A Saturday arvo spin 'round the mountain

ivan H

ivan H

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Something for all you car nuts, Chas Mostert's Bathurst GT3 12 hour "top 10 shootout" pole grabbing lap in the Audi during last minutes of the session on Saturday (for Sunday's race).
Check the speed these GT3 cars carry across the top of & down the mountain (video doesn't really show just how steep the climb up the mountain & the decent back down it really is).
The Bathurst track is public road when not being raced on, international driver are surprised to see signs warning of kangaroos crossing the track (yes, it happens). Enjoy. Cheers
Edit:
That lap & pole position didn't help him, or Audi in the race, AMG Mercedes cars took positions 1, 2 & 3. Cheers
 
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Wish my '01 Audi A6 was that fast. There is a bit of an off-camber S turn in the highway near my house that I like to do on average 85mph through. If you're on the gas, the car will hug the highway quite well. It annoys me to no end when people hit the brakes hard entering this turn because they have no clue how to drive.
 
What I never liked about BMW, Porsche, Mercedes and the Audi R8 specifically (Never drove any of Audi's other cars), is they give you absolutely no indication they are on the edge of control...they are hung-in one second and in the grass the next. I love the old S197 Mustangs because they will "shudder" right on the edge of control loss and it's very easy to bring them back.

The Lamborghini Super Trofeos - that I drove when teaching for the Lamborghini Academy - were very bad about understeering if pushed too hard into a comer.

There is a sweeping, banked 45mph turn where S/B 215 merges onto W/B 210. I've driven this road for the past 7 years everyday and the Mustang can negotiate that curve on dry pavement at 85-90 mph. A few weeks ago, I had a M3 right on my bumper as I approached the turn and he stuck with me. I set-up at about 75 and went into the turn at full power, exiting at 90mph. he skidded along the cement retaining wall in a shower of sparks and parts.

The Alfa Romeo Gulia is super neutral.
 
Robert Herndon said:
What I never liked about BMW, Porsche, Mercedes and the Audi R8 specifically (Never drove any of Audi's other cars), is they give you absolutely no indication they are on the edge of control...
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Leading to things like this practice session incident
Along with these cars aero systems, they also utilise electronic driver assist packages (ABS, traction control etc) in producing their performance.
Teams for the race were made up of an international professional driver, a local professional (V8 Supercar) driver & an
amateur driver. One of these local V8 supercar drivers commented on how, due to the driver assists, driving a GT3 car didn't seem like driving a "real" race car. Cheers
 
ivan H said:
Leading to things like this practice session incident
Along with these cars aero systems, they also utilise electronic driver assist packages (ABS, traction control etc) in producing their performance.
Teams for the race were made up of an international professional driver, a local professional (V8 Supercar) driver & an amateur driver. One of these local V8 supercar drivers commented on how, due to the driver assists, driving a GT3 car didn't seem like driving a "real" race car. Cheers
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With these power levels, things like traction control and ABS are vital, IMHO

I used to be licensed for aand drove VARA (vintage auto racing association) events. Let me say that piloting a D type Jaguar through the corkscrew at Laguna Seca was physically and mentally a real chore.

On the one hand, you had an irreplaceable car that handled like a dump truck and on the other, you were having to manage archaic braking systems and no traction control.

It was total exhaustion to drive those relics.
 
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ivan H said:
I mentioned the kangaroo warning signs earlier, the following video is from the 2015 Bathurst 12 hour. Bathurst 12 hour 2015 Kangaroo Hit!
Hitting a decent sized roo at highway speed will total your car, hitting one at race speed would definitely ruin your day. In 2018 a roo ended BMW's 12 hour chances too. Cheers
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I used to know and work on a Australian Rallye Driver's car collection. His name was Garrie John and his nickname was "GT" for his middle initial.

He told me about hitting a Wombat at speed during a rally in a Ford Cortina and it fairly well destroyed the car!!!
 
Robert Herndon said:
With these power levels, things like traction control and ABS are vital, IMHO

I used to be licensed for aand drove VARA (vintage auto racing association) events. Let me say that piloting a D type Jaguar through the corkscrew at Laguna Seca was physically and mentally a real chore.

On the one hand, you had an irreplaceable car that handled like a dump truck and on the other, you were having to manage archaic braking systems and no traction control.

It was total exhaustion to drive those relics.
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These GT3 cars don't develop as much horsepower as the V8 supercars (not sure about torque, I'd have to check to be sure) & at the Bathurst circuit are also slower down the (conrod) straight than the V8 supercars (280kph vs 300 & a bit kph). The GT3 cars do a quicker lap time though as they are quicker (about 20kph) across the top of the mountain due to a higher level of downforce/adhesion.
In comparison to the GT3 cars, the V8 supercars have a lot less aero & no electronic driver assists, just a manual brake bias adjustment (Tilton balance bar) & (in cabin) manual front & rear sway bar adjustment. Especially descending the mountain, where locking an unloaded inside front wheel is best avoided, the V8 supercars require more driver attention/skill, hence the V8 supercar drivers comment & him saying the GT3 cars were easier to drive with the driver assists doing part of the work (international driver's love Bathurst, calling it a real "drivers circuit", requiring 100% attention/commitment, 100% of the time). Still, there is a learning curve for the local drivers in managing the driver assist settings to the conditions, as we hear the commentators discussing in this video, on board with Shane Van Gisbergen in the wet (it literally bucketed down early in the race).
This guy (3rd placed team on Sunday) is said to have webbed feet due to his ability to successfully punt a V8 supercar in treacherously wet conditions.
Robert Herndon said:
I used to know and work on a Australian Rallye Driver's car collection. His name was Garrie John and his nickname was "GT" for his middle initial.

He told me about hitting a Wombat at speed during a rally in a Ford Cortina and it fairly well destroyed the car!!!
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A wombat is like a lump of granite. No doubt it destroyed the car. Riding dirt bikes in the bush, the greatest fear is hitting a wombat, or wombat hole (they're a burrowing creature). I once saw a wombat shot from across a two lane country road with a Lithgow (WW1 & 2 military) 303 (similar to your 30-06) & with a military (full metal jacket) bullet. You'd have to expect that projectile passed right through the wombat. The damn thing grunted & ambled off into the bush. Cheers
Edit:
I didn't condone or agree with the shooting of the wombat. Cheers
 
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Here we can see the difference in lap times (& the difference in how the V8 supercar & the GT3 car are driven across the top of the mountain) @Robert Herndon, same driver (Chas Mostert) & again putting the car (Holden Commodore) on pole position.
Cheers
 
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This in car video does somewhat show just how steep the climb up the mountain is (yes, they have to brake & downshift a couple of time during their ascent) & then how steep the decent is.
Cheers
 
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