Images from Victoria 6-Hour Relay at Philp Island GP Circuit on 4&5 August

BGTV8 · 08-05-2012, 09:00 PM

A couple of images from last weekend at PI GP Circuit. We had 50 teams of up to 6 cars each running relay-format over 6-hours. Each car gets max 30-minute session before changing over. 50 cars on a 4.5 km circuit makes for a busy time as lap-times varied quite widely (as does experience level as this was a club-level event with lots of lower level experienced drivers). It was great fun though.

Mike · 08-05-2012, 09:07 PM

nice! your car looks sharp!

sig11 · 08-06-2012, 08:28 AM

That sounds like a blast. Can you give more details on the format? I've never heard of anything like that before.

Still weirds me out to see windows up!

BGTV8 · 08-06-2012, 05:53 PM

It was a "regularity-relay" so we compete in teams of 6 cars and score points based on how close we can get to a nominated lap time. One car from each team on track at any time, maximum of 50 teams. We had cars from Queensand, New South Wales and South Australia (Qld is a 2000km haul, NSW and SA is a ~900km haul). I'm only 2 hours from the circuit.

Bascially - each lap comleted scores one lap, then if you lap between 0.0 and 0.5 secs (slower) than your nominated time, you get 10 bonus laps, if you lap between 0.5 and 1.0 seconds slower, you get 7 bonus laps, between 1.0 and 1.5 seconds, 5 bonus laps, 1.5 and 2.0 seconds is 3 bonus laps, between 2.0 and 2.5 seconds you get 1 bonus lap and if you are further than 2.5 away, then just the lap gets counted with no bonus.

If you break your nominated lap time by less than 0.5 seconds, then you get 1 penalty lap deducted, all he way up to 10 penalty laps if you exceed your laptime by more than 2.0001 seconds.

All timing is transponder based and scorng electronic using the Dorian system.

You have no idea how difficult it is to maintain a target laptime when there are 50 other cars on the circuit (4.5 km long), with extreme variance in driver skill (this is a "club-level event with the most basic competition license), selection of lines and car performance. You are not permitted to have any timing devices in the car at all - it is purely driver judgement about how close you are to your "reference" lap. There is no radio comms from pt to car - lt has to be done "old-skool" with stop-watch and pit signaling boards.

You need to be careful abut overtaking given the wide variance in skill and understranding f the race line and inconsistnet use of mirrors and passing indication.

There is a minimum laptime of 1m55s - break that and you get black flagged as well as 15 penalty laps - break it again and you are sent home - the idea is not to have too great a diversity of speeds (a no mods Z34 willlap in around 2m02s and a modded NA Z34 with r-specs and decent spings/shocks will do 1m55s or so).

I nominated my time at 1m59s (did a 1m58s in practise) and broke the 1m59s 3 times during the event (lowest was 1m58.54) simply becuase I had a couple of clear laps without traffic and didn't adjust my braking markers enough to pull sufficient lap time out of the car.

Next year, if I get an invite, I'll nominate a slightly faster time (1m57s all being equal) to avoid the potential for breaking the nomination.

As for outright performacne - I'm intending to do an MSCA event later in the year and we'll see what lap time is actually in the car then (I reckon with r-specs and stock shocks and springs a 1m55s is on the cards).

BTW, I'm sitting on the other side of the car so you can't see the drivers window down - we are RHD over here.

Evernts like this are a blast as they are team-based and allow for a fair bit of strategy - like swapping cars under safety-car to minimise lost time, putting the slower cars out when it is wet or damp as they use poor grip in the wet a little better than the faster cars, etc. We had practise on Saturday and Sunday was "race-day" with 10am start and 4pm finish. We lost one car before the start (RX-7 turbo swallowed some debris ad damaged the turbo) and one big "lose" when an S2K lightly backed into the wall at T8 following a spin and "off" in the wet (Sunday afternoon weather was a bit challenging).

