The Chase and the Great Escape

Many have tried to tame Mount Panorama but does anyone ever actually conquer Bathurst’s big hill?

With nine wins to his name, Peter Brock has the best claim to Australian motorsport’s holy grail. Elsewhere, folklore and record books decree big names including Craig Lowndes, Mark Skaife, Jim Richards, Dick Johnson and Larry Perkins as those who have scaled and seized Australia’s biggest four-wheeled prize.

Each are Bathurst legends in their own right, but in achieving their milestones, Mount Panorama’s own luminaries have endured setbacks. Crashes, mechanical failures, heartache and near misses aplenty. In Johnson’s case, even a bloody big rock…

It’s important that we establish the lay of the land because on this particular weekend, the first one in December, carsales is attempting to challenge Bathurst.

To be clear, we are competing in the fourth annual Challenge Bathurst event held at the famous 6.2 kilometre mountain circuit.

Racing at Mount Panorama is notoriously tough. And drivers of Brock, Richards and Johnson’s ilk did things more primitively than many of the 400 competitors in this four-day 2019 Challenge Bathurst event.

The heroes were dressed in minimal safety garb, steering big-engined road cars with little occupant protection to provide a buffer between them and the mountain’s imposing walls.

“I remember when Dick Johnson received his allocation of race cars back in the day. He got four vehicles that had been down the same Ford production line as the road cars. They’d arrive at his workshop and the engineers would get to work, cutting the roof off so they could install the roll cage,” says John Bowe, another of Bathurst’s most successful candidates.

Bowe’s own love affair with The Mountain remains unequivocally strong after more than three decades of hard-nosed racing.

Upon suggesting to him that Bathurst has a certain aura or mystique, Bowe replies instantly: “Of course it does. There is no place else on earth like it.”

The history and nostalgia is firmly front of mind when I arrive on Mount Panorama’s door step. And as if lapping the circuit alone wasn’t challenge enough, I’m taking to the track in a bone-stock road car – albeit one with air-conditioning, stability control and antilock brakes.

Fully subscribed in its fourth year, Challenge Bathurst invites drivers of all abilities to compete in a choice of two timed events – Super Sprint or Regularity .

The first two days (Thursday and Friday) are for Super Sprint competitors taking part in a timed shootout around the mountain — like a qualifying session or time attack contest.

The weekend is reserved for Regularity competitors – that is, drivers in road cars with modifications that still allow them to be largely road-registrable. This year, all 275 slots in the Regularity field are filled.

The Regularity contest requires drivers to nominate an average lap time, with the challenge being how close they get to that time. Consistency is rewarded with an oversized trophy – the same as issued to podium places in the Bathurst 12 Hour, no less.

The time cap for this year’s Regularity class is 2.36mins – any faster and competitors are automatically black-flagged for being too fast. Repeat offenders are disqualified altogether.

There are five different Regularity classes competing at Challenge Bathurst – A, B, C, D and Z. The first four classes are loosely ranked in order of speed. The Z category carsales has entered takes its origins from elsewhere; read on and it all makes sense.

Our Challenge Bathurst foray coincides with 50 years of the Datsun and later Nissan Z car lineage, dating back to the original Datsun 240Z of 1969.

To mark the golden anniversary, the Nissan Z Club of Queensland has converged on Bathurst to track 49 classic Zeds on the mountain, from original, rapidly appreciating, 240Zs to a V8-engined Nissan 300ZX.

Then, there’s our carsales entry. The sixth-generation Z car is the Nissan 370Z, a vehicle now nearing 10 years in age but remaining special with its combination of a 3.7-litre V6 engine, six-speed manual transmission and hydraulic steering.

Nissan’s 50th anniversary of Zed was celebrated earlier this year with the release of the 50th Anniversary 370Z. Cue your correspondent’s silver-with-black-stripes entry, complete with the number 23 along its doors. The numerals 2 and 3 are inextricably linked to Nissan racers – two-three is pronounced ni-san in Japanese.

Unlike the rest of the Z class – or for that matter, the entire Challenge Bathurst field – which roll on semi-slick tyres, stiffened suspension, beefed up brakes and with modified engines, our 370Z is bone stock. Standard Bridgestone road tyres, standard discs and pads, standard DOT3 brake fluid and standard brake lines.

It’s also worth noting the cabin is at odds with the older Datsuns in the group, too – replete with modern niceties including sat-nav, electric seat adjustment and premium materials. That said, there are plenty of pointers to its age: no steering wheel reach adjustment and an ageing dashboard interface to name a couple.

