Waterford Hills Enduro Weekend

Waterford Hills Road Racing, Inc is pleased to annouce an extra race weekend this year, it’s October 1 & 2. It does not count towards any championship; it’s just an extra weekend and an opportunity to try something a little different.

Saturday will be very much a conventional day; qualifying for each group and them class races. The only difference is the races will be 15 laps and there will be no co-drive races. Sunday will be the “experiment”… we are going to hold two enduro's for closed wheel cars and two handicap races for open wheels.

The handicap race will be like Australian pursuit except if you get passed you keep racing. You will be lined on pit road in reverse order to your qualifying times and the released at appropriate intervals to facilitate a theoretical photo finish. As for the enduro, the rest of this post relates to that.

There will be two endurance races during the weekend to accommodate the diverse classes of closed wheel race cars we have racing at the track. Each race would be one and one half hrs, in length, with one mandatory pit stop of 7 mins.

There will be a test day available on Friday September 30 from 12:00 to 4:00.

Heres the best part - the entry fee for this event is only $100 for the entire weekend! You can also register for one day for $70.

The hot pits for the race would be a sectioned off area of swamp. The area from the tower side of the false grid down through part of swamp would be defined as “hot”.

Qualifying

There will be no change to our regular process; each group would qualify for starting position on Saturday. What would change is we would offer two qualifying sessions for each of the enduro groups. The rational is the potential second driver; we would like to give them an opportunity to spend a little time in the vehicle before the race. Their starting position for the enduro will be the qualifying time of the starting driver.

Racing

The race would run under the same rules as always, cars race for overall and class wins.

There will be no points awarded towards class championship, or year end overall points

Should there be need for a full cause caution; pits would be closed until the race returns to green.

Dependent on the number of entrants and available pit stalls a procedure would be enforced to ensure a safe and orderly stop. See the following section regarding pit stops.

Full Course Yellow

When a full course yellow is called and the pace car deployed, the pace car will signal vehicles by until it picks up the overall leader of the race.

Hot Pits

Each entrant will be assigned a designated pit spot and be expected to maintain a safe and controlled area. Each entrant will be required to have a fire extinguisher (minimum requirements to be defined) in there area for the entire race. Pit spots may have more than one vehicle assigned, so respect for your fellow racers is imperative.

Due to the risk of being hit by a race car, there will be a designated manned walkway to cross the current false grid area during the race regardless of green or yellow condition track.

Pit Procedures -- Entry

The pits will be open for participants to use at anytime with only a couple exceptions listed here. Vehicles enter the pits from the track in the usual way. During the endurance race we will impose a strict speed limit and use pylons, tires and barricades to help control the situation.

As cars come off track they will be funneled around and into the conventional paddock to pit entry and then single file to their assigned pit area. No vehicles will be allowed to stop on the drive ways; they must be serviced in their assigned pit.

There will be a “pits closed” sign at turn seven and will be used when needed in the interest of safety or capacity.

Pit closed… Pits will be closed immediately a full course yellow is called and will remain closed until the race returns to green. This is needed for safety reasons; it will stop the unexpected “dive” to the pits when a full course yellow is called. Should a vehicle already be in the pits, they would be allowed complete their pit stop and rejoin the field in the normal manor.

Pit closed… Pits will also be closed at the order of the Chief Steward should a situation call for it and remain closed until the Chief Steward felt the situation was under control.

Pits closed… Should the traffic flow become too high, or unmanageable, pits will be closed until the traffic situation subsides.

Pit Procedures – Stop

There will be a mandatory timed pit stop during the race that can be taken at the teams’ discretion. The duration for this pit stop is seven mins. Additional stops can be made, but one must be at least seven mins.

During all pit stops there will be a designated fire person and have in his possession a fire extinguisher (size/type TBD). This person will be dressed in a Nomex driver suite. His sole responsibility is to ensure any incident involving fire is handled promptly. No other duties can be assigned to this person during the pit stop and the entering or exiting driver is disqualified from being that safety person; we need them focused on the assigned task.

During the refueling procedure the driver must be out of the vehicle, the vehicle must not be running and it must be on the ground with NO other work being performed on it. And as stated, the drive cannot be the fire person.

It is unfeasible to assume we will have enough volunteers to time every mandatory timed pit stop, so we are currently working on verifiable self policing procedure. The transponder system can detect if you crossed the line in the pits or on the track, so we may not physically time your pit stop, but we may impose penalties at the end of the race if a seven min pit stop is not detected on the timing sheets

Pit Procedures -- Exit

Once a pit stop has been completed, the drive must follow the one-way system back to the track. Again there will be a strictly enforced speed limit for this procedure.

A ground starter will be at the base of the starter stand to safely hold/send cars onto the track.

Waterford Hills Enduro Weekend - Oct 1/2