Walk me thru Summit Endurance Race

Quicky background. Raced in the late 80's on the west coast.Nasty crashed had me out for a bit, the biz brought me back to the northeast, and budget and lack of races kept me from spending the bucks on racing. Advent of trackdays got me on the track again, inspired buying a new Duc 1198 streetbike and a couple/three race bikes. Due to living in Albany NY I race ccs. In the 80's I did some endurance races and loved them. I am considering getting a wera license just to race the Summit endurance. Id love every bit of info and opinions about the race that I can get. How many riders everyone likes to use, how many sets of tires, and what tires are commonly used, how many fuels stops, etc. Would love a play by play of a day there. Have some co riders in mind and the financially agreement is not a problem, just want to be overly prepared.

 

Oh, one more thing, do all classes run? Would be fun to put together a vintage bike out of my spare parts to run.

 

04 gsxr 750
1 front 2 rears
4 fuel stops
4 hour VIR
3 riders - 2 riders twice, other rider rode once
all classes run together

 

Thanks YZ. Now, that was a total of 2 rear, one front? So you on,y changed one tire in 4 hours? May I ask what tire you were using? I'm assuming a hard compound?. The 1 hour stints on fuel, was that with a stock tank or did you have an endurance tank on it?
I appreciate the help.

 

summit endurance on an sv 650
2 sets of tires, one for the practice day and one set for the race.
3 riders, 3 or 4 pit crew guys that dont dissappear mid race.
We do around 1 hour and 15 min stints on a stock tank.
Plenty of beer for after the race

 

What class are you planning on running? In a 4 hr on a SV or a 600 you should be able to do the whole thing on one set of tires, 6hr you'll need the 1 front 2 rears. and I think you'll need to fuel about ebery 50min with a stock tank. We're running a 95 zx6r in the trophy class this year. I know of at least 3 Vintage7 teams doing this for RRR and at least 2 of us doing Summit. If your looking for a cheep bike to do Summit on i have a 98 F3 I'm getting ready to sell.
oh yea back to the Summit round. It usually is smoking hot that weekend, so make sure you have plenty to drink, make sure to have a canopy to set up at pit wall, you will need 2 crew members, although the guys on your team could do the pit work and usually the teams next to you will lend a hand. Your gas guy will need a long sleeve shirt and dont forget your 10lb fire extingusher. i would say have 30 gallons of gas on hand. Ii hope this helps. Lance

 

Great info guys. I will either be running thunderbike or 600 ss, but could throw together an old old cooled gxsr for shits and giggles.
What tires are you guys using? I have to imagine they are a hard compound?

 

I love the Bridgestones. We raced a 1st gen SV last year, at RRR we won our class and was 4th overall and after the race the back tire looked new. So I would say Bridgestones all the way. Lance

 

You'll never do a 4 hr. event on a 600 on 1 set of tires, if your riders turn competitive times.

 

we podiumed in class on one set of tires. top 10 over all. some brands can and some won't, and it depends on riding style. endurance you have to take care of the tires, its not a sprint race. run a second off the the pace and not change a tire or go a second faster change a tire and loose everything you just pushed for.

 

riding a real endurance bike you won't loose time on changing a rear but, what do I know.

 

Keep it coming folks! I know plenty of racers on this BB have done endurance races, chime in with opinions and ideas, I need help here!
What Bridgestones are you running? I see they sponsor the race, I assume there are contingencies?

 

1 front and we switched the rear after 2nd rider. we actually used 3 rear tires but should have been 2 rears.

Michelin V front and B rear. the last tire we went with was the C rear. B kept chunking. Suspension was off though.

stock tank. we would come in after 4 laps of the light being on. should have done 8 laps.