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HO LeMans - 2006 |
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| By Rick Burneson |
As most readers must know by now, H:O Le Mans is the biggest little race in the Known Universe, that distinction having more to do with the absolutely unfathomable time it takes to run (24 Hours) and the huge track upon which it is contested. The track itself, assembled once a year in the Rolls-Royce Aero Engine Employees Sports Hall (Derby, U.K.), is 233 feet and 4 inches long. The main straight, Mulsanne, is over 90 feet long all by itself! This track was constructed pretty much single handedly by Brad Bowman. Previously this race was run on thousands of pieces of black plastic Tomy track, but maybe that’s too much history for you? More to the point, you need to get your head around driving relatively small slot cars (about 1/64th scale, popularly if inaccurately known as “HO”) over outrageously long distances (over 250 actual full scale miles!) for a full 24 hours of actual race time, plus another couple of hours for all the hourly lap-total stops (pretty quick, really), and then the “Lane Change” stops (five to ten minutes) every three hours. The track is all laid out on the floor of what looks to be a basketball court, while the drivers are elevated four feet about the floor on a platform of square steel tubing and plywood. And there’s not even a handrail!
There are lots of rules for this race, several pages in fact, and I won’t bore you with them here, other than to give you a brief overview. The choice of body for each team’s racecar (did you know that racecar spelled backwards is racecar?) is up to the team, and totally open as long as 1. The body weighs at least 3 grams, and 2. It represents a full-sized race car that’s actually raced the full sized Le Mans race that happens in France (on le Circuit de Sarthe, commonly known as Le Mans) every June, short of a World War or something equally bothersome getting in the way. The motor/chassis is the venerable Tomy Turbo, first invented in the mid 80’s of the previous century and used almost nowhere else for a race of this magnitude. Well, there really is no other race of this magnitude, but if there were, I doubt they would use the Tomy Turbo as the base motor/chassis. But I digress. The Tomy Turbo it is, and the morning before the race each team picks a box full of Tomy Turbo parts from the stack on the podium (otherwise known as “chance” or “total luck”), all the time hoping that their lucky pick holds “fast motors” and other necessary parts with which to build a winning racecar (no matter which direction you spell it). Controllers are pretty much up to the individual driver as long as they don’t have “coast” or additional electrical input devices.
When looking at the competition, you should know that there are eight teams, i.e. one for each of the eight lanes on the track. Each team consists of several lads (and the occasional lass) most of whom are mates with each other, but not always, yet in any case have formed a team with which to go forward into battle. In 2006 we were the one non-British team (USA), but even we had two drivers born and raised in the U.K. Truth be known, they still live there! And we weren’t the only team with expatriates, with an Austrian and a German racing for Vorsprung Technik, an American on Woodgreen (otherwise an All British team), as well as non-English (but still U.K.) drivers from Scotland and Wales. The Hall had been thoughtfully decked with flags of the Nations represented by drivers in the race, all of which gave the event a well-deserved International Flavor. In past years we had been joined by teams from France and the Peoples Republic of China, yet both of these teams declined inclusion in this year’s event. There was some fear that perhaps eight teams may not be found for the 2006 race, leaving many of us wondering if it would, indeed, take place at all. Fortunately, a couple of teams were formed at pretty much the last minute, and the World was once again safe for democracy and the 24 Hours of H:O Le Mans.
This year’s Team USA was modified slightly from the 2005 Roster, with Mike Pope having greater responsibilities in Real Life, so his place was ably filled by David Nier (San Jose, CA). David had been on two previous Team USA assaults on H:O Le Mans, but unfortunately never on one of the winning teams. This year we intended to put that right, and to that end we were more than happy to welcome back Aaron Shearman (Boise, ID), who had been on several winning USA Teams, never having finished lower than 2nd. Returning from last year (and several previous) was Brad Bowman (Escondido, CA), who is our brilliant Engineer and Head Mechanic, in addition to his driving duties. Also returning were our two British members, brilliant star driver Tony Baldock (East Croyden, U.K.), and able bodied (more than willing to do whatever is needed to help the Team) Deane Walpole (Essex, U.K.). The final member of the Team would be me (Team Captain), your Faithful Scribe, Rick Burneson (Whittier, CA). Going in I felt we had a strong team, with two “A” level drivers in Tony and Aaron, two “B” level drivers in Brad and David, plus two “C” level drivers with Deane and myself. I figured that if we could win the race last year with only one “A” level driver (though we did work him 13-1/2 hours!), and two supporting “B’s” plus a “C” (which we did), then this year should be easy! Unfortunately, that’s not exactly the way it went, but then that’s motor racing, and if we all knew what would happen going in, it really wouldn’t be much fun, would it?
