ALLAN Moffat was a man who knew what it took to win at Bathurst’s Mount Panorama, but come October 9 it will be his son James who is aiming for a podium finish at the famous 6.213 kilometre circuit.
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James Moffat is currently in his first year of the Carrera Cup competition, a series where every competitor drives the same make of car – a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
The 2007 Formula Ford Rookie of the Year followed his father into racing and given Allan Moffat won Bathurst titles in 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1977, James knows what it means to find success here.
“I know how much effort he put into Bathurst every year, you could be having a bad year, but if you won at Bathurst it would be a good year,” James said.
“I know how much the race meant to dad and hopefully I can continue on from that.”
It was back in 1969 that Allan made his debut at Bathurst and now almost 40 years later, James will drive his first competitive laps at Mount Panorama.
While he has competed in the Formula Ford, V8 Utes and Lotus Trophy in the past, James has never before competed at Bathurst and until last Friday, had never completed a circuit of Mount Panorama.
“I came up on Friday and drove around 20-25 laps, I played by the rules and stuck to the speed limit, but now I am a bit more familiar with the track,” James said.
“I’ve watched Bathurst pretty well all my life and I’ve been there a couple of times, but television doesn’t do the track justice.”
The time James spent at Mount Panorama may prove valuable as he will have little time to adjust to the circuit in his Sonic Motor Racing Bob Jane T-Marts Porsche before he needs to produce quick times.
He will get a 20 minute practice session on the morning of October 9 before qualifying starts at 4.45pm that afternoon. He will then contest three, eight-lap races, which will be conducted on Friday afternoon (3.55pm), Saturday (11.20am) and Sunday morning (8.45am) before the V8 Supercars main event gets underway.
“I only get limited lap time there, I get 20 minutes of practice before qualifying starts, so that is only seven or eight laps at best,” he said.
“With this category being one make every car is as close to identical as you can get in a racing series so it makes it tough to try and find any advantage.”
James will head to Bathurst ranked sixth in the overall Carrera Cup standings, the Melbourne resident’s best finish a third at Barbagallo back in May.
With just one more round to follow after Bathurst, the Indy 300 which commences October 23, James has no chance of catching current Carrera Cup series leader Craig Baird and do as his father did in 1973 and 1977 by claiming both overall series and Mount Panorama victories.
However, James has been steadily improving and heads to Bathurst with hopes of finishing on the podium. It was something Allan did seven times.
“It has been a steep learning curve, everyone I am racing against has been in this category the last two or three years and obviously as you’d expect that gives them a bit of an advantage.
“In the last three or fours rounds though I have made improvements ... I’ve had the potential to be on the podium every round.
“I’ve found speed and know I can be competitive.”
Aside from hoping for success at Bathurst, James is also aiming to finish his debut Carrera Cup season in fifth overall. He is currently on 651 points and fifth placed David Wall on 681.
