15 August 2010 - Alternative 6 hour? (YES, organised by the 360MRC)

[BILTEL]

Originally Posted by ClaireSmith

I thought it was "Exiting Dangerously from Pits"

Funny Funny Funny!!!!

[andrewc]

Originally Posted by EDP Website

Mike Bell dominated the first quarter of the 360 Six Hour Endurance Race at Snetterton on Sunday until his Ford Escort succumbed to mechanical problems.

The North Walsham racer had a three-lap lead after 90 minutes but with fading brakes and a lack of tyres and fuel he reluctantly gave up.

The Jaguar Mk1 of Ed Simpson, Chris Williams and Russell Currie took over the lead and starting the final hour had a ten-lap lead which was reduced to just over 70 seconds at the finish after rear axle problems nearly cost the trio victory.

With just eight cars starting and five being classified at the finish, it wasn't the success that the newly former 360 Racing Club had envisaged.

Result: 1 Ed Simpson Racing (Ed Simpson/Chris Williams/Russell Currie) Jaguar Mk1; 2 Climax Motorsport (Jody Halse/Cem Osman/Jamie Philpott) Peugeot 205 GTi); 3 Eleiko Motorsport (Yusef Osman/Ali Osman/Wil Arif) Toyota Corolla GT.

Here it is, out in paper today, and on website. No photo.

[MartinSmith]

Ok Im gonna ask a favour.

On Sunday we took two video cameras' all ready to shoot the inaugural race etc....but, of course, we had quite alot to do, so the two cameras stood idle (bit like John Smith!! lol....he is a Race Director you know...so doesnt have to do alot)

Anyway...has anyone got any video/phone footage of this event at all?...I would be very grateful if you could PM me if ya have. Im sure the teams must have some.

Thanks all
Claire

[John Turner]

As we entered the last hour the Jaguar had a seemingly unassailable 10 lap lead, on 190 laps, from the the equally consistent Peugeot, and the refuelling handicapped Toyota Corolla GT just a further 70 seconds down. The Mallett Capri was securely in 4th but 9 laps further down and barring dramas ahead destined to finish there, with the MG Montego 5th on 156 laps. Both the RS2000 and the Lancia Zagato were stationary in the pits and not to move under their own steam again but both their efforts, knowing the story behind them (recounted earlier I believe) made them every bit part of this saga. However, another 60 minutes was the equivalent of two or three sprint races and gave us plenty of time for drama to arrive and it duly did for two of the leading cars, and this was added to by the colourful return to the track of Mike Bell's Hairy Canary RS1600. Next pics taken on the inside of Riches Corner:-

[johngee]

Originally Posted by ClaireSmith

the two cameras stood idle (bit like John Smith!! lol....he is a Race Director you know...so doesnt have to do alot)

Claire

Not unlike the Chairman then?

[John Turner]

Within a few laps of returning to the track, Mike Bell banged in the fastest race lap, at 1.23.652, a lap speed of exactly 84 mph. More to the point, in terms of the results, was the fact that the Corolla GT started to get rather sick, and instead of challenging the Peugeot for 2nd, and indeed, as we are about to see, for potential victory, it started to drop back. The Jaguar was in trouble too, losing time to the ever consistent Peugeot, when it had to pit for a wheel change. Russell Currie then brought the big cat in again, feeling something not right at the back end, and with the Jag jacked up and being closely inspected around the rear axle mounting points, the Peugeot moved ever closer. The next 3 shots taken at the exit of Sear Corner (well, onto the Revett Straight, really) and then back at the pits where I returned for the last 20 minutes or so:-

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by johngee

Not unlike the Chairman then?

lol I made sure all the competitors were happy (thank god we had a small grid!!) and kept Mr Hindhaugh in refreshments, oh and I waved the chequered flag (its a tough job....but someones got to do it!)

[terence]

Originally Posted by johngee

Not unlike the Chairman then?

No comment!

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by terence bower

No comment!

ERM....i dont think you should!

[John Turner]

