Crewing in the Charge of the Headlight Brigade 13-hour endurance race

There is no better way to get experience than to participate. This was good advice that I received once encouraging me to crew for a team if I truly wanted to learn about racing.

Inmy 32 years of motorsports expereince, the only crewing I had done was for my dad, but that was back in the early 80s.

I had a chance to participate thanks to Stephen Figura, my instructor from the September PDX event at Carolina Motorsports Park.

Matthew Littleton, SCCA driver and car owner recaps the event below.

WDC Region SRX7s Again Dominate in Enduro

The SM2 Motorsports SpecRX7 fendedoff all competitors and overcame several mechanical difficulties tofinish first in class in the "Charge of the Headlight Brigade" 13-hourendurance race held at Virginia International Raceway on November 4th 2006.

This continues the car's unbroken record of endurance racefirst-in-class finishes and further reinforces the level ofcompetition resident within the Washington DC region SRX7 community. The car qualified 56th out of 80 and finished in 63rd place overall. The night before the race, car owner Matt Littleton took to the trackfirst for the 30 minute night practice session.

Confirming that thecar was in top race form, the car was driven by Marshall Lytle and Steve Figura for the night qualifying session. Setting a blistering pace, they outqualified cars such as the T2 Nissan 350Z (co-driven by none other than Rob Hines). The crack SM2 pit crew sprung into action following the qualifying session, ensuring the car had new brake pads all around, a fresh fuel filter, and was topped off with fuel. Race day dawned clear and cold? really cold. After removing the custom SM2 Motorsports engine block heater (two halogen floodlights) from under the hood, the car was fired up and brought to the grid by SM2 crew member and fellow WDC region SRX7 driver Chris Hubbart. Matt Littleton started the race and spent the first stint easily keeping pace with the two IT7 cars in the field. Marshall Lytle took over approximately 1.5 hours into the race and maintained race pace while also ensuring that the grass in several turns was kept to the appropriate length (which, for the uninitiated, is the ride height ofa SRX7 at full tilt on non-paved surfaces).

After managing to avoid the swarm of SMs, SSMs, and SRFs for over 1.5 hours, Marshall handed the car off to Steve Figura who ensured that the grass previously mown by Marshall had not grown back since it was previously cut. To further ensure that the spectators had an unobstructed view of the action on track, he engaged in a variant of slash and burn tactics known as "spin and burn." Deciding that the smoke from his tires as he exited the track backward in T4 was not enough excitement for the spectators and race officials, he continued his excursion until he reached the tire wall, executed a graceful SRX7 downshift (accompanied by the standard flame thrower effect from the exhaust) and promptly set the grass on fire under the car as he returned to the action ontrack. The firefighting action off the track dominated the race control net, requiring four backup firefighters to extinguish the blaze and ensured that we left our mark at VIR. The SM2 team will be having an internal vote to decide if "Smoky" is now an appropriate nickname for Steve.

The fourth stint of the race again saw Littleton in the car. Prior to jumping in, he was heard to ask, "what the heck is all that grassdoing hanging off the car?" Receiving the standard "I don't know"shoulder shrug from his co-drivers, he assumed that someone else must have brought it on track and leapt into the car following another flawlessly executed pitstop by the SM2 crew.

Several laps into thestint, the smoke filling the cabin of the car (conveniently appearingat the high speed T10 on track) indicated something was amiss. As the smoke momentarily cleared, he had enough time to think? "perhaps that was some of the dry grass catching fire and then burning out."Immediately following this thought, the belt that was being dragged across the now seized water pump finally failed with a loud bang and nearly every warning light on the dash illuminated and the water temp immediately began climbing. Radioing back to Chris Hubbart that he was coming in with an unknown problem, the pit crew was ready to leap over the wall (after Chris issued the emergency round up call) and diagnose the problem.

