Bathurst 24 Hour Entry List

[SCH]

Originally posted by Dazz
I personally love the thought of our local teams taking it right up to the Europeans, the self proclaimed masters of the long distance races, no matter what they are driving.

It's going to be a great race I think.

Agreed - I think it's got a good chance of being a great race, and certainly the best for a couple of years.

It's good to see some variety on the grids, and you can't get much more variety than this, and it is good to see local content mixing it with international teams.

Enjoy the race.
Simon.

[itsnotagsr]

Originally posted by Steyr
Personally I welcome the Monaro.
It's 7 litres - so what. The Diablo is 6 litres and a NC Viper is 8 litres (don't think there is a Viper in the 24hr this year).

I think the problem is that one type (eg the diablo etc) are essentially race track versions of road cars with modifications. Whereas the Monaro is a custom built hybrid with no relation to a road car except the shell. The Diablo et al share the same engines, capacity etc as the road version you can buy...

[Camma]

Whoops I didnt know there was so much behind my innocent question. What have I started...

I personally dont believe that the Holden should be there in its current form (427) but I am biased. I believe the M3 GTR and Ferrari are/were production cars albeit not sold in Australia and therefore should be included. Even if the M3 GTR was sold in limited numbers. Again, I am biased.

However...

As Dazz says though, if they can convince PROCAR to have the cars entered then thats good work by them. They understand the importance of "win on Sunday, sell on Monday (is that it)" and invest big $$$ in motorsport so thats a good thing. Given the Monaro is being sold in the states as a pontiac, wouldnt it be great if they could see the "Monaro" win a 24 hour race against some of Europes best. I suppose another argument is that the Le Mans 24 hour cars are pretty much one off race cars and are not sold in production so why should this race be any different.

Ah well, I should just chill, relax have a beer and watch the race. Too much thinking for a Friday arvo. Go the Beamer.

[SCH]

Originally posted by stolei
Is this true? were the rules custom written for GRM?

This topic has been "discussed" (if you could call it that) at great length and quite colourfully over at PROCAR forums, and I really don't think we want to have the sort of hostility seen in that forum over here

"that" thread @ PROCAR forums

Apparently this topic is quite close to a lot of people's hearts and as a result seems to evoke some quite strong and opinionated responses.

All I'm saying is : The category "is what it is" and let's not debate the elligibility of the cars or whatever, because we can't do anything about that, and just enjoy the spectacle.

Is there more qualifying this afternoon?

Simon.

[coyote]

Originally posted by estorilblue3.2
Agreed - I think it's got a good chance of being a great race, and certainly the best for a couple of years.

I think it will at least be the second best Bathurst 24 hour ever!

[fdrx7]

Originally posted by Steyr
...
It's 7 litres - so what. The Diablo is 6 litres and a NC Viper is 8 litres (don't think there is a Viper in the 24hr this year).

I don't think the issue for most people really has anything to do with competitiveness. (roll cages through the firewall aside)

The difference lies in how far removed from the original production car the monaro is vs the others. That's not to say the other cars are prepared by heading down to the dealership with a checquebook and an engine crane, but they are distinctly more similar to something you can buy.

That in itself shouldnt cause a concern but holden/procar/GRM have done a good job of giving the buying public the impression that it's a Production car with a few stickers and brocky shoved inside.

So I think the combination of the above two is what causes the real upset. Personally, I dont really care what the general public think, they think reality tv is entertainment

-pete

[IMOA]

Originally posted by Steyr
My only gripe is that to the uneducated eye such as mine it appears that Procar has tailored the entry requirements to give the Monaro the best possible chance of winning. For example, why won't they allow a JGTC GT500 car to enter?

They are, it's the timing of the event which causes the problems due to clashes with the JGTC series, the cars themselves are welcome to enter and Procar put some effort into getting them here.

Personally I think complaining about the entry of a car which is completely legal under the rules of the category is about as daft as complaining about Ferrari using Schumacher as their driver. Some teams are willing to spend extra to get the maximum performance possible within the rules of the competition, others aren't.

[SCH]

Originally posted by coyote
I think it will at least be the second best Bathurst 24 hour ever!

That is precisely what I meant.

[Steyr]

Originally posted by IMOA
They are, it's the timing of the event which causes the problems due to clashes with the JGTC series, the cars themselves are welcome to enter and Procar put some effort into getting them here.

No they're not. GT300 cars are allegedly allowed to enter, but GT500 cars are not (as far as I'm aware). A cynical mind might believe that this is because a GT500 car would pose too much of a threat to the Monaro. I've heard reports that Bob Pearson allegedly tried to enter a GT300 RX-7 but even that was effectively stopped by Procar.