Elsewhere, the naturally-aspirated V6 offers unmodified 245kW and 363Nm outputs – good enough to shift its 1.5-tonne heft to 100km/h in an estimated 5.0sec.

About the only pointer to the 370Z’s participation at Bathurst is a mandatory fire extinguisher fitted behind the passenger seat. Oh, and no shortage of stickers.

Challenge Bathurst begins much like any other motorsport event: paperwork.

In the weeks leading up there are plenty of emails between myself, the Group Z category manager, David Robertson, and Nissan Australia, as the stars slowly align. We tick the boxes: relevant CAMS licence, current club membership, requisite safety equipment.

This detailed organisation pays dividends come the Thursday before the event; I simply arrive at Bathurst, handover my paperwork, complete forms and take the vehicle through the compulsory scrutineering process to ensure everything is as it should be.

The 370Z breezes through the check over, unsurprising given its 4000km mileage on the odometer.

The all-important green sticker of approval adorns the driver’s side window as we roll out of the scrutineering bay with eyes set on driving in two days’ time.

The free time gives you a moment to realise the enormity of the Challenge Bathurst weekend. Mount Panorama circuit, home of the 1000 and an annual excuse for barbecues, get-togethers and road trips every October, will soon be your correspondent’s playground for a weekend. Boyhood dream fulfilled.

“It’s the ultimate cliché when people say it’s the greatest racetrack in the world, but you know what: it is ACTUALLY the greatest racetrack in the world,” says Peter Campbell, another of the Z car club’s friendly faces.

Peter is driving his orange Datsun 240Z at Challenge Bathurst, resplendent in the number 16 – a reflection of its Australian build number. His orange beast, replete with semi-slicks, a rollcage and the mistakable orange hue, will stick vividly in my mind for some time. But more on that shortly.

Saturday morning rolls around surprisingly quickly, and before we know it, the obligatory driver’s briefing has been administered and marshals are waving us out onto circuit for the first 20-minute session.

There’s no mistaking the altitude change and narrowness of the circuit the first time we meander up Griffins Bend, through The Cutting and up toward Sulman and Reid Park in a neat procession of Z cars.

It’s a reflective moment, for sure, aided by the fact the opening rotation is more of a warm-up lap and is a little less white-knuckled.

Then, we circle down past Murray’s Corner, the green flag is waved for the first time, and it’s time to begin easing towards our nominated lap time – what was supposed to be a relatively conservative post of 2min49sec.

The 50th Anniversary Nissan 370Z feels surefooted and composed on the circuit, using its hydraulic steering and mechanical underpinnings to organically telegraph movements without any huge reliance on electronic aids.

Smooth driving, trail braking and measured steering inputs are rewarded with reassuring levels of grip on the circuit’s faster, longer apexes. And once we have tyre pressures dialled in, the standard Bridgestone Potenza rubber affords decent levels of adhesion, too.

The engine and gearbox combination is an involving one, with the spread of the six-speed manual’s ratios well suited to the track. The shift action inspires confidence as I fire between second and third barrelling through the Esses and through Forests Elbow.

The auto rev-matching feature on downshifts might sound sacrilege, but it is one less variable to consider when you’re in sensory overload during your first few laps.

Keeping firmly in mind that it is a road car, the 370Z isn’t infallible on circuit. With peak power and torque at 7000rpm and 5200rpm respectively, the naturally-aspirated V6 clearly needs to rev to reach its straps.

And on a circuit like Bathurst, in close tow of numerous other vehicles, there is little clean air in which to cool the high-revving engine.

The oil temperature soon spikes – a common gripe with tracked 370Zs – and it requires constant monitoring from the driver’s chair to avoid the car’s self-imposed limp mode. However, crisis can be averted by short-shifting (at the expense of speed) or by finding some clean air.

All told, I finish the day’s three sessions with a lap time of 2min55sec – still well short of my nominated lap. There is a chance to renominate, but I figure the original mark will provide added motivation for Sunday’s laps.

The incentive to push a little harder is reinforced with the installation of brand new brake rotors and pads on Saturday night. With the pedal getting quite long in Saturday’s last session, and the disc visibly scored from some of the circuit’s harder braking zones, it’s peace of mind.

Then, it’s time to relive the thrills of Saturday at an event hosted by the Queensland Z car club. Social coordinator David Robertson is beaming, having experienced a full day on circuit himself.