The car was immediately taken behind the wall to the paddock where Kyle Russert, with the same precision of a trauma surgeon in the ER, took charge of the repair efforts. Putting his RPPerformance experience to good use, he directed the cannibalization ofthe water pump, alternator, and air pump as a complete assembly from the spare engine (also built by RP Performance) as he dove into the now crippled engine and began ripping off coolant hoses. He was heard to utter words to the effect of, "Golly, that really 'is' rather warm"when the boiling coolant shot over his hands and arms. Paying no heed to the pain, he continued directing the repair efforts directly assisted by Travis and John V. The three drivers served as tool-fetchers and had the good sense to get the heck out of the way. Kyle is now under consideration for the nickname "Bolt Killer" as his superhuman strength was just too much for several of the bolts associated with one of the front pulleys. As the repairs were beingfinalized, Joel, Chris, John and Steve led the refueling, tire and brake pad change on the car as Littleton re-strapped in to return to the track. DTR Pam Linger was standing by at the tech shed to ensure the car got the proper paperwork for race re-entry.

Once again in race form, the car continued on but developed an unknown vibration that required several trips to the pits for new tires, re-torquing of the lug nuts, wheel bearing and driveline inspection.The problem was ultimately diagnosed as "it's a SRX7, shut up and drive? you'll get used to it." During this drama, driver Littleton failed to notice the voltage needle slowly moving left as the cannibalized alternator failed. Absent the info that the voltage had dropped, the wild gyrations of both the stock and aftermarket tachometers, coupled by the miss in the engine led the crew to diagnose the problem as a faulty igniter. Kyle again leapt into action and stripped the distributor from the spare engine and installed it into the car as Steve Figura strapped in. After the car failed to turn over due to the nearly dead battery, the car was push-started by the crew and taken back to the SM2 paddock where the alternator swap occurred faster than some of the crew members could walk from the hot pits to the paddock spot and redefined "Charge" ofthe Headlight Brigade for the SM2 team. DTR Pam leapt into the car and rode down to the tech shed to again process the paperwork required for track re-entry.

Steve then brought the car on track, waved to the corner workers that still smelled of smoke, and drove a consistent pace into the night. During this stint, the car also had a rattle and an undiagnosed "ringing" noise on several occasions. This was diagnosed at the next stop as Pam's cell phone that had fallen out of her pocket into the passenger footwell of the car while she rode tothe tech shed in the paddock. Removal of the phone and return to itsowner cured both problems.

Marshall Lytle then assumed driving duties for the longest stint of the race and managed to avoid the still furious SM, SSM and SRF battles occurring at the 12 hour mark in the race. After returning to the pits on fumes, the car required a shot of starter fluid to fire, likely due to the fact that the car's timing was set at "about there"during the hot swap of the distributor. The final portion of the race was driven by Matt Littleton. After taking the checkered flag, he brought the car to impound on pit road where the engine promptly and quite fittingly died at idle.

Rejoicing in their class win, the SM2 crew was heard to say? "So? can we eat now?"A true team event, the outstanding first in class finish and overallbeating of cars such as a BimmerWorld prepared BMW Z3 would not have been possible without the work of the crew. The drivers of SM2 would like to thank: Pam Linger for serving as DTR, Chris Hubbart for hismultiple duties including designated gas can man and supplier ofdistilled water/coolant, John Vacca for going over the wall as wheelman and engine maintenance, Joel Gallun for going over the wall inengine, wheel and other duties, John Counts for duties as team bartender, photographer, and fire bottle man, Fred McConnell for duties in the pits and repairs in the paddock, Travis Ashley for mechanical assistance in the multiple engine issues during the race, Jay Vacca and Cody Linger for outstanding paddock logistics and transportation support ensuring the team was always ready to execute its fuel stops, Kyle Russert for his duties as master mechanic and resuscitator of engines, Keith and Lori Ashley for their support infeeding the unruly mob for the duration of the event.