I don't know why Mike returned to the pits in that last hour but it was his subsequent 'hairy' Canary exit (see first pic) which incurred the wrath of the Clerk of the Course, and I'm tempted to call him Mike Pitbull Bell .... or maybe not! Everyone, not least the the Eleiko Team were keeping their fingers crossed that the Corolla GT would reach the end, but it was sounding dreadful, and circulating very slowly. John Hindhaugh, commentating, was heard to say 'Don't kill it, put it out of its misery and bring it in' as it would have been classified anyway, but the team were determined that it should see the chequered flag and it finally did so, in 3rd, now just 6 laps ahead of the closing Capri. Meanwhile, the Peugeot had been closing inexorably in on the Jaguar. Nothing could be done to resolve the rear axle problem and Russell Currie went back out to defend a much reduced lead with the ailing car. The movement around the back end of the Jaguar was visually evident but Currie gradually got to terms with driving it and his lap times gradually improved. However, the 10 lap lead had become less than a lap with 20 or so minutes to go and the Peugeot was still taking seconds a lap out of the Jaguar. Easy for me to say with hindsight, but unlike some of those around me, I felt the Jag would hold on, and with about 10 minutes to go it seemed that the Peugeot team had come to the same conclusion because it slowed a little just as Currie had improved his lap times and for the first time for a long time the Jaguar lapped faster than the Peugeot and actually started to increase the lead over the short period to the flag. The gap at the end was 71 seconds, and that is pretty close for a 6 hour race, both cars on 221 laps, whilst the Corolla managed 211, the Capri, 205, and the Montego, an incredibly cost effective effort, 190 laps. The last 2 pics in this set show rather blurred images of the Jaguar and Toyota taking the flag waved by Claire. I'll put a few post race pics up later:-

[johngee]

Originally Posted by ClaireSmith

I waved the chequered flag (its a tough job....but someones got to do it!)

......and proved conclusively that you've never been a flag marshal!

[SAMD]

:

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by John Turner

I don't know why Mike returned to the pits in that last hour but it was his subsequent 'hairy' Canary exit (see first pic) which incurred the wrath of the Clerk of the Course, and I'm tempted to call him Mike Pitbull Bell

Low on fuel, got a splash and dash from one of the Mallett Racing churns.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

Low on fuel, got a splash and dash from one of the Mallett Racing churns.

Yup, during the transition in middle of Russell the engine stuttered so I came straight in- having adhered to the usual driving test etiquette of mirrors, signal, move over......

Indeed, nothing was showing in sight tube so the guys kindly dumped the remains of a Mallett Racing churn in and that took me to the flag.

[PenelopePitstop]

and the Montego, an incredibly cost effective effort, 190 laps.

Half the fun of an event like this is seeing how cost effective you can be & this was extreme value for money

[rogerwills]

Originally Posted by PenelopePitstop

Half the fun of an event like this is seeing how cost effective you can be & this was extreme value for money

Except for the poor people who organised it!

What a let down to only get 8 cars on track after all the talk and hot air from people supporting the event.

I think as this thread was setup as a poll it is possible to see who exactly committed to support the event. Perhaps they should be named and shamed.

However, it is probably typical of a lot of hot-air that seems to come from the internet, 10/10ths included. There are a lot of people who talk the talk, less who walk the walk.....

I feel very sorry for Claire and John that all their efforts (and others) were not supported by the people who said they would. Despite all the positive comments and coverage of the event, they were let down by a lot of people who post on here. I think it is a disgrace.

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by rogerwills

Except for the poor people who organised it!

What a let down to only get 8 cars on track after all the talk and hot air from people supporting the event.

I think as this thread was setup as a poll it is possible to see who exactly committed to support the event. Perhaps they should be named and shamed.

However, it is probably typical of a lot of hot-air that seems to come from the internet, 10/10ths included. There are a lot of people who talk the talk, less who walk the walk.....

I feel very sorry for Claire and John that all their efforts (and others) were not supported by the people who said they would. Despite all the positive comments and coverage of the event, they were let down by a lot of people who post on here. I think it is a disgrace.

Roger

Thanks for your comments, whilst I will not hide the fact that the grid was disappointing, the day and the event as far as we are concerned was a success. Some of the blame for the grid not being strong firmly falls on the shoulder of 360 and as Im Chair, ultimately me. We did not market this event strongly, we relied on 10/10ths for its support but, with the greatest of respect to it, it is not the only forum for UK Motorsport, we thought it was and we (me especially) were victims of our own success in here. If you look back at the thread from its early days yes people said they would be interested, but we didnt have a date, then, we didnt have regs, then we didnt have time!...BUT and this is a BIG BUT

WE DID IT, we put it on and it was one of the greatest days of my life and one of the best races Ive seen in a long time....and THAT is what we are now building on. The big word that I want to focus on here is CULTURE. its the culture of 360 that will fill the grid now, the people who are joining this thread...thinking "what happened there?"...people who have openly said "Im sorry but HOW could it be that good if there were only eight cars there?"...well it was, ask all who were there, it WAS that good.

Tim Falce summed it up when he said that we would never be able to recreate that day again, no, we wont, it was the dunkirk spirit of it all (and the lancaster helped with that) but we will BUILD on that day that is what we want to do

Those who said they would but then didnt...they lost out Roger...not us, John and I will get back the money in time because this event has raised the eyebrow of UK Motorsport....and it likes what it sees

Ta
Claire

[johngee]

Originally Posted by rogerwills

Except for the poor people who organised it!

