Hi Guys
Just wondering if anyone is off to Bathurst this year. Couldnt get there last year due to work but this year we are on.
Happy to have a drink with any other Alfa fans and toast 1985 when the Alfa GTV6 of Colin Bond and Gregg Hansford ruled Group B, finished outright 8th and beat all the Commodores :-)
Should be a fun week :-) Thankfully the alcohol restrictions have been left at one slab per person per day, so at least we can have a drink.
Let me know if anyone is there and we can have a beer around the fire. I'll be the guy in the Alfa jacket.
Catch ya
Shane
Hi Shane
I will be a newbie to the Mountain this year, and am pretty excited about it. It's one of those things that should be done at least once in your lifetime.
I will be working though, but should be able to get up the mountain at some stage.
Repco are sponsoring the 'Miss V8' contest this year, so I will be on hand to see that everything is in order. It's a tough gig, but you have to take one for the team every now and then
So I'll look out for the Alfa jacket and you can look out for me- I'll be the one with a Miss V8 on each arm!
PM me your details and I will see you there.
Regards
David
Will do David. It's also my first time there.
I'll give you a yell and we can compare "fluffer" stories :-)
Hi Shane,
Ill be there and would be more than happy to join you for a drink to toast Bondy's mighty GTV6
Its my first time so Im exited as well
Can PM my details, Im sure you wont be to hard to find wearing an Alfa jacket
just like I will stand out coz I dont look like a shazza or dazza
Cheers Pep
Hey Pep have a blast mate, for I would love to have gone on a pilgrimage to Bathurst but suspect I probably never will. My brother went there back in 80's when the GTV6 and the BMW 635CSI etc were all running. He reckoned it was so awesome.
For me, those days were the glory days ;D, where as the two horse race between the V8s of Holden and Ford as per today doesn't cut it for me :(. As impressive in their own way as they may be I am biased and readily admit to it, but I for one wish that Bathurst would return to its roots as a production race for all sorts of makes and classes. I would love to see the V8 Audis, BMW, AMG Mercs, all running and why not GTA Alfas, Fiat Abarths etc etc running. Now that would be a serious race and one to really aspire to make the pilgrimage worth making. Dave
Have a great time guys, jealous as. Once again I probably won't get to see any of the race since my wife was born on that date an unspecified number of years earlier insists on celebrating the fact annually. Birthdays? Pah >:(
As with David the current two-horse race doesn't appeal to me anywhere near as much as the diverse, multi-car fields of the past (sadly true of DTM and other TC championships around the world as well), but with Bathurst I reckon the track, the spectacle, the whole event would be fantastic regardless.
David – I had an Alfa-mate in NZ called Peter Beck who drove a 635 CSi back in the hey days you referred to. He was running in the 1992 (I think?) race which was stopped due to the heavy rain with victory controversially being given to Jim 'Pack of a***holes' Richards in the GT-R. Peter wrote up an awesome account of his experience in the NZ AlfaNews magazine, and his recollection of the last few laps in the rain was truly memorable. On what turned out to be the penultimate lap he was firing down Conrod at over 260 km/h with visibility not much further than the end of the bonnet when he spotted a faint puff of smoke within the mist & rain. He had fractions of a second to decide whether to brake or keep the foot in & elected for the latter. He then burst out of the weather into clear air just before the turn-in point to the Chase, to find a car on each side of him spinning off the track. The race was called shortly after and I think he was glad of the opportunity to change his overalls.
Awesome stuff.
Hey all, I do agree with what L4omeo says so please don't misunderstand me, as I agree the spectacle would be so impressive, the driving, the engine roar, the battle between drivers and so on, and so can totally appreciate how special it would be to go to see it. I am sure those who do go will have a totally over the top experience, I am simply looking through the rose tinted glasses of yesterday and recall growing up as a kid into a teenager and my memories of not being able to get to the telly fast-enough to watch the Great Race; being glued to the box all day probably much to my parents disdain.
It is just that my bias against the local iron precludes me from doing that today. Maybe I have just got old and am not so keen on motor racing or something ??? ???
