Geoffrey Harris•8 Oct 2013

NEWS

MOTORSPORT: Mt Panorama Australian racing's Everest

The form guide points overwhelmingly to Red Bull glory in the Bathurst 1000, but until the chequered flag waves late on Sunday afternoon nothing is for certain.

It’s the week of the Great Race, the Bathurst 1000, and – while the Red Bull Racing Australia cars are hot favourites – it’s a time of great uncertainty.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodores in Red Bull livery dominated the half-distance warm-up enduro at Melbourne’s Sandown circuit in mid-September (pictured), although team boss Roland Dane saw it as a far from perfect performance.

The victorious No. 1 car had to come from 25th after a pit penalty to win, while the 888 car had to make up time lost early “double-stacking” in the pits. In Dane’s eyes his crews simply made less mistakes than their rivals.

The Bathurst 1000 is doubly hard, even harder, to win than Sandown – and very easy to lose.

Dane has the driver line-ups – Jamie Whincup-Paul Dumbrell and Craig Lowndes-Warren Luff – the engineers, the pit crews and the strategies up his sleeve to snare a sixth victory in eight years.

Yet so many things can go wrong in 6½ hours, give or take a few minutes, at Mt Panorama, truly one of the wonders of the motor racing world. The cheapest, seemingly most insignificant part can fail, the best drivers can make mistakes, or be the victim of another’s mistake, the weather and track conditions can change in a flash...

History points to Triple Eight or the official Holden Racing Team delivering a 30th win for the car manufacturer most synonymous with Australian touring car racing, or what since the mid-1990s have been called V8 Supercars.

Between them these two teams have been victorious in the Great Race in 10 of the past 12 years – five times each, although Triple Eight did it three times with Ford Falcons.

The other team to win in that timeframe (Kmart Racing, a forerunner of Kelly Racing) was closely HRT-related. HRT was in the wars for 18 months but has rediscovered some of its old form and has a strong driver line-up – James Courtney with a veteran Bathurst specialist Greg Murphy, and Garth Tander and young Nic Percat, winners of the Great Race two years ago.

The main rival of the General’s two major teams, Ford Performance Racing, has never won this classic in the decade of its existence, despite six front-row starts in the past seven years – including three pole positions.

Qualifying speed on Saturday counts for little come Sunday; it’s about going the distance at the right pace, and particularly being among the lead bunch in the last hour and, more particularly, after the last safety car.

FPR’s long-time main man Mark Winterbottom craves a Bathurst breakthrough and has wise head Steve Richards sharing his Falcon again, while Will Davison – with Steve Owen – would love to repeat the success he had at The Mountain with HRT and Tander in 2009 before joining FPR – perhaps before exiting FPR at the end of this season.

A third FPR Falcon, driven by David Reynolds and Dean Canto, came close to beating Whincup and Dumbrell at The Mountain a year ago – and that pair is back in the fray again this time.

Even if it has pace and reliability on the track, FPR has to overcome its pitstop woes if it is to break its drought.

There are twice as many manufacturers represented in the Great Race this time than there have been over the past two decades. The ‘Car of the Future’ rules that took effect this year have ushered in four Nissan Altimas and three AMG Mercedes-Benz E63s.

These newcomers with multi-valve engines have lacked the power of the old pushrod motors in the Holdens and Fords to date, although – while the Kelly Brothers’ Nissan Motorsport and Betty Klimenko’s Erebus Motorsport with the Mercs will downplay their chances – they are sure to come with a bit more grunt this week.

They wanted to use E70 fuel – with 30 per cent unleaded petrol and 70 per cent ethanol, on which Nissans finished one-two in a race at regional Victoria’s Winton in late August – but have had to stick with the usual E85.

The parity compromise has been a minimum number of pitstops – seven for this Sunday. Nissan wanted eight stops, but lost the argument.

The newcomers say they are still at a disadvantage, having to sit still in the pits considerably longer while refueling. The inevitable safety car periods at Bathurst may go a long way to offsetting that factor, unless any of the Nissans and Mercs go a lap down.

