February 9, 2013

Bathurst 12 Hour: Ferrari too fast, gets penalized for it.



The Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 had its best time taken away and 50 kilos of ballast added after setting a time faster than minimum time benchmark while qualifying for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour. Perhaps someone Australian can explain to us how that works and why a delta time system is used rather than  straight fastest time.



In any case, Audi, Mercedes Porsche and Ferrari will be slugging it out, dodging slower cars on the very narrow Mount Panorama, a track that makes the Nürburgring look safe , starting Sunday morning.

V8 Supercar star Craig Lowndes takes us around the Mount Panorama track in his Audi R8.



If you are looking for a couple hours of racing action (and some classic car carnage), here's a look at some of the support races.

The HQ Holden





Sport Sedans




Improved Production

5 comments:

  1. Hi Axis!
    The delta qualifying is there because the sanctioning body has a 130% rule. Where the field must lap within 130% of the fastest car. The limit is there to give the slower production based cars the chance to qualify.

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    1. hmm. the commentators on the live feed were saying the GT cars can easily lap in the 2:04. It a funny system baceuse, it's not really going to make the slower cars any faster during the race. I'm assuming nobody gets penalized for sub 2:06 in the race?

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    2. I agree. Its very odd.
      And you're correct, no penalties for lapping under the time in the race.

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  2. Could it also be an insurance issue? A little unrelated but Ken Block once went under the minimum time for a stage in 100 Acre Forest Rally I think it was. Also down here in NZ for the Targa rallies they have speed and time restrictions for insurance purposes too.

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    Replies
    1. Quite possible. In the USA, basically all the rallies have a maximum speed for their stages, which is why you'll see artificial chicanes set up on longer straights, to keep the speeds down to a level that the insurance companies feel comfortable with.

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