Bathurst 2025

[Wapiti]

Awesome technology here.
A mate that has taught me the finer points if machining and milling expectations is an adviser on the major teams engine tips and tricks, and the tiny advantages between the teams in running what is basically identical machinery is incredible. And the drivers well, something else.

[wanneroo]

Personally I think parity doesn't really reduce costs as teams will now have to find minute ways they can now carve out those extra milliseconds.

I saw the Shell team complaining in a press release the advantage the GM motor has at the 3000 ft elevation Bathurst sits at and they say the GM motor has a 10 hp difference. Supercars apparently knows this and hasn't done anything about it.

I saw a few clips of a SuperUte rolling over and the Toyota Supra turning it's first laps.

I probably will not be able to watch the whole race but will check the highlights.

[Wapiti]

Yes mate, from watching the efforts going into engines being what amounts to being identical, sealed and lockwired with every aspect of the motors being recorded... including each one being dyno'd to be within the variations of SFA... and the rest to insure closest parity...
Ah for the good old days when a race team just had a HP and weight limit set and they could actually develop their gear and find tech advantages... and it not JUST being about the driver.

But just like rifles, two dimensionally identical ones in a certain setting can perform differently. Those minute differences that make a rifle hate one brand of ammo whereas the one on the production line before it off the same machines LOVES it... All you can do is be professional and be able to find a way around it.

Teams starting at last position have won this race, through tactics, ability to read when they are deficit and react to the conditions, and sheer driver split second reactions always amazes me these monsters can run flat out all day and not fly to bits.

[Sarco]

Bathurst in the old days was an interesting race, with multiple classes, multiple manufacturers and, at least notionally, vehicles that you could walk into a dealer and buy.

Today is just boring, fortunately a little bit of rain made it slightly more interesting, and I admit some of the driving skills displayed in the wet at serious speeds was remarkable.

[wanneroo]

Bathurst in the old days was an interesting race, with multiple classes, multiple manufacturers and, at least notionally, vehicles that you could walk into a dealer and buy.

Today is just boring, fortunately a little bit of rain made it slightly more interesting, and I admit some of the driving skills displayed in the wet at serious speeds was remarkable.

I have only seen a few highlights on Facebook but there was some good driving in slick conditions. I probably will not watch the whole thing, Supercars usually puts together a 10-20 minute highlight video for Youtube which I watch. I can't remember how many Bathurst wins Garth Tander has now but he's got another.

Frankly during that multiple class production era that bled into the early 90s with Group A, the reality is that it wasn't all that popular as people these days might have thought it was. The sport wasn't surviving financially and it was only V8 Supercars in 1993 and the explosive growth and evolution into professionalism that it became financially viable. And it's better for the spectator, the venues now are spectator friendly and the sport is more accessible on social media and TV. Back in the early 90s the races were being shown sometimes in the middle of the night on TV.

[DaveZ]

The racing now is better than it's ever been. I know people like to look back with rose coloured glasses at the production style racing of years gone by, but often those races were dominated by one or two cars that outclassed the rest of the field. It was probably a good thing when the manufacturers were all in chasing that Bathurst win, you could look forward all year to what your favourite manufacturer was going to pull out of the bag. The thing is, production car racing still exists, you can watch it at the Bathurst 6 hour, yet 10 times as many people attend the 1000 in October. They haven't got the formula too far wrong, although I think they've made a few mistakes with the way the current cars have been implemented. They should have stuck with one engine design across the board. The way the engine line-up currently is, they'll never achieve true parity, the engine just perform differently. There wasn't really anything wrong with the old 5 litre pushrod engines that everone ran. Combine that with the wind tunnel testing to get aero parity and you couldn't go too far wrong. Instead we have the current mess where nobody is happy.

Yesterdays race was bloody awesome. In a way it was good to see a few of the favourites take themselves out and then to see some young guns duke out in the wet for the win. Good race. Good result. Although I do feel for young Cooper Murray. He drove the wheels off that thing all week and probably deserved the win, but that's Bathurst.

