Now we’re passing half the race and the fight keeps on going! The 6 hrs of Melbourne race is by far the most competitive event yet. Summing up, there’s a long battle for first place between the Zeus GT and the Alpha. The first packing a tremendous amount of 685hp, while the later a monstruous number of 791hp. This might be the first time the Zeus loses (and even in his home country). The Sepang (with a nimble 550hp) is right behind them (a couple of laps behind actually).
The Exilus is one amazing car it seems, not so fast but pretty efficient. It started in 23th position, last hour was in 13th and now is up in 8th (and 3rd place for AGTE). The guys at Komodo Motors are pretty excited too, because the MEX has an outstanding performance. In qualifycation managed a 4th place, and it has stayed in the top 10 all the race, with the probability of ending 2nd for the AGTE. On the other hand, the Spanish team is not doing so well, in spite of qualifyng in 8th place, for the last 2 hours the RRSX-R has stayed down in the 25th position.
There was an unfortunate accident with the Vulcan and the Beta, both cars were in 9th and 10th place, but when the Vulcan tried to overtake the Beta in a very tight corner, it pushed the Beta out of the track, causing some damage to the bodywork of the Vulcan, but the Beta required a fast transaxle replacement in the pits, causing both cars to lose their places.
The NV810 went into pits and while the mechanics were changin tyres and refueling, the team also changed driver. We talk with the out-going driver:
As we approach the 5th hour, the Zeus seems like is running out of fuel and tyres, so this can be the chance for the Alpha to take the lead again. We end the report here and we’ll what else happens on the race.
it’s pretty amazing how my cars can take so much accidents yet still stayed in the top10 O_O. and they are actually relatively fuel efficient…
although my AP2 car are unexpectedly slowly climbing up the rank… great work by our drivers
This is most certainly getting tense for us, needing an extra stop for fuel and probably tyres which are getting pretty scrubbed. That lead doesn’t count for very much over the Alpha!
It’s even worse when one considers the tyres are heating up and we’ll need one more fuel stop. If there was only an option to fill the tank 1/4 of the way, that might save us considerably!
And we’re back. And the Zeus keep going as a leader. For a brief momento the Alpha was ahead of the Zeus, but that last a few laps, because the Alpha needed a change of fuel and new tyres. This hour has been filled with technical issues on the cars, that have required several pit stops. We can see the Prima 1 on 7th place now, it seems like it had some issue with the fuel pump. More tragic is what happened with the MEX. After been in the top 10 for almost all the race, it suffered from problems with the gearbox, and the mechanics needed several pit stops to get it right. That cost to the team several positions. While the MEX and the and the Exilus spent time in pits, the Vulcan keep going, and now is 2nd place in the AGTE category (6th overall) which could grand Meliora Automotive some points, since the last races have been really bad for their cars. The M128 has been suffered several malfuctions and accidents through all the race.
As we approach the last hour we can see that the lower places haven’t moved very much, and the distance between the lower half and the higher half is bigger with each lap. At the beggining it seems like this circuit was better suited for the AP1 cars, but in the last hour, several AP2 are climing positions, while the AGTE class is right in the middle.
The hour is almost passed! and the final results are close…
Wow, what?! Hold up man, I was taking a shit. Gotta warn me about these things. (RCR reference anybody? Anybody?) Ok, so apparently I was left with the duty of posting the final results. I didn’t realize I was going to become such an integral part of this system. So, here are the results of the final hour, and the conclusive results of the race.
And with that, the final ‘Talking AMWEC Live Coverage’ and ‘Race Recap’ of the 6 Hours of Melbourne.
After a long six hour race with near perfect racing conditions from beautiful Down Under, the Znopresk/Gryphon Gear team continue their dominance of the AMWEC season with their AGTE monster, the Zeus GT Spec. However, it was a close race and for the last couple hours it looked like Smooth Racing was still in with a chance of winning. Unfortunately the fates would have it otherwise and the Alpha entry came in second place, giving the Zeus GT it’s closest run for its money yet, coming in only a single lap down. Had the Zeus GT needed to make one more stop for tires, it could have been entirely possible that Smooth Racing would be standing on the top step of the podium.
But there are more positions than just first and second, and the battles for position throughout the race continued down the entire field. At the end of the race there were over 5 cars finishing on lap 153, and other 7 cars all finishing on lap 152, still duking it out for those final points of the race. This just goes to show how close these cars are, even across all the different classes.
