2009 6-Hour Astute team report
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
The 6-Hour race was an incredible event, for riders and their teams, organisers and spectators alike. Every team on the grid did an utterly brilliant job with a lot of preparation and effort going into just getting on the grid let alone enduring laps in the intense heat. Endurance racing will bring out every emotion, testing your physical and mental limits and the 6-hour at Oran Park was no different.
Dailybike.com was lucky enough to be invited to follow one of the teams on their journey and this is their report of the race:
Peter Dunstan (Team Manager, Astute)
“A great team effort from all the crew. The riders had to endure extraordinarily difficult conditions, starting off with three one hour stints and in the latter part of the race suffering cramps, dehydration and exhaustion.
The three second win was an amazing team effort. Chief mechanic Dave and his assistants Tom and Spence hammering out those wheel changes, the fuel crew Stewy and Bruce and out on the wall keeping riders informed of the lap situation were Stewy and Mandy. It was a magnificent experience for everyone involved.”
Sam Ayliffe
” With another 40 degree day staring at us in the morning, we knew we’d be in for a challenge! Nervous about the heat, where Friday’s 40 degree day made a 15 min stint feel an hour, we all were keeping the fluids up as much as possible. After Dave our head mechanic changed our black practice fairings for the race livery in Astute white, we were ready to rumble. A quick short warm up to scrub the tyres in and the bike was set, the “old banger” (as Kev calls her) of a 2001 R6 race-ready and raring to go.
Pit lane open, we were the second bike to head to our starting spot, 22nd of the 31 teams. Lucky for me I got to start this time, with Jim and Kev giving me the green light to go first. Dave and his fiancé Mandy (our beautiful umbrella girl, pit board runner, and assistant in the pits – what an amazing woman) met me on our grid where we sat as a team, generator running the tyre warmers, ready for the start. Starting to feel the heat, I grabbed some more water ready for a long stint. Me and the boys wanted to break the back of the 6 hours by three long 1 hour stints each.
Then, across from the bike, the flag dropped and I was away, running my way over, jumping on to the bike clutching for the clutch and throttle / starter we were off, and making a great start saw us close to the top 10 off the line. Quickly realising this, many of the faster 1000 cc machines started roaring passed me, and then a few laps in I managed to settle in to a steady race pace, run 1:19 and 1:20’s like clockwork. An hour later I’m in, with barely a lap left in my body, a great time to stop.
Kev then had his hour, and Mr consistency would easily complete his hour, the machine Bulldog Kevvy! Then Jim jumps aboard and rolls out, completing a faster session moving us more up the leader board. We then moved to shorter sessions, allowing tyre changes and riders staying focussed. My next stint, although the shortest I did, was certainly the hardest. Battling the elements peaking at 40 degrees where we all struggled with, then a dust storm came across. Oh my god, I have never had a harder session. Manhandling the bike from over the bridge to the flip-flop (turn 5 to 10) was hard work, dropping about 3 seconds a lap due to the fierce wind. Debris was starting to blow over too, turn 3 sharp 2nd gear right hander seemed to be the spot for this. First, a plastic bag, mid corner, I went straight over it forcing me to pick the bike up so not to slide and crash. A quick peek behind saw it go away, thankfully.
