Bathurst 24hr - Too many Porsches????

[Woody]

Is it possible the the Procar Bathurst 24hr has attracted too many Porsche GT3s for group 1. Looking at the teams entered so far most of them are GT3s with at least 3 coming out of the Lyall Williamson stable in New Zealand.

And on the subject of Porsches could a heavily modified GT2 such as Wayne Hennig, Paul Whitmarsh or Walter Epple be eligible for Class 10???

[Crash Test]

Sure, why not?

I think knocking back entries would be the last thing Procar would want to do- plus I'd say Porsches would be one of the only cars that you could safely punt around for 24hrs, to me they seem like a fairly solid type of car...

[racer69]

There were always going to be a heap of Porsche's, at the Le Mans, Spa and Nurburgrinng 24 Hours there are generally a stack of Porsche's, As CT said they are the type of cars that keep going for 24 hours.

[Woody]

Does anyone actually know the pedigree of some of these overseas teams running Porsches on the mountain??

[mac]

Maybe other companies should start building cars that can keep up with Porsches. There is a reason they are so popular - they are just so damn good. If you had the money for a racing sportscar and want to win, Porsche is the safest bet.

PS. I really want to see how BMW's new M3 CSL will go. Unfortunately, I believe it lacks a little horsepower to the Porsche - even though it's lighter. Maybe Procar will let them build an 8.0L one.

[ghinzani]

Porsches are the backbone of sportcar racing, and have been for 40 years. When you think you could buy a 962 from the factory that started on a key...

anyway should be a great race, I wish it all the best as I enjoy the NATIONS Cup on Motors TV -especially the guy in the class 2 Ferrari who calls everyone "mongrels" - is he a former sports star in some other discipline? Aussie rules maybe?

[racer69]

yep, Sam Newman, Former AFL player

[DNQ]

You can NEVER have enough 911's...look at a Le Mans grid or any sportscar races...911's as far as the eye can see

[racer69]

And also if you can attract a heap of Porsche's, you are assured of a fair few cars finishing.

[Rotary]

Originally posted by mac
Maybe other companies should start building cars that can keep up with Porsches. There is a reason they are so popular - they are just so damn good.

They did.. its called the RX-7, Porsche killer at half the price.

[mac]

Back in the old days. Nothing can match a Porsche GT2 or even a GT3 at the moment for speed and reliability.

[Towman]

I don't care what cars are there as long as they behave themselves while we are there for the 3 days. We will see what happens though as its very likely there will be some very hard heavy crashes.

[hoffy]

Originally posted by Rotary


They did.. its called the RX-7, Porsche killer at half the price.

A rotary as reliable as a Porsche!!???

yeah, sure.....

[William Dale Jr]

Well, they did win the James Hardie 12 Hour three years in a row, and of eight cars entered, only one sufferred a race-ending mechanical failure (Skaife/Waldon, 1994).

[StuiE]

and a guy over here is running a '93 series 7 RX-7 in the Street Cars class, with 350hp and hasn't ever rebuilt it, as he said it, they will last if they are kept in good condition, but if not, they are just a hand grenade.

[Rotary]

Originally posted by William Dale Jr
Well, they did win the James Hardie 12 Hour three years in a row, and of eight cars entered, only one sufferred a race-ending mechanical failure (Skaife/Waldon, 1994).

Four years in a row. Rotaries also hold the most reliable engine type/config at le mans. Why is it always the people who have no clues who have the biggest mouths..

[DAVID PATERSON]

I think it's because people have seen so many heavily ported 12A and 13B atmo rotaries explode into shrapnel that they they can't accept the fact that the latest model Rx-7 comes from the factory very fast and very reliable.

[Rotary]

A Rotary explode into shrapnel.. interesting..

[Rotary]

Having actually owned a "heavily ported 12A and 13B atmo" Rotary engine for the last 8 years I'd have to say that's bull**** too.

[Valve Bounce]

I think that with its superb handling, it is difficult to go past the Porsches around the mountain.
I used to own an RX-2, great engine but somewhat thirsty. What are the RX-7's like? probably more thirsty.

Valve

[Dazz]

The biggest problem the Porsche's seemed to have at Bathurst was an appetite for gearboxes, 2nd gear in particular. Now I am not suggesting this will definitely happen as the Porsche's are a very reliable car for the most part, but it is a possibility over 24 hours around the mountain.

As far as the RX-7 goes, rotary engine reliability is not an issue. Mazda's four 12-Hour wins plus Terry Bosnjak's Bathurst 3-Hour win are a testament to that, not to mention the amount of Daytona class wins the RX-7's won over the years and Mazda's win the LeMans 24-hour race of 1991.

Realistically though there will be so many different classes of cars up there and the length of the race, we are not really seeing manufacturer against manufacturer, but which cars in each class are the most reliable and driven the most sensibly over the distance.

I have this feeling there might be a surprise winner, no idea what, but just get that feeling.