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LET'S GO ENDURANCE RACING!
PROJECT INTRODUCTION, June 7, 2024: I am writing this with the hope that a car magazine publishes each section in their publication, with as much of this content intact as possible. This is the first part of a multi-article series that may or may not see print media, but I have hope. I have other articles being published by them now, so we'll see if they bite on this one.
I started writing this at the very beginning of this build in early January 2024, helped the team turn some wrenches, took a lot of pictures, and maybe even inspired this team to pick this 86 chassis? Might be a bit much to take credit for that, as they likely would have made this choice anyway - it seems pretty obvious now.
=======
PART 1: PICK AN ENDURANCE SERIES & CLASS + BUY THE CAR
What is Endurance Racing? If you are a track junkie you have probably heard of LeMons, ChampCar, World Racing League, or one of the other amateur level racing leagues that put dozens of teams with 3-4 drivers in cars on track for 7-25 hour races. The cost to do these events has never been lower and the choices of groups to run with has never been bigger!
This is NOT pro racing - there is no television contract, few spectators, no autograph signing, and minimal glory. The costs are low enough that you dn't need sponsors to fund it - just 3 or 4 buddies who all want to split the costs and wrench, drive, and compete together in the same car. This is peak amateur road course racing, with real wheel to wheel (W2W) competition on closed circuits, often at famous road courses that you otherwise might never get to race on. The various series each have multiple classes, usually based on power, weight, cost, and/or some semblance of lap time capability.
Excluding the "professional series" IMSA/FIA endurance racing groups, there are six "large scale" amateur endurance series in the United States at the moment - which do not require a racing license to enter - making it much more accessible to average Joe's. The most common format is a "double 7 weekend", with some testing on Friday, 7 hours of racing Saturday (usually in daylight hours), and another 7 hour event on Sunday, with both scored as separate events.
Reliability is crucial, and the driver's have to work hard to avoid any contact, which wrecks your chances at a good finish. Just completing these 7-24 hour events is challenging, and to some that is their only goal - just make laps, have fun, and try to finish. A well managed team and a good build can chase a class win or podium, and that is what many teams (including the Pontini Team shown here) shoot for.
The main difference between a normal SCCA / NASA / PCA "Club Level" W2W road race is that instead of a 20-45 minute races with one driver chasing the checked flag against a handful of competitors, Endurance races usually have 3-4 drivers in every car running over the 7+ hour format. There are mandatory pit stops for driver changes, fueling strategies that must be taking into account, and there is a LOT OF PASSING.
In the handful of endurance races where I have driven 2-3 hour stints, I usually have been a part of 5-10+ passes PER LAP. The typical "Racecraft" that club road racers have to learn happens much faster in this type of racing format, as there are many more cars on track. It sounds wild but it is a lot of fun, and you don't have to be rich or even have a Club Road Racing License to do it. This is all legal, not a fantasy, and you could be a part of this racing!
STEP 1 : COME UP WITH A PLAN
In this first entry following this 2014 BRZ endurance race car build by the "Pontini" Team based in the North Texas area, I want focus on a number of subjects, many of which are done long before you pick the car. This includes picking the right endurance racing series for your budget and region of the country. Once you have picked the best series for your needs, you need to pick the right class within that series, and learn the rules inside and out. Hopefully at this point you have also teamed up with 2-3 other people, so you have a combined budget and workforce bigger than just one person - then and only then do you start looking for the right car to buy.
In the real world most times people do this whole process backwards - they stumble upon a car and buy it, then find a class, series, and racing buddies to build it with. That rarely works perfectly, and could end up with a project that never gets completed. That I can tell you is the ultimate in frustration - you have a partially completed "race car" that is hopelessly outclassed, stripped of the interior (first thing people do), and often worth less than the donor street car you started with. Sometimes it doesn't even run, so it has to be sold at a huge loss.
This series of articles is here to hopefully steer you clear of an Unfinished Project Car, and as someone who has had more than a dozen of these false starts over the last 3 decades, I can tell you the sting never goes away. The wasted hours, dollars, and loss of face with your friends and family. Nobody wants to end up here, but so many do simply from poor planning. Learn from my mistakes!
Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent P!ss Poor Performance (the 7Ps)
Let's assume you have 2-3 like minded friends who want to "team up" - hopefully they are folks with some motorsports experience and more than two pennies to rub together. Even if nobody on the team is in the top tax bracket, as long as you all have similar amounts of money you are willing to put in for the build AND for a regular schedule of build nights, then it can work. Another discussion - how many events per year to run? The capital and time needed for one event is not insignificant, so don't overshoot and bite off more than you can chew. Some teams never do more than 2 events a year - that is still a great season! Trying to make "all" the races within a given series is extremely ambitious and should not be considered by brand new teams.
PICK YOUR ENDURANCE SERIES
Hopefully at the beginning of the planning phase you will find an endurance series you like, that you can afford, and hopefully has some racing events within a reasonable towing distance of your home base. Maybe even one that has events at a race track that you are very familiar with, if you're lucky.
We did a bit of research to show where the six main endurance series run in 2024, which we have shown with a "heat map" style layout with an approximate 3 hour driving radius around each event. Some series are very regional and others are widespread. Within these series you should be able to find a compatible schedule with races near your team's home base. Again, 2 to 3 events per year is a good initial goal for a new team.
The schedules for each series changes over time, and this just shows the 2024 series schedules. Figure out what series' track coverage looks right for your location, then look into their costs - as some series team entry fees are more than others. Once you have picked a primary series to build around, look at a secondary series that has races you also want to visit. Your car might not be the most competitive in the second series' rule set, but it is smart to keep more than one series in mind.
Once you pick a series, look closely at the rules and classes within each. Is one person on your team a spreadsheet nerd? Great - have them put together a shared Google sheet for the "build list", which can be read and modified by all team members. Break up the build into sections, put in proposed modifications, and note the associated rule number that governs each change. This method can also be used to track build costs, but also track each event's costs in another spreadsheet.
Some series (like ChampCar) use "points" to limit budgets and yet allow some changes, so there needs to be some give and take within the team to plan out the best build. Don't worry about this plan being locked down solid, as things change, different cars have differing needs, and rules also change over time (normally very slowly). This is where some build expediency comes into play - dragging a build out over 2-3+ years likely means your "finished" car might not fits the latest rules.
I also try to work with customers looking at these endurance race car builds and suggest they buy a running and driving car, do a minimal amount of mods up front, and get it on track after every phase of the build. That's what the Poninti team did here - bought a running car, did minimal mods, got some seat time, then moved to more upgrades in phases. This keeps the the driver's happy (getting seat time!) and keeps momentum going in the build. Things like the safety cage, the fire system, major suspension changes, or aero work can drag out the timeline and budget, but with a running car you can still be going to "track days" to get track time before and after each of these big upgrades.
Once you have the team built, series picked, the class narrowed down, and the budget laid out, then it is time to pick and buy the car. This step is crucial - buying the "wrong" car, or one with hopeless problems, can tank momentum in a team or project. I will show how the team below got to their "car" decision, below.
FORMING A TEAM : BUILDING PONTINI RACING
The three Pontini principles (Jason, Paul, and Adam) all live in Texas - with two of them in North Dallas and one in the Houston area. They all met and raced in college and co-owned the 1999 V6 Firebird shown below. That build actually started with me involved, after I fired up the team to start a "$500 build" within the Lemons series, right after I had driven in some endurance events with two different teams in 2011.
We actually did things "in the right order" back in 2012 when this project started - we looked at our combined budgets, picked the most cost effective series that ran in our area in 2011 (Lemons), and chose what we felt would be a sophisticated / modern / easy build for the time. This V6 5-speed 1999 Firebird was chosen then, as it was a very competitive and cost effective in that series in back then (some might say it not longer is). We found a car at a salvage yard for $700, did the initial build steps in my shop (Vorshlag), and then it moved to my home garage for the next phase of work after the first track test.
We did a track day at an early stage - after buying that car in September 2012, it was cleaned up, repairs were made, a few upgrades were done, then it was on track at it's first track test event December 2012, where all of the team members got to drive it. After that test it went back to my garage and.... the build lost momentum. After sitting untouched for 18 months with everyone on the team "busy with life", I parted ways on the build. The remaining team members eventually got the cage installed at another shop and they were competing with it in 2014. That 2+ year time lag was costly, so it always helps to have a motivated team with similar goals and budget commitments.
