Round 1 of the Thailand Endurance Championship

[Inspire]

Round 1 of the Thailand Endurance Championship

The season officially kicked off and we joined the first race of the season the past weekend in Buriram.

The first race of the season was round 1 of the Thailand 6 Hour Endurance Championship.

The task seemed like an impossible one because we had no car to race with and had to built one in only 2.5 weeks because we did not get the regulations before that.

We worked night and day and had parts flown in from USA, England, Denmark Italy, Japan and Singapore to try and get the car ready in time.

The timing was down to the the hour and we know if all worked well we would get the car back to the workshop 5 hours before it had to leave for the race track. In those 5 hours we would then have to install al the remaining things and also fit all the stickers for the car.

Stickers was pre-ordered on a size guesstimate so we would have some stickers ready to put on when it came back to he workshop for those 5 hours.

The car came back with 3 hours to spare and the sticker guy and all the mechanics were flat out finishing the car and packing the 6 wheel truck and the 18 wheel truck with parts and cars.

Once at the track work continued with a list of outstanding items that needed to be completed.

We went out to test the car, but unfortunately the oil temperature gauge which was brand new had a misreading so while we drove around testing thinking all was well, intact the oil temperature was way above the maximum temperature, and eventually the engine crank bearings gave in and seized up.

This now meant we were stuck with a car that now was almost ready but with no engine…..so the search started for an engine.

We eventually found an engine in Bangkok and hired a taxi driver to bring it up to Buriram during the night……now you might think how is that done in a taxi…..well its easy….a blanket on the back seat and engine sat on backseat with a seatbelt from Bangkok to Buriram…..I guess he wanted it safe….5555

Engined arrived at 5 am and we started working on putting it in.

With a few mins to spare in the qualifying we managed to get the car started up and jumped in the car to try and get a few laps done to make sure that car was working ok before the race with the new engine and the different find drive we had installed in the gearbox.

All worked well and we were 3rd fastest overall not even trying so things looked up…..for a few mins….on the scale we were told we were too light and that we therefore were disqualified and had to start from the back in 32nd position.

Work again continued overnight on further improvements needed and things that needed to be amended to meet the scrutineers requirements.

Full story: http://www.inspirepattaya.com/lifestyle/round-1-thailand-endurance-championship/

-- Inspire Pattaya 2016-05-22

[Phaeton]

After reading the full story. Great job. Don't mess with anything for race two! 555 But the fuel tank, that's killing you guys. Unless the weight penalty of all that fuel they are carrying around offsets the lack of range? Not sure.

If not for the fuel line problem, seems like you guys had a good shot at the win.

Standard engine delivered via taxi from Bkk in the middle of the night, great story.

Race engine, we don't need no stinkin race engine.