2018 Victorian 6 Hour Regularity Relay Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit

[Nuddy]

2018 Victorian 6 Hour Regularity Relay
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th July 2018

Final points score top 5
Panorama Mountain Men (NSW MX-5 Club) 21312.00
Maserati Red (Maserati Club Vic) 9591.00
Mini Works Team (Mini Club Vic) 9588.00
Mustang Magic (Mustang Club Vic) 9486.00
Just Regular Guys (NSW MX-5 Club) 8640.00

[SKYHI]

Would really like to do this event one day.

Was there no MX5 club of Vic team?

How's the points system work here, the least points the better or more?

[greenMachine]

Great work from the Panorama Mountain Men - inspired strategy capitalised on the weather conditions, and the drivers delivered.

Gus, Stewart, Glenn and Bryan collect the rewards for their efforts (presented by one J Bowe, in the red cap):


Well done also to 'Just Regular Guys' for getting so close to the podium!

Team 41 - Grumpy Old Racers - had a great time, but were only able to keep the lower order honest, following a couple of penalties, and a bad call on track conditions (our lap times were predicated on a dry track that was faster than the dry track we got). We were rewarded with lots of track time from Ian, Keith, Phil and David, but the bonus laps were hard to reach and that put paid to a climb back up the order. Next year it will be different!

And for Skyhi and anyone else interested in the scoring system, the formula is complex, but rewards bonus laps and heavily punishes any penalties.

[Nuddy]

Would really like to do this event one day.

Was there no MX5 club of Vic team?

How's the points system work here, the least points the better or more?

More points = better.
3rd place Mini Works Team (Mini Club Vic) 9588.00
2nd place Maserati Red (Maserati Club Vic) 3 points better at 9591.00
1st place Panorama Mountain Men (NSW MX-5 Club)11721 points better at 21312.00

50 teams competing. 6 of them were from NSW MX-5.
There were several Victorian MX-5s competing. I don't know their team names.

I was part of the TEAMX5 Hunter and we scored 274.91 points for a 43rd place out of 50 - we beat 7 teams!
I will be back to Phillip Island but not for regularity.

[SKYHI]

Thanks guys, 50 teams is a lot

Been lucky enough to race at PI before, but would love the opportunity for more laps. Thinking either this event or the Vic Time Attack event.

[lightyear]

Phillip island is my favourite track. Any excuse to get there no matter the event is worth it. Congrats on the NSW teams for doing so well.

[greenMachine]

Phillip island is my favourite track. Any excuse to get there no matter the event is worth it...

Quoted for truth.

As a team manager last weekend, the frustration level was high (I even had all my driving gear and licence and membership card in the car, just in case a team needed an extra driver for a stint or two ... ).

Having said that, this track is not for the newbies. Not talking about people who have not done it before, but people who have low confidence levels/low experience in dealing with traffic with large speed differentials. In an MX5, depending on your lap times there, either you will regularly be overtaken, or regularly overtake, possibly both, sometimes both at the same time. Dealing with traffic is a BIG challenge in this event.

In my opinion, and excepting drivers experienced in w2w racing, a newbie driver would have significant Club-level track day experience to master their car, and also experience in something like State Supersprints or other multi-club supersprints where there are lots of dissimilar cars to deal with.

You are dealing with a 'race' situation on the track, with all the flag signals to note and obey, pit boards to watch, traffic to negotiate - it is very busy for someone who only has limited track-day type skills. All the time you are trying to maintain the lap time you have set for yourself, because that is what it is - a regularity, even if it presents some of the challenges of w2w racing.

The track is wide, and smooth. That is good, it certainly makes dealing with traffic easier. But it is also deceptively fast, newcomers will be surprised at the amount of time spent in 5th and 6th, and that means things can happen quickly, or if the outfield is wet, you can go a long way before you stop, or are stopped .

I am not trying to put anyone off entering this event. I am encouraging anyone wanting to enter this event to do the right preparation, have the right skills - because I want to see more people there, enjoying and mastering the challenges of this event and the track

[greenMachine]

A few details about the event itself.

Teams are a minimum of four cars/drivers (cars can be shared), I have seen teams of six but most are four. Stint lengths are 15 laps, around half an hour or so at 2:00-2:10 laps, so you can expect something like 40-odd laps on Sunday, something similar in practice on Saturday. There is a 1:55 minimum lap time, but lots of cars are capable of quicker laps than that so are held back to stay under 1:55. There is a 2hr maximum track time for drivers, minimum stint length is 3 laps and minimum lap count of 15 laps for each driver on Sunday.

NSW MX5 club had six teams this year, I think Vics had two.

Anyone from the NSW Club interested in next year's event can PM me, or contact the Competition Secretary, to express interest. I presume the Victorian Club would be the same, but maybe someone will clarify that.

[hrtvic]

Was there no MX5 club of Vic team?

Yep, two teams from Victoria competed with the following results:

7th - Cutting Edge
25th - Clippers

(See what we did there with the names?)

I wasn’t there personally this year so don’t know a lot about how their day went.

Congrats to NSW teams and especially for taking out the win. Great result.

[gsu003]

Yes greenMachine, your comments, suggestions and observations in your post on 02 Aug are spot on and very well written.

Not sure but I think we were in the garage next to you guys. I have done this event last year and this year and it was certainly my experience in w2w racing back in the late 70's that settled me into the traffic quite well.

Maybe if you can have your comments made into a 'sticky' for all future participants to see.

GU