That is something you need to be ready for - changes in the team members / ownership, or even dissolution of a team. Depressing things, but just write down what everyone has invested at every stage - there should be a designated treasurer - so that if things have to change or someone has to back out, there are no grudges. After I left the team early in 2013 (I had 6 or 7 car dozen projects of my own to finish), they found "a new third", made a proper build plan, and got the car on track with all of the safety gear in 2014. My shop still sold them parts for this build and helped with some track testing, but otherwise they did it all on their own. After initially started as a Lemons series build, this car competed in numerous ChampCar and WRL events with additional volunteers (you want to have more than just the drivers trackside to help during a race weekend) and racked up some proper podiums and wins.
They ran this car at 19 events, with 3-4 events per year planned. Then in late 2022 at a race in New Orleans (NOLA), a heavy downpour led to standing water and hydroplaning. That turned this once straight car into an octagon. The driver wasn't hurt at all, as the safety gear did its job, but this multiple-impact shunt put a stop to this car's racing career, and it is an end you need to be OK with. After our painter saw the damage he said "find a new chassis and start over".
Why should you be ready to write off a race car? A buddy who worked in both Pro and amateur racing series for many years once told me that "Every racer should be financially and emotionally ready to push their car off a 200 foot cliff, while it is on fire, on any given weekend". You don't W2W road race a car you are making payments on, or that you need to drive to work, or that would otherwise "wipe you out" if it ends up crashed and a write-off. That's racing, in a nutshell.
Endurance W2W racing involves an extraordinarily high number of passes in a single driver's normal 2 hour stint. Many "Club Race" W2W racers will note that a single stint in an endurance car likely involves 2-3x as many passes as they would see in an entire SEASON of Club Racing. A lot of fun, but you have to drive and make passes accordingly. After this hydroplaning incident, this team has committed to keep a full tread / narrower width set of dedicated rain tires in the trailer, for weather extremes.
continued below
PROJECT INTRODUCTION, June 7, 2024: I am writing this with the hope that a car magazine publishes each section in their publication, with as much of this content intact as possible. This is the first part of a multi-article series that may or may not see print media, but I have hope. I have other articles being published by them now, so we'll see if they bite on this one.
I started writing this at the very beginning of this build in early January 2024, helped the team turn some wrenches, took a lot of pictures, and maybe even inspired this team to pick this 86 chassis? Might be a bit much to take credit for that, as they likely would have made this choice anyway - it seems pretty obvious now.
=======
PART 1: PICK AN ENDURANCE SERIES & CLASS + BUY THE CAR
What is Endurance Racing? If you are a track junkie you have probably heard of LeMons, ChampCar, World Racing League, or one of the other amateur level racing leagues that put dozens of teams with 3-4 drivers in cars on track for 7-25 hour races. The cost to do these events has never been lower and the choices of groups to run with has never been bigger!
This is NOT pro racing - there is no television contract, few spectators, no autograph signing, and minimal glory. The costs are low enough that you dn't need sponsors to fund it - just 3 or 4 buddies who all want to split the costs and wrench, drive, and compete together in the same car. This is peak amateur road course racing, with real wheel to wheel (W2W) competition on closed circuits, often at famous road courses that you otherwise might never get to race on. The various series each have multiple classes, usually based on power, weight, cost, and/or some semblance of lap time capability.
Excluding the "professional series" IMSA/FIA endurance racing groups, there are six "large scale" amateur endurance series in the United States at the moment - which do not require a racing license to enter - making it much more accessible to average Joe's. The most common format is a "double 7 weekend", with some testing on Friday, 7 hours of racing Saturday (usually in daylight hours), and another 7 hour event on Sunday, with both scored as separate events.
Reliability is crucial, and the driver's have to work hard to avoid any contact, which wrecks your chances at a good finish. Just completing these 7-24 hour events is challenging, and to some that is their only goal - just make laps, have fun, and try to finish. A well managed team and a good build can chase a class win or podium, and that is what many teams (including the Pontini Team shown here) shoot for.