[straightshooter]

Tend to agree with Sarco.
Production series racing and especially Bathurst was extremely popular because most people could identify with the cars that were raced. The decline started in the early 70's when the manufacturers started building homologation specials that were starting to depart from what one could call a daily driver.
A little known factoid about the today revered Falcon GTHO is that there was so little interest from private buyers that Ford had to sell them to dealers at a considerable loss to get 200 sold by the homologation deadline.
By the mid to late 70's when bit by bit the race cars began to no longer bear any real relationship to the cars that one could buy general public interest further declined.
I suppose the Australian version of NASCAR with a few extra bends and plastic body shells with plenty of space for advertising, that resemble a bogan favoured GM or Ford street car is now what the viewing public wants.
I believe next year they will introduce a Toyota body shell to fill the place once occupied by Chrysler.
Talk about nostalgia.

[womble]

It was the petrol crisis, energy crisis started in the 70’s. All sorts of crap going on in the Middle East. Iranian revolution, Shah of Iran crap.
Petrol prices skyrocketed. Average families couldn’t afford to drive these cars,
Started getting some really crappy 4 cylinders. By the early 80s your dad drove a really spectacular piece of crap known as the Holden Camira. Traded his Monaro in for that.
In summary we had a lot of crap going on.

[Wapiti]

My dad was a Tradie, and we always had a Holden V8. If it cost him an extra $10/week on fuel to get to work and back, because that's all it was, he never gave in.
They were building Australia's power stations back then, not buying PFAS ridden puss from the Chinks, and Australian Tradesmen had as much work as they wanted.
Some people have no soul and the political trash has sold ours to the cheapest, throw-away bidders for their afterlife.
Right up to the day he decided he needed a sh*tbox Toyota Prado to come and visit us out here. I wish we still had his last Monaro, or the Premier V8's.

[wanneroo]

The racing now is better than it's ever been. I know people like to look back with rose coloured glasses at the production style racing of years gone by, but often those races were dominated by one or two cars that outclassed the rest of the field. It was probably a good thing when the manufacturers were all in chasing that Bathurst win, you could look forward all year to what your favourite manufacturer was going to pull out of the bag. The thing is, production car racing still exists, you can watch it at the Bathurst 6 hour, yet 10 times as many people attend the 1000 in October. They haven't got the formula too far wrong, although I think they've made a few mistakes with the way the current cars have been implemented. They should have stuck with one engine design across the board. The way the engine line-up currently is, they'll never achieve true parity, the engine just perform differently. There wasn't really anything wrong with the old 5 litre pushrod engines that everone ran. Combine that with the wind tunnel testing to get aero parity and you couldn't go too far wrong. Instead we have the current mess where nobody is happy.

Yesterdays race was bloody awesome. In a way it was good to see a few of the favourites take themselves out and then to see some young guns duke out in the wet for the win. Good race. Good result. Although I do feel for young Cooper Murray. He drove the wheels off that thing all week and probably deserved the win, but that's Bathurst.

Good point, production car racing is still out there and runs the 6 Hour Bathurst race. That sort of racing is still there for those that want it.

[womble]

It was Malcom f***ing Frazer and his pet goblin. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-29/record-prices-are-at-record-highs-fraser-government-john-howard/100575924

This guy


And I quote
“ In August 1978, the Coalition government led by Malcolm Fraser introduced a new tax on fuel that increased petrol prices significantly.

The plan was announced by then-treasurer John Howard (who became Australia's prime minister in 1996).

At the time, Australia produced about 70 per cent of its domestic oil needs, and the maximum allowable retail price for premium petrol in Sydney was 21 cents per litre.

But Mr Howard said Australian motorists were getting petrol too cheaply.

He announced a plan that all Australian-produced crude oil would have to start being sold to local refineries at the same price as it cost to import crude oil from overseas.”

[wanneroo]

Turns out this was Garth Tander's 6th Bathurst win, so that's a pretty good record. Sounds like he may retire fully now in favor of going full time in TV work and race team management.

[Bugman]

I am an older petrol head, got my licence in the early 60's. Loved watching the race in B&W on the not remote controlled tv.....and loved seeing the mini cooper S's, the Cortina GT's, and even (correct me if I am wrong, fellow "old codgers") a couple of Hillman Imps. Now it's high tech, super fast speed demons.......still good to watch.

[wanneroo]

I watched the hour long highlights Supercars posted on Youtube. I think it's one of the better Bathursts I have seen over the years. The wet really separated the men from the boys there. Lots of good racing action.