Anyway, what a fantastic story about your mate, Peter Beck. I can only imagine (well try to) just how he felt in those split seconds. I guess that is the difference between us club racers vrs professionals. I could never do what any of them do in racing flat out across the Mountain, not in a million years. So hats off to all who can. His write up of his experience would have made for fascinating reading.
Peter Beck used to race a 105 in NZ didnt he? The name certainly rings a bell.
Alister
David, you and I must be taking the same herbal medication for bordedom relief cause those dickhead yanks have ruined the best motor racing in the world. The holden /ford wank is the same as American Ringside Wrestling. All show. We dont want to see motor sport theatre, we want to see real competition and real racing. All Classes. Holden and ford just can't stand to be beaten so they wont let anyone in the camp that will. That's sportmanship for ya.
I used to be glued to the set all day with the front door jammed with a chair, the phone off the hook and an opened jerry can so I could smell the fuel (err..well almost).
Now I would rather watch the weather forecast.
Bring back Bathurst !!! (mummble, grizzle,chuck chunder, kick the cat,and piss on the neighbours cactus plants)
Not during the racing. Driven around the track to get the feel of it but that's about it.
I am told by some old timers that one time they used to have motor cycle racing as part of the whole Bathurst racing event and I understand that at another point due to a shit fight between the racing committee and the Bathurst Council, racing was moved to Orange for a few years.
I am passionate about Bathurst. That's why I have got the shits. They have ruined it. The technology to present the racing is world class but I want to see ALL makes racing here in the mixed classes. If a slower obstacle is in your way, well, stiff. It changes the entire race strattegy and is visually more exciting.
I put it to you like this: If you got a Holden shell and a Ford shell and transposed the mechanicals so that a Holden was running Ford gear and vice versa,would anyone know the difference? What would the crowd react like if Mazda won outright? Or a Skoda for that matter.
Ok, hands up everyone who would prefer a whole bunch of manufacturers represented in touring car racing .... so, that's everyone? Not exactly a revelation then. Even the diehards fans and the series organisers are in agreement with that. Personally, I have never liked the two-horse race (nor the cynical way it was conceived) but it's not an anti Holden or Ford thing - I don't like it in the DTM or in any of the other formula-based touring car series around the world either. I also miss the days where the cars bore some correlation to their road-going counterparts, long time ago that it was.
But, while the 'glory days' may be gone I still love touring car racing, and with Bathurst the simply incredible nature of the circuit, the world-class technical coverage, the passion and atmosphere, it's as good an event for this type of racing as you'll find anywhere. And if the limited selection of cars and classes on offer doesn't float your boat, there's always the 12-hour in February. I know where I'm going to be on Sunday, and it 'aint watching the weather forecast.
Actually, if that's what my wife wants to do on her birthday then that's exactly what I'll be doing :'(
Shane/David, hope you guys have a great time, maybe join you there next year.
BTW Alister - yes, Peter Beck did (probably still does) race in NZ. I've never seen him race his own car though so I'm not sure what he's run in the past - he's one of these guys that turns up at events where other people offer him drives, only to commit the cardinal sin of posting quicker times than the owner. Got a bit of talent and, judging by his Bathurst exploits, some big cajones ;D
I won't be there this year, though I did pass through Bathurst last weekend and things were starting to get quite busy.
But I was there in 1985 and 1986 where the GTV6s ruled. I was a Uni student at Bathurst at the time and would skive off from lectures to attend practice during the week... :)
I wasn't an Alfa Romeo owner back then and my interests in Alfas were only lukewarm. But I do recall a number of things from those two years.
In 1985 I remember seeing Bond's GTV6 in the paddock - a in a large tent I think. It did make an impression as I bought a GTV6 poster with both the Bond and Jones car on it and it had pride of place on my bedroom wall at Uni for the time I was there. I think I still have it somewhere rolled up at home. Funnily enough I celebrated the Jaguar XJS win by buying a green Jaguar windcheater (fleeces weren't invented) and later that year at the Sydney Motor Show some kid thought I worked for Jaguar! (I was only 20 at the time... ::))
In 1986 I can vividly remember a wet practice session where the only two drivers truly on it were Jim Richards in the BMW 635 CSi and Lucio Cesario in the blue Pye sponsored GTV6. I even saw him do a complete 360 spin at McPhillamy and not hit anything! A feat that Allan Moffat in the Brock Commodore couldn't manage later that day!
