Ardent Raceway and HPI 24hr Le Mans RC challenge!!

[Tristanssid]

NNNoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

The 24h race was one of the best events I've ever taken part in. Throughly impressed by it all.

Absolutely gutted to hear it won't be happening next year!!!!

[Mad-Wolfie]

gutted

[twisty]

Awww no way,come on John,whats happened

This is the bits of video i took,sort of roughly stiched together,the first bit is the restart from behind the pace car.

http://vimeo.com/25111386

[jasonb]

Originally Posted by lotussmart

Cheers Dude,

We will not be doing it next year though :-(

That's terrible news! Team Doris had already started planning for next year

Jason

[Dez82]

I'm sure John has his reasons for not doing it next year, but just imagine guys, if that amount of track time had been used for regular meetings, just how much it should have cost us each. The wear and tear on the carpet and track markers must have been very expensive.
I can only imagine an endurance race is a 'loss leader' (i.e. a huge amount of exposure but very little income or even a loss) and the amount of planning, formulating the rules, getting support and backup from suppliers, all the behind the scenes stuff the competitors will never get to see, let alone comprehend the man hours and stress involved, not to mention standing there for 24 hours making sure the race continues and we get the occasional wet session to wake us all up again.

It took a lot out of John and Ardent Raceway for sure, all we can do is thank John for all his efforts and congratulate all at Ardent Raceway on a job well done.

If anyone else wants to put on an Endurance race they are more than welcome, I for one wouldn't want to organise one!

[jameswilkinson7]

Originally Posted by Dez82

I'm sure John has his reasons for not doing it next year, but just imagine guys, if that amount of track time had been used for regular meetings, just how much it should have cost us each. The wear and tear on the carpet and track markers must have been very expensive.
I can only imagine an endurance race is a 'loss leader' (i.e. a huge amount of exposure but very little income or even a loss) and the amount of planning, formulating the rules, getting support and backup from suppliers, all the behind the scenes stuff the competitors will never get to see, let alone comprehend the man hours and stress involved, not to mention standing there for 24 hours making sure the race continues and we get the occasional wet session to wake us all up again.

It took a lot out of John and Ardent Raceway for sure, all we can do is thank John for all his efforts and congratulate all at Ardent Raceway on a job well done.



If anyone else wants to put on an Endurance race they are more than welcome, I for one wouldn't want to organise one!

Well said.
Thanks ardent for the massive amount of effort you guys put in.
If you don't want to do it again then fair enough... If it is the money loss side of things that's done it, I'm sure that people wouldn't mind stumping up extra at future events like this. I know it would still be well worth it if it cost twice as much! Great experience!

[Dez82]

Originally Posted by twisty

Hey Dez,

just letting you know that non Forcebook members can`t view your piccys,is there any chance you might host them somewhere that doesn`t "force" you to register to be able to view please?

cheers,
Simon.

your requst is my command, here's my Facebook Gallery uploaded to a new Photobucket Gallery, I've even put them in the same order for you, enjoy.
Needless to say all are low res, not suitable for print and all remain copyright of Dez Chand, Desawa Digital, Desawa Ltd.
http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/...Ardent%202011/

[Dez82]

Originally Posted by twisty

Awww no way,come on John,whats happened

This is the bits of video i took,sort of roughly stiched together,the first bit is the restart from behind the pace car.

http://vimeo.com/25111386

For the benefit of all facebook members I've posted a link to your video and given you full credit Simon, hope you don't mind, and many thanks.

[Andysan]

Gutted to hear that it wont be happening again however would like once again to reiterate my thanks and heap praise on John and Ardent for their great organization and putting up with me asking for "rule clarifications" every twenty minutes.

Whilst I'm sure there are perfectly acceptable reasons behind this, and far be it from me to question them it has been quite a prompt turn around considering we were already discussing next year on Sunday evening, or even an event closer to the time.

I hope that the track hasn't been damaged - I'd have thought that despite the duration of the race, the hardness of those tires, allied to the lack or regular TQ-ing and the pitiful pace of the cars would have been quite easy on the carpet?

I for one would be happy to pay more given that we already have the cars for next year - for the existing teams (most of whom seem to want to come back) the £150ish entry would now go almost entirely to Ardent, rather than covering the cost of the cars. Aside from belts, diffs and stub axles our car could easily cover another four thousand laps!

