Our final event for 2024 featured a single 400-lap endurance race. It would be FRC's first endurance race since the 50-lap Slot.It Challenge race run in May 2019, which was really just a longer-than-normal regular sprint race.
The class was called "Saloon / Sports Car Endurance" and was restricted to Saloon/sedan and sports cars which are not models of cars designed specifically for racing and not GT cars. A further major condition was that all lap times be 9.000 sec and above, with a penalty of ten laps taken away from any car with a fastest lap between 8.800 and 8.999 sec. A final, more severe penalty would be applied to any car with a fastest lap under 8.800 sec, the car being demoted to last place. If more than one car fell into this category, they'd be placed behind all the others inversely, the fastest being placed last.
The race would be run in four 100-lap sessions, without the auto-track-call feature being employed. A ten-minute break would be taken between each session, during which the cars would remain in place on the track. Drive-through penalties were also to be applied when witnessed by marshals, the perpetrator having to do a pit drive-through, losing a lap in the process. Any work that had to be done on a car required that the car enter the pits and then be removed to the workbench, re-starting from the pit lane once more.
Driver pairings were determined by the top six-placed 2024 championship drivers present doing a draw from a bag with the names of the three other competing drivers there on the day. The bag included three blank slips, giving us three dual-driver and three single driver teams. So this all set the stage for what turned out to be a very interesting race.
The draw yielded the following teams:
- Gordon and Mark
- Ian
- Luke and Keith
- Peter
- Steve and Jonathan
- Warren
The cars then qualified for starting grid positions and the race was set to go. It was interesting how close the cars were lap-time wise, but as the laps mounted, separations began to happen to all but the two lead cars of Peter and Ian. In the case of my car, during practice the gears got some roughing up as Mark familiarised himself with the car. Unfortunately, fairly early into the first 100-lap stage, it got to where they weren't meshing properly, the car getting slower and slower as the sound of the semi-meshed gears under acceleration got louder and louder. I was losing time and the gears were becoming more damaged, so I made a pit stop to open the car and try to sort it out. At the workbench, I used a bit of hot glue to try to get the motor closer to the sidewinder gear and re-joined the race. This helped, with the car running smoother and faster, but it didn't last, forcing me to again pit and take it apart. This time I pressed the motor back onto the gear, using a large amount of hot glue to hold it in place. After rejoining the race, the car ran better right up to the end, but with no possibility of placing higher than last, finishing 78 laps down from the winner.
The real action however was happening at the front, Peter and Ian doing almost identical lap times and running neck and neck with one another. Some drive-throughs were called by Ian on Peter, but Peter justified them as racing incidents when running in close proximity of one another, a reasonable assertion. During the course of the race, Jono set the fastest race lap, but at 8.862 sec, this was under the 9.000 sec minimum, requiring that 10-lap penalty previously mentioned. This didn't change the car's final placing however, because the cars that finished after their Opel Calibra were more than ten laps behind. In between the close battle at the front and Steve's and Jono's car lay the Luke and Keith Honda Civic, quietly and consistently moving up from their last place start position and now in third place.
Incredibly, after 400 laps and about an hour and a half after its start (10 minute breaks included), the race came to an end with the first two cars crossing the line just 2.913 seconds apart! It was quite an amazing result. Everyone had had such a good time that suggestions were made to run another or something similar at our next event. I think that we'll be seeing long races more frequently in 2025.
The usual pics to start things off (thanks as always primarily to Luke):
The boys pose for a pic with O'Brie who was only able to drop by for a short while:
Practice session for Warren and Mark in progress:
Kent and Alex did yeoman service, the former acting as Race Director, Alex as one of the non-driver marshals. Also doing a great marshalling job was Dominic (not in this pic):
Superglueing that annoying auto-change flipper before the race:
Warren and I dealing with a computer setting, while Peter and Dominic have a discourse:
The boys look on as Mark practices with my Mustang which we'd be sharing for the race:
Ian also did a great job of setting out the event's procedures and explaining everything to all present:
Jono and Steve, son and father, teammates for the race:
The cars lined up for qualifying:
Board room meeting:
Track tucked away till next year:
The Results
SSDC qualifying:
Saloon / Sports Car Endurance
SSCE race grid - Peter/Zakspeed Escort, Ian/Honda Civic, Steve & Jon/Opel Calibra, Gordon & Mark/Mustang Notchback, Warren/MG6, Luke & Keith/Honda Civic:
Some of the cars at the end of the 100-lap stoppage:
100-lap status:
200-lap status:
300-lap status:
Race results at the end of the 400 laps:
(How this is computed: https://frcforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=393)
Congratulations to the winners.
Total Championship Points for 2024 (total of each drivers top fifteen points-scoring days):
Next event's classes: To be determined.
Don't forget to see the updated overall fastest times and the fastest no-magnet times by driver and class to know what the benchmarks are for your cars. Older stats can be found in the Archive area of the forum.
See you on the circuit...
Gordon
