Well, I think most of us probably awoke to what appeared to be a rather Dismal and Wet morning but happily the weather ended up being rather Nice and arguably Perfect for a Day's Slot Racing out in the Quiet, cool Semi 'Country Climes' of Luddenham West of Sydney
This time, Six Teams assembled to take the start of the Second and Final 4 Hour Enduro for the year at SSME.
- The Drivers
- SAM_3682 copy.jpg (358.34 KiB) Viewed 11976 times
Unfortunately, the Winners of the Previous 2 x 4 Hour SSME Enduro's, Steve & Kevin of "Ric's Raiders", would Not be joining us to defend their Winning ways, but we Were 'Joined' this time by some Old and New Racers and faces, which was great to see.
Wayne Bramble, (who has like myself, raced here Many times both In the Dim Distant past and occasionally more recently and also Raced with myself, Karen Cowell & Norm Clarke in a 24 hour race, Many Many years ago), was joined by his son Cody, as Team "OZ"
Two Very New Faces, (who had Never previously raced Retro, Warren & Kenny, joined to race as "WTF", along with another new to Retro racer Jason, (who joined Ron to race as "Fig Jam", along with The "Baxter Boys", Wayne & Andrew, "Shake & Bake", being Casey & Shalin and with My normal Team Mate Mark Fox being overseas holidaying in the USA and currently enjoying the "Big Apple", I was joined this time by fellow Retro regular Brad, to race as team "BS".
Having previously Always raced with Mark and using His cars/chassis in the recent enduro's, I was a bit unsure of which car/chassis of my own might prove to be suitable/best to run, so spent some time re-fettling My older often regular Retro ride "Old Faithful", as it has always proven to be pretty good everywhere so far and is a known quantity for myself.
Although I also had my Newer Semi 'Fox" style clone (of the car we have used rather successfully in the past), but which has (until quite recently), been a bit of a personal disappointment in it's Handling and predictability.
I had prepared a few extra bodies and purchased and run-in a New motor (fitted to "Old Faithful"), only to find, 'On the Day', that it was (in Effect) a complete 'Slug' !! (the Motor that is,.. lol,.. Old Faithful was Handling Fine !!,.. LOL), compared to my other car and the other cars circulating in Practice and with the Newer car Seemingly to be (theoretically) adequately Fast and handling Quite well, both Brad and I decided it was probably the Best and easiest choice to Run.
The Race
- The Starting Grid. L to R:
BS, WTF, The Baxters, Shake & Bake, OZ and Fig Jam - SAM_3674.jpg (424.16 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
The short story is that team "OZ" just blasted everybody into the weeds !!
They led all the way to win by 185 laps over "Shake & Bake", then 29 laps to team "BS", then 151 laps to an Excellent performance by our New 'Retro First Timer's "WTF", then 27 laps to "The Baxter's" and 48 to team "Fig Jam".
With the possible exception of the "Baxter's", (who I think changed their Motor during the break between the 3rd & 4th brackets), I don't think Anyone Had any Really Serious Motor 'Issues' as such, although perhaps Shake & Bake's motor may have gone slightly 'Off Song' towards the End of the race, compared to it's earlier Pace.
I know Ours (team BS's) just got Stronger and faster as the race progressed, as did I feel Team OZ's, as both their Lap Totals and their Times got Much quicker as the race progressed, similarly to ours.
I think Shake & Bake changed tyres at some point in the last couple of brackets, merely to avoid the possibility of running out of Clearance towards the final Brackets.
- Race Sheet
- Results SSME 4 hr enduro #2 copy.jpg (163.5 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
Shake & Bake most definitely Proved the 'ability' of their New "Dominator" chassis and Both Casey & Shalin did a fine job of driving, with a Very strong performance and well deserved 2nd place on the day.
Compared to My previous performances on Purple (with Mark), I must admit, I got off to a rather Shaky and slightly disappointing start to the day's racing, as I'd venture, so did Brad, with a set of tyres that were perhaps Not Yet in Prime racing 'condition' and perhaps Our collective 'Minds' not yet fully Focused on the 'task at hand',..lol.
Leaving us initially a bit behind and chasing the Newcomer Team "WTF", who were at least so far, doing a More than fine job of their First ever Retro Enduro (running Ron's Warmack chassis) and were managing to stay ahead of Brad and myself for the first 3 x brackets and continued to turn Both Good lap totals and fast times on all lanes and all day. Well done guys !!!!