A special thanks also goes out to: Dave "Kitty" Ade for supplying the drivinglight assembly from his 2003 12-Hour at Summit Point class-winningSRX7 (also co-driven by Littleton and Figura), Bret DePedro for allowing the team to borrow his custom endurance race pit light setup, and Matt Geidl for lending a spare clutch that, thankfully, wasn'tneeded.A fantastic experience, SM2 Motorsports is already planning for its next endurance race challenge!

(Editoral Comment: In the interest of journalistic integrity? and since you read this far ? we were the "only" SRX7 in the race! Inspite of our mechanical difficulties, we did manage to beat one of theother two IT7s in the race. It is also important to note that threefirst-gen RX7s started the race and all three were still running atthe finish of the race.)SM2 Motorsports consists of 'S'teve Figura (former SRX7 driver,currently piloting a SM), 'M'att Littleton (SRX7), and 'M'arshallLytle (ITS/E/R BMW)

2006 TSCC Dixie Classic Autocross

One of my favorite autocrosses to participate in is the Triad Sports Car Club’s (http://www.auto-x.com/) Dixie Classic. The event takes place at the Fairground in Winston-Salem on a figure eight race track. The course is always a fun one and changes up the typical convention center parking lot with nothing but a sea of cones.

This past Saturday, October 28, I took the Biscuit (name is a long story, but will share at some point soon) out for the event. It was a beautiful October day highs in the lower 60s, few clouds in the sky with a consistent wind.

I am not a huge fan of autocrosses, because I constantly get lost on course and I spend more time worrying about finishing than actually having fun. Road courses are preferable, because the speeds are much higher and you are able to really stretch the cars legs. However, when you have a strong club like the local one here, good turn out and a great track, you can’t help but get your car out and enjoy it with other sporting enthusiasts.

Things went well. We were given six runs and each session lasted about an hour. I completed all six laps without an incident, except for a +1 second for hitting a cone on my last run. The first four runs, I improved my time by a number of seconds, but never came within the four seconds of the class winner. The combination of newer cars and more seasoned drivers makes it difficult to be competitive.

The MG is a blast to drive given its good grip, minimal body roll and high torque. When compared to the high horsepower cars, the B does not require that you lift off the throttle as much and really challenges you to put it out there.

This was the final event of the season for me. The car is now going into the garage to undergo extensive preparation for next year’s season.

So now that I know where I am heading in the short term – PDX style, I located an event close to home. There are many options through both the SCCA and NASA.

And here at home, there are two representative SCCA regions within North Carolina - The North Carolina Region (NCR) which serves the eastern part of the state and the Central Carolina Region (CCR) which covers the western part – that you can participate in.

It was late August and I located a September PDE event put on by the CCR at Carolina Motorsports Park (www.carolinamotorsportspark.com)

It is next week – Friday, September 15 – Sunday, September 17). Tech Friday night, classroom instruction followed by two 20 minute session on Saturday with the same schedule on Sunday.

My dad is flying down from Virginia to crew for me. Meanwhile, I have been scurrying about in preparation ensuring that my car was ready and able to pass tech.

I only work on my car during the weekends and normally for only half the day at best then. I value my time with family and do not want my hobby to interrupt my time with them. Given the public nature of this community, I don’t discuss them much, but my time with them is more important than anything else that I do.

However, my wife is a giving person and takes on the burden of caring for the kids while I bury myself in grease and parts J

Projects of late have included replacing the brake rotors (I went from standard to the cross drilled version which dissipate heat and water better) and pads to cure the shimmy that came from a warped right front rotor. I also have bled the braking system, reconnected the windshield wipers (a tech requirement), have changed the fluids and prepped my newly acquired trailer.

Progress continues and now, in the remaining days, I will knock a few smaller items, prepare items for packing and clean the car. I read somewhere that a clean race car is a happy one. If anything, it fits with my desire to be as professional and buttoned up as possible.

"When you're racing - it's life. Anything that comes before or after is just waiting" ~ Steve McQueen in LeMans, 1971

So, I did an autocross and though not that successful it was fun and a good chance to “open” up the car and see how smooth it was in both handling and at high revs.

