No amateur endurance race requires more preparation than the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill Presented by Hawk Performance, and these last few weeks before the race begins are the most critical time. The longest close-course race in North America, the 25 Hours of Thunderhill Presented by Hawk Performance, takes months of preparation from the whole team.
MooreWood Creative Powered by Magic Developed has been running as a team at the 25 Hours for the last five years, and competed with other teams before that. Team Moorewood Creative Powered by Magic Developed took the E1 class win in 2018 and finished 1-2 in E2 in 2021, when they were the fastest production chassis car in the race.
“We usually try to source our drivers as early in the year as possible and get commitments as early as June or even May,” said team owner and driver Larry Moore. “Then at that point we start to get drivers acclimated to the cars, especially if there are any new drivers. We want to get them in the car, get some seat time, answer any questions and go through all of the start sequences and all the buttons.”
Preparation also includes practice pit stops, and Team MooreWood Creative Powered by Magic Developed has been putting in the work. Team principal Justin Ross, owner of Magic Developed, has been prepping the cars. All major components get replaced in preparation for the race, though a full complement of spare parts is also required. In addition, Ross said he has been working to make the cars more serviceable, so trackside repairs can be executed more quickly to get the cars back into the race.
“We’re quite happy with lap speeds. It’s more if and when we have a problem, we try to make the car cars as quickly serviceable as possible,” Ross said. “Right now, we’re working on prepping the spare radiators. We do things like mount the headlight to the body instead of the radiator support panel. That way we can actually prep the radiator on a radiator support panel on our cars, and it’s actually quicker to change the radiator support panel than it is to try to wiggle the radiator out of the car. So we basically have whole substructures that are ready to bolt to the car, because we found that to be quicker than trying to take out individual components.”
Team MooreWood Creative Powered by Magic Developed will be running in the E2 class this year, as will Team Palomar Racing. The two teams have emerged as the top favorites for the E2 win in this year’s 25 Hours of Thunderhill Presented by Hawk Performance.
The 2022 25 Hours of Thunderhill Presented by Hawk Performance takes place Dec. 3-4. It begins at 11 a.m. Saturday morning and ends at noon the following day.
