It is that time of year once again when the V8 Supercars roll into the New South Wales country town of Bathurst, located in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales.
It’s a 203 kilometre drive of some two hours and 42 minutes west of Sydney to a town synonymous with motorsport for the V8s to drive and race at one of the world’s most iconic racetracks, Mount Panorama.
It is all part of a massive weekend in motorsport across the world on both four wheels and two.
Formula One takes over another iconic circuit in Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix, and MotoGP hits the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Most Australian motorsport will direct most of their attention to Bathurst, and the close, fierce battle that is expected across the weekend – especially with the battle for the championship heating up.
Four-time ATCC/V8 Supercars and Bathurst 1000 champion Jamie Whincup is leading the championship by 96 points over his teammate, three-time ATCC/V8 Supercars Champion and five-time Bathurst 1000 champion Craig Lowndes.
One-time Bathurst champion Will Davison is in third, followed by his Ford Performance Racing teammate Mark Winterbottom in fourth, with one-time ATCC/V8 Supercar Champion James Courtney and Brad Jones Racing driver Fabian Coulthard the only other drivers realistically in contention for the 2013 championship.
In terms of the circuit, Mount Panorama is 6.213km with 23 turns, the average track distance between each turn being 0.270km.
This ranks seventh on the V8 Supercars calendar (including Albert Park and Sydney Motorsport Park), and it is currently the fastest track on the V8 Supercars circuit.
If the track conditions are right, there is also a distinct possibility that the V8 Supercars lap records of Craig Lowndes (Practice: 2:06.8012) and Greg Murphy (Top 10 Shootout: 2:06.859) may well be broken, and possibly by a large margin.
In terms of what is required from the car, you need a fine balance between having a minimum downforce configuration for the big, long straights in Sector 1 and Sector 3, and a maximum downforce configuration for the numerous twists and turns in Sector 2.
So you need great aerodynamic efficiency, and having a very good set-up that suits your car is vital.
You also need good braking, good tyre life, and good fuel consumption. In general, you generally want a good handling and well balanced car.
If you don’t have this, Mount Panorama is one of the few circuits in the world where the driver can have a great influence over the performance of the car,meaning you can regain some of this deficit or extend your margin over your competitors.
My prediction for the weekend is for the lap record to be broken by quite a margin, if the track condition is right. I am predicting a lap time of around a 2:06.3247, probably in the Friday qualifying session.
I also think that in this qualifying session that all 28 regular cars in the championship will qualify within a second of each, which would be the closest qualifying session in the history of Bathurst – and in V8 Supercars, relative to the circuit length.
I’m tipping Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell to win the race on Sunday, both of them to be one step closer to the inaugural Pirtek Enduro Cup, and for Whincup to be one step closer to his fifth ATCC/V8 Supercars Championship.
John Jennings
Guest
And one more thing Currently we have 2 Aussies driving f1. I'd say we do things pretty well don't you?
John Jennings
Guest
Nicely said mark. I can't believe the nonsense that some people go on with. You are so far off track Samuel. It's not even funny. The lead v8 supercar drivers you mention are some of the best our country produces and up there with the best in the world. The cars have been developed over decades to suit the local circuits and the fans that watch them. We love v8's! I love f1 but I'd watch the v8's over them every day of the week. They are boringly perfect. Bathurst is our biggest event and provides an experience like no other for drivers and fans. We can camp track side for days of motor sports and Australian way of life. Bring vettel over here for a year and he would need a first class team like red bull just to be in the top ten but it would likely take him more than a year to come to terms with the way things are done down here and the very demanding circuits Our commentators are excellent. The provide quality information with expert data and great delivery. If I had to listen to those dry old poms for a day of Bathurst I would turn it off. The coverage is the best in the world and the list goes on. Christ even our grid girls make the f1 teams look lame. Come and enjoy or not. It won't change a thing. Oh and one more thing. Ask any kid who he would want to be when he grows up and I promise you won't be hearing any names other than Lowndes, wincup, Johnson, Courtney and many others from our great race. Who's vettal?
Ken
Guest
Surely if you're a racing fan you recognise it's not that simple? There's only a handful of F1 seats to go around and politics and money play their part as much as talent does. The top 10 drivers in F1 could more or less lay claim to being the top 10 (track) drivers in the world. The bottom 10 drivers in F1 probably couldn't snag a podium in V8's over a season. There's no shame in Lowndes and Courtney having spent a couple of years in Europe and coming home out of money. For guys without a heap of sponsorship behind them it's a lucky dip.
Tlux
Guest
Nick, F1 coverage is centrally controlled by FOM and has been for sometime. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Mark Young
Roar Guru
Gday Ryan! Great to have you writing about Motor Sports! I am going to fly contrary to Nick and Sam and say that IMHO the V8 supercar drivers are tip top. They are not good enough to be F1 champions but by golly they are darn close! Craig Lowndes drove an F1 around Mount Panorama a whisker slower then Jenson Button despite it being his first outing in a single seater for over a decade and first time in an F1. James Courtney was about to get a Jaguar drive before a horror 350kmph smash at Monza derailed his career. And Marcus Ambrose went from being at the top of V8s to being one of the better NASCAR driver and easily the best on road circuits. And I think that Channel 10 does an excellent job - They take their motor racing very seriously and have guys like Greg Rust and Darryl Beattie who are knowledgeable, passionate and would rather discuss the news, then have some joke about what biffo said to johnno last night. But to each their own! Mount Panorama is just a treat of a race track, fast, challenging, uncompromising and brutal. Button RAVED about it when he came out to do some laps for Vodafone in 2011. This season of V8s has been a treat as the two dominant teams 888 and FPR have been evenly matched up the front while a host of new faces like Mostert, McLaughlin, Van Gisbergen, Reynolds and Coutlhard have popped in brilliant efforts around them. I'm blogging the Top 10 shootout on Saturday and watching the race when "infant daughters supervising and wrangling" doesn't demand my urgent attention! Enjoy the race!
Nick
Roar Guru
Superb TV coverage of the Grand Prix? You are kidding right? Grand prix coverage is controlled by the host nation. There are particular countries who haven't a clue in how to successfully or properly present a balanced coverage. For example, the Indian grand prix spent an enormous amount of coverage on the Force India cars. The German grand prix spent all day focused on Vettel or Sutil. China can't televise a race to save it's life. American coverage focused only on the main straight. And lets not even begin to describe just how appalling the channel 10 hosts are. Seriously, why can't they just go straight to the British commentators. The channel 10 guys (with the exception of Alan Jones) know absolutely nothing and are always 2 minutes behind the real conversation, and they take breaks at terrible times. I'm not a fan of the V8's, but the coverage is much better.
Samual Johnson
Guest
Problem I have with the tin tops is we all know the drivers are the ones who were not good enough to cut the mustard in Europe. And with the superb tv coverage of Grand Prix nowadays, why bother with this category? Courtney and Lowndes as two examples drowned in the main game before they even got to the big time. If you don't mind following what is a sideshow to the big game, then by all means. Give me open wheelers over these roll cage included family cars anyday. What should happen is there should be a proper pathway for Australian drivers. From go-kart to formula Fords, then Formula 3s and the top level in Australia of racing should be Formula 2s in order for our blokes to make the easier transition to the top levels. Then we coud have a production line going into the real game.