That said, we did have a strong feeling that our toughest competition would come from the local team (DHORC Evolution), and the North London Team of Woodgreen. Their teams looked good on paper, anyway, and we’d met them often enough in previous years to know who to fear and who wasn’t really going to be a problem. Still, you never know, and some team we’d never heard of (like the Principality of Sealand) may be able to pull out a real surprise! Or a mid-field team like Wrun Wragged (renamed this year in honor of their sponsor: Jagermeister) may up their game and run away from everyone, like the SouthEast London team of HORSE did several years ago. The point being, that even if you’ve done this before and think you know what you’re doing out there, there are no guarantees, no silver bullets, and your luck in picking a “good” box of parts may not be very good this year. Over on the other side of the coin, we did have Brad, who is better than anyone I know at taking whatever parts we’ve chosen and making a competitive racecar out of them. Plus, what’s equally or perhaps even more important, he can keep that car running very well for 24 hours, and seems to have a sixth sense about when it might need to come into the pits for a tire cleaning, or a change of pick-up shoes. Add Brad’s car-engineering talents to the driving talents of Tony and Aaron, and I felt like we’d put together a quite decent team. Still, you never know . . .
After our traditional pre-race dinner the night before the race, most of us got a decent enough night’s sleep and we arrived at the Rolls-Royce Sports Hall bright and early Saturday morning. First thing on the agenda is the Drivers Meeting, whereupon the Race Organizer Nick Sismey, and his able assistant Phil Rees go over all the details, and rule changes from the previous year, just so that everyone is on the same page at the start. Picking the race-box follows the meeting, usually with the new teams getting to pick first (not that it’s any real advantage), until all eight boxes are doled out, and the teams retire to their paddock tables to do their car assembly and set up. The track is also open for practice at this time, with each team assigned to a particular lane and marshalling post. While all this was going on (and somewhat at the pre-race dinner) I was discussing the Team USA strategy for the race, i.e. Take the Lead Early, keep it and build on it! This can be morally devastating to the competition, especially if we can build up a lead (cushion) that looks safe and untouchable. I wanted to hit them hard, right off the bat, with four solid hours of USA’s “A” level drivers to put a solid foothold on the lead. That was the plan, anyway. We did well in qualifying too, with Tony Baldock clocking the 3nd fastest time (11:82) for USA, just hundredths of a second behind Nick Sismey (11:64) with the best time and Wayne Lander in 2nd (11.70), both driving for DHORC Evolution. My qualifying times were nothing to write home about (mid to high 14’s as I remember), but at least I’d kept the Datsun on the track for all three laps!
The importance of qualifying may seem over-rated, but the teams get to pick their starting lane with the fastest qualifiers picking first. Just as on most small home tracks, the center of the track is the fastest, and the outside “gutter” lanes are the slowest, or in any case the most difficult to drive. I was thinking that the best bet would be to start on the harder/slower lanes, then work our way to the faster lanes as the race wore on. And just as I was absorbed deep in thought re: This Subject, Wayne Lander approached me, the captain of the DHORC Team. “Which lane would you like?” he asked. Of course I was surprised, since I knew he had first lane choice. “Well,” I replied, “that depends on which lane you pick, since you get to pick first. “Yes, I know,” was his reply, “But let’s just say you did have first choice, which one would it be?” So now I’m thinking, “This certainly is an odd game! So which way should I go? Do I lie to him, and try to trick him into a poorly considered decision, or go straight with the truth, and see how he feels about that?” A few seconds later I’d decided to go with the truth, figuring of course, that he would think I was lying.
