ENDURO EQUIPMENT LIST

B

Bill Umstead

New member
There has been some excellent discussions on this forum regarding enduro racing from those of you who have participated, especially in the longer events such as Summit Point, Nelsons Ledges and Thunderhill.

However, for those of us thinking about entering a true enduro (say longer than 3 hours), what equipment and spares are required? While I am not asking for any secret information, I was wondering, for example, how many sets of tires do you bring? For a 12 hour or 25 hour event, what do you budget for tires? How do these break down between DOT slicks and rains? What pit equipment do you bring? Do you build your own pit lighting? Etc, etc. You get the idea.

Since we are into the winter hibernation period, I though some of you might consider enlightning the novice enduro wannabees (such as me). I can't think of a more fun time to be had (my wife would totally disagree)than a 12 hour event, but I do not have a good idea as to preparation.

I think a number of us would appreciate any comments.

Thanks.

Bill Umstead
 
Bring everything. Seriously - if you have the capacity, do it. The real challenge is deciding what you can do without, since space, people, and money are limited.

We had a pretty satisfying success at the VIR 13 hours but I chalk that up to a LOT of preventative maintenance on the car. Preparation is WAY more efficient than taking along a lot of stuff that you are going to use when the car busts.

For example, we replaced hubs and bearings, and installed new uprights even, that had only about 12 race hours on them. They became the spares and we ran the new ones only long enough to be sure that they were right. None of the moving suspension or brake parts were any older than the beginning of this season. The guys who should have beaten us, on both pace and mileage between stops, busted a hub as I undestand it. Hmmmm.

We ran 13 hours on ONE set of brake pads - thanks, Cobalt! - and 8 tires, none of which are anything like worn out. The rears were larger in diameter at the end than when they started, in fact - from pick-up.
smile.gif
We had six rains that we never used (full-tread Toyos).

Pick a car that is easy on parts and drivers. Find drivers who are sympathetic to the equipment, smart, and don't have big egos. (Don't ask me how the hell we accomplished THAT trick.)

Have people along to handle the important tasks like cooking, analyzing data, taking pictues, building scaffolds, and rigging radio monitors, in addition to the mundane stuff like working on the car. We busted ONE part and i had to drive 2 hours round trip to get one from home - a serp belt tensioner, of all things.

Do your homework and have lights that really work if you are running into the night.

We brought a full compliment of spares, including calipers, lines, suspension parts, a gearbox, a complete set of engine ancillaries (throttle body, ECU, etc.), and a bunch of other stuff. If I could arrange it, I would have an entire 2nd car sitting on stands in the paddock. We replaced all of the hoses and belts and kept the old ones as spares, too.

We did not have - and thankfully didn't need - a radiator or axles. The former was replaced by the last street owner of the car after a minor shunt an the latter were new at the beginning of the season.

We also had three awnings, an elevated pit stand/light system, extension cords (thankfully we didn't need a generator because of outlets), nitrogen bottle, air guns, tools and more tools, 10 fuel jugs, a funnel, a truck to make gas runs, two jacks, stands, plywood to go under both, umbrellas, chairs, gas cooker, coolers galore, power tools (including a Sawzall to remove that pesky exhaust system), chemicals, oils of all types, brake fluid, spare pads and rotors, a big hammer, and a bazillion other tidbits.

I could go on and on but my carpal tunnel is bothering me already. If you haven't seen it already, take a look at the story of our adventure at...

http://it2.evaluand.com/gti/enduro04.php

It was a great event with some great people who made me very proud of their hard work and success. I'm looking forward to more.

K
 
I have helped do 2 24's, 4 twelves and a hand full of 3 hour races with the same team/car and the last 13 hour helping 3 seperate cars in two pits. I can tell you that experience will tell you what you need to bring and what you have to prepare for with your particular car. I am looking for one lists of stuff that we bring and I can send it to you when I find it.

K had a pretty good overview and I could say that they did a great job at VIR as I was only a few pits down. To expand on one of the points he made. Find/culilvate/bride people for the "mundane"/non-racing related tasks. Nothing is worse than sending someone out for gas/food/whatever and then have the car come in and that person is the only one who knows where/how something is done.

On the ITS Miata and SM's I help we basically change all the hubs, brakes, swap the tranny for a fresh one (have lost two races from this), put fresh tires on and change all the fluids between practice/qualifing and the race. For the 24 hour races we also bring an engine (did not finish a race because of this) and have actually installed it during the racebut decided it is not really worth it for the shorter raced. We now check the oil religiously.

