2018 LIQUI-MOLY BATHURST 12 HOUR (LIVE STREAM)

[Andrew Harper]

Sigh, BMW looked so quick... a little too quick.

Yes it's interesting. The previous version of the M6 GT3 wasn't slow as such but wasn't always competitive in Blancpain for example.

I know that this car was a factory effort (which would make a difference) but even so it will be interesting to see what the first Blancpain race will be like after the 2018 update.

 

[Cristian Haba]

A great race, went to sleep around 1am and then set the alarm for about 5am to catch the last hour.

A bit like with the Spa 24, Bathurst 12 Hours really is a survival of the fittest. A pretty tough race to finish let alone win. So well done to all the finishers and congrats to Audi.

A shame about the end, I thought for a moment they were going to restart after the clean up had been done but maybe they decided there was just too much mess and I think that maybe car recovery from that part of the track would have taken a long time. Thankfully drivers were ok. As mentioned, it's like the Australian TV crews had hi-res/hi-power microphones! You could hear the cars rubbing the track, the air rushing by into Conrod. Really impressive. The sound of the accident was pretty shocking in it's violence.

I need to see the lead up to the Bentley, BMW accident, only saw the crash itself I assume they were battling for some time.

Yes I suppose a slight letdown with the stopping of the race but understandable in the circumstances.

Well done to WRT Audi, great drive

From the looks of it the BMW just got a bit impatient with the 911R in front of it, made a pass around the outside but the back marker GT4 911 closed whatever space was available. Then it seems like one of two things happened or both at once.

BMW seems to oversteer a bit, and the 911 had understeered clipping the M6 in the right rear which set off the chain accident. BMW was comfortably the fastest car on track I think, Im really surprised as the car was never this competitive and generally will be fazed out of GT competition with the arrival of the M8. Unless they keep the M8 for GTE/GTlm only.

 

[Shovas]

What happened to the leading Porsche? I saw it pit and I saw it come out ahead of the guy behind...then nothing was reported about it after that?

 

[Shovas]

That race ending accident was dangerous. That should have been an instant full course caution for how dangerous that corner and stopped car was. If that doesn't lead to rule changes... They got lucky, that could've been a lot worse.

 

[Andrew Harper]

Unless they keep the M8 for GTE/GTlm only.

At the moment I think that's the general idea.

M8 for GTE, M6 for GT3 (till 2020), and the M4 for GT4.

I would imagine there's a little bit of marketing involved in that as well...

Yeah, like I said above the 2018 updates to the M6 seems to have made a real difference. The car was not that great in Blancpain. Ok it had wins but it never seemed to be on the ultimate pace.

 

[Hynam199]

That was a scary way to end the race

 

[PaulH]

Wonderful race! Enjoyed the hours I watched, glad to see the drivers ok after that nasty accident at the end

 

[Fat-Alfie]

I just watched the highlights of this race, and with so many crashes requiring a safety car you have to question either the ability of the drivers, or whether the track is fit for purpose

 

[Viperion]

I just watched the highlights of this race, and with so many crashes requiring a safety car you have to question either the ability of the drivers, or whether the track is fit for purpose

Or whether the track marshals are too trigger happy, or whether modern safety standards are OTT

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Yes, maybe, but when you have cars hitting the walls and ripping wheels off, do they have any choice but to release a SC? The track just seemed too narrow and unforgiving, tbh.

 

[Shovas]

Careful what you wish for. Old school tracks like Bathurst make for some of the only remaining exciting racing. The wheels falling off thing felt like fragile cars to me, I think the commentators said the same. That final crash was ridiculous and should lead to a rule change for that corner, at the least, I'll say that. I'm all for safety but let's check every other box before we nerf good tracks.

 

[Viperion]

Obviously if there is two thirds of a car on track and debris everywhere throw the FCY. But if there's a car 50 metres off the track in a sand trap, have a local caution while the recovery vehicles rescue it. There's no need for a FCY in that circumstance.

 

[RustyDriver00]

They are looking into adding more safety notification at the track, whether it be in car notification system or led warning lights around the track. Personally I quite like the led warning boards.