Event report - WASCC event
As promised the report on the event held March 4th at Barbagallo raceway!
The committee has for some time been trying to get a second event up and running and with the help of the WA Sporting Car Club (WASCC) who offered us the use of the infield at Barbagallo Raceway (and the V8 pit garages which were awesome!) we finally got it happening!
14 vehicles were entered in the event - coincidentally the same as were entered in the very first eV Challenge back in 2001 - however only 12 made it to the start on a very hot day. The high temperatures meant the event was slightly different to the usual eV Challenge. The event, run only for Class B & C vehicles (as no Class A vehicles entered) was run in three heats. Lap counts were added together to get a final tally.
Sevenoaks Senior College, a new entrant who entered one of Guildford Grammar's older vehicles, started their first event from pole around the short temporary circuit set up in the infield truck parking area. During the first heat the 2016 champions from Wesley in car #7 brought out the red flag due to a rollover at the end of turn 1. Fortunately there was no damage and the field re-assembled in the pitlane.
Several cars encountered tyre trouble due to the tight nature of the track and the high surface temperatures, with Comet Bay's two cars - both much more competitive than in the 2016 event - both suffering multiple front tyre punctures, and another of Guildford's cars in the hands an invited Class C driver losing the rear tyre.
In the end it became a two way battle for the lead between the recovering car #7 from Wesley and 'Speedy', car #17 from Melville SHS, being driven by former Melville student (and trainee Design & Technology teacher) Darcy Harry. The Wesley boys had the pace but unfortunately ran out of power 4 minutes from the end, allowing Darcy and Speedy to take the lead and hand Wesley College their first overall defeat in over three years!
Wesley's demise also promoted John Calvin Christian College #89 into second overall and the Class B victory.
So for the first time we ran at Barbagallo we certainly saw a lot of on-track action and learned much - certainly a few changes will be made for next year's March event - and everyone there had a great time.
A huge thankyou goes out to the WA Sports Car Builders Club who once again had some of their members help out with our marshalling, to the WA Sporting Car Club for their ongoing support of our events and their supply of the fantastic facility at Barbagallo, to Ray Shaw and NATSOFT race timing for their excellent timing services and all volunteers and teams who attended.
Bring on the next one!