One of the E63s – driven by Lee Holdsworth and Craig Baird – was the surprise of the Sandown 500, finishing fourth and less than 19 seconds behind the victorious Whincup-Dumbrell Holden. That Merc could be the darkhorse on Sunday.

“Our car speed has come at the right time of the year,” said Holdsworth, who until then must have been wondering at the wisdom of his decision to drive an E63 this season for the Erebus outfit that took over long-time Ford team Stone Brothers Racing – and whose sister Erebus operation was first and second in February’s Bathurst 12-Hour with its SLS GT3 Mercs.

The Altimas are expected to excel across the top of the mountain, where the cars are almost 200 metres above the start-finish straight, but lag on Mountain Straight and Conrod Straight, where the top speed is almost 40kmh faster than anywhere else during the V8 Supercar Championship.

By race day the Holdens and Fords, at least, may be topping 300kmh – even touching 310kmh – on Conrod if a taller gear ratio than 3.15:1 is allowed to ease the strain on gearboxes.

“Where it would be of benefit is if you’re slipstreaming and you pull out behind someone ... rather than hitting the (7500rpm) limiter and not being able to get past them, the ratio change should allow you to go faster and make for more passing,” said Jeromy Moore, engineer on the Lowndes Commodore.

“Teams who might be down on power wouldn’t prefer it, but it’d definitely suit us (Triple Eight). The big three teams (Triple Eight, HRT and FPR) and Brad Jones Racing and Garry Rogers Motorsport would get a gain, but I think maybe Erebus would have the most to gain. They have a big motor with a lot of power – a taller ratio should allow them to use some of that. They’ll be very strong either way – it’ll only be a matter of reliability.”

Moore’s boss Dane also sees the Mercs as a danger.

“I expect them to do well. I’d be amazed if they weren’t strong. Frankly, I think they would have been working towards Bathurst all year,” Dane said.

The ‘Car of the Future’ already has been a leveler to quite an extent, with 13 different winning drivers from eight teams in 28 races so far in this year’s championship.

Garry Rogers’ young Kiwi Scott McLaughlin is a two-time winner in his first full season and is paired with Jack Perkins, son of legendary Larry, yet unable to land a regular gig but with excellent endurance form from NZ’s V8 SuperTourer series.

Rogers is celebrating 50 years in motorsport and would love nothing more than to repeat his 2000 triumph in the Great Race with Tander and Jason Bargwanna before he brings another new manufacturer, Volvo, into V8 Supercars next season.

Fellow team owner Dick Johnson is even more of a sentimental favourite and has an inexperienced driver line-up in his FPR-built Falcons.

One is the exceptionally talented Chaz Mostert, another race winner in his rookie season, but it is too much to think he and co-driver Dale Wood could pull off a miracle at the mountain where Johnson’s reputation as an Aussie folk hero was made.

Lowndes is the modern-day “King of the Mountain” – a five-time winner of the 1000, 11 times on the podium and the driver who comes closest to the fan favoritism enjoyed by his late mentor Peter Brock at Bathurst.

Lowndes will line up for his 500th Australian Touring Car Championship/V8 Supercar race and 20th Bathurst 1000 start on Sunday morning. He knows better than anyone in the Great Race what it takes to win it.

“To conquer The Mountain takes team work, a teammate, a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck,” Lowndes said.

