Winter Tour 2011

The 25 Hours of Tunderhill
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On December 3, 2011 Adare Motorsports again followed it's tradition of entering the longest closed course endurance road race in the world. The event is held at the Thunderhill Raceway Park in Northern California and this year proved to be one of the most exciting with great weather and a record starting grid of 83 teams.

	The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) 25 Hours of Thunderhill is one hour longer than the infamous 24 Heures du Mans in France or the American version the 24 Hours of Daytona.
The first six hours of the 25 hour long race was the finale for the Western Endurance Racing Championship (WERC) where teams ran for championship points. After the first six hours, all concentration was on "Surviving the 25" and finishing this punishing event.
	Six different classes battled for their own victory as well as the overall win. The faster cars (ES and ESR class) are mandated to run yellow headlamp covers so the slower classes (E0, E1, E2, and E3) know when to "look out!" The Team Adare #160 BMW competed in the fastest class, ES.
Five Team Adare drivers took two seperate 2.5 hour stints at the controls totaling 5 hours each over the 25 hour event. Dane Cameron, Jeff VanLierop, Michael Conatore, Dan Rogers and James Colborn produced 633 fast lap times without incident.
	Team Adare registerd in the fastest class ES because they wanted to win the entire race with a new and more powerful engine. Durring qualifying the day before the race, the engine failed. So the standard backup engine was installed with 60 less horsepower but the team competed in the E2 class anyway and still finished 8th in the unlimited class with 74 cars in the rear mirrors.
At the checkered flag only 46 of the 83 race teams were able to finish the 2000 mile endurance race in the 25 hour time limit. Team Adare had two unscheduled pit stops and quickly got the car back on track finishing in 14 th spot overall and 8th in the unlimited class. We are pleased with the performace of the entire crew, drivers and the #160 well prepared E30 BMW.
	NASA's 25 Hours of Thunderhill has become a staple of endurance racing drawing top competitors and teams from all around the world. The unpredictable nature of the weather and the challenging track layout make the event especially exciting for both drivers and fans alike.