Q&A With K&N Racer Shea Holbrook and Her Adventures at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill

12 Dec 2016

Shea Racing will field two Accord Coupes and one Civic Hatchback in 2017

Shea Holbrook's race team will field three Hondas in the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge

The 25 Hours of Thunderhill was first run in 2002 as a fun, end-of-the-season event for NASA club racers before they tucked their cars away for the winter. The field was comprised largely of BMWs, Integras, Civics, Miatas, and RX-7s, and the winning car – a 1995 BMW M3 – covered 309 laps with a fastest lap at 78.36 mph. In the intervening years, the race has gotten dead serious.

While there are still club racers competing, it’s the factory-backed efforts that are leading the field. In 2016, the Flying Lizards team, which has competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times, won the Thunderhill 25 for the second year in row in an Audi R8 LMS. The Lizards covered 751 laps with a fastest lap of 104.641.

K&N-supported racer Shea Holbrook was invited to park her K&N equipped Pirelli World Challenge Honda Accord Touring Car and join the Honda Performance Development team at the Thunderhill 25 Hours. We sat down with the 11 time World Challenge race winner after the event and here’s what she had to say:

With no extraneous parts attached, race teams find it easier to build their car from a bare shell

Honda is now offering to racers the 2017 Civic Hatchback as a 'body-in-white' to ease construction

K&N: Your Accord is the heaviest car in its class in Pirelli World Challenge. You raced a much lighter car at the 25. What was the biggest difference you noticed?

Shea: We raced the all-new 2017 Honda Civic Coupe Turbo at Thunderhill, which weighed just 2,200 pounds, largely because it was built from Honda Racing/HPD's new body in white. You can't really compare the Accord to the new Civic based on wheelbase, power-to-weight ratio and the "how you drive application" is significantly different. The Accord has so much power and much heavier. It's difficult to drive that car at 10/10 all the time. The new Civic has a great balance and is more of a momentum car. Also, we need to take into consideration that we ran the 25 Hour car lighter than we normally would in PWC TCA because the 25 Hour was a true development test.

K&N: Who did you share the car with?

No need to strip out the original interior when building from a 'body-in-white.'

It's all business inside the 2017 Honda Civic turbo hatchback at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill

Shea: The other drivers were James Nazarian, HPD's chassis development engineer, Jeff Barrow, HPD's Commercial Motorsports Manager, and Tom O'Gorman, who we’re really excited to announce will be driving with Shea Racing next season in a TCA 2017 Civic Coupe in the Pirelli World Challenge. Tom was the TCA Champion last year, so we’re making sure he has everything he needs to repeat his title in 2017.

K&N: How much seat time do you get on a typical PWC weekend? How much seat time at the 25? How did you handle all the extra driving?

Shea: For World Challenge we typically have an hour for the promoter test day, about an hour of official practice, 15 minutes for qualifying and two 60 minute races. So, call it just over 4 hours of total on track time. Whereas at the 25 Hour we get two full days of open track testing then the 25 hour race itself. But that's also divided up between four drivers. I drove 7 1/2 hours of the 25 and the grueling 2:00 am to 5:30 am stint. I love the extra time on track, especially night stints.

K&N: Speaking about racing at night, I would imagine it presents some special challenges to the driver

Both traditional driving lights and LED lights are used on the front of the Honda Civic

Having plenty of lights on the front of your car is key as there's no lighting at the track

Shea: Night driving takes a different strategy and driving style. You need to be prepared mentally to drive at night. It's very difficult to see making it mentally straining and any loss of concentration could result in catastrophic mistakes. You don't want to mess it up for the team.

K&N: Have you raced at night before?

Shea: I raced the 25 Hours in 2008 but that felt like a lifetime ago. So, I do not have much night driving under my belt, although, I ran some of my fast laps at night. Maybe because you can't see and just hope for the best, haha! The biggest challenges were the high-speed, blind, very dark corners. If you're the only car going through it's just your headlights lighting up that part of the track. Plus, we had an incident at 10:30 pm which took out our right side lights. It made the rest of the night driving, interesting at times.

The only lighting at the Thunderhill track comes from the cars themselves

Racing at night is challenging, but not without its advantages, according to Shea Holbrook

K&N: How do you prepare physically for such a punishing race?

Shea: Staying hydrated and properly fueled up is important. We snack, a lot. Light eating is uber import. Don't eat waffles right before you get in the car, ask one of the HPD engineers! Hydration, energy, sleep, and mental focus are must haves for a grueling race like this one.

K&N: So are you happy with the outcome of the 25 Hours?

Shea: Our 2017 Honda Racing/HPD Civic finished the 25 Hours of Thunderhill! Not a single mechanical failure, I’m always impressed with the Honda brand. Completely flawless thanks to the extensive development HPD put in. We were the fastest front wheel drive car and the third fastest car in our class. Thank you to the crew, my co-drivers, Eibach, MOMO Motorsport, Replay XD and HPD for the opportunity!

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