Just a point of interest, Shane Van Gisbergen from the Australian supercars is racing the project 91 car in the Chicago nascar race, he qualified 3, might be worth a reaction
3:43 for several years, Bathurst was a multi class race - you had your big power entries in Holdens and Fords; then you had smaller cars of varying engine sizes in varied classifications, all running at the same time.
I think the chase was put in after Mike Bergman died in 1986. Conrod was too long under FIA rules. This was to slow them down coming into the left hander onto the main straight.
It was a long time ago my memory is Mike had a medical episode heart attack ? Coming down conrod went off and hit the tyre earth embankment the front of the car was pushed back in to the b pillar
The world touring car championship came in 1987. The track had to comply with FIA standards which has a straight distance of no more than 2 kilometres. The chase was put in at 1.9k. The track was graded Level 3 with FIA. This is my recollection of events.
Australia had just adopted international group A regs at that time. Ford Cosworth Sierras were dominant in European group A. So here you see international teams of Soper, Rauss, etc. Australian Sierra entrant Dick Johnson was a veteran Ford driver at Bathurst having previous success with the big Falcons. His co driver in 87 was former motorcycle champ Greg Hansford.
That little dog leg in the straightaway "The Chase" was put in there because of a number of blown engines, that's how "Conrod straight" got it's name. This was in the days before computers and EFi. So they put a little kink in there to slow everybody down a bit. Now it's a highlight of the race. If you drive it on playstation (or your preferred platform) you can see how difficult it is. (Guaranteed you'll end up in the dirt there on your first go round.)
@@piglos No the blown engines were before computers and efi. They could have adjusted the track anywhere for FIA cert. but did it there for practicality vis-a-vis saving engines.
This is the era of non v8 cars.... turbo charged lawn mowers, but admittedly fast cars. If you like Dodge Chargers and 5.7 litre hemi action, skip this 2L formula era. Long live the current supercar formula. The 60s and seventies was production car racing and brilliant, but still happens in the bathurst 12 hour event. Love your reactions.
Some names of note - Alan Moffat - Canadian born, and Peter Brock's closest rival. Alan Moffat's son also raced and he is the Moffat referred to in the later clips of Bathust you have been watching. Dick Johnson #17, a legend in Australian Motorsport and also one of Brocky's closest rivals. Dick Johnson once left the track at the top of Conrod Straight before there was a concrete fence and landed in the trees. Dick Johnson's son also raced in Supercars Steve Johnson and now his grandson Jett Johnson is racing in one of the feed categories. We have a few current drivers who's fathers and grandfathers raced as well. Larry Perkins was an engineering legend and his son Jack also races, You mentioned Seeton a few times, his son Aaron races in the Super 2 series which is a feeder division for supercars.This race was when there were called "Touring Cars" before the birth of the present day Supercars.
Hi Jeff it is so good to see your interest and enthusiasm for Bathurst. From the 1970s, when they started tv coverage of the complete race up until the present day, there have been so many great races, there's just something magical about that track. Where the chase is on conrod straight, used to be the second hump and the front end of most cars would get air borne coming over it. A good example if your interested would be to watch Allan Moffat's Ford xc cobra in the 1978 Hardies Heros shoot out for pole position. Thank you for letting us share in your excitement.
Absolutely a fantastic venue. I love the energy of the race the course the scenery everything about it is just gorgeous. Thank you for the time and support mate
Do you know why Jim called them arseholes? If you don't then you may need to go and look. Jim won that race under extenuating circumstances and lost his mate at the race that day. To have to stand on the podium and cop that hate while he was still on adrenalin...it's no wonder he lost his shit.
Man I was hoping to hear that at least one time Jim I know what 1987 means to me. I was curious what it might mean to someone else. Great memories mate. Perfect. Thank you for the time I appreciate it
jeff from 85 to 89 i ithink the 1000 was part of the world touring champoinship hence you see european car entires if you check out those years you will see a big variety different cars, they reverted back to assie specsrace cars ie falcon & commodores only 1992 till 2013 -14 then we had nissans volvos & mercedes for a few years then they reverted back to ford & holden gm cheers mate
The WTCC only ran for 1 year, 1987. Australia had rounds at Bathurst and a week later at Calder incorporating the road course and Thunderdome. In 1988 it was part of the, as far as I remember, Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship and Bathurst had a rolling start for the only time. Australia ran Group A from 1985-1992. Bathurst 1992 had a special class for the Falcons and Commodores who were to race in the ATCC from 1993, I think the class was Group 3A
This race was the final round of the 1987 world group A championship, many of the drivers eg, Soper & ludwig weren't part of the Australian campionship, they drove for big budget european teams but with very limited track knowledge. The race had plenty of controversy including the eventual race winner
Some of these leading drivers are from the UK touring car series. They bought over the Ford Sierra's from the British Touring Car Series. Not Australian cars !!
The chase was added after the sad death of Denny Hulme who's car had hit the overpass there. I believe he suffered a heart attack just prior. Apologies for earlier comment. It was put in after Mike Bergmans crash
What a place to go out. They should make a doco about Denny. They have for Jack and Bruce of course, and Denny was there with them! Denny is almost the forgotten F1 Champion, the first and only Kiwi to accomplish that achievement.
