NASA has created a new subset of its E3 enduro class called E3S. The “S” stands for spec and the new class includes NASA’s three most popular spec classes: Spec Miata, Spec E30 and 944 Spec.
Across the country, there are a lot of Spec Miatas, 944 Spec and Spec E30 drivers that run enduros from time to time, but teams had to make significant changes to those cars to be competitive in E3. Sometimes there’s just not enough time in the day to do all that work. Now there’s a class just for those three series: E3S.
“Most of the cars in E3 have been built to a different set of rules, and those cars are going to be much faster just because of the things they’re allowed to do,” said NASA Technical Director of Racing, Shawn Meze. “These series are on a spec suspension and a spec tire. You can’t do anything to the engine for the most part, so there’s a lot of limitations built into the spec-series cars that the E3 cars don’t have. That’s a huge advantage, and one that’s just too hard to overcome in a spec series car without making big changes to the cars at the track.”
Toyo Tires also is offering generous contingency payouts for E3S cars, with increasing amounts of Toyo Bucks based on race length and the number of starters. For example, in a three-hour enduro with seven or more starters, Toyo Tires pays out $500 for first, $350 for second and $200 for third.
Even better, the payouts increase with the length of the race. With seven or more starters, a six-hour race pays $650, $450 and $350 for first, second and third, and a 12-hour enduro with seven or more starters pays $850, $600 and $500 for the top three podium spots.
So, what are you waiting for? Declare your enduro team and have some fun in E3S!
Sign up for the Saturday night enduro at Willow Springs on March 16!
