18-02-2010

Donut King Monaro at the Bathurst 12 Hour

The 2010 Bathurst 12 hr has come and gone - but for me it won't be forgotten for a long time. 

The weather over the weekend was always going to be an issue with Thunder storms, wind, Kangaroo warnings and even "flood warnings" issued over the four days of the event.

We had a slow start to the event with the engine pulling a rocker post stud out of one of the cylinder heads on Friday morning - so we lost the first session fixing the issue.
P2 was wet but we got some decent laps in the car and posted some respectable times in very trying conditions.

Saturday morning for P3 was wet again and so myself and the second fastest driver sat out the session to allow the other two drivers get used to the track and conditions - but the conditions worsened during the session and the drivers struggled to find a balance with the car and track conditions.

It was then to qualifying and as I had set the fastest time for all the team drivers - it was decided that I would run the car in qualifying.
We decided to only do the least amount of laps as it was our intention to get the car "somewhere" in the first 25 cars as grid 26 at Bathurst starts on a slope and therefore would be of a disadvantage to start 26 or lower.
We had a good run on a drying track and at one stage we where in P6 on the grid - then the Evo 4x4 cars started which pushed us back to row 9 - this is where we ended up starting.

6.30am Sunday morning and the race started with Barry Nesbit at the wheel - he set some good laps and was quick and consistent during his stint.
Lap 25 and the first driver change call and refuel was called - I was in for my first stint.

The track was wet but a dry line was starting to appear. 
I set into a rhythm and started catching and passing a number of cars and then started catching and passing some of the hot shot 4x4 cars.
The car was feeling good and as we had decided not to push the car, the pace I had set was not that hard to keep up - so much so that the team had decided to run me for a double driving stint to try and get us up the field.
Then on my 20th lap I had gone across the start finish line and turned into Murray corner (Turn 1) when all of a sudden the car snapped violently sideways which sent the car off the dry line and onto the wet part of the track - in turn sending the car onto the wet grass and slammed into the inside concrete way - at 4.75G - THE CAR WAS A RIGHT OFF!

Fortunately for me I wear a Hans Devise which kept my head upright, but I ended up in the Bathurst medical centre with mild concussion, bruised left ankle were my foot hit and bent the clutch pedal and heavy shoulder bruising.

But unfortunately that was the end of our Bathurst 12hr for 2010.

The car is now back at the teams workshop where they are striping it to a shell and then "hopefully" it can be straighten on a chassis jig - otherwise it will be a new shell.