“Honestly, Wayne” I said, “I would have either lane six or seven. So now, which lane would you like?” A few seconds later came his reply, “I think we’ll start in three!” And there you have it. And we had it. DHORC, quite likely our strongest competition starting in one of the easy-fast lanes and progressing into even easier and faster lanes, whilst at the same time, USA would be starting in a difficult lane (seven), and spend the next twelve hours in progressively more difficult, slower lanes. So the line was drawn, and Wayne had chosen to use my strategy from last year against me, i.e. build up a huge lead, right from the start. On the other hand, it didn’t take the proverbial genius to see that after hour 12, the figurative shoe would be on the other foot, as USA moved to faster, easier lanes at the same time that DHORC would be moving to the slower, more difficult gutter lanes. I went back to the USA table and explained all this to the team, and someone on our team (don’t remember who), said, “We’ll be driving damage control then!” And that’s it, really, trying to limit our losses on the difficult lanes, then going for the big numbers (laps per hour) when our turn came to rotate onto the faster lanes. Of course we would all be more tired then, which begs the question: Is it easier to drive the difficult lanes when you’re alert, then it is to drive the easier ones when you’re tired? I think it is!
I’m not exactly sure of the qualifying order out side of the first two (DHORC and USA), but since I have a photo upon which to reference, I can tell you that Jagermeister started on Lane 1, beginning the race with a rather heavy resin Ferrari body because their Amrac Porsche 934 had been found to be under the legal weight limit at pre-race tech. Starting on Lane 2 was the A/P Corvette of the BRCA (British Radio Car Association), Lane 3 was the yellow A/P Corvette of the afore noted and much feared DHORC Evolution Team, Lane 4 was the A/P Corvette of The Principality of Sealand (yes, three Corvettes next to one another, and two of them in white!). Lane 5 was occupied by Vorsprung Technik’s turquoise Porsche 934, with the Allsorts Chevron in Lane 6 (resplendent in a red and white chevron livery). In the final two lanes, we find the Amrac/Rokar Team USA Datsun 240-Z (Lane 7) and the Woodgreen Porsche 917 in Lane 8. At the appointed hour, Nick flagged the cars off for two exploratory laps (to make sure all the lanes were working properly), then lined everyone up again for the real start of the race.
I’m not sure why, really, but the start of the race is always a very exciting time. It shouldn’t be, because this whole thing will be going on for the next day (though it will seem like much longer), and which car leads the first laps couldn’t possibly be less important. Such rational thought pretty much goes out the window, however, when the Tomy Timers start their countdown beeps, and all eight cars are closer together than they’ll ever be again. When the cars are finally on the way, it is a pretty amazing sight to behold. Lap times are usually somewhere in the twelve to thirteen second bracket, so it’s not long before they’ve all been around once, across the start-finish line for the first time, and into Dunlop corner to start the second lap. Tony was driving first for USA, and I think it was Wayne Lander on for DHORC (he drove 5 hours, total), Terry Riley on for Woodgreen, and Steve Guard for Jagermeister. After one hour on lane 7, with DHORC on 3 the score sheet was filled in and I was most surprised (and pleased!) to see Team USA in first place, one lap ahead of DHORC! Okay, one lap isn’t much, and I pretty much knew it wouldn’t last. Still, it gave me a good feeling that our Damage Control might be adequate over the long haul. Jagermeister came third in the first hour, 27 laps behind USA, with the British Radio Control Association in fourth, 35 laps out of the lead.
What this means, is that (as we’d suspected) USA and DHORC are far superior to the other teams right out of the gate. Look at BRCA in fourth place, for example. On the surface, fourth place in the first hour doesn’t look half bad. But 35 laps x 233.3 feet = 8,165.5 feet. How far is that, you ask? A little over a mile and a half! And I’m not talking about a “scale” mile and a half. I mean a big, Real World, mile and half! That’s a long way! Plus, if they lose a mile and a half to the leader each hour, they’ll be 36 Real World miles behind by the end of the race (and that’s a very long way indeed!). Other than Tony doing his usual excellent job of driving (257 laps), Brad was keeping a eye on the performance of the car, David was trying to align all of the wheel/tire/axle sets we’d received in our box, while Deane and I marshaled corners. Not sure what Aaron was doing exactly, except getting ready to drive the second hour. The race starts at 1:00 PM, so promptly at 2:00 Aaron took up his position on the driving platform, awaiting the starting beeps from the Tomy Timers to switch places with Tony. Brad had Aaron bring the car in for a tire cleaning pretty much right away, and we were off on hour number two. Aaron took a bit longer to get used to the track than Tony had, Aaron having been away for two years. Still, he turned in 252 laps, just four fewer than Tony, and certainly enough to maintain his “A” driver status! During that same hour, the DHORCs had improved, going from 256 to 259 laps, thus ending hour two six laps ahead of Team USA. Woodgreen had improved, as had been expected, moving up to third place whilst Jagermeister dropped from third to fourth, and BRCA from fourth to fifth. Trailing this lead group, we had Vorsprung, Allsorts and The Principality of Sealand in descending order, sixth through eighth respectively.
