Battling the Bathurst Bumps
One can see why the V8 Supercar drivers look forward to running at Mt Panorama each year.
An addictive more challenging track i think you will not find.
Those on teamspeak would have heard Mr Adam Vaughan say"If you can drive this track ,you can drive any track".I couldn't agree more(even though he didn't hear me).
After years of watching Bathurst on TV and two visits there,the first time ,the first year the Awesome GTR Godzilla ran and the next in 2007 when in the last part of the race light rain arrived to spice things up,it was time to drive the track myself ,even if it was only the sim version.
And it didn't dissapoint from the climb up the mountain and the run into the cutting and up over the top into the bumps before the dipper,and then the blast down Conrod before hard on the brakes into The Chase ,this track is a blast.
During practice i was having problems with my internet connection,which i traced to a new modem,so was in and out of the server.I was running in race trim and had got my times down from mid 2.21 into the low 2.20's and seemed stuck there.Every time i disco'ed and came back on Keith had seemed to pull another fast time out of the bag,a 2.19high,then a 2.19low and then he GREG MURPHY'ed us and was into the 2.18's.
I thought how the hell is he doing these times,i'm so on the edge it's not funny. Then Adam joins in and they are down into the 2.17's....ah Aliens.
Anyway time for Qualifying and the Front row consists of the Keith and Adam show ,then Matt Clark in one of the Dirty diesel BMW's and i surprise myself with a 2.18xx to slot into 4th place.
Race 1
After the formation lap(which i love) everyone makes a good start,Matt uses the BMW torque and pulls away from me up mountain straight but goes too hot into turn 2 on cold tyres and i slide on through myself into 3rd.
Adam and Keith are pulling away at the front and i am slowly being caught by a gaggle of cars ,Reggie,Matthais and Eric are soon to be with me.
From memory i hold them for a couple of laps then they follow me into the pits,we all make good stops and off we go again.
My good run come to an end as i brake just a tad too late for the last turn and run wide on exit as the boys all fly past.
The race is winding down and Adam who must have been in the pits again is chasing me down and gets me coming out of turn 2.
But the track bites him on the start/finish straight as he finds one of the notorius holes and i fly past into 5th...not bad i thought...i think i like Bathurst.
Race 2
I'll keep this short,was having a good race 2,til i found the hole on the last turn and disap
peared off to been seen again in the garage,Damn a DNF,i hate those 3 letters.
Really enjoyed the track,big ups to Eric for having the balls to run it even though it's still a work in progress.Thanks FVR.Thanks RD.Thanks to all the guys who turned up and had a shot at the mountain,the most famous race track IN THE WORLD.
