305 replies to this topic

[Zippel]

In that respect, the Supertouring Bathurst 1000, lasted as long as the NATCC. Just 2 years.

 

And having watched all 4 Bathurst 1000 events when they happened, I found the two 2 litre events to be the better races.

[ellrosso]

I was shooting at Bathurst in 1998 at both the 2 litre and V8 Supercar events (with a photographers pass at the V8's and as a spectator at the 2 litre event). From memory they were a week apart? Not sure...  The 2 Litre race was an absolute cracker with a race long battle between Jim Richards/Rydell in the Volvo and Jim's son Steven and Matt Neal in the Primera. Only about 16,000 spectators to see it from memory - you could swing a 30 ft rope on top of the mountain and not hit a soul so to speak. Real shame but the crowd for the V8 race was 47,000 on race day! Steven Richards had some consolation for coming 2 nd in the 2 litre race as he and Jason Bright scored a great win in the V8 race - certainly the big one on the CV as far as Aussie punters were concerned. Personally I really enjoyed the 2 litre cars but they never caught on with the public and Oz motorsport just couldn't sustain both categories.

[Bob Riebe]

Same failure for the 2 liter and 2.5 Challenge part of the Trans-Am series.

 

Most fans wanted to see the big cars not econoboxes. plus back then fans came to cheer for their Make of Car .That made the Trans-Am popular, foreign econoboxes were not relevant.

[Ray Bell]

Without a doubt, however...

 

The sheer public popularity of the Bathurst endurance race was built on fields across all classes. 1500cc Cortinas won the first of these events, VW beetles and Minis diced throughout on occasion, Studebaker Larks could lead opening laps.

[ellrosso]

Dead right Ray, I always felt the race lost its relevance once the classes were abolished (and a lot of interest as a spectacle too). Then the V8 Supercar era got rid of the privateers and ended up with a paltry grid of about 26 - 28 "cookie cutter" cars.

Sure the racing can be good at times, but the dreaded Safety Car periods are just mind numbing. The last year (2000 and half wet) I was shooting up there we had 14 Safety car interventions.....

[Lee Nicolle]

Dead right Ray, I always felt the race lost its relevance once the classes were abolished (and a lot of interest as a spectacle too). Then the V8 Supercar era got rid of the privateers and ended up with a paltry grid of about 26 - 28 "cookie cutter" cars.

Sure the racing can be good at times, but the dreaded Safety Car periods are just mind numbing. The last year (2000 and half wet) I was shooting up there we had 14 Safety car interventions.....

Nanny car is imperative,, how else do they close up the field every hour!

Brocks 6 lap win would never happen these days. Nanny car would be out every 5 laps!