Bathurst 2008

[Grunt]

Who will win Bathurst this year?

My tip is #18 DJR Davison/Johnson

[WBennett]

Winterbottom and S Richards - making up for throwing the race away last year...

[BrisVegas]

I hope a Nissan GTR wins it. Go Jim!

[Grunt]

I hope a Nissan GTR wins it. Go Jim!
I was there in 92 when they got booed for winning after crashing at Forest Elbow.

That was a great weekend, another thing added to the must do list ticked off. Camping on the mountain for Bathurst weekend.

[Dazza]

I'd love to see 888 get 3 in a row, but I'd also like to see DJR/Jim Beam Racing get a win.

[Grunt]

Young Stevie and dad have had a bit of a falling out. By all reports he won't be driving for daddy next year.

Yeah Dad signed Courtney From Stone Bros and Jnr said he would not be #2 driver. He has not realised he was already, Will Davison is a much better driver and that is why he is driving car #18 in the 1000 as Davison's teammate and not the other way around.

[Dazza]

A quote from DJR


From djr.com

As we now begin the long lead-up to Bathurst, I just wanted to take time and give you my thoughts on where DJR is headed in the future and at the same time bury some rather surprising rumours.

Since early this year when Charlie and I put together our deal, we have been working hard as usual behind the scenes with our sponsor group and team. The team is moving ahead very well and we have some big plans for 2009 including new FG Falcons and a very strong engine program. There are also some good results to come this year.

After a tough couple of years I sort of took a little less of the spotlight this season, particularly after the Ford sponsorship announcement in July. Recently, many of our fans and the media have asked ‘why?’ Well, since our podium finish at Phillip Island, DJR seems to be in the news more than ever. I’m not sure if this is for all the right reasons, but after having been involved in this caper for over 44 years, I am used to seeing stories created from little substance.

In this sort of business, you quickly realise not to believe everything that you read and recent media focus on DJR supports this.

Firstly, I still own 50% of Dick Johnson Racing and have no intention of becoming a minority shareholder.

The question of drivers for 2009 is one the team is working on and all options are being considered. We have two excellent drivers in Steven and Will, and no decisions will be taken lightly by me or anyone else at DJR.

Whilst I have naturally had a huge interest in Steven’s career, we have stuck by each other through good and bad times. Recent reports of a rift in our family are way off the mark. Steven and I have always been very close and we both want the best for his long term V8 Supercar future and the long term future of the team. It only makes the Johnson family more determined to succeed.

I am annoyed that certain media outlets have been trying to suggest that he is fed up with the team. He, like the rest of the team, gives 100%.

So despite all these distractions, we head to Bathurst with a good package, a great bunch of guys and drivers capable of a great result. It’s a cruel old place though and I gave up on predictions many years ago. Ask me around 5:00pm next Sunday. Just bring it on!

See you on the mountain.


Dick Johnson

So Dick still has a large say in what goes, and there is no rift.

A few rumours getting about so far-
SBR #4 - Bargwanna (With big name sponsor behind him)
DJR - Courtney, Steve Owen
PMM - Johnson
FPR/Morton (Ford Dealer Team?) - Will Davison

[Dazza]

Yeah Dad signed Courtney From Stone Bros and Jnr said he would not be #2 driver. He has not realised he was already, Will Davison is a much better driver and that is why he is driving car #18 in the 1000 as Davison's teammate and not the other way around.

The reason they're driving car #18 is because it's a newer chassis with newer technology than car #17.
They mentioned that a couple of times in the leadup to Phillip Island.

According to all reports, Car #17 hasn't had a major update in 4 years. Of course Davison would have an advantage.

Watch out for DJR this weekend, new Cylinder heads fitted to their engines will make a huge difference at Bathurst.

In other news....
Other news too- HRT is going with a flash livery to co-incide with Holdens 60th Anniversary.
http://www.holdenmotorsport.com/site/_content/image/00116376-image.jpg
Red Bull will be a major sponsor on Rick Kellys car next year, and the Kelly family will apparantely sell their L1 licences. Wonder who'll buy them out?

[dc68]

Go the Lion!!!!!!!

[Dotty]

Go Brocky. Make it 10.

[PeteyD]

Time for a Threepeat!

