AT last week’s official launch of the Bathurst Real Estate 2012 Australian Hillclimb Championship to be run on Mount Panorama’s Mountain Straight course, leading drivers spoke of the possibility of at least one driver making a run at a 160kph (100 mph) average.
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Sydney’s current NSW champion Tim Edmondson attended with his fully imported Gould GR 55B, along with the current leader of the 2012 NSW titles, Mudgee grazier Doug Barry with his Lola T8750, and renowned hillclimb race-car builder Ron Hay with his latest weapon, the Synergy Dallara.
Edmondson is the only driver to have averaged 100 mph on a run on the course, having done so at a Bathurst Light Car Club (BLCC) event in 2011, with an amazing 37.69secs run in the Gould. It has Formula One technology and is powered by a Nicholson McLaren V8, but as that time was recorded in a club event, it was not an outright record.
However the record is held by Edmondson – set when he won the Bathurst round of the NSW Championship with 39.35seconds run set in early 2011.
On the day Edmondson did the 100mph average run his car was doing 240kph as he reached Griffins Bend at the top of Mountain Straight, then it was down to around 90-100kph through the Cutting and back up to 250 kph before the finish.
One thing is certain, the Bathurst Real Estate Australian Hillclimb Championship to be run by the Bathurst Light Car Club on November 2-4, is looking to be the fastest of all time.
TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering has announced they have a sponsor to replace Vodafone who revealed last month they would not be renewing their sponsorship in 2013.
Triple Eight Race Engineering and Red Bull Australia confirmed yesterday that they have agreed on the key commercial terms for the Holden V8 Supercar team’s naming rights sponsorship in a multiyear deal.
At the same time rumours abound that the Red Bull partnership deal has opened the door for Casey Stoner to join the team, as he is set to retire at season’s end, and because of his relationship with Red Bull Australia.
At this point it is just speculation, but Stoner did test a Triple Eight Holden last December, enjoyed it and said he would consider turning to V8 Supercars when he retired. However, he would surely not replace either Jamie Whincup or Craig Lowndes, and they would be doing him an injustice by throwing him in the deep end without perhaps a season in the Dunlop Development series.
IT will be back to back Queensland races for the V8 Supercars this weekend when the Coates Hire Ipswich 300 is conducted at Queensland Raceway.
While any of the top four in the championship, Jamie Whincup in the #1 TeamVodafone Holden, Mark Winterbottom (FPR Orrcon Racing Ford ), Will Davison (FPR Trading Post Ford) or Craig Lowndes in the #888 TeamVodafone Holden there is another driver to watch.
David Reynolds – driving the FPR Bottle O Racing Ford – is well overdue for his first win in the V8 Supercars Championship, having shown he is as fast as anyone in qualifying. However as yet he has not been able to convert those efforts to a race win. Reynolds currently sits 10th in the championship, giving Ford Performance Racing three cars in the top 10.
The 27-year-old, who hails from Albury and is now a resident of Melbourne, has won two national titles – the 2004 Australian Formula Ford Championship and the 2007 Carrera Cup Championship.
He was introduced to V8 supercars as an endurance driver in ’07 when it looked as if he would drive for the HSV team.
However that fell apart when Paul Radisich left Team Kiwi and took the drive, but it was a trade-off, as he was then given the job with Paul Weel Racing, driving with Cameron McConville.
However he missed out on a drive at Bathurst when the car failed on the warm-up lap.
The 2008 season saw him compete in the Development Series, driving for Tony D’Alberto Racing, and finish fourth. The same year he was with HSV again, but again missed a drive at Bathurst.
Reynolds was driving with Paul Dumbrell, but a frightening high speed crash by team-mate Paul Radisich at McPhillamy Park saw the Kiwi hospitalised, and his long career come to an end.
The badly damaged car was then scratched, and Reynolds moved from his seat to allow Rick Kelly to get a drive with Dumbrell.
Reynolds then stepped up to drive the Bundaberg Red Commodore for Walkinshaw Racing full-time in 2009, before being moved into a part-time endurance driver role with the organisation for 2010.
The 2011 season saw him signed by Kelly Racing as a full-time driver, but he was not having a happy time of it, but it got worse mid season as he wanted out of his contract to switch camps to Ford this year with Rod Nash Racing in the #55 Bottle O car.