As McQueen says everything else in between has been waiting, and in my case preparing. I have been mapping out and planning my next steps. While researching other performance driving opportunities I stumbled across a new program that the SCCA has introduced. It is called the Performance Driving Experience (PDE).

The SCCA web site (www.scca.org) explains it this way.

“PDX events are about you, the driver. Plenty of seat time, plenty of individual instruction and a ton of driving exercises make up a PDX; all of which is designed to educate you and make you more confident behind the wheel, both on the track and on the street.Participants receive a solid blend of driving instruction, ranging from the classroom to in-car training to “follow me” drills. A wide range of topics are discussed and shown at a PDX, including: following a “racing line”, passing zones, speed limits and other general driving techniques. Of course, each driver receives feedback from his or her instructor at the end of each lesson. PDX events are non-competition based, but three other levels of the Time Trials program provide competition, but it’s important that the skills taught at a PDX are learned beforehand so you as a driver can enjoy the latter levels of the program the way they were intended.

When you feel you’re ready for something a bit challenging, Club Trials is where you want to be.Club Trials continue the instruction you received in the PDX, but adds advanced driving techniques, competition rules and introduces the elements of a timed event. Your street car is still perfectly acceptable, but you might start to see a few race-prepared vehicles too!With Club Trials, you now get to feel what it’s like to be on the track and go against the clock no matter what you’re running that weekend. There are two more levels to the Time Trials program, designed for even more racing action! Time Trials, Track Trials and Hill Climbs.”

The bottom line for me is that I think I have found my bread and butter for the next couple of years. For a number of reasons there is still a lot for me to do to get on track with other cars and this will be a great opportunity for me to utilize the car that I have and gain some valuable on trace experience.

It's a battle against course and clock, sometimes called autocross, it all comes to down to driving ability. Are you as fast as your car looks? Autocross places a premium on precise driving skills and a singular goal – finish the course faster than your rivals.

I took the MG out this past weekend for the first time to participate in the North Carolina Autocross Championships. I had been anticipating this event for more than a month and had been planning for it longer than that.

However, I made a key error in my planning. I was consulting the wrong Web site for information and showed up late. I registered and passed tech, but did not get a chance to walk the course, but one time and that was quickly because the driver’s meeting was about to start. Combined with the fact that I was in the first group out, I was helplessly lost on course.

I accomplished one key objective. I took the MG out and for the first time was able to open it up. I was pleasantly surprised with both the cars handling and the power available in first and second gear.

The end goal for me is road racing in any form – specifically vintage racing. Autocross is a cheap and fun way to enjoy the car, as well as a chance to refine key driving techniques.

I will continue to compete with the Triad Sports Car Club (http://www.auto-x.com/) and look for other opportunities within SCCA’s Performance Driving Experience, time trials and hill climbs.

As I continue to refine and build the car, ultimately I will make it to full time road racing.

Welcome enthusiasts!!

For several weeks now, my friends at Third Wave Digital (www.thirdwavedigital.com/) have been helping me pull together the beautiful site you just visited. They are great business partners and if you have a business and are looking at upgrading your Web site, contact them. They are a highly professional shop and though this site looks high speed, their rates are the best in the business and have made a living working with small businesses. Tell them Fred sent you and they will take good care of you. Their experience in motor sports is not limited to me. For years they worked with Team Kool Green back in the days when Barry Green was fielding two cars in the Champ car series.

As you have already read, I wanted to develop a site that paid tribute to my parents, the founders of the original Think Racing team. I also hoped to document the revival of that team as I make my own venture into vintage racing.

The Think Racing Too blog will do just that. Why Think Racing Too? It is a play on words – My racing team name is Think Racing too (also), but also in that I am the second generation of Think Racing. Work with me.

I want to keep the postings short to avoid reader fatigue. Thanks for visiting. Please come back, as I will be updating the graphics gallery on http://www.thinkracing.net/, as well as the Think Racing Too Blog. Next postings will be more about me and the Think Racing history as well as how I came about the MG bug, including postings on the progress we are making toward full blown competition.

