Race Reports
and Results
Phillip Island 6
Hour Regularity 2006
(updated regularly)
First posted on the TYP901 forum by Phil Lack, the 2006 regularity event at Phillip Island was always going to be a great event. As soon as I saw the schedule I just knew that the TYP901 register had to be involved. As a member who uses their car for competition, I thought this could be a great opportunity for other members to get involved in the motorsport experience.
After much chatter on the website forum, we had filled a team of 6 drivers and 5 cars comprising of myself and my father Stewart, Marcus Hancock, Clyde Boyer, Dave Belford and Darren Sharp, with Michael Japp as first reserve. Team TYP901 was off and running with the entry form paid, and pit garage booked. Before long, even more interest grew and we had to juggle with the prospect of fielding two teams. Due to other commitments, Clyde and Dave had to pull out, which left us two drivers short of two full teams, however new members Mark and Gary Tierney, Ian Henderson and Spencer Harrison put their hands up to join in the fun. Michael Japp had good friend Phillip Wilson co-drive his car to make up the 5th driver in Team 2. Six weeks out from the event we had two teams and four pit crew who had kindly put their hand up to help out over the weekend.
My main goal for the event was to have my car completed! Many of you know my 1966/67 911S started to be restored over 3 years earlier in South Australia. Even I was beginning to wonder if I would ever see it finished. However with the 6 hour now firmly set in stone, I was champing at the bit to make sure my car was finished and ready to race. Much to my excitement and relief, the car was finished a month before, looking very new, very clean and very white! I drove the car back from Adelaide, and right from the outset the car felt really good. Admittedly the cars ride height was ‘Pimp My Ride’ low, since we had dropped the suspension right down, made worse by 50 profile radial tyres, and about 5 degrees of negative camber! However this was soon changed after the first run at Phillip Island just 3 days after driving it back. The car wandered all over the track at high speed and was very twitchy. However brakes and turn in were fantastic, and the sound of the 2 litre screaming behind me is always a joy to behold! A quick trip to Jocaro Motors to raise the car, along with reducing the negative camber, and a set of Dunlop R’s, the car was ready to go. Now it felt a lot more grounded and stable at high speed, and I was ready to take on the 6 hour.
The week prior to the 6 hour I was madly preparing dad’s 356 who made a last minute change from running our 1965 911. This car was unproven and not set up for constant track circulation, and therefore the trusty ‘CRC’ yellow 356 with a 2.8 litre 911 motor got the guernsey to compete. I had campaigned the car regularly in 2006 awaiting my car to be finished, so a new set of rear tyres were ordered to ensure that it would get through the event. Upon loading the car on Thursday, the car developed a flutter, and started to miss on one cylinder… GREAT! Off to the mechanic to diagnose and fix the problem, which was sourced back to being a faulty ignition lead that was earthing out. Once finished, I applied the stickers on both cars, fuelled and washed them, loaded the tow car full of necessary tools, and we were ready to go.
Saturday morning was an early start for all involved. Some stayed overnight on Phillip Island so that they had less time to travel like Darren Sharp from Torquay, and Michael Japp who had driven 8 hours from NSW to come to compete in his 1971 911. Arriving at the track at about 8:30, it was all action with cars being unloaded, scrutineered, and the garages being filled with tools, compressors, spare tyres, tables, cable ties, chairs, food, drink and TV’s for the AFL Grand Final that was on during the afternoon practice sessions.
For those that have not been to Phillip Island race circuit, it is set approximately 110 kms from Melbourne on Phillip Island (funny that!). The track is approximately 4.45 kms long and is set next to the mighty Bass Straight which separates mainland Australia and Tasmania. Due to the close proximity to the water, the track can be subject to some wild weather, but also to some of the most spectacular racing scenery anywhere in the world. Many top race drivers and motorcycle riders place Phillip Island in their Top 5 race tracks of all time.
Peter Williams took charge of the pit crew outfits who all looked great with their white overalls. The TYP901 logo on the back and the German colours on the front (see picture) complete the ‘team image’ that we were hoping for. Andrew Vidler (Team Manager for Team 1) and Peter Williams (Team Manager for Team 2) were placed in charge of keeping their respective drivers in line, and start to develop strategies and procedures for the race. As each driver was restricted to a 30 minute stint at any one time, car and driver changeovers were going to be common, and need to be slick to reduce wasted time in the pits. With some trail and error, both teams had their pit change over down to a fine art, the only issue being some who broke the 40 km/h speed limit in pit lane and subsequently hauled before the event officials for a slap on the wrist and sent to the corner to think about what they had done! Anyone that has ever been sent to the CAMS Stewards during the event will know that it can play out like a Law and Order court room with witnesses, judges of fact, other drivers and Stewards who have the final say if you will be let off with a reprimand, fine or solitary confinement for the rest of the event! Gladly none of our team was subject to such trauma.