[Dazza]

Thurs Practice 1 Top 10
Thursday : Practice
Pos Car Entrant Driver Vehicle Laps Fastest Lap Fastest Lap Time Gap
1 17 Jim Beam Racing Warren Luff Ford Falcon BF 10 9 2:10.7158
2 55 Rod Nash Racing Tony D'Alberto Holden Commodore VE 11 9 2:10.7791 0:00.0633
3 111 Glenfords Racing Alex Davison Ford Falcon BF 10 10 2:10.7953 0:00.0795
4 15 HSV Dealer Team Paul Radisich Holden Commodore VE 9 9 2:10.8597 0:00.1439
5 12 Team BOC A.Jones/C.McConville Holden Commodore VE 11 5 2:10.9876 0:00.2718
6 11 Jack Daniel's Racing Nathan Pretty Holden Commodore VE 10 6 2:11.2972 0:00.5814
7 14 WOW Racing B.Jones/M.Wilson Holden Commodore VE 10 10 2:11.2982 0:00.5824
8 4 Jeld-Wen Motorsport David Besnard Ford Falcon BF 9 3 2:11.3094 0:00.5936
9 26 IRWIN Racing Marcus Marshall Ford Falcon BF 10 8 2:11.3551 0:00.6393
10 25 Fujitsu Racing J.Bright/A.Macrow Ford Falcon BF 9 5 2:11.3555 0:00.6397


Thurs Practice 2 Top 10
1 1 Toll Holden Racing Team Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE 5000 7 6 2:09.3700*
2 888 Team Vodafone Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BF 5000 8 7 2:09.4683 0:00.0983
3 3 Sprint Gas Racing G.Murphy/J.Richards Holden Commodore VE 5000 7 7 2:09.5324 0:00.1624
4 55 Rod Nash Racing Jason Bargwanna Holden Commodore VE 5000 8 8 2:09.6907 0:00.3207
5 6 Ford Performance Racing S.Richards/M.Winterbottom Ford Falcon BF 5000 8 8 2:09.7589 0:00.3889
6 4 Jeld-Wen Motorsport David Besnard Ford Falcon BF 5000 4 4 2:09.9741 0:00.6041
7 15 HSV Dealer Team Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE 5000 8 8 2:09.9994 0:00.6294
8 17 Jim Beam Racing Steve Owen Ford Falcon BF 5000 5 4 2:10.1000 0:00.7300
9 12 Team BOC A.Jones/C.McConville Holden Commodore VE 5000 4 4 2:10.1391 0:00.7691
10 7 Jack Daniel's Racing Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE 5000 6 5 2:10.2325 0:00.8625

"Reason for leave Friday 10/10/08: Bathurst 1000 Practice & Qualifying"
Got a laugh out of my boss!

If anyone wants the Bigpond streaming links, send me a PM! Unsure if you'll see any practice, but they're good for Qualifying.

[mike]

I hope a Nissan GTR wins it. Go Jim!

Best victory speech in sporting history. Jim is a legend.

[BrisVegas]

oh, apparently Nissan's are banned again this year.

In that case, go Ford.

1. FORD C.Lowndes/J.Whincup
2. FORD S.Richards/M.Winterbottom
3. Holden maybe Skaife/Tander

I read that Craig Lowndes road his bike up to Bathurst from Phillip Island. Nice way to relax and clear the head.

[Grunt]

Jack Perkins bent the #11 car earlier today with a decent hit, wonder if any of the top gun will have a pre start moment. Still remember Bargwanna trashing the HRT Young Lions car in the morning warmup on Race Day a few years ago.

[Dotty]

Best victory speech in sporting history. Jim is a legend.
At 240km/h, he still noticed Grunt. :wink:

The following year, I saw some of the regulars wearing a variety of 'Jim called me an @%$#hole' t-shirts.

[Dazza]

Thursday : Practice 3
Pos Car Entrant Driver Vehicle Laps Fastest Lap Fastest Lap Time Gap
1 888 Team Vodafone C.Lowndes/J.Whincup Ford Falcon BF 20 18 2:07.5975
2 3 Sprint Gas Racing G.Murphy/J.Richards Holden Commodore VE 20 19 2:07.7942 0:00.1967
3 6 Ford Performance Racing S.Richards/M.Winterbottom Ford Falcon BF 23 21 2:08.1411 0:00.5436
4 15 HSV Dealer Team R.Kelly/P.Radisich Holden Commodore VE 20 17 2:08.1706 0:00.5731
5 39 Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VE 19 17 2:08.1925 0:00.5950
6 17 Jim Beam Racing W.Luff/S.Owen Ford Falcon BF 23 23 2:08.3294 0:00.7319
7 16 Autobarn Racing Team P.Dumbrell/D.Reynolds Holden Commodore VE 23 17 2:08.3774 0:00.7799
8 33 Garry Rogers Motorsport M.Caruso/L.Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE 25 22 2:08.4380 0:00.8405
9 9 SP Tools Racing S.Gisbergen/J.Webb Ford Falcon BF 22 16 2:08.7499 0:01.1524
10 1 Toll Holden Racing Team M.Skaife/G.Tander Holden Commodore VE 15 10 2:08.7539 0:01.1564

[Grunt]

At 240km/h, he still noticed Grunt. :wink:

The following year, I saw some of the regulars wearing a variety of 'Jim called me an @%$#hole' t-shirts.