Annoyingly, one of the Front Wheel 'Retainers' on Our car managed to Move Inward on the Axle, allowing one of the front wheels to Occasionally move far enough to become Jammed against the front Nose pieces, which was/is obviously Less than Ideal,.. lol.
When running cleanly by ourselves, all was fine, but if we had an 'Off' or became involved in a 'bingle', it could get Jammed up again, requiring a bit of fiddling to once again Free it Up.
I think it must have happened quite early, yet really Only became noticeable when it became Jammed solid and may have in some small way contributed to our cars slightly less than Wonderful early performance.
When fixed during the Lunch break, all was More than well for the last 3 x brackets and the car performed great and as mentioned previously, only seemed to be getting stronger and faster.
If Only it had performed in that fashion from the 'Get-Go', we may have been able to have had a Much closer fight with Shake & Bake and perhaps even have challenged them for 2nd place !! ??
As it was after being at one stage 90 laps behind "Shake & Bake", it was pleasing to slowly but surely reel them in, to end Only 29 lapss behind at the end of the race
The Baxter's Also seemed to have at times a pretty Quick car,.. perhaps all the More So, when one considers that they were Still using a couple of "Cheater II" motors !!!! and I'd also venture, finding their New Bramble 'built' Modded Warmack chassis to be performing admirably, as they were definitely pretty quick and motoring along at times Very well in the early brackets.
The other Retro Newcomer Jason, (running with Ron), was also doing Very well for his first foray into the World of Retro's and Enduro's, managing to also turn some good times and lap totals and after falling slightly behind in the earlier brackets, managed to get back up to only 5 laps behind the Baxter's at the end of the 5th bracket.
The Podium Placing Cars
- The Podium Cars L to R;
3rd-Stoo & Brad "BS", 1st-Wayne & Cody "OZ" and 2nd-Casey & Shalin "Shake & Bake" - SAM_3681.jpg (403.59 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
- Wayne & Cody's Body
- SAM_3673.jpg (385.69 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
- Wayne & Cody's Winning Chassis, a Modified Warmack chassis, built by Cody
- SAM_3672.jpg (328.8 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
- Shake & Bakes 2nd place "Dominator" chassis of Shalin's
- SAM_3666.jpg (366.22 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
- Team BS's 3rd Place chassis, built by Stoo
- SAM_3684.jpg (295.39 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
- Ron's Warmack chassis as used by WTF
- SAM_3668.jpg (343.14 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
- The Baxter's modified Warmack chassis, built by Wayne Bramble
- SAM_3664.jpg (327.07 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
- Fig Jam's "Jersey John" chassis
- SAM_3671.jpg (364.38 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
Once again, similarly to what Mark had done in the Previous Enduro rounds, I took Photos of the Lap Screen at the Driver 'Change-Over', to once again compile the 'Performance' Data for Each Team.
- Team Analysis Chart
- Comparison SSME 4 hr enduro #2 Final.jpg (315.71 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
Also similarly as Mark had done with the lap and time Chart of Steve & Kevin racing as "Ric's Raiders", comparing their performance in the 2 x Previous Enduros.
I thought it perhaps Interesting this time to compare "Ric's Raiders" Previous Best Laps & Times, to This Events laps & Times as done by Wayne & Cody as Team "OZ"
- Enduro 1 & 2 comparison chart
- Comparison SSME 4 hr enduro #2 001.jpg (65.91 KiB) Viewed 11978 times
Overall, I think the standard of racing was Very High, with the race itself possibly being even cleaner than the previous ones. There was the occasional 'Messy' sections, invariably towards the End of some brackets as people may have been getting tired and Having a degree of 'Finger Trouble' !!,.. lol
All in All, once again, a very Fine and extremely enjoyable racing and social time was (I think) had by all and sundry on the day.
Congrats to All who entered and raced and especially to both Wayne & Cody Bramble as Team "OZ", with a very fine and deserved Race Winning performance.
I'd personally like to thank My Team Mate Brad for so capably assisting me in a Well 'Salvaged' 3rd place
Thanks as well must also (as Always), got to SSME and to Ron, for his efforts in 'Being There' and helping/allowing us all to enjoy racing at this Great Old Track once again and again Thanks to Toni, for the Great and Yummy food !!
