspension and the original 2.0L Ford Zetec engine (approximately 155HP) - original trans was a 5sp manual. The fuel system capacity was substantially increased, allowing pit-stops every 2.5 hours. This involved a custom fuel cell that occupies all of the trunk area. An external, up-rated Bosch fuel pump is utilized. The fuel cell incorporates a double dry-break fill plate, allowing the use of a fast-fill overhead fueling rig. The car can be fueled in under 30 seconds. The original 2.0L Zetec and 5-speed were removed, and replaced with the 2.0L Ford SVT engine, delivered as a kit from Caterham USA. We also upgraded to the close-ratio 6-speed transmission, also available from Caterham. This engine/transmission, combined with the diff-ratio, proved to be a favorable combination at T-Hill, allowing the drivers to leverage the good torque of this engine without needless shifting. Since Caterham USA delivers a used engine out of a donor Ford Focus, we had the engine professionally rebuilt by our engine partner, Loyning Engine Services of Portland. In the end, the package delivered 172 rwhp on a Mustang Dyno. Brakes consisted of the AP racing setup (including the master cylinder), available from Caterham, at all four corners. Interestingly, the rear brakes wear faster than the fronts. Unlike all of the heavier, higher-horsepower competitors we faced, the Caterham easily completed the 25-hours on one set of pads! Aero drag is a real issue with these cars at speed, so we opted to switch the entire nose of the car at dusk and dawn. During daylight hours, we would run without the big bug-catcher headlights. We experimented with smaller lights, but the intensity and beam pattern was not sufficient for the ink-black of Thunderhill at night. A straightforward and tidy wiring scheme made the nose switch simple and quick. Actually, there's a more "involved" story about the lights, but I'll spare the details here :-) Another significant alteration involved oil-control. The PCV system, as installed in the SVT/Zetec engine, causes a *lot* of oil ingestion, and this can't be tolerated in a 25-hour race. We developed a closed-loop oil recovery system, that receives oil-air vapor from the valve cover into a catch-can, with a drain-back system to the Raceline oil pan through a one-way check valve. No oil on the cowl, and no oil going down the intake. Tires are Goodyear racing slicks on 13 x 6 wheels. Since Mark already had 8-sets of these wheels, we decided to not further optimize the tire/wheel package. As far as the race itself - we did not have a single unscheduled pit-stop, and each one of those pit-stops was executed with (almost) zero drama. Time in the pits is time lost - good fortune and planning helped us maximize the time on track. On the Friday before the race, we opted to not go out on track and practice - instead, we drilled our pit-stops in the paddock for several hours. The crew could do it in their sleep, and I think they did, during the race a few times :-) Another interesting what-if - The LF wheel bearing was failing toward the end of the race (in fact, it was starting to fail about 7-hours before the finish). If we had run the car on Friday, it would have probably failed, requiring a *very* lengthy pit-stop and costing us several positions. Our drivers put out a conscientious effort, avoiding contact throughout the race, and keeping the car on track. And since we had 25-hours to "get it done", short-shifting at 6800RPM was the norm. Nonetheless, a fast lap of 1:58.2xx, and consistent 2:00's and 2:01's allowed us to stay in the hunt. Oh, I almost forgot, it was UNBELIEVABLY cold during the overnight stints (25deg F at 5am). Everyone was wearing two layers of Nomex and an additional shirt under their driving suit, with taped-up helmet vents/visors. Anyway - that is a "brief" synopsis of the car and the effort. The little Caterham took 3rd overall, surrounded by Porsche Cup Cars, and a V8 BMW M3. We also took home a first place award for highest-placed finisher under 2.0 liters. Thanks again for the support and enthusiasm - it was a lot of work, but the result was worth it! Best Regards, -Bruce Beachman Beachman Racing