Donington Park 6 Hour Round 3 – 2018

The Donington Park 6 hour is the longest race of the 2018 championship.  Pushing bikes, riders and support crew harder than any other round.  We also held our annual hosting event here with many sponsors and Chain of Command coming to see first hand the professionalism,  passion and scale of our team.

Every round is open to family, friends, colleagues, CoC and sponsors.  We’ll make sure you get to experience motorsport as close as you can without physically riding the bikes.

Track Day (Test Day)

The majority of the team arrived for the Thursday trackday that gets utilised by many riders and teams as the Test day.  A nice sunny day above 20 degrees Celsius meant tyres ran hot and moved around a lot but this was ideal preparation for the upcoming race in the same conditions.

Team 1 – Unfortunately due to other commitments and no spaces on the track day pep and Sam couldn’t attend.  Moggy came back for this round and was back to having an OCD-off with T2 Carl for the best prepared race bike in the paddock.  He blew out some cobwebs and was fully ready to help out team 1 for the long 6 hour race as he put down some solid times and looked forward to getting out racing for the first time in 2018.

Team 2 – Both Carl and Andy were putting in solid times with constant improvement after spending the morning setting up the bikes.  In the 3rd session of the day with both riders building pace and coaching each other closely on where they could improve.  Carl was hard on the gas out of Coppice following Andy close when Andy’s bike suddenly lost drive at 10500rpm in 4th gear and ‘slung out an anchor’.  Carl was just about to overtake and took the inside line resulting in a small collision, bouncing of Andy with no major damage but both missed a few sessions repairing the minor damage.

Team 3 – Both went well bringing lap times down on the ZX10R’s.  Darryl tried to go out a couple times on his SV650 for the sprints but had problems with the power. He spent Friday striping and rebuilding with hope that it was sorted ready for the sprint race.

 

Team 4 – The track day saw Robbo and Daz learning the GP track.  Robbo’s bike had a mechanical issue before lunch so he missed the afternoon.  Daz was left to represent Team 4 in the afternoon setting a personal best (PB) lap time of 1.48.

Team 5 – After 3 years as support crew Biz was ready for his first race weekend as a rider and managed to get on the Trackday, spending the day setting up his bike for best effect.  Unfortunately Chris and Matt were unable to make the day.

Qualifying

Team 1 – No test day for the riders made little difference when they set out to qualify.  Putting in solid times with Sam Cox putting the team 2^nd on the grid.

Team 2 – A solid performance throughout qualifying with Carl setting the qualifying time that put the team 14th on the grid.  Guest rider Dan put in good times with Andy putting in a new PB on new rubber.

Team 3 – Darryl and their guest rider both had sprint qualifying races in the morning prior to the endurance Qualifying.  Darryl even managed to put his SV650 on pole position in the twin class and then won his race.  Their team mate didn’t have such a good race, having a big crash and a flying lesson when a rider tucked the front in front of him leaving nowhere to go except over the fallen rider’s bike causing a lot of damage to his bike.

Lee went out to Qualify first and took 5 seconds off his test day time.  Darryl’s ZX10 gear box decided to give in on his 3^rd lap but he got it back in time for the 3rd rider to put in a lap time.  The pit crew pulled out all the stops with a change of Darryl’s gear box, (thanks to Spence (who’s done it enough times in 2016/17) and Jeff) and Jeff and Andy had to fix a Triumph 675 prior to the main endurance race.  6hrs for Lee on his own might have been asking a bit much….might!

Team 4 – Qualifying was off to a flying start; Robbo went out and set some good lap times while trying to really stay on full throttle down through the infamously scary Craner Curves in traffic.  Daz was next up and set consistent lap times amongst a busy circuit, each lap hindered at some point by slower teams.  Whilst Daz was out Dave’s bike developed a technical issue and Robbo’s bike was quickly fuelled up and wheeled back out.  Daz came in and handed the transponder back to Robbo.  Time now counting down (15 min to go) it was important Dave set a qualifying time; otherwise the team would have to start from the rear of the grid.  Quick work by the pit crew got the bike up and running with Dave squeezing in a flying lap moments before the chequered flag came out.  Robbo set the fastest time qualifying the team in 32^nd.

