Australia is a notoriously flat continent where any hill bigger than a pimple can be called a mount or mountain. Not so around Bathurst, lying in the remnents of the Blue Mountains which are part of the mighty if somewhat mis-named Great Dividing Range (not technically a range).
For here lies Mount Panorama, so named because of the spectacular views which caused the Bathurst City Council to construct a road up and across the mountain to take advantage of said views. This is no pimple but a proper mountain and the road is now world famous as the Bathurst Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit, iconic and one of the most challenging tracks in the world. So when an motorsport event primarily aimed at amateurs is organising here, the name Challenge Bathurst is both entirely apt and a bit of a warning.
Such a magical track, take a look at the photo - the track starts about level with where I stand and climbs steeply (far more so than it appears on TV) above and across the "Mount Panorama" cut into the hillside, and then plunges down again just as steeply. All using normal public roads (closed obviously and well surfaced but narrow). One of the few, maybe now the only, internationally certified tracks where the entire competition layout can be driven on public roads.
I spent the first two days (Thursday and Friday) flag marshaling, my first "proper" flag marshalling in over 50 years!
Day one was just past the exit of the dipper which is narrow and fast, we could almost touch the cars as they skimmed the wall at our feet. Tricky to pick an impending overtake (blue flag) but fortunately no incidents in our section (yellow flag). {Other flag colours are available for specific duties!}
Day two was at the end of Conrod Straight entering The Chase. Breathtaking speeds (300+ km/h or or 190 mph) in a "gentle" bend creating enough g-force to really tilt even stiffly sprung race sedans on their suspension, followed by hard hard braking. Tremendous. The closing speed between some competitors meant a blue flag well before an overtake and the sheer speed meant watching the next flag point down the track so as to mirror their yellow to provide enough time for the driver to react.
2 incidents, including a monster trip across the gravel trap shown here and the one on the other side of the track, ending in a roll over (no injuries), showed just how quickly things go wrong and the vital role of marshals in ensuring it does not get worse and is dealt with efficiently and safely.
And there is the communication back to race control - flag points are the eyes and ears on the track and vital to not only the safety of all but the efficient running of the event.
On our feet and on our toes all day, but what a great 2 days.
Saturday was spent in the pit garages with our group of 17 cars (out of a session of up to 55 cars). For reasons unknown the PA was not working in any of the garages and the paddock PA could just about be heard inside but not understood. Time passes quickly and missing the call to driver's briefing or dummy grid can be disasterous. I was able to help out a little by keeping an eye on the clock and stepping into the paddock to hear the PA. Apart from getting a car left over from Thurs/Fri evicted from one garage things went pretty smoothly and the rain stayed away.
I was very impressed by both the lap times and the comradeship of our group. As best as I could tell there was a lot of respect out on track even if that was not always reciprocated by others in the same session.
The Saturday and Sunday sessions were Regularity, one point for every 1/10 of a second slower than your nominated time, 2 points for every 1/10 faster. Chris Price, in his M140i, from BMW Car Club Queensland is to be congratulated as the winner of (at least) our session (Group D) with a mere 41 points in total from 4 20 minute sessions.
Our group was well represented in the top part of the results so good work all round.
Lawrence Glynn #3
