Nuvolari GJet Enduro - Race Report
Saturday April 8 marked the inaugural running of the
Nuvolari GJet Enduro, a six-hour test of man and machine,
and the East Coast debut of the new GJet 1/64th scale slot
car from Scale Auto/BSRT. Drivers from Connecticut,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island
made the trek to Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts. Joe
Eastlack made the brownies.
Most of the drivers arrived around 8:30 am. Rob Hayes soon
pulled six beautiful, identically prepared GJet cars, and
some superb race plaques, from a heavily insured UPS box
with a Redmond, Washington return address. Each of the cars
was a unique replica of a well-known Porsche 917 car/livery
from the early 70’s, every one of them an actual
version that Scale Auto/BSRT will make available to the
public. Run on 12 volts, with weight -- not magnetic
downforce -- to keep the cars on the track, the GJet
package gives the feel of a non-magnet racecar, but with
the predictability and ease of tuning of a modern magnet
car. The result is slower, more realistic speeds, with very
close racing.
While the drivers were fawning over the cars, host John
Stezelecki passed out the official Nuvolari GJet Enduro tee
shirts and hats. In the drivers’ meeting, Rob Hayes
assigned drivers to teams, and reviewed the Rothwell Enduro
rules. The famous Dave Rothwell-promoted SoCal enduros were
the inspiration for the Nuvolari GJet Enduro, and we owe
Dave and those racers a great debt. We hope to have some of
them “in da house” for the second running of
this event.
Once the cars and liveries were chosen, we began a two-hour
practice session, including a preview of the
“nighttime” conditions. Qualifying started
immediately thereafter. A driver from each team was
selected for the time trials. The time trials would
determine lane choice, and therefore on which lanes each
team would run the middle two, nighttime hours. Team
Connecticut #1, DeCosmo-Chagnot, took top honors with a
best time of 6.060 seconds, followed by New Hampshire #1
team with 6.151 seconds. Third qualifier was the
Connecticut #2 team at 6.296 seconds. The fourth spot was
taken by New Hampshire #2 team with 6.409 and in the final
spot was Team 495 with a best time of 6.445 seconds.
Each team would race one hour per lane and take a required,
two-minute pit stop each hour, on the green. The teams
could and would also take additional pit stops for tire
cleaning and repairs. Team strategy would dictate choices
about drivers and driver changes, when to pit, and when to
add and remove lights for the “nighttime”
hours.
The six-hour race started just past 11:00 am. The first
hour went smoothly and concluded with poorest qualifier
Route 495 in the lead! During the second hour, Connecticut
#1 overtook the 495 team. Hour three began the night
racing. Dimmers were used to slowly lower the lights over a
ten-minute span, to almost total darkness. Each car seemed
to have its own lighting characteristics, which, in time,
enabled each team to identify their car. New Hampshire
#1’s headlights quickly became very bright, a
giveaway that they’d soon burn out, which they did.
Running on 12 volts as we were, theirs would be the only
car to pit to replace headlights in six hours.
Probably the most difficult task to perform in the dark was
putting a car back into the proper lane after a de-slot.
Mistakes were made, people “drove” other
teams’ cars by mistake, sometimes for several laps,
but driver caution soon gained currency over aggression.
Over the last ten minutes of the fourth hour, the lights
were brought up slowly until full “daylight”
was restored. Night driving was fun for most, but a look of
relief was seen on most of the drivers’ faces when
the “sun” rose at the start of the fifth heat.
With no further mechanical breakdowns of any consequence,
and bravura driving by all the teams, positions remained
relatively constant after the second heat.
When the chequered flag dropped after six hours, we had a
winning total of over 3,100 laps, and a margin of victory
of just 7/10ths of a percent! Dan DeCosmo, Dario DeCosmo,
and Eric Chagnot, Team Connecticut #1, won the inaugural
Nuvolari GJet Six Hour Enduro. The threesome drove the
yellow #2 car 3116 laps to head second place Team Route 495
-- John Shortsleeves, Joe Eastlack, and Rob Hayes -- who
drove an impressive 3094 laps; just a 22 lap difference
after six hours of racing. Route 495 drove the blue and
orange Gulf #1 car. Congratulations to Dan, Dario, and Eric
on a great victory!
The third place team, composed of Connecticut’s Mike
Martin and Erik Eckhardt, and T.J. Mottola from Rhode
Island, drove the red Salzburg #23. This was the replica of
the car that won the 1970 Le Mans in treacherous rain
conditions. The team rolled up 3054 laps, just 40 laps
behind the second place team. Tom Gray, Kevin Jeglinski and
John Stezelecki, Team New Hampshire #1, drove a replica of
the purple, Watkins Glen-winning #35 car to fourth place,
piling up 2946 laps. The New Hampshire #2 team, consisting
of Paul Avis, Super Bob Ferrara, and New York’s Benny
Leyro, drove the silver Martini & Rossi #3 car, and
finished only 14 laps behind New Hampshire #1, with 2932
laps, to take the fifth and final spot. There was no sixth
team because the New York team was unable to make the
event.
The victory ceremony saw sensational looking plaques from
Gary Beedle presented to each team. And the winning team
was also each awarded a new GJet, reserved from the first,
public production run. Best of all, the race produced
another $370.00 for our favorite cause, the Ethan Duda
Scholarship Fund. Many thanks to all the drivers who made
time to participate in this inaugural GJet Enduro. Extra
special thanks go to Gary Beedle and event sponsor Scale
Auto/BSRT, Rob and Henry Catfish Hayes for promoting and
organizing the race, Frank Klucevsek of Mid-Cape Tire,
Kelly Tire and Interstate Battery for their sponsorship,
and Brad Bowman who built the six lane Nuvolari track used
in this inaugural enduro. Congratulations to all the
participating drivers and to BSRT for their new GJet
racecar, which produced close racing and lots of good fun.
Next year’s Nuvolari GJet Enduro will be held on
Saturday, April 28, 2007, and will feature the finest cars
of the exciting, millennial period of endurance prototype
racing, including Audi, Bentley, BMW, Mercedes-Benz,
Porsche, and Toyota. Until then, please visit us on the web
at
http://www.infinitevideo.net/nuvolariweb/
or contact us at the addresses and numbers below.
The Nantasket Beach Raceclub
8 Front Street
Nantasket Beach, Hull, Ma. 02045
Tel. # 781-925-4702 – John Stezelecki
E-mail: Stez1970@Yahoo.com