Bel Ray 6 Hour Phillip Island Dec 3-5

[JasonL]

For those of you not in Oz the 6 hour was a big production-based bike race that ran in the 70's and 80's. It's been revived and is in its 2nd year.

Friend of mine with a ZX10, Jim Burke wanted to enter, one thing led to another and three of us entered on the bike, Jim, myself and Stuart Ellis, all of us old club hacks from Sydney. We did a lot of planning and preparation, many phone hook-ups (they are interstate) and spent quite a lot of money to enter and get ready!

The bike was entered in the production class, being essentially bog stock, and we also had to run on a control tyre (choice of 5 manufacturers), which is a treaded race tyre in effect. There were Supertock, superstreet and various other categories I'm also not very familiar with.

We started out with practice on the Friday, and wow, I'd never ridden anything like a ZX10 before, warp speed Mr Sulu! I was struggling to think quickly enough to keep my head ahead of it on the track. I was also struggling to get it through the turns, everything about it was foreign to me, I was turning in too early then running wide, all sorts of strange problems, overall I just couldn't work out how to turn it the way I wanted to. There were several top teams competing, who are only a couple of seconds a lap down on the MotoGP times, so we were well out of our depth. I'm not used to being a backmarker!! We figured they would lap us about every 10 laps and that was about right! There were also lots of fast privateers who were well quicker than us, but also a load of guys like us, out to have a run and just be at such a big event.

Saturday was qualifying, which we took easy to preserve tyres and fuel, the bike and ourselves. We qualified 3rd last out of 37 or so bikes but didn't care as we weren't trying and its a 6 hour race! Plus we could gain 6 spots off the start anyway (we jumped 7 !!)

I was exhausted after the Friday and Saturday and slept well before the race for once, and in the Sunday warm-up I felt much better about working out how to ride the bike the way it's designed to be ridden. The race was a Le Mans start, I got a great start, the first lap was hectic I nearly ran up the back of someone and ended it there and then. Settled down into a rhythm and did a 30 minute stint, plus my best lap time of the weekend, a 1.46.7. The leaders were in the 34's.

We had Jim and Stuart's wives helping in the pits and keeping track of time, plus John Rickard who I 've raced with this year in Hartwell, on his FZR1000 as strategist and organiser. I can tell you, the planning and preparation was everything. We practiced wheel changes, refuelling etc etc, had a clear plan and stuck to it but were flexible enough to shift it around when we saw something changing around us. Without the work done in the pits by those three we wouldn't have brought it home, it was a true team effort.

There had been some consternation around tyre compound, pressures, wear for the race. We changed a few things and managed to get through with one tyre change only. Where the faster guys chewed up their rubber, we were able to keep our more modest pace up on old rubber anyway.
I did a decent stint when the tyres were well past their best just to get us past half way before we put fresh rubber on, so we knew we could then go to the end on one new set. Fatigue set in for all of us around the 4 hr mark. I was supposed to run long but couldn't sustain it and came in at 30mins, Stuart then went out and did something bad to his shoulder but kept going, he was in agony when he came in, meaning Jim was left to do 40 mins in the last stint to the line, which he did admirably. We did exactly what we had set out to do: Have fun, finish and and have everything go to plan. It was a great feeling. We finished 22nd out of 29 finishers and were 4th in class (production) however we think we may have been 3rd because of a timing glitch - some other guys in another class seemed to have a similar hassle - to be continued!!

As a club hack I'm used to running in the first half of the pack so it was humbling to be a backmarker!! It was also amazing to be passed by world class riders on factory kit who are laying down a vast arc of rubber. It was also mindbending to see 282km/h (175mph) at the end of the straight! We did 178 laps by the end, about 32 down on the leaders.

Spook came out and photographed lots of totty and may have watched a few bikes go round corners in-between, and I met Mike SS who was down with some fellow Queenslanders who were also competing. Nice to meet you Mike!

[spook]

Yes it was a good day out! Quite a mix of bikes and talent, from internationals riding with Australian superbike teams, to club racers out for run. Amazingly it all worked remarkably well, with very few crashes or incidents.

Contrary to Jasons claim I wasn't paying attention, I think he rode very well! He certainly has some pace.

Congratulation to you and your team Jason for a great result in what is to my mind an incomprehensibly difficult event

Good to meet MikeSS as well... Broken, but not beaten

[Mike_SS]

Good report Jason and it was good to say g'day to you and spook in person.

Congrats for the result and I can imagine it wasn't easy getting your head around the bike, the heat and getting passed by those missiles every 10 laps or so. I saw the bike plenty during the race but didn't know your leathers so was never sure if it was you or not.

I don't know what times you have done at PI on other bikes but I think a 1:46 was the best time done by the queenslanders as well. I have raced with them and know their pace so I reckon that is a very respectable time

[hotcam]

Brilliant work, 4th in class is a good result, after 6 hours finishing is a good result! Wish I could have come.

[sbutler]

Fantastic effort to you all!!
Now you can say you've raced in the 6 hour. I hope the timing mishap goes your way.. 3rd in class yaaaaaaaaaaah..

[JasonL]

Thanks all, it was a great weekend and worth getting well out of one's comfort zone for. Mike I've only raced there once before, first time out on the FZR and clocked a 1.51 then. Murray Clark's team on the BMW 1000R (also production class) did a 42.9, I know they only just got the bike ready on the Saturday, so maybe could have been quicker, but nonetheless we weren't too far off some of the more serious guys. If it was my bike and a sprint race I'm sure we'd be a bit quicker!! For me the most impressive, stunning in fact, lap time were some name riders on a Triumph 675 who were about 8th outright and clocked a 1.37.5. Wow.

It was tiring for sure, hard to concentrate and hard work throwing a gyrating mass about for that long; it might have been a modern bike but it was still relatively heavy and needed a fair bit of rider input.

It's tempting to start thinking about next year......I wonder if they'd let the FZR in ?? !! Just joking (although there was a 750T there...)

[spook]

For me watching the race action from over the pits was a highlight... Resources were stretched to the limit (zoom out to maximum)...

[stan]

well done guys, fantastic effort.

It's great to see a 6 hr race back at the island, next time they should start it a 3pm, like they have in the past, so you ride through dusk and into the night!!!

Your times look well on the money. The best i have acheived arond the island was a high 47, and that was on the ragged edge of my limited ability,

To put a bike/team together for a 6 hr race is a massive effort, so have another radox bath and pat yourselves on the back for ajob Well done

stan

[McFizzer]

Nice view Spook lol