The annual four-hour RDC-Illgen Enduro was run in early December at Thunderhill Raceway. We spent the Thursday before the race weekend testing at Thunderhill. We were prepared for freezing, pouring down rain, so anything less was a bonus. It was dry all morning, and all three of us got in a 30-minute session on a dry track. Neither of us had been in a racecar for a year, so we didn't have high expectations. Roland made a comment about "I don't care if I drive 2:30 laps, as long as I have fun" (a really good time with the set up on the car is a 2:15) So, of course, I put a bunch of 2:30 laps on the stop watch for him when he came off the track. He didn't buy it... and he did care. I didn't get any lap times for me, but I know I need to drive more... This once a year stuff isn't cutting it.

At lunch it started sort of raining. It wasn't wet enough for rain tires, but it was too wet for dry tires. Chuck took the first session after lunch to scrub the enduro tires. They were decent in the semi wet, at least better than slicks. We put the old practice tires back on since the track was getting dry and the rain had almost stopped for my session. At least it had almost stopped until I got in the car. Then it started coming down again. Not hard, but enough to keep it interesting. I was being cautious (probably too cautious) and only had some fun a few times downshifting to third going into 10.

The rain started getting heavier, but Roland kept the same tires on for his session and it sounded like he had a lot of fun! Chuck used the last rainy session to scrub in the rain tires and we were ready for anything.

Although the enduro was on Sunday, I'm on the RDC board (It's the RDC-Illgen Enduro) and I needed to be there Saturday to work at registration. We got up there at 9:30 and since registration didn't start until 1, we decided to head out to the Sporting Clay range. The track was sponsoring a shooting competition at the range as part of the weekend. When we got there we hooked up with another racer, Carl, and set out to shoot. None of us had ever shot sporting clays before and we were to shoot 10 shots from five different stations. (The range map had a notation on it "Racetrack - do not hunt" I feel much better knowing that there won't be any hunters sitting up there with checkered flag decoys trying to bag a race car...) I only shot 12/50, which I wasn't very happy with, but with our scores ranging from Roland - who's been shooting forever - at a 16, Carl - who brought his own rifle - at a 14, and Chuck at a 13, I guess it wasn't too bad.

As we left the range, it started to rain and it only got worse as the day went on. We weren't very optimistic about it letting up for the enduro, but we were prepared... besides rain gear, we'd brought two driver's suits, two pairs of socks, two pairs of shoes, and three pairs of gloves.

Sunday morning was wet, but not fully raining. I started off the first 40minute practice with the full rain set up - full tread tires and the sway bar unhooked. This was how my old RX7 handled! As the track dried up, I was worried about tearing up the rain tires, so I came in. The guys told me not to worry, just stay out and drive. Chuck went out for the first half of the second session and by that time it was completely dry and he was tearing up the rain tires. He came in and we changed to dry tires, and sent Roland out for the rest of the session, while I got everything together to set up our pit. After the driver's meeting we had just under 45 minutes to get the pit set up and the car on pre-grid. Chuck had noticed a problem and he had the left front wheel off. The tire (our enduro tire that had to now go out and do 4 more hours) was grooved on the inner wall. I got the pit set up while they worked on the repair...of course, working on the repair was mostly standing there saying, "What the f......?" They figured out that it was the spring perch on the shock that had come loose and dropped down to where it was rubbing the tire. Easy fix - screw it back up, a little duct tape... (An RX7 repair kit consists of duct tape, safety wire and a big hammer ­ if you can't fix it with that, you're done).

I got the start, with Chuck going second and Roland driving the last leg. I got to drive what was affectionately known as "the shitty hour." It started out dry with a lot of stick and then about 30minutes into the session, it started to sprinkle. No big deal, the track stayed dry. Then there was that lap, I was heading up the hill into 5,the sky was black and just before I crested the hill, and I saw a huge steak of lightening... uh oh... Sure enough, it started to come down harder and the grip went away. I could see blue sky from the back part of the track, so I kept it out there thinking it would blow over, but after about 3 laps, it didn't seem likely.

Turn 1 was slick, Turn 2 was slick, 3-4-5 wasn't too bad, going into Turn 6 was fine, but exiting turn 6 there was no grip at all until Turn 9. I'd come out of 6, point the wheel in the general direction I wanted to go and just hope that I got something before I went off the track. Turn 9 through 10 was pretty good, 11 was sketchy ­ sometimes good, sometimes slick - and then Turn 14 before the front straight wasn't too bad... Then it started all over again... I was thinking about coming in, but then I realized that they were standing in the pouring rain and I was warm and dry, so I stayed out a couple more laps, before I went in begging for rain tires. What I got was "it's gonna dry up any minute now, just keep it on track, you'll be fine." Easy for you to say in your rain gear on the side of the track. I kept it out and they called me in a bit past the first hour, just when the rain had slowed down and the line was starting to get dry.

Roland and Pat refueled while I got Chuck strapped in and debriefed. Did he listen? Hah! Evidently he went out and immediately spun in 8... The track dried out in a few more laps and his session was fairly uneventful except for a little miscommunication. I was out on the wall, watching and I gave Chuck a little wave. Next thing I know he's coming into the pits. Roland was off getting ready, so I got Chuck strapped back in and sent him back out, explaining that when his time was up, I'd wave my arms and give him a clear "get to the pits" signal. Oops...

We called Chuck in and put Roland in the car for the last hour and a half. By this time, the weather was completely cleared up and we were all wearing sunglasses and taking off our jackets. With our fuel consumption, we were going to have to do a splash and go, but otherwise we were sitting pretty well in the overall standings. About 25 minutes into Roland's session, I looked up to see him cresting 5 and dragging something under the car. Chuck thought it might be bodywork, so we headed to the wall to see what was up. As we got to the wall, tech was walking over to us to tell us Roland had been black flagged for dragging his muffler and did we want to go back paddock or fix it in our pit. Send him to our pit.15-20 minutes and some safety wire later, and he was back on the track. Unfortunately, we'd already used our mandatory 5 minute pit stops, but on the good side, he wasn't going to have to make another fuel stop...

We finished! Despite the mechanical mishaps and weather challenges, we made it through the four hours with the car and all three drivers in one piece. We ended up 11th in our class (we were classified with BMW's and fully prepped race Porsches) and had we not had our little unscheduled pit stops, we probably would have ended up only two positions higher. Overall, it was a good weekend. A lot of fun and we'll be back next year!