Bathurst Motor Festival - Easter 2014
04 May 2014 / Words by Glenn Thomas / Photos by Tony King
The Bathurst Motor Festival 2014 was held over the Easter long weekend and wow! what a lineup of cars – Formula 3, Production Sports, Group N, Production Touring, Porsche and NSWRR Regularities. It was in the last group that Graham Fletcher, Tony King and I went to play. This event was too expensive, provided too little time on the track but... it was one of the most exciting and satisfying events that I have ever participated in. The experience was made even better because both Graham & Tony provided brilliant expert mentoring and support throughout the whole long weekend – Thank you both! Club members Stewart Temesvary, Guy Coles, Stephanie Katz and Tammie and Warren Hotz (plus their entire family) also provided support.
The experience of driving Mount Panorama can never be fully conveyed by the images. The anticipation of entering the kink at over 215 Kph, the thrill of the car sliding at these speeds, close concrete walls always in the mind and eye, feeling the car hammering down on the suspension through corners and under brakes - it’s a real buzz!
We enter Pit Straight via Murray’s corner and make our way to Hell corner; the first of 23 bends! Climbing Mountain Straight leaves me praying for more power as a V8 passes by but the MX-5 comes into its element as, at about 170kph, we do a late tap of the brake, down to third and hard on the throttle into Griffins Bend - this part often puts the V8 back in the MX-5’s mirrors!
Now we are of into “The Cutting” – a 1:6 gradient cut into the rock of the mountain surrounded by very close concrete walls. It is imposing but the MX-5 loves it! Now off to Reid, Sulman and McPhillamy Parks. Sulman Park has the highest point of the track, topping out at 862m above sea level and the skylines and the close concrete walls hide the correct line of the corners and stand ready to punish any errors! Fortunately I had Tony King’s expert advice on how to drive here and his voice was in my mind every time the Blue Ant (my car) travelled through this area. Sulman merges to McPhillamy, and through to Brock's Skyline providing breath-taking views over the Bathurst Region. Unfortunately I only seen these in the photographs but was otherwise distracted when driving!
Skyline ends with a steep right hand corner and the entry into the Esses provides a unique experience for drivers descending the Mountain. Mount Panorama demands drivers use the Flag Marshals as the line of sight coming off Skyline, and many other parts of this circuit, is slim to none.
The Dipper is the third sharp corner in the Esses and, like the cutting, makes drivers vary aware of that this track is on the side of a mountain! It is a steep, sharp left-hand turn. Forrest's Elbow is a critical corner that requires a late turn-in in order to make the most of Conrod Straight. Conrod straight is the fastest section of the Mount Panorama track, with V8 Supercars touching the magical 300km/h limit. Given BlueAnt tops out at about 215kph, we really need to keep a close eye on the mirrors for faster cars. And once more we slide into the Kink with no lifting the pedal and no braking – what a thrill! The car again shudders under the brake pedal entering the Chase once more as we wash off over 100kph at the 80 metre mark.
The only other thing I can say about this track is... you’ve got to try it!
