MOTORSPORT: Bathurst the Greatest Race

What a circuit. What a motor race.

On both counts, it's world class. Close to world-best even.

To those of us who love motor racing it's as much the highlight of our annual calendar as the Melbourne Cup horse race is to the broader public.

Except that our race goes all day, not just a couple of minutes.

Whether you're at the track or watching it on TV, the Bathurst 1000 is simply a fantastic Aussie event at the most magical setting for a car race.

Up and down Mt Panorama 163 times in a day.

Every year the race serves up a banquet of action, drama and heroes -- and occasional villains.

But something has been bugging us this week about Bathurst.

Why does it have to be a round of the V8 Supercar Championship?

It has been for about a decade now, but what's the benefit of that?

Indeed, perhaps it is doing the Great Race a great disservice.

The build-up this week has been dreadfully low-key, as though Bathurst is just another round of the championship.

It's not, never will be, never should be, and Sunday will be a reminder of why.

There is a magic about Bathurst that no other car race, and few other Australian sporting events, have.

We recall the early push in the 1990s for it to become part of what was then the Australian Touring Car Championship.

When Tony Cochrane and his cohorts came along in the mid '90s they were intent on building the profile of the championship.

That's fine, and to a large degree they've succeeded in that.

The reigning V8 Supercar champion has a bigger and better profile these days than in bygone years.

But why does Bathurst have to be part of that championship?

By all means limit it to cars or teams that compete in the whole series, but Bathurst stands alone as a race and its winners will always be put on a pedestal.

As hard as the series organisers may find it to stomach, that pedestal is higher than that on which the overall season's champion stands.

There's nothing wrong with that. It's a fact of life. Accept it.

The thing that makes Bathurst so special is that, apart from being longer than any other race, it is for pairs of drivers.

It is often said now that Adelaide's Clipsal 500 -- two 250km races over two days -- is the toughest event on the calendar, but it is for solo drivers.

Bathurst is not. Nor is the 500km warm-up that has traditionally been at Sandown, for a while was held at Queensland Raceway, and is now on the move to Phillip Island in 2008.

Why not take the two races in which drivers are paired out of the championship?

Isn't that the way it used to be?

What was wrong with it then?

What is better about the system now?

Bathurst is already iconic. Has been for 40-odd years.

We stop short of putting that label on the 500km race at Sandown, although we see the possibility of it attaining that status at Phillip Island -- despite our concerns about what the change does for the future of Sandown, and indeed the future of motor racing in the metropolitan zones of Australia's major cities other than Adelaide.

A DNF at Bathurst, or the other endurance race with co-drivers wherever it be held, can distort the overall championship.

We'd like to see these races separate from the championship but with the same drivers, plus those who supplement the numbers.

In this vein, we have been delighted to hear Craig Lowndes' comments this week about how Bathurst and the series stack up.

Opinions on Lowndes may be colored by whether you're in the blue or the red corner, but if he's not the best driver, and the most popular in the series, he's right up there.

He's also, along with co-driver Jamie Whincup, the reigning Bathurst champion, won at the mountain once before too, and came close to -- indeed many would say was robbed of - winning the series title last year. In any case, he's won the series three times.

"For me Bathurst is the grand final," Lowndes says.

"It's the ultimate victory.

"I prefer endurance racing, so definitely for me this is the ultimate goal.

"The championship, fair enough you have to have 14 rounds go your way, it's not just about getting lucky in one race.

"You have to be consistent, there are different aspects (in the championship).

"But for me Bathurst is the ultimate because of the length, you drive with your teammate and you put all your trust in that teammate and it's just a long, gruelling day."

Of last year's victory on the mountain, which saw Lowndes and Whincup the first drivers to hoist the Peter Brock Trophy, Lowndes says: "I think it always will be the single best victory I've ever had."

Whincup, 10 years younger and having driven his whole V8 career in the Supercar rather than touring car era, places greater store in the series title -- which he's yet to win.

But he concedes: "I think the general public, and even race fans, prefer a Bathurst win than a championship win."

Refinements to the safety car rules are expected to be announced in the countdown to Sunday's 10.30am start -- half an hour later than normal this year.

The consensus is that there are four cars that can win the Great Race, all other things being equal.

Although Mt Panorama has much more often been Holden than Ford country, and the General's -- or rather Tom Walkinshaw's -- VE Commodores have won six of the nine rounds of this year's championship, Lowndes and Whincup are favored for a repeat of last year's success.

However, they have a brand new Falcon this week instead of the one in which they won Sandown.

That creates a doubt about whether they have bullet-proof machinery, but the same query hangs over any entry at Bathurst until it makes it to the chequered flag.

It's pleasing to see that the top teams have paired their regular drivers properly for this weekend, rather than some of the splits that happened at Sandown.

The Holden Special Vehicles team's Rick Kelly and Garth Tander, running first and second in the championship (with 443 and 434 points respectively, ahead of Whincup on 389 and Lowndes 374), have got to be Holden's best chance.

Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly, in the Holden Racing Team's lead entry, loom large too.

Skaife is a little short of  "match practice", having missed Sandown after an appendix operation, but five previous victories in this classic -- and the ignominy of last year's first-lap exit -- will fire his pride in his performance.

Steven Richards and Mark Winterbottom in Ford Performance Racing's main entry are the fourth most likely combination.

Richards has outstanding pedigree and form (six podiums, including two wins, in the past decade) for this blockbuster, while it is Winterbottom's chance to complete his ascension to the ranks of the main men in the V8 game.

A Bathurst victory is one of the few things missing from his CV.

Winterbottom is the only driver among those in the four favored cars without this distinction.

