It is a pretty terrifying track in places. Here's the drop to Forest Elbow to give an indication... You can drive around as it is a public road and see for yourself. Last time I drove around with family in the car and never saw another car the whole lap, apart from someone taking a pic of their car on pole position on pit straight. Growing up watching all the Bathurst races and then to be able to simply drive around the track whenever you want is also what makes this place so special. Image Unavailable, Please Login
For some our American friends. One of your countrymen with a quick lap in a V8 supercar around the mountain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLkLtBkUVuo
2017 Australian GT Bathurst 12hr pics (hq): https://www.flickr.com/photos/29982695@N03/sets/72157676508315273/
A few bumps and bruises earned on the way to the win, but most cars had some scars at the end... Yes, that's a stick that penetrated the nose bodywork on the right front. There is no hole there otherwise where a loose stick might jam its way in. The rear looked very clean. Guess nobody else was fast enough to catch it, but still surprising to see no scrapes. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
You're welcome. Yes, I took that photo - I took them all. Here's another one. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Very nice pics! Battle scars perfect A car like the LM winner 2012 does not have ANY of those anymore.
Are these the same spec cars for Le Mans? If so the 488s will get killed given lack of straightline speed. The MB was faster on the long straight and surely the Ford GTs (non existent street car, non homologated cheat) will be the same. Hope there's still time for the ACO to check Daytona and this Bathurst races for further leveling tweaks.
'Agree it shouldn't be allowed, but you can hardly call the Ford a cheat when it is accepted by the sanctioning bodies and other manufacturers. Nothing hidden and underhanded there to make it a "cheat"....all right out there in the open. The beloved BoP is the cheat. Not engineering and development as it should be. Such is the course of most high exposure auto racing of late. High speed rolling billboards, nothing more, nothing less. "Those were the days my friends. We thought they'd never end..." lorenzobandin
Thanks Tom. This whole GT field is getting too confusing including PRO/AM/ etc. Some races I've seen AM cars holding off GT LM. If I look at the Porsche GT1 from the 90s, it seems this is the platform of GT LM today, while Le Mans Prototypes are just space ships with their downforce and technologies on power recovery/boosting. Still fun to watch but less about racing abilities. The Bathurst race last week was great as the MB and 488 really raced fairly and hard, until the penalty and subsequent crash by the MB #22. In contrast the Daytona 24 showed the Ford GT essentially playing with the field, where in the final 10-15 mins just pulled out all their power to gap the 911 and 488 by over 5 secs after a re-start from yellow. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'm curious, is it just Bathurst is a track that the BOP roughly equals out on, or is GT3 better balanced than GT2? Every single Bathurst rate I watch, there are differences in the cars, but the driver seems a little bigger in the share of things than the car itself.
It is interesting to see how close they were. Blancpain last year had the BOP rather dialed also. It's amazing that the ACO cannot get it figured. Or maybe they don't want to. Ford must grease them rather well.
Quite surprising how many urbane posters here wear tin foil hats. It must be a conspiracy. There is no other possible explanation why a lowly Ford is beating Ferrari.
The $50m had to go somewhere and waiver acceptance for a car that's never been produced can't come cheap!
Just watched the Bathurst. Good race. Bad call against the Ferrari for warming his tires. Mercedes had a poor sportsmanship and bad driving. Unsafe release in the pits, not getting a penalty for swerving like the Ferrari did (though they came up with some BS reason), and hitting the Porsche and then the wall. Lol. Well done Maranello Mororsport.
"Never been produced"? You seem to have missed the worldwide news that production cars were rolling off the assembly line in December last year. Yeah, I know, inconvenient truth. As for where the "$50M" went, you can start with the GT's carbon fiber tub. You may be familiar with these. They are used in even the cheapest McLarens. Perhaps Ferrari should put some of that theme park licensing money to better use.
You will find I said the same thing before two years ago. That includes when the event sponsor's car won it. It was still a good race. Bathurst seems to have better parity of car, or at least, driver is more important on that track.
The aerodynamics of the GT is a tremendous advantage that is evident on high speed tracks. In fairness to the governing organizations, it's difficult to balance performance with a car like the GT. The car is simply a much more advanced racing platform than its competitors. As with everything else in life, there is no free lunch. I'm certain the GT will not be as tolerable a street car as comparable Ferraris. The fact that Ford made the decision to build such a hardcore car, within the rules I'll add, for homologation purposes, shows how serious Ford is about racing and winning with the GT. It's not indicative of any "collusion" with the ACO or anyone else. Baseless allegations to the contrary are just silly.