Safety Fast.

How many little British cars can you get into one side of the garage. Unlike a tootsie roll pop, this one is measurable. I think I have maxed out at three. In fact, in combination with tools and spare parts, there is not any room to walk around. Time to start liquidating. Look for an MG related ebay store opening up at a computer near you.

Picked up the green car (no name yet) and it is a dream. Drove it 170 miles home from its former residence in Darlington, S.C. with no top under clear skies. Fast, smooth and tight. Brand new front to back and the undercarriage looks as if it just rolled off the show room.
So many quality spare parts that I am not sure where to begin. Can't wait to take my wife out for coffee and a nice country drive.

Dreams can be realized

Forget what mom said about just plugging along.

I have been daydreaming, planning and plugging along with the hopes and wishes of building the next great vintage race car. I want to compete - at first in SCCA's Solo competion ( http://www.scca.org/Solo ) and then eventually in vintage sportscar racing ( www.svra.com ).

It was going to be hard to swallow, but I had accepted that it would take a few years to build that car. Then a turn of events changed that plan for the better. As follow up to the last post, I did take the car to the welder and he did a great job. That car is in fantastic shape and will make a great project car, but for someone else:)

I logged in this morning at work and went through the daily routine of checking e-mails, planning the work day and reading the latest headlines. I also logged into my personal e-mail account, because I had not taken the time to do so last night. There was a message from a guy I was familar with through the MG experience forum. He was selling his pristine 1967 MG race car and was giving me the first right of refusal.

Called the wife, mentioned it in passing - surely she would not bite - she said get it. I did not hang up on her, but I came close as I had to hurry up and let the guy know in my pure excitement.

The big get is that this car is everything that I was planning to build and more. It will immediately put me on the autocross circuit and require very little to get me on the race track. And for a lot less money, time and sweat.

Dreams are realized. Now, how do I get that thing to North Carolina from South Carolina?

Little by Little

Mom was telling me on the phone how much she appreciated my dad, because through the years no matter how big the project, or how long it would take, he would tackle it little by little and in the end always finished it.

That was a good story to help put things into perspective for me Little by little, I am making progress, but have a long way to go. Took her to the welder this morning. Needed to fabricate a piece of the left rear panel above the tire, as well as to weld down the floorboards, grind down some other welds from its restoration, remove the motor mounts and a couple of other odds and ends. I figured why he has it, why not knock out what can be done right now.

I look forward to getting the car back, so I can continue finishing the body work.

The project moves steadily. I have done a significant amount of parts and rust removal, as well as some initial painting of the interior of the tub. Ebay has allowed me with some help from the office 'for sale bulletin board' to fund the project without any impact to our monthly family budget. At this point, it is slow moving. With time spent between family, life, house chores and yard work, it will be a miracle when things do finally come together.

I have during the last week been able to spend a good deal of time on the car, but it will be some time before it actually looks like anything is being accomplished. I have it scheduled to go to the welder soon for some fabrication work and when completed will have the interior of the tub cleaned and painted.

I have had a lot of fun working on this - so much in fact that it has been hard focusing on just one element. For some reason I can attach photos, so here is one of dad back in the 80s rounding the carousel at Summit Point raceway.

I have to be careful or I will over plan a project and fall short in executing it – kind of like working for the government or a large company. Plan, plan and plan some more, but never actually do anything.

I have been carrying around a white binder that has numerous dividers. SVRA specs, so I build according to SVRA’s rules. I have created a build schedule, so I make sure that I do everything in the appropriate order, especially when it comes time to start removing parts from one car and placing them in the second. I have a tab that is keeping track of necessary parts and tools that I don't have, and I have a tab that is keeping the current copy and design ideas for http://www.thinkracing.net/ – a site designed to pay tribute to the Think Racing Team.

