Wheeling and Dealing: Saga to a Surprising Podium Finish

Last weekend, I flew to Ottawa for another highly anticipated weekend: a 2x 8 hours endurance race weekend organized by Lucky Dog at Calabogie Motorsports Park; where with my three teammates, we drove the seemingly indestructible Honda Civic FG prepped by TWOth Autosport Inc , a car I’ve gotten to know well and love to drive.

Practice Day

We kicked off the weekend with some practice sessions on Friday. One particular turn, Turn 2, had been haunting me since a mishap during lapping days a few months ago. I had missed my braking at that turn entry, causing the rear wheels to lock up and the car to have a way-too-friendly contact with the concrete wall that bounds the left side of the track. Since then, TWOth had modified the brakes of the car, making them less “sensitive” and easier to control which felt perfect during testing.

Later that day, came the time to discuss with the team the driving order for Saturday. Anticipating 5 to 6 stints of approximately 1.5 hours each with four drivers, we had to determine who would start, who would go second, who would do the double stints, etc.

Each stint number has its pros and cons, and every driver has different preferences, but I haven’t heard, ever, a driver saying they prefer to go first, at best, they “don’t mind it”. As expected, when everyone began sharing their preferences, it started like this: “I’d prefer to go 2nd or 3rd”, “I don’t mind going last”, and “I am okay to double-stint”. Someone was yet to volunteer to tackle the start. When came my turn, I said something I instantly regretted “Any stint is fine”, because it was promptly followed by “Great then Claire you’ll go first!”. Deep down, I think I wanted to take on the challenge and I just needed a little push because my initial hesitation turned into immediate and genuine excitement: “Yup, sounds great!”.

Race 1

The start went smoothly: I stayed in one piece during the first lap and quickly focused on my pace and racing the cars in front. Lap by lap, I steadily made my way through the traffic. With about 20 minutes left before the end of my stint, we were in 4th position in our class. Let’s go!

The next driver took over and we kept driving at a fast and steady pace. At about 5 hours into the race, during our 3rd stint, things were looking promising, we were battling between 2nd and 3rd position. When we realized we had a shot at the podium, the team got more serious; we had to strategize the end of the race, the gap ahead and behind us was short so we could easily lose position. We couldn’t afford to make more pit stops than our direct competitors and we had to nail our pit times!

Suddenly the current driver radioed in:

“I lost a gear!”.

“You WHAT?”.

“4th gear is gone!”.

“Can you stay out or do you want to pit?”

“3rd and 5th gear still okay... I am staying out!”.

That was NOT good. We still had at least 3 hours to go! What if other gears started to fail, damn it! We could only hope for the best.

The driver managed to finish his stint using 3rd and 5th gears and handed the car over to the next driver for the final stint: “Remember to not use 4th!!” … One more stint to go, we could do this! If we kept our current pace and did not pit again for fuel, we would stay in 3rd. There was a lot of radio communication during that stint: “How is the car??” “Still good??” “You’re doing great, keep going”. “Slow down, preserve fuel please”. “SLOW DOWN!!”

In the pit, we were glued to our phone’s screen, looking at “Race Monitor”, an application where the live standings are shared: “What’s the gap in front? Should we push now?” “What about now?” “Do you think they will pit?”

Finally, the moment arrived: the last 5 minutes before the checkered flag at 5 PM.

We quickly made our way from the pit area to the wall overlooking the front straight, eagerly waiting for our car to complete the final lap and cross the finish line. Our car zoomed through it and just like that we had finished 3rd in the first 8-hour race despite missing one gear! Woohoo!

As we were celebrating, TWOth had already worked out a plan to replace the transmission for the race the next day, the car was already being pulled apart by the team’s mechanics. They worked until midnight to get the new transmission in. I was in awe of their speed in getting it done!

Race 2

The following day, we switched up the driver order to optimize our strategy, letting the most experienced drivers go first to shake down the car, assess the new transmission, and hopefully build an early lead over the other teams.

Some good news came from the radio after we started the second race and completed a couple of laps: “The new transmission feels great, and it has the same ratio”. “Sounds good, let’s go!”

However, on lap 8, an unexpected and unwelcome radio message shook us: “Guys… I spun out…I think I lost the rear wheel; I am okay though”.

Hearing the driver was okay was a relief. As for the car, we had to wait for the tow truck to bring it back and assess the damage. At that moment, we were reminded of the harsh reality of endurance racing: at any point, whether on the first or last lap, shit can happen, things can break and plans rarely go as planned.

Our driver emerged from the towed car all dusty and still wired from what had just happened: “It was pretty scary, I lost the wheel through turn 10 and went bouncing into the grass, the car almost flipped, not sure what happened”.

We quickly confirmed the car was missing the rear left wheel and that it had broken off the hub.

“Is it common? For wheels to just brake off like that?”. I asked.

“Not really, but I have definitely seen it before” someone replied. That was somewhat reassuring.

The crew brought the car into the garage and worked incredibly fast to get it back on the track. They had run to the nearest store to get a new rotor. Two hours later, the car looked as good as new and we were back in the race.

At this point, the top 3 positions were out of reach. We collectively agreed that the rest of the day was about having fun and making the most of our race time; whether it was improving our personal lap times, practicing lines and techniques, or racing business as usual. I asked to do the final stint so that I could experience crossing the finish line under the checkered flag, which was a personal highlight of the day.

As other teams were also facing their own issues, we managed to secure 5th position in class, ending our rocky start of the day on a high!