This is an endurance race, after all, so it’s to be expected that the race would not be all fun and games as our situation worsened, such that at the close of hour three we found ourselves 13 laps behind DHORC and not looking as if we would be catching up any time soon. Tony was back up for the third hour, completing 240 laps to DHORC’s 247. While it was depressing seeing our lap difference grow, I just kept thinking of that deferred gratification we would have when the lanes began to rotate in our favor. Not that it was easy, even if we did have a comfortable 45 laps over Jagermeister, who had pulled themselves back up to third, 21 laps ahead of BRCA, now back up to 4th. Hour four belonged to Aaron (a splendid 255 laps), but unfortunately DHORC had a good hour too, leaving USA now a full 20 laps out of first. Still, I reminded myself that being only 20 laps back after four hours, with the DHORCs on a great lane (now on 4), and us on a terrible lane (that would be 8, an absolute gutter) was not all that tragic. I spoke to Tony somewhere along in here, and his educated opinion was that we could be no more than 60 laps back, maximum, at any point in the race if we were to claw our way back to the lead by the end of the twenty-four hours.
Somewhere about this time we began to see Visitors from H:O Le Mans Past wandering about the Rolls-Royce Sports hall, visiting with all and sundry. This group included Cliff Roythorne, Peter Baldock (Tony’s father), Nigel Sikes, Tony Stamper, Paul Howard, Alan McPeake and Martin Chadwick. Cliff is a Local Legend, having driven one H:O Le Mans totally on his own (the only driver ever to have attempted this!), as well as being a part of Team USA’s winning assault in ’97 and ’98. Cliff is from South Africa, and was the first non-American to join Team USA. In fact Cliff and his wife Jenny have tried several times to emigrate to the U.S., and their twins were born in the U.S. (Oregon). Cliff added that, now that he was back living in the U.K., he would be happy to join Team USA for Le Mans 2007! Peter was here to cheer on his son, as well the rest of Team USA, having driven up from London with Nigel (former driver with Peter’s winning Southern Comfort Le Mans Team) earlier Saturday morning. Alan and Martin are both former DHORC Le Mans drivers, and Alan surprised me by suggesting that we should invite Martin to join Team USA for 2007. “He’s available, you know?” he said with a smile. Martin smiled as well, but I’m not sure if he was serious or not. If Martin is available, he would certainly be welcome on Team USA!
At the front of the Rolls-Royce Sports Hall, there is a place on the wall for 24 Hourly Score Sheets. As each hour ends, the folks from Race Control post the laps driven by each team (by the hour, and total thus far), what place each team was holding, and how many laps each has, plus or minus the record. After the end of the first hour, of course, the Score Sheets weren’t really much fun (for me) to read. Yet, occasionally, every couple of hours, I’d force myself to go up and have a look, just to see how miserable our situation had become. The morale within Team USA at this point in the race could be summarized as “Realistic, Hopeful, but not exactly Overjoyed.” The lap totals at this time didn’t look good, but hey, there was a lot time left! Hour by hour, it looked like this:
Laps After Hours:
After Hour Five, DHORC led USA by 42 laps, while USA led Jagermeister by 125 laps (Jagermeister on Lane 2 now).
After Hour Six, DHORC led USA by 43 laps, while USA led Jagermeister by 146 laps. At this point it should also be noted that Nick Sismey sent out an email to all the members of the H:O Le Mans email list, showing DHORC’s lead over Team USA, which in fact included the complete computer screen print out of the race order at that time. I will always treasure that email . . .
