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1:5 scale touring – England Park – 28 Feb 2009

LargeScale Enduro

The race format

Race Director

Six teams of drivers, with mostly three drivers per team prepared their 1:5 scale touring cars for what was to be an exhausting six hour event at the England Park track. Race director Mr Doug Barber calculated the average lap time of each team and divided that by the number of seconds in the six hour race to create the handicap system.

Teams were numbered in order of average lap times from previous race meetings and each team was allocated one transponder for the whole race. Fears that the transponders would not last the distance were proven wrong at the finish line and the drivers meeting proceeded. Many were under pre-race impression that the handicap was a headstart system, but a good decision by race director to adjust the figures at the end of the Enduro meant that all teams would need to circulate for the six hour duration and the results would be adjusted at the finish line.

The Teams

Teams were as follow:

• Team 1 – Jeff Hamon, John Hamon and Scott Craig – Avg Lap : 21.782 : Handicap -0 laps
• Team 2 – Daly May, Michael Stavaropolous, Richard Chun – Avg : 22.046 : -12 laps
• Team 3 – Harry Herranz, Andrew Herranz, Gunther Siebler – Avg : 22.177 : -18 laps
• Team 4 – David Murdoch, Richard Brooke, Doug Barber, Steven Kopp : 22.646 : -38 laps
• Team 5 – TBA, Russel Grenenger, Leon Frainey – Avg Lap : 22.720 : -41 laps
• Team 6 – TBA, Michael Brady, Stefen Haller – Avg Lap : 25.017 : -128 laps

Stefan Haller

Pre Race Preparation

Some of the teams segregated themselves for a team strategic meeting, others casually waited for the start and a few were preparing their cars for last minute changes and race setups and maintenance. The garages were quite relaxed and many cars were beautifully presented with new shells and detailed liveries. Tyre choice seemed to be high on the list of attention as the Brisbane climate was it’s usual summer’s hot and humid and ther track temps were high.

Race commences

Without delay the race commenced at 4pm and without surprise the TracksideRC Team 1 took to an early lead with Jeff Hamon at the wheel. Harry Herranz in team 3 was late out and was behind by 4 laps and the TracksideRC Team 2 was in second place. Team 4 was in third with the rookie Team 6 putting in a great effort and managing to take 3rd place for a couple of laps in the early stages of the race.

The drivers settled in to their rythyms and circulated with good driving etiquette and yielded to the faster cars. Marshalling was performed for the drivers by their own teams and pit crews who were situated in pit lans. This kept a lot of cars on “the black stuff” as stepping off and onto the grass meant losing a considerable amount of time. Fortunately for some teams, they had some young and agile support who did the running, while the more experienced drivers kept on track and circulated with little trouble as there were only six cars on track at any one time. The Teams finally settled into their positions by lap 28 with team numbers and track positions respectively.

Pit crews supporting the drivers

Pit lane strategy

Each driver used his own car but shared the common team transponders. Strategic crews were in readiness with good communication to the drivers on the stand. Crews warmed up engines and had an efficient strategy for the changeovers. As each car came into pits, one crew member would lift the car over the wall as the other quickly proceeded to swap the transponder over to the new driver and the first member would shut down the engine and so on. Good pitstops were perfomed in well under 20 seconds and considering the duration of the event, this was an important aspect of the strategy.

Drivers would remain out on track for as long as the felt comfortable, obviously fatigue was an important aspect and the heat and humidity was draining. Jeff hamon was out on track for a long 53 lap stint in the first session, while others stayed out for shorter periods and Harry Herranz recorded the longest frst stint at 64 laps and recovered from his late start to put his team back into 3rd place.

Trackside team 2 and taipan racing

Track position changes

Little changed in regard to track position until lap 77 where Team 5 overtook Team 4 on track, Russel Grenenger was not at his usual fast pace but continued to circulate well. As dusk approached and the track began to cool, Team 5 and Team 6 set their fastest lap times. The air was humid and the cooler evening developed a dense atmosphere and aerodynamics came into play.

Mechanical problems

Team 6 suffered with mechanical problems an posted a very long pit stop at lap 96. Stefen Haller was struggling with clutch problems earlier and could not get his engine to transmit the power to the wheels which unsettled the FG Brisbane BMW driver. Later, Steve’s engine failed was to find that a grub screw from the carb managed to work it’s way to the crank and with two rebuilds called an end to his race. Team 6 was struggling to keep on track with Michael Brady injured with back problems and the rookie driver (TBA) delivered an outstanding drive considering the circumstance and recorded Team 6′s best lap.

Consistency well rewarded

Team 5 held 4th position on track and recorded the best standard deviation on track with an outstanding 00.256sec and the second fastest lap time of 022.02sec at lap 501. Pit or mechanical problems at lap 432 and 433 didn’t distract the team from maintaining their excellent result. Team 4 was not far behind and kept the pressure on for the whole event. Their best lap was recorded later in the evening at lap 761 a 22.494.

Jeff Hamon

Top three on track

The two leading TracksideRC teams demonstrated faultless pit stops and fast pace throughout the whole event. Team 3 with the Herranz family and Gunther Sielber achieved their track position with only a couple of errors, the late start and two mishaps in the pits at the 800 lap mark.

Overall the event was a great success, special thanks to Julie Herranz for cooking up some delicious racing food (sausage sizzles) and to all the drivers for supporting QRCCRA and entertaining the spectators and visitors.

Race Results

Final Results – adjusted

To be announced

Race tuning - Russel Grenenger

Driver sponsorship

• FJ Tiling
• EnforcerRC
• TracksideRC
• Brisbane BMW
• Taipan Racing
• Hydraulic Drilling Serices

The cars

• FG
• RS5
• HARM
• CONTRAST
• LAUTERBACHER

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