Bathurst 1000 driver line-ups

1. Jamie Whincup-Paul Dumbrell, Red Bull Racing Australia/Triple Eight – Holden Commodore VF

2. Garth Tander-Nick Percat, Holden Racing Team/Walkinshaw Racing – Holden Commodore VF

3. Tony D'Alberto-Jonny Reid, Hiflex/Tony D'Alberto Racing – Holden Commodore VF

4. Lee Holdsworth-Craig Baird, Irwin Racing/Erebus Motorsport – Mercedes-Benz AMG E63

5. Mark Winterbottom-Steven Richards, Pepsi Max Crew/Ford Performance Racing – Ford Falcon FG

6. Will Davison-Steve Owen, Pepsi Max Crew/Ford Performance Racing – Ford Falcon FG

7. Todd Kelly-David Russell, Jack Daniel's Racing/Nissan Motorsport – Nissan Altima

8. Jason Bright-Andrew Jones, Team BOC/Brad Jones Racing – Holden Commodore VF

9. Maro Engel-Steve Johnson, SP Tools Racing/Erebus Motorsport – Mercedes-Benz AMG E63

12. Chaz Mostert-Dale Wood, Wilson Security/Dick Johnson Racing-Triple F Racing – Ford Falcon FG

14. Fabian Coulthard-Luke Youlden, Lockwood Racing/Brad Jones Racing – Holden Commodore VF

15. Rick Kelly-Karl Reindler, Jack Daniel's Racing/Nissan Motorsport – Nissan Altima

17. Tim Blanchard-Ash Walsh, Wilson Security/Dick Johnson Racing – Ford Falcon FG

18. Alex Davison-John McIntyre, Jeld-Wen/Charlie Schwerkolt Racing – Ford Falcon FG

19. Jonathon Webb-Marc Lieb, Darrell Lea/Tekno Autosports – Holden Commodore VF

21. David Wall-Chris Pither, Wilson Security Racing/Brad Jones Racing – Holden Commodore VF

22. James Courtney-Greg Murphy, Holden Racing Team/Walkinshaw Racing – Holden Commodore VF

33. Scott McLaughlin-Jack Perkins. Fujitsu Racing/Garry Rogers Motorsport – Holden Commodore VF

34. Alexandre Premat-Greg Ritter, Fujitsu Racing/Garry Rogers Motorsport – Holden Commodore VF

36. Michael Caruso-Daniel Gaunt, Norton/Nissan Motorsport – Nissan Altima

47. Tim Slade-Andrew Thompson, Heavy Haulage/JR Racing-Erebus Motorsport – Mercedes-Benz AMG E63

55. David Reynolds-Dean Canto, The Bottle-O Racing/Rod Nash Racing – Ford Falcon FG

66. Russell Ingall-Ryan Briscoe, Supercheap Auto Racing/Walkinshaw Racing – Holden Commodore VF

80. Scott Pye-Paul Morris, Ekol/Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport – Holden Commodore VF

88. Dean Fiore-Matt Halliday, Dodo Car Insurance/Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport – Holden Commodore VF

97. Shane van Gisbergen- Jeroen Bleekemolen, VIP Petfoods/Tekno Autosports – Holden Commodore VF

360. James Moffat-Taz Douglas, Norton/Nissan Motorsport – Nissan Altima

888. Craig Lowndes-Warren Luff, Red Bull Racing Australia/Triple Eight – Holden Commodore VF

Wildcard entry – Andy Priaulx-Mattias Ekstrom, Red Bull Racing Australia/Triple Eight wildcard entry – Holden Commodore VF

V8 Supercar Championship top 10 drivers after 28 races – 1. Jamie Whincup (Holden) 2147 points; 2. Craig Lowndes (H) 2051; 3. Will Davison (Ford) 2050; 4. Mark Winterbottom ( F) 1981; 5. James Courtney (H) 1909; 6. Fabian Coulthard (H) 1901; 7. Shane Van Gisbergen (H) 1770; 8. Jason Bright (H) 1715; 9. Garth Tander (H) 1680; 10. Scott McLaughlin (H) 1498.

V8 Supercar top teams – 1. Triple Eight Race Engineering 4238 points; 2. Ford Performance Racing 4056; 3. Brad Jones Racing 3661; 4. Holden Racing Team 3604; 5. Tekno Autosports 3199; 6. Garry Rogers Motorsport 2583.

View (and share) our Bathurst 1000 history infographic by clicking on the link...

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...

Don't forget to register to comment on this article.

MOTORSPORT: Mt Panorama Australian racing's Everest

Tags