I just spent a very hot weekend at Bathurst for the 12 hour GT race. Saturday morning was spent travelling to Bathurst over the Blue Mountains. Well they were once blue but now they are black . Kilometre after kilometre of burnt out world heritage listed national park. It was very depressing. The fires had been so intense even the metal road signs had melted.
When friend Warren and I were approaching the Mount Panorama circuit the car's thermometer was showing 39ºC. We decided to eat lunch under a tree on the approach road to the circuit rather than in the shade free car park. After we had parked we found that although we had pre-purchased tickets to collect them we had to queue up with those who were waiting to buy tickets. There were only two ticket windows open. We had to stand in the sun for 35 minutes. It was hell. Big black mark to the race promoters.
To cut a long story short the heat was impossible that afternoon and after a walk along the pit complex and catching up with a few Porsche and Alfa friends racing in the historic Group S race we decided that the best place to be was in the bar of our hotel in Orange 54kms away. As we left the circuit at 3.30 the car's thermometer was showing 43ºC. Little wonder that we could not take it.
The beer in the bar was good and we enjoyed an excellent meal in the hotel restaurant. Even at 9.30pm the temperature was 36ºC.
We were up at 4.00am Sunday to head back to the circuit in time for the 5.45am start. It's one of the greatest sights in motor racing to see the full field of GT cars heading up Mount Panorama in the dark. It's even better than Le Mans and having been to Le Mans so many times I can say that with authority.
Sunday was cooler than Saturday but it was relative. It only reached 38ºC mid afternoon. A big dust storm came in late afternoon but the wind was strong and there was lot of dust swirling around all day. Not ideal conditions for photography. Rain was forecast from mid afternoon but it held off until just as the race was finishing so no need for all those wet tyres they had ready.
The race was a good race as usual but not it did not go right down to the wire as it had done in 2018 and 2019 . The race was won by the Bentley Team M-Sport Continental GT #7 photographed above coming over Skyline at the top of the mountain. Second place was taken by the McLaren 720 S of 59Racing/EMARacing-below.
Sadly Porsche did not make the podium but took out 4th place. They were a few very disappointed teams. Audis always turn out in force for the race supported by a big corporate promotion and although the cars always are reliable they just did not have the pace. The new Aston Martin Vantages with their AMG motors were way off the pace. They would have been very disappointed with their showing.
Warren and I decided to head back to our hotel mid afternoon to watch the end of the race on TV with a cold beer at hand. Unfortunately after about 45mins from the finish a big storm came through Orange and there was a power cut. I managed to get the TV broadcast streaming on my iPhone but it had very little battery so Warren and I ended up watching the finish on the phone plugged into the charger in my car. Strange days indeed.
The rest of my photos from the race are below. Because of the very hot and very dusty conditions I only took my Fuji X-E2 and the 50-230mm lens. An outfit which had only cost me A$650.
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