Great memories and whilst the BMWs exhausts may have been louder the GTV6s were definitely sweeter... 8)
Great stories indeed Paul. You're right about the exhaust notes - the BMWs were all blare, the Alfas were a sweet howl 8)
I will be there on Sunday, flying in for the day, 2nd year and a GTV6 owner. We have a car running - hoprfully at the top end of the field. Let me know where you are going to be and PM me your number and i will give you a call.
Matt
Hi Guys
had an absolute blast. Struggled with the one slab per day limit :-), blew up Kerry's Rav4 50ks from bathurst :-( RACV total care is the best, they gave me a new SV6 to drive back home :-)
Flew the flag for Alfa all weekend, even was on the track under the podium at the end holdin up the alfa hat but not sure if it made it to tv :-)
Spoke to the last guys with the last Alfa allowed to race on during the Bathurst weekend. Apparently they are changing the rules for touring car masters, must be group A and must be ovr 2 litres I think. :-(
No prob I'll wear the alfa gear next year anyway.
Guys if you have ever wanted to go - go. All the stories about burning cars and dickheads are long in the past. Tey are 4 years into a 5 year plan to clean it up, thee were heaps of families there and apparently over 182,000 people over 4 dyas and only 55 odd arrests, 30 for drink/drug driving. Didnt see one punch or hear a bad word, just a bunch of people having a great time and appreaciating car, the mountain, and Aussie culture.
The camping spot we have is right on top and has the most magnificent view, worht the trip just for that.
Now, what do I do about the Rav4 with a blown motor. I wonder if I can squeeze a V6 from a 164 in and make a Rav4 GTA :-)
Catch ya
Shane
As one who first went to Bathurst waaaay back in 1967 I love the Bathurst stories. BTDT. I even have photos of various Alfas and most other manufacturers racing there over the years, long before it all became Australia's version of Nascar and as boring and as predictable as dog droppings. Check out the footage of last Sunday's rollover with the panels and other bits being distributed over the landscape in the process and tell me how these race cars are related in the slightest way to what the two manufacturers in this race to see who can spend the most money are selling to Fred Public.
At least the public could relate to the cars that raced around the mountain back then and the watchers of those races could compare cars and drivers unlike the programmed robots/divas behind the wheel these days. Watching a 1600 Datsun outrun a V8 across the top of the mountain was not unusual or seeing Moffat take the escape road in to Bathrust at the bottom of Conrod so that he could get a better start to his hot lap (most thought he had run out of brakes) and grab pole position after blowing the lap record into the weeds is still one of my favoured memories of many pilgrimages to the Mountain. A pre-race night atop the mountain among the ferals is indescribable and only understood by those who done it.
The combined motor bikes and car meetings were only at Easter and also produced some of the best ever racing. The annual Bathurst event was only ever a one-race weekend until recent times when the organsiers had to do something to entertain the masses
Great stories guys.
I agree edmunds, anyone who believes there's much of a relationship between the race-cars and their road-going counterparts is deluded, and I miss that connection (along with the lack of variety of machinery). Sadly, no different to touring car racing anywhere these days really. Don't agree that it's made the racing itself boring or predictable though, but each to their own. Judging by the accounts from Shane and others who have attended, I think the masses are still being well entertained!
BTW I remember Larry Perkins 'doing a Moffat' with the escape road during a Top Ten shoot-out some years later, but they had reprofiled the corner by then and he didn't get any advantage.
QuoteNow, what do I do about the Rav4 with a blown motor. I wonder if I can squeeze a V6 from a 164 in and make a Rav4 GTA :-)
I'm thinking 'No'.
;)
Cheers
Rory
Thanks for the posts Shane, sounds like a fun weekend. Might see you there one year after hearing it's not too bogan!!