Brakes will really depend on the car. As will tires, both car and tire brand. We have used everything from BFG's to Hoosiers and have settled on the Toyos. Have done whole 12 hour races on one set(not including the tires for practice and qual. but we have sometime practiced on used tire and qualified on new tire. prac/qual on old tire/ done everything on brand new, etc... so you have to try everything yourself), but have also had to change a few times.

Finally to make this short, find a experienced/good running team with a similar car and ask what they do (then look at everything they say and see if it make sense. We went thru a couple of motors before we went our own way.) The other advantage to this is networking. If you are all going to the same race you can get together and create a ready parts source that everyone can sort out latter. (Finished a 12 hour on a borrowed ball joint one year and helped another team with a radiator, lights, etc..)

Chris Aylward
member of Team CRS

ecit : PS. I could not find an email contact me at
therooster <@> gis <dot> <net>

[This message has been edited by therooster (edited December 14, 2004).]
 
Figured I would not wait. SO here it is for everyone.

* 2 floor jacks
* 4 Jackstands
* 2 Air Guns
* Nitrogen, 3 bottles
* Regulators, 2 if possible
* 4 – 6 Refueling Cans 5 gal min, per car
* Air Hoses min 25 ft each, min 2
* Assorted hand tools, the more the better
* Air Pressure Gauge
* Radios, rechargers, batteries, headsets(enough necessary for each car)
* Scanner (so the pit knows what is going on)
* Duct tape(LOTS in you car's color)
* Clear Tape (see above)
* Tie Wraps
* Bungee Cords
* Extension Cords
* Pit Board
* Tool Boxs
* Tarps
* Lawn Chairs
* Air ratchets
* Disc Grinder
* Drill with bits
* Soldering Iron
* Slide Hammer
* Welder
* Large pipe
* Squeegee
* Tool for retracting pistons into brake calipers (car speific)
* Pyrometer, probe and IR
* Camber gauge
* Toe Gauge
* Sawzol
* Headlamp lighting for crew for night pit stops
* Pit Awnings
* Pit Light Setup
* Generators
* Folding table
* Food
* Drinks
* Wire Strippers
* Electric meter
* Pop rivet Gun
* Pickle Fork
* Safety Wire Pliers
* Heat Gun
* Wagon


EDIT: This is the general list and not the car specific list.

[This message has been edited by therooster (edited December 14, 2004).]
 
bill,

there are alot of good comments on what to bring. the actual enduro is the easy stuff...the prep work in the shop is most important. below are a few things we do at the shop to make sure we are at the finish. tools and crew aside, think of things that will put you out of the race altogether...you can't win if you don't finish. a few things to consider:

keep things simple and clean:
keep your engine bay clean so if something goes wrong you can identify and fix the problem right away. it's tough if there is crud and dirt everywhere...AND everything is hot. look for any rusted old bolts and replace, nothing worse than having to fix something and you can't get the old part off or a bolt breaks. if your running additional lights, wire everything and secure all connections...make sure the fuses and relay are easily to get to if there is a problem. we try and color code additional electrical so it is easy to find/follow/fix. check all of your ground wires for EVERYTHING and make sure they are tight...bad grounds shut you down and is the last thing you think of. you get the idea... be ready to fix everything if it goes wrong, you may have a few people not familiar with your car so make if easy on them.

spares:
if you don't finish you can't win, replace all of the normal stuff before the race as stated in the posts. what parts can break and keep you out of the race??
spares list:
radiator
MC
alternator
alternator belts
calipers frt/rear
brake lines (may go off road and cut/pinch/splice)
rotors
pads (a few sets)
hubs
tie rods
knuckles ( we pre assemble with caliper/pads/rotor so if we need to replace we don't have to pull everything, just replace it all as one piece)
axles
cap and rotors
ignition coil
plug wires
lug nuts
shocks
these are just a few things to consider.

we like to locate and get open hours for the nearest windshield shop just in case...can't run with a busted windshield if you roll. there will be a few drivers in the car during the race and things can and will happen...have some BIG tools and prybars to pull or bend out any major damage. we have had a few incidents that looked to put us out of the race but we had everything we needed to finish...it didn't look good but we were there at the end. hope this helps...can't give up all of our secrets though.

~jay
 
Thank you all for your input.

There is so much knowledge on this site and this was a subject that I hadn't recalled being discussed to any degree. [Yes, there has been much written on enduro racing but not as much on the prep side of this business.]

