Virgin Bathurst Flyover

[Stationair8]

Did Virgin do a flyover at Bathurst today?

[Fris B. Fairing]

Did the RAAF do a flyover? I blinked.
Saw plenty of ads for trashy Ch 7 programs though.

[wheels_down]

They did not do an AFL flyover citing environmental concerns:= so highly doubtful they did one today.

[Going Boeing]

Did the RAAF do a flyover? I blinked.
Saw plenty of ads for trashy Ch 7 programs though.

Gee, I thought that I watched it on Ch 10. 😂

[Stationair8]

RAAF FA-18 did a flyover, shown on Foxtel.

So no B737 flyover this year, perhaps JB wasn’t at the event.

[Pinky the pilot]

Don't know. Don't care.:rolleyes:

Does anyone who remembers the old 'Hardie Ferodo Bathurst 500/1000' races of the 60's, 70's and early 80's, when the racecars were still ''off the showroom floor, seam welded, roll cage and racing suspension fitted and engine fully balanced and blueprinted...'' really care about these so-called V8supercars where the only thing Holden or Ford about them is the car body?:*

What about the time that Peter Williamson raced his 2 litre DOHC Toyota Celica, winning not only the 2 litre class but cleaning up every V6 Ford Capri in the 3 litre class as well?:ooh:

Bathurst races these days? Who was the Shelia on the old 'Laugh In' TV series of the late 60's with the catch phrase..
Borrrrriiinnngggg!!!:D


Now that is off my chest, I shall pour another glass of good Barossa Shiraz! :ok:
"You are old, Father Pinky, the young man said
and your hair has become very white...":sad:

[Ken Borough]

Watching Bob Jane and Bill Burns in their 3.8l Jags was much more enjoyable. What's more, the TV commentators didn't shout all of the time!

[Ken Borough]

Thanks Captain! I blame autofill.....:\

[Pinky the pilot]

What's more, the TV commentators didn't shout all of the time!

Evan Green and Will Hagon did not have to shout, did they!

[vne165]

Can't stand the whole broadcast experience and especially commentary. Why do they feel the need to fill every moment with inane chatter about Wilko or Robbo or Davo...Why do the reporters wear racing suits?
I remember Williamson and the diamond man Peter Janson. And I remember when the cars had some relevance to what you could buy and reasonably expect to modify to pretend you had a Bathurst spec car.
What they serve up today is rubbish. Too many stoppages, not enough cars on the track. Bring back classes, slower cars to overtake and races within the race. How can they be racing Fords and Holdens when we don't make them any more? I went to the 12 hours a few years back, enjoyed that immensely. Proper racing.

[Shot Nancy]

Years ago I saw some RAAF Hueys fly around the course with grunts dangling below.

[Pastor of Muppets]

“Environmental concerns”......How fashionable!

[Ascend Charlie]

Minis racing against Hillman Imps and Volkswagens, speed record of 112 MPH down Conrod Straight held by the Studebaker Lark. Yes, that was REAL racing.

[SRFred]

..... and what about Godzilla the Nissan?

[layman]

1966? Rauno Aaltanon in a Mini Cooper S won it. So many Mimis at the front they changed the rules ... and soon left us with Holden v Ford.

One of my favourite moments is the Mini that 'fell over' in the Dipper. Pushed back onto its wheels & drove on!

[packapoo]

Don't know. Don't care.:rolleyes:

Does anyone who remembers the old 'Hardie Ferodo Bathurst 500/1000' races of the 60's, 70's and early 80's, when the racecars were still ''off the showroom floor, seam welded, roll cage and racing suspension fitted and engine fully balanced and blueprinted...'' really care about these so-called V8supercars where the only thing Holden or Ford about them is the car body?:*

What about the time that Peter Williamson raced his 2 litre DOHC Toyota Celica, winning not only the 2 litre class but cleaning up every V6 Ford Capri in the 3 litre class as well?:ooh:

Bathurst races these days? Who was the Shelia on the old 'Laugh In' TV series of the late 60's with the catch phrase..
Borrrrriiinnngggg!!!:D


Now that is off my chest, I shall pour another glass of good Barossa Shiraz! :ok:
"You are old, Father Pinky, the young man said
and your hair has become very white...":sad:

With you Pinky.....

[Fris B. Fairing]

Gee, I thought that I watched it on Ch 10. 😂

Well there you go. I must have been reminiscing about the good old days when it was on Seven and we had rear windows being kicked out and boot lids being attacked with axes. Sigh!

