Motor racing returned to Bathurst over Easter and even though it was a few weeks ago now we’d be remiss not to bring you this video.
You see, Chris Gilmour, a Formula 3 driver from Queensland, set a new official lap record around Mount Panorama in Bathurst.
Gilmour finished second at the race meeting, but was pretty satisfied to set a new benchmark for the 6.213km circuit. “It’s pretty amazing to be here, full stop – but to do something like set the outright lap record that gets talked about so much is pretty special. It requires so much commitment and a great car to do the job here and we had that,” Gilmour said.
Until a few months ago the official lap record, set under race conditions, at Bathurst was held by Jamie Whincup in a V8 Supercar. His mark was 2:08.4651 set during the 2007 Bathurst 1000.
At the Bathurst 12 Hour in February, Allan Simonsen lowered the official race record to 2:06.3311 at the wheel of a Ferrari 458 GT3.
Gilmour, in his Formula 3, broke the record by the best part of two seconds on the way to a 2:04.6187 benchmark. You can watch video of the record lap after the break. It’s pretty special watching on board footage from an open wheeler on the Mountain too.
[Source: bathurstmotorfestival.com.au | Thanks to Ryan for the tip]
5 replies on “It’s another new lap record for Bathurst”
I heard about this from Tim (156GTA) when he went home for Easter.
Well done! What engines do they run? Sounds a bit ‘meh’?
That is freaking awesome. The difference in braking & cornering vs tin tops is just staggering. Sounded like he was flat from the cutting all the way to skyline. Especially revealing if you watch the video of the 458 for comparison.
Oh, according to the F3 website, engine is 2.0 4cyl with about 280hp.
What a colossal effort! Frightening and inspiring in equal measure.
Very disappointed that they didn’t let the 12 hour cars run at full speed in qualifying. Now that would have been interesting.