Summit Point Kart 24 Hour Enduro Race

Summit Point Karts hosts some of the best endurance karting in the country.  We've done 12 and 14 hour races there, but this summer SPK went big and hosted a 24 Hour Enduro!  It ended up raining for 16 hours of the race, turning an already painful slog into a cold and wet suffer-fest.  We assembled all of the usual characters on our Green Stigs team (Andrew, Tim, and Myself), then invited a few real Stigs from the karting world (Jon, Josh, and Nevin) to level our odds against the incredibly talented field of drivers.

We qualified in 3rd and Jon put us in 2nd by the end of his first stint.  Then the rain started.  It wasn't just rain, it was relentless walls of water cascading down on a track with varied surfaces and grip.  The best grip was far off the racing line, which meant straight-lining through the outside of turns while trusting the kart would hook up at the edges.  It usually worked, but not always.  As the soggy hours passed, Josh put his driving-in-the-wet skills to work holding us in the top 3.  Nevin maintained the position through his stint, then I went out and ruined it all.  Driving a kart in the wet on slicks is a skill that is only learned through spins, punts, and heroic "offs."  Jens (who runs SKP) likened it to a 90% loss of performance over the dry.  I would compare it to ice field infested with mines (tire walls and other karts).  After a half a stint I was decently fast and enjoying the challenge.  By the time Andrew and Tim climbed the steep (slippery) learning curve we were down to 9th place.

The long night was a buffet of cold, wet misery.  I spent hours huddling to any warmth I could find between driving stints filled terror and metered aggression.  It was wonderful!  By dawn the rain had passed and the track started to dry.  Our position started climbing.  We worked past 9th, 8th, and 7th.  In the final hours of the race we found ourself in purgatory at 6th place.  We were far too ahead of 7th to get passed and far too off of 5th place to make a pass, unless something dramatic happened.  We ran out the clock in 6th, our best finish yet.  I'll let the pics and video tell the rest of the story.  I can't wait for the next one!

Aerial Footage of the Race

(YouTube)

(Vimeo)

Karts Queued Up

Photo Courtesy of Summit Point Kart

Team Green Stigs

(Jon, Andrew, Tim, Alex, Josh, Nevin)

Strategy Meeting - This Shit is Serious!

Relaxed Once the Race Starts

Preparing for the Rain

The Rain Begins

Alex in the Penalty Box

Rain = Misery

Flying the Drone

Our Pit

McCulloch Boys Up to No Good

Andrew and Jen

Heat

Sunset

Into the Night

2:00 AM

Just Imagine the Smell

Dawn

Photo Courtesy of Summit Point Kart

Andrew in the Fog

Photo Courtesy of Summit Point Kart

15 Mins of Sleep

6th Place Purgatory

(6 laps down from 5th, 7 laps up from 7th)

"Maintain"

My Last Stint

Pain

Tim and Andrew

Green Stigs - 6th Place

This About Sums It Up

Summit Point Kart 500, Fall 2012

Kart racing has been an integral part of my training and progression into sports car racing.  There is no better bang for the buck than racing karts.  Even more so, there is no better means of gaining seat time in an intense racing environment than at the Summit Point Kart endurance races.  500 miles of racing split between 3 drivers gives a driver 3 to 4 hours of seat time.  That seat time includes car control, maintaining situational awareness, passing, defending, being fast off-line, protecting your line, and avoiding the inevitable crashes that result in any racing environment.  To the uneducated observer it just looks like a bunch of adults noodling around in toys, but after karting for almost 3 years now I can testify that it some of the most intense racing around!

We did our first SPK 500 in the fall of 2011.  You can see details of the race, karts, and course at

SPK Overnight 500

For 2012 it would be Andrew, Casey, and me.  The course was a little different than 2012.  It was run in the opposite direction from normal.  There was also a chicane in the back straight and changes to several turns.   It was a great course compared to the previous year.  The back straight was slower with the chicane, but the course felt faster and more technical.  Our team started out slow, but after a low point mid-race where I had two bad karts in a row we clawed our way back up to 11th.  Andrew set the second fastest RX7 lap of the race after the top 5 teams upgraded to RX250.  Our next race is the 24 hour - that's right 24 hours! - enduro in June.

Plotting the Best Line

Old Glory on My "Racing" Flight Suit

The McCulloch Boys Doing a Pre-Race Radio Check

Qualifying

Thumbs Up Before the Start

1st Stint

The "Tin Man" Walk After a Driving Stint

Andrew Radioing Lap Times, Casey in the Background

The Red Line

Spins were so common at the exit of turn 15 that this red line was painted.  Any kart that crossed it was immediately black flagged and required to hot pit.  The fastest line was as close as possible without crossing it.  This shot was taken after I had already started cutting across the track for turn 16.  I tried to get within an inch and was only black flagged for crossing it once throughout the race.

Andrew Hurting After a Driving Stint

Random Guy Getting Down on a Banana

Photo is the work of Yenns.

Andrew Monitoring from the Pit Wall

Andrew Finishing the Race

Team Shot - The Green Stigs

Porsche Race Cars on the Main Circuit

As we were leaving Summit Point we were treated with a few Porsche Boxter racecars doing night laps on the main circuit.  They were there with a Porsche Club event.  These were not normal boxters, but fully prepped race cars.  It was an excellent sight and sound to witness.