[The Bullwinkle]

perhaps JB wasn’t at the event.
Nobody knows where JB is these days!
Probably out chasing the sunset in his McLaren!

[VH-FTS]

Environmental concerns = Virgin speak for “let’s not waste more cash on fuel”. They couldn’t give a rats about the environment, it was a commercial decision.

[Allan L]

And I think it was Volkswagen in their first time entry - who later advertised that they finished LAST, but on the same tyres and brakes that they started on, and at a modest fuel economy. And before Bathurst of course it was run at Phillip Island, the original 500 mile race. (Lukey 500 springs to mind.Then it became the Hardly Ferocious.)

[SOPS]

Im with Pinky, as well. One point Pinky, I think you will find in 'Series Production' racing ( before the Group C regs were adopted)..the cars were basically straight off the showroom floor, and they did not even have a roll cage fitted.

The Supercars are rubbish. Didnt they even have a Nissan racing team? You cant even buy a V8 Nissan ( well perhaps a Patrol) in Australia.!!

[Ken Borough]

Lukey 500 springs to mind.Then it became the Hardly Ferocious.

The Lukey 500 was preceded by the Armstrong 500 at Philllip Island. Memory tells me that the first was won by a Victoria Police team driving a Studebaker Lark. I could be wrong as my RAM is becoming dimmer and not as effective as it once was.

[ACMS]

They were asked and said “as a business we are endeavoring to become more environmentally friendly, so no flyovers this year.......”
can you bloody believe it, they’re an Airline sponsoring V8 super cars and they want to be environmentally friendly!!

what rubbish.

[JPJP]

Years ago I saw some RAAF Hueys fly around the course with grunts dangling below.

One of the many good reasons that the Army took the helicopters off them. :E

[Traffic_Is_Er_Was]

Too many stoppages, not enough cars on the track.
All designed for TV. It's to make sure the race is still competitive to the last minute. Remember back to the "good old days" when it would be won by Brocky who was several laps in front of the next contender? They don't want that anymore. Nowadays the only thing worth watching in the entire event is the start to the first corner, and the last couple of laps. Everything else is just filler between the ads.

[ACMS]

Spoken like a person that knows zip about long distance car racing, well done.

[Traffic_Is_Er_Was]

I've watched Bathurst over many years. I know what long distance car racing is about. However, I am their audience, and they have lost me. My father would religiously (pardon the pun) set aside the whole day every year to sit and watch. He doesn't bother now. It is boring. I may as well watch F1.

[ACMS]

Sorry if the boys don’t crash the cars and give you entertainment then.......

[morno]

I’ll happily sit down and watch Bathurst with the Supercars, but I still think the best days of Bathurst was around that 95-05 period, and even a bit before that. The days when you had teams actually engineering the cars, like Larry Perkins.

[Traffic_Is_Er_Was]

Sorry if the boys don’t crash the cars and give you entertainment then.......
It's not about that. I guess some people are just happy watching artificial competitiveness.

[Pinky the pilot]

One point Pinky, I think you will find in 'Series Production' racing ( before the Group C regs were adopted)..the cars were basically straight off the showroom floor, and they did not even have a roll cage fitted.

Struth!!:eek: Got a vague idea that you are quite correct, SOPS. :hmm:

Which, IMHO strengthens my argument that the current version of the Bathurst Car race is not only boring but completely, totally and utterly irrelevant to any cars available in any car dealer's showroom.:=:ugh:

and we had rear windows being kicked out and boot lids being attacked with axes.

I remember the two above quoted examples only too well!

[mustafagander]

As I recall it, "Series Production" cars had tyres and brake pads/linings free. The rest was straight off the showroom floor except that the engines were allowed to be blue printed.
It was a hell of a competitive class with all of us pushing the rules to the very edge and using all sorts of "good ideas" in the tune.

[vne165]

As far as I am aware, supercars have a controlled chassis. Every one is the same underneath a plastic skin to reduce costs and thus pay the racing suit wearing commentators more $$. The plastic bodywork is mocked up to resemble whatever marque they are supposed to be. Engine must be from the manufacturer, but I suspect gearbox to driving wheels and braking systems are common as well. They (the w%$nker commentators) never discuss the technical differences between the cars, presumably because there are none.