Team 5 – Chris and Matt used their time to set up their bikes due being unable to get on to the test day.  Matt encountered a few issues in setting up his suspension due to minimal time.  Biz was solid in setting a good time but Scott (their 4th rider) set the qualifying time.  Following qualifying Chris and Matt used the sprint races to continue dialling in their set-up.

Race (6 Hour)

Team 1 – After setting good pace on qualifying, Sam set off on a good strong pace although unfortunately 20mins in Sam started having technical issues which resulted in him returning to pits due to a miss firing engine.  The team managed to get Pep out on track whilst Sam was getting his bike stripped to sort the issue out.  All riders were putting in good times and running high in the race and class until…

From Pep’s point of view: he came up fast on the rear of Carl (T2) who was biding his time to overtake a much slower rider at Melbourne loop, the difference in expected mid-corner speed was higher than expected and Pep tagged the slower rider causing a domino effect resulting in both Army riders going down.  This then set the team back trying to get the transponder back to the pits and they dropped out of the podium positions.  Shortly after their was a huge oil spill from another teams bike causing several riders to crash, resulting in a red flag.  Once the bikes and oil were cleared up Sam managed to get back out on track and was pushing harder and harder to gain back the positions they lost and to get them in the top ten.  With only ten minutes to go Sam had managed to push the team to P6 and in doing so gained his new PB of 1min 33secs.

Team 2 – Carl started the 6 hour race and as always got a cracking start.  Carl, Andy and guest rider Dan put in good consistent lap times but seemed to constantly get hindered by catching traffic at parts of circuit that were difficult to overtake.  They were 2nd in class and 7th overall when from Carls point of view; he caught up to a much slower rider on the braking marker to the Melbourne Loop, he decided to give the rider space and run deep to cut back and pass on the drive out of the corner when suddenly a red bike appeared up the inside of both a tagged the slow rider causing both army bikes to go down.  This dropped T2 to 9th in class as the transponder was fitted to Andy’s bike and he headed out.’

Andy was pushing hard through traffic to pull back the lost positions (th by the end of his stint) at the time when the oil spill happened, he was luckily lining up an overtake so was off the usual racing line through Craners where the oil was laid.  The red flags came out and the two bikes directly in front had massive moments but somehow managed to stay upright – more by luck than judgement.  Further down the circuit through the old hairpin and Swantze riders were falling like skittles, only the quick reaction to the danger by track staff and the Marshalls stopped far more crashes.  He witnessed poor Matt (T5) go down after the red flags were deployed followed by even more losing the front end.  Once the race continued the team continued to put in consistent laps and pulled back up to 6th in Clubman 1000cc class but more importantly remaining 3rd in the overall Clubman 1000cc standings.

Team 3 – With one minute to go Darryl was seen running back to the pits with the transponder as was using it on the twin’s race which was directly before endurance race. Looking rather knackered he got the transponder to Lee’s bike then went onto the grid to hold the bike during the start.  This went well with Lee knocking even more time off during his 45min stint.  Darryl went out next with no gear indicator but at least the gears worked this time.  The 675 had not yet passed scruitineering after the earlier crash so Lee went out again for his 2^nd stint.  The pit crew sorted the Triumph out and it managed to hold steady times between some of the traffic.  Darryl got out for his 2^nd stint but an arm injury was starting to cause some pain and was decided not to try for a 3^rd session so the last hour was split between the other two riders.  Lee did the last 30 min, running 8^th in class when with 15 minutes to go his troubled electrics blew a fuse again! He managed to get back to the pits with the transponder with only 5 min on the clock and the 675 rolled down pit lane to finally bring the unlucky team 3 home to finish their first race this season!  Finally finished in 12^th in clubman 1000 with points on the board.

