2019 Australian Supersprint Championships Phillip Island

[greenMachine]

The 2019 Australian Supersprint Championships will be held November 16 and 17 at Phillip Island. The precise schedule is unclear, however, as it seems that it is being double-headed with a superkarts meeting as well.

Having 'out-cared' the 6Hr regularity now that I have the SE, I am mustard keen to get the SE down there and let it have its head! This looks, at first glance, to be great opportunity to get decent track time on one of the great Australian circuits. I would be approaching this event like we do the 6Hr, driving down over one or two days, taking a house for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, and leaving Monday morning for the return journey. The house part is of course dependent on enough people putting their hands up to make that viable.

Subject to resolution of how much track time the event will offer (which I will follow-up and report back), who would be interested? Subject to the level of preliminary interest, I will also talk to Bob W, the NSW State Supersprints Administrator, to see what might be being contemplated in other competitor clubs.

So, could you please indicate on a no commitment basis:

Your interest in competing in this event - yes only required; and

Your interest in a house-share accommodation arrangement

in the thread below. Copy and paste the preceding post, add your details, and then hit 'post'. Don't use the quote function, it just gets messy.

[greenMachine]

Competitor
GreenMachine



Share house
GreenMachine

[MrTurkey]

Interested but definitely not committed as yet as lots will have to fall in place.
Do we know what costs there are for the event?
Do you know the official website?
I see this with no detail so far: https://www.cams.com.au/events/championships/national

Competitor
GreenMachine
MrTurkey

Share house
GreenMachine
MrTurkey

[greenMachine]

No idea on costs, the last one I went to was at Wakefield in maybe 2015. Found the payment, it was $365 for two days, probably 150% or so of the one day entry fee, if memory serves. What did you pay for your last PI day MrTurkey? I don't know how PIARC stands on the costs rankings, but multiply that cost by 150-175% would be my best guess, double if you want to play safe. Plus accommodation, and all the rest. The 6Hr house from last year was around $120/head/night with linen, but that is a regular 'big' weekend and prices may be a little lower if this event sneaks in under the agents' radar.

It is being hosted (run presumably) by PIARC, nothing on their website, I don't know how far in advance entries and Supp Regs go up. I presume it will run under Vic Supersprint tech regs. I have a phone no for a PIARC contact, but got tied up tonight and it is too late to ring now, I'll do that tomorrow.

Vic Sporting Regs https://www.cams.com.au/docs/default-so ... db4a6177_4

Vic Tech Regs https://www.cams.com.au/docs/default-so ... 5ca93454_4

Looking at those tech regs, there is no way I am getting anywhere near having my name in the record books, or even bringing home a pot for a class place. It will be purely for the experience, and the track time.

[Tony]

I can't afford the Challenge Bathurst Supersprint entry fee this year, and too many red flags rule out the Regularity for value, so I'm looking at the two day Phillip Island event as a potential alternative. We'll also probably take a run along the Great Ocean Road, plus a few days around Melbourne etc immediately before or after the event to make the trip down worthwhile.

I'll know more when I see the entry fee and when more details come to hand; so my interest is only tentative at this stage.

Competitor
GreenMachine
MrTurkey
Tony

Share house
GreenMachine
MrTurkey
Tony & wife

[Luke]

Have been thinking about it as I have never run Phillip island, and I have no interest in regularity so this would suit the Bill.
Been waiting for further info as well but nothing so far.
Will have to work out getting the car there as there is no way in hell I would drive it that far, Wakefield is enough of a punish.

I'm sure I would be in their category E4 or K3.
E4 sounds like too many Porsche's to me based on the description, so I guess K3 it would be.

So I'm another maybe for competing, but would likely stay at my uncles place if I do go.


Competitor
GreenMachine
MrTurkey
Tony
Luke

Share house
GreenMachine
MrTurkey
Tony & wife

[rascal]

..........and I have no interest in regularity so this would suit the Bill.

FWIW, the Bathurst event is only a ‘regularity’ if you want it to be. I’ve run there twice now, regularity both times, and both times I just treated it as a flat out event at one of the best tracks in Australia with little regard for consistent times.

Also it is individual regularity not team based regularity so if you want to go under your lap time you are not ruining your teammates chances.

After Saturday ‘practice’ we had to nominate a time, and I set whatever I thought. Ended up going 5 secs a lap quicker all day Sunday and couldn’t care less. Pretty sure I was way down in the results (due to the constant break outs) but had a ball regardless.

[SKYHI]

Very keen to get down to PI for an event like this, but sadly it's just not going to happen this year

[greenMachine]

Update.

