2014 Victorian 6 Hour Relay
09 August 2014 / Words by Peter Feutrill, Photos by Narra Photography, Tony King & Bryan Shedden
The Victorian 6 Hour Relay at Phillip Island has been run and won for 2014 on the weekend of 2-3 August. Planning for this event commenced early in 2014 and along with others I was contacted by Stewart Temesvary to see whether or not I was interested in participating. After a couple of days to digest the proposal I was in! Stewart kept us in the loop and did a wonderful job organising our payments and organising all the entry forms.
Eventually it became clear that three MX-5 teams representing the MX-5 Club of NSW would run in 2014:
MX-5 Club NSW - Team S&C (Sydney & Canberra)
Manager: Graham Fletcher
41A Chris Ballard 2004 MX-5 SE
41B Ed Cory 1998 MX-5 NB8A
41C Mike Hicks 2000 MX-5 NB8A
41D David Lawler 1998 MX-5 NB8A
Pit Crew: David Hicks, Gaynor Lawler, Gillian Fletcher
MX-5 Club of NSW - Team Illawarra
Manager: Bryan Shedden
42A Kevin Addison 1991 MX-5 NA
42B Tony Williams 1990 MX-5 NA
42C Peter Feutrill 2005 MX-5 NC (yes –where are all the other NCs?)
42D James West 1989 MX-5 NA
Pit Crew: Jean Cook, Di Williams, Jill Feutrill
MX-5 Club of NSW - Team RPM
Manager: Pam Estreich
43A Ray Estreich 2004 MX-5 SE
43B Greg Bunn 1998 MX-5 NB8A
43C Stewart Temesvary 1998 MX-5 NB8A
43D Tony King 2004 MX-5 SE
Pit Crew: Lesa Bunn, Moira King
All eyes were on the weather forecasts in the week leading up to the event. But I had been to the Island before and I knew that it can be five seasons in one day, so we really didn't place much stock in what we were reading. To emphasise the point, many of us arrived on Friday having driven through a heavy hail storm at Pakenham, which turned the roads white!
Friday evening we took the cars out to the track and this gave the opportunity to set them up for Saturday's practice & to get our paperwork completed by our team managers. Meanwhile our support crew of Jill Feutrill, Jean Cook, Di Williams, Lesa Bunn, Moira King, Gillian Fletcher, Gaynor Lawler, and David Hicks started setting up including the important catering – not a small job.
Saturday morning dawned cold (what else were we expecting?) but not raining. A magnificent breakfast was held in our three garages which were side by side. Briefings were held for team managers and drivers. We were reminded that this is a regularity not a race and it was made clear that the expectations were to drive in a sportsmanlike manner. A series of video clips of unacceptable overtaking manoeuvres from the previous year were somewhat entertaining and horrifying at the same time & reinforced the message from the Clerk of Course. A highlight at this stage for the NSW MX-5 teams was that Stewart was awarded a trophy for the excellent way in which our entries were submitted – without any errors and all neatly typed up! We felt like we were in front already and suggested he give back the trophy and ask for bonus laps!
So into practice. Just as session 2 commenced the skies opened up and turned the track into an ice rink. It even hailed. My R-specs did their best to act like galoshes but it was steady-steady to say the least. At least we got some experience in following a pace car. But remarkably soon that was it for rain and by the time my second practice session came around there was a dry line, and we got into the business of setting some pretty good times and looking for our pit boards whilst negotiating traffic at upwards of 170km/hr. Many a PB was set in practice and then we had team meetings with our managers to determine our nominated times for Sunday's big event. This is the crux of the competition – the idea being that you try to go as close to your nominated time as you can without going faster. You can go a bit slower & still get bonus laps but as soon as you beat your time penalty laps begin to accumulate. Penalties have the effect of dividing your lap score in half for each penalty lap. Given that there are 50 cars on track at any one time with huge differences in speeds & lap times it always proves difficult to get a consistent lap time. Mind you it also provides an experience as close to full on racing as you can get without actually racing. Perhaps the most daunting part I found was merging from pit lane with traffic doing up to 250km/hr!
After practice we attended another drivers briefing where the Clerk of Course berated many for not observing yellow flags. This resulted in some teams starting with penalties before the Sunday started – yes I am looking at you Ray and David. Note - Team Illawarra was penalty free at this stage and feeling pretty confident. After some secret team strategy discussions it was early to bed.
Sunday morning dawned on an unbelievable Phillip Island day! Not a cloud in the sky. Another fabulous breakfast in the garages, including bacon and eggs cooked on a gas BBQ by Bryan. Cars were fettled, pressures checked, bars adjusted, suspensions tweaked and beanies pulled over ears.
And so the grid was formed up 2 by 2 and with their team signs proudly displayed but no lycra in sight as each car was accompanied by the team manager or team member on the grid. Then from nowhere a person playing the bagpipes appeared and walked slowly down the grid – just to remind us what the sound would be like if we unfortunately ran over some of the Canada Geese that frequent the side of the track and are oblivious to cars going past at 250. There was the singing of the National Anthem and the call to start engines, tension mounted and exhaust fumes rose. A gentle lap behind the pace car and then it was on!
Our pit crews were doing a wonderful job timing each lap and holding out pit information for drivers. Drivers were doing a wonderful job to negotiate their way through traffic that at times resembled the M5 – for example four cars into a corner at the end of the main straight each doing about 160-200km/hr! Great stuff – no paint was rubbed.
The competition between the three MX-5 teams was fierce, but alas Team Illawarra was out of contention within the first hour, because of a wad of penalties. Our manager Bryan conferred with the drivers and said that we should just go out and have fun for the rest of the day. Indeed we did just that and because we were regularly breaking our times we ensured that we gathered a heap more penalties and ended up in second last place. Oh well I think we can improve next year. As for Team S & C and Team RPM a mighty battle ensued. With only half an hour to go, it was 2677 points to 2674, with Team RPM holding a slender lead. Team RPM held on to finish 11th overall and Team S & C 12th. Fantastic efforts to all concerned. Sunday night we all got together for a mixture of boasting, sad tales of coulda beens and a critique of my Go-Pro videos – thanks fellas!
Thanks again to Stewart for coordinating the entries, the team managers and support crew for keeping us informed and well fed all weekend. This weekend was all about the teams.
This is a highly recommended event, well run and a fantastic experience. As they say in the classics "I'll be baaack".
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