2014 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour: 7-9 February (Merged)

[ff s conscience]

In car with Vicious Rumour...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swhk...e_gdata_player

[ff s conscience]

Remember last year it was all a mess with the GT first hour....

I believe Clearwater ran a hybrid spec last year too.

Glad that's gone.

[Reload]

FF, i just watched the YouTube video of Tony's accident in the 2014 deceased thread and i didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Tony was incredibly cautious over the top and Fiore looked to be too impatient and was at fault (from what i can see) You could sense the huge disappointment with Tony, however when the F.... Starting flying I had to have a laugh.

[ff s conscience]

I'm always conducting myself well.... Whaddya mean !

So, did "someone " get the Blancpain DHA tyres on their car effy? Rather than commercial DH or DM

If so, we tested Balzan on them against Blancpain Michelin.

The DHA is a good tyre for sure, but we still opted for Michelin based on a good test of both.

Full credit to SVG and the Quinn team... Reliability was always the issue, and they nailed it.

[ff s conscience]

Originally Posted by Reload

FF, i just watched the YouTube video of Tony's accident in the 2014 deceased thread and i didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Tony was incredibly cautious over the top and Fiore looked to be too impatient and was at fault (from what i can see) You could sense the huge disappointment with Tony, however when the F.... Starting flying I had to have a laugh.

We opted for cry.

Tony was on his very first ever lap there remember, and he followed experienced campaigner Garth Walden around.... A pretty smart move I reckon.

He saw the AF corsa car coming, he slowed and moved over to encourage him to pass.

Wyatt maybe gave Tony too much room, or certainly more than Fiore thought he was going to.... But Fiore still had lots of room to pass, or ideally slow and wait... It was an out lap... What's the hurry?

Fiore mis judged the action of two gent drivers, he misjudged his decision, and he misjudged his pass.

Stewards declared it a racing incident, due to Wyatts pass on us.

[TCR]

Originally Posted by KSM86

Anyone here have there tent up with Ferrari and.porsche flags??good to see other then your typical Holden ford flags.

Yep, that was me. The same nutter who was waving the Ferrari flag around in pit lane for the presentation

Sounds like we just about had a tenthers meeting at McPhillamy Park but didn't realise it.

Good to see some teams already commiting to 2015. Bring it on!

[david5]

Originally Posted by TCR

Yep, that was me. The same nutter who was waving the Ferrari flag around in pit lane for the presentation

Sounds like we just about had a tenthers meeting at McPhillamy Park but didn't realise it.

Good to see some teams already commiting to 2015. Bring it on!

Ha, we were two rows behind you, silver 100 series cruiser.

[Reload]

Originally Posted by TCR

Yep, that was me. The same nutter who was waving the Ferrari flag around in pit lane for the presentation

Sounds like we just about had a tenthers meeting at McPhillamy Park but didn't realise it.

Good to see some teams already commiting to 2015. Bring it on!

Seems like a popular spot for many of us, so probably a good spot for a meet up next year. A Saturday night dinner might work as well ?

[alfacors]

The flag helped my finish photo TCR

[KSM86]

Originally Posted by TCR

Yep, that was me. The same nutter who was waving the Ferrari flag around in pit lane for the presentation

Sounds like we just about had a tenthers meeting at McPhillamy Park but didn't realise it.

Good to see some teams already commiting to 2015. Bring it on!

Good to see! Next year we must all meet up.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by TCR

Yep, that was me. The same nutter who was waving the Ferrari flag around in pit lane for the presentation

That was you?

We gotta organise something for next year.

[Stephen Green]

Enough is enough. Stop goading each other or several of you will be experiencing the delights of a holiday from ten-tenths

[GTRMagic]

Just to clear up the subject at hand... we have been fortunate enough to receive a detailed account from fellow forumer & JBS B12 team member Sheep Stations on the events that transpired regarding the #23 JBS Lamborghini.

The following is the account as shared via email, and reproduced with permission:

Originally Posted by Sheep Stations

I'm a team member on the JBS Lamborghini and have a factual account to share about the class change. I think its important to restore the integrity of our team.

Fact: we were chasing top end speed on the straights as the 2013 aero slowed the car down in Sepang…big-time. Bathurst is hard to overtake over the top so the extra aero is a placebo not a real help and with the weather being dry, the 2011 sleeker package was our best bet in chasing the 458’s and SLS’s that have shown to be quicker in a straight line. This was no tinkering with the rules or cheating, just a strategy to try and counter our opponents tangible advantages.

Fact: The car was classified B class by the organisers in this spec. We didn’t ask for it, just happened. Dave goes out and cracks a fast time on the new surface and in ideal cool conditions and the wolves start baying. We cop a full-blown scrutineers check and an anomaly in the brake caliper piston size is picked up compared to the FIA homologation spec.

