Bathurst 12 hour pics

[Mr Messy]

Hey guys, I went to the Bathurst 12 hour last weekend (Sun Feb 14) and wanted to share some pics with you.

The event was won by a BMW 335i coupe driven by John Bowe, Paul Morris and Gary Holt (car owner).

They couldn't match the gaggle of (ten!) Evos during qualifying, but were very fast on race day. John Bowe, particularly, was peerless in the wet.

Bowe was the embodiment of car control in the twin-turbo BMW as he blitzed the pack in frankly atrocious conditions.

The Winning 335i and other quick cars are below:

[team_v]

Looks like an awesome day.
Lots of weather condition variations for them.

Nice mix of cars too.

[Mr Messy]

Some of the best drivers:

Glenn Seton, qualified second and drove like a madman to unlap his Evo X.


John Bowe, undisputed driver of the race. Age shall not weary him.


Andrew Jones was speedy in the works HSV R8 wagon...


...As was Cam McConville, who had an excellent dice with Bowe in the wet.


V8 Supercar man Paul Morris was a like a centurion in the garage.
He had a great mix of driving flair and tactical nous this weekend.
Morris is NOT the rock ape some people would have you believe.

[Mr Messy]

Now for some arty stuff.

Safety car was a lovely Lambo Gallardo SE










Thanks for looking.

[Mr Messy]

Looks like an awesome day.
Lots of weather condition variations for them.

Nice mix of cars too.

Yeah man, it was awesome. There were far more cars than that too, like the Lotus Exige, HSV R8 and GT/Ford Typhoon, Honda Integra, Mazda MPS, BMW 130i and diesel Alfa 159.

Tractor drivers might like to know that the the rules stipulate drivers cannot be in the car for more than three hours at a time... and that the Alfa still had 1/3rd of a tank left when the car came in for a stop every three hours.

By comparison the Evos were doing 45-50min per tank.

[gtimk5]

Great pics mate, looks like an awesome event.
The promotion and publicity is so poor for this great race that I didnt even know it was on till I saw the fallen tree accross the circuit on the news last night.
The 12 hour is what motor racing in Oz should all be about, not sillohette sports sedans as in supercars, bring the racing back to cars that you can actually buy...
Cheers, and thanks for showing those pics.
Andrew

[Guy_H]

Nice pics Mr Messy,

good work!

[Jarred]

...The 12 hour is what motor racing in Oz should all be about, not sillohette sports sedans as in supercars, bring the racing back to cars that you can actually buy...
..

Amen to that Andrew!

Likewise I didn't even know it was on., so thanks for sharing!

[philthy]

Nice pics. I'm a big fan of production car racing. Watched some of the race on the live streaming. Coverage was really good. The demise of Bana's car looked pretty nasty, and that gum tree

Would have been a good day if you managed to stay reasonably dry.

[Mr Messy]

Nice pics. I'm a big fan of production car racing. Watched some of the race on the live streaming. Coverage was really good. The demise of Bana's car looked pretty nasty, and that gum tree

Would have been a good day if you managed to stay reasonably dry.

It was an amazing day! I spoke with Dean Herridge (soobie driver) after the big prang with Bana's car, he said it was one of the biggest hits he'd ever had. The Lancer is pretty much stuffed, but I believe the STI can be fixed.

I watched the race from the media centre/pits, and didn't go up the top. I don't regret it, the rain really was horrible at times!

[docjames]

Great pics, thanks for sharing those, much appreciated!

[Water Boy]

Nice work with the pics mate!

Dad and I aim to run my Mk3 as a TDI at the Bathurst 12hr as a privateer in a few years time. It would be an expensive weekend but one I would love to share the experience with my Dad.

There is still a lot of learning for me as I have never raced at night let alone for more than a sprint session. Where as my Dad has competed in many 6, 8 and 12.

Should be good!

[Mr Messy]

It's not really dark during the race... it's from 0630 to 1830 so there's only really 20 laps or so where the light is moody. It's not pitch black by any stretch of the imagination!

Diesel-wise, I reckon a BMW 335D could win the race outright.
It would stop once for every three times an evo does, and is a huge weapon in a straight line.

[DeanB]

I really wish they would alter the rules and remove the mandatory 3 hour pit stop .. would force the teams who want to win to run turbo diesels, same as happened with Le Mans and the other o/s enduro events ... would be good for the image of diesels in this country ... and would mean the evo/wrx brigade would be beaten by tractors