WHEN the V8s arrive at Mount Panorama this October it will be a battle of drivers and technology for teams operating on big budgets, but this weekend it will be a very different story for a group of touring cars.
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So different, in fact, pit crews will be using trolley jacks and wheel braces come pit stop time instead of air guns and hydraulics.
The NSW Production Touring Cars Series will use these old-fashioned devices when they race at Mount Panorama as part of the annual Bathurst Motor Festival.
The three days of racing, which start tomorrow, will feature a very different looking program to what motor sport fans get in October. The NSW Production Touring Cars join the likes of Formula 3, Historic Touring Cars and Production Sports categories, while there will also be timed regularity trials.
The NSW Production series will involve V8s cars, but alongside them on the grid will be Mitsubishi Evos, Subaru WRXs, Suzuki Swifts, BMWs and even utes.
While series media manager Shelly Ives admits the Evos should have the edge in terms of speed around the 6.213-kilometre Bathurst circuit, all drivers have a chance of finding success at Mount Panorama.
“While the Evos are the fastest and do dominate sometimes, because of the different classes and the way our points system works, anyone can win,” she said.
“Last year Bob Pearson was first overall and Gerry Murphy second, but Chris Reeves, who came third, didn’t win a race.”
Pearson, who drove an Evo X RS last year, will not contest the Bathurst round.
Instead, it is a driver of a Holden GTS Coupe, Steve Hodges, who can claim favouritism after he took out the opening round of the 2014 series at Wakefield Park.
“Steve is leading the state and his class championship at the moment. He’s racing really well and he killed it last year as well. He’s an ex-V8 Ute driver,” Ives said.
“He will be racing in Bathurst and I would expect him to do well.”
The Bathurst round has provisions for both driver A and driver B practice and qualifying. Saturday will feature a pair of 35- minute races – one for driver A, one for driver B – followed by a one-hour endurance race on Sunday.
That is when the old-fashioned equipment will be put to use.
“How that one-hour enduro race works is that if they don’t have a second driver, the driver has to get out of the car, close the door and get back in and they have to have a pit crew change at least one tyre,” Ives explained.
“We have 47 entries for this weekend and only six or seven will have co-drivers – because it’s Bathurst, they all want to do it on their own.
“We try to encourage the driver As to do both races if there is no driver B and, in general, most of them do, because it is Bathurst and they want as much track time as they can get.”
One of the co-drivers for this weekend will be Glenn Seton, who has enjoyed a host of track time at Mount Panorama. He will share an Evo with Greg Symes.
Ex V8-privateer Richard Mork will be behind the wheel of a Honda Integra, while an all-female team of Julie Showers and Aneeta Abzatz will share a BMW 352i.
But according to Ives, no matter their experience, vehicle or budget, all drivers are part of a “family” and help each other out. They are all looking forward to racing at the iconic track as well.
“There are young guys in this category who work two jobs to be able to do this, so they love it,” she said.
“Bathurst is our most expensive round, but they all make the effort to get here.
“It’s a small club, but it’s a real family club. Everyone helps everyone else out – there is no rivalry. Well, there is rivalry out on the track, but in the pits everyone helps out. Last year a young guy blew his engine and six other guys chipped in and helped him fix it.”
The Shaw Vineyards NSW Production Touring Cars will be on track for the first time at 9.25am tomorrow.