Bathurst 12 Hour 2012

[rich07]

Originally Posted by AndrewF31

Peter Kox said during 1st Qualy the thing about the roof being bent. Not looking good.

The car most definitely will not start the race, apparently it will have to be reshelled. Glad Ted Huglin got away without any injuries although he'll be quite sore for a while.

[CTD]

The Ten Tenths Chatroom

10-Tenths Chatroom

[Steptoe]

is anywhere on the net streaming TV for this ?

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Steptoe

is anywhere on the net streaming TV for this ?

There's streaming on the bathurst 12hr website

http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/

[Simmi]

Not sure how it faired in the second half of the race but watching last night this seemed like another great example of how to stream a race. Take note ACO!

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Not sure how it faired in the second half of the race but watching last night this seemed like another great example of how to stream a race. Take note ACO!

According to their Twitter feed, the ACO were actually testing a Ustream live stream earlier this week.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

According to their Twitter feed, the ACO were actually testing a Ustream live stream earlier this week.

That's good to hear. The fact they are actually testing things with a view to getting a good result gives me a bit more confidence.

[gregtummer]

So the cars get penalized if they turn laps faster than 2:08 or what?

[Maelochs]

I think the 2:08 barrier was for qualifying only---cars that exceeded the speed (Ferraris) were given 50 lbs. of ballast. The race was a real race---fast as you can go.

[racer69]

correct Maelochs ... the circuit commentary seemed to suggest the point of the 2m08 rule for qualifying was so as to not set the 130% qualifying time too low for the production entries (as it was the XR8 Falcon didn't start because two of the drivers didn't do a quick enough time). Only the Clearwater Ferrari did a 2m07 on Saturday, and got the 50kg penalty for the Sunday

The race was a free for all, Simonsen did a 2m06.3s early in the race.

Hopefully the silly qualifying rule gets abolished for next year

[Pandamasque]

I loved the race, but it would be so much better with more than 6 cars in the hunt for the overall win, considering the attrition rate.

[Simmi]

It was quite painful to see all those great GT3 biting the dust at certain points. Difficult to have a small accident at Bathurst.

But I feel the race will continue to grow.

[gregtummer]

At the 24 Hours of Dubai, they had a lap time they couldn't go under during the race, right?

If correct, why there and not Bathurst and what is the point of the rule in the first place?

[pach233]

I'll weigh in with some general impressions as I was able to catch most of the race on the stream. I thought the lap time rule at Dubai was silly and am glad the Bathurst had proper motor racing rules. The rule in quali was to help some of the proddie cars get within the 130% of the pole time. Even with the rule, one of the Holden's was not allowed to start.

The racing was good but they really need a larger grid. It seemed there was increased international awareness this year but unfortunate it didn't seem to have translated to larger grid or a larger crowd. I'm not extremely familiar with the Australian racing scene, but I know Tony Quinn and the organizers of the 12 Hour are not on great terms. Its unfortunate as it would be interesting to see the 12 Hour be integrated to the GT Championship. This would help add to the grid and to the prestige of the races. I'm hoping to see Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bathurst grow and provide some interesting racing before the European and North American championships get going.

[cmk]

The qualifying rule was daft, and would have penalized the Clearwater car a lot more if it hadn't been as much a swim as it was a race. I understand the logic of controlling the 130% time, but if you're de facto making it 130% of your benchmark since it's clear as day the fast cars can best the benchmark time, just make it de jure 130% of benchmark and let the fast cars qualify as fast as they can. That can only make for better qualifying and a better race, it's no-lose.

Everything else about the event other than the obvious car count issues was stellar, and the wet made the field tighten up as much as it let the Audis scamper off under certain conditions. Fantastic to watch the Merc in the wet; the drivers said it was great and it was quicker relatively speaking than in the dry but it sure looked a handful over the top and on the run down to the Chase. Nice to see the cars moving around so much, Tim Slade was really wringing its neck in his second double stint. I loved his comment that it had as much grip in the downpour as his V8 does in the dry.

[KSM86]

Should be noted that the Bathurst 12 hour in 2013 will be moved to mid feb so that the Australian GT teams can compete. This year the race was one week before clipsal 500 so alot of aussie gt teams didnt show up.

The race needs more gt cars and hopefully they can get at least 12 to 15 for next year. Would be good if JRM nissan came down to coincide with nissan's 2013 V8 supercar participation.

I do know that VDS mustang was suppose to come down and so was a ford gt from asia but due to crashes and such they didnt arrive.

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by cmk

The qualifying rule was daft, and would have penalized the Clearwater car a lot more if it hadn't been as much a swim as it was a race. I understand the logic of controlling the 130% time, but if you're de facto making it 130% of your benchmark since it's clear as day the fast cars can best the benchmark time, just make it de jure 130% of benchmark and let the fast cars qualify as fast as they can. That can only make for better qualifying and a better race, it's no-lose.

Everything else about the event other than the obvious car count issues was stellar, and the wet made the field tighten up as much as it let the Audis scamper off under certain conditions. Fantastic to watch the Merc in the wet; the drivers said it was great and it was quicker relatively speaking than in the dry but it sure looked a handful over the top and on the run down to the Chase. Nice to see the cars moving around so much, Tim Slade was really wringing its neck in his second double stint. I loved his comment that it had as much grip in the downpour as his V8 does in the dry.

Did the Clearwater car actually get the 50kg? I thought they'd simply thrown the lap time out because it was a mistake due to a problem with the lap timer in the car.

About the 130%: Why not make it something like 107% or 110% of the fastest time in your class, instead of 130% of the overall? Then the slower cars shouldn't have any problems.

[cmk]

About the in-class timing limits, that makes total sense as well. Sadly, if sense was on the cards I doubt we'd have had this year's rule either.

Regarding the 50kg, everyone was speaking as if it had it during the race, including IIRC Craig Baird himself. My understanding was that the reason he'd gone too fast was due to a problem with the onboard telemetry, but that hardly exonerates him in the eyes of the officials as too fast is too fast. Whether you can claim you didn't know you were under the bogey time should be irrelevant, or everyone would just claim poor telemetry!

[Dead-Eye]

That makes sense. There was a line on DSC somewhere that read to me like they'd simply deleted the time, but I may have misunderstood.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

That makes sense. There was a line on DSC somewhere that read to me like they'd simply deleted the time, but I may have misunderstood.

Any time under 2m08 in practice & qualifying got deleted , but the 50kg stood.


As silly as the qualifying rule was, i'll take that over not being allowed to go under a lap time under race conditions