“It’s one of those experiences. It’s a highlight of the year, all the other Zed car owners come together, we’re all very alike and we all get on,” he says.

Dave’s 240Z collection includes an original 1970 example he says is “too clean” to track, along with his loyal track car.

“The independent rear suspension that Datsun put into the 240Zs means they’re sensational out on the road. They fit a big guy like me, they’re designed for the western market and Datsun got that right from the word go,” he said.

“Nissan has continued that with the 370Z,” Dave enthused.

Cooler conditions greet the group for the first of Sunday’s three runs. The sun is out and the circuit unsurprisingly dry as Bathurst endures one of its worst droughts in living memory.

With freshly installed brakes and cooler conditions naturally promoting faster laps, it appears an opportune time to start squeezing additional seconds out of the 370Z.

The first two laps feel clean and tidy, no doubt faster than the previous day’s efforts. Soon, I’m on the throttle earlier, carrying more corner speed and cultivating confidence in spite of the track’s imperious walls.

Since the brakes are feeling strong, with minimal sign of fade or a long pedal action, I decide to commit a little more again…

Then disaster strikes.

Steaming down Conrod Straight, I take the wide line entering The Chase, holding the accelerator flat before setting up for a big braking moment. The braking zone initially appears spot on; slightly earlier than the previous lap given the extra speed.

The brake pedal initially grabs before softening and then folding straight to the floor. I’ve run out of brakes on the fastest section of Mount Panorama, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

I pump the brake pedal in vein, pick the straightest line into the kitty litter, and hold on. Not even shuffling back through the gears is going to save me. I’m going too fast.

The 370Z careers off the circuit before launching over a lipped embankment and sailing through the air. I concentrate on keeping the wheel and the vehicle as straight as possible, with the fear of barrel rolling acutely in my mind.

The front end of the 370Z touches down heavily, before the vehicle sashays through the sand, finishing only 30 metres or so shy of the big imposing, red wall. Shit!

Peter Campbell in his orange 240Z is immediately behind me leading up to the incident, and sees everything unfold. He too initially holds concerns about a rollover, but is relieved to see the car resting in one piece on the following lap.

First human contact is with the tractor driver, who checks to see if I’m okay, radios through and then casually reassures me: “Well, that was dramatic. You sailed about five metres through the air!”

Dramatic is an understatement.

Bathurst’s Mount Panorama is a majestic but intimidating place -- and one that will always hold its own perils. Those risks are always going to be extended in a road car.

Later, onboard footage reveals a 210km/h speed upon arriving at the kink, before exiting the black-top at 140km/h. My previous lap was 2min53sec, this one felt faster again.

The 6.2km circuit simply asked too much of the 370Z’s standard brakes. The brake fluid had reached boiling point and the rotors were left heavily scored despite barely two laps use.

The incident is both unfortunate and frustrating. With no immediate access to spare brakes, my weekend is done. I never get to match my nominated time...

But the brake failure does make for one helluva story. No trophy, sure, but an unforgettable experience nonetheless.

Thank you to Nissan Australia for hosting the weekend.

Like Sam, my experience at Challenge Bathurst was certainly full of excitement; but perhaps not the kind that requires a change of underwear.

For me, the weekend was the chance to cross Mount Panorama off the bucket list, and test all I’d learnt from watching 40-something years of the Great Race from the sidelines.

It sounds clichéd, but Mount Panorama is one of those tracks you just can’t appreciate until you’ve driven it at pace. The change in elevation; the amplitude of camber; the proximity of the concrete walls – and the sheer sense of history the place imparts – is engrossing. It’s a track unlike any I’ve experienced anywhere in the world, and my little MX-5 took the challenge in its stride.

For a basically standard car (it’s equipped with R-spec tyres, coil-over suspension and improved brakes) the 12-year-old Mazda performed well. It felt comfortable with the ‘flow’ of the circuit, and between The Cutting and Forrest’s Elbow made-up time it couldn’t find on the long, flat straights.

Being a regularity race Challenge Bathurst is about consistency, and despite contesting a full field of 55 cars on each of the sessions, the MX-5 and I managed to adhere closely to our entered time of 2:53.00 to take home third place weekend.

If a cool Sunday morning hadn’t spurred my little red convertible on to a 2:49.35 then I may have finished higher up the podium. But for a first attempt it’s a result I’m entirely happy with, and I’ll definitely be back next year.

- Matt Brogan