I had pit entry that year and got way closer to the teams than many have. I was standing behind Dick Johnson's pit in the rain and he invited me and my mates inside. He had just finished a drive and showed us all around the pit. We stayed for the next pit stop and saw the team work and got to talk to Jim Bowe after his drive.
The same year I had to help push Denny Hulme's BMW onto the trailer after he had an Heart attack and died on mountain straight.

[dc68]

We stayed for the next pit stop and saw the team work and got to talk to Jim Bowe after his drive.


Did he not die at the Alamo?



Oh you mean John Bowe............

Big Ford fan eh G-man?

;)

[Grunt]

Yeah a little DC. Have had all sorts of brands of cars though, both Holden & Ford.
Been a little anti Holden after seeing Mark Scaife act like a **** to a little boy at Bathurst in 92. He told the kid to go away he was busy when asked for an autograph was on the Saturday afternoon after practice, guess he had a bad session. Was only going to take 5 seconds but he just walked away from the kid.

[Dazza]

Huge hit between Team Kiwi & Paul Weel. Both drivers very very lucky.

PWR and Team Kiwi crash
http://www.v8supercars.com.au/content/images/hero_news_folders/october_08/damaged_pwr_commodore/files/18154/Damaged-PWR-car.jpg
Release date: 10/10/2008

A big hit during practice at Mount Panorama this morning is likely to end the weekend early for both Team Kiwi Racing and Paul Weel Racing.

However, the good news is that neither PWR's Paul Weel nor Team Kiwi's Chris Pither were seriously injured.

The accident occurred early in this morning's first practice when Weel spun just before McPhillamy Park and backed his Commodore in to the wall. While Weel was stranded, Pither arrived on the scene in the TKR Falcon at pace and smashed into the #50 Commodore, which Weel was planning to share with regular PWR driver Andrew Thompson in Sunday's Great Race.

PWR Team Manager, John Panozzo, told BigPond Sport that Weel was okay, but it was unlikely that the team would attempt to repair its badly damaged Commodore.

“The medicos have been on the scene. He is conscious. There are no apparent injuries, but they wanted to play it safe given that it was such a big impact,” he said.

“They extricated him from the car on the spinal board to make sure there are no internal injuries.

“However, I don't think we will be able to repair the car before Sunday.”

Weel was suffering from pain in his lower back and rib cage, and was expected to be flown from the track to Nepean Hospital in Penrith for observation.

Pither was cleared of any injuries.

Team Kiwi Racing Team Manager Michael Calvert said the team would look at the car to see how much damage it had sustained before making a final decision whether or not to try to repair it in time for Sunday's race.

BTCC racer Marc Hynes also got a scare when a bird hit the windscreen of his TeamVodafone Falcon smashing the glass.

“I was driving down the straight at maximum speed and I had to swerve several times and I still managed to hit it right in the middle of the screen,” he said.

“It was a big bang and I couldn't see where I was going, so that was a wake-up call early in the morning.”

Meanwhile, Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander was the first driver to break into the 'sixes' with a 2min 06.9922sec lap in this morning's first session.

“The car was very good, but there is still a fair bit left in it to be honest. You never really know how hard to push it in these sessions so we probably should have gone faster than that,” he said.

“We are really concentrating on making it a good race car; that's why we spent so much time on older tyres. We think our car will be good in the race; and we are not really focussing on having a quick car in qualifying. So long as we qualify in the first couple we should be right.”

Jamie Whincup in his TeamVodafone Falcon (2:07.1371) was the fastest in the second session.

Qualifying is scheduled to start at 2:05pm today.