Spoke to the PIARC contact nominated on the website. Supp Regs lodged with CAMS, hope to hear soon. Discussed pricing, PIARC hopes to have something to say in a couple of weeks. Yes, karts on Saturday morning, unclear at this stage whether Sunday morning too. Look to deliver 6-7 runs per day, weather and incidents permitting.

I mentioned the long haul involved from up north, and that people would expect to get both value for money, and value for the effort involved, this was recognised.

So, nothing terribly definitive at this stage. I will followup in a couple of weeks to check progress, hopefully more detail then.

In the meantime, it looks like PIARC are well on top of the organisation, and hopefully the Supp Regs and pricing gets released well in advance. Not like the Qld event a year or so back, when IIRC nothing was available until a month out when Supp Regs released and entries opened. I emphasised to him that we need plenty of time to get our act together.

[guss]

..........and I have no interest in regularity so this would suit the Bill.

FWIW, the Bathurst event is only a ‘regularity’ if you want it to be. I’ve run there twice now, regularity both times, and both times I just treated it as a flat out event at one of the best tracks in Australia with little regard for consistent times.

Also it is individual regularity not team based regularity so if you want to go under your lap time you are not ruining your teammates chances.

After Saturday ‘practice’ we had to nominate a time, and I set whatever I thought. Ended up going 5 secs a lap quicker all day Sunday and couldn’t care less. Pretty sure I was way down in the results (due to the constant break outs) but had a ball regardless.

Apologies to Ed for going off-topic, but Bathurst regularities are only boring because they allow timing devices in the car. If you have a good lap timer that will do predictive laps, all you have to do is drive to the time you have on your lap timer screen.

Anyone who has run Phillip Island 6 hours or Winton 12 hours, or more recently the NSW 6 hours, knows that there is much more excitement to a regularity event than that. For starters, these events do not allow any timing device in the car, not even mobile phones or wrist watches (you even have to put a tape over your dashboard/stereo clock if you have one), so you are essentially driving blind when it comes to lap times. That makes it impossible - or at least extremely hard - to drive to a set lap time, so your best chance is to drive hard, as a good driver running every lap on the limit is a lot more consistent than drivers trying to drive to a lap time without the assistance of a timing device.

Then there is the pit crew. They are allowed to time the drivers using stopwatches and communicate with the driver every lap via pit board displayed on the pit wall. It makes for a great team event, as your pit crew can time your laps and put a board out warning you if your pace is improving and you are about to break your nominated time.

Talking about nominated time, if you are doing it right, your practice sessions before the event should be treated as a supersprint, as you want to find what's the fastest lap you can possibly do around that track in that weekend's conditions. These events are run over two days so, again if you are playing it right, your entry fee will effectively grant you a supersprint day on Saturday, followed by a (full pace) regularity event on Sunday.

It is great fun!

[greenMachine]

Apologies to Ed for going off-topic, ...

Apology accepted, but only if you are adding your name to the above list Guss

Never done the NSWRRC event at SMP, but Guss sums up the PI 6Hr very well.

/thread drift off

[Tony]

http://www.piarc.com.au/ASSC%20Regs%20November%20%202019%20Final.pdf

I'm out; sold my car...

[greenMachine]

I'm out too. Too much happening here, life getting in the way of racing

[Luke]

Out as well.
Could take the NC instead but the other owner won't agree to that, don't even have to ask.

Just did the final NSW State Supersprint Round 6 in the SE and I have pretty much exhausted my current setup.
Front Brake Rotors look like they are about to crack. Surprised they have not yet.
Front Winmax W7 and 6.5 Pads, finally out of them. I have a very healthy set of Gloc R12 pads from the previous SE but I know they will not cope in this car, as they struggled on the previous one.
Front hubs now have small amount of play. Have a spare set on the shelf ready to go.
Rear hubs who knows??? 190000km+ ticking time bomb.
Out of tyres as well. Ok there is probably 1 full round or 2 half rounds in the 225/50/15 A50's I have, but not something I would travel 1000kms with and hope they last.


Hopefully Sean/Sadfab gets back to me one day so I can rebuild my rear end. At the rate it is going at I may just go for Standard MX-5 hubs as I already have extended studs and bearings. For diff mounts I may just go Whiteline.
Will have to go visit V-Sport as well to see if they can lend me a front rotor hat so I can work out the viability of fitment of their bake kit.

So maybe next time when the car is actually completely built. Really want to do this track.

[SKYHI]

Anyone end up going to this?

I'm considering my motorsport options for next year, and would like to include some one off interstate meetings.Might do something like this, or a 6 hour, or are there any other big interstate MX5 meets planned?