Fact: the piston sizes were 2mm smaller than they should have been. That’s right folks, not an enhancement, a reduction in brake performance. Turns out they were incorrectly fitted to the car from new. The only calipers we could find that solved the problem were production vehicle calipers that had a bridge which prevented a safe and effective mid-race pad change so we asked for the car to be elevated to A class for a mutually satisfactory result. As the car in 2011 spec had more anomalies when elevated to A class than it did sitting in B class with smaller brakes , we couldn’t leave it with the 2011 aero package for fear of the insinuated technical application of post-race penalties or exclusion. And full credit to the C of C and his team, common sense prevailed over some technical p#ssing contest in allowing the move to A class before Q1.

Fact: We borrowed some bits, stripped others off the spare car and turned the car into 2013 spec in good time and turned up for Qual 2. We were in good spirits and looking forward to a change of fortunes and then skip turned it all to *****.

In summary, was a good plan but for a vehicle assembly stuff up. And if the absolute full letter of the FIA homologation law was applied to every car this year, it would have been a very small field. But we drew attention to ourselves. If Dave had of wandered about doing 9’s with a big grin on his melon, the weekend could have gone a lot different. But we probably would have had scrutineers uncover the caliper issue (that have run the last three 12 hour events) post-race and then would have really copped the slings and arrows…

The #23 JBS Lamborghini changed classes twice, neither of which seem to be of their doing, which ultimately would not have the outcome of their weekend. There is nothing in the above that doesnt ring true with various statements from RML, Speedcafe and other media outlets across the weekend. Thanks for the heads up Sheep Stations.

This thread shall remain closed to avoid any further controversy on the subject

[TCR]

Originally Posted by alfacors

The flag helped my finish photo TCR

Glad I could help mate. Was keeping an eye out for you over he weekend but never did see you....ninja

[alfacors]

Was a hectic weekend, still didn't get everywhere I had planned to!

[FIRE]

Great finish.

[TCR]

I'll start this post by saying what a wonderful job the promoters have done in developing the Bathurst 12 hour into a world class event. It's the one event in Australia that I most look forward to each year. However, in saying that, I'm sure there are things that people would like to see changed and/or improved, so let's here them (keep it positive)!!

As far as the 12 hour grid goes, whilst we didn't have the numbers this year, I think most would agree we have a big improvement in quality. Obviously we'd all like to see a full 55 car grid turnout for the event, so perhaps the promoter could do a bit more advertising both locally and overseas, look at the cost of entry fees, or put together some well priced freight packages for the overseas teams, to encourage a few more solid entries?

As for the format of the weekend, I think the scheduling is pretty good. I liked the Class A shootout on the Saturday afternoon, but maybe it could be held at say 4.30pm as the last event of the day? Only other thing would be maybe a 6am start on Sunday morning?

As for the supports, I loved the Radicals, I think they were a great fit for the event. Always enjoy the IP cars or Sports Sedans, but I must say I'm pretty much over the HQs and Geminis. Ideally I think a field of Historic Sports Cars would be a perfect for the event, or maybe even a Prodsports 1 Hour enduro if they want to stick to the enduro format. You could argue that a Prodsports class could take away a couple of potential 12 hour entries, but realistically there are only a couple of guys running in Prodsports would even consider an entry into the 12hr. Obviously it will all come down to getting numbers to commit.

Great to see the range and quality of merchandise has improved over the years, but maybe a little more variety in the way of shirts next year?

Lastly, the range and price of food at the track leaves a bit to be desired. The Pit Cafe had some reasonable food, but I must say my $8 pie left a bit of an ordinary taste in my mouth. At the top of the mountain it was good to actually see a food van this year, but I still think they could do with a bit more variety.

What about you guys?

[Reload]

Originally Posted by TCR

I'll start this post by saying what a wonderful job the promoters have done in developing the Bathurst 12 hour into a world class event. It's the one event in Australia that I most look forward to each year. However, in saying that, I'm sure there are things that people would like to see changed and/or improved, so let's here them (keep it positive)!!

As far as the 12 hour grid goes, whilst we didn't have the numbers this year, I think most would agree we have a big improvement in quality. Obviously we'd all like to see a full 55 car grid turnout for the event, so perhaps the promoter could do a bit more advertising both locally and overseas, look at the cost of entry fees, or put together some well priced freight packages for the overseas teams, to encourage a few more solid entries?

As for the format of the weekend, I think the scheduling is pretty good. I liked the Class A shootout on the Saturday afternoon, but maybe it could be held at say 4.30pm as the last event of the day? Only other thing would be maybe a 6am start on Sunday morning?

As for the supports, I loved the Radicals, I think they were a great fit for the event. Always enjoy the IP cars or Sports Sedans, but I must say I'm pretty much over the HQs and Geminis. Ideally I think a field of Historic Sports Cars would be a perfect for the event, or maybe even a Prodsports 1 Hour enduro if they want to stick to the enduro format. You could argue that a Prodsports class could take away a couple of potential 12 hour entries, but realistically there are only a couple of guys running in Prodsports would even consider an entry into the 12hr. Obviously it will all come down to getting numbers to commit.

