Bathurst 12 hrs going on right now

racerfink wrote: I saw A Macca, a few 458's, a few Mercs, and a few Audi's. Hardly grassroots. And what do you think that yellow flag for a car WELL off the racing line was for?

One quarter of the field might be identified as "grassroots" and I'm not counting the trio of tube-frame, V8, front-engine/rwd Foci; those cars were way beyond shadetree origins. As for the rest, most anyone here would love to have half their wheelbarrows full of cash.

The yellow for the stranded Porsche at the top of the mountain? I dunno; the camera angle only made it seem like it was sufficiently offline. Since that was the only questionable yellow for the event, I lean toward giving race-control the benefit of the doubt.

Looking back through the thread, it seems Brotus (maybe inadvertently) seized an opportunity that wasn't really there. But criticism for Tudor, nee Grand-Am (with its' Nascar roots) and its' notoriety for employing "competition" yellows, is justified. And, there was an interesting and revealing article linked in the Daytona 24hr thread about how geniuses-in-charge run the Tudor show.

ymmv.....

racerfink wrote: Here's the entry list for Bathurst http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/competitor-info/entry-list The Fiats were in their own three car class, as were the heavily modified Focus team

I wish I knew. I would have mailed The Wife's there and come in fourth.

racerfink wrote: And what do you think that yellow flag for a car WELL off the racing line was for?

There was fluid on the racing line. Same thing caused spins earlier, it seemed reasonable to me.

The fluid was not on the race track. It was running down the hill into the grass. Unless gravity works different in the Southern Hemisphere.

In reply to oldsaw:

Watching the feed, I definitely got a "grassroots" impression. Especially in the pits. Some of the crew members were wearing helmets a la "big time series" but most of the pit crews were guys wearing jeans and t-shirts and were obviously not doing this full-time. Especially the Ferrari team, who consistently got their car out a good 10 seconds slower than the opposing M-B teams.

Regardless, it was a fun race to watch, even if it did mean going to bed at o'dark early... It really seems like the way racing could be broadcast. Set up a stream, sell commercials, make money. No network middle-man. To some extent the adverts worked. I want to go visit New South Wales now...

In reply to racerfink:

Everything is backwards in Australia!

racerfink wrote: The fluid was not on the race track. It was running down the hill into the grass. Unless gravity works different in the Southern Hemisphere.

You know if you do not like a race you can change channels.

I don't think that was a bogus yellow. It's a narrow track with a lot of blind corners. Just look at what happened to the GTR to see what a bit of fluid on the track will do, even if it's in the process of running off-track. Kudos to the Fiat 500 twins for diving into pit lane on the restart so they wouldn't hold up the cars behind them.

The finish of the Bathurst 1000 in October was almost identical. The top two cars were 0.4 seconds apart and there was a massive battle for 3rd through 6th. No flags there, just balls-out racing.

As for the grassroots aspects, well, it's an international caliber race. Races that attract top talent are good. But there were lots of interesting oddballs out there. Not just the Daytona, but things like an E46 BMW, a WRX and those RWD V8 Focuses that seemed to spin at least once an hour.

Speaking of the Fiats, did anyone else see this, particularly from behind?

aussiemg, I have not said anything about not liking the race. I'm just trying to figure out how it's the SAME EXACT THING that they just complained about two weeks ago, but yet they like this (cause it's not NASCAR).

And Keith, the car was well off track, with no fluid on the track, and the car was behind a protective wall. But it made for a great finish.

What race were you watching? The car was parked next to the wall. Off track and with fluid going across the track. It was moved behind the wall, but not at first.

Agreed. It was reasonable to throw a yellow and move it.

I never said anything about the Daytona race, so chill out. I did mention that several major race series should pay attention, because what the Bathurst organizers were doing works well. Including running on a track that is amazing.

It was parked next to a wall on the access road where the safety vehicles come in and out of. It was not on the track.

And Keith, I assure you, I am "chilled out". I've coached high school basketball for too many years, and I realized early on that yelling and screaming and throwing your hands around only make you look like an idiot.

added part; I like all kinds of racing. My dad raced short track stock cars, both dirt and asphalt, autocrossed, built a C Sports Racer, and did trials bikes and motocross. I just see too many guys bagging on racing that's a little different than what they're used to for no good reason, other than they don't like it. I can remember when I was growing up, having to wait for On-Track magazine to show up every week to find out who won a race, and I'd rather not go back to those days. With the internet, it would be quicker than waiting a week, but you get the idea.

I am not intimately familiar with the circuit, so I cannot judge whether that 911 was truly in a safe place or not based on one camera angle. It certainly did seem to go careening across the track in the crash, hopefully all cooling systems were intact at that point. And if it ended up there, another car could certainly do the same.

Still, regardless of how you feel about that late yellow, we had 11:40 of good racing up to that point. It was never a blowout, with some epic battles for position. And from what I recall, first place wasn't exactly in the bag when the yellow came out. So let's agree to be happy for that.

The Ferrari had things well under control before the yellow. They sand-bagged for most of the race, and came back from two drive-through penalties. The last yellow gave the Merc a chance to draft past on the uphill or on Conrod straight, but it couldn't ever get close enough coming out of the corners to do it.

I agree, it was great racing, with a great finish caused by a late yellow.

I'm curious about what happened to the McLaren. It seems it was dominate during the middle part fo the race (with SVG driving).

Don't underestimate the difference in ambient heat between the early part of the race versus the end of the race. It was bloody warm! I believe they were also chasing a misfire (probably a coil pack due to the excess heat). I suspect both of those impacted the speed of the McLaren.

I suspect what happened was partially the fact that not all the drivers were SVG He got out not long after Salo got into the Ferrari, and all of a sudden things looked different at the pointy end.