2007 BIMF & the Bathurst 12 Hour Race (Merged x3)

[louonline]

Today I head a local commentator on Radio 2BS(Bathurst) say something about a possible 12H race. According to him he says he heard that some manufactures have already held preliminary talks re such an event.
He is of the opinion that this may be held as part of the Bathurst Festival of Speed at Easter and could eventually become a 24H race.
I didn't fully catch the whole story so I was wondering if any one here has heard any thing.
Lou.

[pplater]

Heard all of the above over the BIMF week.

sounds great, I really really hope they can pull this off!

[6.213km]

Hi Lou

This was also confirmed in AA this week. Apparently a meeting was held with representatives from 12 manufacturers to gauge interest in a production car based race, apparently what is mooted is more enduro style events, with a 12hr at Bathurst as the pinacle event. Sounds good in principal and hope it gets off the ground.

Would certainly fill in some of the gaps in the BIMF.

PS. Off topic... how is the new hotel going at the chase? Must get up there and have a look.

[D.R.T.]

Motorsport News also ran a similar story, which also suggested that a few category managers jumped along to the meeting aswell.

[GTRMagic]

Are we taking bets on this one? Mr Nightingale may have been repeating what was reported in the motorsport press on 2BS, but this story gets trotted out every couple of years and goes nowhere.

What is required is a patron willing to throw between $1m and $2m down the gurgler in return for sponsorship to get it off the ground....

[Robert Ryan]

A few other catergories need that $1-2million, before you start even thinking of a 12hour race.

[racer69]

A 12 Hour would be good, so long as;

- It incorporates/involves the production/production based categories we already have (ie... GT-P and APCC) and common rules can be agreed to, there is no sense in going back to what we had between 1991 and 1994, with one set of rules for the APCC, and another set of rules for the 12 Hour.

- A series of endurance races were mentioned in the AA article, with the Bathurst 12 Hour as the centrepiece. A series is a good idea, there would presumebly be more interest in a few enduro races for production cars than just the one. Maybe an endurance series can replace the currently struggling APCC and GT-P series?


It was interested to read that Allan Horsley and Mazda are keen to get involved again.

[louonline]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Are we taking bets on this one? Mr Nightingale may have been repeating what was reported in the motorsport press on 2BS, but this story gets trotted out every couple of years and goes nowhere.

What is required is a patron willing to throw between $1m and $2m down the gurgler in return for sponsorship to get it off the ground....

Its no secret that I'd love to see a B24H but I wouldn't take your bet GTR.

Still in manufacturers a REALLY talking, $1 or $2m shouldn't be a problem to them.
I've become a bit pessimistic, I'm not holding my breath.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

What is required is a patron willing to throw between $1m and $2m down the gurgler in return for sponsorship to get it off the ground....

Mr motorsport sponsorship himself, could he say no to an endurance event at Bathurst ?

[Robert Ryan]

I would say the general verdict at this stage, is pretty negative. Unless the manufacturers come up with something. All highly doubtful.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Robert Ryan

I would say the general verdict at this stage, is pretty negative.

General verdict, Robert?

[Robert Ryan]

DRT,
GTR Magic, Myself, Louonline have doubts, even Racer69, has conditions.
My thinking is that the manufacturers tend to be looking at something like GS and GT in Grand AM Cup. Where the money is coming from all of this , is a pretty good question.

[Robert Ryan]

GS and GT cup are for almost bog standard cars. Not something too many people on this board would get excited about.
From the SBS broadcast , I saw yesterday, the APC put on the best racing , running a basically a Group N configuration, despite their small numbers.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by racer69

It was interested to read that Allan Horsley and Mazda are keen to get involved again.

I assume Mazda would be looking to enter the RX-8SP, I read they wanted to enter it in Targa, but for some reason it didn't happen. Funny if the RX8 had BP sponsorship and Neil Crompton behind the wheel, just like old times.

[RedZedMikey]

I think it might have been at the Phillip Island historics, Channel 31 were interviewing him earlier this year. The interview was shown about 3/4 weeks ago. Anyway, he was maintaining that the Europeans (Stephan Ratel?) were still keen to get an FIA GT world championship happening. Apparently one of the conditions for a series to be called a World Championship under FIA regulations is for races within that championship to be held on 4 continents. Europe and USA are gimmes, Asia/Japan would be a probable, which leaves ... Bathurst or PI (Oz), Kyalami (Africa - is it still viable for such an event?) or one of the South American circuits.

I hope that talk+bluff+bluster = a race event one day, be it 1000km, 6, 12 or 24 hour. The pessimistic side of me is winning at the moment though.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Robert Ryan

DRT,
GTR Magic, Myself, Louonline have doubts, even Racer69, has conditions.

Apologies Robert, I took your "General verdict" as being inclusive of those outside these walls.

[RotorFan]

Originally Posted by racer69

It was interested to read that Allan Horsley and Mazda are keen to get involved again.

Fantastic!!!

Any time Mazda get involved in a sport they invariably prove themselves superior, until banned

[racer69]

When have Mazda ever been banned?

[Robert Ryan]

One example:

This year, the Grand-Am sanctioning body, outlawed all Rotary Engine Powered Race cars at the Daytona Rolex 24 Hour Race. Section 3-1.6 Rotary engines are not allowed (Rolex Series only). We take this as another one of those misguided and ignorant decisions, by rules makers and sanctioning bodies that do not and care not to understand the Rotary power plant. The Rotary engine has been a mainstay of endurance sports car racing around the world, for 3 decades. Endurance racing is one of the last great places where the inherent values of the Rotary Engine can still shine through, at a world class level of competition, although it's been severely regulated/restricted of late.

[RotorFan]

The real question is, when haven't they been banned?

Only when they choose to run conventional engines, which they rarely do because the rotary engine is their performance engine.

Or when a governing body places so much handicap on rotary engined cars so as to make it infeasible to race them.

Its tough being a fan of circuit racing and rotaries!

[mac]

My understanding is that there was a meeting regarding Production Car racing as a whole. This included a bunch of regulatory people, manufacturers, promoters and circuits.

The meeting was supposedly a frank discussion on what would be required to make production car racing successful in this country - regarding regs, promotion etc.

I believe the talk of a 12 hour race occurred separately to the meeting, but not unrelated to it.

[AussieV8]

The way that Alan and his boys put together the Mazda 6 MPS for the Targa and winning the showroom class this might show its face in the GT-P...

[mtpanorama]

just anounced on the local radio that a production car 12hr will be part of the BIMF at easter next year. Not sure of any class details yet, but I will see what I can hunt down.

[Cambo]

Excellent news! Will be interesting to see how it all turns out!

[mtpanorama]

I have sused out a bit more info.
The catagories will be GT performance, Australian Production cars, there will also be a Diesel class and v8 brutes may also be able to enter.

Now to go and put the sponsorship hat on and scrounge up some $$$$$$ so I can have a drive.