The main difference between a normal SCCA / NASA / PCA "Club Level" W2W road race is that instead of a 20-45 minute races with one driver chasing the checked flag against a handful of competitors, Endurance races usually have 3-4 drivers in every car running over the 7+ hour format. There are mandatory pit stops for driver changes, fueling strategies that must be taking into account, and there is a LOT OF PASSING.
In the handful of endurance races where I have driven 2-3 hour stints, I usually have been a part of 5-10+ passes PER LAP. The typical "Racecraft" that club road racers have to learn happens much faster in this type of racing format, as there are many more cars on track. It sounds wild but it is a lot of fun, and you don't have to be rich or even have a Club Road Racing License to do it. This is all legal, not a fantasy, and you could be a part of this racing!
STEP 1 : COME UP WITH A PLAN
In this first entry following this 2014 BRZ endurance race car build by the "Pontini" Team based in the North Texas area, I want focus on a number of subjects, many of which are done long before you pick the car. This includes picking the right endurance racing series for your budget and region of the country. Once you have picked the best series for your needs, you need to pick the right class within that series, and learn the rules inside and out. Hopefully at this point you have also teamed up with 2-3 other people, so you have a combined budget and workforce bigger than just one person - then and only then do you start looking for the right car to buy.
In the real world most times people do this whole process backwards - they stumble upon a car and buy it, then find a class, series, and racing buddies to build it with. That rarely works perfectly, and could end up with a project that never gets completed. That I can tell you is the ultimate in frustration - you have a partially completed "race car" that is hopelessly outclassed, stripped of the interior (first thing people do), and often worth less than the donor street car you started with. Sometimes it doesn't even run, so it has to be sold at a huge loss.
This series of articles is here to hopefully steer you clear of an Unfinished Project Car, and as someone who has had more than a dozen of these false starts over the last 3 decades, I can tell you the sting never goes away. The wasted hours, dollars, and loss of face with your friends and family. Nobody wants to end up here, but so many do simply from poor planning. Learn from my mistakes!
Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent P!ss Poor Performance (the 7Ps)
Let's assume you have 2-3 like minded friends who want to "team up" - hopefully they are folks with some motorsports experience and more than two pennies to rub together. Even if nobody on the team is in the top tax bracket, as long as you all have similar amounts of money you are willing to put in for the build AND for a regular schedule of build nights, then it can work. Another discussion - how many events per year to run? The capital and time needed for one event is not insignificant, so don't overshoot and bite off more than you can chew. Some teams never do more than 2 events a year - that is still a great season! Trying to make "all" the races within a given series is extremely ambitious and should not be considered by brand new teams.
PICK YOUR ENDURANCE SERIES
Hopefully at the beginning of the planning phase you will find an endurance series you like, that you can afford, and hopefully has some racing events within a reasonable towing distance of your home base. Maybe even one that has events at a race track that you are very familiar with, if you're lucky.
We did a bit of research to show where the six main endurance series run in 2024, which we have shown with a "heat map" style layout with an approximate 3 hour driving radius around each event. Some series are very regional and others are widespread. Within these series you should be able to find a compatible schedule with races near your team's home base. Again, 2 to 3 events per year is a good initial goal for a new team.
The schedules for each series changes over time, and this just shows the 2024 series schedules. Figure out what series' track coverage looks right for your location, then look into their costs - as some series team entry fees are more than others. Once you have picked a primary series to build around, look at a secondary series that has races you also want to visit. Your car might not be the most competitive in the second series' rule set, but it is smart to keep more than one series in mind.
Once you pick a series, look closely at the rules and classes within each. Is one person on your team a spreadsheet nerd? Great - have them put together a shared Google sheet for the "build list", which can be read and modified by all team members. Break up the build into sections, put in proposed modifications, and note the associated rule number that governs each change. This method can also be used to track build costs, but also track each event's costs in another spreadsheet.
Some series (like ChampCar) use "points" to limit budgets and yet allow some changes, so there needs to be some give and take within the team to plan out the best build. Don't worry about this plan being locked down solid, as things change, different cars have differing needs, and rules also change over time (normally very slowly). This is where some build expediency comes into play - dragging a build out over 2-3+ years likely means your "finished" car might not fits the latest rules.