Quote from: edmunds on October 14, 2010, 10:50:59 AM
At least the public could relate to the cars that raced around the mountain back then and the watchers of those races could compare cars and drivers unlike the programmed robots/divas behind the wheel these days.
This sounds a little unfair to me Edmunds, why do you say that about the modern drivers? Drivers are the same now as they were 100 years ago. They don't make the rules, and they just want to drive the fastest thing they can.
I agree the cars are no the same as the ones you can buy. I didnt know until my mate one a tour of the Vodafone pit that they actually shorten the body of the cars by around 30cm as well by cutting they at the rear quarter panel !!!!!!
"Production Cars" indeed.
But then , as I said to a couple of people on the weekend, if it makes money then they will stay with the format. If numbers go down they will change. Numbers were up around 3000 or so this year and i dont see that trend changing.
As a non racing nut (i dont live for it , i just love cars - oh and bikes now as well ) to be able to get so close to the track and the cars, for 4 days for around $150 with paddock access, so you can stand behind the pits and watch them doing their thing, is pretty hard to beat.
If only it was like that in F1 at Albert Park :-)
Then again AROCA track days at Phillip Island are free for spectators, the cars are awesome, and the drivers are all nice guys :-)
Schedule Permitting next year it will be MotoGP camping on the back of the Ducati :-)
Schedule Permitting next year it will be MotoGP camping on the back of the Ducati :-)
[/quote]
Looking at the weather this weekend, I think you made a very wiselucky decision to go the mountain and not the island this year. Imagine setting your tent up today at PI :D
Hang on one second, you are telling me that my comfordmadore FPVHSV XR-SS-V8 in my driveway is not and the same as a V8 Supercar.
I feel somewhat cheated now and robbed of $75000, I am sure you have got your facts incorrect.
I recall seeing somewhere that the only shared component between a V8 supercar and the production cars is the driver's door!!! Can someone concur.
Neil
QuoteI recall seeing somewhere that the only shared component between a V8 supercar and the production cars is the driver's door!!!
Well, I did see Garth Tander's drivers door fall off on Sunday, so it's the same quality as the road-car part ;)
Quote"Production Cars" indeed.
In fairness, it's been a long time since anyone (series organisers included) claimed these were production cars. They're simply built to a formula.
You're correct with your comments on the changes to the cars Shane. The company I work for is minor sponsors of the Triple Eight team and we have some contact with them. One of our guys was chatting with their crew about the change from Ford to Holden and the challenges this presented, the response was it was actually quite easy since there is so much commonality under the skin that their 'Falcon' components bolt straight into their 'Commodore'. It's not NASCAR, but it's gone a fair way along that path and with their new 'Car Of The Future' soon to be introduced that's only likely to continue.
These days it's not about manufacturer versus manufacturer and competition between their products, it's about teams competing under parity-based regulations. As a spectator you would now align your support with a team or driver rather than a marque or particular car as we used to. Like it or loath it, the series is expanding, support is growing, TV ratings are up, aside from the probability of a 3rd (& possibly 4th) marque joining in the next two years I'd say it 'aint going to change course anytime soon.
Quote from: shane wescott on October 15, 2010, 09:03:53 AM
I agree the cars are no the same as the ones you can buy. I didnt know until my mate one a tour of the Vodafone pit that they actually shorten the body of the cars by around 30cm as well by cutting they at the rear quarter panel !!!!!!
"Production Cars" indeed.
But then , as I said to a couple of people on the weekend, if it makes money then they will stay with the format. If numbers go down they will change. Numbers were up around 3000 or so this year and i dont see that trend changing.
As a non racing nut (i dont live for it , i just love cars - oh and bikes now as well ) to be able to get so close to the track and the cars, for 4 days for around $150 with paddock access, so you can stand behind the pits and watch them doing their thing, is pretty hard to beat.
