2012 Bathurst 12 Hour - 24-26 February

[GROUPA]

Originally Posted by 6.213km

Very very disappointing.

I will still be there watching, and it will still be a very enjoyable race.

Quality not Quantity.

But lets face it, the race organisers have a big problem if they cannot grow this field.

It's an absolute joke, that a long distant endurance race around the best motor racing circuit in this country, and one of the best in the world, cannot attract cars from its local series.

Politics once again, could potentially kill off what could be an amazing event.

We lost the 24 hour because of bad rules and sport sedan Monaros.

Local parties with interests in doing what is best for GT3 racing in this country should sit down and sort out a solution with the organisers of this event.

We need local AND international cars in this race for it to be a success.

The race in its current form will not survive. 40+ GT cars is what it needs to be truely great, and that is just a starting point.

I have been a keen supporter of the 12 hour since 1991. 24Hr in 02/03, and the current 12hr races.... why is it we never quite get there guys ?

I understand you were hard done by last year by the rules T.Quinn. But ill be honest, you wouldn't of won anyway against the might of Audi even with a second seeded driver. Throw the ego's out and be a pioneer in making this race truely great. Get the rules changed, do what the competitors as a whole want, I really don't care, just dont stuff this damn race up again.

Its frustrating to watch.

Bathurst is a special place, the 12hr / 24 hr is a special race.

Best post in the thread

I really hope Quinn or someone associated with Quinn reads this post from a passionate fan....I plan on apporaching Quinn to have a few words @ Winton

I really like Quinn from his releasing the chocolate hostages comment to his blunt honesty in that interview In Pit Lane....he is great for Australian motorsport but he is also part of the problem......we dont seem to listen or learn from the mistakes of the past eg Light Car Club of Victoria, Eastern Creek, Bob Jane Calder Park V The world.

Quinn has an golden oppurtunity to have a truly international race that could be huge if he only met halfway

[speedreader]

Everyone seems to be forgetting two very important things - timing and funding !

The cost's involved are horrendous - twelve hours of continuous racing is approximately the equivalent of two full seasons of ordinary racing...

Now add to this the fact that the race is non championship, has huge entry fees and a comparatively low prizefund - presuming a) you finish and b) you actually win followed by a massive and costly rebuild with less than 2 weeks turnaround to your first championship round at Clipsal.

It couldnt have been made much harder for a local Porsche or GT entrant to compete when you really think about it...

[Shane001]

Easy fix, make it a round of the local championship. Guarantees a good local field and then add the internationals into the mix and we could end up with a 50 car GT grid

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Shane001

Easy fix, make it a round of the local championship. Guarantees a good local field and then add the internationals into the mix and we could end up with a 50 car GT grid

If that is the solution, the calendar would need serious revision to separate the B12 from the Clipsal event, and the rest of the year

how might you manage driver points from an enduro such as the B12 and balance them against an individual sprint round?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by GROUPA

Best post in the thread

I really hope Quinn or someone associated with Quinn reads this post from a passionate fan....I plan on apporaching Quinn to have a few words @ Winton

I really like Quinn from his releasing the chocolate hostages comment to his blunt honesty in that interview In Pit Lane....he is great for Australian motorsport but he is also part of the problem......we dont seem to listen or learn from the mistakes of the past eg Light Car Club of Victoria, Eastern Creek, Bob Jane Calder Park V The world.

Quinn has an golden oppurtunity to have a truly international race that could be huge if he only met halfway

Remind me again how Mr Quinn is the new nominated saviour of all things GT and any motor racing failures from years past?

Mr Quinn is under absolutely no obligation to run anywhere, even in his own GT series. I just dont get how some of the comments in this thread are pointing 'blame' towards Mr Quinn for not supporting the B12 when he has done so, many times and to his own financial cost in the past.

Go pick on Holden for not supporting the event with the same level of support they previuosly gave the Monaros.

[TCR]

Originally Posted by Senna05

For me, the total field may have only grown a little (with lower classes shrunk somewhat) but the increase in international interest with the increase in Class A cars, has me interested.

Same here. Would I have gone to see 40+ Production cars go around Bathurst for 12 hours....NO. Would I go and see 25-30 cars with a mix of world class GT3 cars running.....hell yeah!

I think the 12hour format is perfect, just needs a bit of tweaking regarding cost and timing to make it more viable for the local GT guys to compete. Then we should see 35-40 cars competing.

