Clarkie’s ‘Bathurst Thursday’ Notepad
The first day at Bathurst is always interesting. It reveals a little about who has speed and who has a bit of work to do. No matter what has gone before, day one at Bathurst is the chance to start a weekend of redemption, and with probably only three contenders left in the championship hunt, there was plenty of redemption required.
Here’s how I saw the day.
We woke to frost-covered cars, a sure sign that a stunning Bathurst day lay ahead for what felt like a huge crowd to soak in the vitamin D. Our 52 helmet-clad warriors and hundreds in pitlane—none of that mattered. What did matter was the weather forecast, which says Friday will be even better before there is a 100% chance of rain on Saturday and a slim chance on Sunday.
So get the car right for dry running and qualifying.
Simple? Not really
Driver X is a little overcooked
Driver X* found a way to deal with the fact that he claims there has been a TV ban on him by providing the best crash of the day for the highlights reel. Driver X lost the tail of #87 Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro heading into The Cutting and slammed into the wall, tearing the car’s right-hand side off as it ran along the wall for 100m before coming to rest.
The right-hand side of the Camaro was pretty banged up, but it will look like nothing has happened when we arrive at the track after the crack Triple Eight crew puts it back together. No harm, no foul?
The challenge now is how the media-shy Driver X handles all the attention and whether he can dust himself off.
Triple Eight confident of rebuild after Pye crash – Auto Action
Stunt man pulls it off
Warren Luff drives stunt cars for a living at Movie World, and he proved his 20 plus years of doing so could help his racing in more ways than just keeping him sharp. Luff lost the Tradie Beer Camaro coming out of The Dipper and did a complete 360 before facing down the hill the right way with only a more scratch on the rear wing.
The showman in him resisted a fist pump out the window, just hot shoeing after he realised, he was OK and that other cars were coming.
Looking a little sheepish, he mused over the Movie World driving and extreme skills required to pull off the stunt of the day, before concluding it was most likely luck.
‘It was just pure luck’ – Luff relives near miss – Auto Action
Chaz Mostert 2024 Bathurst 1000, exhaust problems gave him an uphill battle
Ford engines not-so-cranky
A herculean effort by an army of Motorsport Powertrains (read DJR) people, Ford Performance, and the five Ford teams has provided them all with less cranky engines for Bathurst. Two truckloads of the latest spec engines arrived at the track on Thursday for the teams to use in place of the rebuilt engines with cranks that had previously been used and survived the rigours of Supercars racing.
All the new engines with the GT3 cranks will probably be in the cars by Friday, and fingers and toes will be crossed that the fix is a good one.
Tim Edwards confirmed that the Ford engine had no physical changes other than the crankshaft, putting to rest rumours that restrictor plates and the like were being used to gain parity after the transient dyno tests in the States.
He said the only changes were to the maps of both the GM and Ford engines, ironing out the bee’s dick differences at certain parts of the torque curve to provide identical output graphs.
There were a couple of engine issues for the Fords, the most prominent being the overheating in WIll Davison’s #17 Shell machine and some exhaust issues with Chaz Mostert’s #25 Optus Mobile 1 car.
Snake delays session
The co-drivers session was delayed by a snake on the track. Brad Jones Racing has denied it was a stunt to promote the Venom car.
Peter Xiberras at Bathurst 2024 in the ex-Graeme Crosby VK Commodore: Photo: Epic Photos
Peter X strangely absent
Drag racer and Supercars team owner Peter Xiberras is learning how to drive around corners in the ex-Graeme Crosby VK Commodore which is kind of the like the first Stone Brothers Racing touring cars for Australia… even thought it was a Kiwi product.
Xiberras is normally one of our favourite people to drop in for a chat with, but his driving duties mean he hasn’t been standing around waiting for us. Instead, ex-Triple Eight commercial guru, Peter Jamieson, has been doing the casual chats.
For the record, Peter X has a little bit to go if he is any chance to drive the #23 Nulon Camaro next year, which out spies tell us will be driver by Richie Stanaway.
The Piano Man and Friends – Thomas Randle and the Assistance Dogs… and Tyler Everingham
Who was fast… and not so fast
The smart teams will be thinking about 4pm on Sunday and what they need from the car, but we love looking at time sheets.
The first session was Matt Payne from Cam Waters and Will Brown. All expected as front runners.
Will Davison was down in 25th with overheating issues, and Craig Lowndes was slowest. Chaz Mostert had some exhaust issues but was still eighth which augers well for when that is fixed.
Brodie Kostecki was mid-pack, but Erebus boss Barry Ryan wasn’t worried because he knows where they were fuel and the like. Jayden Ojeda was the fastest for much of the co-drivers’ session after setting his quick time early with half a tank of fuel.
Otherwise, all was as expected. The first practice session for Friday is at 10.05 am with the qualifying later in the day, which in terms of race results it probably the least important qualifying of the year, but in terms of PR and media probably the most critical with the Top 10 Shootout scheduled for late in Saturday with its huge TV audience.
* Driver X is, for the record, Scott Pye, and we’re just having a bit of fun – as requested by the Pye-man – with the driver who is part of the combo we rated as the favourites heading into the weekend. We hope he can have a laugh!
Scott Pye and Will Brown at Bathurst 2024
