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Written by Craig Jamieson
1. Ferrari wonFerrari"s new 488 GT3 car seems like it"s coming into its own, with wins in the 12 Hours of Sebring and now Bathurst. Finnish driver Toni Vilander put on a star performance, taking the win from pole position in his first visit to the mountain. And that"s impressive. With just 40 minutes to go, the 488 (driven by teammate Jamie Whincup) moved on the leading Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Shane van Gisbergen at more than 170mph. Neck and neck at the fastest part of the circuit, van Gisbergen edged the Ferrari on to the grass. Luckily, Whincup (a local driver with a very full trophy cabinet) kept his cool through the following corners (the Chase and Murray"s Corner) to cement the lead. 2. It was held at Mount PanoramaMount Panorama is a racing circuit at Bathurst, which is not pronounced Baaath-hurst", but more along the lines of BAH-thirst". The track is 6.2km long or about 3.85 miles. There"s a difference of 571ft between the track"s highest and lowest points, mostly because the track goes straight up a hill, squiggles about a bit and then comes barrelling back down again. 3. Mount Panorama is basically an Australian Spa-FrancorchampsIt"s most famous for the Bathurst 1000, which is where massive touring cars with V8 engines race for 1000km. It takes the so-called V8 Supercars" about six to seven hours to do 161 laps, with the lap record standing at a very respectable 2 minutes, 6.28 seconds. That said, the 12 Hour"s star is rising, with the race becoming more and more popular as it goes on. We"ve been (in 2012, if you were curious) and it"s one of the best motorsport spectacles in the Southern Hemisphere. 4. It was really, really hotThe coldest it got throughout the race was still more than 20 C, ramping up to 36 C. And, unlike Bathurst 12 Hours past, it didn"t belt down with rain at any point, so there was little respite from track temperatures that topped 45 C. So, warmish.5. GT3 cars are faster than V8 SupercarsLocal driver Shane van Gisbergen (yes, he"s a New Zealander, but Australians tend to claim the successful ones as their own) set a blistering lap of 2 minutes, 1.57 seconds in a McLaren 650S GT3 in last year"s 12 Hour. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he went on to win that race, completing 297 laps. This year, van Gisbergen drove for Mercedes-Benz, but a crash in the dying moments of the race meant his title defence was over. More on that in a bit. 6. It wasn"t only GT3 cars racingWhile GT3 cars were indeed the fastest, taking the top five places, the field was also open to GT4 racers, GT3 Cup cars (by which they mean Porsche 911-based racers) and roughly anything worthy of an invitation to race. So there was a 335i, Ginetta G55, KTM X-Bow and a V8-powered Ford Focus.
Date written: 6 Feb 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 6651
1. Ferrari wonFerrari"s new 488 GT3 car seems like it"s coming into its own, with wins in the 12 Hours of Sebring and now Bathurst. Finnish driver Toni Vilander put on a star performance, taking the win from pole position in his first visit to the mountain. And that"s impressive. With just 40 minutes to go, the 488 (driven by teammate Jamie Whincup) moved on the leading Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Shane van Gisbergen at more than 170mph. Neck and neck at the fastest part of the circuit, van Gisbergen edged the Ferrari on to the grass. Luckily, Whincup (a local driver with a very full trophy cabinet) kept his cool through the following corners (the Chase and Murray"s Corner) to cement the lead. 2. It was held at Mount PanoramaMount Panorama is a racing circuit at Bathurst, which is not pronounced Baaath-hurst", but more along the lines of BAH-thirst". The track is 6.2km long or about 3.85 miles. There"s a difference of 571ft between the track"s highest and lowest points, mostly because the track goes straight up a hill, squiggles about a bit and then comes barrelling back down again. 3. Mount Panorama is basically an Australian Spa-FrancorchampsIt"s most famous for the Bathurst 1000, which is where massive touring cars with V8 engines race for 1000km. It takes the so-called V8 Supercars" about six to seven hours to do 161 laps, with the lap record standing at a very respectable 2 minutes, 6.28 seconds. That said, the 12 Hour"s star is rising, with the race becoming more and more popular as it goes on. We"ve been (in 2012, if you were curious) and it"s one of the best motorsport spectacles in the Southern Hemisphere. 4. It was really, really hotThe coldest it got throughout the race was still more than 20 C, ramping up to 36 C. And, unlike Bathurst 12 Hours past, it didn"t belt down with rain at any point, so there was little respite from track temperatures that topped 45 C. So, warmish.5. GT3 cars are faster than V8 SupercarsLocal driver Shane van Gisbergen (yes, he"s a New Zealander, but Australians tend to claim the successful ones as their own) set a blistering lap of 2 minutes, 1.57 seconds in a McLaren 650S GT3 in last year"s 12 Hour. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he went on to win that race, completing 297 laps. This year, van Gisbergen drove for Mercedes-Benz, but a crash in the dying moments of the race meant his title defence was over. More on that in a bit. 6. It wasn"t only GT3 cars racingWhile GT3 cars were indeed the fastest, taking the top five places, the field was also open to GT4 racers, GT3 Cup cars (by which they mean Porsche 911-based racers) and roughly anything worthy of an invitation to race. So there was a 335i, Ginetta G55, KTM X-Bow and a V8-powered Ford Focus.
Date written: 6 Feb 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 6651
