Philip Island 6-Hour Relay

BGTV8

Just back from one of our club's "fun" competition events for the year - the 6-Hour Relay at Philip Island GP circuit.

It is not a "Race" but a test of 6 cars and their drivers ability to consistently hit a lap-time (each driver gets to select their own time), and there is "lots" of strategy involved. One car from each of 50 teams on the circuit at any given time, maximum 30-minute stints before calling into the pits to change-over to a new driver and his car, but with 50 teams, their is "lots" of traffic on a 4.5km long circuit, and some folk set a "slow lap-time" by comparison so you need to be mindful of speed differentials (nominated lap times in our team varied from 118 seconds to 133 seconds to reflect varying car and driver capability).

I ran my Z34 for the first time with a tune and with 275/35R18 rear tyres was pulling 7500rpm in 5th/6100rpm in 6th into the braking area for T1 which is the quickest the car has ever gone (up 10-12kph on last year).

This event is subject to a minimum lap-time (115 seconds) to stop the speed differentials being excessive, so you cannot go too hard (breaking the minimum lap-time involves application of penalty laps and they kill the teams score).

I'm not sure if the US sanctioning bodies and/or event organisers permit this kind of event, but they are an excellent option for track-day junkies and competitive motorsport beginners to practise their skills and allow some strategy into competition.

We had a couple of first-timers in our team and they finished Sunday with grins a mile-wide.

If there are any Vic or NSW-based Aussies on the forum who want to get involved next year, put a reminder into your diary for early May (entries open on the Monday of the second week in May) and PM me for any details. Members of the Nissan Datsun Sports Owners Club will hear about it thru the Club Magazine or monthly meetings.