If only it was like that in F1 at Albert Park :-)
Then again AROCA track days at Phillip Island are free for spectators, the cars are awesome, and the drivers are all nice guys :-)
Schedule Permitting next year it will be MotoGP camping on the back of the Ducati :-)
I didn't think I would comment further on this as I had said my piece as to how I feel about Bathurst these days. But and while I agree with Shane that I too am also first and foremost an Italian car enthusiast, as well as loving Ducatis (especially classic ones), I am not a racing nut. Hence, attending Bathurst for the annual two horse race doesn't interest me.
However, in terms of value for money while I would agree $150 is pretty decent value in attending Bathurst, for me, I actually think even better value still is attending the Goodwood Revival meeting, though it is only held over 2 days rather than 4. I totally enjoyed that experience, since the cars and bikes, let alone all the other side attractions, displays was right up my ally. It is all about classic cars not modern, money no object GM/Ford rivallery, which as described above is so sanitised that it really simply comes down to budgets, drivers and a dose of good luck, for in all seriousness there is so little in terms of technology between the makes. Frankly, I had to laugh when the door fell off Tanders car, what a pisser, and how much does a V8 supercar cost, and yet the build quality is suspect. hmn !! ???
Very interesting Paul, I hope you are right.
However the last time Nisaan won and the Sierras won the average punters were not that amused. Definitely not happy Jane.
Some are still burning effigies. :)
Brand loyalty shifting to team loyalty ? Er nice PR pedal,just needs a lot of soap to wash.It's just not the Ocker mindset.
....On reflection, the weather report wasn't that bad.
Hey Shane
I was on the roof above the podium at the end. I'll sift through my photos and post one of you and your hat if I can find one. Were you anywhere near The Stig?
Guys, if you think it's hard to pick the differences between the current Fords and Holdens, try picking the difference between 20 blondes!! (Miss V8 contest)
Regards
RL
QuoteBrand loyalty shifting to team loyalty ? Er nice PR pedal,just needs a lot of soap to wash.It's just not the Ocker mindset
Then why is it so successful and sustainable? In fact it's still growing! It's not PR pedal, it's reality. Whether it floats your particular boat is a whole different story.
I predicted it would last about 4 seasons and I've been proven well wrong. Turbo Volvos beaten Holdens was much more my thing. Robbie Francevic taking down all-comers at the Wellington Street Race is an indelible memory for me - remember that Paul?
Cheers
Rory
No they sure didn't, but it didn't help that he was a Kiwi (and a pretty arrogant & outspoken one to boot) ;)
Good years indeed.
Cheers
Rory
I get it.
For all you current Bathurst 1000 fans who diet on Golden Arch take away food, Clayton's Tonic drinks to wash it all down with, American Ringside Wrestling, Drag Racing and prefer the slick look of motor bikes with all the aero wrap arounds instead of seeing the engineering of the mechanicals of the so called naked bikes, I get it.
Oh but hang on, you're an Alfa fan ? You know the guy, individualistic, slightly eccentric, quirky, mostly intelligent, often very practical, passionate about Alfa history and the real motor racing that got it there. You'd love to see Alfa make a big splash in motor racing in Oz just for once so you could show all your doubting mates who think you are a dickhead for owning that weird little brand of motor car how wrong they are. Class racing at Bathurst should do it.
Sheit, I forgot. That's Clayton's ring side racing now.
Think of all the stuff that's popular that you don't agree with. Since when is popularity a guage for anything? If we follow that logic, we would all be driving Corollas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claytons
I just want to be clear that my point of view is only meant to reflect how I think about this subject and should not be mistaken for putting anyone on this thread down for supporting the event. Respectful debates are always interesting. So Shane if you are still us, you can remove those pins from the MD voodoo doll now 'cause lately I 've been experiencing some strange pains in the butt... ;D
QuoteI just want to be clear that my point of view is only meant to reflect how I think about this subject and should not be mistaken for putting anyone on this thread down for supporting the event
How can you make this claim after what you said in your first sentence? If you don't like it, fine, say so and why. But you can't describe the sport and its fans as you have done then credibly claim to be holding a respectful debate.
Oh, and you don't like classic racing at Bathurst either. Got anything constructive to add here?
Message received. In the political vernacular,I am moving forward. :)
You are an even handed barometer Paul and I respect your opinion.