Whatcha doing this weekend? Andy Hollis and Tom O’Gorman will be at Thunderhill for NASA’s annual 25-hour race–Tom is driving, while Andy will serve as crew chief.
Last year, they helped Team Honda Research win its class while landing on the overall podium. This time, the team will mount a three-car effort with the brand’s Civic Type R.
Tom …
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Great news...flight's on time...![](https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/prod.mm.com/uploads/2023/11/09/1699542754_85ecceef-1f77-41e2-b60d-f216e7dc442b_mmthumb.jpeg)
And the weather forecast looks perfect.
Last year it rained for 2/3's of the race...
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Flights on time is a good thing.
Upright and locked positions, everyone.
Hi Andy! Looks like your flight made it off the ground, so that's a good start.
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Gooooood morning from the long empty road from Sacramento to the track! Looking forward to the weekend, we have testing for both cars today before qualifying tomorrow. Feel free to post any questions for Andy, the engineers, or myself, we'll be here!
Tom O’Gorman is in the house.
Y'all just let anyone in here, huh?
Did they move the race forward? I remember it being in early December. And very cold at night.
Keith Tanner said:
Did they move the race forward? I remember it being in early December. And very cold at night.
Yes
There are rumors that this race may not continue much longer
tomoracing94 said:
Y'all just let anyone in here, huh?
Not everyone gets their arrival announced like that, though. :)
We have arrived! Well, two of us anyway. Yes, moved a month earlier and you can tell. Temps in the 60s, grass still much browner and dustier. Should be a beautiful weekend.![](https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/prod.mm.com/uploads/2023/11/09/1699552629_img_2966_mmthumb.jpeg)
Also, my favorite part of the event prep spreadsheet. Damn drivers haha - Andy, are you behind this??![](https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/prod.mm.com/uploads/2023/11/09/1699552750_img_2964_mmthumb.jpeg)
not me!
But I concur.
"mechanical sympathy", please
In reply to tomoracing94 :
Nice.
On the ground now at SMF..
The logistics of assembling 40-50 team members from all over North America is pretty crazy. Hopefully my ride to the track is waiting nearby.
"Questions? Comments? Wishes of good luck? You’re at the right place."
Can you make an hour long video detailing all your car prep secrets and showing us every nifty feature/product on the car?
If you can't do it in one hour, two would be acceptable...
First photos from trackside! Exterior first:
- Using the front splitter from the TCR Civic Type Rs
- Custom rear quarter flares
- "Sufficient" rear aero haha
- Andy's first inspection of the engine bay!
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- GT-style windows
- Giant fuel cell with quick fuel filler neck
- Engine bay shot cuz I heard some people are into that
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parts car.
we check these out from the Honda motor pool. They have no idea...
In reply to msterbee :
Hahaha - I have Andy working on that now.
Test day isn't without it's fresh car teething issues, but #24 is already back in the 1:55s - less than 2 seconds off our 2019 pace with 3-year developed FK8 Type Rs on BFG DOT-Rs. This year on Bridgestone RE-71RSs. Promising on pace so far!
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#25 fighting overheating issues.
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How many stints/laps are you expecting to get on a set of RE-71RSes? The new rules allow changing all four tires at once now, right?
AWH : As long as 8 hours...maybe.
Yes, four tires at once. But with FWD, we'll likely only do fronts mostly.
Well that escalated quickly...
#25 getting a new engine
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Pit bikes resting for the evening...
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