Race Report for HSC 4 Hour Enduro (2018 #1)

[Mark Fox]

Hi All

The first leg of the Retro CanAm 4 hour series for 2018 was held at HSC on the immaculately prepared (as usual – thanks again James and Joe) this past Sunday 11 March.

Four teams presented for the fray; in each instance the first mentioned team member supplied the car.

BAD (Darryl Toole and Brad Yarrow)

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FASTUFF (Mark Fox and Stoo Amos)

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SSME #1 (Ron Griffin and Michael Baxter)

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SSME #2 (Andrew Baxter and Wayne Baxter)

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The format of the race was designed around driver comfort and having fun as opposed to a draconian system of rules, more rules and more rules again.

We proceeded as follows:-

Starting lane was drawn by lots
8X30 minute brackets with a track call at the 15 minute mark to allow a civilised driver swap-over.
2 minute lane change in which car maintenance was allowed.
A 10 minute break after the 4th bracket for those in need of medication, have a comfort stop, smoke a cigarrete, eat a chocolate bar or whatever.
Cars could be worked on during this break if required.

And so we set off.

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The race quickly evolved in to two races as you would maybe expect given the collective track time of the two HSC teams was probably around 1000 hours versus the maybe 20 hours of the SSME teams.

And so it was with BAD leading FASTUFF by 1 lap and SSME#2 leading SSME#1 by 6 laps at the halfway mark but with about 150 laps between the two groups.

After the break however it was FASTUFF all the way with a car that just got quicker and quicker as the motor started coming on (it was new at the start, run in on 6 volts for about 5 hours but the brushes had barely bedded). This car handles like no other around HSC and so the combination of car and motor just took it away to win by 56 laps (on 2660 laps – 8 more than last year’s 2652). BAD’s car was also a brilliant handling car but the big differential was that FASTUFF’s motor got quicker after the 3rd bracket whilst BAD’s did not.

SSME#1 turned around their 6 lap deficit at the half-way mark to take 3rd spot by 6 laps over SSME#2.

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All in all we had a great day and the SSME participants will be much more competitive after racing against the best that HSC had to offer on the day.

A special thanks to Joe who handled the track call clicker for us and assisted in the track prep as mentioned.

The next Enduro is at SSME on Sunday 13th May – lets encourage our peers to get teams together – at least 2 more are required to make up a full field of 6.

We will again run the “relaxed format” as at HSC.

The next HSC sprint is on Saturday April 7th on the Short Track for F1 and CanAm and don’t forget the SRC Series starter at SSME on Tuesday 24th April for Retro CanAm and GT1’s.

Cheers

[dtslot]

Hi Mark, again thanks for the roundup report,,,great stuff.,,,,again congrats to Fastuff on the win,,,,hard to think of being able to go any faster than that,,,,but there lays the challenge !!!,,,,,,,,good racing ,,good manners, and a lot of fun,,,,,well done all.
Darryl

[brady]

Thanks for the report Mark.Good racing from yourself and Stoo.Everybody seemed to enjoy the race .Team BAD will come out swinging harder next time.Regards Brad.

[neiljb]

Sounds good guys.
I would like to participate maybe later in the year.
Any one interested?
Neil

[stoo23]

Hi guys and thanks Mark for the Prompt Report.

I too would like to thank the SSME guys along with Darryl and Brad for attending this round.
I think it was perhaps 'Unfortunate' Timing for some of the others who may have normally also 'fronted-up' to race, but was still an enjoyable and typically fun, friendly and cordial days racing !!,..

As Mark suggested, it was perhaps to have been expected that the 4 x HSC Regulars/Hot-Shots would have outpaced the relatively (HSC) in-experienced SSME guys, due Simply to Track Time and Race experience around this Still and Always challenging little track !!
It is certainly NOT a track one could describe as either Easy OR Boring, as even after all the years I have raced on it, it is Still a challenge to race AND do well on !!

With regard to the above, I would have to suggest that for myself, I probably Could have perhaps Driven Better and arguably More consistently than I did this time (as compared to my own personal performance in the Previous Enduro with the same car), I was perhaps Not as 'Sharp' and 'On the Case' initially that morning,... (I Definiely could have driven better on Black !!,.. lol). So my apologies to Mark, for the occasional, un-forced error perhaps slightly reducing our possible Lap Totals,..
BUT,... I will have to 'suggest', that I was actually having Quite Some FUN trying to find out Just How Fast I / It could be driven !!,.. ,.. which one Doesn't Always have the Luxury of being able to do,.. in normal Race conditions !!

As Mark suggested, this Particular car, IS, like some previous cars of Mark's I can recall and have experienced from bygone era's, Truly 'Sublime',.. , to the point where it is Almost 'Unfair',..lol,.. Well,... in the way that Mark Donohue once alluded to in his Book from many years ago titled "The Unfair Advantage", about His time with Roger Penske, developing the All Conquering Porsche 917-10 and -30 cars at the end of the CanAm series.

This particular chassis of Mark's, would appear to have NO 'Vices' whatsoever and is perhaps close to being quite simply one of the Nicest, fastest and sweetest Slot cars I can ever recall having the pleasure to drive and race !! Especially around the HSC Flat track.

In much the same way as My 'Old Faithful' chassis, it's great when a car simply just Works, 'Right out of the Box' as it were, without need for Any lead etc !! Wish I had one as good as this one is !!,..lol

Anyway,.. thanks once again must also go to both James and Joe for the Track 'Prep', which was Perfect and handling the Track calls etc,.. Much appreciated

Thanks also to the Other competitors for turning up and having a run and I'm sure the SSME guys will only be Better next time after spending More time on and around this Track.

And ofcourse my own Personal thanks to my Long-time team mate and cohort Mark, for once again providing Such a Great car to race !! Thanks as well to Brad for the lift

See you all at the Next Enduro round,