Bernd Schneider is a Bathurst 12 Hour winner and Mercedes AMG brand ambassador. Recently he was in Bathurst for an AMG drive day. Once the snow had melted, this is what happened when he was given the keys to an AMG GT S and sent out on an empty Mount Panorama circuit.
Parts of New South Wales and south-east Queensland awoke to a fresh blanket of snow this morning and here’s something you don’t see every day: snow on Mount Panorama in Bathurst!
This image of the downhill run from Skyline was shared on twitter. There’s a two more images of a snowy “mountain” after the break as well, including one of Nick Percat driving on the circuit.
If you see any more pics of a snowy Bathurst drop us a line in the comments section.
[Source: @MtPanCircuit]
EDIT: Wheels has the story on a Mercedes-Benz AMG drive day, featuring the new GT S, being affected by the snow.
We already know the 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour will be held on the weekend of 6–8 February. Now we have a brand new promo for the event too. It starts a bit slowly, but before too long there’s cars flying all over the place.
So, as Hindy would say: “Get your backside trackside!”
Feast your eyes on this classic retro footage of the 1967 Easter race meeting at Bathurst. Featuring open wheelers and tin tops a spritely 26-year-old Kevin Bartlett was the man of the moment as the YouTube descriotion states:
Easter weekend meetings at the Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst, NSW ran from 1938 to 1973. In 1967, Kevin Bartlett starred in Alec Mildren open wheelers and Alfa Romeo touring cars. Look out for Spencer Martin, Max Stewart and Bob Jane, to name a few. This was the weekend that Bartlett achieved the first 100mph average lap speed at Bathurst. All credit to The Golden Age of Motor Sport for this terrific video, originally commissioned by Alec Mildren himself. Awesome!
We agree. It’s amazing to see Mount Panorama like this with no concrete barriers. We can only imagine how specatacular the descent after Skyline would be from one of those Brabhams.
Oh yeah, the image above will make perfect sense when you watch the clip.
In this graphic you’re looking at 95 famous racetracks from the world, all compared alongside each other in scale. It’s been prepared by a guy appropriately named Matt Dunlop. Thanks Matt, this is great work!
Some tracks are pretty obvious to make out, such as the Nürburgring, Circuit de la Sarthe, Silverstone, Suzuka, Mount Panorama, Phillip Island and so on. If you want to identify more tracks simply click on the image above for the full-sized 3450x2400px version and all will be revealed.
For example, what’s the massive track running around the outside of the graphic? It’s the 60.73km Snaefell Mountain Course, best known for hosting the Isle of Man TT.
[Source: imgur | Thanks to Micky for the tip]
Bathurst Councillor Warren Aubin is calling for a kangaroo cull at Mount Panorama following an incident in the 12 hour race which ended the race of Roger Lago’s Lamborghini Gallardo.
“We have to do something to rid the place of the kangaroos—no ifs or buts about it,” Cr Aubin told the Western Advocate.
Cr Aubin says he will raise the issue at the next committee meeting on 5 March. One gets the feeling Aubin won’t be too interested in listening to alternate options.
“If we don’t [have the cull] and there continues to be accidents involving the ’roos during big events, we face the prospect of losing something which is one of the region’s major sources of income and biggest sporting attractions,” Aubin said.
“We’re talking about an event like the Great Race that brings more than $70 million into the local economy each year.
“Council has spent a small fortune on the ’roo fencing to please the greenies and it’s just not working. It’s time to look at other measures and if that means culling, so be it.
“We are elected to council to make tough decisions and this is one of those. No matter what call you make, you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
Nearby resident Warren Taylor supports Cr Aubin’s proposal. “My backyard’s full of the bastards and I’ve had enough,” he said.
“My grandkids are too frightened to go down there to see the horses because of the kangaroos. Some of the bucks are huge and they don’t budge an inch. They look at you with complete contempt.”
A quick read of the comments section at the end of the Western Advocate article (link below) shows Cr Aubin does not enjoy unanimous public support.