[6.213km]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Remind me again how Mr Quinn is the new nominated saviour of all things GT and any motor racing failures from years past?

Mr Quinn is under absolutely no obligation to run anywhere, even in his own GT series. I just dont get how some of the comments in this thread are pointing 'blame' towards Mr Quinn for not supporting the B12 when he has done so, many times and to his own financial cost in the past.

Go pick on Holden for not supporting the event with the same level of support they previuosly gave the Monaros.

If anyone has the money, cars, contacts, motivation or ability to get this race happening it is Tony Quinn.

It's not about blame or obligation, its about starting something now, getting this race to an acceptable level, before it dies and we have to wait five or so years before we start all over again.

The field this weekend is very strong, but its not where it should be, not in terms of depth, variety, and in particular the lack of local entries is disappointing.

[Shane001]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

If that is the solution, the calendar would need serious revision to separate the B12 from the Clipsal event, and the rest of the year

how might you manage driver points from an enduro such as the B12 and balance them against an individual sprint round?

Yep obviously the two parties need to work together on all fronts not just the calendar, clearly the calendar is one of the biggest issues this year. Only 1 week out from Clipsal.

As for driver points, I'm sure they could figure this out. The V8's manage it OK. As for International entries, simple, there are two points scores up for grabs, outright event only, and championship. Non championship competitors don't get championship points.

So for example, an International wins the race but a championship car comes second. The International gets 1st place points for the event & the championship car gets second place points for the event. The Championship car gets 1st place points for the Championship. etc.

And by running a much bigger field of both local and international this will raise the exposure of the event to the point where maybe they can attract a few big sponsors to include some prize money.

[GROUPA]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Remind me again how Mr Quinn is the new nominated saviour of all things GT and any motor racing failures from years past?

Mr Quinn is under absolutely no obligation to run anywhere, even in his own GT series. I just dont get how some of the comments in this thread are pointing 'blame' towards Mr Quinn for not supporting the B12 when he has done so, many times and to his own financial cost in the past.

Go pick on Holden for not supporting the event with the same level of support they previuosly gave the Monaros.

Well he (Quinn) is the owner...beats slagging people of from the side lines like others.

Quinn is a racer he travels all of the country let alone the world supporting events and he stepped up took over GT after the fiasco @ Eastern Creek...clearly O'Brien & Quinn have different points of view but have a synergy between each other that just need to work together for the greater good otherwise the event will go backwards

I'm just going to have a chat to him from a spectators point of view....I had a nice chat with him @ PI last year and he was very approachable.

[scudd]

Originally Posted by GROUPA

Well he (Quinn) is the owner...beats slagging people of from the side lines like others.

Quinn is a racer he travels all of the country let alone the world supporting events and he stepped up took over GT after the fiasco @ Eastern Creek...clearly O'Brien & Quinn have different points of view but have a synergy between each other that just need to work together for the greater good otherwise the event will go backwards

I'm just going to have a chat to him from a spectators point of view....I had a nice chat with him @ PI last year and he was very approachable.

let's remember he stole it and will get his cash back very quickly, though good on him for having the cash to spend. he now gets to compete in his own series without entry fees (ball park years fee all up is circa $80k) and admin being run in a manner he may not agree with. it's about control and he has it. i'd love to see next years 12hr (if there is one) to be the first round of GTs (double points) and drop Clipsal. This could increase the 12hr field and be able to reduce the entry fee. I'm new to GT but already I can see it's expensive to participate with minimal track time at a V8 weekend.

[GTRMagic]

Is the 80k for the B12 + the full GT series scudd?

[TCR]

The easiest solution to the scheduling problem would be to have the 12hr as round 1 of the GT Championship, in lieu of Clipsal. Unfortunately though, I'm not sure the majority of the GT competitors would be happy, as there's realistically only about 10 local GT teams that'd be in a position to run in the 12hr.

Of course, the ones that couldn't finacially afford to run their own car could possibly pick up a drive with another team.

[GROUPA]

I'll go the other way, retain Clipsal as a twilght event and have it as a 2 hour.

Bathurst should be included too subject to calender as a double points event.

Perfect world would like to see (no particular order)

Round 1 or 2 Bathurst/Clipsal
Round 3 Phillip Island
Round 4 Townsville
Round 5 Eastern Creek
Round 6 Sandown
Round 7 Phillip Island
Round 8 Bathurst (after V8SC shoot out)

Take out the goat track of Winton

[KSM86]

LOL just heard the klien interview! Definatly need the RADIO LE MANS boys down next year!

