MkIII Racing at Bathurst

[Shane001]

Hi Guys, meant to post a thread up for this before the event but was just too busy prepping the car.

I got to realise a dream at Easter, to race my Supra on the hallowed bitumen of Mt Panorama! Following are some pics and links to videos of Qualifying & Race 1. Full commentary at the supraforum.com.au threads. Enjoy
http://www.supraforums.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=51383
http://www.supraforums.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=51938

Following are my incar vids for Qualifying on Friday afternoon. This was the first real opportunity to open the car up for the weekend. We did have an open practice session in the morning, but it was mostly red flagged, with only a couple of laps at near speed, confirming the car and heat cycling tyres. So I was stoked to pull a 2:47.3 and qualify 14th of 43 entrants! Not too bad for my first time on the mountain!
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?12/04/2009.BATH.Q1

Qualifying Incar Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2IXSt6uNow
Qualifying Incar Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaqfaPCkkqg

 

[Shane001]

Onto Race 1, the highlight of my weekend

We were first out on a completely dry track after a lot of rain overnight. I wasn't sure who was fast behind me so I decided to stick to the right hand side off the start so as to have the outside run up the mountain, and the inside line into Griffins. After getting the chaos of the first lap out of the way, I set my sights on a familiar little blue and white RX7 up in front. The pirate was a little under powered from an engine change overnight, and the highlight of my race was roaring past him down conrod! lol! He got me back again though the bugger and I just couldn't quite get another clean run on him. We both ran our fastest laps for the race though on the last lap, with footie having a little lockup in the chase, but I wasn't quite close enough to take advantage.

I managed to shave over 5 seconds off my qualifying time to pull a 2:42 flat! With a top speed of 238kph! Very happy with that!
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?12/04/2009.BATH.C1

I was confident there was still at least another 3 to 5 seconds in it for the weekend though, and maybe another 5 to 10kph down conrod, I still had another 500 to 1000 revs of power left in the engine. With a better run out of Forest Elbow and taking it deeper into the chase, I was confident of mid 240's, maybe even 250kph. And there was still a lot of improvement to be found all around the track; Murray's, Hell Corner, the cutting, coming off Skyline... I was pretty happy with my form across the top though!

Anyway, enough talk, check out the videos

Race 1 Incar Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByRRbQsaTdU
Race 1 Incar Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtssmsoXkLQ
Race 1 Rear View Bumper Cam Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9vGOICH6d4
Race 1 Rear View Bumper Cam Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f74EDfl04sw

 

[Shane001]

Unfortunately Race 2 didn't go to plan...

Our second race after lunch was raining and very wet, so I was basically just circulating, staying off boost and just waving everyone by who came up behind me. I was only revving it to around 3000 before changing gears, cause as soon as boost kicked in it would just kick out in the rear so was staying right off boost. Coming across the top the back just let go, I was only about 10-15% throttle at the time, just cruising, but must have hit a puddle or some oil or something and the back just went and that was it, was like being on a lake of ice, just slid, front on into the the wall on the right, it's then bounced out, all 4 wheels in the air, apparently the back was several feet off the ground, spun a 180 backwards before hitting the wall again in the back left corner before coming to rest facing almost the right direction!

I went up and spoke to the flaggies on the Sunday. They said there was a lot of standing water on the track and also a lot of clearly visible oil patches. Interestingly I was actually going slower this lap too. I'd tucked in behing John Gibson's red RX7, and was planning to pass him back down at the bottom of the mountain this lap. Where I lost it I was doing 98 on the first lap, 116 on the second, 111 on the third and 102 before the crash. That's racing! :icon_evil

I'm OK, unfortunately the Supra's not. Damage is pretty bad. Very disappointing as we'd finally got the thing going really well... just one of those things...

 

[Shane001]

Video's from Race 2 on Saturday.

Unfortunately they don't show the accident, batteries went flat, I was doubly pissed about that :icon_evil
I was running late to dummy grid so started the in car camera in the garage thinking I probably wouldn't even make the 1min board, but then we sat in dummy grid for 20mins once I got there, then another 15mins in pit lane, so yeah flat battery...
I got a bit longer out of the rear view bumper cam as my pitcrew started this when the 1min board was called in dummy grid, but again it was nearly 30mins from the 1min board to the drop of the flag. Next year I'll charge them between each race!

Anyway, shows just how wet it was...

In Car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8o-0oVoN9I

Rear view bumper cam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4pQV-HJDeE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y2g1Eozo7k

 

[tacoma_kyle]

Ah shit...thats a bummer. Real bummer man.