Of most importance prior to major build work has been the preparation of the work space. My garage is a dream. There are only two bays, but the space is large. Despite its size, it was not organized in a way that was conducive to a major build like what I am attempting to do.

I needed a larger work bench area, more shelf space for spare parts, plenty of room for sandblasting, places to put wheels, fenders, doors, etc. as well as keep two MGs leaving enough room to actually work, weld and paint.

I think I have accomplished that goal to the best that can be done. I have taken pictures but have not had any success uploading them. I built a new work bench complete with peg board and space to store the motor, transmission and air compressor. I have a permanent spot for my vise and drill press, as well as plenty of storage for nuts and bolts, spare/leftover part and other garage memorabilia that needed a home. The shelf units have been moved and the cars are sat horizontally in the garage bay.

I bought two wheel dolly sets from harbor freight (check out http://www.harborfreight.com/), my new tool mecca, so I could store my cars in the garage horizontally vs. vertically. They are great. However you need to move your cars around, stick them on the dollies and in direction desired. The benefit to me is that it gives me plenty of space between cars to do what will need to be done throughout the build.

I would include pictures, but currently they are not uploading.

So the work space is done. The car has been emptied of its parts boxes and awaits the next step. Guess I better go consult the build schedule. I have a feeling I am about to do some actual work on the car.

So for years I have debated - What car would I run? Should I stick with the MGBGT, or run a MGB. Which series, SCCA or SVRA? Should I build a street legal, autocross/vintage race car? What color scheme? Colors are fairly insignificant, however I have made some decisions and things are starting to fall into place.

I am going to run the MGB as an SVRA spec vintage race car. The vehicle will not be street legal, but I will, as I continue to build and prepare it, compete in SCCA Solo II competition.

For the last several weeks, I have been studying the SVRA competition regulations, as well as creating a build sheet – what to do and when, budget development and a compilation of the necessary parts and needed tools list. In between all of that, I was also searching the southeast for a good MGB body that would serve as the donor recipient of my red 1971 MGB GT.

After countless inquiries and searches, during my lunch break, I typed MGB parts car into http://www.google.com/ and fate took over. With 37 minutes left, an ebay auction was about to close on a 1975 MGB.

I quickly shot the link to my dad and together over the phone we studied the pictures. I was not looking for a car that required a lot of additional body work and panel replacement. It was important that whatever car I moved on, it had to be in great shape.

It looked like this vehicle was the one. The kicker, I won the auction and purchased the entire car for a whopping $76.

I called my wife and told her, I bought the MGB. The only caveat - The gentleman that I purchased it from was moving from Maryland, where the car was located, to New Hampshire, so we had to get it that weekend.

Luckily, mom and dad were on the way, so we packed up the kids and made the trip to Northern Virginia. Dad and I were up that Saturday and off to claim this prize. We had no real idea what to expect. It took us the whole morning and afternoon – the most difficult part being a frozen rear wheel on the passenger side - to get the car in position to be flat towed home.

I flat towed the car – having named it Grace – back to our home in Winston-Salem, NC.

It now resides in my garage awaiting the first steps in its transformation. MGs are great, especially when you can fit two of them on one side of the garage.

The Second Generation

Dad has always said that it was his fault. That his involvement in racing and British sports cars was what caused me in turn to want to follow in the same footsteps. He is right, but I don’t blame him.

My first race was in the fall of 1974, the last race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), prior to its reopening in 2000. I was less than a year old. The years following were jammed pack with British car shows, bike shows, SCCA regional and national races, as well as a host of SVRA, HSR and IMSA racing.

Dad raced his Sprite back in the 70s and 80s and throughout the 90s we participated as volunteers. I have always been an enthusiast and had the desire to compete myself one day, but I have never taken the opportunity for some reason. Arguably, now is not the time to start given the fact that I have two small children at home and a stay at home wife. But, the iron is hot and I am ready to strike.

I hope to capture the moments from now until the day my MGB sets tires on the race track – no matter how many years it takes.

Follow the story, offer me any help and insight you might have and cheer me on.