RSTPerformance Racing & Dunlop Direzza ZII take on the 12hr 'Devil in the Dark' Race
05-03-2013, 12:08 AM
#1
RSTPerformance Racing & Dunlop Direzza ZII take on the 12hr 'Devil in the Dark' Race
Our 2013 review of the “Devil in the Dark” & the Dunlop Direzza ZII
The South Jersey and Northern New Jersey Regions of the SCCA have certainly proven that they know how to host one of the best races on the east coast! If you have never been to this race to drive, volunteer or watch you need to add it to your bucket list. I have been to a lot of events in our 30+ years of participating in automotive events across the east coast but nothing compares to this. I still can’t get over the excitement of seeing the cars racing one another and making pit stops at night!
This race has been something that myself and everyone at RST Performance Racing have wanted to do for years but just didn’t have the ability to make the commitment for several reasons. This year we had the Mazda RX8 sorted out and decided early on that we were going to take on the devil! But it wasn’t an easy task...
The team met for several months at least once a week to work on the car and give special projects to different people. We replaced several parts with new ones, made several upgrades to the car from headlights to the rear diff cooler, and we made a “pit space” to help assist the team when it came to making our pit stops. These changes took months of planning and research to get right, and I think it paid off. We can’t stress enough how important the preparation is when it comes to taking on an endurance race of this caliber. Later I will post our preparation list to possibly help others who are doing this for the first time!
The team also had to recruit additional team members to handle all the duties when it came to the race weekend itself. The first bit of good news was we recruited new team members and they became SCCA members! From our experience you really need at least 8 people at each pit stop to keep things moving and the more people dedicated to specific roles the entire event the better you will be. We had two dedicated gas crew members, one person dedicated to check the engine bay (especially the oil which was 1/2 quart EVERY 65minutes!), one dedicated person to check/monitor right side tires, one dedicated person to monitor left side tires, one dedicated person to keep data organized, and a group of people in charge of keeping everyone fed. We also used drivers to help with extinguisher duties and assisting other drivers in/out of the car. We had a list of every crew person and his/or her duties at every pit stop. This list also included the details of each persons duty. Just like with any team, everyone focused on his task each pit stop and didn’t watch or worry about anyone else. Most pit stops were just over 2 minutes and included a driver change, 90lbs of gas, the addition of engine oil, and tire pressure changes. Later we will also post some video and the written script to our pit stop procedures!
Because of our preparation the weekend went nearly flawless with the exception of changing a rear end diff that let go during night practice on Friday and just simply not enough time to set everything up without some rushing. Like everything when it is your first time you sorta need to learn on the fly! The only bit of advice I can say is arrive early, unpack early, and get things set up in pit lane early! Also bring a couple extra hands if you can
As for the race itself... we worked with Dunlop to test the new Direzza ZII high performance street tire. First I have to start off by thanking Dunlop for the support… Our efforts at the 2013 Devil in the Dark were a huge success. While our competition used as much as 4 sets of new “R” compound tires to make the 12 grueling hours we never changed a tire. We actually never even jacked the car up off of the ground once the green flag was thrown! In the end after 12 flawless hours we completed 415 laps (~933miles) and ended up 4th in class out of 23 and an even more impressive 7th overall out of 44. Again it's important to stress that we were the ONLY car on street tires, EVERY other car ran "R" compounds!
All but 1 of the 44 starters were in the E1, E2, and E3 classes. Our car was originally classed in the E2 class but because we were running street tires we dropped a class and ran in the E3 class as a test for SCCA. If we had stayed in the original class (E2 class) we would have won the class with our 7th overall performance. E3 was an extremely competitive field with some very experienced teams, including Bimmer world, Mitchum motorsports, Flatout, and some other grand-am teams. We are extremely pleased finishing 4th in class considering we had to do several more pit stops for fuel than anyone else. This was the first time a street tire was used in an all out effort, and this was our teams first 12hr endurance race. It should also be noted that we turned the fastest lap time in the E3 class!