In the Lowndes vein, the FPR pair acknowledges the pre-eminence of Bathurst.

"This is our sport's holy grail," says Richards, while Winterbottom adds: "This is the circuit and the race that is the ultimate for any V8 Supercar driver."

If there's any rain on Sunday, our roughie would be Lee Holdsworth -- the star of the Oran Park round in the wet -- and Dean Canto in the Garry Rogers Commodore.

Whatever the outcome, Australia's F1 telecaster, Channel 10, is not showing the Chinese Grand Prix until 1am Monday, eastern Australian time.

A live telecast would have run up against the finish of Bathurst, which is a no-win situation for Channel 10 in a ratings sense.

But this is a decisive GP and makes us wonder whether F1 races wouldn't be better on SBS.

For hard-core F1 fans in Victoria, at least, the Shanghai race can be viewed at the Charles Dickens Tavern in Collins St., Melbourne.

As always, lots of gossip coming out of the F1 paddock.

Ralf Schumacher's departure from Toyota at the end of the season leaves the way open for the Japanese giant to buy Alonso if he can be extricated from -- or is let go by -- McLaren.

Toyota's next-best option appears to be German Timo Glock, the new champion in the GP2 series, the BMW-Sauber test driver, and a contemporary of Australia's Ryan Briscoe (now racing in the American Le Mans Series).

A return to Renault is more likely for Alonso, who will be more interested in the competitiveness of his car than the size of his pay packet.

Alonso denies F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's suggestion that he may sit out next season if he can't wriggle out of McLaren.

"That's not in my plans. I want to race, I'm 100 percent sure," he told Spain's Cadena Ser radio station this week.

"Next year there is an important change in the rules -- all the electronic aids are prohibited and it will be a season in which one must compete.

"Not only is traction control being removed, also the braking aids.

"Without them, we will see more errors and a race with a lot of rain will need a driver to be a lot more delicate in handling the 800 horsepower that we have.

"It's important to adapt to the cars, which will basically be completely new."

Ecclestone is urging for Nico Rosberg to get the McLaren seat if it becomes vacant.

The blond youngster, son of 1982 world champion (and first Adelaide GP winner in 1985) Keke Rosberg, seems to like the idea, although he is still contracted to Williams for next year. 

Rosberg reckons he could be comfortable as Hamilton's teammate, as they were once teamed in karting.

Dual world champion Alonso, on the other hand, would "be delighted not to have him (Hamilton) alongside".

"If we are not together next year and I have a competitive car, fine," Alonso says.

"And if we have to continue together, then we'll have another good fight."

Renault team chief Flavio Briatore reckons the days of equal No. 1 driver in a team are over.

"Today the roles need to be clearly defined as number one and number two, otherwise you risk destabilising the team," Briatore says.

And he has taken a shot at McLaren boss Ron Dennis over his soured relationship with Alonso.

"Dennis has often repeated how he is very good at managing drivers, particularly Latin ones," Briatore told Italy's Gazetta dello Sport newspaper.

"Given the problems he has had with Senna, Montoya and now Alonso, it would seem he has lost his instruction manual.

"Maybe he didn't study Latin at school!"

The entry of David Richards' Prodrive outfit into F1 as the 12th team next year is still not finalised.

Prodrive apparently has a sponsor new to the sport, and is reputed to be paying McLaren about US$100 million -- or A$120 million -- for cars similar to those that Ron Dennis will field.

But some of the existing 11 teams, particularly Williams and perhaps Ferrari, are opposed to Prodrive's entry as a "customer" (of McLaren) team.

A compromise will likely be found, but it is hard to see how Prodrive will be able to compete for constructors' championship points with a chassis made by another team.

Meanwhile, Britain's Red Mist Books has done a U-turn on Ferrari's fired executive Nigel Stepney's book manuscript on "Spygate", just a week after saying it would publish it.

Stepney is still intent on publishing the book, also titled Red Mist.

And Japan's Fuji circuit is to refund 350 million yen (about A$3.6 million) to spectators whose seats had poor views of last Sunday's soggy Japanese GP.

ARCA is NASCAR's fourth tier, behind Nextel Cup, the Busch Series and the pick-up truck series.

In much the same way as Ganassi's other foreign star, Juan Pablo Montoya, entered American stock car racing a year ago, Franchitti is expected to drive in various ARCA, Busch and Cup races before the end of the season.

The winner of the Indy 500 on May 25 will get at least US$2.5 million -- 42% more than the record US$1.76 million paid to 2004 winner Buddy Rice, who is now representing the US in the A1 Grand Prix series.

The Indy 500 runner-up could earn US$1.25 million, third place US$750,000, fourth US$475,000, and fifth $375,000 -- which is more than winners received until 1983.

The Indy Racing League will pay at least US$1.2 million for each car competing in its whole 16-race season.

The series champion will continue to get a US$1 million bonus.

NASCAR's biggest race, the Daytona 500, paid out more than US$15.7 million to the 43 starters this year, with winner Kevin Harvick earning US$1.51 million -- a Daytona record.

And Frenchman Nelson Philippe, winner of last year's Indy race on the Surfers' Paradise streets, will return to the series in place of Belgian Jan Heylen at Eric Bachelart's Conquest Racing.

Philippe, who at 20 became the youngest to win a Champ Car race, has been out of the series this year after expecting to be paid to drive.

That did not sit comfortably with the HVM team, now run by Australian Paul Stoddart and renamed Team Minardi USA -- and for which Robert Doornbos has won two races in his debut season.

Heylen is stiff to be out of Conquest Racing, having been second for it at the recent Dutch round of the Champ Car series.

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