[Derfred]

Im with Pinky, as well. One point Pinky, I think you will find in 'Series Production' racing ( before the Group C regs were adopted)..the cars were basically straight off the showroom floor, and they did not even have a roll cage fitted.

The Supercars are rubbish. Didnt they even have a Nissan racing team? You cant even buy a V8 Nissan ( well perhaps a Patrol) in Australia.!!

I thought it was hilarious when Nissan won in a 6 cylinder Skyline, and they changed to rules to exclude it from future events. That car was just too good for Aussie rev-heads to cope with.

[Ascend Charlie]

Memory fades here, but I recall that it was an all-wheel-drive Skyline that won it, so they said "Only 2-wheel drive from now on."

The next year a 2-wd Skyline won again, so the rules changed to ban Skylines. And now we have that garbage race.

Bring back the Minis and VWs and Jaguars.

[morno]

They did used to have a touring car category Bathurst even when the Supercars were running seperately, obviously it wasn’t popular enough. The crowds wanted the V8 Supercars.

Bathurst 12hr is the closest you get to the touring car race.

morno

[Gnadenburg]

They did not do an AFL flyover citing environmental concerns:= so highly doubtful they did one today.


I was at the Western Bulldogs 2016 Grand Final a few years ago and Virgin did an A330 flyover and it was quite boring. Few at the ground noticed or cared. Civilian airplanes are quite dreary in flyovers. Perhaps a high drag flypast may have got some attention due noise but otherwise, nick-off, I'm here for the footy. A Hornet would be cool or even a C17, but really? An Airbus? Apologies to the Virgin pilots who probably felt they were pretty exciting in a "mission" contrasting with their usual busing about of bogans.

[mickjoebill]

Why do the reporters wear racing suits?

Following a fire in the pits in F1 about 20 years ago, it was thought to be a good idea that whenever cars are refuelling, that pit crew and media should be protected.
I recall initially working in jeans and shirt one year , then being supplied with same kit minus logos as the team (so we looked professional) and then being measured by McClaren for a fire suit.. they wouldn’t let us keep it after the gig:(

I recall at one point F1 race they had a 1000 litre tank with pump and foam between garages with a fireman at the ready. Not enough space to do that everywhere.

https://youtu.be/ZJCzkrWps00
You may recall the crash in 2011 at Bathurst, end of the long straight after first corner, where a fuel tank was split and fuel was sprayed as the car spun. Fire ensued. The fuel sprayed across a cameraman, it could be seen covering the lens in the live coverage.

The choice of design of the commentators suit is interesting. No question that a one piece car car/pilot suit offers more protection than a two piece, especially if there is a threat of an explosion of enveloping flame as exists inside a garage with a liquid fuel fire.

A larger budget would help make the coverage more interesting, but there comes a point as with F1 when unless the race delivers the excitement no amount of tv whizzardy compensates.

Unlike F1 a bit of drift in this thread;)

Mjb

[Like This - Do That]

I thought it was hilarious when Nissan won in a 6 cylinder Skyline, and they changed to rules to exclude it from future events. That car was just too good for Aussie rev-heads to cope with.

Queue Jim Richards on the podium: "You're a pack of @rseholes" ... funniest thing ever said in Australian motorsport and so so true. :D

[Fris B. Fairing]

Queue Jim Richards on the podium: "You're a pack of @rseholes" ... funniest thing ever said in Australian motorsport and so so true. :D

The funniest thing was the look of disbelief on the face of co-driver Mark Skaife.

Maintaining the thread drift and getting back to the Besnard fire, did they ever establish the ignition source given that the fire appears to have started at the fence and spread towards the car?

[Berealgetreal]

...Thrilling...

[vne165]

Not sure if this link will work. Hopefully it will as I think it's a counterpoint to the current offerings.
I don't want those days back (they were amateurish) - they appear silly from where I look at what is the current (advertising driven) formula.
But as a fan and a spectator, I want some connection to what regular folks can drive.

The ABC of Bathurst

[Old Fella]

And I think it was Volkswagen in their first time entry - who later advertised that they finished LAST, but on the same tyres and brakes that they started on, and at a modest fuel economy. And before Bathurst of course it was run at Phillip Island, the original 500 mile race. (Lukey 500 springs to mind.Then it became the Hardly Ferocious.)
It was actually the Armstrong 500 in November 1960, I was there and it was a great day. The link below gives a good summary. Some surprising placings in vehicles driven by future greats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Armstrong_500