After Hour Seven, DHORC led USA by 48 laps (more than 2 actual miles), as USA led Jagermeister by 202 laps.
After Hour Eight, DHORC led USA by 45 laps (yeah, we gained three back!), with Jagermeister now 220 off of USA’s pace.
After Hour Nine. DHORC led USA by only 20 laps! Very encouraging that, even in a relatively slow lane, USA can still take back some laps! Jagermeister was now 278 laps behind USA.
After Hour Ten, DHORC led USA by 35 laps, and my temporary euphoria was quickly extinguished! Still, we had a very comfortable 267 over Jagermeister in third.
After Hour Eleven, DHORC led USA by 41 laps, as Jagermeister had drifted 286 laps behind USA.
After Hour Twelve, midpoint of the race, DHORC led USA by only 18 laps, with Jagermeister still in third, but now 317 laps behind USA, and out of the fight for the win.
So here we were, twelve hours in with twelve to go, USA showing that DHORC had not actually been able to build up any kind of insurmountable lead while they held the lane advantage. Brad (with some help from David) had kept the USA Datsun running beautifully, and it was truly joyous to watch how our car could close up a gap on the other competitors as they sped down the Mulsanne straight. At this point, though, I was mentally ready to have USA take the lead. Still, it wasn’t quite time yet. I was marshaling Arnage corner with Deane about this time, and his remark was: “It feels like we’ve been in second place since last Tuesday!” I had to laugh because, yes indeed, it did feel that way. When it occurred to me that I’d still been in the U.S. last Tuesday, it Really felt like a long time! By now we’d been without sleep for eighteen hours, which is not horrible, really, but we were definitely feeling the “endurance” part of endurance racing. Overall though, the Big Picture was still looking good. That is, unless something happened to our car, unless the lane advantage didn’t turn out to be much of an advantage at all, and/or unless the unforeseen happened (as it often does). As well as you try to plan a race, and all the myriad details, you just never know what may be lurking out there in the future, between this instant right now, and when the checkered flag finally falls.
All that said, and continuing to run through my mind, by the 13th hour (2:00 AM now) things were really looking up for Team USA.
After Hour Thirteen, USA led DHORC by six laps, as Tony put in a 276-lap hour, taking a victorious run over DHORC’s 242-lap hour! Note: Small celebration at the Team USA table! Jagermeister was still hanging onto third, now trailing DHORC by 372 laps.
After Hour Fourteen, USA led DHORC by 26 laps, with Jagermeister now back 385 laps behind DHORC.
After Hour Fifteen, USA led DHORC by 65 wonderful laps, with Jagermeister an additional 508 laps out of the lead, and just hanging onto 3rd, only 12 laps ahead of Woodgreen in 4th.
By this time I could definitely see the race coming to us, and while you can never tell what might happen in the remaining nine hours (still a long time, really), we would continue to move to ever more fast and easy lanes as the DHORCs moved to slower and more difficult lanes. It was all coming around just as I had thought it would, and I remember wondering what Wayne Lander was thinking of his “Lane 3” choice about now. Not that it mattered a whole lot, but after being in 2nd place for so long (since last Tuesday!), it felt good to be looking at the bright side of the Hourly Score Sheets!
After Hour Sixteen, USA led DHORC by a comfortable 107 laps, with Woodgreen now in 3rd place, 34 laps ahead of Jagermeister.
After Hour Seventeen, USA led DHORC by 124 laps, with Woodgreen back 414 long laps behind DHORC.
After Hour Eighteen, USA led DHORC by 135 laps, with Woodgreen now 448 laps (nearly 20 actual miles!) away from DHORC.
Along in here somewhere my endurance had pretty much endured all it could, so before I dropped off to sleep where I stood, I took a nap for a couple of hours on one of the Rolls-Royce wooden cots, in Deane’s sleeping bag, in some nice dark room off the main Sports Hall. I could still hear the noise of the race in the background as I lay down, but it sure didn’t keep me from falling off to sleep! When I awoke, I was surprised how wide-awake I felt. Part of my brain knew that I’d only slept two hours, but another part thought that was enough for right now, so let’s get back to the race!
