Epsilon Motorsports Double Podiums! Finishes 2-3 in SpeedSF Enduro B-Class

On the weekend of December 14th, Epsilon+ Motorsports took their GLTC-spec FG2 8th Gen Civic and NC Miata out to Thunderhill East to participate in SpeedSF's 2.5 Hour mini-Enduro.

Competition was fierce, racing some much faster cars in the Elite Performance 350Z, as well as the Lightspeed NC Miata. 

The Miata qualified in 2nd with a 2:02.991, whereas the Civic was suffering from 4th gear transmission issues, and opted to not set a fast time, clocking only a 2:07.284. 

When the race started, however, everything began to unravel. 

The Miata, powered by Nikita Rushmanov took an early lead, as the Edge Motorsport 350Z suffered both an unwell driver and a delaminated tire, forcing it to pit early. This put the Miata in the lead, while the Civic made quick work of the remaining cars in front to make it an Epsilon 1-2. 

At the 70 minute mark, the NC began to suffer from fuel starvation, forcing it to pit early, whereas the Civic had an unexpected exhaust failure that forced it to meatball pit at the 85 minute mark - a hair after halfway. 

This semi-scheduled pitstop ended up being a blessing for the Civic team, as not even 5 minutes later, a full course yellow comes up, helping the Civic not only close the gap the Miata had pulled, but putting the Civic as the class leader and 2nd overall.

Adam Bao had put in some fantastic laps and some really good luck to put the car in the lead, and it was up to Andy Bui to take it home. This was Andy's first time on East, and the first time racing the car, so the new NC driver Bryan Zimmerman, now a lap down, had everything to race car to try and hunt him down for the remaining hour of the race.



With 30 minutes to go, Bryan had passed Andy, but both cars were not only 1-2 in B class, but 2-3 overall, following a slew of race contact penalties and mechanical failures. 



Just then, tragedy struck. The Civic inexplicably fuel starved with 15 minutes to go, forcing an unscheduled fuel stop, and even worse, the Miata also suffered fuel starvation with 5 minutes to go. 



Both unscheduled stops put Elite Performance back in the lead, but was enough to have both Epsilon cars secure the 2-3 spots for B Class. Huzzah! 

Post race inspections of the vehicles had revealed that the NC running out of gas was no surprise, as it was on a stock tank and the Lightspeed NC also suffered a similar fate of an unscheduled stop - however the Civic had a heartbreaking O2 sensor failure that caused it to run rich - leading to the increased fuel consumption that lead to the unscheduled stop.