So waht, you going to find a good shell and transfer over the parts or try and fix the existing one? Doesnt look like it is woth the time to repair that front end unless you have a cage, maybe; I did it on my Tacoma and those aprons are a bitch (AKA wheel well sheetmetal pieces).

 

[Doward]

Wow, nice vids man! Mind if I ask what you've done under the hood?

 

[IJ.]

Thanks for posting Shane some brilliant footage that shows how demanding the mountain is to drive!

Any details on the car?
(pity about the DOH but that's motorsport as I'm sure you know)

 

[Shane001]

Engine's a stock 1JZ with a single Garret turbo, not a big one as my category requires I run a 36mm restrictor on the turbo intake, so no point going big with the turbo. Currently 290rwhp.

Car's still on the trailer in the garage, but we've stripped off most of the front and it looks like nothing is bent from the wheel wells back, so we're hoping we will just need to cut the chassis forward of the wheel wells and just re weld some straight chassis on, then panels of course... fingers crossed...

I'll put up some more pics once we get started on the rebuild in a few months.

Was a great experience though! Bathurst is just an incredible track

 

[MA70R]

Engine's a stock 1JZ with a single Garret turbo, not a big one as my category requires I run a 36mm restrictor on the turbo intake, so no point going big with the turbo. Currently 290rwhp.

Car's still on the trailer in the garage, but we've stripped off most of the front and it looks like nothing is bent from the wheel wells back, so we're hoping we will just need to cut the chassis forward of the wheel wells and just re weld some straight chassis on, then panels of course... fingers crossed...

I'll put up some more pics once we get started on the rebuild in a few months.

Was a great experience though! Bathurst is just an incredible track

hey shane i didnt know you were on here aswell :icon_razz
i havent asked is your car a jza70? ma70? ga70?

 

[Shane001]

haha, yeah I get around

She's a JZA Turbo R I believe...

 

[prsrcokr]

Sorry to hear how the last session ended up Shane but glad you're ok and hopefully you can get the frame straight and get back out. Nice driving, you look smooth and very fast out there. That track looks like a challenge, lots of close walls and not much runoff room, maybe I'm just used to the N. American tracks but that looks pretty intimidating at speed.

Is that a sticker on the windshield (the horizontal lines across) does it ever bother you?
Can you give us some background on the setup, suspension etc? Looks like you're running Nittos (NT01?) Good luck getting back out there,
Brian

 

[IJ.]

Driven it a few times in slow road cars and most of the corners are unsighted so it takes balls to push there

 

[Shane001]

Yep, unsighted corners, concrete walls right next to the track, very steep rise and falls, and a very fast straight (Conrod) with the fastest corner in Australian motorpsort (Chase entry). Yep she's a fun track to drive

Thing is too at 60kph (this is a public road) it is a lot more daunting than at 100-150+ across the top. If u get the lines and speed right it flows really well, which is why everyone who races at Bathurst (and survives lol) loves the place!

Brian, what is Nittos(ND01)?

Car is running stock Bilstein shocks with upgraded Eibac springs. Brakes are Wilwood front and rear. Welded diff (spool going in soon). Single piece tailshaft. Otherwise dead stock running gear and suspension. We run on Yokohama semi slicks (control tyre for our category). Full cage. Lots of fun to drive

 

[IJ.]

I remember coming onto Conrod very sideways in a VH Charger and there was a group of tourists in a bus stopped and lined up across the track taking pics (wonder if any of em captured the moment before running screaming)

 

[briggsy]

I remember coming onto Conrod very sideways in a VH Charger and there was a group of tourists in a bus stopped and lined up across the track taking pics (wonder if any of em captured the moment before running screaming)

tell me more about this VH charger i have a secret soft spot for them (after restoring a few of them), was it a deliberate sideways action or was it the unstable attitude of the charger suspension?

 

[IJ.]

50/50 Sam it was only a 215 3 speed

 

[Shane001]

haha, were they Japanese tourists lol!

Coming down Forest Elbow onto Conrod is very, very steep, u wouldn't have to try hard

 

[IJ.]

LMAO funny you say that I didn't want to as it's a bit of a stereotype but yes they were!

I was amazed at how steep the dipper is :aigo:

 

[Shane001]

The dipper at speed is like a good rollercoaster. U drop the car in and it just rolls on out! Magic
Only got it close to right on my last lap of Race 1.

I'm so looking forward to going back next year

 

[paradox616]

Ouch, it'll buff out...

id be finding a new shell and dropping the 1JZ in it..

nice video's tho