The 2011 2.4 hour Le Mans was an endurance race run by the Penrith District Nitro Racing Club at the Olympic Regatta Centre in Penrith on the 26th November 2011.
As the title denotes it is a grueling race with the winner being the car that is in front after 2.4 hours. For cars to be given a place they have 90 seconds to pass the loop after the winning car has finished. This makes the team mechanics just as important as the drivers.
There is a minimum of 2 drivers per team and driving duties has to be shared amongst all the registered drivers. There were nine teams contesting this enduring event. It was a great test of drivers, machines and pit crews. Quiet a few tires were changed during the race and many teams had multiple receiver batteries to last the distance. To work out the grid position we had a ½ hour qualifier, just before the main event.
JPM Racing sponsored many of the teams, but we also entered a car in the 1/10 open tourer LMP2 class. Team was Joe Patane, Michael Turner, David Patane and Stephen Patane. Our car was an Edam Spirit 981 with a RB TG10 motor. We ran a Blitz Lola body which was painted in the traditional Audi Le Mans color scheme by Michael Turner. After the ½ hour qualifier, Team O(X Ray) followed by Valmorg Racing(Kyosho), BS Racing(Kyosho) and JPM Racing(Edam) was fourth. Great effort for the Edam that was amongst NT1’S ,Kyosho’s and Mugens.
At the start of the race top qualifier Team O got a great start but the biggest mover was JPM Racing who moved from 4th to 2nd .Team O lead throughout the race and was never headed. But the big battle was for 2nd and 3rd which was battled between GFY Racing,Valmorg Racing and JPM Racing. JPM Racing held 3rd spot for most of the race but in lap 100 we moved into second and that’s how we finished. Even though we had 2 runaways due to the receiver battery coming loose, the car did not break and was very fast and reliable over the entire race.
