SANDOWN AND BATHURST RUMOURS

[Julian Mayo]

Every year about now, the media waves become abuzz with rumours about driver pairings for Bathurst. These range from the sublime to the ridiculous.
your contributions, historical and current, are welcome on anything to do with the enduros.

The first big one for this year is that Alex Tagliani and Marcus Marshall will drive one of the Gore WPS falcons at both enduros.
Now this fills me with dread.
Firstly, Marcus was the cause of another competitor having a life threatening crash in the Porsche Cup at Sandown, and another massive shunt at Bathurst. The guy seems to have a problem seeing other cars in his mirrors. Do that at Bathurst in V8s and it is going to result in a "BIG ONE."
Secondly, Alex. The guy may be a top notch driver, but The Mountain has shown disdain for anyone trying to learn how to drive a V8 there. He has to learn to master a "back to front gearbox" on the wrong side, while sitting on the "wrong side" of the car on one of, if not the most unforgiving tracks in the world. Someone had best tell him not to look left coming over Skyline, or he will be pitting for a change of underwear. And that is no reflection on the man's courage.

Perhaps I should organize a competition based around "The biggest names with the slowest times" from past years

Perhaps Ed, or Rah could use their tehnical expertise to post a pic from Skyline, and the approach, followed by the entry into the esses ? Then Guys like Mfer would have some idea of what "newchums" face. Ed? Rah?

[rah]

Found these on the V8 Supercars website. Will look for more that show the true look of the track. These some hair raising pics for now. The website is http://www.v8supercar.com.au

[Julian Mayo]

Thanks RAH... the Spanish Dancer comes up well in photos !!!!!

[Julian Mayo]

The website is the official site for this forum. It can be found in the Lounge.sport.v8 supercars

[Kapel]

V8 pit babes look better than our F1 counterparts

[Julian Mayo]

V8 pit babes look better than our F1 counterparts

Naturally!

[Ed]

Here is good site that details every corner (Interactive Tour of Mount Panaorma)

[Julian Mayo]

Thanks Ed, unfortunately photos don't give a true representation of the steepness of the gradients, uphill and down. Nor does television. It takes a fit person to walk the track on a cool day.

[Julian Mayo]

The latest goss is that Alain Menu will join the Orrcon team and partner Matt Halliday. Alain has been to The Mountain several times, if memory serves me correctly he was getting towards competitive times by the end of his last outing here. He is a 2 times British touring Car champ, and was runner-up 3 times. Matt has raced at the Mountain a few times in a variety of machinery. The young N-Zedder is a capable pilot.
Another TBC is that the two Pauls, Morris and "The Rat" will pair up, from their respective teams.No word on which car, and who will drive the other, as yet.
And yet another tbc is that John Cleland will be coming out from the UK for another attempt, this time with the BOC team. He will share a car with Dale Brede, while Bowe and Jones will mount their usual combined challeng. John is one of the very few oversea pilots who has managed to get on the pace at Mount Panorama.

[Julian Mayo]

According to RPM, James Courtney will pair with Jim Richards in a Holden Racing Team Commodore for the Enduros, with Saife and T Kelly sharing the other car. I would imagine this will depend on the outcome of Oran Park.
There is also talk that a certain Jose Fernandez will team up with Damon White. I assume this is the Jose Fernandez of North American racing fame
Along with Alain Menu's appearance, Yvan Muller is rumoured to be paired up with Adam Macrow in a Ford. Yvan has done well in the Brirish Touring car series over the years, and has raced at Bathurst before.
Another TBC is David Brabham with Cameron McClean, I think this is highly likely.
I suspect that some of these will depend on driver test results.

[Julian Mayo]

As reported, Paul Morris and "The Rat will team together in Morris"car for the endrus...the latest gossip has John Faulkner coming out of retirement and teaming with Alan Gurr in the second car
The Rat and Morris are going to have an adjustable seat, as the Rat is a tad short. When Radisich was driving for DJR, they rigged one up. The RAt was coming into the pits and slid the seat back to save time on the driver change. Trouble was, he then couldn't reach the pedals and nearly wiped out half the pit crew.

[mlittle]

In case anyone's wondering what the pairings for the two Team Australia(Walker Racing)/WPS Racing V8 Supercars for the Bathurst 1000 are, last week they announced that ChampCar drivers Alex Tagliani and Marcus Marshall will pair-off in one of the team's two Ford Falcons, while V8 Supercar drivers David Besnard and Craig Baird will drive the other Ford Falcon. Like I've said over in the ChampCar forum, best of luck to Tag and Marshall....they'll need lots of it. From everything I've read, seen and heard about Bathurst, it is a very challenging course, on par with (at least to me) Le Mans in terms of sheer endurance and difficulty.

[Julian Mayo]

Le Mans does not have ze mountain,eh

[mlittle]

That's why I said it was as difficult as Le Mans. The closest thing they have to a mountain is that little ridge at the Dunlop bridge, but the Mulsanne straight is a bit similar to that long straight at Bathurst. Granted, it's not on a hill, but it is comparable.

[Julian Mayo]

If you are coming to Indy, via Sydney, I would be more than happy to drive you around Bathurst, under the speed limit (parts of the track are normal roads on non race days). Bring a video camera