BATHURST 1000: Day 5 Friday Notebook
Gen 3 is here, and there are two days left on The Mountain for this motorsport extravaganza.
The action is hotting up on track, and there are still plenty of interesting things happening off it.
As always, hit us up with your input via the socials @theracetorque!
Gen 3 Launch
There will be plenty printed elsewhere about this morning’s Gen 3 launch, but if you want an additional initial reaction from us, it is: WOW.
Seriously, who cares about the gear stick employed in the final product, if the cars go as well as they look, Supercars will do just fine.
On track, even with the Camaro muffled, the pair sounded awesome, seemingly with a lot more intake noise – you could hear the cars at Forrest’s Elbow all the way from Murray’s Corner.
A massive number of people were shoehorned into garages 13 and 14 for the slick unveiling, which was hosted by Mark Larkham.
Larko was the perfect host for the event, and we caught up with him afterwards.
Dick Johnson
Dick has been there, done that, and involved in all of the modern iterations of touring car racing in Australia, so it was fitting that the legend was on hand to pull the covers off the Gen 3 Ford Mustang
We caught up with him for a comment.
Brown Snake Alert
So, TRT took this image to demonstrate the new electronic signs that greet punters as they walk through the main gates at Harris Park at the bottom of the Mountain.
I mean, it would be a pretty soft tidbit, but it’s something.
As it transpires, a much more slippery story had just transpired – a brown snake had slithered across the path, mingling with the fans, before finally sliding under the fence into the adjacent medical compound.
Just another reminder that motorsport is dangerous…
One of these utes are not like the others…
Craig Woods smashed up V8 Superute was left abandoned overnight in parc ferme after shunting yesterday afternoon.
This morning, the fire and safety rescue utes lined up for a photo with the black sheep of the family.
There is always one…
Foot Falcon
You know you are on the outer with your soon to be ex-Supercars team when you are a driver and not given a car pass, and have to park in the backlots with the plebs…
Fitness First
Which support category driver was seen warming up for a race with some callisthenics while taking a drag on a cigarette?
Mountain Maths
To be honest, the sums on waters and salads are somewhat ambitious…
The More You Know…
On our most recent On The Grid Podcast, where we walked a lap of the track, there was chat surrounding the mysterious orchard halfway down Conrod Straight.
Now, Walker and Craill clearly won’t be choosing fruit and veg identification as our specialist subject on Jeopardy, so some internet sleuthing has discovered that it is in fact a fig orchard.
Look, we are all about some fig paste on a cheese board, and we are well aware of so much FIG JAM in motorsport, but forgive us for not knowing what Bathurst-spec fig trees look like.
Figs: the fifth biggest industry on Mount Panorama, right behind motorsport, accommodation, wine, and buried slabs of Tooheys New.
Postman Pat: MIA?
On the subject of Conrod Straight, let’s spare a thought for the 40-odd homes that line the circuit.
Back in 2002, in compiling the logistics for the Bathurst 24 Hour, Ross Palmer had to organise a series of access roads to the properties, which still exist to this day.
So residents that live inside the track can be connected to the outside world by the tunnel at the Chase, while homes on the driver’s right-hand side of Mountain and Conrod Straights have their own access roads.
However, what we can’t answer is, what does the postman do when the postboxes face a live race track for a six-day event?
Is there a mail bonanza on the Monday after the race? Hit us up with an answer on our socials at @theracetorque.
It’s a Multi-Sports Spectacular!
One of the special items available at the Repco on-track store is a special limited edition beer pong table with accessories.
How this has been received by campers is unknown: games tend to eat in to valuable drinking time.
Sitting in the Hall of Fame
Clearly, this one slipped by the keeper in the whole pandemic thing, but kudos to this individual on their admission to the HOF, especially at such a young age.
Or is it a stock photo? We don’t know. We’ve gone too deep into the week to be sensible about these things…
Hole in the Roof
For those wondering where the old scoring pylon used to sit, it was right where this hole now resides on the pedestrian footbridge between the pits and Harris Park.
Attention to Detail
This isn’t a Bathurst specific thing, Triple Eight have this exact pit marking at every event they attend.
The markings allow for the team to give immediate feedback to the driver on how close to the mark they stopped, something nobody else does to this level.
Dotting i’s, crossing t’s, picking up trophies.
The Vista
Have you ever wondered what the John Hinxman Vista, the area on driver’s left just before McPhillamy Park, looks like?
Wonder no more. On race weekends, various response vehicles are housed there, and often tow trucks store broken cars in the area to get sessions moving again quickly.
Outside of race week, it is a favourite hiding place of sales reps and council workers, knocking off for a long lazy lunch with a view.
We assume.
Gravity Games
Not all race tracks are built on a Mountain…
You see, not all broken cars need to be given a lift tow back to the pits, some can be flat towed, for instance, if they have a contained driveline failure, they aren’t dripping fluids, and the car still rolls without parts dragging on the ground.
However, running a race car behind a 4WD connected by a bungee cord down through the Esses and the Dipper simply wouldn’t work.
So instead, the race car gets de-coupled at Skyline, and gravity will pull the cars the whole way back to the pits.
We have been told in the past that cars can reach speeds topping 100km/h down Conrod with no motor and the clutch in.
From the Internet
Success
Mint
Reasonable
Binned
Lowndesy Absolutely Gassing It
We’re Not Operating The Camera, But We Are Already There
Spotted In The Wild!
ICYMI: Bathurst on TRT
Friday:
Thursday:
BATHURST 1000: Day 4 Notebook
BATHURST 1000: Thursday Photo Gallery
Wednesday:
BATHURST 1000: Day 3 Notebook
BATHURST 1000: Wednesday Photo Gallery
BATHURST 1000: The Co-Driver Class of ’21
Tuesday:
BATHURST 1000: Day 2 Notebook
BATHURST 1000: Tuesday Photo Gallery
BATHURST 1000: Trucks at the Track
Lead Up:
BATHURST 1000: Day 1 Monday Notebook
PODCAST: Bathurst Track Walk
BATHURST 1000: First Look Track Walk
BATHURST 1000: Gurus, Hoodooes and Trivia Tidbits
Bathurst’s Other Astonishing Motorsport Museum
BATHURST 1000: Be An Armchair Expert Strategist
PODCAST: The Massive Bathurst 1000 Preview
The ‘Race that stops a nation’ is yet to happen
HOT
Gen 3
Will Brown
John Bowe: Six time TCM champion
NOT
Banging on about Gen 3 paddleshift
Sunburn
MEME
Mark Walker (administrator)
A vastly experienced Motorsport Public Relations operator, journalist, commentator and photographer, Mark brings his unique angle to The Race Torque in both words and imagery. As well as serving as our key photographer on the ground at major events around Australia (and overseas), Walker will often chime in with his unique and pin-point sharp viewpoint of the racing world via the keyboard too.
