2013 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour: 8-10 February

[Swedish Brick]

But strategy is part of long distance racing. Seeing how it works out is part of the appeal.
Its part of what makes enduros different to sprint races.
For one I love trying to keep tabs of who pitted when etc to try and read into where they will be at the end and if any one is sneaking up.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is enduros are different. They are not a sprint race and as such they work a little differently.

[Swedish Brick]

Oh and if you try and make them a 12hr sprint race I think you will loose a lot of fans who enjoy enduros for what they are

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by Swedish Brick

But strategy is part of long distance racing. Seeing how it works out is part of the appeal.
Its part of what makes enduros different to sprint races.
For one I love trying to keep tabs of who pitted when etc to try and read into where they will be at the end and if any one is sneaking up.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is enduros are different. They are not a sprint race and as such they work a little differently.

you are correct. 100% But thats no good when a SC comes out so often and destroys all that strategy you want to see. Which is really what happened yesterday.

It would have been interesting to see which AMG was going to finish on top.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by peckstar

But to say that race was better than last years Bathurst 1000 would be extremely naive.

I have no issue saying it was better - plenty of people at the track were of the same opinion.

Originally Posted by peckstar

That said, i hope it keeps growing, its good for motorsport in Australia. But they need to get rid of the slower cars, there is too much gap between the fastest and the slowest and this is making the race average

No different to the other sportscar endurance events around the world - Le Mans, Nurburgring etc. Speed and time difference goes with the event

People need to realise this is GT / Sportscar endurance racing not V8 Supercar!

[MarkInTheStands]

Originally Posted by bluesport

Two very important questions:

2. What colour was Betty's hair?

I saw Betty pre-race and I would have to go with Platinum Blond and no highlights.

What colour it is today, you might thinks some yellow or Purple might have snuck in.

Best hairstyle of the day was the Barista lass in the Pit Cantina with her Purple mowhawk and matching Eye shadow. Didn't ask if she was cheering for the # 63 car.

All in all great event, nice chilled atmosphere, not too hard to get around, could have used a few more food / drink vendors on site and was surprised at lack of merch for the manufactures.

Also upset that two Aston took each other out, loved the Quinn Aston, looked a treat (pun intended).

[MarkInTheStands]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

No different to the other sportscar endurance events around the world - Le Mans, Nurburgring etc. Speed and time difference goes with the event

People need to realise this is GT / Sportscar endurance racing not V8 Supercar!

The problem I saw at the track yesterday wasn't the speed difference between the GT3 and GT4's or even the I3 cars, the problem was the closing speeds for the GT3's vs the Production cars (Class D).

Do they need to be there, maybe? but I am quite sure there are a few drivers that think the Cars not in Classes A,B,C and I3 were the cause of a few incidents. (John Bowe, The 63 Erebus car).

[KSM86]

Originally Posted by MarkInTheStands

The problem I saw at the track yesterday wasn't the speed difference between the GT3 and GT4's or even the I3 cars, the problem was the closing speeds for the GT3's vs the Production cars (Class D).

Do they need to be there, maybe? but I am quite sure there are a few drivers that think the Cars not in Classes A,B,C and I3 were the cause of a few incidents. (John Bowe, The 63 Erebus car).

exaclty, and it was mainly all up the top the problems. Bathurst is a smaller track compared to Le Mans or Nürburgring.

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by MarkInTheStands

The problem I saw at the track yesterday wasn't the speed difference between the GT3 and GT4's or even the I3 cars, the problem was the closing speeds for the GT3's vs the Production cars (Class D).

Do they need to be there, maybe? but I am quite sure there are a few drivers that think the Cars not in Classes A,B,C and I3 were the cause of a few incidents. (John Bowe, The 63 Erebus car).

So we need to get rid of the faster cars, not the slower cars

[MarkInTheStands]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

So we need to get rid of the faster cars, not the slower cars

Where did I say that ?

[Scooter185]

Originally Posted by MarkInTheStands

The problem I saw at the track yesterday wasn't the speed difference between the GT3 and GT4's or even the I3 cars, the problem was the closing speeds for the GT3's vs the Production cars (Class D).

