The 2011 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour will be open to vehicles eligible to compete under the Australian GT Championship rules.
The expansion of the event was jointly announced at the Australian Grand Prix by the Directors of Australian GT and Bathurst 12 Hour Promoter James O’Brien.
“The GT Championship has grown tremendously in recent years and these vehicles will now join production cars in the 12 Hour Race enabling the event to grow further including the attraction of an international audience,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien also said that when the 12 Hour was reintroduced in 2007, the intention was there to incorporate GT vehicles, however, the timing had to be right.
Sorry, GT cars do nothing for me. Yes they're fast, look cool etc, etc, but I just can't get interested in them no matter how I try. And I wouldn't go and watch a combination of Proddies and GT. I'd prefer the Proddies run at Bathurst, but that's just me. From what I've read elsewhere, sadly most of the proddies won't be turning up anyway if they're running with GT. Seems pointless to ruin a good event. I'm looking forward to 6hr in July!!
'Down the straight they go. Car one, car two. An absolute demonstration of the crushing victory to Ford here and the Allan Moffat Dealer team.' Evan Green, Bathurst 77. _Mford
The main reason for the change would be that the 12 Hour meeting as it was run this year may not be financially viable for the promoters.Everyone here seems to talk about the event continuing to grow but the entry both in numbers and quality has basically stagnated since 2008,sponsorship has if anything reduced and the support categories have not turned out to be quite the cash cow envisaged.As much as I love the event having attended all 4 as well as the 4 12 Hour's in the 1990's non 1000 meetings at Bathurst have all fallen over fairly quickly in the past 20 years(12 Hour,ATCC round,Super Touring,Motorcycle Festival,24 Hour).The promoters have taken a calculated risk to increase entries,crowds and sponsorship.It may or may not work but they couldn't afford too many more financial repeats of 2010.Personally I would have preferred the event remaining as a nonGT Production race but I don't think this was an option.
No small production class, diesel class, ute class or mini class anymore.
I'm a bit confused with class C (GT Production), are you expecting a Alfa GT or Nissan 350Z to keep up with a Nissan R35 GTR. Or are they allowed certain aero? Also what tyres are the production cars expected to run?
I don't mind losing the small stuff... I appreciate that the Micra has a place on the road somewhere but not in a high speed enduro... at PI the first class had one car in it and the 2nd class had 2 (i think, maybe 3) which isn't much of a competition is it? and B12 only had 2 utes didn't it? losing those few cars for a few more cars that are suitable to racing isn't a bad thing...
as long as it doesn't cut into the entrants who have decent fields then it's not a bad move.
Sorry, GT cars do nothing for me. Yes they're fast, look cool etc, etc, but I just can't get interested in them no matter how I try.
Have you ever seen these cars up close?
They are porn for car lovers.
And they sound sensational.
Yes I've seen them at the track up close, no they don't do anything for me. Sorry.
'Down the straight they go. Car one, car two. An absolute demonstration of the crushing victory to Ford here and the Allan Moffat Dealer team.' Evan Green, Bathurst 77. _Mford
I think its great, love these cars. I'd prefer these any day over the super taxis. Be interesting to see how much overseas interest there is now with the FIA GT3 regs instead of the nations Cup rules.
Anyone who can see the bigger picture can see that with gt now the focus of the 12 hr, that it is only the beginning of the push to get back to a 24 hr race. 24hr and 12 racing is now big world wide and to make it an international event again would be a great thing for australia. Production cars can still race and they will but to do it on the world stage will be much bigger. the rest of the world seems to be able to manage it ok. The 24 hr races that were held here were never let to blossom but its down fall came from two gmh baged supercars. production cars can still feture very well within 12hr 0r 24hr race and to look at it any other way is rather silly. How many fans turned up to watch the 6 hr yesterday and besides that the racing was very boring. If we can run on an international stage as production cars with gts the fields will be very big and the racing will be great. more and more people are looking at enduros over seas so why wouldnt we encourage it here.
the bugger of a thing about the Bathurst race is that it is so bloody far from anywhere... of course it is the track to do it at but man... PI 12/24 would be fun (close to home) but no doubt it'd be pinged being way too noisy for the penguins.. **sheesh..
the bugger of a thing about the Bathurst race is that it is so bloody far from anywhere... of course it is the track to do it at but man... PI 12/24 would be fun (close to home) but no doubt it'd be pinged being way too noisy for the penguins.. **sheesh..
It isn't a long way from anywhere. It's not a lot harder to get to Bathurst from Sydney then getting to Phillip Island from Melbourne.
i disagree Dave... takes me an hour to get to PI from s/e subs of Melb... a relatively flat run and straight thru.. even from the western subs takes under 2 hours with it being freeway pretty well the whole way.
went to Bathurst from Sydney... thru the mountains... was 3-3.5 hours from memory.. a big difference.
i disagree Dave... takes me an hour to get to PI from s/e subs of Melb... a relatively flat run and straight thru.. even from the western subs takes under 2 hours with it being freeway pretty well the whole way.
went to Bathurst from Sydney... thru the mountains... was 3-3.5 hours from memory.. a big difference.
It doesn't take me much time at all to get to Bathurst... 10 minutes walk from where I live to the circuit.
as much as it is next to the black stump it's still a trip to do... amazing watching the cars (in any series) flying through some of those corners at warp speed..
and i think the 12 hour guys really make it even more special because of it being a lot more closely based to what we drive rather than the v8sc series where the road car is a distant memory..
Bathurst 12hr Competitors Not Happy
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Posted - 12 Apr 2010 : 16:49:52
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