The podiums for each individual class are as follows:
AP1:
Alpha/Smooth Racing, 160 laps, 2nd overall
Sepang/Kraft Haus Technik, 158 laps, 3rd overall
Prima 1/Pragata Auto Motorsport, 156 laps, 5th overall
AP2:
Prima/Pragata Auto Motorsport, 156 laps, 4th overall
NickelArrow/Shromet Racing, 153 laps, 8th overall
Beta/Smooth Racing, 153 laps, 9th overall
AGTE:
Zeus GT Spec/Znopresk/Gryphon Gear, 161 laps, 1st overall
Exilus/ACE Racing, 154 laps, 7th overall
Adelaide/Kraft Haus Technik Jr Team, 153 laps, 10th overall
In the end though, not everyone can be a winner, and this race had a very high attrition rate when it came to spare parts, something many of the drivers attributed to close barriers just at the edge of the track for well over half of the length of the circuit. One of the drivers for the MEX of the AGTE class remarked to a reporter, “[The track] is very difficult with the barriers right at the edge of the track. In some places on the circuit a small error going into a turn can have very bad results on the exit because the wall is right there, so even a small touch can mean an extra pit stop to repair the bodywork. It also makes passing very challenging because later in the race there is so much loose rubber off the racing line which once you get into can greatly reduce your grip.”
The toll on the cars does not stop where the rubber meets the road, though. Many cars suffered from mechanical failures that required extra time in the pits, luckily though none of these failures resulted in a retirement, making it an entire half a season without any retirements. The chief mechanical race engineer for Meliora Automotive met up with Will for a couple minutes to give some insight to the difficulties of racing in the Australian heat.
The award for the biggest drive over the course of the race goes to the Exilus of ACE Racing, who climbed a whole 16 positions from their starting position of 23rd. But unfortunately the award for the biggest surprise of the race goes to a different team, one who’s luck was in dire need of changing for the better. Luckily, today that happened, and the AP1 entry of the Galadante, being fielded by Fox Manor broke it’s streak of last place finishes and brought the car home in 30th position. It’s not much to write home about, but after a frustrating first half of the season the Fox Manor garage practically exploded with cheers of joy as the Galadante crossed the finish line. While we were sad to hear the news that Anna Drivik would be replacing Pau Kerin as number two driver of the Galadante following an injury that meant he would not be able to continue the season, it certainly seems she is intent on showing that she is a valuable asset to the team if they have any hope to salvage this season.
And that brings us to the end of a thrilling six hour race from Alberta Park. It was filled with excitement and tragedy throughout the entire race, and it left many questions still unanswered. Could the Zeus GT be seeing the end of it’s commanding conquest as the leader of the 2015 AMWEC champsionship? Who will be the one to bring down the reign of the Znopresk/Gryphon Gear duo? There’s still a lot of time left in this season, and the standings are looking to be close. Who will come out on top, and who will fade into the history books as the champions that could have been? We’ll have to find out as the season continues to the 6 Hours of Fuji. I’ve been Steve Hatch, along with Sillyworld and special guest host Will Taylor bringing you live coverage of the 6 Hours of Melbourne, proudly sponsored by Gryphon Gear. See you next week as the excitement of the 2015 Automation Motorsport World Endurance Championship continues.
Phew, that was a really close one, those tyres were pretty much bald by the end! Big props to the drivers for nursing the car home, that was too close to call as to whether to pit for tyres or just leave them be.
(The next few images were drawn by Cen, but Cen is currently in bed, so I’m posting them.)
Let’s, er, chalk that one down to the sheer relief of actually winning the race. We’d like to thank racer13 and sillyworld for the huge amount of effort that went into covering this race, and see you next time!
[size=60]Hannah’s gonna beat everybody with a spanner later, I’m sure of it[/size]
Also here is the updated summary of standings, in approximate order of standings in the season. Once again, a lot of movers and shakers here, with even a single incident making the difference between more than ten places.
Strop, that’s beautiful. I am in full support of what just happened.
PS, I was kind of disappointed that we didnt get any comments from Znopresk/Gryphon Gear during this race, I would have likely some commentary from the beasts behind the current king of all he surveys. Did that make sense? I don’t know. I’m tired. Words, I say them sometimes.
Apologies, I was actually away during what I assumed was the hours of the contest (aside from going to bed at 6am, that was my bad).
I would have fleshed out that comment about the final hour in particular, but was actually AFK and couldn’t post much at the time. All the images posted in this thread were actually prepared beforehand in the assumption that the ZGG team would win <_<
I find it kinda funny that my AP2 car did so well in Australia, because in real life, a transverse turbo engine already has enough of a hard time keeping cool, and when you factor in heat, it just doesn’t end pretty. I’m sure Le Mans is where it’s destined to shine though.
Well… living in Melbourne, I can tell you now apart from being mostly cloudy with a tiny amount of drizzle (not over Albert Park, mind you), the temperatures barely reached 26C, so the heat wasn’t anywhere near bad today. In fact if anything it was perfect.
Try a fortnight ago though, it was pushing 42C then.
