While I am starting this thread a few days early I am truly excited about this weekend, Because the biggest motorsport event on the Australian calender the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

This will be the biggest Bathurst race in a long time particularly with the passing of Bathurst legend Peter Brock in the past month and the championship being so close.

Are any of you Aussies going? I had hoped to go but my car registration was due so that crushed that hope.

http://www.v8supercar.com.au/

http://www.v8supercar.com.au/content/history/bathurst_facts/overview/?ind=M

http://www.bathurst1000.com.au/

http://www.supercheapauto1000.com/

http://www.hsv.com.au/images/racing/tracks/bathurst_map.gif

http://www.v8supercar.com.au//v8data/crct/crct_128.jpg

I am Tipping Mark Skaife / Garth Tander or T Kelly / R Kelly to take the race out. I cant see the Fords being a show there this year, They dont really agree with Bathurst.

Im not going defenetly because i live in Hong Kong and i dont have a car to go there, any of you guys going? good luck on you guuys who are going, wanted to see crashes in real life, just a spin out or whatever in front of me! not serious ones though, that would have been a real sad moment..lol

Spins out are entertaining if they end up facing in the wrong direction because in most cases they do a quick burnout to spin the car around. I saw two cars hit the wall in front of me at 240km/h earlier this year, thankfully neither driver was hurt so I guess that was decent entertainment.

pretty cool, but very unstable of the peoples life...

C'mon Ford!! you have to break the tradition and win this year! I know i'm a kiwi, but that darn greg murphy was at fault last year. I'm hoping for a strong showing from craig lowndes or russel ingall, or any other driver of the blue oval for that matter. and lets hope no kangaroos decide to show up again :D:D

C'mon Ford!! you have to break the tradition and win this year! I know i'm a kiwi, but that darn greg murphy was at fault last year. I'm hoping for a strong showing from craig lowndes or russel ingall, or any other driver of the blue oval for that matter. and lets hope no kangaroos decide to show up again :D:D

Well to be fair both drivers were at fault, Murphy had not passed Ambrose's B-Pillar and Ambrose did not provide racing room for Murphy.

That area is filled with Kangaroos, It is almost a guarantee that there will be a few run across the track this weekend. Lets hope they hit the Fords this time.

yeah, i'm just biased haha. well hopefully none get hit. its not nice for any driver and certainly not for the kangaroo!:D

I wish. I'm saving for a eurotrip in december, I can barely afford to pay attention.

I cant go but I'll be watching it on the Bigpond live thing.
I won't any one in a Holden to win.

I'm having my exams this week...
Ermm...if I could go...I also couldn't afford the ticket .
Post some pictures alright . No problem ain't ?

http://www.hrt.com.au/racing/index.asp?link=2006/news/brock_car.asp

For any Aussies that do go look out for this car and make sure you sign it. Very generous of HSV to do that.

I wish i could go but my parents are cheap and i havent got my P's yet but wheen i do im gonna go

I wish. I'm saving for a eurotrip in december, I can barely afford to pay attention.

Bah, Screw Europe. Bathurst would be worth it.

Practice sessions begin today.

We can discuss eurotrip vs bathurst later, I'll call you when I'm fangin down the autobahn in a rental CLS 63.

And by rental CLS 63, I mean the bus.

That circuit looks truely awesome and I'll be able to watch it this year because my cousin is going to tape it and send it over :D.

I just realised I will be leaving for Ireland while the race is on :(

I'll have to wait over a week to watch it.

wow i never realised the v8 supercars series got exposure or interest from places outside of Australasia

I think one of the American cable sports networks have coverage, So does China and the UK on another cable network.

Drivers critically injured....sounds bad...hope all will be well.......:(

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=99&id=2615137

Yes, That was a very bad accident indeed.

Mark Skaife appears to be fueled with ambition to win this years Bathurst for Brocky. His practice time of 2:06.9 was only 1/10 of a second slower than Greg Murphy's famous 2:06.8 all time lap record.

Cant wait for the top 10 shootout.

Watch out for Skaife and Rick Kelly in the shootout.

The 888 Ford of Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup won the Bathurst 1000 today followed closely by Rick Kelly/Todd Kelly.

There were more accidents and safety car periods today than there has been for a long time.


Sad news though, Mark Porter passed away shortly after the race today. He has been on life support since Friday afternoon after his horrific crash with David Clarke who is now recovering beside his family.

There seem to be an awful lot of crashes......are these and fatalities ''common'' so to speak, in V8 Supercars?

No definately not, There are always a few minor accidents but very rarely is there a race meet when very few cars finish the race.

Hasn't been a death for years either.

So I guess that Bathurst is one killer track then.

You could say that. It always has the highest casualty rate, being such a hard circuit and a long race.

R.I.P. Mark Porter.

I heard that on the news. Bloody shock. I'm surprised anyone managed to cross the line.

It was an alright race, definitely not the best. I think knowing that one man was on life support from qualifying alone really took the fun out of it.

Yes, Factor in the death of Peter Brock as well and you can understand why the place seemed to have a saddened mood all race weekend.

Imagine what the health and safety nannies are going to do to now.

But I do like that Lowndesy won the King of the Mountain cup. Apart from the bloody car he drove, it's fitting.

I wanted Jim Richards to win. Richards was one of Peter's best friends and a win there today would have equalled Brocky's 9 Bathurst wins record.

I felt a Holden should have won the race, But Peter would have been happy so long as the race was fair and enjoyable to watch.

Porters accident was just a freak accident, Wrong place at the wrong time. I hope the safety nannies leave this one alone.

I still find it ironic that Brocky was so in love with his Ford Daytona... and then it killed him. Almost as if it was planted as an assassin.

Anyway, my old man had a good idea; traffic lights at the blind sections. You could warn drivers of danger ahead, get them to slow down before that worthless crap safety car can catch up to them.

There are flags at every single corner still, But traffic lights or LCD displays would help with showing black flags and car number etc.

The officials wouldn't have had time to change to yellow flag conditions in time to stop David Clarke collecting Mark Porters car anyway though. It was just an unfortunate incident.

I just saw the video of the crash on the SPEED Report. It looked bad and at first I thought......well wait he got hit on the right side so he would be fine. But then I remembered the cars are right hand drive........instead of left.......and I knew then that his chances of survival were low. One of the hardest hits I have ever seen.......it happened too fast to be prevented. R.I.P. Mark Porter:( :(

Here is the video..........

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1584782660619383577&q=mark+porter&hl=en

What is even sadder is that Mark Porter was in a position to be able to claim the championship. Up to the start of the weekend he was second in the championship points and staring down the line at a full time drive in the V8 supercars next year.

That is one tricky part of the track. Even some of the more experienced V8 supercar drivers crashed in the same part of the track.

yes it is indeed very sad to hear about my fellow NZer mark porter. it is really unfortunate he had to be stationary and in that vulnerable position around that tight corner at the top of the mountain. Condolences to his family and everyone who was close to him.

On a happier note, congrats to craig lowndes for finally breaking the drought and finally ending holden's streak! he was in a position to take it last year but as murph put it, he choked. good luck to lowndes for a successful rest of the year to take the championship.