If anyone is interested in the event regs and "concept" - take a peek at
6 hour relay: Regularity, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia

RB

08-05-2012, 09:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
Mike The370Z.com Sponsor Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Loganville, GA Posts: 5,944 Drives: 370z Rep Power: 2185	nice! your car looks sharp! __________________ NISSAN: 75 280Z / 86 300ZX GLL /87 Sentra SE / 03 350Z / 23 Z Porsche: 93 968 / 23 Macan GTS / 93 968

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08-06-2012, 08:28 AM	#3 (permalink)
sig11 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Detroit Posts: 1,294 Drives: 09 370Z Red Sport-MT Rep Power: 17	That sounds like a blast. Can you give more details on the format? I've never heard of anything like that before. Still weirds me out to see windows up!

08-06-2012, 05:53 PM	#4 (permalink)
BGTV8 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: 03350 Australia Posts: 1,503 Drives: 09 Nissan 370Z M6 Rep Power: 29907	It was a "regularity-relay" so we compete in teams of 6 cars and score points based on how close we can get to a nominated lap time. One car from each team on track at any time, maximum of 50 teams. We had cars from Queensand, New South Wales and South Australia (Qld is a 2000km haul, NSW and SA is a ~900km haul). I'm only 2 hours from the circuit. Bascially - each lap comleted scores one lap, then if you lap between 0.0 and 0.5 secs (slower) than your nominated time, you get 10 bonus laps, if you lap between 0.5 and 1.0 seconds slower, you get 7 bonus laps, between 1.0 and 1.5 seconds, 5 bonus laps, 1.5 and 2.0 seconds is 3 bonus laps, between 2.0 and 2.5 seconds you get 1 bonus lap and if you are further than 2.5 away, then just the lap gets counted with no bonus. If you break your nominated lap time by less than 0.5 seconds, then you get 1 penalty lap deducted, all he way up to 10 penalty laps if you exceed your laptime by more than 2.0001 seconds. All timing is transponder based and scorng electronic using the Dorian system. You have no idea how difficult it is to maintain a target laptime when there are 50 other cars on the circuit (4.5 km long), with extreme variance in driver skill (this is a "club-level event with the most basic competition license), selection of lines and car performance. You are not permitted to have any timing devices in the car at all - it is purely driver judgement about how close you are to your "reference" lap. There is no radio comms from pt to car - lt has to be done "old-skool" with stop-watch and pit signaling boards. You need to be careful abut overtaking given the wide variance in skill and understranding f the race line and inconsistnet use of mirrors and passing indication. There is a minimum laptime of 1m55s - break that and you get black flagged as well as 15 penalty laps - break it again and you are sent home - the idea is not to have too great a diversity of speeds (a no mods Z34 willlap in around 2m02s and a modded NA Z34 with r-specs and decent spings/shocks will do 1m55s or so). I nominated my time at 1m59s (did a 1m58s in practise) and broke the 1m59s 3 times during the event (lowest was 1m58.54) simply becuase I had a couple of clear laps without traffic and didn't adjust my braking markers enough to pull sufficient lap time out of the car. Next year, if I get an invite, I'll nominate a slightly faster time (1m57s all being equal) to avoid the potential for breaking the nomination. As for outright performacne - I'm intending to do an MSCA event later in the year and we'll see what lap time is actually in the car then (I reckon with r-specs and stock shocks and springs a 1m55s is on the cards). BTW, I'm sitting on the other side of the car so you can't see the drivers window down - we are RHD over here. Evernts like this are a blast as they are team-based and allow for a fair bit of strategy - like swapping cars under safety-car to minimise lost time, putting the slower cars out when it is wet or damp as they use poor grip in the wet a little better than the faster cars, etc. We had practise on Saturday and Sunday was "race-day" with 10am start and 4pm finish. We lost one car before the start (RX-7 turbo swallowed some debris ad damaged the turbo) and one big "lose" when an S2K lightly backed into the wall at T8 following a spin and "off" in the wet (Sunday afternoon weather was a bit challenging). If anyone is interested in the event regs and "concept" - take a peek at 6 hour relay: Regularity, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia RB