The Chase was added in 87 five years before Hulme's death for the World Touring Car Championship, to comply with the FIA requirement that a straight could not exceed 1,200 metres, what a shame.
@@sg-yq8pm I thought that was out of wack, I mean, I was watching at the time when Denny had his heart attack. They were trying to figure out what happened. Good thing the car just came to a rest like that and nobody was hurt. Denny's input, I'm not sure.
Ford Cosworth Sierra, with a turbo charged 4 cylinder. They're an English/European thing. With some nifty modifications by Aussie engineers, they proved lethal and were quite dominant for a while... when they put legal fuel in them. Or is it the other way round?
That is crazy interesting. I had no idea Ford made a Cosworth Sierra turbocharged 4 cylinder. But I am freaking impressed with the way it runs around that course. Great engineering. Thank you for that I do appreciate your time
Ford we’re stupid not offering them for sale in Australia. Hell bent with their Mazda agreement and sold us the Telstar. Yet I think Sierras were sold in NZ. Either way as a Ford fan I never really got into them.
@@stuarthancock571 I'm a Fiat, Lancia guy, and I am jealous of what NZ got. I mean, Lancia Thema with a Ferrari powerplant? Get out of the Tasman. There's another one for we viewers, Group B World Rally. Bring it on.
Also, a version of the Ford Sierra was sold in America as the Merkur XR4Ti. Sierra’s were not sold in Australia, but ran in Bathurst as our touring car series was running the same rules as Europe at the time.
There is a vid of Dick Johnson talking about his 1989 Bathurst and championship winning Ford Cosworth Sierra as developed from the 17 Shell car in this vid. He stated that on the dyno without the turbo the 2 litre four developed 90 hp. When he fitted his team developed turbo they could produce 680hp. And the 680 hp came on like a light switch taking real skill to drive them. He confidently claims his teams Sierras were the fastes in the world. An English Sierra collector says the prize of his collection are the ex Dick Johnson ones. A more luxury focused Sierra was sold in the US as the Mercury Merkur. The Sierras were the car to beat for a while.
Thank you for that I'm starting to get it all organized in my head moving forward. You just help me out a great deal and I do appreciate your time. Take care mate
@@OccasionalOutlaw no worries, I don't mean to bombard you, but it's probably clear to you by now that I am an absolute motor racing nut... and I know my history.
You know, they used to race motorcycles around Mt Panorama, that's what the circuit was built for. Maybe a bit long for a reaction, but this may be interesting ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_sosf4mYUv4.html
Sierra was Ford designed race cars 4x4 wheel drive with turbo Also same Nissan skyline was same they dominated the races Sierra had reliability issues with engines Why you seen one parked up early after a couple years dominating race the rules where change no 4x4 or turbo Had to be a salon manufacturer car then modified for racing As the Ford and skyline where professional build race car and centre weight so where actually racing out of their class where from higher grade and it was controversial at the time and probably still is for some As I said in previous one had many rule changes as it's gone along and why it ended up more Aussie Ford Holden races They tried a few American vechiles like Camero mustang but to heavy and running drum brakes the Cameron rolled on the hill it was sponsored by TV station 9 at the time There's one where Jim Richards won Bathurst in a skyline and crowd boo them at the podium and in his speech called the crowd a pack of barstards and he never forget and that might be when rules change and skyline and Sierra didn't qualify to race under new rules One reason the chase was put in was cars topped out about half way down due to gearing and at time didn't have taller gearing for the vechiles as factory items Even today they top out but it's because if you go higher they have trouble taking off and slower through winedy stuff so the gearing they use now get them both but still top out but later now and still can get them off the mark and ratios change for every track they race on some low some higher normally low for street tracks as more slower corners Cheers mate 🦘🇦🇺👍
This was the bureaucratic stupidity that almost destroyed The Great Race. By joining the European Championship ( World Touring Car Championship ), the cars were no longer relevant to Australian fans or drivers. Purpose built lightweight turbo rice burners were unbeatable, but even they required the right computer chip just to be competitive. These races were not won by drivers, mechanics or race teams, they were won on the computer that designed the best computer chip. Moffat couldn’t afford any competitive chip and not even a deposit on a chip capable of winning...... so he hired a team manager that already owned his own super quick chip. lol This is not proper car racing, merely sport devised by bankers and other corporate gangsters .
If you think that all it took was a good computer chip to have a competitive car back then, you are selling them short. Yes, not very relevant to Australians but they moved the Australian engineering landscape forward lightyears. After this devastating race for Dick Johnson Racing, they told Andy Rouse (who supplied there parts including the computer chips) to fuck off and went their own way. September 1988 and they took their own RS500 Sierra to Silverstone and proved they had the world's fastest Sierras
@@piglos The same applies to the Nissans. Australia built the fastest Skylines, hence why they were not allowed to race in Japan at the time as it made the Nissan factory cars look slow....
@@piglos All competitive drivers who compete at any elite level are freaks when compared to even the best drivers in society, and the engineers and mechanics have to be just as good if you want to win....... but that is not the case with turbo engines. A second string driver in an ordinary car can win in any turbo engined class if they have the right computer chip and jungle juice fuel....... that is not racing. My argument is with the business men who changed the rules of Australian touring car racing for turbo bullshit.