The idea for regularity events is to work out a time that you can consistently circulate the track, without going faster than the time your nominated. From there a mathematical equation is used to determine potential laps versus actual laps of the entire team, and then adding bonus laps (when a lap is completed within +0.99 of the nominated time for that driver) and subtracting penalty laps (when the driver goes under the nominated lap time). For us drivers, the equation was simple… go out and drive as hard as you can to find who quickly you can drive around the circuit so that we know what times we can do. All of us decided to set out to do 5 lap stints to try and get comfortable in the car, get our tyre pressures right, and nail down the lap times were capable of and therefore nominate.
At the end of practice on Saturday everyone had been on the track for about 15-18 laps each. The spread of times ranging from 2.00 for Gary Tierney in his 1974 Carrera 2.7, to Stewart Webster in the 356 at 2.18. The field was restricted to a minimum time of 1.55 to ensure that newer faster cars were not going to enter the event. Having said that, there were some cars that were right on the limit of the 1.55 such as the 2005 Saleen Mustang, the 2005 HSV Commodore, the EA Falcon race car, BMW M3, and Jaguar XJS 7.0 litre. In all 27 teams were competing for outright victory, however due to the way the results are calculated, you don’t know who is winning until the end and the results are tallied. With 27 cars on the track at any one time, everyone had to be aware of what was going on around them.
Saturday night, under strict orders from the Team Managers, all drivers were off to dinner ensuring that not too much red wine was consumed so that all were sharp and ready for action on Sunday. Most went for dinner locally at New Haven, retiring early for a good nights rest after a great start to the event. Others like myself headed back home for dinner with some friends which was unable to be cancelled.
Sunday morning the clear sunny skies over Phillip Island reigned supreme, with a magical day to compete. The temperature set to reach a comfortable 26 degrees with only a hint of wind sweeping up off Bass Straight. Few days are this good at Phillip Island with all drivers commenting on how blessed we were to have such good weather. The track was clean, the racing was set to be fast and a whole lot of fun!
Due to a 9am curfew on noise from race cars, many cars were being pushed by drivers and pit crew to the scrutineering bays for an early recheck of all cars. All of us were also calculating just how much fuel to put in so that excess fuel was not hindering out weight! Richard Griffiths was placed in charge of fuelling the cars. Mark Teirney must be thanked for kindly transporting and providing his fuel drums and filling containers so that we could all precisely fill our cars without spilling a drop. Mark runs Race Fuels Pty Ltd which imports ELF racing fuel from France, however only he and his father ran the ELF race fuel on the weekend, with all of us mere mortals choosing to use standard 98 pump fuel that Mark had provided. Mark claims that an increase in horsepower can be up to 8-10% when your car is tuned to ELF, however at approx $6 a litre, the expense is limited to the few with a budget that can cope.
Team orders had been spoken about before leaving the track on Saturday afternoon, and Marcus was chosen to start for Team 1 (18th on the grid), and Gary for Team 2 (10th on the grid). As the cars lined up on the grid a bag piper played in pit lane. He was not part of the official proceedings, as his faded jeans and flannel shirt were a dead giveaway! However in a still morning at Phillip Island with clear skies, his finale was met with rapturous applause. A few moments later at 10am sharp, the first car was flagged away at two second intervals, and the Phillip Island 6 Hour Regularity was underway. The club recently acquired a pit board which is the only form of communication allowed for the event between the pits and drivers. No in car telemetry or timing was allowed, so the pit crew had their work cut out to ensure that we had accurate timing to display on the board to advise each driver of their times while circulating. Both Marcus and Gary were immediately on the pace, being within a couple of seconds of their nominated times. 25 minutes after the start, Gary was signaled in for the first change over to Michael Japp. Marcus was signaled in for 3 consecutive laps as he missed the pit board each time (so he says, we think it was because he was having so much fun, and given the opportunity would have kept going until he ran out of fuel!) and eventually he came in just over his 30 minutes allotted time. However this was no real great issue, as the lap simply would not count and not be a penalty lap. Spencer Harrison in Ian Henderson’s awesome 911R was next out for Team 1, and the first changes were complete. Ian’s 911R is a recreation that is nut, bolt and washer true to the original. The car has an original 906 motor with all the correct ‘R’ parts, including centre fuel tank, side mounted oil tank, 7 inch R wheels for the rear, etc. The car has not done much competition, and both Ian and Spencer found themselves learning the car and what it is capable of. Both teams were excited to have the 911R in our garage, and thank Ian for bringing the car out and driving it in anger. The car sounds brilliant, and at 830kg and 210hp is a certified light weight rocket!
The change overs continued with all the drivers coming back in and offering advice to the next drivers out, comparing times and feedback about the traffic, where to pass, racing lines, and how much fun they just had tearing around one of the best race tracks in the world! Everyone was on a ‘racing high’.
I was third out for Team 1, and upon leaving the pits like a bat out of hell, was immediately swamped by some faster cars going through turns 1 and 2. My main concern was to ensure that I allowed time for my tyres, and more importantly me, to warm up to racing speed. Within 2-3 laps or so I had settled in and was trying to find my rhythm and get down to my nominated 2.10. During my stint I caught Team 2 member Darren Sharp in his beautiful Gulf Blue S. Darren has worked hard to have the car ready after his gearbox went ‘bang’ 3-4 week earlier. Throughout the course of the day, the smile on Darren’s face grew bigger and bigger as he too got to enjoy his car in a controlled environment flat out.