In the Meantime What I’d Missed While I Slept:
After Hour Nineteen, USA led DHORC by a stunning 145 laps, and while I wasn’t quite ready to celebrate, I was feeling pretty good about it! Woodgreen was still holding down the last podium place in 3rd, now 617 lonely laps out of first.
After Hour Twenty, USA led DHORC by 157 lovely laps, and I was thinking how much I enjoy happy endings! Woodgreen still held 3rd ahead of Vorsprung (who had moved ahead of Jagermeister), but were still 746 laps (hopelessly) away from the lead lap.
With four hours remaining, and a comfortable (and hopefully insurmountable) lead on the Score Sheets (and on the Race Control computer), Deane finally got a chance to put in his two hours (minimum) of driving, taken in half hour segments as Tony and Aaron alternated to take back any laps that Deane may have lost to DHORC. While Deane was prepared to forgo driving in the interest of a Team USA victory, he was quite happy to finally get a chance to put the USA Datsun on the course, and some laps into the record books. Still, the hour totals kept looking better and better.
After Hour Twenty-One, USA led DHORC by 169 laps, who in turn led Woodgreen by 505.
After Hour Twenty-Two, USA led DHORC by an euphoric 177 laps, with Woodgreen still in 3rd, now 516 back.
After Hour Twenty-Three, USA led DHORC by (only) 173 laps, after giving DHORC the hour by four laps. Woodgreen still kept a tight grip on 3rd, now 143 laps ahead of Vorsprung in 4th.
And finally, after Twenty-Four outrageously long hours, Team USA’s Datsun 240-Z crossed the finish line in First Place, still 153 laps ahead of DHORC.
Finishing Total Laps, Distances and Laps Over Previous Record as Follows:
1. Team USA 6081 laps 268.69 Actual Miles 198 over the old Record
2. DHORC Evolution 5928 laps 261.93 Actual Miles 45 over the old Record
3. Woodgreen 5364 laps 237.01 Actual Miles
4. Vorsprung DHORC Technik 5241 laps 231.57 Actual Miles
5. Team Jagermeister 5118 laps 226.14 Actual Miles
6. British Radio Car Association 4906 laps 216.77 Actual Miles
7. Principality of Sealand 4523 laps 199.85 Actual Miles
8. Allsorts 4267 laps 188.53 Actual Miles
Once the race was officially over, and the top three cars had passed post-race tech (duty of Phil Rees, I think?), the awards were the next to last thing on The List. 2006 was the first year that awards were given out for anything other than first place, with Third Place medals going to all the Woodgreen Drivers, Second Place medals to all the DHORC drivers, and First Place medals, plus the Huge H:O Le Mans Trophy going to Team USA members. As captain of the winning team, I was the one who received the Trophy, always a rewarding feeling, but a little odd this time, since I didn’t actually do any of the driving (apart from qualifying) this year. David got his first Le Mans victory medal, with the balance of Team USA having visited the top step of the podium one or more times previously. With this victory, USA moved even with DHORC on overall victories, both having won five times at H:O Le Mans.
After the awards were collected, and the photographs of the winning teams taken, there was the small (not really!) matter of taking the track apart (29 eight foot sections), unhooking all the wiring, disassembling the driver’s platform, and generally returning the Sports Hall to it’s pre-race setting. Several of the teams missed this part, as they took off as quickly as possible after the end of the race, but Team USA (along with most of Woodgreen and several DHORC and Allsorts drivers) always stays to help Nick, Phil and the others who had worked so hard to make this event happen each year. That done, we all said our “Good-Byes” and took off for a well deserved victory dinner at the restaurant close to our hotel. Nothing much to report there, other than Aaron’s failed attempt to get the Good News to Mike Pope back in Boise! I later learned that Aaron and Tony did manage to get the news to Mike, so it was all good in the end.
Finally, our thanks to Nick Sismey, Phil Rees, and Rolls-Royce Aero Engines for making H:O Le Mans possible for all these years!
Rick Burneson / Team USA
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| Team USA Wins the H:O Le Mans 24 Hour Slot Car Race at Rolls-Royce in Derby, U.K. Nov. 2006 Back Row Left to Right: Deane Walpole, Tony Baldock, David Nier Front Row Left to Right: Brad Bowman, Rick Burneson, Aaron Shearman |
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