 

Team 4 – Dave was elected to carry out the race start, get his elbows wide and stop anyone passing.  A good start saw him holding a tight line around Red gate preventing any of the higher power machines behind from passing. A good 45 min stint saw Dave quickly familiarise himself with the circuit and start chopping his lap times down.  A fast change over in the pits and Robbo was out on his 1^st 45min stint setting consistent times, his track knowledge was evident and he held his own.  Next up Daz; high track temperatures and medium compound slicks had the back-end snaking around on the power out.  Consistent times were set and he come back in smiling but with some suspension adjustments needed.  Dave went back out on his 2^nd stint and again proved consistent until low fuel saw him raising his hand to pit; however as he dived down into Craner Curves he found oil spewed across the racing line and 7 bikes in the gravel.  He kept the bike upright and came into the pit lane under a red flag.  The bikes were lined up in the pit lane on stands and blankets (no heating tyres allowed) whilst the incident was cleaned.  After a big wait to clean the track (clock still ticking down) Robbo was back out and racing and working on alternate racing lines to avoid the oil spilt areas put in his PB.  Daz was back out again afterwards, suspension changes enabling him to exploit the Metzeler slick rear better.  Again, another fast session was set by Team 4 but heat and fatigue was starting to take its toll on the grid.  They managed to finish 5th in Clubman 600cc class.

Team 5 – Army team five started off very strong.  Scott (Guest Rider) put in a great first stint performance with some very quick times.  Biz went out next and steadily got into his first ever race, constantly improving.  Matt went out after and struggled with the bike for his stint before handing over to Chris who put in a strong forty minutes session to try and open the gap over the following teams and lessen the time in the pits.  The team cycled through each member again until Matt got caught up in the oil incident on his out lap.   The transponder came back with 2hrs 10mins left but with Matt receiving medical treatment.  Scott was exhausted as the long hard stints on the bike in the high temperatures had affected him severely.  This left it down to the two rookies; Biz and Chris were of the same mind-set ‘we are finishing the race whatever happens’ – a true endurance mentality.  Chris went first and powered through and managed to start picking up the lost places.  Biz went out next and continued to maintain the pace. The rookies went back and forth with Biz getting 1min 47secs and Chris getting 1min 45 secs, both respectable lap times.  Chris took the last stint and the chequered flag to bag the team some celebratory doughnuts and swiss role then flying back to New York.  It was a mixed weekend with some lows but a lot of positives.  Biz competed in and completed his first race and the two rookies made massive improvements finishing 14th in a stronger than normal Clubman 1000cc class.

6-hour Positions Throughout Race 

Team 1 – Qualified P2. 1 hour P3 Overall and P3 in class.  By the 3^rd hour dropped to P11 overall and P6 in class.  Finishing the 6-hour race P6 overall and P6 in Class.

Team 2 – Qualified P14 by the end of the first hour P11 Overall and P3 in Class.  By the 3^rd hour dropped to P20 Overall and P9 in Class.  Finishing the 6-hour race P17 overall and P6 in class.

Team 3 – Qualified P23 by the end of the first hour P24 Overall and P12 in Class.  By the 3^rd hour P23 Overall and P11 in Class.  Finishing the 6-hour race P28 overall and P12 in class.

Team 4 – Qualified P32 by tend of the first hour P30 Overall and P5 in class. By the 3^rd hour secured P29 overall and P5 in class.  To finish the race P25 overall and P5 in Clubman 600 class.

Team 5 – Qualified P22 by the end of the first hour d P26 Overall and P14 in class. By the 3^rd hour P27 overall and P14 in class.  Finishing the race P30 overall and P14 in Clubman 1000 class.  

Summarise

The 6 hour race was always going to test riders, crew and bikes to the extreme but I don’t think anyone expected the collection of bad luck that was encountered.  All Teams progressed consistently over the 6 hours and all finished even though some riders and bikes couldn’t.  The weather was dry but the heat was took its toll.

Mechanical issues, crashes and team riders colliding on track on more than one occasion all tested team spirit but the team came together and pushed hard to all finish for the first time in 2018.  There’s no hard feelings as we know the risks of racing and the team has come through the trials and tribulations stronger!

First rule of Endurance racing is to finish the race.