Mel & Sons Muffler Team  made a heroic effort to compete in NASA's 25-Hour Enduro this last weekend.  Despite extensive preparation of the car, mechanical gremlins were at work this weekend.  The first mechanical problem surfaced during Friday's practice & qualifying session.  About 40 minutes into practice session the engine was down on power and when brought into the hotpits it was making an ugly ticking noise.  The valve cover was pulled and and a flattened cam lobe revealed.  A replacement cam was installed but the ticking noise remained.  The diagnosis was a dropped wrist pin c-clip which had damaged a cylinder wall.  Dan Pina was called upon to bring up a replacement engine from the Bay Area that Friday night and arrived at the track early Saturday morning around 2:45 AM.   Carlos & Don worked the rest of the early morning (with temperatures in the low 30s) to switch out the engine.  During the race the car ran strong but a little more than five hours into the race the head gasket blew and the engine was damaged beyond repair.  While the car was running it was on pace to win the E3 class as it was consistently faster than it's class competitors:  the Team Arizona Wild dogs BMW 318is from Phoenix, AZ, the Team Crevier/Driving Concepts Mini Cooper from Laguna Niguel, CA and the Team Fantasy Junction Honda CRX from Emeryville, CA.  Click here for the official 25-Hour NASA results.  A big thanks to all the sponsors: Mel & Sons Muffler of Concord, CA,  German Sport European Auto Repair of Walnut Creek, CA,   Parts-4-VW of Temecula, CA and Graphtech Graphics of Daly City, CA.

The 1st place E3 car was the BMW 318is,  2nd place went to the Mini Cooper and 3rd place went to the Honda CRX.  DP Racing has a couple of video clips to check out; a short one of Dave Pina on the tail of the Spoon Sports Honda approaching Turn 14 and a video of the parade lap coming through the hot pits.  Also check out sports car and racing aficionado  Michael Plitkins website for photos and video clips of the event.

Following is Joe Craven's account of the race:

"We gave it our best but didn't finish the race. We determined a few problems during Friday's practice, car was a handful at speed and motor developed a sharp metallic knock sound just off idle.  We found out the alignment shop put 3/8" toe out in the rear which made the car twitchy at speed. In addition, one of the bolts holding the rear stubs was cross threaded. We thought the noise was coming from the motor's top end. After replacing the cam and adjusting the shims, noise remained.  We pulled the head and concluding that one of the wrist pin c-clips had come off due to the damage to the cylinder wall.   Carlos Suarez of German Sport replaced motor during the night when the temps dipped below freezing with a spare brought to the track by Dave and Dan Pina about 2:45AM from Redwood City.

Starting early Sat AM, work began to fix the rear end alignment and get the motor running and tires installed for the expected dry weather.
With the few shims we had, alignment was changed to -3 RR, -2LR with the toe between 1/16" to 1/8" out.  In addition, car was understeering and spinning the inside front wheel during practice, so I made the decision to remove the front sway bar.

Because we didn't have a qualifying time, Carlos Suarez in the Mel & Sons GTI was gridded dead last as the 62nd car. We were pleased to make it with some time to spare and waited patiently for the race to start.

note: all times are estimated:

11AM - Carlos started the race pretty cautiously with the new motor (9 hours old since rebuild) and suspension changes including some used Hoosiers on the front and full tread Toyos on the rear. After about a lap, he started working the car harder as his lap times dropped below 2:20s and quickly passed our competitors. By the 1.5 hour point, not only had Carlos worked his way to first place, he had already lapped all the E3 competition and was working on passing the 2nd place BMW 318i a 2nd time.

12:50PM - David Pina took over and consistently posted good lap times in the 2.19s and kept stretching our lead over our competitors. He drove the car w/o issue until the car started sputtering and he pulled in for a pit stop including 10 gallons of gas and a driver change. David reported that the temp gauge was reading close to the red zone so we should keep an eye on it.

2:45PM - Don Bailey was the next driver and I instructed him that the front tires were looking pretty worn and for him to come in if they started sliding too much. Don took off and kept a good pace and continued to gain time on the competitors. Because of Don and David, we had stretched out lead to over 3 laps. At approx. 4:00PM, Don pulls in and reports that the car has a bad vibration. I quickly look at both front tires and determine that the front left is coming apart. Don had started wearing through the cords and it was only a lap or 2 from blowing up. We quickly replace the left front and determine the RF should last through the balance of his session. Don heads back out and drives more laps and pulls in to end his stint.

4:25PM - Joe Craven takes over and Alex Castro put in 5 gallons and Lerry Suarez replaced the right front tire. Don Bailey took some wrenches in his hands and simultaneously installs the front light bar. I tell the crew that I'll drive about 30 minutes and head back in for 5 gallons and some engine maintenance. Car drives excellent although the rear seems to have a bit of toe out. The rear brakes were working well and I could feel the rear twitch around under braking. Of course, the tread on those full tread Toyo RA1s is probably moving around. With the fresher set of Hoosiers R3S03s (only 8 heat cycles), I'm able to work my best lap time into the 2:15s even while short shifting at 6200 RPM and keeping the car in 4th through turns 1,2,3.  I still think the car needs a stiffer rear sway bar but this car's setup is in anticipation of rain too.  We were going about 3 to 5 seconds per lap faster than our competition at that point, so we continued to be optimistic.  One of my goals was to lap the Honda Fit E2 car from Japan and I was able to do so at 2 occasions.  Unfortunately, car started running hotter and hotter as the end of my shift was closing and I started going slower to keep the car from getting too far in the red zone.  Honda Fit passed me and I had to muster all my personal strength not to floor to pedal to get my position back.  Temperature kept rising and I signaled the crew that I was coming in as I slowed and waved cars by.   Car started missing about a 1/4 of a lap from the pit entrance and I looked in the rear view mirror and see smoke trailing from the back of the car.  I heard jubilant cheers from the pits as I entered with a car which seemed to be running on 2 cylinders.  I can only guess that they were our competitors.  I pull into our pit and Albert Butterfield is enthusiastically ready to take the wheel but I signal that all isn't well.

We pushed the car into the back pits and pull off the head expecting to replace a head gasket and install another head. Upon removal, we see scuffing marks in cylinder 3 and observe that a portion of the head is missing between one of the water jackets and cylinder 3.  It looked like electrolysis damage. Unfortunately, the ring damage means our day is done."

Joe Craven
.....waiting for next year's 25 hour.....