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#98 Mini Mania 25 Hour Endurance Saga Redondo Beach, CA (Dec 10, 2003)- The longest road race in the United States happened on Dec 6-7, 2003 with some of the biggest names in racing competing for bragging rights in this monumental event. The event was the National Auto Sport Association's 25 Hour of Thunderhill. Team Mini Mania/Toyo Tires was assembled and the car was prepared to win the "E1" class. The driver lineup included Vesko Kozarov, Ryan Flaherty, Donny Edwards, Nick Steel, Kevin Chambers, Navid Kahangi and John Thawley III. Six out of the seven drivers had won numerous races or series championships and are top-notch racers. John Thawley III is an accomplished photographer and journalist that just earned his racing license back in June and joined the team to pen a story for European Car Magazine and get his first shot at endurance racing. The car that Team Mini Mania brought to the grid was a Mini Cooper S built by Vesko to Grand Am ST1 specifications. The car ran a few Grand Am races in 2003 and will run a full season in 2004. The team members met early Friday to make last minute preparations to the car and drive the car in practice. The car ran great and all the drivers were amazed at how well balanced and powerful the car was. Daylight ran out before Edwards and Kahangi were able to get in the car so they would be unable to practice before the start of the race. During qualifying, Vesko drove the car and earned the E1 pole position and 15th overall out of 70+ cars. The team quickly learned that its main competition would the professional effort of Spoon Sports from Japan. Although the Mini out-qualified the Spoon team by over a second, the #98 crew knew they were in for a tough fight because of the vast endurance racing experience and crew the size of a football team that Spoon brought to the match. On Saturday morning, the Air Force Color Guard marched the flag down the hot pits while the National Anthem played and two F-15 fighters buzzed the grid with their afterburners lit to signal the start of something that would turn out the be an experience of a lifetime! Donny Edwards started the race in the rain and took advantage of the full tread Toyo Tires to quickly work his way up through the field. The first pit stop consisted of a 10-gallon fuel fill and a windshield cleaning followed by a quick return back out to the race. At that time, the competition from Spoon had slipped in front due to the pit stop but the Mini was still in the chase. The team settled in for the long haul and ran through the driver rotation. In Kahangi's first outing he was hit in the rear wheel which forced him to pit early to take a damage assessment. Luckily no major damage occurred other than a slightly bent rim and precious time lost in the pits. Flaherty took control of the car around 9:30 pm when the rain had stopped and was able to make up some lost time from the unscheduled pit stop. The Mini was running strong and the Toyo Tires were giving enough advantage to eventually run down the Spoon car, pass it, and gain nearly a 2-minute gap on the competition. However that advantage would not last long as an ES class entry attempted a late brake move and lost control of the car to hit the Mini square in the right front wheel at the apex of Turn 14. The impact forced the Mini to spin and wait to reenter after the traffic was clear. This incident allowed the competition to make up valuable time. As the Mini resumed the charge, Flaherty noted that the steering wheel was positioned to the right and the car had developed a pull to the right. It was clear that something was bent or knocked out of alignment. At the next pit stop, the crew performed a front brake rotor and pad change and inspected the car for any significant suspension damage. The suspension looked to be fine but the brake change took longer than expected so the team returned to the race in second place. Vesko suited up to take the next shift and the team was confident that he would be able to turn up the speed to get back in the lead. After a few laps, Vesko was running much faster times than the E1 class leader and the team was making up ground. After 4 laps, Vesko got on the radio and said that he felt that the right front tire was coming loose. Upon inspection, the CV joint had blown apart, most likely due to the earlier hit from the ES team. The team pushed the car to the back paddock to remove the broken unit and install a spare well-used CV axle. The team crossed their fingers and hoped for the best as they headed back to the pit lane. After the 20-minute axle swap, the team rejoined the race in 8th place and went to work making up ground. Edwards, Steel, and Chambers drove the car with precision for the next 5 hours to make up many positions and get the team back to 3rd place. As luck would have it, the replaced axle blew up and the car was returned to the back paddock where Vesko got creative and built another unit out of the 2 broken units. After another axle install, Kahangi took the car back out to take his turn making up the lost positions and got the team back into 2nd place. The crew was ready for the next driver change to get Thawley in the car, but 3 laps before the scheduled stop Kahangi reported over the radio that he had been hit. An E3 team had been pushed off course by another car and entered the track with tires full of mud. The driver lost control of the car and crashed into the Mini tearing the left rear wheel off the Mini. As the NASA tow unit dropped the mighty Mini, the team surveyed the damage and surrendered, as the car was unrepairable. The 21 hours of hard racing was the most challenging race any of the drivers had ever experienced. Had the car not been hit twice which forced the team to perform over 40 minutes of unscheduled repair time and the last incident that sidelined the car had not occurred, the victory would have almost surely been theirs. The team turned in a solid performance, but the loss of the car in the last few hours proved the old racing maxim of "to finish first, you must first finish". Special thanks are due to all the drivers and crewmembers Scott Brown, Walter Frear and Jeff Kerl who stayed up the entire time and put the car back together after it came into the pits damaged. The car was top notch and prepared to win because of the generous support from Mini Mania, Toyo Tires, Hella Lights, Sparco, H-Sport, Team Dynamics, Nordskog Guages, and MINI USA. We must also extend our gratitude to NASA for hosting this fantastic event and would like to thank all the pit marshals, corner officials, safety team, and timing and scoring crew for doing such an outstanding job for all the competitors. Contact Info: For more pictures
of the event please visit: Para.Noid.Org
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