I also try to work with customers looking at these endurance race car builds and suggest they buy a running and driving car, do a minimal amount of mods up front, and get it on track after every phase of the build. That's what the Poninti team did here - bought a running car, did minimal mods, got some seat time, then moved to more upgrades in phases. This keeps the the driver's happy (getting seat time!) and keeps momentum going in the build. Things like the safety cage, the fire system, major suspension changes, or aero work can drag out the timeline and budget, but with a running car you can still be going to "track days" to get track time before and after each of these big upgrades.
Once you have the team built, series picked, the class narrowed down, and the budget laid out, then it is time to pick and buy the car. This step is crucial - buying the "wrong" car, or one with hopeless problems, can tank momentum in a team or project. I will show how the team below got to their "car" decision, below.
FORMING A TEAM : BUILDING PONTINI RACING
The three Pontini principles (Jason, Paul, and Adam) all live in Texas - with two of them in North Dallas and one in the Houston area. They all met and raced in college and co-owned the 1999 V6 Firebird shown below. That build actually started with me involved, after I fired up the team to start a "$500 build" within the Lemons series, right after I had driven in some endurance events with two different teams in 2011.
We actually did things "in the right order" back in 2012 when this project started - we looked at our combined budgets, picked the most cost effective series that ran in our area in 2011 (Lemons), and chose what we felt would be a sophisticated / modern / easy build for the time. This V6 5-speed 1999 Firebird was chosen then, as it was a very competitive and cost effective in that series in back then (some might say it not longer is). We found a car at a salvage yard for $700, did the initial build steps in my shop (Vorshlag), and then it moved to my home garage for the next phase of work after the first track test.
We did a track day at an early stage - after buying that car in September 2012, it was cleaned up, repairs were made, a few upgrades were done, then it was on track at it's first track test event December 2012, where all of the team members got to drive it. After that test it went back to my garage and.... the build lost momentum. After sitting untouched for 18 months with everyone on the team "busy with life", I parted ways on the build. The remaining team members eventually got the cage installed at another shop and they were competing with it in 2014. That 2+ year time lag was costly, so it always helps to have a motivated team with similar goals and budget commitments.
That is something you need to be ready for - changes in the team members / ownership, or even dissolution of a team. Depressing things, but just write down what everyone has invested at every stage - there should be a designated treasurer - so that if things have to change or someone has to back out, there are no grudges. After I left the team early in 2013 (I had 6 or 7 car dozen projects of my own to finish), they found "a new third", made a proper build plan, and got the car on track with all of the safety gear in 2014. My shop still sold them parts for this build and helped with some track testing, but otherwise they did it all on their own. After initially started as a Lemons series build, this car competed in numerous ChampCar and WRL events with additional volunteers (you want to have more than just the drivers trackside to help during a race weekend) and racked up some proper podiums and wins.
They ran this car at 19 events, with 3-4 events per year planned. Then in late 2022 at a race in New Orleans (NOLA), a heavy downpour led to standing water and hydroplaning. That turned this once straight car into an octagon. The driver wasn't hurt at all, as the safety gear did its job, but this multiple-impact shunt put a stop to this car's racing career, and it is an end you need to be OK with. After our painter saw the damage he said "find a new chassis and start over".
Why should you be ready to write off a race car? A buddy who worked in both Pro and amateur racing series for many years once told me that "Every racer should be financially and emotionally ready to push their car off a 200 foot cliff, while it is on fire, on any given weekend". You don't W2W road race a car you are making payments on, or that you need to drive to work, or that would otherwise "wipe you out" if it ends up crashed and a write-off. That's racing, in a nutshell.
Endurance W2W racing involves an extraordinarily high number of passes in a single driver's normal 2 hour stint. Many "Club Race" W2W racers will note that a single stint in an endurance car likely involves 2-3x as many passes as they would see in an entire SEASON of Club Racing. A lot of fun, but you have to drive and make passes accordingly. After this hydroplaning incident, this team has committed to keep a full tread / narrower width set of dedicated rain tires in the trailer, for weather extremes.
continued below
Lexan cannot be cleaned with traditional cleaners like Winegar based Windex of the like. A soft cloth with a soapy water solution and careful cleaning is key. But when done right, this is a very satisfying, lighter weight, and safer solution for rear window than OEM tempered glass.
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