[Dazza]

Go Frosty!
1 6 Ford Performance Racing Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon BF 17 17 2:07.1920
2 3 Sprint Gas Racing Jason Richards Holden Commodore VE 13 12 2:07.2333 0:00.0413
3 888 Team Vodafone Jamie Whincup Ford Falcon BF 8 7 2:07.2699 0:00.0779
4 4 Jeld-Wen Motorsport James Courtney Ford Falcon BF 19 18 2:07.2972 0:00.1052
5 1 Toll Holden Racing Team Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE 15 14 2:07.3645 0:00.1725
6 15 HSV Dealer Team Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE 18 12 2:07.4401 0:00.2481
7 18 Jim Beam Racing Will Davison Ford Falcon BF 19 18 2:07.4599 0:00.2679
8 16 Autobarn Racing Team Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VE 17 16 2:07.6094 0:00.4174
9 111 Glenfords Racing Fabian Coulthard Ford Falcon BF 20 18 2:07.7321 0:00.5401
10 39 Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VE 19 13 2:07.7974 0:00.6054
11 14 WOW Racing Max Wilson Holden Commodore VE 21 20 2:07.8022 0:00.6102
12 25 Fujitsu Racing Jason Bright Ford Falcon BF 19 16 2:07.9395 0:00.7475
13 9 SP Tools Racing Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon BF 19 16 2:07.9627 0:00.7707
14 33 Garry Rogers Motorsport Lee Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE 15 14 2:07.9968 0:00.8048
15 17 Jim Beam Racing Steve Owen Ford Falcon BF 21 21 2:08.0369 0:00.8449
16 12 Team BOC Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VE 19 17 2:08.1141 0:00.9221
17 5 Ford Performance Racing Luke Youlden Ford Falcon BF 16 7 2:08.1676 0:00.9756
18 7 Jack Daniel's Racing Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE 19 18 2:08.2226 0:01.0306
19 11 Jack Daniel's Racing Jack Perkins Holden Commodore VE 20 19 2:08.4667 0:01.2747
20 2 Toll Holden Racing Team Craig Baird Holden Commodore VE 20 19 2:08.5766 0:01.3846
21 777 Ausdrill Ford Rising Stars Michael Patrizi Ford Falcon BF 9 3 2:09.4965 0:02.3045
22 26 IRWIN Racing Marcus Marshall Ford Falcon BF 9 9 2:09.6397 0:02.4477
23 34 Garry Rogers Motorsport Greg Ritter Holden Commodore VE 9 2 2:09.7451 0:02.5531
24 55 Rod Nash Racing Tony D'Alberto Holden Commodore VE 9 9 2:09.9264 0:02.7344
25 88 Team Vodafone Fabrizio Giovanardi Ford Falcon BF 4 4 2:09.9779 0:02.7859
26 51 Sprint Gas Racing Mark Noske Holden Commodore VE 9 3 2:10.2930 0:03.1010
27 67 Supercheap Auto Racing Matt Neal Holden Commodore VE 9 9 2:11.3259 0:04.1339

[Dazza]

Radisich cut from car at Bathurst
Oct 11, 2008
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1316907/2194531

V8 driver Paul Radisich has had to be cut out of his car after a serious crash at Bathurst at the top of Mount Panorama.

The Auckland born 46 year-old is understood to have been conscious when he was hauled out.

First reports suggest the throttle on his car jammed full on, at the very top of the mountain.

Radisich steered off and crashed his HSV Dealer Team car heavily into the wall inflicting major damage.

He was taken to the medical centre for checks and initial reports suggest he has suffered a broken right ankle only.

Two years ago at Bathurst Radisich was involved in a heavy crash in which he wrote off the Team Kiwi car and broke his leg.

The crash has brought a halt to Saturday's practice session.

[Iain]

This over yet?

[dc68]

No it aint................. go Skaifey!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dc68]

And Garth!!!!!

[PeteyD]

Go Lowndesey and Frosty!!!

[shazza_rs]

Up the mighty holdens!

[Dazza]

Great win by Lowndes/Whincup. 3 in a row, doesn't get much better!

[Scottt]

LOL @ that muppet Holden driver stalling it at the start. :lol:

Another win for the good guys, getting a bit easy nowadays!

[Dazza]

Championship points updated after Bathurst

1 Jamie Whincup 2,316
2 Mark Winterbottom 2,283
3 Garth Tander 2,234
4 Craig Lowndes 1,923
5 Will Davison 1,865
6 Steven Richards 1,834
7 James Courtney 1,802
8 Rick Kelly 1,792
9 Steven Johnson 1,471
10 Russell Ingall 1,464

Skaife - is there nothing he can't do?

2006 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brxASO0bOrU)

2007 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHqFOocGkKc)

2008 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTCiD_wdR6o)

[BrisVegas]

oh, apparently Nissan's are banned again this year.

In that case, go Ford.

1. FORD C.Lowndes/J.Whincup
2. FORD S.Richards/M.Winterbottom
3. Holden maybe Skaife/Tander

I saw that Lowndes won, woohooo! Who filled the minor placings?