The Tire Review:
It was clear after testing and practice that the Dunlop Direzza ZII tires were going to easily make the 12hr distance on the RST Performance Racing’s 3,000lb rear wheel drive Mazda RX8. What wasn’t clear was if the brakes would last, and how much the fuel consumption would affect our pit stop strategy. The more fuel consumed the more pit stops we would have to do. On the Dunlop’s we knew we would run slightly slower and hoped that this might actually be a benefit by not wearing out the car and using less fuel allowing us to stretch out our driver stints and spend less time in the pits. Due to the fuel consumption on “R” compound tires we planned on stopping once an hour. On the Dunlop’s we squeezed out another 5 – 10 minutes per stint allowing us to eliminate an entire pit stop. This is important because it minimizes the negative impact of running a “slower” tire. Add in that we did not have to change four sets of tires the negative impact is decreased even more. Another benefit to the tires that might be harder to calculate is the decreased wear or stress on the car. With less grip you are not working the brakes, wheel bearings, or driveline as hard as you drift the car through the turns. This in my mind is a definite factor in how well the car performed throughout the weekend. We truly believe that the average amateur racer will not see a negative impact to his/her results in an endurance race with the Direzza ZII because of the benefits gained in the pits.
The huge positive to the Dunlop's though is the cost savings making it a clear choice for any amateur racer even if they are not allowed to drop down one class. Because of the improvements in the new Dunlop Direzza ZII tread pattern one set of tires will last as long as or longer than the four sets of R’ compound tires our competition used. The cost of four sets of new “R” compound tires is around $4,500 while the cost of one set of Dunlop Direzza ZII tires is just over $700.
As mentioned above, when it comes to tire wear Dunlop clearly hit the target when making the new Direzza ZII. I personally think that aside from any unforeseen issues 1 set of tires might last the entire event including practice, qualifying and a 12hr race.
The tires performance was fairly consistent throughout the race however everyone seemed to agree the tires worked better in cooler conditions. The hotter the track temperature though the more “greasy” the tire got, however they were still very controllable and predictable. Additionally they seemed to only get better the more the tires wore. When deciding tire pressures, the tires seemed to perform the best at or below 40psi hot.
Please ask away any questions, I obviously would be happy to answer them.
If you have not looked at face book several pictures we took are already posted as we progressed through the race.
Thanks again to the crew, the drivers, our families and everyone else for all the support;
RST Performance Racing
This is a picture of the car after impound... notice the RF tire still has plenty of tread after 12.5hrs on it!
More information on the Dunlop Direzza ZII can be found at www.dunloptire.com
More information on how you can get involved with RST Performance Racing can be found at www.rstperformance.com or e-mailing Raymond at rblethen@rstperformance.com or Stephen Blethen at sblethen@rstperformance.com
More information on the "Devil in the Dark" can be found at http://www.thedevilinthedark.com
The South Jersey and Northern New Jersey Regions of the SCCA have certainly proven that they know how to host one of the best races on the east coast! If you have never been to this race to drive, volunteer or watch you need to add it to your bucket list. I have been to a lot of events in our 30+ years of participating in automotive events across the east coast but nothing compares to this. I still can’t get over the excitement of seeing the cars racing one another and making pit stops at night!
This race has been something that myself and everyone at RST Performance Racing have wanted to do for years but just didn’t have the ability to make the commitment for several reasons. This year we had the Mazda RX8 sorted out and decided early on that we were going to take on the devil! But it wasn’t an easy task...
The team met for several months at least once a week to work on the car and give special projects to different people. We replaced several parts with new ones, made several upgrades to the car from headlights to the rear diff cooler, and we made a “pit space” to help assist the team when it came to making our pit stops. These changes took months of planning and research to get right, and I think it paid off. We can’t stress enough how important the preparation is when it comes to taking on an endurance race of this caliber. Later I will post our preparation list to possibly help others who are doing this for the first time!