Procar's first task in getting the 24hr race off the ground is having it appeal to the Aussie motorsport market. How do you do that? You ensure that a Holden or Aussie Ford is the big attraction and probable winner. Hence the rules are tailored to suit the Monaro. If a couple of GT500 cars came over and flogged the rest of the field the event might quickly die through lack of spectator appeal in Australia's V8 dominated motorport market.

[Dazz]

Originally posted by itsnotagsr
I think the problem is that one type (eg the diablo etc) are essentially race track versions of road cars with modifications. Whereas the Monaro is a custom built hybrid with no relation to a road car except the shell. The Diablo et al share the same engines, capacity etc as the road version you can buy...

That really isn't true.

The M3 uses a 5 litre V8 as opposed to the road cars 3.2 litre 6. Thats two extra cylinders and 1.8 litres extra capacity. And if you have a real good look, you will see that it is far more than simply a road M3 with a V8 shoved in it.

The Ferrari uses a 4.0 litre engine where as a normal 360 uses a 3.6 litre engine. As well as that, you or I cannot even buy one of those cars even if we wanted to, let alone try to actually register one. How do I know you can't buy one. Becasue I contacted the team and they said that they do not sell them openly.

The Dodge is allowed the use of a sequential Holinger six speed gearbox, V8 Supercar sized brakes, and the full on aero kit that is used in racing overseas. It bares little resemblance under the skin to the road car.

The fact that the Monaro is also cheaper to build than the exotics is also a point worth considering.

If Ford or anyone else wanted to build a car like the Monaro, the precedent has been set and they would be allowed to do just as Holden did. So if your brand of car isn't represented, don't blame Holden, ask your favourite manufacturer why they aren't there.

[GT-R LM]

I'm with Dazz on this.

What i dont understand is why so many Australians "hate" or dont want the Monaro to win.

The BMW M3 GTR there is only one road going version in the world. Then you have all the other "Exotics" in the field, they all cost twice as much as the Monaro and none of them are anywhere near what can be bought from the factory as well.

That said i love all the cars in the Bathurst 24 hour Race
but i just cant help having a soft spot for the monaro. I belive it should be the underdog of the race because once you do have a look at the limited amount of time spent on building a car like that compared to all the years of R&D for BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, Dodge have done in 24 hour racing it seems like a miracle to just be competitive little lone win the race.

Go the Monaro !!!

[Bixler]

pffffffffffffffffttttttttttt monaro. i dont dislike it because its australian but the reason they are that much faster is because unlike the other cars where they are built for different series of racing to other rules the monaro goes right to the boundries of the rules for their class. the thing is the porsche was beating the monaro quite considerably last year untill a broken drive shaft from memory that sent the car into the wall at rather high speed. obviously a 24hr race is about finishing but its not as if the monaro would have killed it if their both went unscarred.

think about the racing series this year though, stokell did win not a monaro.

if u want an australian car to win lets build a BA XR6t car pushing every rule to the limit and see what happens:D

but as some one said bring over a JGTC car, even a GT300 would stick it to them most likely and a GT500 would make mince meat of them:D yes big call but i felt like saying it

[CussCuss]

so you dislike a car because it was built well and in the rules of the class?

So do you not like the f1 teams, or the JGTC cars? im sure they go to the boundrys of their class also.
Noone is opposed to bringing in a modded XR6T, its just up to ford to do it.

Oh and if CSV are using the C5R block and sell enough of the argument of 'you cant buy this engine in any production car in the world' will be null and void too.

Dazza has said things best.

Go the munro

[BlingRacer_01]

I say up the monaro

There has been a big trend against the aussie cars, but in all seriousness you guys live in austrlia, its just like all the aussies going for diff countries in the world cup...

I'm sure my view has been a bit biased. as i'm a holden guy through and through, just give it some slack. just cos we are going to win doens't mean you guys have to start complaining about it.

You guys saw how the porsche and ferrari have modified their engines/cars.. Why can't holden do the same thing??

'carn HOLDEN!

[Steyr]

Originally posted by nismo 400 R N1
What i dont understand is why so many Australians "hate" or dont want the Monaro to win.

1. Because we value fair racing, not events controlled by an organisation who bends the rules to suit their favoured car and outright ban anything that they know will beat it.

2. Because we want to be proud of Australian cars and feel insulted when our cars are given special treatment to ensure they have more than a fair chance of winning. We will be proud when our cars win without help from the event organisers.

3. Because we hate the bogans who think that because the 7.0 litre "Monaro" is a sensational race car their POS road going Monaro must be too. The 7.0 litre car shouldn't even share the Monaro name.

At least those are my reasons for wanting the Monaro to lose. Unfortunately I expect we'll have 2 Monaros on the podium come Sunday.

Let some GT500 cars enter and then I'll be happy even if the Monaro wins. Actually, let the GT500 cars in and I'll be happy especially if the Monaro wins.