I agree with having the BH12 HR as a round of the gt championship.

I reckon double points for the highest aussie gt team to finish, so even if u had 5 euro teams in front of you and you were the 1st Aussie gt team you would get max points.

btw scudd is there prize money for coming in top 3 this weekend?

[KSM86]

reading John dagys twitter and he reckons entry list is now down to 27??

[TCR]

Originally Posted by GROUPA

I'll go the other way, retain Clipsal as a twilght event and have it as a 2 hour.

Bathurst should be included too subject to calender as a double points event.

Perfect world would like to see (no particular order)

Round 1 or 2 Bathurst/Clipsal
Round 3 Phillip Island
Round 4 Townsville
Round 5 Eastern Creek
Round 6 Sandown
Round 7 Phillip Island
Round 8 Bathurst (after V8SC shoot out)

Take out the goat track of Winton

Could still work that way, but they'll need at least 2-3 weeks between Bathurst and Clipsal. Can't see the Clipsal date being changed just to suit the GT guys, so that means having it earlier in Feb which makes it quite close to the Dubai 12hr.

[Shane001]

I doubt they would want to drop clipsal, the exposure they get in Adelaide would be hard to beat. That's a pretty big, successful event especially for spectator turn out.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Senna05

I don't know if it is that the B12hr needs to be set alot earlier in the callendar sense than other local series due to international interests, but a earlier Feb date to reduce a clash with Clipsal might well increase the field.

Could we go the other side of Clipsal and take the event back to Easter?

More dark running and a long weekend to help with the return trip out of Bathurst?

[TCR]

Possibly, but then you risk the chance of some overseas teams not wanting to come out because they've already started their own domestic series.

[KSM86]

john dagys claiming that the nissan GTR is also out.

[Reload]

Originally Posted by KSM86

john dagys claiming that the nissan GTR is also out.

FFS, can someone padlock the rest of the cars in so that we don't lose anymore.

PS, has the safety car turned up ?

[R4z3rw33n]

Originally Posted by TCR

The easiest solution to the scheduling problem would be to have the 12hr as round 1 of the GT Championship, in lieu of Clipsal. Unfortunately though, I'm not sure the majority of the GT competitors would be happy, as there's realistically only about 10 local GT teams that'd be in a position to run in the 12hr.

Of course, the ones that couldn't finacially afford to run their own car could possibly pick up a drive with another team.

This doesn't sound like a bad idea, providing it's managed correctly.

Originally Posted by KSM86

I agree with having the BH12 HR as a round of the gt championship.

I reckon double points for the highest aussie gt team to finish, so even if u had 5 euro teams in front of you and you were the 1st Aussie gt team you would get max points.

btw scudd is there prize money for coming in top 3 this weekend?

This seems like a pretty decent solution. Running the event similar to past ILMC/(A)LMS combined events (wherein each series' runners are classified against their own competitors - at least, for season points) could also work.

This might be a means of appeasing both international/one-off entries and full-season competitors. Ideally, they'd appear officially within the same category; with any differences in points haul/classification being a background process for the series.

Originally Posted by Reload

FFS, can someone padlock the rest of the cars in so that we don't lose anymore.

PS, has the safety car turned up ?

Fine idea. At least we're still top heavy in quality entries.
Here's hoping there aren't any more withdrawals.

Edit:
Bleekemolen posted some images of the Erebus/Black Falcon spares cachet:


Hadn't realised they'd altered the livery. This is a pretty significant improvement.

[scudd]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Is the 80k for the B12 + the full GT series scudd?

No mate, another $11k for the 12hr

[scudd]

Originally Posted by KSM86

LOL just heard the klien interview! Definatly need the RADIO LE MANS boys down next year!

I agree with having the BH12 HR as a round of the gt championship.

I reckon double points for the highest aussie gt team to finish, so even if u had 5 euro teams in front of you and you were the 1st Aussie gt team you would get max points.

btw scudd is there prize money for coming in top 3 this weekend?

Just a shiny Chinese trophy

[bortall]

Originally Posted by TCR

Could still work that way, but they'll need at least 2-3 weeks between Bathurst and Clipsal. Can't see the Clipsal date being changed just to suit the GT guys, so that means having it earlier in Feb which makes it quite close to the Dubai 12hr.

I was more wondering if the GT ranks need crowd exposure for sponsors or are there more rich folks taking the chance to drive fast cars at our best tracks, or a mixture of all the above??