What a let down to only get 8 cars on track after all the talk and hot air from people supporting the event.

I think as this thread was setup as a poll it is possible to see who exactly committed to support the event. Perhaps they should be named and shamed.

However, it is probably typical of a lot of hot-air that seems to come from the internet, 10/10ths included. There are a lot of people who talk the talk, less who walk the walk.....

I feel very sorry for Claire and John that all their efforts (and others) were not supported by the people who said they would. Despite all the positive comments and coverage of the event, they were let down by a lot of people who post on here. I think it is a disgrace.

Roger

Claire beat me to a reply (which was exactly along the same lines as hers!)
Thanks for your support - see you (perhaps at Donington?) at the Spa 6 hours - twice the price and half the fun of 360! Wouldn't mind their grid size though!
Remember our amended strap line which now says "Even with Eight Cars.....Endurance Racing as it Should Be

Best regards

John

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by rogerwills

However, it is probably typical of a lot of hot-air that seems to come from the internet, 10/10ths included. There are a lot of people who talk the talk, less who walk the walk.....

I feel very sorry for Claire and John that all their efforts (and others) were not supported by the people who said they would. Despite all the positive comments and coverage of the event, they were let down by a lot of people who post on here. I think it is a disgrace.

While in principle I agree with what you say, situations do change for a lot of people.

For me while my car isn't eligible, when this idea first came up I could have persuaded someone to use one of two other cars. This all changed earlier this year with one car still being refurbished and the other one off the road all year only to be finished last week with an engine I wouldn't trust for 6 minutes let alone six hours.

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by ClaireSmith

We did not market this event strongly, we relied on 10/10ths for its support but, with the greatest of respect to it, it is not the only forum for UK Motorsport, we thought it was and we (me especially) were victims of our own success in here.

We're certainly the best, and the one that most drivers appear to read. In terms of other forums (and I can't believe I'm advertising them!) the others with a good UK following that spring to mind would be Atlas/Autosport, Motorsport Forums, and Pistonheads.

We (10Ths) also learned from this and we will be doing more on-site promoting of the event when we have a date in order to encourage entries, and also nearer the time to encourage marshals and spectators.

With any luck we'll be at the stage where there's fighting over logo placement rights on the sides of the trophies!

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

We're certainly the best, and the one that most drivers appear to read. In terms of other forums (and I can't believe I'm advertising them!) the others with a good UK following that spring to mind would be Atlas/Autosport, Motorsport Forums, and Pistonheads.

We (10Ths) also learned from this and we will be doing more on-site promoting of the event when we have a date in order to encourage entries, and also nearer the time to encourage marshals and spectators.

With any luck we'll be at the stage where there's fighting over logo placement rights on the sides of the trophies!

LOL I hope so and once again we cannot thank you enough for the help that you gave us and the support.....and yes, as you said....you're certainly the best!!!

[johngee]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

We're certainly the best, and the one that most drivers appear to read. In terms of other forums (and I can't believe I'm advertising them!) the others with a good UK following that spring to mind would be Atlas/Autosport, Motorsport Forums, and Pistonheads.

We (10Ths) also learned from this and we will be doing more on-site promoting of the event when we have a date in order to encourage entries, and also nearer the time to encourage marshals and spectators.

With any luck we'll be at the stage where there's fighting over logo placement rights on the sides of the trophies!

Agreed that it's the best - I've dipped in and out of the other forums but there's a great sense of 'community' in 10/10ths which doesn't seem to exist elsewhere and you and EP and the 'mods' have created that and are pretty quick to jump on any 'sniping', gratuitous negativity or other bad behaviour. 10/10ths is an important part of our strategy but we have to look outside of the internet as well - frightening when Claire and I were trying to market the event (too little - too late!) to find how many people we spoke to who hadn't even heard of 10/10ths (they had after our conversations!) - mostly grumpy old men like John Ruston and me! but who just aren't internet savvy
The comment was even passed that our website (despite being simple and basic, though it was) wouldn't 'sell' the event.
All that being said, you're tremendously important to us and even when we get FIA World Championship status (pmsl) we'll alway be proud of the association and support - I hope that you know by now that Claire and I value loyalty above all else?
Either give us both a bigger PM box (lol) or contact us by e-mail. We want to talk to you about some ideas that we have that could be mutually beneficial
Best regards
John

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by johngee

Either give us both a bigger PM box (lol)

Done.

Originally Posted by johngee

or contact us by e-mail.

Done, see PMs

[johngee]

Thanks - it's not true what they say about you!

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by johngee

Thanks - it's not true what they say about you!

If I worried about everything that people say about me or Tenths then I'd have jacked the whole lot in ages ago!