[Source: Western Advocate]
In the end the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour race became a 12 minute sprint race. It was a battle in two; fourth chasing third and second chasing first. If you missed the action yesterday or just want to relive those final moments of madness the final 12 minutes are all yours after the break.
Here’s your pick of photos from today’s qualifying for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour race. We start with this great image above of the MARC Focus GTC. What the hell is a Focus GTC you ask?
There’s three of them entered in the race and they’re a purpose-built creations powered by a 500hp 5.0 litre V8 sending power to the rear wheels. Weighing in at 1250kg their best lap times during quali have been in the 2:15 bracket. You can learn more about them HERE and HERE.
Of course, we’ve got more for you than Frankenstein Focuses, so check ’em all out after the break.
[Pics: Joel Strickland Photographics]
Rick Kelly has been kind enough to share a driver’s eye view of a lap around Mount Panorama. Recorded with a GoPro camera mounted to his helmet you can see and hear what it’s like inside the Nissan GTR Nismo GT as he posts a very tidy 2:04.8s lap. Check it out after the break.
Maro Engel has claimed pole position for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour in this afternoon’s Class A-only Qualifying 3 session with an outstanding lap time of 2:03.8586. Engel’s time in the #1 Erebus Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 was 0.0835s faster than Mika Salo’s provisional pole time from this morning.
That means Engel now holds the fastest recorded lap for a closed roof car around Mount Panorama and along with his Erebus teammates they become the inaugural winners of the Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy.
Starting from P3 tomorrow will be the #37 McLaren 12C GT3 which went 2:04.0006 at the hands of Shane van Gisbergen. Alongside the McLaren will be the #63 Erebus Mercedes which couldn’t quite pull off a late charge for pole, when Will Davison was the last car across the line, setting a time of 2:04.2563.
Rick Kelly’s 2:04.7643 lap set during the morning session was enough to put the #32 Nissan GTR on the third row. A dispute over technical regulations saw the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo forced to change to 2013-spec and move from Class B up to Class A. The team spent the morning session making the required changes, mostly to do with aerodynamics. David Russell returned to the track in the afternoon to top the time sheets in Qualifying 2 and his time of 2:05.0320 secured P6 on the starting grid.
You could throw a blanket over the next three cars, all Audi R8 LMS Ultras. The Audis posted their fastest times in the cooler morning conditions, with the #9 Network Clothing R8 recording a 2:05.5919 lap; the #3 Phoenix Racing R8 was desperately close with a time of 2:05.5946 and the #25 United Autosports R8 went 2:05.7175.
The top 10 is rounded out by #48 Lamborghini Gallardo which recorded its 2:06.3498 time in the morning session.
After collecting the pole trophy Engel paid tribute to Simonsen, killed at Le Mans last year, as well as his former teammate Sean Edwards, who died after a testing accident in Queensland where he was acting as a private tutor.
2014 Bathurst 12 Hour – Qualifying times
Qualifyng 1 | Qualifying 2 | Qualifying 3
Keen for some more onboard action to get you ready for tomorrow’s Bathurst 12 Hour race. Here’s a couple of laps from inside the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo with David Russell posting what was a GT lap record (2:05.9s) and also Laurens Vanthoor driving the #3 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS.
Factory Porsche driver Patrick Long, who is racing in the Class B entered #12 911 Carrera Cup car, drops in to give his impressions after his first visit to Bathurst.
The #32 Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 has just set the fastest time in Practice 3 at the Bathurst 12 Hour. At the wheel for this afternoon’s flying lap was Bathurst rookie Alex Buncombe who set a time of 2:06.5958. That’s a bit off this morning’s pace when David Russell set a GT3 practice record with his 2:05.9397 lap during Practice 2 in the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo.
From that morning session here is an onboard video with V8 Supercar ace Rick Kelly driving the GTR. He lapped in the low 2:07s and said it was his second fastest-lap ever around the 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit.