2007 Bathurst 12 hour

[nota]

Last of Group N

[nota]

Vintage tin for sale, alongside this 'German Group C Ford Escort RS' (ex-Bathurst '81) present owner for 25 years, asking (gulp) $40,000

From the Museum I'll throw in the 1980 Castrol Six-Hour winning Honda CB1100-R. Fwiw a mate & I went half-share for a few years in one of these homologation missiles. Ours was only three years old when purchased, also an ex-racebike which explains it then already being on its third overbore! It only cost us $2250 iirc with reco'd motor, these things can do 0-60mph in within 3 secs and 0-100mph in 5s

[nota]

Imo a couple of interesting collectables in the spectator carpark

A well loved VG Valiant Hemi Hardtop

This very rare 'Peter Brock' HDT Magnum still in its original condition, from 1984 at a guess. Once you get past the blocky styling they are a great touring/family car. Yep this one even had a baby seat in back. Same V8 power choices as HDT Group Three Commodores I posted earlier but a bigger, heavier car and all were automatics. Yet for their size they were a sensational handling sedan - eg could lap two seconds faster than equal-price Saab turbos around the tight Calder raceway. From memory they do 170km/h in 2nd gear with the moonshot 2.6 diff ratio. I tried to talk my brother into buying a new one of these but instead the fool got a Commodore V8 wagon

[Ferrer]

That Magnum looks a bit like a cross between a Rolls-Royce and an Aston Martin Lagonda...

Sorry to be annoying with so many question, but can you tell me more about the Group C regulations? (Post #62 Ford Escort)

[nota]

On the subject of class structure, my personal opinion says that for both relevance and public appeal the 12-Hour future should take a cue from its race ancestor in basing the various classes ONLY on price, not engine capacity or whatever other irrelevancy. What buyer in their right mind compares a 3000cc BMW 130 ($60k+) to a $33k 2700cc Hyundai Tiburon? Who is going to cross-shop the $125,000 BMW 335 TT against a $60k FPV Typhoon?

Admittedly without researching the price lists, but perhaps classes something like up to $15k > $18k > $22k > $28k > $35k > $48k etc

Dedicated sub-classes can be provided to cater for turbos that cut across other NA price-divisions (eg $30-40k turbo hatchbacks vs larger 6cyl sedans) but to succeed in capturing public interest this race needs to relate to the buying public, who buy with their wallets, not following some 'price be damned' idealogical cc purity. And it needs to retain a price cap and continue excluding low volume sports & GT (I've already seen 1000 years worth of 911s racing around, eg) and would much rather watch everyday price equivalents battle it out

For example:
Hyundai Accent 1.6 vs Fiesta 1.6 vs Toyota Yaris 1.5
Viva 1.8 vs Pulsar 1.8 vs Kia Reo 2.0 thingo
Daiwoo 2.2 vs Camry 2.2 vs Renault Megane 2.0
Falcon XT vs Holden Omega vs Aurion vs Mitsu 380
BMW 130 vs Commodore SSV .. etc etc ..?

____________

pic 1: Astra turbo struck troubles

2-3: Class win for the burbly Falcon XR8 5.4 quadcam, dicing with BMW 130s which also ran very well all day

4-5: Mitsu Evos not as convincing as Subarus, and Evo giving the big FPV Typhoon a hurry-up through Forrest Elbow. Sadly this privately entered F6 Turbo failed to realise potential, but it did not lack for mumbo

Final pic of cheer squad waving their pink bits for the all-girl pink Astra TDi, a salute every lap for 12 hours

[nota]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

That Magnum looks a bit like a cross between a Rolls-Royce and an Aston Martin Lagonda...

Sorry to be annoying with so many question, but can you tell me more about the Group C regulations? (Post #62 Ford Escort)

Not a bother

Group C regs were a dogs breakfast in their day, a continually evolving set of allowable mods (to cater for race stresses and competitive parity) but in essence attempting to retain original basic road-car homologation spec

Eg 1983 Commodore 5.0 V8 street/race cars shared same capacity engine (but with major specific race mods) same number of gear-speeds (4) and similar basic brake specs (eg 4Wdiscs) and main suspension bits (production stub axles, trailing arms etc)

http://www.cams.com.au/content.asp?P...s&ObjectID=213

[Ferrer]

Thank you, nota.

[nota]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

Thank you, nota.

YWC

[gouldo]

Some good pics there Nota.

[Falcon500]

Yeah I like the idea of allowing classes for a similar format of racing.

Im agaist exotics in this case (it has also been proven australia lacks intrest and money for this field) but going back to basics and allowing lightly modified cars (possibly up to mild) on road legal tyres is a fine idea. Focus on outright because a 3 hour at winton could have some suprise results and get rid of them older cars te50 while a great car is old celeicas arnt being built anymore etc etc But of course never neglect the lesser classes either because those battle make enduros great

A great effort and a step in the right direction I love the idea.