Do they need to be there, maybe? but I am quite sure there are a few drivers that think the Cars not in Classes A,B,C and I3 were the cause of a few incidents. (John Bowe, The 63 Erebus car).

Wasn't it a Class D Astra that lead the field back around on the second to last SC period, and proceeded to almost bin it at Murray's? As funny as watching that was, I agree that the some of the slower classes may have got in the way too much. I know the N24 has VW buses driving around with GT3 cars, but that doesn't mean every endurance race should.

speaking of classes, where did the flatbed end up overall?

Originally Posted by Martyn_

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by MarkInTheStands

Where did I say that ?

You didn't, which was the point. In the 2 incidents you mentioned, the faster car was the cause of the incident

[KSM86]

http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/st...o-grow/?cs=115

good little read.

[davelise]

Originally Posted by Reload

The highlight for me was the look on my young blokes face when Mika Salo sat at the table next to ours at a local restaurant...... priceless.

Small world - we were there too when Allan and Mika walked in. My boy was wearing his Team Lotus F1 shirt and was very impressed when I told him Mika raced for Lotus F1.

[jd yort]

Originally Posted by davelise

Small world - we were there too when Allan and Mika walked in. My boy was wearing his Team Lotus F1 shirt and was very impressed when I told him Mika raced for Lotus F1.

And I was in the campsite opposite to all the people wearing the lotus shirts (with the mk1, mg and gtr).

[Axeman444]

Originally Posted by Prancing Wombat

Big well done to Kingers!!! Standing in for Mr Quinn at very late notice. Lucky you packed you kit mate!!!! Not even entered for the race .... and a podium.

is this twice now over the last 12 months this has happened in a race for Mr Kingsley? Something in the back of my mind said he was a late call up somewhere else recently and did very well

[davelise]

Originally Posted by jd yort

And I was in the campsite opposite to all the people wearing the lotus shirts (with the mk1, mg and gtr).

Wow, guess we need 10 Tenths flags next year.

[FAS33]

yeah great race guys, looking forward to next years bathurst 9 hr lol

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by FAS33

yeah great race guys, looking forward to next years bathurst 9 hr lol

Not looking forward to this years bathurst 700km?

[Scooter185]

Originally Posted by FAS33

yeah great race guys, looking forward to next years bathurst 9 hr lol

was the amount of time behind the SC unfortunate? Yes. Could it be mitigated? probably, i'd say getting rid of some of the slower cars would help. However the 9 hours of green flag racing was still pretty damn good.

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by Scooter185

was the amount of time behind the SC unfortunate? Yes. Could it be mitigated? probably, i'd say getting rid of some of the slower cars would help. However the 9 hours of green flag racing was still pretty damn good.

Especially those slugs that John Bowe and Lee Holdsworth were driving!

[FAS33]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

Not looking forward to this years bathurst 700km?

DJR will win it this year, im 99.9542 % sure of it

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by FAS33

DJR will win it this year, im 99.9542 % sure of it

I live in hope, but i'm a realist, and know its 99.9542% not gonna happen

[FAS33]

coz we all know Nissan will rule The Mountain once again!

[Reload]

Was interesting to see numerous spectators wearing V8 Supercar clothing/merchandise, especially up on the mountain on Sunday.

[one five five]

Great event i thought.

Do not agree in the slightest about making the grid smaller or taking any classes away.

The big cars & small cars, the tonne of different engine notes and everything else made for great viewing particularly around the top of the mountain.

I thought the mix across the classes was pretty right, a field full of just GT3 cars would be about as interesting as a field of 28 V8Supercars....

There were alot of safety car periods, but i think if you crunched the numbers based on how many safety cars there have been in recent Bathurst 1000s, the ratio of safety car appearances in both races would be roughly the same.

Most of the safety cars anyway were not caused by fast cars running into the slow cars, so i don't get why some people have a problem about a traditional Bathurst past time of class racing?