The team also had to recruit additional team members to handle all the duties when it came to the race weekend itself. The first bit of good news was we recruited new team members and they became SCCA members! From our experience you really need at least 8 people at each pit stop to keep things moving and the more people dedicated to specific roles the entire event the better you will be. We had two dedicated gas crew members, one person dedicated to check the engine bay (especially the oil which was 1/2 quart EVERY 65minutes!), one dedicated person to check/monitor right side tires, one dedicated person to monitor left side tires, one dedicated person to keep data organized, and a group of people in charge of keeping everyone fed. We also used drivers to help with extinguisher duties and assisting other drivers in/out of the car. We had a list of every crew person and his/or her duties at every pit stop. This list also included the details of each persons duty. Just like with any team, everyone focused on his task each pit stop and didn’t watch or worry about anyone else. Most pit stops were just over 2 minutes and included a driver change, 90lbs of gas, the addition of engine oil, and tire pressure changes. Later we will also post some video and the written script to our pit stop procedures!
Because of our preparation the weekend went nearly flawless with the exception of changing a rear end diff that let go during night practice on Friday and just simply not enough time to set everything up without some rushing. Like everything when it is your first time you sorta need to learn on the fly! The only bit of advice I can say is arrive early, unpack early, and get things set up in pit lane early! Also bring a couple extra hands if you can
As for the race itself... we worked with Dunlop to test the new Direzza ZII high performance street tire. First I have to start off by thanking Dunlop for the support… Our efforts at the 2013 Devil in the Dark were a huge success. While our competition used as much as 4 sets of new “R” compound tires to make the 12 grueling hours we never changed a tire. We actually never even jacked the car up off of the ground once the green flag was thrown! In the end after 12 flawless hours we completed 415 laps (~933miles) and ended up 4th in class out of 23 and an even more impressive 7th overall out of 44. Again it's important to stress that we were the ONLY car on street tires, EVERY other car ran "R" compounds!
All but 1 of the 44 starters were in the E1, E2, and E3 classes. Our car was originally classed in the E2 class but because we were running street tires we dropped a class and ran in the E3 class as a test for SCCA. If we had stayed in the original class (E2 class) we would have won the class with our 7th overall performance. E3 was an extremely competitive field with some very experienced teams, including Bimmer world, Mitchum motorsports, Flatout, and some other grand-am teams. We are extremely pleased finishing 4th in class considering we had to do several more pit stops for fuel than anyone else. This was the first time a street tire was used in an all out effort, and this was our teams first 12hr endurance race. It should also be noted that we turned the fastest lap time in the E3 class!
The Tire Review:
It was clear after testing and practice that the Dunlop Direzza ZII tires were going to easily make the 12hr distance on the RST Performance Racing’s 3,000lb rear wheel drive Mazda RX8. What wasn’t clear was if the brakes would last, and how much the fuel consumption would affect our pit stop strategy. The more fuel consumed the more pit stops we would have to do. On the Dunlop’s we knew we would run slightly slower and hoped that this might actually be a benefit by not wearing out the car and using less fuel allowing us to stretch out our driver stints and spend less time in the pits. Due to the fuel consumption on “R” compound tires we planned on stopping once an hour. On the Dunlop’s we squeezed out another 5 – 10 minutes per stint allowing us to eliminate an entire pit stop. This is important because it minimizes the negative impact of running a “slower” tire. Add in that we did not have to change four sets of tires the negative impact is decreased even more. Another benefit to the tires that might be harder to calculate is the decreased wear or stress on the car. With less grip you are not working the brakes, wheel bearings, or driveline as hard as you drift the car through the turns. This in my mind is a definite factor in how well the car performed throughout the weekend. We truly believe that the average amateur racer will not see a negative impact to his/her results in an endurance race with the Direzza ZII because of the benefits gained in the pits.
The huge positive to the Dunlop's though is the cost savings making it a clear choice for any amateur racer even if they are not allowed to drop down one class. Because of the improvements in the new Dunlop Direzza ZII tread pattern one set of tires will last as long as or longer than the four sets of R’ compound tires our competition used. The cost of four sets of new “R” compound tires is around $4,500 while the cost of one set of Dunlop Direzza ZII tires is just over $700.
As mentioned above, when it comes to tire wear Dunlop clearly hit the target when making the new Direzza ZII. I personally think that aside from any unforeseen issues 1 set of tires might last the entire event including practice, qualifying and a 12hr race.
The tires performance was fairly consistent throughout the race however everyone seemed to agree the tires worked better in cooler conditions. The hotter the track temperature though the more “greasy” the tire got, however they were still very controllable and predictable. Additionally they seemed to only get better the more the tires wore. When deciding tire pressures, the tires seemed to perform the best at or below 40psi hot.
Please ask away any questions, I obviously would be happy to answer them.
If you have not looked at face book several pictures we took are already posted as we progressed through the race.
Thanks again to the crew, the drivers, our families and everyone else for all the support;
RST Performance Racing
This is a picture of the car after impound... notice the RF tire still has plenty of tread after 12.5hrs on it!
More information on the Dunlop Direzza ZII can be found at www.dunloptire.com
More information on how you can get involved with RST Performance Racing can be found at www.rstperformance.com or e-mailing Raymond at rblethen@rstperformance.com or Stephen Blethen at sblethen@rstperformance.com
More information on the "Devil in the Dark" can be found at http://www.thedevilinthedark.com
lol the 30,000 tread warranty on the Michelin's is definitely tempting, especially since it's a summer tire...
05-05-2013, 10:54 PM
#7
Thanks for the kind words guys. Pleasing Dr K is definetly a highlight, He has worked with a lot of enduro teams and done a tone of Enduros so any compliment from him is certainly awesome! He was great to have, consistant, fast, and smart!
I will post up some video after we get it all sorted out. I am hoping to make a highlight video at some point... lots of video to edit...
We are running 17" SSR rims eventhough we are allowed 18". I have not tested 18" at any point but I can't justify the expense in tires to jump up to 18". Besides we have 3 sets of 17" SSR rims already!
The tires we are running are 245/45/17. We could get larger tires but with a bigger sidewall and figured the tire sidewall stiffness may become an issue. Maybe we will talk to dunlop and test specific sizes on track and report back to you and them. Any requests??
Stephen
I will post up some video after we get it all sorted out. I am hoping to make a highlight video at some point... lots of video to edit...
We are running 17" SSR rims eventhough we are allowed 18". I have not tested 18" at any point but I can't justify the expense in tires to jump up to 18". Besides we have 3 sets of 17" SSR rims already!
The tires we are running are 245/45/17. We could get larger tires but with a bigger sidewall and figured the tire sidewall stiffness may become an issue. Maybe we will talk to dunlop and test specific sizes on track and report back to you and them. Any requests??
Stephen
05-06-2013, 03:56 PM
#10
Thanks for the kind words guys. Pleasing Dr K is definetly a highlight, He has worked with a lot of enduro teams and done a tone of Enduros so any compliment from him is certainly awesome! He was great to have, consistant, fast, and smart!
I will post up some video after we get it all sorted out. I am hoping to make a highlight video at some point... lots of video to edit...
We are running 17" SSR rims eventhough we are allowed 18". I have not tested 18" at any point but I can't justify the expense in tires to jump up to 18". Besides we have 3 sets of 17" SSR rims already!
The tires we are running are 245/45/17. We could get larger tires but with a bigger sidewall and figured the tire sidewall stiffness may become an issue. Maybe we will talk to dunlop and test specific sizes on track and report back to you and them. Any requests??
Stephen
I will post up some video after we get it all sorted out. I am hoping to make a highlight video at some point... lots of video to edit...
We are running 17" SSR rims eventhough we are allowed 18". I have not tested 18" at any point but I can't justify the expense in tires to jump up to 18". Besides we have 3 sets of 17" SSR rims already!
The tires we are running are 245/45/17. We could get larger tires but with a bigger sidewall and figured the tire sidewall stiffness may become an issue. Maybe we will talk to dunlop and test specific sizes on track and report back to you and them. Any requests??
Stephen
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