[lotussmart]

Originally Posted by lotussmart

Cheers Dude,

We will not be doing it next year though :-(

Because, we will be doing it on 10th and 11th of September 2011 instead!!!!

I can't wait another year!!!!

I too think it was one of the BEST events I've ever been too and this time i'm going to race in it!!!

Rules and whatnot to follow soon, but set your sights on a faster paced but less expensive option. Most likely open chassis, 13.5 non-timed brushless, with control tyres, proper drift tyres for wet weather and controlled bodyshells.

Save the date!!!!! Teams of 6 again. :-)

Sorry for the cheesy marketing cliff hanger ;-)

[jameswilkinson7]

Originally Posted by lotussmart

Because, we will be doing it on 10th and 11th of September 2011 instead!!!!

I can't wait another year!!!!

I too think it was one of the BEST events I've ever been too and this time i'm going to race in it!!!

Rules and whatnot to follow soon, but set your sights on a faster paced but less expensive option. Most likely open chassis, 13.5 non-timed brushless, with control tyres, proper drift tyres for wet weather and controlled bodyshells.

Save the date!!!!! Teams of 6 again. :-)




Sorry for the cheesy marketing cliff hanger ;-)

[stoff]

Great News John! This time it's not on a National Weekend! Nice one.

[Tristanssid]

Absolutely thrilled, John, and everyone else involved I want to say (I know this has been said a lot) THANK YOU!!! I have been bitten by the bug.

Again Thank you to everyone, and yeyyyyyy lets get prepping!!!!

Tristan

[cobra_shadow]

Originally Posted by lotussmart

Because, we will be doing it on 10th and 11th of September 2011 instead!!!!

I can't wait another year!!!!

I too think it was one of the BEST events I've ever been too and this time i'm going to race in it!!!

Save the date!!!!! Teams of 6 again. :-)

Sorry for the cheesy marketing cliff hanger ;-)

I am sure that Keighley will get at lest one team ready

[jamesg]

Great news on the dates John, Team Dudley RCC will be there! The race was without doubt the best RC event I've ever done by a country mile.

I would like to vote that we keep the Sprint 2, we’ve become quite attached to it and use a brushless motor (no timing) that offers just a little more pace than the Saturn 20T as not to stress the cars too much. I think it will be a case of he who has the biggest pockets wins in an open chassis rule. Allow UJ's and RPM ball cups on the Sprint 2 and that car will be solid. I think by the end of the last race most of the teams had learnt the same lessons and if given a second crack at it, we would see a tighter field and some great racing.

Also maybe some clarification on the rules or enforce them a bit better. Team Dudley really did stick within the spirit of 'the car must be stock' rule (aside from cooling and battery straps) in every way to find that others were using bits that we thought weren’t allowed.

Or, we could have the teams back that want to run Sprint 2's in GT2 and have the open cars in a GT1 class?

[jameswilkinson7]

Originally Posted by jamesg

I would like to vote that we keep the Sprint 2, we’ve become quite attached to it and use a brushless motor (no timing)

Allow UJ's and RPM ball cups

Yeah, I agree with that

[steelie600]

I will get a team in this time!! I run the UKEM endurance race for Rallyx cars so would be good to actually get to race in one!!

John may I suggest more teams maybe 25 or so make it more interesting on track etc. We have 26 on the buggy tracks and its not as bad as youd think, it just like driving an A final for how ever many hours LOL

[Craig W]

put stoke down for it

[Craig W]

think car should be schui mi1 zero timing speedo and fixed timing motor
with shells that look like real cars

[lotussmart]

Originally Posted by jamesg

Or, we could have the teams back that want to run Sprint 2's in GT2 and have the open cars in a GT1 class?

I like that idea!!!! GT2 and GT1 class it will be. GT2 will be the stock HPI Sprint 2 cars with a 13.5 Brushless system without timing, and GT1 will be the Open Chassis class, again with 13.5 non-timed brushless. Same control tyres for all.

Body shells to be announced but there will be a choice this time. LED light kits will be fitted that must have authentic front and rear lights and nothing more.

There will be more night time driving in September too ;-)

Glad you are all up for it again. I blooming well am. 5 minute races are just dull now. :-)