In the last part of my first stint, I started to develop what felt to be fuel surge, despite my fuel gauge saying that I had a ¼ of tank left. Over the course of the lap I decided to put my headlights on to say that I was coming in the next lap, but as luck would have it, the ‘IN’ was displayed on the pit board for me to change over. On my in lap the car seemed to clear up and the miss went away – PHEW! By the time I was in pits I was desperate for a drink of water, despite taking on large amounts of fluid before hand. You forget how hard you work in only 25 minutes on the track. Out went Ian Henderson in his first stint in his car. Time to refuel both myself and the car!
The day was going well, with Phillip in Team 2 being remarkably consistent with his times all day. Most importantly, none of us had any incidents or problems with our cars. The only minor issue was Jappy’s car who’s starter motor decided that it would stop working (it was later found that the starter wire had fallen off!). Towards 2pm, Stewart was out for his second stint, and said to Andrew Vidler that he did not want to do a third stint as he felt that he would have had enough after his run. Ian Henderson echoed Stewart’s thoughts, and Team 1 was left with 3 drivers and cars to complete the last hour and half of the event. Our plan seemed easy enough until we noticed how worn Marcus’s right rear tyre was. Both he and I was a little concerned that his car would not make a forth stint and could potentially blow out. A decision was made to send me out ahead of Spencer, so that if Marcus’s car was not ready I could be sent out again to take his spot to do the final sprint to the finish. However while I was out on the track completing my third stint, Jason Carroll lipped the guard that was damaging the tyre, so that there was enough clearance to solve the problem. They also swapped the front left to the back left to give some more grip on the rear. The plan worked perfectly, with both Marcus and Jason confident that the car was safe and would be good for his final dash to the chequered flag.
In my third stint while Marcus and Jason were working out what to do, I was lapping up knowing that Michael Japp was about 20-25 seconds in front of me. The chase was on! Like my first stint I was surrounded with cars in my first 2-3 laps, and could not get into any groove and post good times. My laps times were suffering and I needed to get on the pace after a good performance in my second stint where I did six consecutive laps at either 2.10 or 2.11. Soon Jappy was in sight, and over the space of 3-5 laps I was consistently making headway without going under my 2.10 base time. I pressed hard to try and get him until finally by about lap 7 and 8, I was bearing down on him into Turn 1, knowing that I should be right on his bumper by the exit of Turn 2. I was about 50 metres behind him entering Turn 1 doing approximately 110 mph when I had reached my braking marker and was washing off some speed for my entry, however to my amazement I had not seen any brakes lights from Jappy, which led me to believe he a) knew I was there and was not looking at the corner but his rear vision mirror, b) his brake lights were not working or c) he had tried to take the corner without braking – now that’s gutsy! His car drifted wider and wider missing the apex before the rear broke away and he was spinning in a cloud of tyre smoke. My heart was in my mouth hoping that the car would stay on the track and away from the wall that lurks just a few metres from the track edge. Luckily for Jappy the car stayed on the track despite almost two complete 360’s. I got passed him and continued on with the last two laps. Upon returning to the pits I rushed to him and said – WOW, that was awesome!
The clock was showing 4pm and the chequered flag was out. Marcus took the flag for Team 1 and Mark Teirney for Team 2. The regularity was over, and not a scratch on any of our cars, just a few tyres that were looking worse for wear. Smiles all round from all including the pit crew. Within 20 minutes of the end of the event, our garage was clean and empty, and cars loaded on trailers and a cold beer in hand. Who would have known it was the battleground of so much fun, laughter and enjoyment for the past 32 hours.
The presentations at 5 o’clock announced the winner, Team Weltmeister, however most of us had already started to head home to our wives and girlfriends sheepishly coming in the door to take them out for dinner or alike to make up for cheating on them and spending so much time with our other love of our lives, our 901’s. In the end, Team 1 finished 18th, with Team 2 in 21st. Considering it was all of our first attempts at such an event, this was not a bad effort, with the most important thing being that all the cars and us came home safely.
Next year looks like it will be bigger and better, with all of the competitors from this year already expressing immediate interest in returning to take part again. Many people that came down as spectators or were in the pit crew are now motivated to have their cars ready and prepared for the event in 2007. Hopefully we may be able to field 2 or 3 full teams next year, with the additional support of other members who may wish to come down and just enjoy the event while not actually taking part.
At the recent 2006 AGM, it was proposed to have more competitive events that could be entered by TYP901 members and make some events a fixture on the calendar, such as AROCA 6 hour in Sydney and Mallala in Adelaide. The relative cheap cost of the event makes it a financially viable form of event for many to get plenty of seat time in their car at speed, and an opportune time to use their car they were designed to be driven.
Thanks again to all the competitors and pit crew for their support and camaraderie during the weekend. Without the help or Andrew Vidler, Peter Williams, Brett Ditchfield, Richard Griffiths and Jason Carroll, the weekend would not have gone as smoothly as it did. Big thanks also to Mark Tierney for supplying the fuel.
Maybe next year we can get on the podium and do the register proud and do it all over again. I know I can’t wait!