The big question for me now is whether I can convince my wife to let me do this, then corral my driver friends to join me in this craziness. Anyway, this information provides me with a winter work project.

Thanks again to each of you for sharing your experiences.

Bill Umstead
 
plus three buckets-

A bucket of money,
A bucket of perseverance, and
A bucket of luck....


The above posts are great...I think I will copy and paste them for future reference...

------------------
Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]
 
errr...sorry, double post.
frown.gif

------------------
Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by lateapex911 (edited December 15, 2004).]
 
Don't forget the beer. Not for the event, but for the weeks beforehand. You will need to get your friends good and liqoured up as you talk them into joining you on your extended weekend adventures. Right JohnW?

------------------
Gerry Walsh
Otto's Motorsport
SSC MINI Cooper
" I'm pedaling as fast as I can! "
 
Kirk said it right, if you don't bring it, you will need it.

Rooster posted only half the list. We bring in addition to the tools that he listed pretty much every moving part on the car as a spare - 4 corners of suspension, complete driveline, radiator, ignition system, spare lugnuts (a full set), key fasteners, electrical hardwares, main fuses, battery, starter, altenator, brake calipers, clutch, you get the picture. We don't screw with big light set ups for 12 hour races & we've been lucky with it.

As you replace parts on the car that are not broken or suspect, lable them w/ origin & time used and put them in the box of spares. Lable the boxes w/ an invenotry on the top so it is easy to find stuff. Keep a log of what was changed when. Even little things like radiator caps.

Get a crew that works well together & make sure everyone on is "on board" with the goal of the race. No wandering off when its 3am & you're cold & tired. There is no substitute for having a crew that won't quit & the drivers must be able to trust the crew to the ends of the earth (reading this Chris?). I contribute much of Team CRS's sucess w/ the fact that the group works well together & everyone brings something to the table.

Matt Miskoe
Member of Team CRS
 
Actually Matt that is kind of funny,

I was just talking to Mary Ellen about our plans for next year and the crew equipment upgrades that we are going to do. (She really just called me and asked if these were my X-Mas gifts for her. I know better.)

BTW, Without the drivers the crew could not have this experience. Note to everyone, cultivate a good/dedicated crew and you will do good.

I also tried not to post our secret info
wink.gif


Chris

Edit: Spelling etc...

[This message has been edited by therooster (edited December 17, 2004).]
 
Originally posted by Bill Umstead:
There has been some excellent discussions on this forum regarding enduro racing from those of you who have participated, especially in the longer events such as Summit Point, Nelsons Ledges and Thunderhill.

However, for those of us thinking about entering a true enduro (say longer than 3 hours), what equipment and spares are required? While I am not asking for any secret information, I was wondering, for example, how many sets of tires do you bring? For a 12 hour or 25 hour event, what do you budget for tires? How do these break down between DOT slicks and rains? What pit equipment do you bring? Do you build your own pit lighting? Etc, etc. You get the idea.

Since we are into the winter hibernation period, I though some of you might consider enlightning the novice enduro wannabees (such as me). I can't think of a more fun time to be had (my wife would totally disagree)than a 12 hour event, but I do not have a good idea as to preparation.

I think a number of us would appreciate any comments.

Thanks.

Bill Umstead
Click to expand...


How about a list of things that you needed during an enduro that you DIDN'T BRING?
I think this might be more enlightening....

One that comes to mind is a portable 12V battery/jump pack - and a a spare battery.
(that's a substitute for the alternator you didn;t have)

[This message has been edited by Edwin Robinson (edited December 17, 2004).]
 
Originally posted by Edwin Robinson:

How about a list of things that you needed during an enduro that you DIDN'T BRING?
I think this might be more enlightening....

One that comes to mind is a portable 12V battery/jump pack - and a a spare battery.
(that's a substitute for the alternator you didn;t have)

[This message has been edited by Edwin Robinson (edited December 17, 2004).]
Click to expand...


Oh c'mon Ed, you mean pulling a few bulbs doesn't work?
smile.gif


One big thing I didn't see someone mention above (maybe I missed it)-
Volunteer to crew at quite a few before you try to run one yourself. Also, give serious consideration to buying a seat in a known car before trying to field your own ride.

You'll learn a TON in either case, and it will be a much cheaper education.



------------------
Matt Green
"Ain't nothin' improved about Improved Touring..."
 
Make sure that each driver has a compatable communitcation system! Being able to communicate while on track is extremly important!
 
To echo previously given advice, bring everything you can. In a race like that, you never really know what you're going to need to replace.
 
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