Great to see the range and quality of merchandise has improved over the years, but maybe a little more variety in the way of shirts next year?

Lastly, the range and price of food at the track leaves a bit to be desired. The Pit Cafe had some reasonable food, but I must say my $8 pie left a bit of an ordinary taste in my mouth. At the top of the mountain it was good to actually see a food van this year, but I still think they could do with a bit more variety.

What about you guys?

I don't know what can be done regarding safety issues, however a lifting of the 55 car cap may put the race in a position where late withdrawals can still leave a 50 plus car field. Ideally a 20 car GT3 field and a 15 car B class would still allow for maybe 2 or 3 other classes. I'm all for more cars and less classes.
As far as the support categories go I fully agree with you that the HQ's have had their day and personally i would love to see either Group A/C, TCM, Aussie racing cars or Sports Sedans. Is there still potential to have a 6 hour production race on the Saturday ? The cost of food and drink is irrelevant to any fan who is well organized as you can/should bring your own if costs are an issue. With many spectators supporting the event for 12 plus hours on the Sunday, it wouldn't take too much effort in letting the drivers do a post race lap to allow the paying public to show their appreciation.

[D.R.T.]

I think the less amount of cars on the grid actually helped with the quality of the racing. Last year we had more cars and more yellows while this year saw slightly less cars (more depth in quality) and allowed for more green flag running.

I am supportive of more (later) running on the Saturday. A twilight Class A qualifying with a production car 1/2/3 hour into the evening I think would be awesome for the event and provide a bit more for the punters at the track. While still leaving a 1 hour residence access break around 6pm - 7pm.

That said, the Saturday stroll through the pits being in around the teams/ cars while prepping for Sunday is a real highlight.

I would also be supporting of a 6am or earlier start, get a guaranteed dark start before the sun breaks.

Supports wise - I'd be happy with the introduction of Group A/C or whatever they call them these days. I think the connection the cars have to the circuits history would be a real plus for the event.

[TCR]

We checked out the Pit Cafe on Friday, but after that we made sure we were self sufficient as far as food went for the weekend

A post race "parade" lap sounds like a good idea unless it's going to screw with timing for presentations, and putting together a news story for the 6 o'clock news. Maybe in that respect a 6am start instead of 6.15am would help?

[velly4]

One problem with running qualifying so late on Saturday is the increased risk of more non starters due to accident damage.

I'm sure a couple of the guys on here can confirm how much extra strain a later quali time would put on teams prep work for the race.

[TCR]

Originally Posted by velly4

One problem with running qualifying so late on Saturday is the increased risk of more non starters due to accident damage.

Yeah that is a possibility, but if you have a decent accident is a couple of hours really going to be the difference between having a go at fixing it or not?

Most guys who withdrew from the race because of accident damage did so because the car was too badly damaged or lack of suitable tools / spares, not due to lack of time. In saying that, I'm sure the crew of the Daytona Coupe could have used a couple more hours of sleep before race start

[alfacors]

Originally Posted by TCR

We checked out the Pit Cafe on Friday, but after that we made sure we were self sufficient as far as food went for the weekend

A post race "parade" lap sounds like a good idea unless it's going to screw with timing for presentations, and putting together a news story for the 6 o'clock news. Maybe in that respect a 6am start instead of 6.15am would help?

The problem with a "Parade Lap" is the length of the circuit. It would take ages for all of the field to complete the parade lap. Pretty sure we haven't had it for the 1000 for many a year either.

I don't mind a 6am-6pm race, would give more time for footage to make it to the news stations rather than the rush we have on now.

[alfacors]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

I am supportive of more (later) running on the Saturday. A twilight Class A qualifying with a production car 1/2/3 hour into the evening I think would be awesome for the event and provide a bit more for the punters at the track. While still leaving a 1 hour residence access break around 6pm - 7pm.

Don't forget you have track officials and volunteers who have been at the circuit since early on Saturday morning, having them work into the night on Saturday followed by a 12 hour race on Sunday is asking a lot.

[alfacors]

Originally Posted by TCR

Great to see the range and quality of merchandise has improved over the years, but maybe a little more variety in the way of shirts next year?

Lastly, the range and price of food at the track leaves a bit to be desired. The Pit Cafe had some reasonable food, but I must say my $8 pie left a bit of an ordinary taste in my mouth. At the top of the mountain it was good to actually see a food van this year, but I still think they could do with a bit more variety.

What about you guys?

Merchandise will grow with the event. The more people buy, the more they will bring more to be bought. They also don't want to be stuck with a lot of stock they can't move after the event.

Pit Cafe was very expensive. The bacon and egg rolls at $6 at Harris Park were far better value than any food at the Cafe. That said the 1L Maximus Sports Drinks were well worth buying for me on Saturday afternoon!